translated by DawningStar
An Andalite-Controller trotted down a highly classified hallway in the center of the most protected place on the Yeerk home planet. His stalk eyes moved constantly, nervously scanning the area. Despite his discomfort, he had every right to be in that area. His escort, however, might have been surprised to find him there unprotected.
Councilor Seven, once known as Ispyk 329, had done a great many things in his long life. Most of them would not have surprised his fellow councilors, since all had done similar things. He had once been a Visser, of course, and unfailingly carried out his tasks. He had ordered the murder of hosts and occasionally the assassination of a particularly troublesome Yeerk. He had been a major factor in the subjugation of the Andalite homeworld.
More recently he had become something that would have surprised the other Yeerks, had they known: a spy, for the coalition of resistances no less.
It was not something he had ever considered in earlier days. The Yeerk Peace Movement was doomed, all host resistance was rapidly being crushed. He would have laughed at the suggestion--before killing whoever had made it.
The change had come in the unlikely form of an Andalite male, just into adulthood, apparently a member of the Resistance. He'd been found in the main communications center, with no trace of how he had gotten in and no clue to what he had been trying to do. Ispyk, in need of a new host since his own was rapidly becoming too old to be much use, had infested the boy with the intent of finding answers and punishing his calm insolence.
The young Parilas-Alinis-Karrin had provided little information, however, his mind insisting with deep conviction that he had come from the mythical Village to 'bring truth'. Ispyk had finally judged him insane, but kept the host anyway. Prime Andalites still weren't as common as he would have preferred.
Only to find, within the same cycle, that the Village was much more real than anything he could have imagined...
Hurry up!> Parilas implored. If we don't get back, they'll find out--and Karen's counting on us!>
I know that,> Ispyk snapped, tense, and was immediately sorry for it. Parilas, I-->
No, my fault.> The host sent a faint mental smile. We're both on edge. Sorry.>
Ispyk sighed. Almost done. Communications set, Dracons hardwired to stun, signal sent and records erased. We'll make it.>
They did, slipping inside the luxurious quarters of a Councilor moments before a patrol rounded the corner. Parilas took a breath of relief, as Ispyk retreated to the farther corners of the shared mind. Well done.>
It was a joint effort.> The Yeerk chuckled silently, the camaraderie still feeling faintly miraculous--which, come to think of it, it was. He would never know how many years they had spent in the Village, the child Parilas patiently hosting him cycle after cycle, extended exposure to the experiences of fellow Yeerks and Karen's unshakable faith that everything would work out...at last, he had accepted it, and after some time had volunteered for the task they had planned for him but would never force him to take. He and Parilas had been returned to the very instant of their disappearance.
Parilas, do you ever wonder if Karen has more people out that she hasn't told us about?> he mused.
No.> The Andalite pulled their dark ceremonial robe back on, trotted over to the hydroponic garden full of delicacies. I figure, if she does, it's none of our business. We'd know them if we saw them.>
Ispyk had to admit his partner was right. There was an air about Villagers, somehow, that couldn't be mistaken if one knew what it meant.
I doubt she would, though. She doesn't like hijacking people like we did you. The Village is a choice.>
The secure comm in one corner beeped gently. Ispyk spun toward it, pausing to compose their expression before he answered. Councilor Seven.>
"Councilor, your presence is requested in the Council Chamber," the comm officer said politely. "A meeting has been called." The phrasing was routine. Not even the Councilors knew which of them held the title of Emperor, though if any died it was a safe guess to say it had been that one. The supreme ruler of the Yeerk Empire was chosen randomly by computer and sent all commands anonymously through the comm system. The system had given rise to whispered, persistent rumors that the Emperor might not even be one of the Councilors--amusing but highly unlikely.
I will be there shortly. Order my escort to meet me here.> He cut the transmission, taking a deep breath and wondering again how Karen planned these things so perfectly. She couldn't have known they would be meeting, surely? Council meetings only happened once a cycle at most, and they were called at random intervals or when something urgent came up...
Parilas's mind echoed the half-formed idea, making it more visible. Yes, probably Karen did know, if she'd staged or watched some event major enough to cause such a meeting.
Ispyk worked for a moment at calming himself. This was what he'd been working for all the time since his return from the Village, nearly a year now. But Karen had said clearly enough in the last message that she didn't want their cover blown. He and Parilas could still be useful after the Council was dissolved, working to convince the Yeerks that the Village's offer of sanctuary was for the best. If that failed, he knew, large numbers were very likely to be killed by vengeful freedom fighters. Not that the humans, Andalites, and various others didn't have cause for their hatred, but more death would do no good to anyone.
The door chimed. Fully in character, the brusque Councilor Seven strode out to meet his escort for the walk to the Council Chamber.
The escort consisted of three heavily armed Hork-Bajir. It was an honor guard rather than protection from any real danger--Councilors frequently fell to one another's plots, but never by blatant violence, and the base was fully protected from any hostile assault there might be. From outside, anyway.
The young Andalite tugged his partner's attention back to the present, and the arched private entrance to their seat in the Council Chamber. Ispyk dismissed the escort with a perfunctory nod and input the lengthy password.
The door slid silently open. The interior was dimly lit, light sources on the floor throwing shadows about the room.
Seven of his fellow Councilors were already in their places, and four more entered within a few seconds. Each one was in a semi-private space surrounded by a partition that came to about waist height, with various amenities, including something to drink (shallow bowls of water on the floor for the Andalite-Controllers, chilled glasses of the same for the two humans and a larger one for the Hork-Bajir, and something thick and green in a cup for the lone Ongachic) and a small computer screen. This was the debate room, used to present a problem or proposal. The transmission room made a greater show of their supposed unity.
Ispyk scanned the room. Councilor One, who spoke for the Council of Thirteen on most formal occasions, had yet to arrive, but everyone else was now present. He looked across at Councilor Thirteen, just opposite him--Syri One-Six-Eight was the most recent inductee to the Council, and within a few months she'd been judged totally under the control of her sponsor, Councilor One. Despite that, Ispyk found the young Andalite-Controller the least offensive of his peers. Her apparent motives were refreshingly simple among the convoluted plots--offend no one and support the person who'd dragged her in on his coattails.
Councilors Two and Nine had chosen to keep their human host bodies on promotion, probably to conceal some dangerous secret. Similarly, Councilor Eleven was still a Hork-Bajir-Controller despite the form's drawbacks. Councilor Six, the Ongachic-Controller, claimed she preferred the rarity of her host body over physical strength. Few Ongachic had ever been infested, since they were a nomadic race spread beyond the farthest reaches of the Empire.
Though many Vissers had auxiliary hosts, the Councilors couldn't afford the risk of exposing their thoughts. During the feeding cycle, each host was knocked unconscious to prevent socialization and possible leakage. It was lonely even for Parilas, whose best friend was constantly with him; Ispyk didn't like thinking about the probable state of mind of the other hosts.
The rest were Andalite-Controllers, and really there wasn't much to differentiate between most of them. Typical rank-climbers, jockeying for position even here. Ispyk felt a little sorry for them, having been much the same before his time in the Village--they had a major adjustment coming.
Councilor One entered just then, carrying a disk. If everyone's here, we can start,> he said, sliding it into place in a data slot. I received new information just today concerning this clip. Some of you will already be familiar with it.>
The small screens sprang to life with a view of the interior of a Blade ship, a human girl tied to a chair the only figure visible. Ispyk recognized her as the host of the recently demoted Visser Thirty-Seven, Riae Four-Two-Nine. The one who'd given that astonishingly brazen speech at her trial--he had been sorry to hear her sentence, and slightly relieved when this had appeared the first time, her suicide before any punishments had begun.
The senior Councilor let the clip run its course before stopping it. And now--this one is from a surveillance camera at the edge of the spaceport, timestamped a few minutes after Visser Five's Blade ship landed.>
It was a blurred picture, but--Ispyk frowned. Three humans walked across one edge of the screen, one girl very definitely the same as Visser Thirty-Seven's host, the boy matching Visser Five's auxiliary host.
The first is evidently faked, sliced in from the deepest levels of computer security, something only the Visser would be able to do. And Visser Five has vanished, along with the traitor Riae.>
Councilor Two leaned forward. "Captured, or a deliberate betrayal? Two of our senior Vissers in such a short time--this may be a full-blown conspiracy."
Might they have been impersonated?> Councilor Four put in. A resurgence of the Yeerk Peace Movement-->
The YPM is dead,> Councilor Three interrupted sharply. We stamped them out for good.>
Four flicked her smaller tail-blade in thinly concealed contempt. You'd like to think so, anyway. Traitors rarely die so easily. Idealists have a habit of converting loyal Yeerks to their cause. Refusing to consider the possibility only leaves us open to attack.>
The lower-ranked Councilors usually kept silent during the incessant battles between Three and Four, but Ispyk felt obliged to put in, The traitor's speech was very out of character from anything we've seen from her before. Councilor Four has a valid point.>
Hush, Seven,> Councilor Thirteen whispered in private thought-speak. Everyone knows that. Let them argue themselves out.>
It's hardly your place to advise me, Thirteen,> Ispyk replied in the same manner, tone cutting. She was right, but anything kinder would have been out of character, a façade he could not afford to drop just yet.
The quarrel dragged on for several minutes, but when it sank from any semblance of rationality to outright personal insults One interrupted, Excellent points, but let's keep our focus, please. Have we any evidence that Visser Five was a traitor?>
No hard evidence,> Councilor Ten reported--it was his duty to watch the high-ranked members of the military. A rumor that he might have been a little too softhearted with his auxiliary hosts, but that's hardly grounds for treason. Still, it was the same host he Controlled when he vanished...>
Evidently undaunted by Ispyk's snub, Thirteen started, I still think-->
But no one found out what Syri thought, because at that moment Six yelped "What is that?" and stared at the center of the room, where a firefly spark of light had just appeared. Ispyk felt tension jolt him, and struggled to match his reactions to those of his peers. Finally! They're coming!
The light expanded to a glowing portal, and a female Naharan bounded out holding a spherical metallic object. Before any of the Councilors were recovered enough to call for help, she set it down and grinned merrily as a blinding wave of light burst from it, rolling over the entire room.
For an instant Ispyk could see nothing, blinking all four eyes rapidly to clear them and listening to frightened yelps from several Councilors. "Oh, shush," an unfamiliar voice that had to belong to the Villager said irritably. "None of you are hurt."
The glare cleared, leaving only a faint, suspicious shimmer between the rulers of the Yeerk Empire and this impudent interloper. Councilor Eight started angrily toward the apparently defenseless Narahan, tail-blade up--and smacked directly into a transparent wall.
Forcefield,> Parilas observed, sounding impressed. They've managed to get a captive audience, at least.>
Ispyk sent silent agreement, still keeping all sign of his real feelings from his expression. Cautiously, he moved his own tail-blade toward his private exit, and met an identical barrier. Yes, they'd managed this very well...now if only Karen could convince the Council...well, really, they--we--don't have much option. It'll depend on how stubborn One and Two decide to be, I'll bet.
Surprisingly, however, Karen did not emerge from the Village portal. Two more Villagers did, a female Andalite followed by a human male, and lastly a girl who was definitely not a Villager.
"Visser Thirty-seven!" Councilor Two hissed in recognition. "So this is your doing!"
The dark-haired child cleared her throat in what sounded to Ispyk like unsuccessfully concealed embarrassment. "Ah--well, about that. I'm not actually Riae, you see. The Visser, that is. I'm her host. Cassandra." She smiled nervously. "It was just me at the trial, I'm afraid--we'd already sent Riae off to the Village. But I stood in for her pretty well, don't you think?"
No one spoke for a moment. A quick scan with his stalk eyes informed Ispyk that the general consensus of the Council was that the child was insane, although in private thought-speak Four triumphantly exclaimed, You see! An impostor! The YPM-->
Shut up,> One said mildly. This is no time for petty squabbles.> There were slight nods around the room in what was probably the closest the Council had even been to true unity. Four rocked backward in shock and fury.
Councilor One continued on the wider band, Human, what is your purpose here? You must know that the penalty for disturbing a Council meeting is death.>
"Yes, well, that's one of the things we ought to talk about," Cassandra informed them. "You people have way too many death penalties. But that can wait a bit--let me introduce my friends, here." She gestured toward her three companions. "This is Faieya"--the Naharan--"and Dalia-Ratani-Nekan, and Kassim/Steven, a symbiote pair--Kassim 107 is a Yeerk. They are representing various factions of the Village. Karen requested that I speak for her, however."
Factions? Ispyk wondered. He didn't really consider that the appropriate term for the different points of view. Everyone had the same goal, the same motives, so there was no need for true competition. Still...it was terminology the Council members would understand, as they probably couldn't comprehend the true situations. He knew Faieya and Dalia from his time in the village, and the scientist Kassim by reputation. The Naharan was impatient by nature, always supportive of the quickest solution, but with a determination and swift response time that made her a good teammate in a debate, while Dalia's opinions tended to be long thought out and almost impossible to argue with. Kassim/Steven had the skill to find workable alternatives and the practical knowledge of technology and Yeerk culture to apply them.
It was a perfect team for one of the debate challenges in the Village, and Ispyk thought with a hidden smile that it was just like Karen to apply the Games to such a situation. In a very real sense, the Games were life; anyone who lost their temper over tag or a board game had no chance of keeping it in more stressful situations. The useful skills that could be taught so were a nice side-effect.
Parilas's gentle tug drew Ispyk's attention back to the Council's reactions, and his own cover. A ripple of shock had circled the room at Kassim's introduction, the Yeerk scientist having been well-known before his disappearance seventeen Earth years past. "--I was tired of having my projects wrecked by politics," the Villager was saying, in response to the query Ispyk had missed. "I happened to find the Village. That has nothing to do with the current situation, however. Can we please stay on track? There's enough to talk about."
Very well.> Councilor One turned his focus back to Cassandra, though a stalk eye lingered on Kassim long enough to give the impression that the deserting scientist would face some fairly harsh penalties if there was ever a chance for it. What do you mean by this Village of yours? Surely not the superstitions of the hosts.>
"Well--yes, actually they've gotten most of it right," the girl admitted with a faint grin. "The Village exists in a universe created and maintained by the Time Matrix, founded by Karen and under the supervision of a group of the residents generally chosen as the best suited for the responsibility. It's a haven for just about anyone--Yeerks or hosts. But I'll let Dalia take over here, as she knows more about our legal status in the Empire."
Ispyk had to concentrate hard to keep a properly cold expression in his eyes. Legal status? Karen really had thought of everything...Dalia had a lawyer's turn of mind, and it would be at best advantage using the Council's own policies against them.
The Andalite girl stepped forward, with a respectful nod at the Council of Thirteen. It was, Ispyk was amused to note, the gesture traditionally used between Ssstram of equal rank, a subtlety his fellow Councilors were unlikely to remember. The Village society was highly conducive to a certain blending of old customs.
The Village, being as it is delineated by neither physical space nor any one species, can be difficult to define precisely,> Dalia explained. However, for various reasons, it is easiest to consider it a colony world outside normal space. According to the Declaration of War when the Yeerks first began their conquests, 'every star and planet in the galaxy should and will belong to the Empire'--which puts the Village outside its boundaries. Therefore, it is quite legal to sign a treaty with us as a separate entity, and to accept us as independent of the Empire.>
The Council of Thirteen paused collectively to consider the statement. "The declaration was never meant to be used that way," Two protested a bit weakly. "The Council of the time was merely--making a point."
Dalia tilted her head inquisitively. Then you would argue that the Empire's current boundaries should be used, instead? The Village is outside those as well.>
"No! I meant--ah..." the Councilor started, and broke off, confusion overcoming indignation.
The Andalite Villager waited politely for any further comments; none being forthcoming, she nodded to Kassim/Steven, who handed a roll of paper to Cassandra.
"We have taken the liberty of drawing up a rough draft of the treaty we require," the human girl added, unfurling the document with a soft rustle. "As spokesperson, I will read it for you." She looked down at the paper and began, "Articles of Freedom, being a treaty between the Village of the Time Matrix and the Yeerk Empire, negotiated by duly chosen representatives of the Village and the Yeerk Council of Thirteen. Article One: Rights of Sentient Beings. Section One: All beings capable of thought and self-recognition have and must retain certain essential rights, these including but not limited to control over actions and freedom in personal choices. The decision to host a Yeerk, if applicable, shall not be construed as giving up these rights..."
Parilas?>
It was only a soft murmur in private thoughtspeak, but the source nearly cost Ispyk his carefully controlled expression. We're safe enough talking,> he answered the Andalite Villager, equally quiet. Even here, they haven't found a way to pick up private thought-speak. What is it?>
Dalia's stalk eyes swiveled somewhat nervously, but not toward them; she gave no outward hint at all that she was talking. Good. Ispyk, Karen told me that if I could get in contact with you, I was to let you know that if you and Parilas want, once these negotiations are over, you could come home.>
Ispyk hesitated. Home... It was a tempting thought--going back to the Village, where his friends were, where, most importantly, he wouldn't have to play this constant game of power struggles and deceit. It had been his life once, his only ambition to be chosen Emperor, but now that he had lived in the healthier atmosphere of the Village, the Council of Thirteen grew steadily more distasteful to him.
Oblivious of the exchange, Cassandra was continuing, "Section Four: Should a member of any race choose voluntarily to host a Yeerk, both must reaffirm to witnesses that their partnership is desired and not harmful..."
He sighed silently, turmoil concealed beneath an expression of outrage at Cassandra's words, and turned his focus inward. I don't know, Parilas. What do you think?>
As usual, his partner reflected his own confused thoughts back to him, clarified and refined in the process. I think you're right,> Parilas said, with a faint mental smile. You usually are; you just need to be reminded what you're thinking.>
Silent agreement, then Ispyk reached out in private thought-speak again. Dalia...is there anything I can help with, if I decided to stay for a while longer?>
Humor colored her tone. Karen said you would probably ask that. If you really want to, you could try convincing one or two about actually following this treaty and changing to a Village-trained voluntary host. Other than that--no, Ispyk, after the treaty's signed, there's nothing you need to stay for.>
Well, if you're sure, then. Once the Councilors are leaving their hosts, I'll come home.> He hesitated. Ah--is it really necessary to let them know what I've been doing?>
Not at all,> Dalia assured him, a smile in her voice.
"Article Two: Planetary Possession. Section One: A planet's original sentient race, that which lived there before said race's discovery of either space travel or other races, shall have jurisdiction over all matters of property on that planet..."
Ispyk remembered his role in time to react properly to the statement, a trembling as of barely suppressed fury. The trembling wasn't hard; but it was relief that caused it. It's almost over.
End part thirteen. The last part and the epilogue will show up...er, when I finish them...sorry, all, I'll try to hurry this time.
I know it's taken me forever to add more...we're nearly at the end, though. For this section, special thanks to Anifan1, who provided me with inspiration and a rough draft for the Yeerk/Village treaty. She's also been begging me to keep going every step of the way--it is largely due to her that this fic's gotten as far as it has. So my thanks, and if anyone else out there likes this thing, they should be grateful too.