Elayne shrugged again. “I’m talking about the arrangement of being a voluntary Controller. There are quite a few, although you wouldn’t believe the mountains of wavers and paperwork they have to sign to be recognized by the state,” she rolled her eyes. “Not to mention they’re something of a liability to the governments, considering the extremists who are trying to remove all Yeerks from the planet at any cost — even at the expense of killing a human host.” Her eyes had narrowed to irritated slits, and her arms had been almost unconsciously drawn up across her chest, thumbs pressing tightly into the backs of her elbows.
“Yes, the Yeerks attempted to take over our planet and our bodies without permission,” she continued, staring at the engine, uncaring about the audience that might be listening to her rant, “but it was at the direction of the Empire and under the leadership of Visser Three — a scumbag by any species’ measure. It’s not as if there were no Yeerks who felt remorse for what they were doing or who wished for an alternative way to exist.”
She looked up and, appearing almost surprised to find she was not alone in the ship, she flushed. “Well,” she cleared her throat, “you probably didn’t want to hear all that. I’m sorry, Myitt. But it might encourage you to know that there are quite a number of humans who have allowed their initial outrage to subside and are cautiously sympathetic with the Yeerks. They recognize that it would be selfish to pilfer their knowledge and technology without some measure of thanks. And they recognize that . . . that it is highly possible we would not have acted any differently in the Yeerks’ place. Humans are capable of committing some truly horrific acts against each other, much less against outsiders.” From the way her blush was creeping higher along her cheeks and her gaze had returned to the engine, it seemed apparent that “they” was a placeholder for “I.”
