Chapter Text
"What are your plans for this evening?" Mom asked us during dinner.
"Sharing meeting," Dad answered. "Sure neither of you want to join me?"
"Can't. I have to meet Juan at the library," I said, smoothly.
"I'm hanging out with Marco," Jake put in, after a pause.
"Marco's welcome to come, too," Dad offered.
Jake shook his head, a little too aggressively. "He didn't really like it at the barbecue. Sorry, Dad."
Dad heaved a sigh. "Well, can't say I didn't try."
"How'd you get involved with The Sharing, anyway?" I asked. "I don't remember you talking about it much before this past weekend."
"I began attending meetings about three months ago. Remember the tri-state conference us family practitioners go to every year?" At my nod, he continued. "They were one of the sponsors. Out to save the world, or so I thought at the time. Mostly, they do local work, but they're hoping that if they find enough doctors, we can start doing volunteer work in other countries."
"Sort of like 'Doctors Without Borders'?" Jake asked.
"Even bigger than that. The Sharing wants to be involved on all fronts, not just the medical field." He beamed. "Your mother and I have been talking about me attending a week-long Sharing retreat over the summer. It's still in the works."
At first, I thought that this meant The Sharing couldn't possibly be a Yeerk front. Not with a retreat that lasted that long. Then, it dawned on me that there were probably Yeerk pools wherever they were hosting the retreat.
My dad was still a slave.
Probably screaming at the Yeerk in his head right now, begging him to shut up, to leave his family alone. The thought made me want to do some yelling myself, to tie up my dad and morph and destroy the slug inside his head.
I glanced at Jake, and his stony expression told me he was thinking along the same lines.
We'd have to become better actors. If we couldn't save Dad tonight, or soon, we'd be living with an enemy indefinitely.
Hell, even if we could save him, then what? According to Elfangor, the Yeerks could be anyone. Could have infiltrated anywhere. Even if we went on TV and morphed, they'd just find a way to cover it up.
It was a depressing thought. And, to be honest, it made me a little peeved at Elfangor. Why give six kids the responsibility of saving the world? Couldn't he have morphed from his injured body and found some adults, at least?
I forced myself to listen to Dad/the Yeerk in his head as he rambled on about the Sharing retreat and what amazing good they were going to do for the world. Jake, I noticed, had a look on his face that probably resembled how he looked in a particularly uninteresting class at school.
Finally, the meal was over, and we went our separate ways. Jake and I used brother communication to get the message across that we'd wait to leave until Dad did. Then, I took my bike "to the library" and Jake took his to "Marco's."
Well, to be fair, his excuse might have been more valid than mine. He and Marco were meeting up, just not at his house.
And the three of us definitely weren't hanging out.
What occurred after we morphed into our battle morphs just before entering the Yeerk Pool will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. Not only could you hear the screams of the poor people and Hork-Bajir who were finally free, if only for a few hours, from the slugs in their head, but you could actually hear the laughter from a TV in the voluntary area.
Sure, Elfangor had said that some people actually went along with Yeerk infestation voluntarily, but I'd just assumed that the Yeerks would stick them in cages like everyone else.
(There's a whole area for voluntary hosts,) I noted, as we hid behind a corner, planning our attack. (A TV and everything.)
(Who would actually agree to infestation?) Rachel asked, with disgust.
(Elfangor said that Yeerks are liars. Probably sold them a bunch of garbage about making their problems go away,) Tobias put in. (Gaining power, even. Becoming bigger than yourself. That was what they sold us at the meeting, remember?)
(I guess if you find someone's weaknesses, it's not too hard to convince them,) Cassie murmured. (But why would anyone stay voluntary, once they figured it out?)
We didn't know.
The obvious answer, the one I didn't want to voice, was that those Yeerks must treat their hosts okay. Hell, I could even see Hork-Bajir entering the voluntary room after their Yeerk left, although far more were being dragged away to cages.
But then, I thought that humans, at least some of us, could be really gullible. And a Yeerk who got inside your head would know this. If you were a parasitic slug and lucky enough to fool someone into accepting your taking over their body and their life, they must be willing to do almost anything to keep the ruse up. People believed lies for years, after all.
(Do you think Dad's a voluntary Controller?) Jake asked me, in what I would later recognize as private thought speech.
(No way he's dumb enough. Besides, did you hear what Mom said? You know that slug was trying to lure her in, and he made a grab at control to stop his Yeerk,) I answered, with more confidence than I felt.
(But...why didn't he stop the Yeerk earlier today?) Jake pressed.
(It must be really, really hard to fight like that,) I pointed out, also talking just to Jake. (And, besides, Dad's slug must have known that the three of us weren't going to join. Not without being forced. I guess he figured he had to keep up the act of trying to recruit us, though.)
(Yeah. Maybe.)
We found out we were right--about Dad being involuntary--when Marco saw him being dragged to the cages after his Yeerk left him.
(He's yelling and swearing like crazy,) Marco told us, and I could hear the humor in his voice. (Bet he never talks like that around you.)
I snorted. (He once said 'damn' when he was really, really ticked off at Midget for something. Apologized like crazy afterwards.)
(Once we free him, we'll have to rub this in his face for the next, oh, seventy years or so,) Jake added, with a chuckle.
Unfortunately, that's where whatever was remotely funny in our situation left the building, or Yeerk Pool.
We fought, and for awhile, we were actually doing really well. I made the command not to hurt any humans, even if they were infested. It was just the Hork-Bajir who had the Dracon Beams, anyway. And they certainly used them on us, but a lion--and our morphs--could handle pain like our weak human bodies couldn't.
Or, maybe, it was the adrenaline. Being able to take on a dozen or more Hork-Bajir like they were little more than pesky flies was pretty incredible. Marco and Cassie went around unlocking the cages, and some people fought back. Especially the freed Hork-Bajir, who were way more powerful than humans.
It looked like we were going to win. That maybe some humans would get killed by the guards, or recaptured, but the majority would escape the pool.
And then? Maybe we could go to the police. With hundreds, even thousands, of people telling the same story, the Yeerks couldn't shut us all down. And if the six of us morphed on live TV, people would have to believe us.
Maybe this would be the last battle we'd have to fight.
Then, of course, Visser Three came in, morphed this alien creature with multiple heads that shot fire, and I realized we would be lucky to escape with our lives.
Only one person made it out of the Yeerk Pool that night. Some woman, riding on Cassie's horse back. We didn't pause to get her information. Maybe she remained free, maybe the Yeerks found her and captured her again.
Somehow, Tobias got lost in the chaos.
He turned up later that night, when Jake and I were trying to sleep. He was in my bed, again. I couldn't kick him out after what we'd been through. Homer was there, too. It was like our dog knew we'd been through hell and back, and like the good dog that he was, he tried to provide comfort.
(I'm trapped,) Tobias explained, after we told him to demorph.
He'd stayed past the two-hour limit. He was a red-tailed hawk, now.
(Maybe, when the Andalites return, they'll have a way to restore you to your real body,) I offered.
(Yeah. Maybe.) Tobias sounded dubious. (I'm not out of the war, though, okay? I don't need to go to school anymore, so I can spend a lot more time spying. We know who some Controllers are. And with these eyes? I can see where they go. Maybe, find more Yeerk Pool entrances. I know,) he added, with a laugh. (Just what we need. But there's got to me more than one, with the Pool being that huge. And once I map out all the entrances, we can track who's a Controller. Maybe keep track of Yeerk projects. Spy on Visser Three.)
It wasn't a bad idea. I nodded, unable to use thought speech outside of a morph, and too tired to morph again.
"Sure. And you don't need to hunt, unless you want to. We can bring you food," I told him, in a whisper.
Tobias did a sort of bird nod. (Well, it's late. Too late for a red-tailed hawk like me to do much except get some rest. These eyes aren't much better than a human's in the dark.)
"Sleep well," Jake put in, sounding kind of choked up.
(See ya.)
We turned to each other as Tobias left, and I just gave Jake the biggest hug I could.
"What was that for?" Jake asked, smiling a little, after we let go.
"I can't hug my kid brother?" I protested, getting back into bed.
"I never said that," Jake answered, curling up next to me.
Later, we heard Dad get in, then talk to someone like he was on his cell. Something about having gotten into a minor accident with a crazed patient at work, but he'd be fine.
I knew he hadn't gotten out of the Yeerk Pool without his slug, but this pretty much confirmed it.
Jake slumped against me.
"Next time," I promised. "We'll free him next time."
The End