Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

That was one of the moments that stuck in my mind. That pure, unadulterated, impotent rage that left Marco feeling burnt out.

These books are far, far better than a lot I've read.

# ? Oct 5, 2020 08:41

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 18:53

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Erek changing schools is (mild spoiler since we've already seen what happened when he got hit by the bus) something he'd have to do regularly so people didn't twig to him not ageing, right? Or actually, as I write that, that doesn't make sense at all, since he's in total control of his hologram's appearance.

# ? Oct 5, 2020 09:31

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

Perfectly normal....hit by a bus. Turned into a weird steel/plastic thing.

I just realized I basically wrote this character and sequence/plot reveal in another project of mine a few years back. I didn't even remember this book and barely remembered Erek's character :psyduck:

# ? Oct 5, 2020 10:32

Ednamamame: Dec 12, 2019

freebooter posted:

Erek changing schools is (mild spoiler since we've already seen what happened when he got hit by the bus) something he'd have to do regularly so people didn't twig to him not ageing, right? Or actually, as I write that, that doesn't make sense at all, since he's in total control of his hologram's appearance.

Don't they play out a life under a hologram, childhood to old age then they 'die' and start over? It's been a long time since I read this one.

I love how the Marco and Tobias snarkfests continue, completely missed that first readthrough, but they play off each other in such a fun, belligerent way.

# ? Oct 5, 2020 11:48

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

Homora Gaykemi posted:

i can't tell you where i'm from, and i say kill 'em all!

Popping foward in time from many days of thread catchup to say this is the perfect thread title forever :v:

# ? Oct 5, 2020 17:21

King of Foolians: Mar 16, 2006; Long live the King!

quote:

We�d called a meeting, and now everyone except Ax was in Cassie�s barn.

Cassie�s barn is actually the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It�s a sort of hospital for messed-up wild animals. Cassie�s parents are both veterinarians.

Has anyone else noticed this editing error? In every book we get an introduction to Cassie�s barn but sometimes it�s called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (Book3, MM, and here in Book 10) and sometimes it called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic (books 1,2,4,5,6,7 and 9, I couldn�t find it mentioned by Ax in book 8 though).

Glad you�re feeling better Epicurius, it�s good having this thread moving again! I loved this series as a kid and still have my original full set of books. It�s fun revisiting them!

# ? Oct 5, 2020 22:54

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

King of Foolians posted:

Has anyone else noticed this editing error? In every book we get an introduction to Cassie�s barn but sometimes it�s called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (Book3, MM, and here in Book 10) and sometimes it called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic (books 1,2,4,5,6,7 and 9, I couldn�t find it mentioned by Ax in book 8 though).

Glad you�re feeling better Epicurius, it�s good having this thread moving again! I loved this series as a kid and still have my original full set of books. It�s fun revisiting them!

Thanks. I'm really glad I can be doing this, and that we can talk about Cassie's Wildlfire Rehibilitation Clinic/Center

# ? Oct 6, 2020 00:13

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

King of Foolians posted:

Has anyone else noticed this editing error?

Yeah, it should correctly be spelt "centre"

# ? Oct 6, 2020 01:05

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Alien-Chapter 8

quote:

I hooked up with Jake and the two of us rode our bikes to Cassie�s farm. He didn�t say anything about my conversation with Tom. Jake knew how I felt. We�ve all felt it before.

From Cassie�s farm we walked across the fields to the edge of the forest. There�s a place we meet there, deep enough in the trees that no one is likely to see us.

Rachel and Cassie were already there. Cassie was on her knees in the pine needles, looking into a burrow hole. I have no idea what was in there, but she seemed fascinated. Rachel was sitting on a fallen log.

�Tobias is off finding Ax,� Rachel said as we approached.

�I think there are three of them,� Cassie said. I guess she was talking about whatever was in that burrow.

�So? What�s the big panic?� Rachel asked.

Before Jake or I could answer, I heard something crashing through the brush.

He leaped into view, sailing over the log Rachel was sitting on. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.

�Hey, Ax,� I said. �Very dramatic entrance.�

Of course, any appearance by Ax was going to be dramatic. Ax is an Andalite. The only Andalite to survive when their Dome ship was destroyed by the Yeerks in high orbit. He�s an alien.

You know how on Star Trek the aliens are always just humans with a little nose putty and some bad outfits? But they basically look human and act human and speak English?

Well, Ax isn�t like that. You take one look at Ax and you know he isn�t from around here.

Picture a sort of big, blue-and-tan deer. Only instead of a deer neck and head, you have a semihuman chest with two weak arms, topped by a head that is definitely unusual. Ax has no mouth and four eyes. Two of his eyes are in the usual location, but his other two eyes are mounted on stalks on top of his head. The stalk eyes can aim totally independently. Ax can look right at you with his two main eyes, and still be looking behind him with one stalk and off to the right with his other stalk.

It�s kind of unsettling, till you get used to it.

Semi-human chest,,,adds more depth to the "Where are Andalite arms?" debate.

quote:

But not nearly as unsettling as his tail. The tail makes you think scorpion. It curves up and over, so that the razor-sharp blade-tip is usually poised somewhere above his sloping shoulders.

That tail is fast and dangerous. Very fast, very dangerous. Basically, Ax could slice-and-dice a human into bite-sized chunks in about two seconds.

Fortunately, Ax is on our side.

<Hello, Prince Jake. Hello Marco, Rachel. Cassie? Did you lose something?>

Cassie stood up. Then, as an afterthought, she brushed off her knees. �Baby opossums,� she said, by way of explanation. �Too big for the pouch, not ready to leave the den.�

�Don�t tell Tobias,� I said. �He�ll eat �em.�

 Tobias said.

I looked up in surprise. He was in the tree above me. I hadn�t heard him arrive.

Cassie shrugged. �Tobias is a hawk. He has a right to be a hawk.� Then she looked up at Tobias and smiled. �Of course, they are awfully cute.�

<Oh, man,> Tobias groaned. <Okay, okay, this litter is off-limits. Happy now?>

�You�re a sweetheart, Tobias,� Cassie said.

<We should move while we talk,> Tobias suggested. <There are some kids playing soldier just about three hundred yards west. Let�s stay well out of range.>

We all started walking east, and Tobias went up again to scout ahead for any danger.

�Okay, Marco,� Jake said after a few minutes. �This is your party. What�s up?�

I told them all what Tobias and I had seen. Tobias came back and added some details. Then I looked to Ax.

�So, Ax, you�re the official alien. What does this sound like to you?�

Ax turned his head toward me, making eye contact with his main eyes. <Marco? Something has happened to your hair. I believe it has become shorter. Are you suffering from some sort of illness?>

Another haircut insult. That poor cover model.

"The book you modeled for is here!"
<Kid leafs through the book, then, sobbing> "It's all making fun of my hair cut. The entire book."

quote:

�That does it!� I yelled, as the others all broke up giggling. �It�ll grow out, all right? It�ll grow out. Besides, it�s easier to take care of. Man! I make one little change!�

<Have I said something wrong?> Ax wondered.

�No,� Jake assured him. �Not at all. Marco is just a little sensitive. Go ahead, Ax. What do you think about this Erek person?�



�What? Dude, you�re the expert on aliens,� I pointed out.

<Marco, even we Andalites don�t know every species in the galaxy.>

I swear he sounded embarrassed. Although since he was using thought-speak, maybe �sounded� isn�t the right word.

�You don�t recognize the description?� Jake asked.

<No.>

�The way you guys describe it, it sounds more like a robot or something,� Rachel ventured. �But how does it pass for human?�

<Oh, that is technologically possible,> Ax said, relieved to be able to add something to our speculation. <It�s probably a holographic projection. Like your primitive TV, only three dimensional.>

�Primitive TV? Hey, we have cable at my house,� I said. Ax didn�t think it was funny, but Cassie smiled.

Tobias swooped low over our heads and came to rest on a branch. <So when Erek gets hit by the bus, he drops the hologram for just a split second.>

<The power supply may have been interrupted or overloaded,> Ax suggested. <But that�s the interesting question: What power supply? It would take a great deal of power to maintain such a hologram, hour after hour, day after day.>

�Hey, maybe Erek is nuclear-powered,� I said.

Ax laughed. Then I guess he realized I wasn�t joking. he said, still sort of giggling like I was the primitive moron of the universe. 

�Is there any way to see through this hologram?� Cassie asked.

�We could hit him with something as big as a bus,� Rachel suggested.

�Now, there�s a classic Rachel suggestion,� I said with a laugh. I was feeling better, hanging with my friends.

�Marco found out The Sharing is having a little waterskiing thing up at the lake,� Jake said. He bit his lip and added, �Tom told him. Erek is in The Sharing. He�ll probably be there, too. Perfect chance for us to get a good look at him. That�s the �where.� Now we just need the �how.��

Ax thought for a moment as we ambled through the woods. <The hologram is meant to trick humans. It would be tuned for human sight. Hawk eyes are better than human, but still see similar wavelengths of light. Maybe a totally different sort of vision would be able to penetrate the hologram.>

My heart sank. I knew what was coming next. Some gross morph.

�Unusual vision is our specialty,� Rachel said with a careless laugh. She slapped me on the back like life was just one big adventure.

Sometimes Rachel really grinds my nerves.

�No bugs, okay?� I said. �All I�m saying is, no more insect morphs. Is that too much to ask?�

Probably something that sees further in the ultraviolet or infared spectrum than people? The problem is, the only animal I can think of off the top of my head that sees ultraviolet light is bees, which is an insect. Some snakes, like Ax's rattlesnake, can sense heat.

Chapter 9

quote:

I guess it was too much to ask, as I found out a couple days later.

�What do you mean, we�re going to draw straws?� I asked suspiciously.

�To see who morphs our new morph,� Rachel said. �Ax is in, regardless. We need his expertise in aliens. One of us has to go in with him.�

�What�s the morph?� I asked suspiciously.

�Spider,� Cassie said.

We were at Cassie�s barn. It was Saturday morning. On Friday I�d found out I�d gotten a �B� on my English paper. How cool is that? I�d stayed up watching TV with my dad and been late for this meeting.[quote]

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.

[quote]This was the kind of insanity they cooked up when I wasn�t there.

�Excuse me? I must have something wrong with my ears.� I tapped the side of my head with my palm. �Because, see, I thought I heard you say the word �spider.� And I remember saying �no insects.��

Cassie held her hand out to me. And in that hand was a spider. �It�s not an insect. Arachnids have eight legs and two body segments. Insects have six legs and three segments.�

I swear, I took a look at that spider and almost passed out.

�Since I knew we were doing this today, I decided to do some reading. This is a wolf spider. It has pretty good eyesight. In fact, it has eight eyes.�

Cassie said this like having eight eyes was a good thing. Like eight eyes was something everyone should want.
�
Go away, Cassie. Go away. Go away, go away, I am not going to morph a spider! You can morph a spider. I don�t like spiders.�

Jake gave me a look. �Marco, Cassie always gets stuck doing the new morphs. Besides, this is more your mission than anyone else�s.�

�What? Why?� I demanded angrily. �Why is this my mission more than yours or Rachel�s?�

Jake shrugged. �Erek is your friend.�

�My friend? When did I ever say he was my friend? He�s not my friend. I barely know the guy!�

�Marco, you�re such a wuss,� Rachel said.

�Hey, you want to be a spider?�

Rachel shuddered slightly. �Sure.� She was lying. I just knew it. �If I draw the short straw, I�d love to go spider.�

Then she grinned. She couldn�t keep a straight face.

�Look, you don�t have to do this,� Jake said. �It�s just that we�re going to be infiltrating a meeting of The Sharing. The Yeerks are totally on alert for animal morphs. We have to fit into the environment of the lake. Whatever morphs we use have to belong there. We can�t be showing up there as lions and tigers and bears.�

�Oh, my,� Cassie interjected.

�We need good vision, but not standard mammal-type eyes. And we can�t all go in the same way. I want two people to hang back as a rescue squad in case we get into a mess. Ax has to go because we need him to see if he can figure out what Erek is. Ax is going in as a spider, and we need someone
to go with him.�

�Has anyone told Ax about this?�

�He was here earlier. While you were sleeping in late. He said he thought a spider�s body was much more sensible than a human�s body,� Cassie said.

�His exact words were, �Ah, good. With eight legs it won�t fall over like a human.��

�Be glad we waited for you at all,� Rachel growled. �Just draw a straw.�

Jake had five pieces of hay in his fist.

There was no way to tell which was the shortest one.

�Hah. I know how to beat this,� I said. �It�s mathematical. If I choose first, my odds are just one in five. The next person to choose has odds of one in four, then one in three, and so on. So the safest thing to do is choose first.�

I took a deep breath, reached out, and yanked up a straw.

I took another deep breath and looked at the very short straw. �Really, it made perfect sense mathematically,� I said.

I felt like crying.

Rachel rolled her eyes. �You know, if you�re going to be a big baby, I�ll do it.�

I should have just said �okay.� That�s what I should have said. What I did say to Rachel was,

�Don�t condescend to me, oh mighty Xena. Just because I�m not a reckless idiot doesn�t mean I�m a wuss. I�ve never chickened out on a morph yet. And if Ax is in, so am I. You can hang around and be the backup, Rachel. I�m going where the action is.�

To which Rachel replied with a very calm, �Okay.�

See, this is why guys and girls should not be in combat together. Because it�s much harder for a guy to be a coward when some girl is watching. Especially when she�s all gung ho. If it had just been Jake and Tobias, I�d have been weeping and groveling on the ground.

Cassie held out the spider. �It�s not bad,� she said. �I morphed the spider yesterday, just to see what it was like. Charlotte�s Web was one of my favorite books.�

�It would be,� I muttered. Well, that was the clincher. Rachel was ready to go, and Cassie had already done it.

I reached out a finger to touch the spider. It was shaking. My finger, not the spider.

I touched the spider�s back. It tried to get away but Cassie closed her hand around the spider and the tip of my finger.

The spider became very still as I acquired it. Thanks to the Andalite technology that had transformed me, the spider DNA entered my system.

Maybe the Yeerks were right. Maybe the Andalites were just the big meddlers of the universe. I know one thing: At that moment, as I touched the spider�s bristly body, I really wished the Andalites had found someone else to give this power to.

Poor Marco with his arachnophobia.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Oct 7, 2020

# ? Oct 6, 2020 01:44

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

Hey kudos to the Animorphs actually planning to have a team hang back in case trouble erupts; it seems like the kids are learning. Hopefully Marco tests out this morph rather than doing it for the first time at the Sharing meeting.

# ? Oct 6, 2020 03:29

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

on the one hand, Cassie's already acquired and tested the morph and/or Rachel's volunteered and Marco is clearly very reluctant.

on the other hand, it's a Marco book, nothing we can do

# ? Oct 6, 2020 03:55

Synesthesian Fetish: Apr 29, 2008; Ya know, I useta be President... I'll let you kids punch me anywhere but the face for a dollar.

Epicurius posted:

The Alien-Chapter 8
I hooked up with Jake

Marco is bi confirmed (I am a child)

# ? Oct 6, 2020 04:06

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

Synesthesian Fetish posted:

Marco is bi confirmed (I am a child)

Sadly for Marco, Jake has eyes only for Cassie and military hardware

# ? Oct 6, 2020 04:42

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

I love that "It made sense mathematically" bit.

# ? Oct 6, 2020 06:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Android-Chapter 9

quote:

The lake is in the mountains. It�s a long way from where any of us live. And if we�d had to walk it would have taken several days. Fortunately, we didn�t have to walk.

We have our own little airline. TWA: Travel With Animorphs.

It was a beautiful day. Just a few puffy clouds in a blue sky. Bright sun. A canopy of trees spread out beneath us as we flew toward the mountains.

With my osprey wings spread wide and the sun toasting the ground so it sent up elevators of warm air, it was as perfect as life can get.

If you overlooked the fact that we were heading toward utter, unspeakable grossness and certain destruction.

<Time to split up,> Tobias said. <The lake is just over that next ridge.>

We had not been flying close together because that would have looked massively suspicious.

Two ospreys, a harrier, a bald eagle, a peregrine, and a red-tailed hawk, all flying together? Not in the natural world. But we were all within a mile of each other, and all heading in the same direction.

Tobias went into a lazy upward spiral, hanging back. Rachel and Cassie split off, too. The Yeerks would have heavy security around the meeting of The Sharing. The Yeerks know all about morphing. They would be on alert.

Ax, in a harrier morph, Jake, in his peregrine falcon morph, and I flew on toward the lake, though still far apart.

<You know, one of your kind tried to kill me the other day,> I said to Jake.

<Tobias told me,> Jake said. <Gotta watch out. Falcons rule.>

<Yeah, well I noticed he didn�t try it a second time.>

<Don�t diss falcons,> Jake said.

<One-on-one in a fair fight, an osprey would kick your butt.>

<As if,> Jake sneered.

<Excuse me,> Ax interrupted. <Is there some special meaning to this conversation that I don�t understand?>

<Yeah,> I said. <The meaning is that Jake and I are scared, so we�re babbling in a desperate effort not to think about it.>

<Ah. I am frightened, too. I don�t really like morphing tiny animals. I keep thinking about all the rest of my mass.>

<Your what?> I asked, not really caring. I was focused on the morphing ahead.

<My mass. When you morph something smaller than yourself, your body mass must go somewhere. So it goes into Zero-space. Zero-space is the space that ships travel through when they are going faster than light. It�s not very likely to happen, but sometimes a ship traveling in Z-space will intersect with a temporarily parked mass.>

This got my total, complete attention.

<Wait a minute. Are you telling me that when we get small, all the leftover � stuff � all the extra flesh and guts and bones go bulging into Zero-space like some big balloon of human tissue?>

<Of course. Where did you think all the mass went?>

I shuddered. 

Jake was no more thrilled than I was. <So right now there�s a big bag of Jake floating in Zerospace? And it�s possible some spaceship will zoom along and hit it and splatter it all over?>

<No, no, of course not,> Ax said.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Too soon, it turned out.

<Of course no ship would actually hit a floating mass,> Ax said, talking to us like we were nitwits. <The ship�s shielding systems would disintegrate the mass. That�s what troubles me about doing small morphs. It very seldom happens. The odds are millions to one. But it could happen.>'

That's kind of disconcerting.

quote:

Jake and I thought about this for a while. About a spaceship �disintegrating� some big wad of our mass. It was not a pretty picture.

<Hey, Ax?> Jake said. <You know how we wanted you to be honest with us? To tell us everything you know?>

<Yes, Prince Jake.>



<A big wad of Marco in Zero-space,> I muttered. <Like hanging your butt out of a car window, waiting for a truck to come along and sideswipe it off.>

Just at that moment, I topped the crest of the ridge. Tall pines nearly scraped my belly. And there, spread out before me, sparkling in the sun, was a large lake nestled between the surrounding hills and mountains.

<Okay, boys,> Jake said. <This is where I peel off. Just one final word. I know spiders eat bugs, so do not, I repeat, do not, eat any flies. I�ll have enough to worry about in fly morph.>

<Remind me again,> I said. <Why are we doing this instead of staying home and sleeping in late?>

<We�re saving the world,> Jake said.

<Oh, yeah. Great. My mass is hanging out in the Zero-space highway and I�m about to become Spiderman. I knew there had to be a pretty good reason.>

So long as it's a GOOD reason.

Chapter 10

quote:

There were probably two hundred people around the lake below us - boys, girls, older people. Some were swimming. Some were waterskiing. Some were grilling burgers and hot dogs over charcoal fires. A lot were just milling around and talking and laughing.

You�d swear it was some kind of big community picnic. From the air they all looked so normal.

And probably most of the people below us were normal. But a lot of them were Controllers. And one of them was Erek, who was certainly not normal.

We stayed well back from the lakeshore and dropped down into the trees. We came to rest on the ground, inside a cluster of tall bushes.

My osprey vision and osprey hearing had revealed no one within a hundred yards. But I was tingling with nervousness, just the same.

<Shall we demorph?> Ax asked.

<Not yet. Tobias said he would swing back over, once we were on the ground.>

So we waited there, looking a bit weird, two birds of prey just hanging out inside a bunch of bushes at the edge of the forest. I could hear the whine of power boats out on the water, and closer, little snatches of human laughter.

<Okay, guys,> Tobias�s thought-speak voice suddenly spoke in my head. <Looks clear to me.

You�ve got a guy and a girl maybe a hundred yards off. But I think they�re making out, so they should be busy for a while.>

I quickly began to demorph. One of the limitations on morphing is that you can�t just morph straight from one form to another. You always have to return to your own body in between.

In Ax�s case this meant returning to his Andalite form. That had to make him nervous. There were dozens of Controllers just a few hundred feet away. Yeerks might overlook one kid sneaking around. They wouldn�t overlook an Andalite.

<Are you ready to morph again?> Ax asked me, once we were back in our normal bodies.

�I�ll never be ready to morph a spider,� I said. My teeth were chattering, and it wasn�t cold.

 Ax said. 

�Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. Okay. Okay, I�m going to do this. But I�m going to keep my eyes closed.�

I focused my mind on the spider. But I lost concentration, mostly because even the image of that wolf spider grossed me out. Then Ax started to change. I knew I couldn�t just stand there and watch. I knew I had to morph.

�It can�t be any worse than morphing a fly, right? Or an ant?� I asked no one. Not that I wanted to think about the ant morph. We�d had a very, very, very bad time in ant morph.

I closed my eyes and focused again. This time I kept my concentration.

I felt myself starting to shrink. Shrinking is always a little weird, but now I was also thinking about some big, disgusting balloon of Marco mass suddenly bulging out into Zero-space. Whatever Zero-space was.

I could feel myself getting smaller. I could feel very strange things happening inside me: sudden feelings of emptiness where organs were simply disappearing. And there was a distracting squishy sound that came up my spine and through my skull.
The sound of bones turning to marrow, and of marrow sort of oozing away.

I wouldn�t be needing any bones, I guess.

I kept my eyes tightly shut, not wanting to see what was happening. And I held on to my fears with a death grip of determination. I mean, if there�s anything worse than being a spider, it�s being some disgusting mix of half human, half spider.

But then �

POP! POP! POP!

I could see! I tried to close my eyes, but no! I didn�t have eyelids. It�s very hard to close your eyes when you don�t have eyelids.

Eyes were popping open in my forehead. Eyes were erupting out of my head like zits.

I almost lost it right then. I would have screamed if I�d had a voice any longer. But I was already half spider. And I was staring at Ax as he underwent a change very similar to my own.

I was watching him with vision that was half human and half the shattered, broken-mirror vision
of the spider�s compound eyes.

Something horrifying was growing from the place on Ax�s face where a mouth should have been.

Something huge and bulging and foul. Two monstrous, swollen things like � like nothing I�d ever seen before. They were jaws, but huge and outsized. From the end of each one, a wicked, curved fang grew.

Sometimes you really, really need eyelids. There are definitely some things you don�t want to have to see.

I knew the same thing was happening to me. My bulging jaw parts grew till they entered my own distorted field of vision.

Fortunately, I didn�t have to worry too long about the jaws. See, I became distracted when legs suddenly exploded from my chest.

SPROOOT!

Four new legs, two on each side, just shot out of me, like I was a tube of toothpaste someone had stomped. They sprouted all Gumby-unformed, then began to form joints. Way too many joints.

My human legs and arms were changing to match these first spider legs. I fell forward, no longer able to stand erect.

It wasn�t much of a fall. I was already pretty small. The pine needles beneath me already seemed to be as big around as a human finger.

Not that I had any fingers left to compare with.

All the while, new eyes kept opening suddenly where eyes absolutely did not belong. Some were compound eyes. Some weren�t.

Then, as if the extra legs, and the mix �n match eyes, and the huge jaw-and-fang combo weren�t enough, some new leglike things came sprouting out of my � well, out of where my neck used to be.

They were like extra legs, only they weren�t. I had no idea what they were. But they moved. Much later, I found out they�re called pedipalps. A sort of cross between a mouth part and a leg.

My head was swelling, compared to the rest of my body. It was gigantic � in a small way. My entire body was now divided into two big chunks: a sort of bulging head and an even bulgier body.

I was almost entirely spider now. The pine needles that had seemed as big as fingers were now as big as two-by-fours.

As the last touch, strangely soft hairs began to grow from everywhere on my body. It was the hair that seemed to trigger the awakening of the spider brain.

The wolf spider has good eyes for a spider. But it�s all the thousands of tiny hairs that really get the spider brain�s attention. They sense every subtle clue in the wind. Every minor movement in every direction.

And all of a sudden it felt like the whole world was moving: leaves, pine needles, the dirt beneath my claw-tipped eight legs, bugs in the dirt, moles under the ground, birds in the air.

All of it seemed to be hardwired into the hairs that covered my spider body.

With all that sensory overload, the spider brain woke up. I had been afraid it would be like the brain of an ant: a mindless machine. Or that it would be the terrified, fearful, panic-stricken mind of a prey animal.

But oh, no. Definitely no.

They didn�t call it a wolf spider for nothing.

This guy was tiny, no more than two inches from the end of one outstretched leg to the end of the farthest back leg. A toddler could easily crush him underfoot.

But I guess it isn�t size alone that makes a predator, because as soon as I felt the edge of that spider brain I knew this boy was trouble.

The wolf spider was a killer.

Hooray for body horror!

# ? Oct 7, 2020 04:00

Synesthesian Fetish: Apr 29, 2008; Ya know, I useta be President... I'll let you kids punch me anywhere but the face for a dollar.

Epicurius posted:

The Android-Chapter 9
We have our own little airline. TWA: Travel With Animorphs

Referencing TWA really dates the series. I didn't realize it didn't go out of business until 2001

# ? Oct 7, 2020 08:01

Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

Okay, so their mass goes to z-space when they morph, but where does their mass come from when they turn into a big animal

# ? Oct 7, 2020 16:49

King of Foolians: Mar 16, 2006; Long live the King!

Terror Sweat posted:

Okay, so their mass goes to z-space when they morph, but where does their mass come from when they turn into a big animal

Negative Z-space?

# ? Oct 7, 2020 17:08

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

They borrow the mass from someone else who's morphing a small animal at the same time. Take a penny, leave a penny.

# ? Oct 7, 2020 17:16

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

This book, btw is cursed. As soon as I started it, I wound up in the hospital for 2 weeks, and today, there was a bad storm that knocked out my power and internet and left me with intermittent phone internet access. So I'm posting this to let you know updates will be postponed until tomorrow, assuming I can even get this to post.

Sorry about all this. I really like this book and I want to show you all why. Fate, however, is not cooperating.

# ? Oct 8, 2020 03:25

Synesthesian Fetish: Apr 29, 2008; Ya know, I useta be President... I'll let you kids punch me anywhere but the face for a dollar.

Epicurius posted:

This book, btw is cursed. As soon as I started it, I wound up in the hospital for 2 weeks, and today, there was a bad storm that knocked out my power and internet and left me with intermittent phone internet access. So I'm posting this to let you know updates will be postponed until tomorrow, assuming I can even get this to post.

Sorry about all this. I really like this book and I want to show you all why. Fate, however, is not cooperating.

Yeerk needing to go visit the pool confirmed. Nice try

# ? Oct 8, 2020 04:28

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Synesthesian Fetish posted:

Yeerk needing to go visit the pool confirmed. Nice try

I can't tell you my real name or where I'm from. It isn't that I don't want to, but if I did, my life would be in danger. Earth is under attack by aliens. And they could be anywhere or anything. They call themselves Andalites, and they have special powers that let them transform into any animal. It's up to me, my friends, and our commander Visser 3 to stop them so that we can bring peace back to Earth, and finish integrating it into the Yeerk empire.

# ? Oct 8, 2020 20:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I'm back from the Kandrona p....I mean, my power and internet is back, so without further review,

Book 10: The Android-Chapter 11

quote:

Hunger.

That was pretty much what the spider mind had to say: hunger, it was hungry. It wanted to hunt. It wanted to kill. It wanted to eat up a few nice juicy bugs. It was hungry.

Did I mention hunger?

And it didn�t care what kind of bug. Could be beetles, could be grasshoppers, could be crickets, could be a big mean mantis. The spider didn�t care. It ruled the world of bugs. It was to bugs what a lion is to a herd of antelopes. It was a shark among guppies.

They could run from the wolf spider, but they couldn�t hide.

Motion! Something moved, left to right across my field of vision, and I was after it like a dog after a rabbit. Eight legs powered up and I blew across the forest floor like a drag racer firing out of the starting gate.

The world was weird to my eight spider eyes. I saw colors no human ever saw. It was like when you mess with the color and tint knobs on the TV. Things that should have been brown were blue, and green was red, or whatever. From some angles the pictures were almost clear, but a second later
everything would shatter into bits and I�d be watching a million tiny monitors at once.

I never could make logical sense out of it.

But mostly what I saw was movement. I was very, very interested in movement. My eyes and every hair on my disgusting little body were about spotting movement.

And when the right thing moved, my body just answered all on its own.

It was a rush, as they used to say in my dad�s day. A charge. It was like tapping into the main pipe of adrenaline. It was electric. It was nuclear. I blew across pine needles and fallen leaves and over patches of dirt and I kept that moving bug in my field of vision and I knew what I was doing, I mean, I knew I was Marco, a human in morph, and I knew I didn�t really want to eat that racing bug, but man, I was too jazzed to stop.

The prey was running and I was the predator. I had evolved for hundreds of millions of years to do exactly this. When Tyrannosaurus rex was still millions of years away from even thinking about evolving, tiny arachnid hunters were killing and eating. The entire history of Homo sapiens from caveman to soccer mom was a blip in the history of spiders.

I was death on eight legs.

It was a beetle. That�s what I was chasing. A big old beetle, much larger than I was. Larger and slower. He grew in my distorted field of vision. He grew and grew and I powered on.

I wish I could explain why I kept on with the hunt. Sometimes the animal brain takes over for a while and sort of overwhelms the human mind. But that�s not what was happening to me. I wasn�t overwhelmed. I was just into it.

A last burst of speed!

My front legs touched the beetle. He dodged left, but too slow.

I clambered right up on his back.

I positioned my jaws with their deadly fangs, and -

<Marco. What are you doing?>

It was Ax. I scampered down off the beetle, feeling like I�d been caught doing something wrong.

The beetle ran on, relieved to have escaped. If beetles can feel relief.

<Nothing. I was just letting the spider be a spider.> It was a pretty good answer, I thought. 

<Marco, I morphed the identical spider,> Ax said.

I felt a wave of guilt and shame suddenly swell up inside me. <Ax, it was just a cockroach. Who cares? Come on, we have a job to do.>

<Sometimes humans worry me,> Ax said.

I didn�t ask him what he meant.

Why had I gotten so into the hunt? Why hadn�t I resisted the urge?

I flashed on the rage I�d felt when I talked to Tom. Was that it?

So do you think this was just sublimated anger for Marco? I wonder how much of it is the fact that humans are omnivores who hunt, and Andalites are naturally herbivores, in fact, so far, of the intelligent species we've seen, only humans and Taxxons eat meat.

quote:

Ax said. He took the lead and I saw him moving in front of me, a spider scurrying effortlessly on his eight legs.

I fell in behind him. I was calm now. The incredible, insane rush of the chase was over. Now the spider was just a tool I was using.

Suddenly, from the sky � something fell toward me!

It landed right between Ax and me. A grasshopper, three, four times our size. It looked like an elephant.

Then � thwap! It fired its huge hind legs and shot into the air. It disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

We raced on through the forest, covering the two hundred feet between us and the edge of the party. I sensed the nearness of humans. I �heard� vibrations that might have been speech, but the voices were too garbled to make any sense out of.

<Hey, Marco, Ax, you guys around?>

It was Jake�s thought-speak voice.

<Yes, Prince Jake,> Ax answered. <We are here.>

<We�re not pretty, but we�re here,> I added.

<Cool. I�m not exactly handsome myself. I�m in fly morph. Haven�t found our boy Erek yet, though.>

Something massive and slow appeared in the air above me. I scampered sideways. It landed slowly with a loud WHOOOMPHHH!

A human foot. A shoe. Nike.

<You know, I�d been worrying someone might step on me,> I said. <But humans are so slow.>

<Be careful anyway,> Jake said. <Let me know if you find Erek.>

 I complained. <These spider eyes aren�t good at seeing distances. And human heads seem to be way up in the clouds, from where I�m crawling down here.>

But Ax and I went on, skittering swiftly through a forest of huge, slow-moving legs and feet.

Then, right in front of me, I saw it.

It looked like a bare human foot. Except that I could see through the skin. Through the toenails.

With my eight strange, distorted spider eyes I could see right through the electronic haze of the hologram. I could see what was beneath the hologram.

I saw what looked like interlocking plates of steel and ivory. The �foot� had no toes. In fact, it wasn�t shaped like a human foot. More like a paw.

It was not human. And everything in my tingling, buzzing, hyper, spider�s senses told me it was not alive.

<Ax?>

<Yes, I see it.>

<What is it?>



<It looks like a machine, almost. Like it�s made out of metal.>

<Yes,> Ax said. [.quote]

He said the name of the book! Also, this is the first android we've seen.

Chapter 12

[quote]<An android?>

<Yes. A robot. A machine made to seem like a life-form,> Ax said, as though it was just the most common idea in the world.

<This is like something you know about, Ax?> I asked, looking up at the thing called Erek.

<This is not a type of android I know,> Ax said. <It is not Andalite. I don�t think it is Yeerk. I don�t know who � or what � it is.>

My spider eyes could see the foot and most of the way up the leg. It was like looking at a double-exposure photograph. There was the outward appearance of a human leg and, way up high, shorts. But beneath all that there was this machine made of what seemed like steel and ivory. It was thousands of interlocked plates, almost like the chain mail armor knights used to wear
.
Each of the individual links was roughly triangular in shape. The �ivory� segments were a little larger than the segments that looked like steel.

The robot � android � whatever it was, was smaller than the human Erek. The leg I was looking at was oddly constructed. More like a stretched-out dog leg than a human leg.

The robot leg, along with its holographic projection of a human foot, lifted off, as Erek went on his way.

<Jake?> I called.

<Yeah? Hey, I think I see our guy. There�s this person � it�s hard with fly senses, but I see this person who is kind of shimmering all over, and it�s like there�s something hiding underneath all the shimmering light.>

<Yep. That�s him,> I confirmed.

<Wait a minute! There�s another one!>

<What?>

<Another one of them,> Jake answered. 

<Okay, now things have gotten com -> I started to say.

FWAP! FWAP! FWAP! FWAP!

A hurricane of wind!

The ground in front of me exploded as two big taloned feet landed in the dirt. A shadow over my head! I ran.

Two big black triangles came down from the sky above me. They dug in, just in front of me! Just behind me!

Like a power shovel, the two triangles closed together. I was inside. I was in darkness. Total darkness. Some big, muscular thing was crushing me, squeezing me.

I couldn�t breathe. I couldn�t see. I was being squeezed and pummeled.

And then I realized �

I was being swallowed.

<AAAAAHHHHH!> I yelled.

There are two kinds of thought-speak. Private, which is like whispering right in one person�s ear, and public, which is like yelling.
I was yelling.

Every person near that lake heard me. Normal humans, who probably wondered, �What was that?� And Controllers, who knew it was thought-speak.

But I didn�t care. I was being swallowed.

<Marco!> Jake yelled. <What�s happening?>

<Marco! Everyone can hear you!> Ax warned.

I tried to control my panic. I was being swallowed, but I wasn�t dead yet.

<Something � something just grabbed me!> I said, aiming my thought-speak at Jake and Ax only.

 Ax said. 

My spider legs were crushed against my side. Two of them were broken. The hairs all over my body were blind. My eyes were blind. There wasn�t enough air even for my spider body to live on.

I was being forced down the gullet of a bird, flying through the air, and seconds away from suffocating.

<Tobias?> I cried desperately. <Can you hear me?>

<Marco? What�s happening?> Tobias answered. His reply came from far off.

<A bird ate me. Black bird. We�re flying. Can you see � Help!>

<Marco, there are a dozen big crows flying. I can�t tell which one.>

I felt my mind beginning to fade. The spider was dying. What would happen if the spider died? I wondered, as my attention drifted away. What would happen to the big wad of Marco mass in Zspace?

That thought did it. I was outta there.

Morph out!

I tried to form a mental picture of my own real self. A mental picture of a human named Marco. But it was all confused. My mind was dying, and as it sank it called up a thousand images. Images of wolves and giant ants and gorillas. Images of all the animals I had been, all the minds I had lived in.
I couldn�t grab that human image and hold onto it. But then, floating up in my disintegrating consciousness, came the image of my mother.

I guess that�s not a surprise. They say dying soldiers on the battlefield often call out for their mothers with their dying breaths. And I guess that�s what I was doing, too.

But this was my real mother. The way she�d been when she was truly alive. Not the Controller.

Not the Controller known as Visser One, but my own real mom.

She was smiling at me. She was much taller than me, but she bent down to pick me up. I flew, up in the air, up to her face. She kissed me.

�You are going to grow up to be so cute,� she said. �My little Marco.�

Marco. The human boy. I saw myself clearly then, like I was looking through her eyes at the little toddler I�d been. Not the Animorph Marco, but the little kid Marco.

Suddenly �

The pressure was growing. Growing. I was squeezed from all sides. I felt muscle tensing to restrain me, but then, the muscle weakened and quivered.
A ripping, tearing sound!

Light! Light!
I was demorphing. Demorphing and growing. I had burst through the throat of the crow! And now, I was falling!

<Marco!> Tobias yelled.

Muddy, distorted vision showed me the crow falling alongside me.

I was falling. Falling through the air, a vile mix of crippled spider and emerging human.

I was the size of a baseball, I guess, and getting bigger. I hate to even think of what I looked like.

I know I wasn�t pretty.

WHAMMMMM!

I hit the ground. I bounced. I hit the ground again.

I lay there, not knowing where I was, or what I was. But I knew one thing for sure. I was going to demorph. I was getting OUT OF THAT MORPH!

If I�d had a mouth, I would have started screaming and never stopped. But my mouth reappeared late. Four of my spider legs withered and disappeared.

My remaining legs became human arms and legs. My tiny claws became toes. My fangs and jaws became teeth and lips. My eight spider eyes shut down one after another, leaving only two. And slowly, those two eyes became fully human.

I looked up through human eyes at a blue sky. At the high branches of trees looming above me.

And then, I looked up into the face of my former schoolmate, Erek.

Erek the android.

So that could be a problem.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 01:45

Shwoo: Jul 21, 2011

Marco knows a surprising amount about spider evolution for an arachnophobe. Also, that poor crow

# ? Oct 9, 2020 03:02

Grammarchist: Jan 28, 2013

Classic X-Com moment where one of your poor dudes falls through the ceiling and comes face to face with ENEMY UNKNOWN.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 04:39

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

I always disliked the description of Erek here. It's too specific, but not specific enough. It's clear they had a very, VERY solid image in their head, but instead of describing it in the way that matters, they focus on the hyper details. Bits like,

quote:

Each of the individual links was roughly triangular in shape. The �ivory� segments were a little larger than the segments that looked like steel.

That's a meaningless detail to someone trying to imagine it, because I don't know where the ivory segments ARE. I don't know WHERE the links are. Which part is... lamellar? Is it the stomach? Is it like, lamellar steel for the flexible bits, and ivory bone for the nonflexible?

The blade ship description is great. A medieval battle axe, all black, with a spear-head for a front at the handle's edge. But the description of Erek always left a confused cloud in my head.

Something that's really sending me is, how rereading this for the first time in like, 20 years? The mental images are, I'm positive, almost the exact same ones I saw 20 years ago. I remember imagining Cassie's barn looking the same when I was a kid as I imagine it now. I read these books so often, very clear images got into my head of what things looked like. Specifically I remember before the first Andalite art, I pictured them way more literally, with brown deer bodies, and segmented scorpion tails.

But Erek and the other andriods to my mind's eye were always a super confused blur of white brought on by overly specific but non-evocative description. It actually taught me that it's ok if the reader of something you write doesn't imagine it exactly as you do--what's more important is you give them the tools to create the image in their mind, rather than try and describe it too exactly and failing.

Of course now I have the benefit of the internet so I can just imagine them as robot dog furries, so like, yeah I've seen enough of the internet to have a mental image these days lol

# ? Oct 9, 2020 08:57

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

FlocksOfMice posted:

But the description of Erek always left a confused cloud in my head.

I get the impression he probably looks like he's made of scale armor in triangular segments of steel and ivory, overlapping and individually able to move and shift.

# ? Oct 9, 2020 14:10

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Book 10: The Android-Chapter 13

quote:

�Marco?� Erek said. �Didn�t you used to have longer hair?�

Hair joke.

quote:

The hair thing again. Anyway, to my human eyes Erek looked completely, one hundred percent human. I knew it wasn�t true, but even so, it was almost impossible not to believe the holographic projection that surrounded the android.

Could I remorph into something powerful enough to � to make sure he wouldn�t be a problem?

Probably not. There were Controllers all around the area. All he had to do was yell for help.

Just then, a girl came running up. She looked down at me, then at Erek.

�Who is this?� the girl asked.

�His name is Marco,� Erek said calmly. �You know the �Andalite bandits� Chapman is always talking about? The ones who use Andalite morphing technology to carry on a guerrilla war?�

�Of course,� she said.

Erek pointed down at me. �I think this human is one of them.�

There it was: the end. The end of our existence as Animorphs. We�d always known that if the Yeerks ever discovered our true identities, or even that we were humans, they would wipe us out within a matter of days.

I felt sick. Sick with fear for myself, and for the others. I�d blown it. I�d given away our great secret. Erek jerked his head toward the girl. �This is my friend Jenny.�

I was not pleased to meet her.

I enjoy that line.

quote:

I heard the sound of people rushing through bushes.

�Nothing over here,� Erek said loudly. �Jenny hurt her ankle. I�ll help her. Keep searching. I think I heard something over there.�

Erek must have noticed the extremely shocked and puzzled expression on my face. He grinned.

��There are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.��

�Shakespeare?� I said, amazed.

�Yes. Hamlet. I saw the very first performance.�

�But � but that would have been like centuries ago.�

Erek nodded. �Do you know where I live?�

I nodded, with my head still down in the dirt.

�Morph into something small enough to escape from here,� Erek suggested. �Come to see me at my house, you and your friends. We have a lot to talk about.�

For some stupid reason I said, �You�re not human. We know you�re an android.�

�And you�re not an Andalite bandit,� Erek said.

�How do I know I can trust you?�

Erek shrugged. �I could turn you in, right now. I�d be Visser Three�s new best friend. Even the Visser knows how to reward those who carry out his orders well.�

�Maybe you want to catch all of us at once,� I said. Don�t ask me why I was arguing with him.

Maybe it was the humiliating position I was in. Maybe I felt like I had to act tough since I was on my back in the dirt, wearing severely unattractive clothing.

Erek squatted down. �Marco, if I gave you to Visser Three, he would get the names of all your friends from you. I know you�re a brave person. You�d have to be, to do all you and your friends have done. But you are not brave enough to survive the Visser�s torture. You would tell.�

I took a couple of seconds to think about that. He was right, of course. I had a healthy respect for the kind of torture Visser Three could inflict.

�We�ll be there,� I said. �I guess we don�t have a choice. You have us by the � you have us cold.�

Erek shook his head. �It�s not like that. It will be a meeting of allies, Marco. You see, we, too, fight the Yeerks.�

So there we go. A new, potential ally.

Chapter 14

quote:

My dad made chicken for dinner that night. I�d spent the afternoon with my friends, debating the mess with Erek. We�d gone round and round, but in the end we knew we would show up for the meeting. We had no choice, really.

Barbecued chicken, skin-on mashed potatoes, roasted corn on the cob. This was the absolute height of my father�s cooking ability. So I had to eat it. I had to.

But man, there is something about popping out through the throat of a bird that totally destroys your appetite for dead bird.

This may be a good point, but I still wouldn't turn down a dinner of BBQ chicken, skin-on mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

quote:

�How is it?� my dad asked.

�Great,� I answered.

We were on the deck in our backyard. It was a house like the house we�d lived in long ago when we were a complete family. After my mom�s �death� - that�s still how I thought about it - my dad had spiraled down for a long time. He�d lost his job. We�d moved out of the house and ended up living in a pretty terrible apartment on the edge of a bad part of town.

It was okay, really. I mean, having a lot of stuff and a nice house is cool, but it wasn�t being poor that bothered me. It was being alone. My father had been off in some world of his own for a long time. I�d been the one who had to cook and clean and all that.

It was nice to have a house and a yard and a barbecue again. But it wasn�t about the house. It was that my dad was my dad again.

I know that sounds corny, coming from me.

�Another piece?�

�Sure. Breast.� I held out my plate and tried not to think about exploding crows, or the fact that I�d come very close to having beetle for lunch. Sometimes my life was just too weird.

I had questions to ask my father, but I wanted them to sound natural. You know, like I was just making normal conversation.
�So, Dad. What are you doing at work lately?�

He shrugged and gave me a wink. �We�re finishing up the observatory project. I still can�t figure out what happened there. That software your friend No accidentally created just sort of disappeared.�

So, humanity will not have sudden Z-space transportation and communication. Sad.

quote:

My friend �No� was really Ax. There was a long story behind all that. You could probably ask our friendly neighborhood Andalite about it, but it wasn�t a story I could tell my father.

�What�ll you do then, after you get done at the observatory?� I asked, trying to seem totally casual by chomping on corn the whole time.

My dad�s eyes flickered toward me, almost suspiciously. He shrugged. �A project I can�t talk about for this company called Matcom.�

I laughed, trying to stay very casual. �Building a better bomb?�

He didn�t answer for a few seconds. Then, in a strange voice, he said, �I�ve never done weapons research.�

I was actually surprised. �Why not?�

�You gonna eat that chicken or just tease it?�

He gave me a long look, like he was trying to decide if I was old enough to hear what he was going to say.

I picked up the chicken breast. Chicken wasn�t crow, after all.

�It was your mom,� he said.

I stopped eating.

�The last year, year and a half before � you know. Before. It was like this perfect time for us.�

He smiled at some picture only he could see. �We used to fight every now and then when you were younger, like most couples. But then it was as if all our problems were gone, settled. Maybe I had changed. Maybe she had. I don�t know.�

I felt cold fingers around my heart.

�It was the best time of my life,� he said. �It was like we�d achieved some level of perfectpeace and perfect love. But at the same time, there were these times when your mom would seem upset. Like she was struggling with some problem she wouldn�t tell me about.�

I had stopped breathing. I knew. I knew now when the change had been made. The perfect love my father was talking about was the Yeerk at work in my mother�s head. The Yeerk wasn�t interested in stupid little domestic battles. It wanted peace so that it could focus on deeper goals.

I think there's something really tragic about that....that the best, most harmonious time in their relationship was when Marco's mom wasn't Marco's mom anymore, and it was because Visser 1 didn't love Marco's dad....it just didn't want anything to get in the way of its plans. I guess it's easier to get along with someone when you don't care about them.

quote:

�Anyway, one day I woke up in the middle of the night. Your mom was sitting up in bed, wide awake. I knew she�d had a bad dream or something. But it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was just�� He shook his head. �It was so strange. She sounded like she was trapped in a deep
well, and trying to call out to me.�

There were tears in my eyes. I hoped my father wouldn�t notice.

�She said, �They won�t take you if you stay away from the military.� It didn�t make any sense. But the way she said it� like it was the hardest thing she�d ever said � like it was the most important thing she�d ever said.�

I had some idea just how hard it had been for my mother to say that. Sometimes, when there is some terrible need, the human being crushed beneath the Yeerk can force its way out. It can seize control for a few desperate seconds.

They say the price the human host pays is terrible. The Yeerk has mental tortures it can carry on for weeks.

My mother, my real mother, had struck when the Yeerk was distracted, and for a few seconds regained control.

�Anyway,� my dad said, �I know it was just your mom having a bad dream. But ever since then, whenever an opportunity came up to do defense work, I just got this bad feeling about it.�

I couldn�t even pretend to eat any more. �Dad, are you thinking about taking on a military project
now?�

He avoided my gaze. �There are some very exciting things going on with this Matcom. The thing they want me on isn�t military in any way. But� well, they do carry on some very secret work. I guess some of what they do is probably military.�

There it was. The reason Tom was trying to get me to bring my father to The Sharing. My father was working on some project that the Yeerks wanted to control.

My mother had warned him. It may have been the last words that she, the real, human woman, ever spoke to him.

He was going to ignore that warning, and now the Yeerks wanted him.

We've seen the amount of effort it takes for a human host to act independently of their Yeerk. Jake couldn't do it at all. Tom could barely shake his head. The Chapmans, to save their daughter, rebelled and were exhausted by the effort. And here's Marco's mom, not just rebelling, but getting words out. The amount of mental energy and will that must have taken, and her drive to save her husband must have been enormous.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 01:15

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

Epicurius posted:

We've seen the amount of effort it takes for a human host to act independently of their Yeerk. Jake couldn't do it at all. Tom could barely shake his head. The Chapmans, to save their daughter, rebelled and were exhausted by the effort. And here's Marco's mom, not just rebelling, but getting words out. The amount of mental energy and will that must have taken, and her drive to save her husband must have been enormous.

This is because Eva is a loving badass

# ? Oct 10, 2020 17:08

Erwin the German: May 30, 2011; :3

There been any graphic novel talk yet? It's a pretty damned good adaptation. Very cartoony art style, which contrasts in an interesting way with the dark subject matter. It's great to see my childhood obsession rendered so vividly.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:00

Ravenfood: Nov 4, 2011

That poor crow. :gonk:

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:03

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Erwin the German posted:

There been any graphic novel talk yet? It's a pretty damned good adaptation. Very cartoony art style, which contrasts in an interesting way with the dark subject matter. It's great to see my childhood obsession rendered so vividly.

Haven't seen it, but it sounds like I'll have to get it.

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:10

Erwin the German: May 30, 2011; :3

Epicurius posted:

Haven't seen it, but it sounds like I'll have to get it.

I recommend it!

# ? Oct 10, 2020 22:15

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Book 10: The Android-Chapter 15

quote:

We had decided to meet with Erek at his house. We had not decided to trust him completely.

Jake, Cassie, Ax, and I were going to the meeting.

Rachel and Tobias stayed outside as backup.

Rachel was all primed to use her grizzly bear morph if we called for help.

�I�ll be within range of Ax�s thought-speak,� she said for the tenth time. �I can morph my bear in a minute and go through that door about ten seconds later.�

�If you do that, try not to stomp over me in the process, okay?� I said.

I glanced up and saw Tobias swooping down to settle in the tree in Erek�s yard.

I could joke about it, but the truth was, it did feel reassuring to know Rachel and Tobias were ready to be the cavalry.

We went up to the front door of the very ordinary-looking house. I sent Jake a look that said,

�Man, I hope we�re right about this.� But Jake was busy exchanging solemn glances with Cassie.

�So? Someone knock on the door,� I said. I glanced at Ax. He was in his human morph. His human morph is made up of DNA gathered at the same time from all of us except Tobias. There�s some of Jake and Rachel and Cassie and me in Ax�s human shape. In the end result he�s male, but almost as pretty as a girl.

In hindsight, this is honestly the best clue about Marco's canon bisexuality. Just as an observation, the only people who call Ax's human form pretty are Rachel, Cassie, and Marco.

quote:

Plus, he�s annoying in human morph.

�Knock? Knock on the door? Why? Knockon. Knock-kuh.�

Andalites don�t have mouths, and Ax can�t get over how fun it is to make actual sounds. Plus, you don�t even want the boy in the same room with certain foods.

Jake knocked.

The door opened. I was surprised. It wasn�t Erek. It was his father, Mr. King.

He nodded. �Come in.�

We stepped inside. I felt completely dorky. It was like we were coming over to ask if Erek could come out and play. I mean, the house looked so normal inside. Normal furniture and normal lights and normal dishes displayed in a hutch. A normal TV on �mute,� showing pictures from CNN.

There were two dogs, a Labrador mix and a fat little terrier. The Lab just lolled over on its back.

The terrier came running over to sniff our shoes.

�Is Erek here?� I asked.

Mr. King nodded. �Yes. Would you like a soda or anything?�

�No thanks, Mr. King,� Cassie said. She bent over to scratch behind the terrier�s ears.

�You like dogs?� Mr. King asked.

�She likes any animal,� I answered. �She even likes skunks.�

�But dogs, do you like dogs?�

Cassie smiled. �If reincarnation were real, I�d want to come back as a dog.�

Mr. King smiled, nodding as if Cassie had just said something profound. �Would you all come with me?�

He turned and led the way toward the kitchen.

Once again, the total normalcy of it seemed jarring. There were little Post-It notes on the refrigerator saying things like �dozen eggs, bell peppers.� Someone had left a box of Wheaties out on the counter.

Mr. King opened a door. It led down to the basement. We followed him down the narrow wooden steps.

At this point I started to wonder. I noticed that Ax was morphing slowly out of his human shape, returning to Andalite form a little at a time.

Good old Ax. He sensed danger and he wanted his tail available.

I wanted his tail available, too.

Mr. King paused when we all got down to the basement. He watched with absolutely no surprise as Ax finished transforming. He waited politely for Ax to be done.

Then, to my utter amazement, I felt a slight dropping sensation. It took a few seconds to realize what was happening. The basement was dropping like an elevator. When I looked up I couldn�t see a roof overhead, just darkness.

�Whoa,� Cassie commented.

�Don�t be afraid,� Mr. King said.

It didn�t last long. We may have dropped four or five floors. At least that�s what it felt like to me.

Then, with a slight lurch, the basement/elevator stopped.

�Is this the floor for men�s clothing?� I asked.

I was almost not surprised when one entire wall of the basement, hung with tools and garden hose and a rake and hoe, simply disappeared.

Where the wall had been was now a hallway lit with a golden light.

�My basement won�t do this,� I muttered to Jake.

�Have you ever tried?� he asked.

�This way,� Mr. King said.

We followed him. It was way too late to start worrying now.

The hallway wasn�t long, just fifty feet or so. It reached a dead end, a blank wall. But then that wall, too, disappeared.

�Yah!�

�No way!�

<Strange.>

�This is just a hologram, right?� I said. But somehow, I knew it wasn�t. It was real. Unbelievable, yet real.

What was beyond the hallway was a vast, vast chamber, lit in glowing gold light, soft and buttery warm.

I stepped out of the hallway onto springy grass. And over my head, maybe a hundred feet up, there was a glowing orb, like a sun. That�s where the yellow light came from.

Stretched out before us, for more than the length of a football field, was a sort of park. Trees, grass, streams, flowers, butterflies flying around jerkily, bees buzzing from flower to flower, squirrels racing up and down the trees.

Walking here and there were androids. Androids in their natural form, machines made of steel and something white. The androids had mouths that were almost like muzzles, clumsy-looking legs, and stubby fingers.

But it wasn�t the presence of half-dozen or so androids that was really shocking. What was really shocking was that there were hundreds, maybe even a thousand dogs. Normal, everyday Earth dogs, every breed and half-breed you could imagine, running in packs, yipping, yapping, bowwowing, howling, growling, ruff-ruffing dogs. They were chasing squirrels, smelling each other, and generally having a great ole dog time.

Jake, Cassie, and I stood there with our jaws hanging open like complete idiots. If Ax had possessed a mouth, his would have been hanging open, too.

It was doggie heaven. Dogs and robots in a huge, underground park.

One of the robots came trotting toward us. As it got near, a hologram shimmered around it. A second later, it was Erek.

�Welcome,� he said. �I guess you�re probably a little surprised.�

Erik has a gift for understatement.

Chapter 16

quote:

�We are the Chee,� Erek said.

Mr. King had left, and Erek had brought us to a place beneath a large tree. A little stream trickled by, just a few feet away. A wall of silence had come down, as if someone had turned down the sound of all the barking dogs. I could still hear them, but it was as if the sound were far away now.

<You are androids,> Ax commented.

�Yes.�

<You show a very high level of technological sophistication,> Ax said.

Erek smiled with what looked exactly like human lips. �We are just the creation. It is our creators who were the great builders.�

�Why did you bring us down here?� Jake asked. �Why show us all this?�

�We want you to trust us,� Erek said. �We know that you�re suspicious. You have to be. I�m sure you�ve left some of your people outside, just in case we betray you. I wanted us to be equal. I wanted you to know our secrets, since we know yours.�

�We saw you at the concert,� I started to say.

He looked surprised, then nodded. �Ah, yes. You were the two dogs, weren�t you? I sensed something odd about you. Tell me: What�s it like to actually be a dog?�

�It�s truly cool,� Jake said. �You knew we were the two dogs?�

Erek shook his head. �We didn�t know, but I felt something strange. We�ve known there were morph-capable forces on Earth. There is very little that the Yeerks know that we don�t also know.�

�You were handing out flyers for The Sharing. You were at a meeting of The Sharing,� I accused.

�True. But maybe I should tell you our story. Then you�ll understand who we are. And why we are your allies. And also why we � or at least some of us � would like your help.�

�That would be nice,� Cassie said.

You have to say one thing for Erek: The boy knew how to tell a story. Suddenly, everything around us dissolved. In its place there grew a vast, three-dimensional picture. It looked as real as Erek.

We were no longer on Earth. There were two suns in the sky, one small and almost red, the other four times as big as Earth�s sun and a deeper gold.

The trees and flowers and grasses around us were definitely not anything that had ever grown on Earth. The trunks of the trees were green and smooth.

But instead of leaves, the branches just kept splitting into ever smaller branches and twigs that grew gradually from green to silver to a brilliant shade of pink. These pink twigs were all intertwined, so that from a distance the trees looked like huge balls of pink steel wool.

The trees were no larger than Earth trees, it seemed to me, but what was huge were the mushrooms. At least, they looked kind of like mushrooms. They were half as large as the trees themselves. Messy nests of some leathery, leaping, three-legged animal seemed to be perched on each
of the mushrooms.

There were other animals around, each stranger than the last. But the main animal we saw was a two-legged creature that stood may be four feet tall. It had long, floppy ears and a muzzle. It looked weirdly like a dog that could walk on its hind legs. It looked, in fact, a little like Erek when he dropped the hologram and showed his true self.

�Our creators,� Erek said. �They were known as Pemalites. A hundred thousand years before the Andalites learned to make fire, the Pemalites were capable of faster-than-light travel.�

I noticed Ax�s tail twitch a little at that.

Sort of blow to Andalite pride there.

quote:

�And of course, humans were just hairy apes when the Pemalites first visited Earth. The Pemalites were not interested in conquest, or in interfering in the lives of other planets. They enjoyed life.� Erek smiled. �They loved to play. They loved games and jokes and laughter. And they had been
a fully evolved race for so long that all the harsher instincts were gone from them. They had no evil in their hearts. They had no evil in their souls.�

I found this hard to believe. But as I watched the hologram around me, it was possible to believe that on this weird planet the Pemalites had found some deep inner peace. There was just a sense of deep calm about the place. Like one of those Zen gardens or something. It just felt peaceful. Peaceful,
but not dead or tired or boring. In fact, everywhere I looked, I saw Pemalites jumping around, chasing, playing, and making an odd CHUK CHUK CHUK that must have been laughter.

The scene around me changed, like a movie doing a flash-forward. Now, mingled in with the Pemalites, were androids like Erek. The androids looked vaguely like their canine creators.

�We were toys, originally,� Erek said. �The Pemalites made us to play with. They called us the Chee. It�s a word that means �friend.� They also had work for us to do, but they created us mostly to be their companions. An artificial race, yes, but not a race of mechanical slaves.�

Erek looked at us and I swear there were tears in his holographic eyes. �We were their friends and equals and companions. They taught us to laugh and play. They loved it when they were able to create androids who could tell a joke. There was a celebration that lasted a year.�

Honestly, I find this the sweetest thing. The Pemalites didn't create the Chee as slaves or workers. They created them because they wanted other people to play with, to be friends with, and to share with. They created the Chee just for the joy of creating and having them.

quote:

Then � ZZZZZZZAAAAAAAARRRRPPPP!

I jerked back. A monstrous beam of light sliced the ground open right in front of us, like some insane plow tearing up the earth. It incinerated the pink Brillo pad trees and the huge mushrooms.

�Then the Howlers came,� Erek explained. �They suddenly popped out of Zero-space, thousands of powerful ships. They had come from clear outside this galaxy. The Pemalites had no idea who they were. And they never found out what the Howlers wanted. The Howlers made no demands. They just
attacked. Maybe that�s all they wanted: to destroy.�

What Erek showed us next was like one of those horrifying films from World War II. Pemalites hunted from the air. Pemalite space stations blown apart. Pemalite ships sliced open, and helpless Pemalites left to drift through cold, dead space. The scenes of massacre just went on and on.

I noticed Cassie was crying. I think I was crying, too. It was too horrible.

�Almost the entire race of Pemalites was wiped out,� Erek said. �A few hundred Chee and a few hundred Pemalites left the planet, escaping in a single ship just seconds ahead of a new wave of Howler attacks.

�We escaped into Zero-space. We had no plan, no idea what to do.�

�Why didn�t you fight back?� I demanded. �I mean, you talk about how advanced the Pemalites were. If they could create androids, they could create weapons.�

Erek looked at me and nodded, like he agreed. �The Pemalites had forgotten the ways of conflict and war. They were creatures of peace. They�d forgotten that there could be such a thing as pure evil.�

That answer just frustrated me. It made no sense. But I let Erek tell the rest of his grim story.

�As we ran for our lives through Zero-space, we discovered that the Howlers had achieved a special revenge. The Pemalites began to become sick. They began to die. The Howlers had unleashed germ weapons. The Pemalites were doomed. But we Chee, we androids, were unaffected.�

The scene around us became the inside of a space ship. A scene of Chee, looking on helplessly while one of their creators writhed in pain.
�Then we remembered a planet. A planet similar to our own, but very far from our home and the Howlers. It had only one sun and the light was pale, but there were trees and grass and wonderful oceans.�

�Earth,� Cassie said.

�Earth,� Erek said. �The Pemalites had not visited Earth in fifty thousand years, and in that time, everything had changed. The wandering tribes of primates had created cities. They had domesticated animals. They were planting crops.

�We landed on Earth with just six Pemalites still clinging to life.�

The hologram disappeared, and the underground cavern was back to its normal self - a wide park of Earth trees and Earth plants, with dogs everywhere.
�We could not save the Pemalites. They would die. But we could try and rescue some part of them. We hoped we could keep their hearts, their souls alive somehow. We looked for an Earth species we could use to harbor the essence of the Pemalites. Their decency. Their kindness. Their
playfulness and love.�

�Wolves,� Cassie said, once again way ahead of me.

Erek looked surprised, but he nodded his holographically projected human head. �Yes. They looked most like the Pemalites themselves. We grafted the essence of the Pemalites into the wolf species. And from that union, dogs were created. To this day, most dogs carry within them the essence
of the Pemalites. Not all, but most. Wherever you see a dog playing, chasing a stick, running around barking for the sheer joy of life, you see the remnants of the race of Pemalites.�

�That�s why all these dogs are here,� Jake said. �They�re your� what, friends? Creators?�

�They are our joy,� Erek said, �because they remind us of a world without evil. The world we lost. We Chee are all that is left of Pemalite technological genius. The dogs of Earth are all that is left of Pemalite souls.�

So, in the second post in the thread, I've started a new list, a list of genocides. The Pemalites are the first species genocided. Will they be the last in the series? They will not

About Erek King....he is a real person (presumably not an android, but I don't know for sure). Scholastic had an essay contest, asking, if you could morph an animal, what would you morph?", with the winner being written into the books. He won and his winning entry is below...

quote:

The black figure emerged from the dark. It lurched forward, in my exact direction, slowly approaching me with reason; reason to destroy me. It was morph now or die.

I tried to concentrate despite the fact that I was horrified. I concentrated on the black panther the zoo officials had let me touch earlier in the morning. A part of my brain said "Run!", but another part told me to think and think hard.

Soon I felt strange. I felt a wave of anger and courage crash over me. My shirt began to tear as my chest and arms grew larger. My pants ripped and I felt a pain at the very bottom of my back. Well, not really a pain, just a strange sense of change. I knew what it was; a fully grown tail. I hadn't noticed it yet, but the brown hair on my arms and legs started to turn black and began to spread. My ears grew smaller, more pointed and thin, and stiff whiskers grew from under my nose.

Suddenly, I crashed to all fours. My shredded shoes sat in a pile behind me with my clothes. I looked at what used to be my feet and now were paws with retractable claws.

Then I looked up at the monster. Now it was his turn to be frightened.

So his name got used as a character.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 01:43

Erwin the German: May 30, 2011; :3

QuickbreathFinisher posted:

I'm really interested to read what other queer folks (or just anyone) think about this as well, but to me it is nowhere near as egregious as JKR's stuff.

Necro'ing this comment, but as a young gay reader I always detected some weird, domestic-y vibes in Ax and Marco's interactions, especially when they're hanging at the former's makeshift scoop. Plus he's always cracking wise about stupid, sexy Ax, so you're not alone.

Personally, I think the author's post facto comment kinda reeks of JKR, and I prefer text to subtext. If the series were to be rebooted I guess this would probably be something they'd explore, but as it stands, good luck getting that kind of content in a 90s YA series.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 02:17

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I mean, I prefer text to subtext too, but like you said, 90s YA series. And sure, like JKR, the author's comments are post facto, but I think there's a lot more in the series (admittedly, subtextually) that suggests that Marco is bi than that Dumbledore is gay. For what it's worth, the tv show, admittedly done without Applegate and Grant's contribution, ends the series with Marco and Ax slow dancing together Obviously, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong, but I think a bi reading of Marco makes more sense based on the text than a gay reading of Dumbledore.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 02:30

Erwin the German: May 30, 2011; :3

Agreed, I suppose. It's been a long time since I read the series, so I could be totally forgetting some things that already would have flown over my 10 year old head. In addition to the graphic novel, there's also a movie planned, I think? Hopefully that gives us a fresh and more multifaceted reading on all this material.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 03:08

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I have to admit, the movie makes me a little nervous, just because of the size of the story. So, do you just do the movie based on the first book, ending with Tobias as a hawk, and everyone barely able to escape with their lives? That's kind of a downer (and pretty much cries out for a sequel), Or do you find a way to force some sort of happy ending?

# ? Oct 11, 2020 03:14

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

Honestly the premise isn't that complicated that, if you take out all the extra alien factions like the Chee here and the Ellimist and all that, you could probably get away with doing an in media res version of the story without it being very disorienting.

But modern media is super into origin stories and starting things over and over again than it is coming up with satisfying conclusions so lol.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 03:35

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 18:53

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

A movie could cover up to the first Rachel book where they destroy the kandrona machine if they want a happy ending. Would probably be unsatisfying without sequels.

# ? Oct 11, 2020 04:05

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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