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

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Ravenfood: Nov 4, 2011

I'm really curious about Seerow's initial talks with the Yeerks and whether this is some hitherto unknown faction that took over/forced decisive action or if the Yeerks that Seerow was talking to were just lying to him.

# ? May 22, 2021 07:05

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 22:54

Rochallor: Apr 23, 2010; ふっっっっっっっっっっっっｃｋ

Ravenfood posted:

I'm really curious about Seerow's initial talks with the Yeerks and whether this is some hitherto unknown faction that took over/forced decisive action or if the Yeerks that Seerow was talking to were just lying to him.

The only governmental system we get is the Vissers with the Council of Thirteen above them and that's all military, no civilian government. It's possible that the whole Yeerk presence in space is a military junta, since the Andalites blockade the planet presumably right after this. There could be a whole civilian government on the Yeerk homeworld wondering what the gently caress is going on, since no Andalite is going to risk going down to the surface after Seerowgate.

# ? May 22, 2021 07:41

SSJ_naruto_2003: Oct 12, 2012

Rochallor posted:

The only governmental system we get is the Vissers with the Council of Thirteen above them and that's all military, no civilian government. It's possible that the whole Yeerk presence in space is a military junta, since the Andalites blockade the planet presumably right after this. There could be a whole civilian government on the Yeerk homeworld wondering what the gently caress is going on, since no Andalite is going to risk going down to the surface after Seerowgate.

Seerow talks about rh council of thirteen here so I think that was their civilian leadership that got lifted to space

# ? May 22, 2021 08:21

Rochallor: Apr 23, 2010; ふっっっっっっっっっっっっｃｋ

SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:

Seerow talks about rh council of thirteen here so I think that was their civilian leadership that got lifted to space

Ah whoops I missed that.

# ? May 22, 2021 11:14

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Rochallor posted:

The only governmental system we get is the Vissers with the Council of Thirteen above them and that's all military, no civilian government. It's possible that the whole Yeerk presence in space is a military junta, since the Andalites blockade the planet presumably right after this. There could be a whole civilian government on the Yeerk homeworld wondering what the gently caress is going on, since no Andalite is going to risk going down to the surface after Seerowgate.

The Council of Thirteen is civilian, not military. At this point, as the rebellion starts, the Yeerk military is one guy in a Gedd with a stolen Andalite shredder. They don't really have one, it doesn't look like.

# ? May 22, 2021 16:22

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

Alloran was right

# ? May 22, 2021 20:57

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

freebooter posted:

Yeah, the conclusion of trapping him as a rat rather than killing him seems perfectly in the authors' wheelhouse at this point, as a supposedly "moral" course of action which is utterly more horrible and is really more about protecting the characters' consciences than doing the actual kinder thing to David. Like, what is a rat's lifespan anyway? I used to have pet mice and they only live two years. You're basically killing him anyway, but emotionally torturing him for a few years first.

I think, at least in part, that it's intended to be a cruel inverse of David's previous actions. After all, he previously flouted that killing an animal is killing an animal, whether or not it's actually a person in morph. The Animorphs, however, recognize the difference and hold to it - they don't kill David as a rat because he's human, even if it would be a far better mercy than the fate he has in store.

# ? May 22, 2021 21:29

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

I get it, dramatic law of conservation of characters and all that, but it still seems a bit contrived that the two most infamous Andalites in this war, and possibly all of history, and practically the only two (besides Ax and Elfangor) that we actually know the names of, just so happen to be the two commanding officers of this mission that sparked the entire war in the first place.

# ? May 23, 2021 00:06

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

Fuschia tude posted:

I get it, dramatic law of conservation of characters and all that, but it still seems a bit contrived that the two most infamous Andalites in this war, and possibly all of history, and practically the only two (besides Ax and Elfangor) that we actually know the names of, just so happen to be the two commanding officers of this mission that sparked the entire war in the first place.

The reason for Seerow being infamous is because he started the war, though

# ? May 23, 2021 00:14

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I really like the campfire story frame narrative of this one. Makes it feel cosy - as does the fun new sci-fi planet exploration bit that comes right after this - even if the story itself descends into violence and misery (at this point in the series that's not a spoiler even if we didn't already know how the Hork-Bajir end up).

Curious as to how exactly those other Hork Bajir on earth got free though. Are the first two running their own guerilla war?

# ? May 23, 2021 00:39

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Piell posted:

The reason for Seerow being infamous is because he started the war, though

Well, the Yeerks started the war. Seerow's (mis)calculations gave the Yeerks the knowledge of the galaxy and the tools necessary to start the war.

Also, to note, one of the Yeerks accuse the Andalites of is arrogance, and you can see that if you look at the soldiers in the video before they realize they're in danger. They call the Yeerks "filthy slugs", one of them sneers at the notion the Yeerks could be their brothers, and they don't take their guard duty seriously.

# ? May 23, 2021 00:43

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Piell posted:

The reason for Seerow being infamous is because he started the war, though

I know, but the reason Alloran is infamous is for managing to get himself infested some years or decades in the future. Turns out he also just so happened to be Seerow's second on his infamous mission and oh yeah he's also the one who gave him his final sarcastic epithet.

# ? May 23, 2021 01:11

Agaragon: Nov 16, 2018

Fuschia tude posted:

I know, but the reason Alloran is infamous is for managing to get himself infested some years or decades in the future. Turns out he also just so happened to be Seerow's second on his infamous mission and oh yeah he's also the one who gave him his final sarcastic epithet.

Well, that's the second reason that Alloran is infamous.

# ? May 23, 2021 01:23

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Fuschia tude posted:

I know, but the reason Alloran is infamous is for managing to get himself infested some years or decades in the future. Turns out he also just so happened to be Seerow's second on his infamous mission and oh yeah he's also the one who gave him his final sarcastic epithet.

Well, the reason Alloran is infamous is, as per the Andalite Chronicles, losing the battle against the Yeerks on the Hork-Bajir homeworld and using a "quantum virus" during the battle, which "slowly breaks down the force that holds subatomic particles together. It slowly disintegrates whatever it affects." So it makes sense he's in a book called "The Hork-Bajir Chronicles". Does it make sense that he's also stationed on the Yeerk homeworld? Probably not, but, as was said, law of conservation of characters. You could have another Andalite warrior/prince tell Seerow that the Yeerks have rebelled, but it's not a major role, and since we already know Alloran is cruel, arrogant, militaristic and cynical, having him rant at Seerow and ironically coin the term "Seerow's kindness", fits what we know if his character, and since he's going to be in the book anyway....

# ? May 23, 2021 01:27

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

freebooter posted:

I really like the campfire story frame narrative of this one. Makes it feel cosy - as does the fun new sci-fi planet exploration bit that comes right after this - even if the story itself descends into violence and misery (at this point in the series that's not a spoiler even if we didn't already know how the Hork-Bajir end up).

Curious as to how exactly those other Hork Bajir on earth got free though. Are the first two running their own guerilla war?

The hork bajir child is doing a number on me too.

What exactly is the time frame or is bubs just very fast growing?

# ? May 23, 2021 01:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

The hork bajir child is doing a number on me too.

What exactly is the time frame or is bubs just very fast growing?

Unfortunately, these books aren't very good at measuring time passing. Tobias does mention in the prologue that Hork-Bajir are shorter lived and mature faster than humans, though.

# ? May 23, 2021 02:33

Shwoo: Jul 21, 2011

The framing device to this book definitely happens before book #23, which elaborates on where all the free Hork-Bajir are coming from. But it's not clear how long before, or how long it's been since #13. I guess Hork-Bajir just mature really, really fast, compared to humans?

I bet Alloran's experience in the Aldrea prologue is one of the things he has PTSD over by the Andalite Chronicles.

Alloran posted:

<Shall I show you the holos of the aftermath? These were the gentlest pictures. I have others. Would you like to see what they did to the bodies of my warriors?>

Ouch.

Also, the Andalites must have really disrupted Yeerk society with all this new technology. Did they even have fast communication before? I think it's said somewhere that they had Stone Age-style technology before this, so if the Council of Thirteen are the Yeerk world government, they can't have been for long.

# ? May 23, 2021 02:42

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

Yeah, if he witnessed all of that, I can see it becoming personal vengeance for him. Poor dude.

He gets an even worse hand than David did.

# ? May 23, 2021 03:04

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Shwoo posted:

Also, the Andalites must have really disrupted Yeerk society with all this new technology. Did they even have fast communication before? I think it's said somewhere that they had Stone Age-style technology before this, so if the Council of Thirteen are the Yeerk world government, they can't have been for long.

I've seem some theories kind of bandied about in fandom circles that beyond it being a run of the mill uplift experiment gone horribly wrong, the end goal of the Andalites' involvement with the Yeerks pre-rebellion (in military terms, I mean, not related to anything Seerow was doing) was ultimately to make them into some sort of vassal race and they just wildly miscalculated how long it would take before the viper realized it had fangs.

# ? May 23, 2021 03:06

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

They keep saying in the books they've been fighting the Yeerks for "months" (although more recently in the David trilogy either Jake or Rachel said "longer than I can remember," or something) but I feel like it has to have been at least a year. What with all their crazy hijinks and so forth.

# ? May 23, 2021 03:44

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

freebooter posted:

They keep saying in the books they've been fighting the Yeerks for "months" (although more recently in the David trilogy either Jake or Rachel said "longer than I can remember," or something) but I feel like it has to have been at least a year. What with all their crazy hijinks and so forth.

The last book mentioned that they weren't even in high school yet so it can't be much more than a year.

# ? May 23, 2021 04:12

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles-Chapter 2
Aldrea

quote:

Andalite date: year 8563.5
Yeerk date: Generation 686, early-cycle
Hork-Bajir date: late-cool
Earth date: 1968

I just want to point this out because this chapter and the last has dates, which talk about how the different species measure times. The Andalites have years and what seem to be decimal months. Yeerks have generations and then the cycle that generation is in....so 686 generations of spawning have passed since something...the start of their calendar. Hork-Bajir don't have years, it's just the season. We also know how long each of these are in terms of earth dates, as in the first chapter, it was 1966 and now it's 1968. It's been 2.3 years on the Andalite calendar, which means an Andalite year and an Earth year are about the same, and the Yeerks have moved from midcycle 685 to early cycle 686, which suggest that a Yeerk generation is about 3 years (so Generation 1 was about 2058 years ago, but we don't know what this commemorates. It could be the date the Yeerks started infesting the Gedds, in which case, a Gedd generation could be three years. Anyway, I'm probably thinking more about this than KA did.

quote:

I am the daughter of Prince Seerow. My friends tease me sometimes. They call me �Seerow�s Unkindness.�

You see, I�m not like most females. I�m not content to stay within the sciences and the arts, the traditional female occupations. I don�t want to be a Zero-space theorist or a grass-scape designer or a cloud artist.

I want to be a warrior. I want to fight the Yeerks.

I know what everyone says: Females are not born to be warriors. We have smaller tail blades. More like scalpels than like the great, curved scythes our brothers have.

But tail fighting isn�t everything. Not in modern war, which is fought with shredders and ionic dispersion explosives launched from our most advanced ships. The war against the Yeerks won�t be about tail fighting.

Besides, with the very recent invention of morphing technology, we can fight using any number of physical bodies. And, many studies have shown that females are actually superior when it comes to morphing.

No one listens. Not my own mother. Not even my father.

Of course, my father doesn�t listen to much of anything anymore. He does whatever small, out of-the-way, humiliating job he�s given. He does what he�s told.

Which was why we were just coming into orbit above an irrelevant planet no one cared about. It was an exile, sort of. My father was being sent where he could do no harm.

<Transparent,> I told the computer. The outer bulkhead in my cabin turned from blank gray to clear. Outside I could see black space blazing with stars. But filling half my view was the planet itself. Our new home.

For the most part it looked more like some dead moon than a living planet. Much of the surface was dark gray, sterile rock. I knew from our briefing that there was only a very thin atmosphere. It was cold. Bitterly cold. With air so thin that an Andalite could expect to suffocate and die within thirty minutes.

But around the equator of the planet was a strange sight: huge, deep rifts, interwoven, interconnected. It looked as if someone had stepped on the planet, squashing it like a ripe ooka melon so that the sides had burst open.

In fact, that�s exactly what had happened. Millions of years earlier, a massive asteroid had hit the planet�s northern pole. The impact had shattered the crust, especially around the equator. It had opened massive valleys that cut deep, deep into the planet�s surface.

Valleys with steep, rugged walls. The valleys were as much as fifty miles deep and held onto a rich nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. The walls of the valleys were green. The floors of the valleys were a poisonous, eerie blue. Our sensors did not penetrate that blue mist.

As we slid across the night-day line into darkness, I could see that the blue glowed. I stared down at the planet for a long time. Till finally someone sent my brother to get me. The door of my cabin trilled.

<Yes, come in,> I said. And to the computer, I added, <Opaque.> The wall turned flat gray again. My brother stuck his upper body in. <What are you doing? Let�s go! Didn�t you hear the announcement? The surface ship is waiting. Let�s move it, let�s move it!>

<I�m coming, Barafin, I�m coming,> I said heavily.

<Did you look at the planet?> Barafin asked. <Weird-looking, isn�t it?>

<It�s an unusual place,> I agreed. <But I guess it will be okay. Mother and Father will take care of us. It won�t be so bad.>

<All my friends are like two hundred light-years away,> Barafin said. <We�ll be the only Andalites on the planet.>

<We�ll be okay,> I said.

<Yeah, I guess if this planet were dangerous they wouldn�t have sent Father.>

I should have told him to stop talking that way. But I didn�t. He was right. Barafin barely speaks to my father. Barafin has taken a lot of teasing from the other kids at school. So have I. But I think it hurts Barafin more.

I said good-bye to the little cabin that had been my home for two months of travel from the Andalite home world to this nowhere planet. I had already packed up my few personal belongings.

My holo of our scoop back on the home world, the Pakka doll my mother had given me when I was a child, the wish-flower I�d kept from when we were hoping to have Barafin.

A sullen pilot flew us down to the surface. We descended through the thin upper atmosphere, skimmed across the gray barrens, and then dropped down inside one of the massive impact valleys.

The view through the windows of the shuttle was amazing. One second we might as well have been skimming the surface of a very large asteroid. The next second we were surrounded by trees.

The size of the valley defied description. There was nothing even close on the home world or on the Yeerk world. The vegetation was sparse and scruffy toward the top of the valley, up where the air was thinnest. As we descended, mile after mile downward, the trees grew taller, the plants more lush.

Pressing against the window to see straight downward, I saw that the lushness gave way to lurid, wild-colored plants nearer the poisonous blue bottom of the valley.

Down there, things grew fuzzy and indistinct as the atmosphere thickened to the point of becoming opaque.

We headed for a landing in a clearing in the trees. We were perhaps thirty miles below the lip of the valley. And another fifteen or twenty miles above the simmering, steaming blue.

I kept thinking we were almost down. But then I realized my whole perspective was distorted.

The trees, which I�d expected to be normal-sized trees, were huge. The smallest must have been two hundred feet tall. The largest were ten times that high. Two thousand feet tall! With trunks a hundred feet in diameter.

The valley walls were mostly very steep. Often the rising ground was no more than a few dozen yards away from the midpoint of one of the magnificent trees. Branches extended from the trunk over to the edge of the sloped ground. But in the other directions, out over the valley, the branches
extended for insane distances.

<Serious trees,> Barafin commented.

<The largest trees ever discovered on any planet,> our mother said, her eyes bright. She�s a biologist. For her this was great - A mostly unexplored planet full of unclassified plants and animals.

I know she felt sorry for my father, but at the same time, this was like paradise to her. We landed in the small clearing. No more than a thousand yards of grass, some of it almost level.

Four crew members began unloading our supplies and equipment. And I stepped out for the first time on the planet that was merely called Sector 5, RG-21578-4. RG meant red giant. That was the type of sun at the center of this system. The dash-four meant this was the fourth planet from that sun.

<I thought there was a sentient species on this planet,> I said as we stepped gingerly out onto untasted grass. <I didn�t see any sign of them as we were coming down.>

<They aren�t a city-building or road-building species,> my father said, trying to sound upbeat. <They are quite primitive, according to the data from the robot probes. Their appearance can be very fearsome, but they are harmless, gentle herbivores. Not especially bright, I�m afraid,> he added. <No culture to speak of. No written language. No music, as far as we know. They don�t build much, if anything. And they are technologically the equivalent of a primordial civilization.>

<So why are we here?> Barafin grumbled, rolling his stalk eyes upward to encompass the monstrous size of the closest tree.

<We are here to make contact with the population and make sure that the Yeerks are not moving against these people,> my father said.

Barafin laughed. <Why would the Yeerks be interested in this place?>

One of the crew members was standing nearby. <They wouldn�t be,> he said. <No one�s interested in this place.> He shot an openly insolent look at my father. He might as well have added, <That�s why Prince Seerow has been assigned here: because it�s a meaningless planet where the fool will do no harm.>

My father ignored him. But I could see that the unspoken insult had reached him. His nostrils flared. His main eyes widened. For a moment I thought he might put the jerk in his place. But then, as I�d seen so often before, my father sagged, turned away, and accepted the humiliation.

<At least the grass tastes okay,> Barafin said, digging his hoof into the blue-green grass.

I looked around at the planet of trees. How those huge trees weighed me down. I felt the radical slope of the ground beneath my hooves. It made one feel as if one might fall over and never be able to stop rolling and rolling and rolling.

I thought it was an awful place, despite its oversized beauty. <What should we call this place?> I asked. <We can�t keep calling it Sector Five, RG-Two-One-Five-Seven-Eight-Four.>

<We follow the usual practice of naming a planet after its sentient species,> my mother said.

<I�ve forgotten. What are these more-or-less sentient creatures?>

<They are called Hork-Bajir,> my father said. <This is the home world of the Hork-Bajir. Soon we will get a chance to meet one.>

I saw something moving, coming around the base of the closest tree.

<Very soon, I think.>

So that's what's happened to Seerow. He's been dumped on some inconsequential planet in the middle of nowhere.

Lets talk for a second, though, about Aldrea, and her dream to serve in the Andalite military, even though it isn't allowed. The excuse the Andalite military gives is that women aren't fit for combat, because a woman's tail, instead of having a long blade on it, has a very small, scalpel like blade. Aldrea points out that this argument doesn't make sense anymore, because most combat isn't tail to tail. Andalites fight with firearms and missiles and all sorts of stuff where your tail length no longer matters. Besides, Andalites have morphing, and with morphing, which women are better at than men, you can become as dangerous as you want.

This book came out in 1998. Women have served in the US military for quite a long time, but not generally in combat. They weren't allowed in direct combat roles. There had been a debate in the 90s, over whether women should be allowed to serve in combat, and in 1994, the Defense Department actually issued a directive banning women from being assigned to ground combat roles (This wasn't actually lifted until 2013, although stuff started loosening up after 9/11.) One of the arguments being used by the military was the argument used by the Andalite military...that women weren't physically strong enough, and the argument by people who favored women in combat was Aldea's argument...that combat wasn't physical strength any more....it was about guns and missles and so on, and you didn't need physical strength to fight. I think I've mentioned my theory before, but I will again, that the Andalites in the book are a mirror of the US, and that when KA writes about the Andalites, she's really writing about the United States, both pointing out things she likes about the US and criticizing things she thinks needs to be changed.

Chapter 3-Dak Hamee

quote:

My name is Dak Hamee.

I am Hork-Bajir. But I am different. Not like others. I have known this since I was too small to strip any but the most tender bark.

My mother said to me, �Dak Hamee, you are strange.�

She took me to see the elders in the Tribe Tree. They looked at me. They spoke to me.

�He is strange,� Elder Mab Kahet said.

�Yes, he is strange,� Elder Ponto Fallah said.

�He is a �seer,�� Mab Kahet said. He was not happy. He was not sad. He was � disturbed.

�What is a �seer�?� my mother asked.

The Old One, Tila Fashat, opened her toothless mouth and said, �A seer is one who is born to show a new way. Many, many seasons pass, then our father, the Deep, and our mother, the Sky, say, �Send a seer to the people. The people have need.� And so one is born who is different.�

�My son is different,� my mother said heavily.

�Yes,� the Old One said. �He is different.�

I am Dak Hamee. I am different. I am the seer. I am to show my people a new way.

But I did not know the new way. The Old One said I would know when the Deep and the Sky told me. They would tell me what to do.

Until then, I had to wait. Sometimes I thought about things that no Hork-Bajir thinks about : What is really within the Deep? How high is the Sky?

Sometimes I would take a small piece of burned wood from the fire. I used it to make markings on the smooth wood where the bark had been stripped. I made markings that look like rocks. Or trees.

Or like the Jubba-Jubba monster that lives in the Deep. Once I made markings that looked like my friend, Jagil Hullan.

�This is you, Jagil,� I said.

�That is not me,� Jagil said.

�Yes. See that the wrist blades are shaped like your wrist blades. See that the tail is like your tail. See that the horns are short, like your horns.�

�That is not me,� Jagil said. �I am me. I am here. I am not there. I am not a scraping by a burned stick.�

I tried to explain. But Jagil did not understand.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I was only being different again.

One day I was harvesting in the high branches of an old Siff tree. I stripped the bark with my leg blades, and held a branch with my hands. I looked up at Mother Sky. I wondered again how high she was.

But then, there was something different in the Sky. It was not the sun. It was not a moon. It was smaller. It was shiny. It was shaped like an egg, but with branches.

It was coming down from the Sky.

I knew that this was Mother Sky speaking to me. I knew that this different thing was sent to me. It was different. I am different.

I climbed down the tree to the ground. I walked toward the place I saw the Sky-thing going. It was on the ground. And there were creatures.

Not any of the monsters of the Deep. Not any of the lizards or snakes of the Outside. They had four legs. One, two, three, four. They had a tail, but it was high, not dragging the ground. They had two arms. They had no blades, except one small blade on each of their tails. Their horns were very small. And they moved. And there were eyes on the ends of their horns.

They were not horns. Horns do not have eyes.

They had no mouths. They looked at me with four eyes.

I walked closer to see them. They did not move. They only watched.

�I am Dak Hamee,� I said.

They did not speak. They only stared.

�I am Dak Hamee,� I said again.

<I am Prince Seerow.>

The voice was in my head! It made no sound. But I heard it! It was strange. The words were not words of the Hork-Bajir. But I understood them.

�I am Dak Hamee,� I said again.

<It�s a juvenile,> one of the creatures said. <Probably about equivalent in age to Aldrea or Barafin. Aldrea? Barafin? Maybe you should speak with him.>

<Not me!> a new voice said. <He�s covered in blades!>

But one of the creatures stepped toward me. <My name is Aldrea,> she said. <We are Andalites. We would like to be your friends.>

Suddenly, I knew that my waiting was over. This was the new thing I had been created for. This was what I had to understand, so that I could show my people the way.

This was why Father Deep and Mother Sky had made me a seer.

So we have our first Hork-Bajir narrator, Dak Hamee, and he's a seer. We don't know exactly what a seer is, at this point, but we know he's smarter than the other Hork-Bajir. Specifically, he's able able to understand abstract thought and representational imagery. So, for instance, he can understand that a picture of a thing represents the actual thing. If the Hork Bajir had an alphabet, he could probably learn to read, although I get the impression the Hork-Bajir don't have an alphabet. He could probably make one, though, although he couldn't teach it to anybody (except for Seerow's family, I guess). And he's' able to ask questions that don't' have immediate practical application....how how is the sky? What's in the deep? And so on. You might say, no big deal, because you can do all that stuff too. I mean, you're on a message board reading something about completely fictional alien races in a fictional war. But that's the thing....the other Hork Bajir couldn't do that. You gave a book to them, they'd wonder if it was good to eat, and if it wasn't, they'd put it aside and enjoy delicious, delicious bark. He's a child prodigy, in other words.

# ? May 23, 2021 06:07

Pwnstar: Dec 9, 2007; Who wants some waffles?

I'm sure this bright young child will be able to explore a new world of wonder and enchantment with his new friends.

# ? May 23, 2021 08:39

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

I trust little Lumpy Hamee will soon be able to enjoy a fine Life Day here on the forest ~~moon~~ planet

# ? May 23, 2021 09:29

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

Why does the Old One have a toothless mouth? I thought the Hork-Bajir had beaks?

# ? May 23, 2021 13:37

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Why does the Old One have a toothless mouth? I thought the Hork-Bajir had beaks?

Their beaks have teeth

# ? May 23, 2021 13:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles-Chapter 4
Dak Hamee

quote:

I did not stay with the four-legged strangers. I ran away. I went back to my mother. She took me to the elders.

The Old One said, �This is why Dak Hamee was born. This is why Father Deep and Mother Sky have sent us a seer. Dak Hamee must watch and speak. Then he must show us the way.�

So I went back to the strangers.

There were only four now. The egg-shaped flying thing was gone. They had dug into the valley wall. It was not deep, but they had covered the scooped area with a cloth that hung in the air.

When the rain fell or Mother Sky made lightning, they stayed in this place. Other times they stood or ran on the grass. They had other things. Things without names that glowed like Father Deep. And things that made sounds in my head. And things that did nothing at all.

I went to them with Jagil. Jagil was afraid.

�We should not go there,� he said.

�We should,� I said. �I must watch and listen.�

�We can climb a tree and watch.�

�No. These creatures do not climb. They walk on the ground. So we must walk on the ground, too.�

Jagil was afraid. But Jagil came with me. We went into the clearing. The strangers looked at us.

<Hello,> one said, making the sound that was only in my head.

�I am Dak Hamee,� I said.

�l am Jagil Hullan.�

<Not enough for the universal translators,> one of the strangers said. <We need more words before it can begin to translate.>

One of the strangers, the smaller one with the smaller tail blade, pointed at herself. <I am Aldrea. I am an Andalite. I spoke to you before. Do you remember?>

<Tell you one thing,> the other smaller stranger said. <You don�t want to have to fight these Hork-Bajir. Those blades look very serious.>

<They�re peaceful, nonviolent.>

I didn�t know what to say. It was confusing. �Welcome, Aldrea,� I said. �Welcome, Andalite.�

<Not exactly chatty, are they?>

The one called Aldrea came forward. With her hand she pointed at the closest tree. <Tree,> she said.

I understood her. Her words were in my head. But the words themselves were strange. I did not know these words. Still I understood their meaning.

�Tree. Stoola tree,� I said, in my own words. The stranger called Aldrea nodded. She wanted to know more about the tree.

I knew about this tree. �The bark below the lowest branch is too old. Hard to eat. The bark above the lowest branch but before the mislit is good. But harvesting it is bad. This bark helps the Stoola tree to grow new Stoola trees. Only the bark above the mislit may be taken. This is the Truth given to us by the Old One.�

<Got it,> one of the others said, <translation is effective at sixty-four percent. Coming online now.>

<We can understand you now,> Aldrea said.

�I understand you.�

<Yes, that�s because thought-speak works with universal symbols as well as with specific words,> an older stranger said.

I looked at her. I was confused.

<My love, I think perhaps this is a case where we should allow the young ones to communicate. Aldrea seems better able to communicate with young Dak Hamee than you or I are. This young Hork-Bajir is not an official. I think this is an informal contact.>

<Be careful, Aldrea. You, too, Barafin. Don�t lose sight of the scoop.>

Aldrea came and stood closer. Barafin did, too. Jagil was nervous. He wanted to run away. But if I did not run, Jagil would not run.

�Where is your Tribe Tree?� I asked Aldrea.

<Not here,> she said. <On another planet.>

I nodded. �Yes. Not here. What is another planet?�

<Do you see the stars at night?> she asked me.

�When Mother Sky is dark, she shows us her flowers.�

<Well, each of those flowers is a star. Like your own sun. Only very far away.>

Jagil said, �No.�

But I said, �Sun is sun. Mother Sky�s flowers are flowers.�

<They may look like bright flowers. But they are suns. Hundreds of suns. Thousands. Mil � I mean that there are more stars than there are trees. They look small because they are far away.>

I heard these words. And these words made me think very hard. But then �

�Yes,� I said suddenly, amazed. �Yes! Things that are far away look small. This is true.�

�Far is far,� Jagil said, looking alarmed.

<These stars are very, very far away,> Aldrea said. <And around some of these stars are planets. Like this place. Other places with very different trees. And different creatures.>

I felt � I did not have words for how I felt. Things that are far away seem small. Even when they are large. This idea was like an exploding seed pod in my head.

Things that are far away seem small. If Mother Sky�s flowers are very far away, they might be very large. They might be � suns!

My legs became weak. I rested back on my tail. I could not speak.

�Are you sick?� Jagil asked me.

<We come from one of those stars,> Aldrea said.

�How � how can you come from so far?�

<We flew,> she said.

Mother Sky�s flowers were suns. And these strangers had come from one of those suns. The things I thought were true were no longer true.

I felt � I felt that I wanted to know more. This feeling was not new. But now I felt that this delicate stranger could help me. I could know so many things! So many things!

On that day, the old Dak Hamee died. On that day I truly became Dak Hamee, the seer.

Not to talk to much about cognition here, but you saw how Dak Hamee is able to take an idea he already knows....that things that are far away look small, and use that idea to accept another idea....that the reason the stars look small is because they're far away, and they could be very large. Jagil just can't do that. That's why Dak Hamee is a seer.

Chapter 5
Esplin 9466

quote:

My name is Esplin 9466.

I come from no regular Yeerk pool. I was born from the decaying bodies of my tripartite parents, along with several hundred brothers and sisters, aboard ship. And one twin, naturally, as you know from the double-number designation.

I have never lived on the home world. I was born in a sterile, titanium-alloy tank, beneath the warmth of a portable Kandrona.

It was all I knew.

Older Yeerks spoke of the pools of home. Of their smells and temperatures; of their size and spaciousness; of their traditions that stretched back for hundreds of generations.

My pool was simple and crude. It had been constructed using the host bodies of Gedds. Gedds are imperfect hosts. Even so, I wished we had more of them.

But there were no host bodies available, not on this spacecraft. So we lived in our pool. As simple Yeerks must. And I would have lived happily enough.

But then came the day when it was my turn to take �training.�

There were a certain number of Gedds, often old or crippled in some way, that we used as training hosts. We were given fifteen minutes to enter the host body, take it, and then release the host body and leave.

Fifteen minutes. It was all the time allowed with so many untrained Yeerks and so few available hosts.

We lined up in the pool six at a time. I was fourth in line. I waited impatiently, afraid. I admit it: afraid. You hear stories about what it�s like. About the hallucinatory sensory input. About the strange sensation of having another mind under your control. About the extension of your own body through unfamiliar limbs.

But you don�t know till you do it.

When it was my turn, the Gedd�s head was thrust beneath the surface of the pool. My sonar found the head quite easily, of course. And I�d been taught how to pinpoint the opening into the head by extending two palps.

It was quite a small entryway. I had to squeeze myself down and work my way slowly inside the ear canal. From there on, it was all by feel. My sonar didn�t work, of course. And the smells encountered were unfamiliar, useless.

But then, after what seemed far too long a time, my palps encountered a surface alive with electricity!

The brain. I could feel the activity, the snapping neurons, the arcs of microvoltage between synapses. I had to flatten myself all the way. My palps sought for trenches, gaps, openings around the brain. And I found them. I pushed my body down inside each wrinkle of the brain. Just as I�d been

taught to do.

And slowly at first, then faster and faster, I began to make contact! I felt the neurons connecting to me! Only someone who has done it can understand.
It was � it was beyond description. Suddenly, I was not just myself, I was something much larger. Where my body ended, a second body began, so that very soon I forgot my own body entirely.

I had arms many times longer than myself. They ended in three-fingered hands that could actually move objects. Lift them, turn them over, set them down in different ways. I had legs that lifted my new body up high. I could move through the air!

Oh! How can I explain it? The power! The joy! The feeling that I had suddenly grown huge, vast, powerful.

No one had told me it would be so wonderful.

And then I felt inside the brain, a place I had not been. A place untouched by my control.

I opened that part of the brain. And in doing so, I opened the Gedd�s eyes.

For a long, frozen moment of disbelief, I did not know what was happening. I didn�t understand what my brain was receiving.

How could I? How could any Yeerk who has not had a host?

Sight!

Objects - not felt, not smelled, not reflected on sonar - but seen. It was like a sonar image, but oh, so much more. So much! The data assaulted my brain. I reeled, overwhelmed, unable to understand or accept.

I looked through the Gedd�s eyes. I used the Gedd�s own brain to filter and interpret the eerie, insane input. And then, slowly, I understood.

I was looking at other Gedds.

I was looking around at the inside of the spacecraft.

I was looking down at my own pool.

So small, it was. So dark. So � insignificant.

I saw movement within the pool and caught a flash of something gray and wet.

I had never before seen one of my own people. I felt like some super-being. Like I was no longer a Yeerk at all. I could see! And in a flash I knew that this one sense was more powerful than every other sense combined. Sight plus powerful limbs! It was inconceivable.

And then my time was up.

I had to leave the Gedd host and return to the pool.

Afterward I communicated with my friends and siblings. Many of them found the whole experience terrifying. Sickening. Awful.

Not me. From that moment on, I swore that I would do whatever it took, pay any price, to have eyes again.

There were more than a quarter million of us on the two transport ships. A quarter million of us and so few hosts. Only the most fit, the most useful, would be given hosts. I would be the most fit. I would be the most useful.

The ship we were in was one we had taken from the Andalites some years earlier. We were using it to travel the galaxy in search of suitable hosts.

Most Yeerks were not interested in the ship. Not even interested in the link we�d managed to create that allowed us to access the Andalite ship�s central computer. A computer is a machine made of manipulated matter that stores information, like a flawless memory.

Those who cared about the computer were the scientists and technicians. They learned all they could about Andalite science.

I would never be a scientist. I knew I didn�t have that kind of mind. But perhaps there was something else I could learn from the Andalite computer. Something that would make me fit for a host.

I searched the data banks hungrily. And one day I realized I�d found my true calling.

I came across an old Andalite saying in the computer files. <Know your friends well. Know your enemies better.>

The Andalites were our enemies now.

Yes. Know your enemy.

That was my calling. That was the way to gaining my own host. I would learn all the computer held about the magnificent, powerful creatures called Andalites.

Someday we would face the Andalites in battle. Then I would be needed.

So the Yeerks have almost the opposite problem as the Hork-Bajir. The Hork-Bajir have excellent strength, agility, and senses, but have a lot of trouble with abstract thinking. The Yeerks are fine with abstract thinking, but have poor mobility and senses.

Esplin is interesting here, because his is the first generation not to be born on the Homeworld, after the revolt. All he's known is artificial tanks and artificial Kandrona rays, This leaves him and his generation cut off from Yeerk culture... "Older Yeerks spoke of the pools of home. Of their smells and temperatures; of their size and spaciousness; of their traditions that stretched back for hundreds of generations,,," All of these are lost to him and his contemporaries. He's the New Yeerk, one that will never understand the older generations. (I'll also point out that the only Yeerk we know of that we know is from that revolutionary generation is the one inside Chapman, who identifies itself as "Iniss two two six of the Sulp Niaar pool" (The Sulp Niar pool is the one that Aldrea identifies as the one near the Peace and Cooperation Center, where the revolt happened, so, as far as we know, Iniss was one of the Gedds who killed and mutilated the Andalite soldiers.)

Esplin also realizes that the only way to get out of the pool, given the shortage of hosts, is to be useful, so Esplin decides to become a xenoanthropologist....which is really the same job Seerow has.

# ? May 24, 2021 04:32

gourdcaptain: Nov 16, 2012

It's also interesting that a bunch of the Yeerks in the pool seem to actively dislike the experience of infesting someone and Espin notes he lived happily until that point. I'm wondering if part of the Yeerk's issues is that dealing with the incredibly smug Andalites looking down on them as their first contact gave the entire society an inferiority complex.

# ? May 24, 2021 04:47

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling
1-800-GAMBLER; Ultra Carp

Epicurius posted:

Not to talk to much about cognition here, but you saw how Dak Hamee is able to take an idea he already knows....that things that are far away look small, and use that idea to accept another idea....that the reason the stars look small is because they're far away, and they could be very large. Jagil just can't do that. That's why Dak Hamee is a seer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5kZ4uIUC0

# ? May 24, 2021 04:57

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

gourdcaptain posted:

It's also interesting that a bunch of the Yeerks in the pool seem to actively dislike the experience of infesting someone and Espin notes he lived happily until that point. I'm wondering if part of the Yeerk's issues is that dealing with the incredibly smug Andalites looking down on them as their first contact gave the entire society an inferiority complex.

I think that dichotomy of experience of infesting in and of itself explains some of "the Yeerks' issues". Infesting for the first time inherently means a forced change in perspective�literally and figuratively�and some people just can't deal with that. Those who refuse or recoil are going to be the more passive or incurious; those who seek out hosts are going to be ambitious like Esplin. It's self-selecting for a certain type of personality.

That combined with their extreme cultural deprivation, cut off and isolated in space, is just bound to produce extreme results. They have no real society in these pools, no outlet for non-controller Yeerks to put their energies to more productive use. It's not like they really do anything in the pool, right? Just float around and soak up the rays for life.

# ? May 24, 2021 07:43

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

those poor gedds, getting repeatedly mind-hosed by yeerk after yeerk using them as a test bed :stare:

# ? May 24, 2021 08:02

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Aldrea telling Dak about how the "flowers" are actually suns and blowing his mind is a great example of Andalite arrogance - not from her specifically, she's a kid, but from a society which we know at least presents itself as a superior hegemony having no apparent first contact protocols in place. Just chuck this disgraced administrator and his wife down on this planet and let them, on a whim, allow their teenage children to inform the locals that their religious beliefs are incorrect. Hey, what's the worst that could happen?

# ? May 24, 2021 08:09

Grammarchist: Jan 28, 2013

If Geds were more capable of guile they could probably get a bit of revenge spreading endless gossip about all the Yeerks they've been host to.

"Oh man. That last guy? He had issues. Was talkin' mad poo poo about you, come to think of it."

# ? May 24, 2021 09:06

gourdcaptain: Nov 16, 2012

Fuschia tude posted:

I think that dichotomy of experience of infesting in and of itself explains some of "the Yeerks' issues". Infesting for the first time inherently means a forced change in perspective—literally and figuratively—and some people just can't deal with that. Those who refuse or recoil are going to be the more passive or incurious; those who seek out hosts are going to be ambitious like Esplin. It's self-selecting for a certain type of personality.

Or Yeerks who are seriously wigged out by the captive host brain screaming at them or crying, that's gotta color the experience especially before the Empire'a propaganda machine has had time to go up to full swing.

# ? May 24, 2021 15:45

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

gourdcaptain posted:

Or Yeerks who are seriously wigged out by the captive host brain screaming at them or crying, that's gotta color the experience especially before the Empire'a propaganda machine has had time to go up to full swing.

Keep in mind, at this point, they only have Gedds, who are not particularly sapient or self aware. So Esplin didn't really feel any big mental resistance from his host. This will change as they encounter hosts who can think for themselves and have consciousness.

# ? May 24, 2021 15:53

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

I�m super late on this observation, but is Tobias�s introduction for this book the first time the Ellimist has been explicitly and unambiguously referred to as one single guy/entity?

# ? May 24, 2021 16:25

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

feetnotes posted:

I�m super late on this observation, but is Tobias�s introduction for this book the first time the Ellimist has been explicitly and unambiguously referred to as one single guy/entity?

I don't think it's contradicting past books or a new interpretation, per se. Past books said things like "the Ellimist, or at least an Ellimist (because no one really knows if there are more than one)." In the prologue here, he's only referring to one, because (as far as they know) they've only ever met the one, so far. So he's using the definite article because he's talking about one specific entity, in reference to specific past events that he caused.

# ? May 24, 2021 16:57

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

Oh yeah I didn�t mean it was a contradiction, just noting how the presentation of that element of the lore changes over time. Freaky Space Wizard Magic starts influencing plot events early on, and as we go along we learn it�s not a race of gods, as Andalites believe, but just one being. And we see Crayak in the form of the big red eye in book 6 but don�t learn more, including a name, for a few books yet. And of course the Ellimist chronicles gives a lot more context for both, though not to equal degrees.

I couldn�t remember if the Animorphs learn more information that changes how they think and talk about the Ellimist, but unless I missed something this is the first time they don�t even pay lip service to the idea of there being a race of Ellimists. So whatever conclusions they draw must have happened �offscreen.�

Side note, this is the only Chronicles book I somehow never read and already it�s like finding hidden treasure. More awesome lore and backstory and space opera goodness from this series, that I get to read for the first time! So thanks again Epicurius for your dedication to this thread.

# ? May 24, 2021 19:00

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

Yeah, I put down Animorphs as a kid just after David, and when I picked it up as an adult this was the first one I read.

It's a fantastic book.

# ? May 24, 2021 22:33

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 22:54

cptn_dr: Sep 7, 2011; Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies

All the Chronicles books (and Visser) are real highlights. I think this one is probably my favourite, but it's a close thing. It's probably the one I got from the library the most as a kid.

# ? May 24, 2021 22:43

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