Apathymorphs: The Invasion - Ch. 9

Summary: A Daria/Animorphs crossover. Jane just walking home from the mall when a spaceship crashed right in front of her. Now she and her "friends" have the power to turn into animals— which they'll need to stop the alien invasion threatening the planet!

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The Yeerk Pool

Fake-Trent made frozen pizza for dinner. Not exactly chicken cordon bleu, I know, but the real Trent never made anything more complicated than a bowl of cereal—at least not since the Great '97 Fish Stick Flood. I wondered if I would have minded normally, or if the fear of the food being poisoned was just messing with my head.

"Where are you going?" I asked, trying to sound innocent as not-Trent rose from his chair, put his plate in the sink (damn, this Yeerk was a terrible actor) and started to pull on his coat.

"Out. Gotta do something for work. I'll just be a couple of hours."

I tried to remain stoic as I took a deep breath. "Too bad. I was hoping that we could stay in and watch some TV or something." Yeah, right, because I so wanted to bond with my brother's new slave-master. But on the other hand, my stomach was twisting itself into knots at the thought of where he was really going…and the thought of me and the others following.

"Sorry. Can't. But you know, if you joined The Sharing we could spend time together even when I'm on the clock." He flashed me another horribly phony grin. "There's another meeting coming up this week, you know."

"Hmm." I dropped my eyes to my dinner, picking at a stray glob of sauce. "I dunno, maybe." We'll have to see if Hell freezes over first, I thought.

"Well, think about it." Trent paused, looking at his watch. "I gotta go. See you later, okay?"

"Okay," I said. I didn't look up from my food as he swept out of the room, nor when I heard the front door open and close or his car sputter away.

I tried to finish eating, but my appetite was gone. I rose from my seat and slowly went to get the phone. I called Daria's number. She answered on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Trent left," I said simply.

I heard Daria take a deep breath. "Okay. I'll be over soon to start on homework." That was a lie, just cover for the spies she was sure were listening; we would meet up at the mall. I licked my lips.

"Is Quinn coming?"

"She's…hesitant. But I think I can strong-arm her into studying with us."

"Alright. See you soon."

I hung up and went upstairs to get my running shoes.

Running has always been a stress-breaker for me. Everything about it just soothes me—the rhythmic sound of my sneakers on the sidewalk, the feel of my muscles tightening and relaxing, the cool night air slamming into my skin. Normally the rush of endorphins was enough to quiet whatever thoughts were holding my mind hostage, but it was a long run to the mall and I had a lot to think about.

What was going to happen tonight?

What was this Yeerk pool anyway, what were we going to find?

Would we manage to destroy this thing? Would we manage to free Trent?

Was Quinn right? Was I really going to have to—

I closed my eyes and shook my head, turning to go the long way around the old construction site, the place where this whole horrible mess had first started—or at least, where I had first heard about it. Who knew how long this invasion had already been going on, anyway? How long Trent and God only knows how many others were slaves hidden behind their own faces?

I came to a stop in front of the mall, bending down to catch my breath and ignoring the people who gave me odd looks. It included the people in line for the Sick, Sad World van—I wondered how long it was going to be there, and how many people were going to tell them lies about the very same thing that had really happened to us. I wondered what was going to happen to them.

Damn. I really needed to find a better way to shut my mind up.

I went inside, trying to ignore the fact that I was covered in sweat and probably stank, and headed for Cashman's. Upchuck had already arrived, looking awkward as he pretended to search through the racks. I saddled up beside him without a word; he turned to me and looked like he was about to say something, but I gave a look and even he realized I wasn't in the mood for conversation.

Jodie arrived a moment later, giving a faint greeting as she joined us. Daria and Quinn followed, the former looking a bit green, the latter with her jaw clenched. I had a feeling there had been some serious drama at Schloss Morgendorffer tonight.

It was a moment before any of us spoke. "So. Are we really doing this?"

"No," Quinn said immediately.

"Yes," I replied.

Our eyes met. I tried to send her the same look I had used on Upchuck. It was dulled by remembering what she had said back at the lake, about what this battle might mean if Trent was fighting on the Yeerks' side.

Jodie looked like she was about to speak, but Upchuck spoke up first. "Quinn doesn't have to go if she doesn't want to." He paused, looking nervously. "In fact—gulp—maybe we have the wrong strategy here, my comely compatriots. Perhaps I should go down there myself to scout things out, while the four of you—"

"Uh-uh," I interrupted. "No way am I leaving Trent in danger so that you can play Conan the Barbarian."

"Hey, I—"

"Look, can we just get this over with?!" Quinn said a bit shrilly, causing a salesperson to glance over at us. Jodie immediately shushed us, then took a deep breath.

"We're going to look," she said, glancing at me. "We don't even know what we're up against. If we see a way to get your brother out, we take it. If we see a way to destroy this place, we do it. If we see trouble, we get the hell out. And Quinn…or anyone…nobody's going to force you to go."

"Yes I am," Daria said, interrupting Quinn before she could speak.

"Me too," I agreed. Jodie and Quinn both glared.

I tried to look straight ahead as we headed for Dress Room #8, silently praying that nobody noticed us. It wasn't the normal people I was worried about—I didn't want any Yeerks to be able to identify us later. The five of us crowded inside, Upchuck holding the door closed behind us. Quinn yelped as I accidentally stepped on her foot.

"Okay—so how do we do this?"

"The Controllers I saw touched the mirror—" I tried to squeeze past Jodie and Daria, making my way to the dirty glass. There were three prominent spots on the right edge. "I think they said—press the medium spot—then the big one…"

I felt kind of stupid as I pressed on the surface—the spots didn't light up or make any sort of noise like a button to indicate they were anything more than normal spots, but I pressed each in the order I remembered. Suddenly I heard a click—we all jumped as the mirror slid aside like an automatic door at the supermarket, revealing a dark tunnel with stairs descending downward.

We shared a look. Jodie swallowed. "Here we go, then."

"Yeah…"

I went in first, since I was closest to the mirror, bowing my head to make it through the opening. The air inside was unpleasantly cool, yet stuffy, and there was only a faint light from the ceiling every ten feet or so. The path was narrow and there were no railings, so I held the stony wall for some slight feeling of security. I could hear noises coming from below us. Sounds of activity. Sounds like waves on the beach. Sounds like screams.

The others followed me in; the door slid shut behind us.

We crept single-file down what turned out to be a twisting staircase that seemed to go on forever—we went deeper and deeper into the earth, and with each step my heart seemed to beat a tiny bit faster. "Some advanced aliens," Daria muttered. "You'd think they could at least have put in an escalator."

I tried to laugh, but the sound came out more like an unpleasant shiver.

After several long minutes the tunnel finally began to widen; I felt the others draw closer behind me. "I think we're almost there."

"I hope so," Upchuck mumbled.

Suddenly the tunnel opened up into a cavern. A really, really big cavern.

I froze. I mean literally, I could not move anymore, not even when Jodie walked into me from behind. My eyes widened. Upchuck made a strangled gasp.

"Oh my…" Jodie whispered.

The Yeerk pool wasn't underneath the Lawndale Mall. The Yeerk pool was underneath all of Lawndale.

Just this main cavern was huge, bigger than a football stadium, maybe two, a massive dome carved into the rock underneath the town. There were actual buildings built around the walls, sheds and warehouses, and doors cut into the stone that must have led to other areas. And there were more staircases, at least three more that I could see. Were those more secret entrances? How many were there in this town?   

And there were Controllers—mostly humans, but also hulking Hork-Bajir and slithering Taxxons, strolling around casually like a bunch of pedestrians on main street. There must have been hundreds just here that we could see—how many more were in those buildings, or through those doors, or in other parts of the base?

"This is what you want to fight?!" Quinn hissed—she turned to glare at the whole group, but her eyes lingered on Daria and me. "You really think we can fight all this?!"

"Shhh! Be quiet!" Jodie snapped, but her voice sounded shaky. "We have to blend in. As far as they know we're Controllers, so just keep moving and act like all this is normal."

"Right. Normal," Daria muttered as we stepped away from the stairs and into the massive cavern. "Just cut through nine circles and we'll be right back in Purgatory."

But Quinn was right, I thought dimly, as I forced my legs to carry me past a collection of Hork-Bajir guards carrying Dracon beams in their clawed hands. I didn't know what we were going to find here, just that we had to get rid of it, blow it up, rescue Trent—but I had never imagined all this.

We walked for what must have been about a block before Upchuck raised his hand to point, then quickly lowered it and gave a vague nod of his head. "What's that?" he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Daria took a deep breath. "My guess? The reason they call this place 'the Yeerk pool.'"

We drew closer. It was like a perfectly round lake in the center of the cavern. The water—if it was water—looked more like sewage, and it was constantly churning as small shapes moved beneath the surface. The sight made my stomach churn too.

Then I looked up toward the far side of the pool and really started to feel sick.There were two metal piers extended out into the center of the pool. The first one had a line of Controllers—mostly humans, but a couple of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons too—calmly waiting like swimmers at a diving board. Particularly large Hork-Bajir guards were waiting at the end of the pier.

I watched, transfixed, as a woman in a business suit stepped forward and crouched down at the end of the pier. The Hork-Bajir took her arms to keep her from falling—she turned her head to the side, and I saw something emerge from her ear. I heard Quinn shudder even as goose bumps rose on the back of my own neck.

The Yeerk dropped from the woman's head and plopped down into the pool.

And immediately the woman started scream.

"NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

The Hork-Bajir grabbed the woman by the arms and half-dragged, half-carried her past the line and down the pier, where a dozen cages stood, crowded with ten or more people each. Some of the prisoners were screaming, some were crying—

"You can't keep doing this to me! You can't—"

The Hork-Bajir opened the nearest cage and threw the woman in roughly before slamming the door shut again. Then they calmly walked back down the pier, where the next Controller in line bent down to repeat the process. I looked away, trying to ignore his screams. "What are they doing?" I whispered, barely able to speak as my throat seemed to close up.

"They're—the Yeerks—are going back into the pool," Jodie muttered. "At least…for a while…"

I followed her gaze—another set of Hork-Bajir guards threw open the door to a different cage, grabbing a human from inside. It was a guy about our age—hell, maybe he went to our school—who struggled and screamed as the aliens easily dragged him down the pier and shoved his head into the sludge. He continued to kick and thrash his arms for a moment, but finally went still—the Hork-Bajir pulled him out just as another slimy Yeerk disappeared into his ear. The guy rose a moment later and walked calmly back down the pier. The Hork-Bajir went to pick out another human…

I tore my eyes away. "So the Yeerks leave the park but get their flippers stamped for later," Daria muttered. "But why?"

Upchuck swallowed. "…I have a thought. Jane's brother said that he was going to do a shift here after he 'fed.' I thought that was just alien-speak for stopping at Cluster Burger on the way over…but maybe this is what he meant?"

"So, what? They're…eating something in there?" Quinn muttered skeptically.

"Stupid aliens. Don't they know you're supposed to wait thirty minutes before swimming?"

"Who cares why they're doing it? The point is, this gives us a chance." I could suddenly see a glimmer of hope again. I pointed to the cages. "Those people don't have Yeerks in their heads, and by now Trent is probably one of them. I say we bust them out and get the hell out of here."

"Are you crazy?!" Quinn said. "We can't get that many people out of here! We—hey!"

I was already running off—around the edge of the pool, toward a metal shed that would have looked normal in anybody's backyard. It was about fifty feet away from the cages—

I could hear the others running after me. I was already around the side of the shed before they caught up.

"Jane! What the—hell are you doing?!" Daria panted.

"Rescuing Trent!"

"But—"

"You said earlier that you would help me with this, Daria! We have to—"
"Jane, remember what we said earlier?!" Jodie sounded uncharacteristically off-kilter. "We rescue Trent if we can, but this place is way bigger than any of us thought. There are too many Controllers here, there's no way—"

"I didn't come all this way just to leave him here!" Even I could tell how unhinged my voice sounded. Daria winced. Upchuck tried to step between me and Jodie.

"Now, ladies—"

"Hey!"

We jumped and spun around. There were three Controllers—a human and two Hork-Bajir—approaching us from the other side of the shed, opposite the pool. The human was carrying one of those Dracon beam weapons they had used at the construction site.

"Who are you?! What are you doing over there?!" he demanded.

Jodie and I looked at each other. Daria and Upchuck's eyes had gone wide. Quinn was looking around wildly.

That seemed to confirm the Controller's suspicions. He motioned to the Hork-Bajir. "Get them!"

The Hork-Bajir rushed forward. I turned around to run. And at that moment I realized three things.

One, Quinn was at the back of the group, nearest the Yeerk pool—which meant that the Controllers couldn't see her past the rest of us.

Two, her skin had suddenly turned slate gray.

And three, she was getting very, very large.