the departure

[instar]

Trouble did a very good job of not leaving breadcrumbs leading to the other Animorphs any more than was already inevitable. Still, the cops - who may or may not have been Controllers - talked to Bella just because Trouble has been known to hang out with her; they talked to Renée a little too. Bella thinks she did a good job of affecting ignorance and dismay. Andi didn't, but Andi defaults kind of expressionless anyway even though her braces have been off for a year and a half.

At school - now in its very last days - everyone knows that Trouble borrowed fifty dollars from Amber Jefferson and made off with it. Amber is very gossipy and can afford to lose fifty bucks; he chose well.

Bella hasn't heard from Trouble - or for that matter Aspret - yet.

Comments

[aeskhyne]

"Not off the top of my head."

[pandion]

<Will you let me know if you think of any?>

[aeskhyne]

"Sure."

[pandion]

<Did she know anything that could let us sabotage Kandrona generators?>

[aeskhyne]

"Nope," says Trouble. "She didn't even know where the one in Phoenix is."

[pandion]

<So it isn't, say, essential to station it exactly ten meters above the exact center of the pool, or anything. Damn.>

[aeskhyne]

"Nope, no such luck."

[pandion]

<Thoughts on how likely it is other Yeerks we manage to take alive will take the duck deal and not sell us out?>

[aeskhyne]

"Most Yeerks wouldn't even think of taking the duck deal. Aspret was just, you know, fed up and terrified."

[pandion]

<What about it wouldn't they like, exactly?>

[aeskhyne]

"...When I say they wouldn't even think of it, I mean it like... that almost doesn't make sense as a question. Like, imagine you went up to a random person on the street and offered them twenty bucks to shoot the President. I bet you can guess most people wouldn't take it, but I sure couldn't tell you exactly what about it would put people off, except, you know, some kid just offered them twenty bucks to assassinate the President? Maybe some people wouldn't go for it because they believe in democracy, and some people wouldn't go for it because they don't want to kill anybody, and some people wouldn't go for it because it'd be dangerous, and some people wouldn't go for it because they wouldn't even know how, and some people wouldn't go for it because twenty bucks is too low, or a bunch of those reasons or a bunch of completely different reasons or just because there's no room in their head to even take an idea like that seriously."

[pandion]

<Fair enough, I guess.>

[aeskhyne]

Trouble shrugs. "It was a good deal for Aspret because she was already on the outs with the boss and she probably couldn't have survived any other way - even if she had sold us out, he could've killed her anyway, he does that sometimes when somebody pisses him off and then tries to make it up to him too fast. Most Yeerks we catch won't already be in deep shit like that."

[pandion]

<Noted. Disappointing but it makes mass opportunistic slaughter more appetizing, I guess, if they're generally going to be unsalvageable in non-parasitic forms.>

[aeskhyne]

Trouble snorts. "Yeah, there's that."

[pandion]

<Hmm. And the other question in the initial bunch of them was any good way to pick Controllers out of a crowd.>

[aeskhyne]

"Even other Controllers can't do it unless they already know somebody is one. There's some faces I'd recognize now, but mostly people don't bother telling each other their hosts' names, so I can't give you a list or anything."

[pandion]

<If you spot anybody while one of us is available to have them pointed out, do.>

[aeskhyne]

"Course I will," he says agreeably.

[pandion]

<And if you think of anything else useful we should know, share it, but I'm out of questions I'd expect Aspret to have the answers to. Do you have a plan for where to crash overnight when you can't just be animals most of the time?>

[aeskhyne]

"Yeah, I'm all set."

[pandion]

<How should we find you if something comes up?>

[aeskhyne]

He shrugs. "I'll keep in touch, I guess."

[pandion]

<I'd really like to have something more specific set up. No school, can't call you, you can't even show up at the house and ask Renée for our whereabouts in case she knows where Robin is. Where are you going to be?>

[aeskhyne]

"I don't know, around? I'm not planning to disappear for another week or anything. You'll hear from me."