They keep saying buffa-human was ridiculous hairy. Ant-Cassie, I always think not enough of the body morphed to tell, but that is left kinda open....
1. Amongst their more clever methods-if painfully reminiscent of the Veleek. Though why it took them this long to fix a Helmarcon ship is beyond me.
2. It wasn't b.s when done on the Veleek, the variation on it in 34, and weighing down the original Helmacron ship wasn't too bad. And really it wouldn't have been bad here-it was the pairing of this solution with the Veleek hunting plot that makes it seem worse here than it is. It says something about the Yeerks that they've yet to prep counter measures for such a tactic. I can't think of any other real tactics they repeatedly employ in fight: there's the constant replay of savagery that comes with animal combat, but nothing like organized formations, which isn't a surprise, but at this point I figure it's 2 years at war, I would have expected something.
3. This occupies that unique niche between funny and sad. And violation of several preexisting rules of the story. It is in no way a human, just as Jake is not a tiger, Cassie is not a skunk, and Tobias is only a circumstantial hawk. I imagine a buffalo learns in it's own right, but I don't think it was learning as a human, and if it was it certainly shouldn't carry back to buffalo.
4. More gross than sad this one. Why didn't it learn: well either this suggest that the while the learning was enabled by the human mind, it was rooted in the buffalo mind, but not in the ant, or (more likely) the writers and editors didn't check their own rules. It made for an exciting chapter, but it was such a break from regulation that I get mad at it.
5. It says Cassie is a dirty filthy hypocrite that wants to protect things that appeal to her just like the rest of us. Keeping the buffa-human: bad. Encouraging it to talk or come with them or whatever: bad. Murdering the crap out of an ant and calling it an abomination: yes. I'm just starting to think that like Rachel, Cassie is regressing. She's now getting so desperate to return this semblance of morality that her judgment, once incredibly acute, has become impaired as we go on, but because luck favors Cassie, it doesn't seem as bad.
6. So this was my favorite feature of the book. I'm not a big game person so I can't swear to it, but I picture this bad boy being more mellow when it's not in fight mode. I still wouldn't what to be any where near it, but that's my general experience with bovines. No doubt tough, but fighting with your head is not like fighting with your limbs and jaws, and it would concern me if fighting something like a Hork-Bajir: you have to get close, and your spine is right at blade levels. If this thing learns at all, it smells like me should not equate to it is me, but I've never stopped to consider a grazers sense of smell. Good I'm told, but the use so different than a predators, that alone should be a fun new experience.
7. I'm not saying killing it would be easy or enjoyable, that's what should have been done. You can't hide it, and even if it is learning, well they show that it's not going to learn enough to make it safe to have. First opportunity I'd have nipped it in the bud. And then spend the night weeping for both of us.
8.
9. Unoriginal, not very well done, really short, nothing developed, little gained. An introduction to wrap up a loose end that wasn't there. Shame. Unnatural scent of man? WTF. Still had a couple good laughs.
