trans_9 | I will survive

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I will survive

He still was unsure of this place. Unsure of the odd suit he wore, unsure of the breathing walls or the ship itself.

But space, itself, remained unchanged. It had been a few years since he’d stared into the black of deep space. It had been through a Gedd’s unreliable eyes, then, and not nearly as clear.

< Beautiful. > The human muttered, awe drowning out the chaos and the static of his thoughts for the moment.

Perhaps it was. Perhaps the Yeerk only lacked the human understanding of beauty.

His hands were behind his back, an odd stance for a human teenager. Closer to military rest that anything else, eyes drinking up the black.

The universe had shifted, but out there somewhere, his home world likely still existed. Even if it didn’t, even if like Earth it was gone and most of his brothers and sisters cast among the stardust of its powder like the specks of nothing that they were, he had survived.

His lips curled into a smile, slow and much quieter than Tom’s smile, true amusement causing his face to soften.

He had survived.

He, a nothing and a nobody, had survived when Vissers and Sub-Vissers alike had perished like worms on the pavement after a rainstorm.

It was a good day.

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Loren didn't know Tom and she definitely didn't know about the Yeerk. She didn't even know he was from her universe. When she looked at him, she just saw a new crew member, ripped away from home and stuck here. And she knew how scared and confused she had been the first time that happened to her.

"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" She said, speaking of the view. "I still can't get used to it."

"Utterly." He startled only a little at the appearance of another human, smile dropping a tiny bit before returning somewhat sheepishly. "I didn't realize anyone else was here. It's beautiful, isn't it? So much space... I've never seen anything like it. It's...huge, but so much easier to handle than this ship and everything that's gone on, you know what I mean? Heh, every kid dreams about going into space right? Didn't go like I dreamed it at all."

They were Tom's words, delivered easily and fluidly as though Tom might have been saying them. Casual and friendly, a little nervous, a little sad. A human plucked from his world by an alien race, it was a thing of science fiction movies and novels.

"Everything so different here. How'd you get used to it?" He turned back to the view-ports, staring into the emptiness. "Oh, sorry." His expression turned sheepish once more, turning and automatically offering her his hand. "I'm Tom. Tom Berenson...though...well, I guess that really doesn't matter here, does it? Last names?" Humans trusted babblers. Babblers kept no secrets, couldn't tell lies.

"Loren." She shook his hand. "And really I don't know. I mean, it does get repetitive, all the stars going by but it's still awesome. Beats the Star Trek props. What's really awesome though is seeing Earth from space." Though... now they didn't have that option.

He almost agreed. It almost slid out, Tom's thoughts mingling freely with his own as he pulled the words away from the host for the conversation.

< It is, it's amazing. You would think looking down at it, you would feel huge, but I've never felt smaller, like looking at something perfect, far enough away that I couldn't see its faults anymore. >

He made his brow furrow, tilting his head. "You've seen Earth from space? Wow, that must have been amazing! Were you awake when you were brought on board...or...how?

"Yeah I was awake. First this weird species called the Skrit Na kidnapped me and then the next thing I know I'm in a space adventure with Andalites and evil parasite things and stuff." Totally safe to say, right? Andalites were on board and the big Yeerk thing had all ready been taken care of, right? Right?

"Skrit Na...?" His face twitched a little, trying not to react to the mention of the Andalites. "Andalites? parasite things...? Are those all aliens?...Man, even before this you were having a time of it, weren't you? One alien species to the next."

< She knows. > There was a tiny touch of wonder in the human's voice.

< She doesn't know anything yet, shut up, I'm focused. >

"I thought you'd have heard about the Yeerks all ready? But yeah, those are the parasite things. I heard that they took care of them before I woke up. And yeah, I guess my luck has been..." Loren shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't say bad because I don't think I'd change any of it. Well, unless it meant my world and universe still existed. But I wouldn't change anything that happened before all this."

"I just woke up." An easy explanation that didn't answer the question. "They took care of them? What do you mean?" Obviously not all of them, but some of his fellows could be stupid and not care about the risks they ran. "Well, at least it's never been boring I guess."

< I can use this to get close to the Andalites, if she knows the ones on board, I can use this. >

< The other guy said- >

< Hush. >

"Are there any aliens on the ship? I've never seen one before...well, except for the ship, I guess..but...well, you know what I mean, right?"

"It's pretty stunning, isn't it? One upside to getting kidnapped by a living spaceship I think everyone can agree on. You don't get to see views like this no matter where you are on Earth," Dani said. She'd noticed Tom standing here, staring at the stars and made an assumption.

Not really thinking of how she might be a sight. Dani didn't like the creepy feeling of the plantsuit, so she didn't often chose to 'wear' it, preferring to stay in ghost mode and the weird hazmat suit.

"Very. I've never seen anything like it. It really makes you feel tiny." A lie, though not terribly so. He'd never see this view, or a view with this clarity. But the other person didn't need to know that.

He turned very slightly, preparing to introduce himself and froze.

< Is she wearing a hazmat suit? > It was so shocking, so completely out of the blue, that he really could only stare for a moment, eyes wide

Tom very nearly started laughing at him. < Sure seems like she is. >

< Don't get smug. >

< I can't help it, it's so hilarious to see you speechless. >

"Uhhhh...hi...what...why are you wearing that?" < Please explain what you are and what you are doing this instant. >

"Huh, does it? It just seems amazing," Dani said, tilting her head thoughtfully.

She looked at Tom and blinked. He might notice that there was a bit of a glow to her eyes too. "What am I...oh!" She said and looked down. "It's a hazmat suit. If...you know, weirdly designed. It just came out like that," she said and shrugged. "It comes with my ghost form and it doesn't have the creepy pulsating that the plantsuits have."

< What?! >

There was a moment of complete synergy between the host and his rightful overlord. "...what?"

< Ghost form?! >

< Don't look at me! I don't have all of the answers either! >

< This creature gives every appearance of being a human! >

< Apparently a different kind of human! Don't ask me, no one's eyes glow or sprout weird hazmat suits where I come from! >

He paused, trying to work through all of the possible reactions a human might have. "...Aren't those for chemical spills...What...what are you? How did you even get that on the ship?"

"Chemical spills? Yeah, probably. Guess he was just wearing it because he was dealing with a portal. It just transfers over," Dani said, looking thoughtful. Why else would Danny be wearing one at the time of becoming a halfa? He didn't show his parents sense of style from what she saw.

"I got on the ship just like everyone else. I as in a pod, and then Stacy woke me up," she said. "Isn't that obvious? And I'm a halfa. Half human, half ghost. If I was in human form, I have to wear the creepy plantsuit." She had no trouble saying this. It wasn't like everyone else on the crew didn't know what she was and she had no reason to distrust a crew member.

"A portal?" His voice sounded weak to his own ears, staring at the girl in utter bafflement. "...like a door, right...he was dealing with a door?"

< Please just let it be a weird word for door. >

Tom, for once, didn't seem to be taking any pleasure in his confusion. Echoing his bafflement and just staring from the corner of his brain he occupied.

"Ghost...? What...what are you talking about? How can you...that defies all logic..."

"Well, it's like a doorway, but it's a ghost portal. To the Ghost Zone. That's where the ghosts live usually in my universe," Dani explained. "Like another dimension that's twisted with the human world. You can get natural portals, but they're only temporary, but some people have made an actual stabilized portal to it."

"Actually, it doesn't!" Dani said, beaming happily. "There's a scientific explanation for both ghosts and halfas. Though I'm still working to fully understand all the science jargon for the halfa explanation. I just memorized it when it was explained to me." Not bad for someone who looked like they were thirteen.

There was a headache steadily building behind his eyes, powerful and throbbing. Really, there were some things not even a yeerk was meant to understand.

"That's impossible. That implies the existence of an afterlife...or something...I'm not sure...but...how could something living..." He started rubbing his temples slowly, a habit he had picked up because of Tom, trying to make this fit with the logical patterns his world existed in.

"How...do you explain the existence of ghosts via science?" He was almost afraid to ask.

She might very well answer.

Dani was silent for a few moments. "There might be an afterlife for humans. Being a ghost isn't an afterlife though. It's the place between those two things," she said, perhaps a bit more sullen. An afterlife for humans. Clones...clones she wasn't so sure of.

But then there was a subject change and she latched onto that.

"Well, the thing you have to know about first is ecto!" Dani said and held up a hand, a green ball of light forming in it. "This is ecto. It's an adaptive substance. This form, it's an energy. Kind of like a laser. You can also made it a goo, both a kind that's watery and then a kind that's hard and sticky like a super glue. Ecto can also become a solid and make shapes or become a gaseous substance," she said before focusing on the ecto blast in her hand to pull the energy back into her body. "The Ghost Zone is made of pure ecto. Everthing's got ecto in it. In the human world there's ecto too, but it's so little, people might never notice it and you need special devices to be able to even gather it without being a ghost. Got it?"

< Might be...how ludicrous...>

"You're half ghost and you don't KNOW?"

If she were expecting sudden understanding, all she got was a blank stare.

< Ghostbusters. > the host offered helpfully. < They talked about the same sort of thing, even if it was just a movie... >

The yeerk continued to stare. Here he was a parasite, one of the masters of the universe and he had been completely baffled by a little girl.

"I think you lost me when you made the light in your hand..." His voice was still weak, a little weary now, this was really too much to take in all at once.

Ghosts, afterlife, everything.

On top of the living ship.

Dani hesitated. "...I...I do know, but...it's a bit more complicated than that," she said, looking away. "Humans probably have something."

"Oh. Well, um, ghosts have abilities. It can be really different between them, but all have some basic stuff. Invisibility, flight, intangibility, overshadowing. All pretty common. Then there's some ability that usually has to do with ecto. Ecto blasts are pretty common as a base ability and that was the light just now. I just didn't want to fire it since I didn't want to break anything, so I just pulled the energy back in."

"Complicated?" He echoed. That was probably the best word for this entire conversation. "'Probably'...I don't." He covered his eyes with his hand, shaking his head slowly. "This is wrong... and completely breaks any and all logic. I don't... I'm not calling you a liar, I just don't understand how any of this is possible."

< Like brain slugs trying to take over the universe? >

< You are not helping. >

< I *could* talk to her you know. >

"Can everyone fly here? Did I miss the point in the conversation where they handed out jetpacks? All I got was some high tech cellphone."

"I'm a clone. So I can't speak for regular humans," Dani said, not looking at him as she said this. Yes, not only was she half ghost, half humans, she was a clone of someone like this. Which is all sorts of weird.

"Not everyone can fly. Just a good number of people are superheroes or something like that," Dani said and lifted her feet off the ground, crossing them though she didn't change in height at all as she just hovered there. "Since I could weight literally nothing, being able to float isn't a big deal."

"A clone? Since when do hu- we have the technology for cloning? I thought they haven't gotten much beyond that one sheep? And what would that matter?" He didn't really understand humanity's love affair with the afterlife, but he didn't see how the method of creation had anything to do with her status, either. They had been watching the human's attempts at cloning rather discretely, but it seemed like a great deal of effort for what two human could accomplish with a few hours spent together and 9 months.

Unless the half-ghost thing had something to do with it.

His head hurt. He wondered if there was a medicine cabinet somewhere with aspirin. "So you can fly, and make lights and explosions with your hands. Just how old are you?"

"I'm aware," Dani said flatly. It had been a rather annoying little fact she had found out when she was melting. "And for the most part, the people back home are at that level. However, with the combination that ecto is a versatile and easily manipulated substance and being a selfish super genius with a lot of money, my creator was able to manage it. Not...very well for a while, but I managed to get the destabilization fixed before the DNA fell apart. And there's other stuff that doesn't match with the original."

"It's more like laser than an explosion. There's some...spread on impact, but it doesn't really go boom on it's own," Dani corrected. "As for age, it depends which age you're asking for. Physically, thirteen. I should be fifteen, but ended up two years younger. If you mean for how long I've been alive, it's been....587 days."

< You idiot. >

< shut up. >

"A very selfish super genius...? Why, then?" He let his legs give up, flopping down on the floor, staring up at her in confusion.

< She can make dracon beams with her hands. This seems like a horrible ability to give a human child. >

< I dunno, sounds like a pretty cool super hero power if you ask me. >

"...so you've been alive for...what...almost two years?"

< I've been practicably dead for two years, welcome to the party. > The hosts voice was wry, but the sentiment seemed almost...comradely. How in the world had the host decided that this human child-creature deserved his empathy?

"Isn't it obvious? He wanted the real halfa, but since he's a villain, there's no way Danny would ever join him. So he decided to make his own," she said. "You know, the superhero gets cloned by the villain thing that happens in the comics. There's a few others like that on board too," she added, floating down so she was more at eye level with him.

"Closer to a year and a half. It's almost five more months until it's two years. That I've been conscious for, anyway. Who knows how long I was in the pods. Sadly, I didn't get all of the data downloaded for a child my age like other clones. I only got the basics so I wasn't obviously not normal, but the upside is I've got a pretty good memory since my head is still pretty empty."

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Oh god let me know if this is not ok

It's totally okay. Not like the Fenton's sense of style is normal~.

OK

Re: OK

I think you just blew his mind

To be expected with a freak of supernatural nature.

He's losing cool points by the minute

At least Dani doesn't really understand what 'cool' is?

Poor Yeerk, he's so confused

Most would be.

What is this most you speak of, all would be

Well, people from her world wouldn't be.

True

Re: True

Re: True

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