Oglud Eight-Six-Nought was far from the only host-bearing Yeerk who was thus accosted at his feeding. Nearly everyone who had entered the pool during the previous twelve hours had found him/her/itself at the mercy of a swarm of utterly shameless izcots, all demanding to know something about Teresa Sickles, Jesus Christ, or (preferably) both. It was perhaps not surprising, therefore, that one of them should eventually have complained to the Sub-Visser – but, all the same, it took Toloth somewhat by surprise, when he returned to the Bug fighter, to hear his fellow guards and his commanding officer all discussing the human, and the human religion, in which he had worked so hard to conceal his own interest.
"The hostless ones seem to be correct about Teresa Sickles's status, Sub-Visser," said Kythel Three-Eight-Four, tapping on a record pad. "She is an involuntary host, infested some three Earth years ago via the Sharing; her current host is Malcar Seven-Four-Five. No other data are available; she appears to have been utterly insignificant to the Empire until three days ago."
"She is probably insignificant now," muttered Shalaf Eight-Eight-Three. "Imagine making all this fuss about the obsession of a few izcots…"
The low rumble of his voice rose abruptly to a scream as a bolt from the Sub-Visser's Dracon beam struck him squarely across the beak. "Shalaf Eight-Eight-Three," said the Sub-Visser coldly, "you will kindly not open your mouth again unless something intelligent is prepared to come out of it. The obsession of a few izcots, in the current climate, is not a trivial matter. Or need I remind you of how the Andalites recently destroyed our main ground-based Kandrona, resulting in the starvation of a great many low-ranking Yeerks? Because I assure you that the low-ranking Yeerks that survived have not forgotten it, and many of them have become more than a little disenchanted with the Visserarchy since we have shown ourselves ready to sacrifice their lives at a moment's notice. The only reason we have not yet seen an uprising among the lesser spawns is because there has been no charismatic figure to unite them; if this Teresa Sickles movement should fill that void…"
"What Teresa Sickles movement might that be, Sub-Visser?" said Toloth.
The Sub-Visser looked up. "Ah, there you are, Toloth Two-Nine-Four," he said. "So they aren't talking about it in the pool area itself, are they? Well, I suppose it's hardly surprising. If you've had all the pool's hostless pestering you about something through your feeding session, the last thing you'd want would be to rehash it with your fellow host-wearers after reinfestation."
Rank has its privileges. Had it been a fellow guardsman who had delivered that lengthy rumination in place of an answer, Toloth would have demanded somewhat abruptly that he stop blithering and come to the point; because it was the Sub-Visser, he merely waited quietly for the actual answer to arrive.
"Well," said the Sub-Visser, "very briefly, it seems that most, if not all, of the hostless Yeerks in the pool have developed a fascination with a human involuntary called Teresa Sickles. Details are sketchy, but apparently she invited one Oliss Three-Eight-Three to infest her on Esiln Kalkat so that it could partake of the visual revel; she seems to have believed that this was some sort of religious imperative."
"Indeed, sir?" said Toloth. "How strange. And you believe that this fascination on the hostless ones' part might be dangerous?"
"It's certainly possible," said the Sub-Visser. "Remember that we're here to subjugate a race of beings whose intelligence almost equals our own. That's never been done in the history of the Empire before; it's hard to say how much human values and thought processes might contaminate our own if we're not careful. One thing's certain: we don't want a significant minority of our population starting to think that humans – or at least some humans – know secrets hidden from the Yeerk race."
"How could they, Sub-Visser?" said Toloth. "Any secret that a human possesses can be learned by the Yeerk that infests it."
"Yes, but remember that the Yeerks we're talking about have never infested a sentient being," said the Sub-Visser. "And the vast majority of them never will; if they ever become Controllers, it'll be to Gedds and nothing higher. With no actual experience to teach them better, they might get the idea that sentient hosts can find ways of hiding thoughts from their Controllers – or that humans of Sickles's type receive supernatural knowledge that can't be accessed via synapse reading – or… oh, anything. Once they've convinced themselves that Sickles knows something that her Controller doesn't, they'll weave some theory around it."
"Then one ought to discourage them from convincing themselves of that," Toloth observed.
The Sub-Visser gave him a look. "Yes, thank you, Toloth Two-Nine-Four, I had come to that conclusion on my own," he said. "It would be more useful if you could propose a course of action that would so discourage them."
"Why not simply kill the human Sickles?" Toloth suggested.
The Sub-Visser shook his head. "No, that won't solve the problem," he said. "It would be nice if it were that simple, but…" He broke off. "Something wrong, Toloth Two-Nine-Four?"
Toloth quickly regained control over his quivering Hork-Bajir body. "My apologies, Sub-Visser," he said. "A minor burst of host rebellion, nothing more."
And, internally: «Don't be a fool, Gef! I certainly don't want Teresa killed, and I wouldn't have proposed it if there were any danger of the Sub-Visser acting on the suggestion. As it is, though, it carries no risk and makes me look like a proper subject of the Empire. Now settle down and behave yourself, or you might not get to see your precious human again.»
"I see," said the Sub-Visser. "Well, as I say, it's not nearly as simple as that. Killing Sickles, or even Oliss Three-Eight-Three, won't stop the story from circulating – not when the entire hostless population of the Sulp Niar pool already knows the basic details." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "You see, it's a legend we're dealing with here, not just a personality cult. Personality cults are easy to quell; you kill the central figure, the cult loses its motive force, and that's that. But what do you do with someone whose only importance is as a symbol of something bigger? How do you quell a legend?"
In the momentary silence that fell over the Bug fighter after these words, a sudden, mad idea came blazing into Toloth's brain. "There is only one way, Sub-Visser," he said. "We must modify the legend."
The Sub-Visser looked up at him, puzzled. "Excuse me, Toloth Two-Nine-Four?"
Toloth took a deep breath. "I have spent some of my spare time studying the human hosts in the pool," he said. "I am still far from an expert, but I believe that, with proper effort, I could construct an explanation for Teresa Sickles's behavior that would satisfy the hostless Yeerks, and perhaps even reinforce their loyalty to the Empire. I propose that I, Sub-Visser, go into the pool during the next feeding cycle and remain there until I have prevailed on the hostless ones to accept my version of the story."
There was a silence of perhaps half a minute as the Sub-Visser considered this. For Toloth, aghast at his own recklessness, it was perhaps the longest half-minute of his life.
"That is a remarkably ingenious proposal, Toloth Two-Nine-Four," said the Sub-Visser at length. "Of course, one must strike at the root of the problem, and since the root in this case is neither the host nor the Yeerk, but the story itself… yes, you're quite right, it's the only way." He shot a concerned look at his guard. "You're sure you can pull it off, though? Remember, it's not just the girl's personal motives that are in question here; you'll have to give an account of her whole religion."
"I don't think that should present me with any great difficulty, Sub-Visser," said Toloth gravely. "Provided that you give me the full three days to work, that is."
"Take six days, if you like," said the Sub-Visser. "Take as much time as you need. So long as you solve the problem in the end, I won't begrudge you a minute of it."
"Thank you, Sub-Visser," said Toloth.
The Sub-Visser sighed. "Let me tell you something, Toloth Two-Nine-Four," he said. "I have been Sub-Visser One Hundred and Sixty-Three for quite some time now. I've gone through a number of subordinates, and I've seen a fair cross-section of the Yeerk race. But I don't believe I've ever met anyone who was so thoroughly Yeerk as you."
"Thank you, Sub-Visser," said Toloth again.
After a few more minutes' worth of idle words, the guard was permitted to disperse, and Toloth withdrew to his private quarters. No sooner, however, had he thrown himself back on his tail and taken a number of deep breaths than a tap sounded on the door, and he switched it open to reveal Lissim Seven-One-Three standing in the doorway.
Lissim stepped inside, and Toloth switched the door closed again. Without further preamble, Lissim said, "You realize who this Teresa Sickles is, Toloth Two-Nine-Four?"
"I would assume it was the human whose Controller you 'arrested' on Esiln Kalkat," said Toloth calmly. "Unless there is some other human host called Teresa, which I happen to know was not the case five days ago."
"Is the rumor true?" Lissim demanded. "Did this human really let an izcot into her body out of sheer good nature?"
"She did," said Toloth. "I ought to know; I selected the izcot in question."
Lissim groaned, and swiped his tail against the wall in dismay. "Well, this is a pretty state of affairs," he said. "I thought it was such a joke, getting to scare some snotty little human-Controller out of her wits so you could do your research. Now I find we've precipitated an intra-pool crisis."
"A minor one, I think," said Toloth. "Despite the Sub-Visser's concerns, I doubt there is really much to fear from izcot enthusiasms. Unless, of course, the Sub-Visser were to investigate them a bit further and discover what the two of us were up to on Esiln Kalkat, but I think the risk of that is now negligible."
Lissim ignored him. "So Malcar Seven-Four-Five was right, after all," he said. "We laughed when she spoke of the upheavals that her host's religion had caused, yet now we find them illustrated in our own pool." He shook his head. "Who is this human Teresa, Toloth Two-Nine-Four? And what is this power she possesses that so terrifies her Controller and so beguiles the izcot spawns?"
Toloth made a non-committal gesture, as though to say that the question was of no interest to him. In the privacy of his own mind, however, he thought: That, Lissim Seven-One-Three, is precisely what I intend to learn.