(A/N: I can't remember if we ever learned Illim's number, so unless someone corrects me, he's going to be Illim 924.)The Negotiation (part 1)
~Impulse~
by: AniDragon, aka Riona-chan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My name is Cassie.
I’m one of the few remaining members of the Animorphs, along with Jake, Marco, and Ax. Tobias is still alive, but we haven’t heard from him since Rachel’s funeral.
It’s been nearly a month since Visser One’s trial. Or, I should say Esplin 9466. According to the Yeerk Peace Movement, he’d been completely stripped of his rank when he lost Earth. There was no word on who the new Visser One was, or if there even was one. The Council of Thirteen was on the run, and had likely not had time to find a new reigning Visser. If they had, then the new Visser seemed to be leaving Earth alone, at least for now.
There was only one Yeerk pool on Earth, now, containing the Yeerks who had surrendered, but who didn’t want to become nothlits. The Andalites had developed a Kandrona detector, so we would know if a rogue group tried to restart the invasion in another part of the world. The government had already caught two such groups, one in Japan, and another in England.
Things were shaky, but they were going well.
Right now, I was focusing my attention on the Yeerk Peace Movement.
A lot of the Peace Movement members had opted to become nothlits, but there were some who had become friends with their hosts, and who wanted to be reunited with them. The trouble was that both Humans and Andalites weren’t crazy about the idea of Yeerks having hosts, even voluntary ones.
It was a big headache for me. Those who were voluntary during the invasion were helping me with the cause, but there were a lot of things that needed to be taken into consideration, and there was a mound of paperwork for me to do if we did get the Voluntary Host Program off the ground.
Before that, though, I needed to convince people that it could work.
I had a growing petition of signatures of people who wanted to give the program a try. Unfortunately, the other side of the argument had even more people who disagreed.
I was standing in a boardroom, now, with my notes in front of me and a lot of stern-faced businessmen and businesswomen staring back at me. Most of them were government officials. Some of them were human rights representatives. I’d been briefed on who all of them were, but my mind had gone blank of everything but what I was there to talk about.
“The board recognizes Cassie Williams,” Someone said, giving me permission to start speaking.
“Thank you, Mister…” I searched my memory quickly for his name, “Thompson. As most of you know, I’m here today to speak to you of the Voluntary Host Program suggested by the Yeerk Peace Movement…”
As I spoke, I was brought back to the conversation I’d had just last night with Illim 942…
~*~
I stood next to the Yeerk Pool, a security guard at my side. From the pool emerged a still-forming cougar. Illim was the only Yeerk so far who’d been granted the power to morph, and hadn’t been forced to become a nothlit. He was the representative of the Peace Movement, and so needed an easy way to communicate with humans.
<Hello, Cassie,> He said, nodding his big cat head, <I’ve been told that you’ll be presenting our request tomorrow.>
I nodded, “I’m a bit nervous about it… If I mess this up…”
<You’ll do fine. And you know we won’t blame you if your government doesn’t agree to our proposal. We know we can trust you to do your best.>
I shivered a bit as a cold breeze blew by, “But what if my best isn’t good enough?”
Illim looked down, <Then we will keep trying. Over and over again, we’ll send our request. Hopefully one day, someone will listen.>
We were silent for a moment, when Illim tentatively spoke again, <Cassie… We... The Peace Movement has been discussing, and have come up with a suggestion…>
~*~
“Miss Williams,” A woman interrupted me, snapping me out of my memory, “I’m not sure if you realize how complex and expensive this kind of project would be.”
“The cost wouldn’t be as large as you’d think,” I countered, “The Yeerk Pool would be left open for any potential hosts to go in and out. The Yeerks have already agreed that no cages will be present, and that security would only be there to protect the pool from protestors and terrorists. They’ve also agreed to let us use the new Kandrona detector to ensure that no rebel Yeerks are imprisoning their hosts in another area. Other than the cost of extra security guards, it’s completely self-run by the hosts. Everything else, such as maintenance of the pool, and the Kandrona detector, are things that are already being done.”
“The Yeerks have been given their choices,” Someone else interjected, an older man, “If they don’t want to live in their own bodies, they can become nothlits. There are a wide variety of creatures for them to choose from.”
“But that’s no choice at all!” I almost yelled, “To be a prisoner, or to give up your own body, that you’ve had your whole life?”
“With all due respect, isn’t that the point of a Yeerk taking over another body? Because they want a body other than their own?”
I shook my head, “The point is so they can experience sight and sound. So they can feel and experience the world
without having to give up their bodies. They can’t help that they were born as parasites, so why should they stop doing what nature intended for them?”
“Perhaps this parasitic nature was fine for them on their home planet, when the hosts they took were barely even sentient,” He argued, “But here on Earth, it’s just not acceptable. They’ve been given their options, and that’s final.”
“But those options they were given will eventually lead to the extinction of the entire Yeerk species in only a few generations. No one would want to live their life in prison, so more and more Yeerks will opt to become nothlits. Sir, this is akin to genocide.”
That shut them up. Unfortunately, it had also made me loose my train of thoughts, leaving the room in an awkward silence.
“In conclusion,” I stammered out pathetically, “So long as the hosts have no problem with the arrangement, there’s no reason why the Voluntary Host Program wouldn’t work.”
“I’m sure you’re aware that many former Controllers will have a problem with this,” Another man piped up from the back of the room.
“There won’t be any obligations to former Controllers. As the name of the program suggests, the Yeerks will only take Voluntary hosts. And if any of these hosts change their minds, they can get out of it after three days, since there won’t be any cages keeping them there. It’s flawless.”
“And what if the Yeerk uses psychological warfare to try and guilt the host into staying?”
“That’s a risk that any host going in will need to be made aware of. But the same could be said of any relationship.”
The woman from earlier raised her hand to get my attention, “If being a voluntary controller under this new program is as risk-free as you say, then why don’t you prove your support with more than just words?”
I knew what she meant, knew it because she wasn’t the first to suggest this to me, but I played dumb, “What are you suggesting?”
“Well, why don’t
you become a Controller, as a test run, to show how easy your plan is?”
~*~
“What is it, Illim?” I asked as he paused.
<Now, this decision is completely up to you, of course, and we would understand if you would refuse…>
“Refuse what?”
<We think that a show of confidence may help the case,> Illim continued cautiously, < So far, most of the humans who have volunteered were Controllers during the war. Many people will just assume that they’re biased, or that they were manipulated somehow… As one of the Animorphs, your support has been helpful, but people will start to wonder that if you support the peace movement so much, why aren’t
you volunteering?>
I hardly knew what to say, “So you’re suggesting that I volunteer to becoming a Controller, to show support for the peace movement.”
<We would understand, of course, if you would refuse. We have been enemies for so long, that it would be natural for you to be uncomfortable with the idea–>
“I haven’t said no, yet, Illim. I… It’s a big decision to make. I’ll need to think about it. But I’ll keep it into consideration.”
~*~
So Illim was right. They
did want a show of confidence. I didn’t know how I could even begin to consider being a Controller. As Illim had implied, the idea made me uncomfortable. But my refusal to do so could throw the entire Voluntary Host Program into the water, even if the question was rhetorical.
I’d promised to do everything in my power to help the peace movement. But could I accept a Yeerk in my head for them? I had been willing to accept Aftran, but that had been a completely different situation. I’d been unwilling to kill Karen. And, later, I’d been unwilling to let Aftran die.
But this isn’t Aftran, I reminded myself,
This is some other Yeerk I don’t know. A stranger. And nobody’s life is on the line. That thought made me reevaluate things. Was it really true? Maybe Yeeks didn’t need hosts to survive, but there was a difference between surviving and
living.
“Alright,” I answered, my voice sounding a lot more confident than I felt, “I’ll do it.”
It was becoming a habit of mine to make impulsive decisions like this. I’d done it with Aftran, and I’d done it when I let Tom take the morphing cube. Both times I’d gotten lucky, and it had turned out good.
Hopefully this time wouldn’t break that cycle.
~End of part 1~
