They descended slowly into what felt like the great unknown to Tellion, but deep down she already knew what to expect. Each step was taken in silence, their footfalls echoing throughout the empty corroder. The echos felt like a sinister whispering into Tellion's ears. She knew that she couldn't show any hesitation or fear with her return to the Yeerk Pool, but she just couldn't help but desperately grasp Mr. King's metal arm as they passed through the first security checkpoint. Part of Tellion expected something to go wrong, and her world to instantly end by agonizing Dracon blast. Instead, they passed unopposed to through the security gate, and Tellion was forced to have to continue on to face her deepest fears.
"You can't show anymore hesitation like that from here on." Mr. King told Tellion. "There's multiple security cameras and scanners after the first checkpoint. Anything out of the ordinary, and the security forces will be coming to question your odd behavior."
"Sorry." Tellion said, releasing her grip of Mr. King as she looked over at him. "I've just, always been alone though all of this…"
Tellion lost her pace and almost fell down the stairs when she realized that the image of Mr. King wasn't Mr. King anymore. Instead of an older appearing man that seemed of no interest to anyone, now he appeared as a much larger and far more physically intimidating man.
"Well you're not now." he assured Tellion, helping her to right her pace so she wouldn't fall down the stairs. "Just remain calm and follow me. I'll take you to where you need to go."
"Why did you…" she asked.
Mr. King gave her a very subtle smile. "You didn't think that we would come down here in our everyday forms, did you?"
Tellion saw the logic in what Mr. King said. She breathed in deeply, trying to calm her shaking body as they continued to go down and down for what felt like an eternity. They passed through at least three more checkpoints, the last of which was guarded by human controllers armed with human made ballistic weapons. Both Tellion and Mr. King had to produce their ID's before being allowed to proceed. The guards scanned their cards, taking several long and very frightening moments for Tellion before they waved them through with approval.
And then after that, the small narrow corridor gave way into the vast underground cavern that was the planet based Yeerk Pool. Tellion had finally returned. Though she had existed down in this place for a good portion of her entire life, Tellion was left in awe at how much it had all changed in the few months of her absence. All of the things she remembered since being there remained. The infestation and demarcation piers, the holding cell areas, the administration offices.
But now there was so much more. A hanger array that held several interceptor fighters and what she could only guess were human made flying machines, many more buildings erected all around the main pool and in the process of being constructed, and dozens of new doors embedded into the rock surface of the surrounding landscape. The cavern itself had been expanded at least a third of its original size as well.
But above all, Tellion saw the controllers. The vast majority of them were human. And there were now so many of them. Not hundreds like she had remembered. No, now there appeared to be thousands of them. And everything down in this place only seemed to be expanding without halt.
She had thought, even believed, that with the destruction of the planet based Kandrona Ray generator, that the progression of the invasion would have been severally slowed down. But being here, seeing how much of everything that had expanded like no damage had ever been done to their forces, that just didn't seem to be the case.
"Killian…" Mr. King said quietly, nudging her along.
"There's…so many of them…" Tellion stuttered as she took in the vastness of the Empire's ever expanding invasion base. "I thought…with the Kandrona Ray…"
"It was a very difficult time down here once the main Kandrona Ray was destroyed." Mr. King explained. "They had to utilize every available small Kandrona Ray to offset the difference, but it wasn't enough. I'm sure you can imagine how many Yeerks perished in that time."
Tellion remembered her harrowing ordeal of suffering from Kandrona starvation, of it being agony beyond comprehension. To know that same fate had befallen so many of her brothers and sisters…it was too sad for her to want to think about.
"I already know about Kandrona starvation…" Tellion said to him, choosing to say no more.
Mr. King clearly could tell that she didn't want to speak about the matter anymore.
"Well, the damage was very severe on a scale of personnel. But Visser Three kept his most essential troops alive, controllers in important positions in human society. He made sure that there was no overall disruption to the controller infrastructure, especially with the front organization 'The Sharing'. When the new main Kandrona Ray generator was brought to Earth, Visser Three called upon all his assists in the Empire."
"Assists?" Tellion asked.
"Visser Three has 'assisted' many high ranking Yeerk commanders throughout every corner of the Empire. A lot of important officers owe their current ranks to him, and in turn owed him a great many favors. He called in those favors, and brought a great number of replenishment Yeerks to Earth to offset his losses."
Tellion felt devastated hearing this. She hated to wish for the deaths of her kin, but she also wanted Earth to be saved. Whatever faint hope she had held on to with the destruction of the main Kandrona Generator vanished, replaced instead by a crushing sense of despair.
"Don't lose hope." Mr. King told her as they navigated around the vast circumference of the Yeerk Pool. "The fight's still going on. And as long as your forces have to fight, there is hope for this world."
"I just feel so useless in all of this." Tellion told him honestly. "Others are risking their lives to save this world, and I'm just trying to hide from it all."
"Let's just worry about the moment," Mr. King told her. "we can worry about the future after this trip, right Killian?"
"Of course." she answered.
They continued to traverse to the area that Tellion was familiar with, taking great care to avoid other controllers so as to not have to explain who they were and where they were going. When they finally reached the supply area that housed the parts for Kandrona Ray generators, Mr. King handed Tellion a satchel bag and papers.
"That is an order for a replacement power core." he said. "The bag has a specialized lining that I installed to shield the core from scanners. Once its inside, not a single scanner in this facility will be able to detect it. If something goes wrong, take exit marked L-92. One of our own is nearby keeping an eye out for you."
"I hope there is no problem." Tellion told him, moving towards the supply area.
"So do I Killian, but hope and reality are sometimes not the same thing." Mr. King whispered to her as she walked away.
Despite having walked into the area hundreds of times, this was the first time that Tellion felt every part of her human body on edge as she entered the supply area. She tried to not let her nervousness show, but she felt it creeping just under her whole skin. There was a hatch this time, of which she had to use her ID card to get through. The approval beep and the lock releasing didn't put her at ease as she hesitantly stepped into the room. The sound of the door shutting behind her gave Tellion an ominous feeling of being cornered in a trap that she didn't have a hope of escaping from. As she approached the requisition office, Tellion tightened the grip of her supply bag so much that she was almost sure that she would make herself bleed.
The controller behind the counter was human like her, and appeared to be bored out of her mind as she read over scattered reports covering her table. She was so lost in them that she didn't even realize that Tellion was standing in front of her until Tellion grumbled at the back of her throat.
"Oh, sorry." she said, trying to quickly organize the papers in front of her. "I was just…"
"No problem." Tellion said, handing over her request form.
The controller took her order form, then looked up at Tellion. She didn't know what the controller wanted from her, and her anxiety was quickly rising as she continued to be stared at. Finally, the controller pointed at the badge on her chest.
"I need to scan your ID before giving over any parts. You know, for security purposes." she stated the last part as if she were reading off a prearranged script.
Tellion fumbled to take her ID off, and handed it over with a shaking hand. The other human controller eyed her with a hint of curiosity for her actions.
"Everything ok with you? You seem on edge."
"No," Tellion answered, trying her best to hide the fear in her voice. "this is my first human host. The motor functions and the one set of eyes takes a lot of getting used to."
Oddly enough, Tellion felt her tension ease from saying that. It hadn't really been a lie, she just hadn't disclosed the full truth of what she had said. The other controller smiled slightly back at her.
"I know what you mean, I used to host a Mak before I was transferred to this world. Humans are completely different from them. Do they always scream so much in your mind while you're in them? I don't remember my Mak causing so much trouble."
Don't show anything. Tellion told herself as she felt her anger rising at this unknown Yeerk speaking of controlling other sentient beings as if she were putting no more thought into it than driving a car. No fear. No anger. You have to keep it together.
"Their world hasn't been conquered yet." Tellion told the other controller. "Many of our human hosts are still new to this, enslavement. They didn't grow up in this kind of life, and they still yearn for a freedom that they've only recently lost, not like our other host species."
"Wh…what were you in before your human host?" the controller asked, her voice faltering slightly from what Tellion was saying to her.
"A Nahara." Tellion answered. "Tallaxia was…my first real host."
The controller made a human like questioning gesture as she stuck the ID into some kind of scanner device.
"Odd. I never meet another Yeerk that mentioned their host by name." she said.
"We had a strange bond." Tellion told her truthfully, not hiding the sadness in her voice. "She was my first primary host, and I was the first Yeerk too…"
The scanner device beeped loudly, pulling their attention away from the strange conversation they were having. The other controller pulled her ID out and inspected it closer.
"Killian 863, it says you're a biological developmental specialist. Why would you be in here requesting a replacement Kandrona Ray core?"
"How should I know?" Tellion answered. "My commander gave me this order form and sent me here."
"Probably someone higher up screwed up the request forms." the controller said. "I probably should call this in just to clear everything up."
She couldn't let that happen. Tellion knew that she needed to act, quickly.
"Look." she said in a slightly more authoritative voice, stepping closer to loom over the other controller. "I don't have time to question why my superiors send me on every task, and from the looks of your work station, you probably don't want any of them coming in here to inspect your lack of progress."
The controller looked at her disarrayed papers, then back at the ID and order form in her hand. Tellion could clearly see a hint of conflict in her eyes as she pondered what to do next. Finally, she handed Tellion back her ID.
"Well, regardless of why you're here, the request and your authorization are in the clear. If there was some kind of mistake, it isn't my fault. Hold on." she said.
She walked into the back of the supply area, and came back a moment later with the greatest gift that Tellion could be granted in her current life. A Kandrona Ray power core. Fresh and in perfect condition. The controller handed over the core to Tellion and she promptly placed it inside her bag.
"Well, that's it then." she said.
"Ok then." Tellion replied as she started to walk away.
As she neared the exit to the room, Tellion felt something come over her. A sensation that called upon her to not simply walk away from the Yeerk she had been conversing with. Tellion didn't question the feeling, she stopped at the hatch and turned back to the controller. The action clearly caught the other Yeerk's attention.
"You know, it's not really something that we should talk about but…" Tellion said, patting her chest. "Maybe you should try to talk to your host once and a while. Not as a master over their slave, but just talk as two individuals. Tell her some of the things that bring you joy in life and things about this world and being human that you like, and maybe, if they are things she enjoys too, you could try to enjoy them together. I found that helping to keep your host happy makes the infestation…easier on both of you."
The other controller stared at her oddly for a moment, glancing around nervously as if expecting someone to appear from behind her and hear what she was about to say.
"That…makes a strange sort of sense." she said. "I have to admit, Claira's constant screams and crying in the back of my mind are very…taxing."
"You said her name." Tellion said with a gentle smile. "That's at least a first step. Maybe one day, you'll experience true symbiosis with Claira. Just like I did with Tallaxia."
"True symbiosis?" the Yeerk said. "I've never heard of something like that."
"It's a very rare thing among our kind." Tellion explained. "I don't know if any…I'm probably the first to have discovered it. But I promise it is something truly worth experiencing. It'll bring you a peace you never knew could exist."
"You're a strange Yeerk, Killian 863." she said.
"So everyone keeps telling me." Tellion told her. "Take care…"
"Sullia 3581."
Tellion smiled again. "Take care, Sullia 3581, and Claira."
Sullia 3581 nodded her head slightly before going back to her disarray of reports. Tellion sighed slightly before leaving the room. As she walked out into vast cavern of the Yeerk Pool, she knew that she should have felt worried with how she had just potentially exposed herself to some random Yeerk that she had never met nor would likely ever see again. Yet, all Tellion really felt in that moment was a strange calmness. No matter what her rational mind said, Tellion felt that she had made the right choice in speaking to Sullia. Maybe nothing would ever come from the conversation they had about Yeerk hosts. Maybe by the end of the day, Sullia would be no different to Claira than every other Yeerk that was controlling the thousands of helpless slaves in this horrid place. Then again, maybe, just maybe, Tellion's words to Sullia would motivate her to speak to Claira. Not as a master over their slave, but as one sentient individual to another. And perhaps, if they could learn to understand each other, their relationship could transform into something better. And, if Tellion dared to hope, which she certainly did now, Sullia would find the courage to give Claira the greatest gift any Yeerk could give to their host. Her freedom.
Tellion shook her head slightly at the thought. Perhaps it was crazy for her to dare and dream of such a thing. But Tellion couldn't help but remember what the Ellimist told her. That even though her people were in a place of darkness too great to turn back anytime soon, that didn't mean that she herself couldn't help to light a path for others of her kind to lead them away from that endless cycle of misery and death.
As she tried to contemplate the vastness of her actions and desires, Mr. King intercepted Tellion.
"Got it?"
Tellion nodded.
"Perfect then." Mr. King said, gently sweeping her along with him as he started to walk. "We shouldn't delay any longer. Let's get you out of here."
Tightening her grip over the bag, Tellion followed after Mr. King as they retraced their path towards what Tellion hoped was another exit. She was sure Mr. King had that planned out, and just had to trust him. She fell in behind his pace and did her best to not appear conspicuous to anyone passing by. The hardest part of doing that was when they passed the infestation pier. It had been so long since she had heard the screams that hearing them now cut Tellion into the inner most part of her being. Tellion set her focus at the ground just a few paces in front of her, lest she lift her head and have to witness that nightmare again.
As they circumnavigated around the main pool, movement caught Tellion's attention from the edge of her vision. Before she could stop herself, Tellion lifted her head. And stopped dead in her tracks.
There she was. Kneeling by the edge of the pool. Doing the work that Tellion had done for so very long though out her entire short life, but under command of another. Nothing more than just a prisoner within her own body to all Yeerks. But she would never be that to Tellion. Not ever again.
"Tallaxia…" Tellion whispered, feeling her eyes beginning to simmer with tears.
Many Yeerks would claim that Nahara, like most other species enslaved by the Yeerks, were so similar in appearance that one could not be differentiated from another. But not to Tellion. She remembered every last little detail of Tallaxia's body, because for so long it had been her own. She knew every inch of her skin and its subtle hue, of how her elongated head was shaped slightly different from other Nahara, and the slight twist in her left leg that made her large three toed foot stick slightly inward to the right.
Even placed among a hundred other Nahara, Tellion would single Tallaxia out in an instant. She was, and would always be, as much a part of Tellion as Susan had now become. And it only made her guilt hurt that much worse.
"Tallaxia…" Tellion said again, taking a step towards her. "I'm sorry I left you. I never forgot you. I…I never abandoned you. You'll always be a part of me…"
The strong metallic grip around her arm shocked Tellion out of her daze. She turned back to Mr. King, the faint trickle of tears rolling down the edges of her face.
"I don't know what you're going through right now." he warned her. "But you have to keep it together. Your behavior is going to draw attention, and you will be of no help to that Nahara if you get taken now."
"Her name is Tallaxia." Tellion growled, wiping away her tears. "She was my last…my primary host…"
"And what would Tallaxia want you to do right now?" Mr. King asked. "Would she want you to throw your life away for nothing? Or would she want you to live to fight another day?"
Tellion didn't really know the answer to that question. She wanted to believe that Tallaxia wanted nothing more in the world than for Tellion to come back to her and save her from this living nightmare of existence. But even if she didn't, that didn't stop Tellion from wanting to save her former host and…friend.
Yet no matter how much she wanted to, Tellion knew that she couldn't save Tallaxia right now. No, here, in this moment, there was nothing that she could for her. Tellion couldn't help but tighten her free hand into a fist of raging fury at her inability to do anything.
"Fine." Tellion said, lowering her head. "Let's just get out of here."
"There will be another time." Mr. King assured her. "You have to just keep hoping."
Tellion turned away from Tallaxia, one of the slowest, most emotionally tormenting turns in her entire life. With her back to Tallaxia, Tellion took the first painful step away from the one person she wanted nothing more in the whole universe than to save.
"Killian 863!" a sharp voice barked.
Hearing that name halted Tellion, freezing her in her place. Her heart began to hammer in her chest and her whole body went cold. She turned nervously in the direction of the commanding voice, and trembled at the sight of three approaching human controllers. One was a woman, dressed in a white long coat. The other two flanking her sides were strong looking males, dressed in the uniforms of the Pool's security force. Fear spiked all through Tellion at the realization that she had just been discovered.
"Where the hell have you been?" the woman controller snapped. "I've been trying to raise you through the comms."
"I….I…" Tellion stammered.
"I was taking her on a short cognitive and motorization skill test of her new host." Mr. King stated. "She's new to hosting humans, and needs some time to adjust to controlling this one."
"Well I don't care what the reasoning is. You will be carrying your comm with you everywhere you go from now on, now come with me." she commanded as she started to move away.
"But…I…" Tellion continued to stutter.
"I don't have time for this!" the woman controller snapped. "You are the biological developmental specialist we requested, aren't you?"
"I…I am." Tellion weakly answered.
"Then you're coming with us! The time table accelerated, and we need you now."
Tellion looked nervously at Mr. King, who nodded his approval before they began to follow after the trio of controllers. The woman controller instantly looked back and pointed at Mr. King.
"I told Killian 863 to come with us, not you."
"But I am her assigned supervisor. It's my job to…"
"I don't care!" she snapped, pointing a finger at him. "This operation requires Killian 863's expertise, not yours. Now get back to your assigned station before I report you for insubordination!"
Mr. King glanced once at Tellion, weakly nodding his head, and reluctantly walked away. The controllers all waited until he was a distance away before turning their attention back to Tellion. "No more delays Killian, or you'll be answering to Visser Three himself!"
Having no other choice, Tellion followed after them. She clutched the bag that held the power core tightly in her grip as they led her to the edge of the Pool's cavern.
"We've been trying to manage without you, but the situation needs your immediate expertise."
"But…I…" Tellion murmured, the hesitation all too apparent in her voice.
The female controller looked over her shoulder at Tellion. "If you had kept your comm link on you, like you were supposed to, then you would know the full situation. You were brought in from the Hork-Bajir home world to assist us, were you not?"
"Of…of course." Tellion answered, trying her best to hide the fear in her voice.
"Then you better not screw this up." the female controller warned. "Visser Three has a very low tolerance level for failure."
The trio led her through a thick metal door that the security personnel immediately shut behind them. They traversed a series of narrow hallways until coming upon a similar metal door. The female controller looked at Tellion.
"Now we'll see if you were worth all the trouble of bringing you here." she said as she swiped her badge through a scanner by the door. With an ominous beep, the lock to the door clicked, and it slid open. Before she could even try to ask what was going on, Tellion was pushed inside. And into a completely chaotic scene.
There were two rooms, separated by a wall that was largely glass. The one she entered in was filled with tables crammed with a vast assortment of what looked like medical equipment. But that was not what first caught Tellion's attention.
There were several other human controllers standing about, some in white coats like the woman controller that had taken her to this place, but the rest were in the security uniforms and brandishing batons that had crackling electric ends. But even that wasn't what took the full focus of Tellion's attention.
It was the Hork-Bajir. Five of them in total.
Two were directly in front of her. One was pinned face down on the large metal table in the center of the room, another slightly larger Hork-Bajir had the subdued one's arms twisted behind its back and held them firmly even as the other struggled in vain to free itself. The subdued Hork-Bajir's beak like mouth snapped and clicked as it cried out in pain that was ignored by all around. Except in the other room. Tellion looked through the glass to see what had to be the largest Hork-Bajir she had even seen in her life struggling against two others that were clearly attempting to keep it restrained.
"Well don't just stand there Killina 863," the female controller told her. "This is why we brought you to Earth, so get to work."
"I…I don't have…" Tellion stammered, trying to take in what she was seeing.
"We brought all your equipment here." the female controller growled, snatching the bag from Tellion's hands and tossing it in the corner. "No more delaying. Administer the sedative to Hork-Bajir K-4782 so you can give us a full situational exam."
"It's…it's out of control." Tellion said nervously, eyeing the thrashing Hork-Bajir as it continued to cry out. "Couldn't you just…hit it with a low yield Dracon blast? Just to stun it a little bit?"
The woman controller stared at her with a look of first surprise, then frustration. "The whole reason we're having to do that is because you told us in your preliminary report to specifically not to utilize any Dracon beams. The discharge would ravage the Hork-Bajir's internal structure and would likely cause a miscarriage."
"A…miscarriage?"
"Of course." she replied, pointing at the Hork-Bajir identified as K-4782 that was pinned to the table. "That female is pregnant. And it's all thanks to you Killian."
"She's pregnant?" Tellion asked in a hushed voice.
"It'll be the first Hork-Bajir birth in this system. What a joyous occasion, isn't it Killian 863?"
Hearing that felt like a hit straight into her gut. As if sensing her feelings, the female Hork-Bajir lifted her head slightly to cry out at Tellion. The response for her action was the obvious controller Hork-Bajir grasping her head and smashing it into metal surface of the table. Tellion jumped at the vicious act, then was nearly scared out of her skin when the Hork-Bajir in the other room smashed headfirst into the glass and shook the whole wall. Even separated by the thick glass, she could see that the very large Hork-Bajir was fighting wildly against the other two as they struggled to keep it restrained.
The woman controller walked over to the wall and pressed a button under what seemed to be a speaker in the wall.
"Everything ok in there Hidred?" she asked.
One of the Hork-Bajir controllers, presumably Hidred, replied. "J-9219 is feisty today, but nothing that we can't handle. You should listen to this dumb lizard. He keeps crying out for his wife. His wife! Can you believe that?"
The surrounding controllers, even the Hork-Bajir restraining the pregnant female, all laughed viciously. Only Tellion remained silent as she watched everything happening around her, and feeling more helpless than she had ever been in her life. She said nothing as the controllers went back to their tasks and she was taken over to an area that held a vast array of what seemed like medical equipment and various liquids.
"We've taken a lot of losses to our Hork-Bajir forces lately because of the Andalite bandits." the woman controller explained to Tellion. "But with the Empire fighting on so many other fronts, we really can't afford to pull any of them away to replace our losses here. So the Visser decided to utilize another option. We followed your advice, and isolated these two Hork-Bajir when we took notice in your reports of there being an attraction between them. But we didn't have anyone like you here to help once we realized we were successful. That's why you were brought in Killian 863, to help us establish a permanent breeding program to replace our losses here."
The woman controller waved at the assortment of material in front of them.
"Now get to work. We don't know the proper dosage to sedate that female Hork-Bajir without causing damage to the fetus, but you do. Once we have her sedated, you can teach our assembled tech team how to properly examine her and analysis the status of the pregnancy."
"What about…the male, J-9219?" Tellion asked nervously as she looked back at the Hork-Bajir still struggling to break free from his captors.
The woman controller just smirked. "We'll let him watch. His screams are what make all this trouble even somewhat entertaining. Then we'll zap him and put a Yeerk back into him."
Tellion didn't reply. She just turned to the tools and stood there in silence, staring at everything before her, and trembling from absolute fright of the plight she was in. She absolutely didn't have the first clue about what any of things in front of her were or what they were supposed to do. It wouldn't take the surrounding controllers very long to realize the truth. But what could she do? She could try to run, but that was pointless. Even if by some miracle she could escape the security personnel and get out of the Yeerk Pool, it would only delay the inevitable. The power core sat in the bag on the adjacent side of the room, completely out of her reach. Without it she would certainly die.
The cries of the female Hork-Bajir momentarily broke Tellion from her thoughts about her ominous fate. She looked over at her, and their eyes met. In her time in Tallaxia, when she had been with Aftran, Tellion had learned many of the subtle expressions that Hork-Bajir displayed in their eyes. Here, she could see the way the female's gaze was full of terror. But not the kind that there had always been for a slave of the Yeerks. This fear was different. The fear was not for her personal fate.
And then Tellion realized it in that moment. The female Hork-Bajir…knew she was with child. Her fear wasn't for her own life. It was for that of the child that she carried within her. A child that would, if birthed into the universe in this horrid place, would know a life of nothing except pain, suffrage, and total imprisonment within its own body for the rest of its natural life.
In that instant, something changed inside Tellion as she stared into the horrified red eyes of the Hork-Bajir female. Tellion was terrified to the point of her body trembling, knowing that she could likely die in the next few minutes, as she stood there.
Just standing there. Not doing anything, except thinking. Thinking of how useless she had been throughout most of her life. Of how she always tried to hide from danger. Never truly daring to risk anything when faced with real opposition. All of her feats and trials since fleeing the Empire, felt like nothing to her in that moment. She thought back to what she had told Mark on the night she had watched the police officer controller kill the other one to hide the truth of the invasion from humanity.
I watched two people die tonight. I couldn't save them. I didn't even try! I just hid in the shadows like the coward I really am and watch them be murdered. I didn't do anything. I never do anything! I am useless to everyone!
As she lamented her own words of her failures, the echoing words of Crayak slipped into the back of her mind. She hated to hear them, but they were the things she needed to hear in this place, and this time.
You…my precious Tellion…you know how to harness your own terror, and channel it into action. That is a very rare gift indeed.
Hearing all of that, but above everything else, knowing deep in her spirit of who she was, the absolute devastation her ancestor Akdor had brought upon the Hork-Bajir, Tellion felt both her teeth grit into each other and her trembling hands tightening into fists. As if to further press her into making a choice, Tellion heard the Hork-Bajir female cry out again.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the almost helpless being try in futility to lift her head again, only to have the Hork-Bajir controller grasp her head horns and smash her face into the metal table again.
"Stop it!" Tellion shouted, catching all of the controllers' attention, even the Hork-Bajir one.
Tellion quickly collected herself, fumbling through the array of tools until she found the pouch of empty syringes. In that instant, her choice had been made. No matter what happened next, Tellion knew without any shred of hesitation of what she needed to do.
"You only need to restrain her. A…any more trauma would be detrimental to the pregnancy." Tellion stumbled in her command, trying her very best to hide her shaking hands as she grabbed one of the vials of odd colored liquid and filled it into the syringe.
Tellion didn't have the first clue what the liquid was or what it was supposed to do, but with all eyes on her, she tried her very best to not let any hesitation show in her face. The syringe in hand, Tellion turned and weakly walked to the Hork-Bajir, her feet stumbling over each other. Apparently understanding what she intended to do, the controller Hork-Bajir released the female Hork-Bajir's arms and grasped one by the wrist. Stretching her arm out over the edge of the table, the controller pressed his other arm blades into the back of her neck, keeping her pinned down. The female Hork-Bajir weakly hissed at her helpless situation. Tellion felt that, if Hork-Bajir were capable of crying the way humans were, she would be weeping for both herself and her unborn child.
Tellion stood over her, took a deep breath, then plunged the needle into her greenish skin right at the elbow. Only, she did it at such an angle that the end punched through the skin on the underside of the female Hork-Bajir's arm. Somehow, Tellion would probably never know how, her gaze caught Tellion's action. Her eye stared at the end of the needle sticking through her skin, then her focus lifted up to Tellion's terrified face.
Their eyes locked.
In a singular moment that felt like it spanned a lifetime, more was exchanged in their looking deep into each other's iris than any conversation lasting hours could have accomplished. She knew, Tellion didn't know the how or the why, but the female Hork-Bajir knew what Tellion was doing. As Tellion released a weary, nervous breath, she pressed down on the syringe's plunger. The fluid seeped out the other end, collecting on the cold metal surface under the female Hork-Bajir's arm, hidden from all gazing eyes.
As if their minds were connected, the female Hork-Bajir weakly struggled against her controller counterpart for a short time before ceasing her struggles and letting her large body go limp. Her eyes slowly closed as Tellion backed away into an adjacent table. She put the syringe down and slowly wrapped her fingers around a nearby piece of lab equipment that felt very heavy.
Mark, Tellion thought sadly as she fully braced herself for what was about to happen, if this doesn't…if I…please understand. I can't just sit back anymore. I have to do something.
The female Hork-Bajir finally stopped moving, her body still as death. The Hork-Bajir controller that had been restraining her released its grip. The surrounding human controllers began to gather around the table.
"Alright Killian 863," the woman controller stated, moving closer herself, "time to inspect this stupid lizard. Get over here and show us…"
The female Hork-Bajir's eyes shot open. Her ferocious cry thundered all through the small room, the sound of a lifetime of untold suffrage pouring forth in that singular scream. Her left arm swung backward, plunging her wrist and arm blades almost to their base into the Hork-Bajir controller's neck. The controller's eye widened from the shock and a bubbly scream gurgled from the back of its beak as a miniature geyser of greenish blood sprayed from its neck. The surrounding human controllers shouted in a mixture of shock and terror as they all leapt back from the very awake, and very furious, Hork-Bajir. The guards, all caught off guard too, madly scrambled to take out their various weapons as the female Hork-Bajir wrenched her blades from the dying Hork-Bajir controller and threw herself at the rest of them.
Next to Tellion, she saw a large human guard fumble to pull a human gun from his side holster. Tellion didn't think. She just acted.
Grasping the lab tool, Tellion swung it at the guard with all her might. The heavy object smashed into his unexpected face with a sickening crunch and he collapsed to the floor. Tellion was stunned for a moment as she watched him fall, barely unable to believe what she had just done. She was snapped from her stupor as a guard controller rushed in at the female Hork-Bajir's back as she slashed into several other controllers, a baton that's end crackling with jolts of electricity.
Tellion kicked a nearby chair into his path, causing him to topple over it and fall to the ground at the Hork-Bajir's feet. His cry of shock lasted only a moment before her tail blades pierced into his torso.
Screams from the other room caught Tellion's attention, and she turned her head just in time to see a Hork-Bajir crash through the glass wall, spraying shards of glass everywhere, and smash into a nearby table. Just as the controller went down, two other Hork-Bajir appeared. The large male, J-9219, grasped the throat of the other Hork-Bajir controller and slammed the back of its neck down on the jagged glass frame. As the controller croaking out a bloody gurgle, the large male stood defiantly over it.
"I Jara-Hamee!" the Hork-Bajir roared into the dying controller's face. "I Hork-Bajir, I no Yeerk slave Hildrid. I no number!"
A Dracon beam narrowly missing him was the reply Jara-Hamee got. Tellion traced the shot to the woman controller that had brought her to this place. She held the blaster in a shaking hand as she tried to take aim at Jar-Hamee. Tellion rushed her without a second thought, hitting the Dracon Beam aside as she fired again. The red beam sliced into a nearby table, incinerating all the contents caught in its path. The woman controller looked at Tellion with wild eyes.
"Killian! What the hell…" she shouted, then was abruptly cut off by Tellion smashing her right fist into the side of her face as hard as she could. The woman controller stumbled back, but remained on her feet. Tellion took another swing at her with her other fist, but this time she was ready.
The woman controller side stepped Tellion's feeble swing, and countered with a vicious punched right to Tellion's exposed torso. The blow seemingly knocked all the air from Tellion's lungs, causing her to gasp and almost double over. As she fell over, the woman controller rammed her knee up into Tellion's right eye. Pain exploded all through Tellion's full consciousness and she lost all vision in her right eye as it instantly shut. Collapsing to the floor, Tellion weakly grasped her injured face as she struggled to breath.
"You…you're not Killian…" the woman controller growled through her clenched teeth.
She aimed the Dracon Beam right at Tellion's face and in that instant, Tellion was sure she was about to die.
"Die, you traitorous bitch!" the woman controller spat, squeezing the trigger for the beam.
The instant before the beam fired, another reddish beam lanced out from seemingly nowhere and engulfed the controller. The final image that Tellion ever had of the controller was her face momentarily twisted and slightly melted into an expression of pure agony before she vaporized from all existence. Tellion weakly looked over with her one remaining eye and saw Jara-Hamee standing over slashed and mutilated bodies of several human controllers, a Dracon Beam grasped tightly in his hand.
Clattering off to the side drew Tellion's attention, and she saw a final guard taking aim with his human weapon.
"Son-of-a…" he growled, raising his weapon.
Jara-Hamee fired the Dracon Beam, disintegrating him where he stood. A feeble, terrified gasp came from Tellion's stuttering mouth as she saw the guard die. Her cry caught Jara-Hamee's attention. His sharp, harsh eyes glared at Tellion with a hatred that only a lifetime of imprisonment within one's own body could create. Growling in a low, dangerous voice, he took aim at Tellion.
"No…" Tellion weakly pleaded, "don't…please don't kill me…"
He couldn't hear her, and she doubted he would even care if he could. Jara-Hamee sighted the Dracon Beam directly at her, and she felt the icy stab of imminent death about to consume her.
Mark, I'm sorry…Tellion said to herself as she awaited her end.
"Jara-Hamee, no!" the female Hork-Bajir suddenly leapt into view, pushing down the Dracon Beam. "She help free Ket-Halpak! She help us!"
Jara-Hamee looked oddly at Ket-Halpak, then slowly turned his gaze back to Tellion. His harsh red eyes bore into her as he kept the Dracon Beam cautiously raised, but didn't aim it at her again.
"You," he said, "Yeerk?"
Unable to stop herself from trembling as the fear coursed all throughout every part of her body, Tellion weakly nodded her head.
"Y…yes. I…I am…a Yeerk."
Jara-Hamee's head twisted to the side questioningly. "No understand."
He patted his massive chest.
"Why Yeerk help Jara-Hamee? Why Yeerk help Ket-Halpak?"
"Because…" Tellion said, weakly climbing to her feet.
She thought of what to say to them. To make them understand why she had just risked her life for their sake. Could they understand her true motives? That she, the descendant of Akdor, the one that had brought so much death and misery upon their kind for generations, had been given a chance to help right a uncountable number of wrongs that had been done to their kind. Were they capable of understanding such a complex and deep meaning as that? No. Tellion thought sadly. Their level of intelligence didn't grant them the ability to grasp her true motives. Unable to say to them all the things that she truly wanted to, Tellion simply blurted out the first thing that her spirit willed her to say.
"Your baby deserves to be born free!" Tellion cried, the absolute conviction projecting in her voice.
Jara-Hamee made a surprised expression with his eyes and turned to face Ket-Halpak.
"Little Jara-Hamee? Little Ket-Halpak?" he spoke with nervous hesitation.
Ket-Halpak said nothing, she just gently touched her head blades to Jara-Hamee's, and they shared a moment that had not been known to their kind for generations. And Tellion was there to witness it. The moment helped her to endure the pain, even if Tellion could still barely stand.
When the moment ended, Jara-Hamee looked back at Tellion.
"You called?"
"My…my name is…Tellion." she told him. "Tellion 7854."
Ket-Halpak moved beside Jara-Hamee. She stared at her with weary, but grateful eyes.
"Tellion…all life, no Yeerk ever good to Ket-Halpak." she said, the sorrow saturating her weary voice. "You…first Yeerk good to Ket-Halpak."
Just hearing that brought more comfort to her tortured spirit than either of the Hork-Bajir could ever truly understand.
"Tellion, Ket-Halpak no forget you free us. You free baby from Yeerks." Ket-Halpak said, lightly pounding a fist against her chest.
Ket-Halpak would never, and could never, fully understand the peace her words brought to Tellion. Knowing that she had just taken a step, even just a tiny one, towards undoing the immeasurable evil Akdor had caused meant more to her than just about anything else she had managed to accomplish in her short life. Yet she fully understood the reality of the situation.
"Just go." Tellion told them. "Go now! Get out of the Yeerk Pool! Go far away. Find a safe place to have your baby! Before the others realize you've escaped. Go!"
Jara-Hamee grasped Ket-Halpak's hand, nodded once in approval to Tellion, and then they rushed out of the carnage saturated room. Tellion watched them go, only daring to release a weary sigh after they were gone. She stumbled over to where, mercifully, the bag that held the power core had been discarded. Taking it in her weak grip, Tellion stumbled out of the room. Retracing her steps was hard, she still couldn't see out of her right eye and was only able to draw in shallow breaths from her injured chest. Somehow, she was able to make it back to the primary hatch that led out to the main Yeerk Pool.
As she swung the door open, alarms blared to life. Tellion almost fell down from the shock of the sudden alert. Stumbling out into the primary cavern, Tellion saw hundreds of controllers suddenly rushing about madly. A group of heavily armed human controllers rushed towards her, and Tellion was momentarily terrified that they were about to riddle her with bullets. The moment passed as the majority of them pushed past her and dashed through the hatch. One of the guards halted and inspected Tellion.
"Where did they go?" he shouted. "Where did those damn lizards go?"
"I…I don't…" Tellion gasped weakly, making herself appear far more injured than she really was. "They rushed past…hit me so hard…"
The guard growled in frustration, moving past her. "Full alert!" he shouted into his shoulder radio. "We've got at least two Hork-Bajir lose!"
A garbled transmission crackled through his radio in response. "…emergency exit…they rushed through the nullifiers…the nullifiers didn't stop them! They're out! They've escaped the Yeerk Pool!"
"Follow after them, you idiots!" he snapped, running through the hatch. "If they get away, Visser Three's going to hang you by your own intestines!"
Tellion didn't wait for more controllers to notice her and start asking questions. She stumbled away, trying her best to not drawn attention to herself. For the most part, that proved to be a very easy task. None of the surrounding controllers were really interested in her. Their attention was entirely focused on the pair of escaped Hork-Bajir. Even as she dragged herself on, Tellion saw dozens of controllers forming into groups and being armed primarily with human ballistic weapons. They began to mount on various human vehicles that looked very well constructed to traverse rough terrain and drove towards ramps that led up to the surface. Not too far off, the roar of a loud engine coming to life filled Tellion with a sense of dread. A human flying vehicle, a helicopter, slowly rose into the air. Several human controllers sat on each of its open side doors, all armed and serious looking. The helicopter lifted through a hatch that opened through the ceiling and into the night sky.
So much…so many equipment and personnel assembled. All just to recapture a single pair of Hork-Bajir. With so much weighed against them, Tellion didn't know how they could possibly evade such overwhelming forces.
But there was nothing more that Tellion could do for them. She just had to hope that, somehow, all of her efforts hadn't been in vain.
Moving swiftly among the confused masses, Tellion was able to make it to exit L-92, like Mr. King had instructed her too. Tellion had to admit, she was a bit surprised that there were no guards waiting to greet her. She guessed nothing like this had ever happened to them, so they were in a state of total confusion. So much the better for her. She didn't know how she would explain any of her injuries to Mark, but that was the very least of her worries. As Tellion weakly ascended the stairs, she felt the familiar presence blanketing over her.
What you did Tellion, the Ellimist whispered to her, is an action compassion almost unheard of by your kind.
"I couldn't just stand by anymore and do nothing." she told him. "I had to help them. I had to help their baby…"
They won't remember you. The Ellimist told Tellion with complete sadness in his echoing voice. The escape hatch they fled to, there was a low yield Dracon beam field that had been constructed to capture escaped hosts. But it was designed specifically for human hosts, not Hork-Bajir. Where the field would have knocked out a human for over an hour, to the Hork-Bajir it only stunned and disoriented them temporarily. They still had the strength to make their escape, but one of the main side effects of the discharge is short term memory loss. They'll remember that they escaped the Yeerk Pool, but they won't remember how it happened. They won't remember you.
"Maybe it's better that way." Tellion said, although she herself couldn't hide the sadness in her own voice. "With everything chasing after them…I don't know how they'll get away…"
I assure you Tellion, they are in good hands now.
"What? Who?"
With a little persuasion on my part, the son of Elfangor is now aware of the Hork-Bajir's plight. He will gather his comrades and together, they may just be able to help Jara-Hamee, Ket-Halpak, and their child gain their most preciously deserved freedom. And should they succeed, I have created a special place that they will be granted sanctuary of which no one except those that I allow will be able to find.
"How could you do such a thing?" Tellion asked as she continued to slowly climb the stairs. "Crayak…the game…"
He has no ability to interfere in this endeavor of mine, and it's all thanks to you Tellion.
"Me?" Tellion asked, fully perplexed. "What did I…"
When you spared Visser Three's life, I told you that you had granted me a very small victory. And now I will be able to fulfill that prize you helped me gain. It is because of you Tellion, with both your actions in the present and in the past, that have given the Hork-Bajir species a new chance at true life. Thank you.
Tellion lost her footing and braced herself against the wall of the hallway. So much…so much she had done to help others, and she hadn't even been aware of it. Tellion felt a mixture of being both lost and relieved at the same time.
I just thought you should know these things Tellion. Once again, you have proved that you are constructing your own legacy. One that in no way mirrors the darkness from which you came. There may be hope for the Hork-Bajir species yet, and for Yeerks as well. Go home, rest, and enjoy the life of peace you've earned. I must take my leave from you. My assistance is required elsewhere.
"Will I ever know?" Tellion asked him. "Will I know if they…if Jara-Hamee and Ket-Halpak…made it? That their baby was born free?"
There was a space of silence before he answered.
If the right paths are taken by you, then I can forsee that you may know the answer, and more than that. But do not worry about that now Tellion. Fair well. And thank you.
Before his presence left her, Tellion felt as if a gentle hand had rested itself upon her weary shoulders, and instantly the pain that was consuming her body vanished. Her right eye opened perfectly and the constant throbbing in her chest dissipated. She didn't know by what means it was accomplished, but Tellion knew that the Ellimist had healed all of the wounds she had sustained in the Yeerk Pool. As she neared the top of the steps, a figure stepped out of the shadows. He appeared to be a young adult only a few years older than Erik, but Tellion already knew that the appearance was deceiving.
"I heard the alarms go off," he said. "I haven't had contact with King since they started, I was beginning to fear the worst."
"A lot happened." Tellion told him. "But everything is alright now."
"We can't delay," he told her. "soon enough the guards will return to their posts."
"Let's go then." Tellion told this unknown member of the Chee.
True to their original plan, he led her out the rest of the way and into the celler of some unknown building. The Chee's appearance suddenly switched to one of a slightly older woman in casual attire. Tellion didn't bother to question why, she just followed him…her…it. Although she had never before been in this part of the city, the Chee easily took her through the semi-populated streets and back to her original starting point where she had left her car.
Once there, the Chee instructed her to simply go home and remain unnoticeable for the foreseeable future. It assured her that the Kings would be contacting her when they needed to. Tellion thanked the Chee for all of their help, even though a part of her still felt that she didn't deserve it, and drove home.
On her way back, Tellion was filled with a vast mixture of emotions. She was relieved to be alive. She was happy for having secured a replacement power core. And she was overcome with joy for knowing the part she had played in helping the two Hork-Bajir escape the Yeerk Pool and right one of the countless wrongs her ancestor had unleashed upon their kind.
But amidst all the joy and revelation, there was also sadness. And maybe even just a little bit of guilt. She had never fully considered herself violent, but tonight she had broken so many of her preconceived notions about herself. The image of that guard's face being smashed in by her hands, tripping the other one so that Ket-Halpak could stab the life out of him, and the horrified expression of the woman controller the instant before her atoms were destroyed in a single instant of billions of microscopic explosions. She may not have dealt the actual killing blows upon any of them, but there was no doubt in Tellion's mind that every single controller in that room, and their unwilling host slaves, had their life forces extinguished tonight by her actions.
Tellion didn't truly know why or even if she should be feeling this way, but she did. Now, more than ever, the words of the Ellimist felt so very true to her. That through her actions, lives would be saved, and lost at the same time. She simply couldn't save everyone. No matter how much she so desperately wanted to.
That still didn't make her long, solo drive home any easier. And on the drive, she thought of Tallaxia. Of everything that she meant to Tellion. And how she had been so devastated to leave her behind. But not forever.
Tallaxia, Tellion thought to herself as she drove on, I'll save you. Somehow, I'll get you out of that horrific place. You will go back home. You will be with your family again. I swear it.
When she did make it back, Tellion went quietly down into her lair, switched the Kandrona Ray power cores, placing the damaged one into the bag Mr. King had given her, and then took a very long shower. As she stood in her own private little area, letting the warm water wash over her weary body, Tellion couldn't stop looking at her trembling hands. Hands that she had used to strike others for the first time in her life.
The shower did little to ease her sorrow, and she eventually found herself laying on the couch, staring endlessly at the television but not really watching it. Lost and confused about everything, she just lay there and waited for Mark to return.
When he did, she leapt from the couch and raced over to him, wrapping her arms around him even as he was shutting the door.
"Susan." he said surprised by her unexpected actions.
Tellion just squeezed him tighter, not saying anything. Of all the blessings that she needed after such a long night, Mark just took her in his arms and held her tight.
"Is everything ok?" he asked, clearly sounding worried.
"I…had a very long night…" Tellion told him.
"Well, I'm back. Everything is going to be ok."
I hope so, Mark. Tellion thought to herself as she dwelled on all the good and bad things she had done throughout the night. I hope so.