trans_9 | Face-to-face [Closed]

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The area of Hydroponics in which Zouichi chose to wait is isolated enough that people wouldn't just idly wander by, but easily accessible and well-lit. There were a number of alien-looking trees nearby, but alas, none of the people-eating variety, and it was close enough to the rest of Level 5 that it would be easy to find.

If a Synthetic Human dressed from head-to-toe in black body armor standing around in an open, grassy clearing was difficult to find.

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"An Andalite-Controller? You mean an Andalite that has been infested by a Yeerk?" Zouichi had assumed there would be more than a single Andalite under Yeerk control -- after all, things happened during war. For an entire species to have minimized their exposure to infestation to a single person... what were the odds of that?

"So, as you were the sole survivor of the battle, you were the one to give the other five their morphing ability?"

Why had Ax referred to his brother in the present tense? Perhaps Elfangor was taken from a different point in the timeline.

< My apologies, > Ax said. < Yes, we refer to people who have been made to host Yeerks "Controllers". >

He hesitated a moment before answering Zouichi's question. < My brother gave them the morphing ability before he was murdered. Or rather, before he would have been murdered had Stacy not plucked him from the time stream. >

There wasn't any point in keeping it secret, considering that the plaque memorial statue of Elfangor in the Statuary said as much. Apparently, the military had decided not to have Ax take responsibility for it in the end. Of course, since apparently the Animorphs had won, it wasn't really a matter of it becoming Aximili's Kindness. Especially not now, if their reality had been destroyed.

"So in other words, the Andalites feel guilty for unleashing the Yeerks upon other species." But Ax, it seemed, had a more personal stake in this still; his brother had been murdered by a Yeerk. And though he had no experience dealing with Andalites in general, Ax seemed young somehow. Zouichi himself would no doubt be considered young, but Ax seemed to wear his emotions much closer to the surface. At least on this matter.

"Was it protocol, giving another species access to your technology like that? I'd imagine the Andalites would have been significantly less eager to share that ability after what happened with the Yeerks."

Also, Marco and Rachel would have been children at the time. Fairly young children, actually.

< We would not see the peoples of the galaxy enslaved for our mistake, > Ax answered flatly. < And no, it was very much against our laws for him to do so. My brother had his reasons, but I cannot go into them without revealing things that are not mine to reveal. > Like the fact that Elfangor had previously spent some time on Earth and fathered a son who had eventually become one of those five kids walking through an abandoned construction site and into an interstellar war.

"I understand." Ax's brother was obviously very important to him. And truth be told, why Elfangor had chosen to break with Andalite law and give five children was somewhat immaterial. No doubt his situation had been desperate.

"And I appreciate the time you've taken to answer my questions. Unless you have any for me...?" It was only polite to ask, after all.

< All that I need to know is that you understand what the Yeerks do to the peoples they enslave, > Ax said. < I don't know what Iniss told you or how he argued that they have any right to the bodies of others, but it's a horrifying experience. > He shifted his weight. < There was an attack by Yeerks who were not members of the crew some time after this crew first began to wake up. Many of the victims have since been repodded, but I can put you in contact with those who weren't if you want more first-hand information. >

Hmm. A bit of a loaded question. Did Ax want him to understand what the Yeerks did to the people they controlled from an objective standpoint? Or did he mean he wanted Zouichi to understand it from Ax's perspective, the Andalite's perspective, the Animorphs' perspective?

In understanding the Yeerks, Iniss and Eva had been the most helpful thus far. Eva had put her life as a Controller in terms that he could at least identify with, if not fully understand. She had insight into the minds of the Yeerks, having spent years of her life infested by one. And she had confirmed the impression that Zouichi had obtained while speaking to Iniss: that many Yeerks simply did not understand what they had done to the species they had conquered. That for them, humans and other species were little more than potential property.

It was not at all an outlook unique to the Yeerks. The major difference was that rather than beating, savaging, and eroding the wills of those they'd conquered, their biology allowed them to take a significantly more hands-on approach. One that deprived their hosts of the ability to resist.

From his behavior earlier, Ax was close to this issue. But how close, exactly?

Instead of answering Ax's question, he presented one of his own. "You are a member of Security," Zouichi said. "Yet your duties may also require that you protect the lives of Yeerks such as Iniss. Perhaps even against the friends that took you in after your brother had been murdered by a Yeerk himself. How do you reconcile this conflict?"

< I already have defended a Yeerk from other members of the crew, > Ax said. < When Schmuz was on trial, some of the crew attempted to have him killed. While I certainly sympathized with them, I also felt that the crew as a whole was perfectly capable of visiting an appropriate level of justice on him through the channels set up by the crew. >

Schmuz was different than Iniss, though. Schmuz had submitted himself to the crew for a ruling, Iniss had not.

Not quite what he'd been interested in learning -- Eva had granted Schmuz a level of grudging respect in their conversation that she hadn't been willing to extend to Iniss.

"So you would defend Iniss in a similar fashion?"

< If Iniss were willing to submit himself to a trial, yes, > Ax answered. < But he doesn't seem to think enslaving people is wrong, so I doubt he will. >

"I'm not sure whether he does or not, actually. He certainly seems to recognize that other people feel infesting hosts is wrong." Zouichi paused.

"...But then, he also seems convinced that his actions will be met with aggression and distrust no matter what he does. Under those circumstances, I doubt he'd be eager to stand trial."

< Schmuz was involved in an attempt to detonate an explosive in part of Stacy's mind and survived his trial, > Ax countered. < To borrow a human expression, Iniss doesn't have a leg to stand on there. >

"I'm not sure it's about having a leg to stand on, actually. It's very difficult to overcome feelings of paranoia, which I believe Iniss is suffering from. And unreasonable fears, by their definition, are unreasonable."

Not that Zouichi thinks Iniss's fears are entirely unfounded; after all, someone rearranged his face.

< Never the less, he kept Tom enslaved on board this ship, > Ax said. < Whether Iniss is paranoid or unreasonable or both is not my concern. >

"Perhaps I don't understand the nature of your advocacy of Schmuz. If you accepted Schmuz turning himself in willingly and of his right mind as a valid factor in whether or not you chose to defend him, why is whether Iniss is of sound mind not a factor? I assume they, as Yeerks, are both guilty of infesting another."

< I accept Schmuz turning himself in, > Ax said. < His mental state was not of my concern either. Schmuz has submitted to a trial, Iniss hasn't. That is where the difference lies for me. >

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