Aurora ran, dodging cars and people as so she could reach the Doctor and the Yeerk. She managed to get a few feet away from them. If she could get close enough, she could hit the Yeerk in the head again. Even though she didn’t have anything to knock him out with.
Essak scanned the buildings around him as he ran, hoping that one of them had a secret entrance that would lead to the underground Yeerk pool.
<Yes!> Just ahead, a few more steps, and...
He dove right, bursting through the doors that led into the mall version of The Gap. The Yeerk wove through the pathways and racks of human clothing until he found a dressing room. A few seconds later, the stairs leading down to the pool were revealed and he started heading down.
He knew full well that Aurora was behind him, though he couldn’t help hoping that he’d lost her. It didn’t help that his host was already panicking, having heard the screams, cries, and pleas for help from those hosts that had been temporarily freed of their Yeerk or were being re-infested.
It was music to Essak’s ears.
“Hello?” Aurora called out as she ran into the building where the Yeerk was. She glanced around before heading down to head into the dressing room of the clothing shop.
Why would he want to come down here? she thought as she walked further down into the dressing room.
He’d left the secret entrance open, but Essak could care less about that at the moment as he reached the bottom of the stairs and joined the line with his fellow brothers and sisters who were leaving their hosts to swim in the sludge of the Yeerk pool.
In his mind, the Doctor flinched at the sight before him. The underground cavern was huge, big enough to have fit a football stadium two times over and still had room for several other building complexes. There was, he noticed vaguely, construction equipment on the far side of the pool. Along one side stood a row of cages that held humans and some other alien species that he didn’t recognize immediately: some were at least seven to ten feet tall and had razor blades sticking out of their snakelike heads, elbows, wrists, legs, tails and feet like a T-rex.; others appeared to be almost like a mutated ape or monkey.
Another glance showed aliens that looked like huge centipedes, with one third of their body sticking straight up in the air. Their many eyes reminded the Doctor of red Jell-O, and there were at least two pairs of spindly arms that ended in claws.
Taxxons, the Time Lord realized, and almost felt sick. Their ravenous hunger was legendary. Any sign of weakness or injury or the slightest hint of blood and they would devour their prey instantly without caring if it was still alive or even if it was a fellow Taxxon—or if it was perfectly healthy. Not even a Yeerk inside a Taxxon’s head could control that hunger.
Some of the humans and aliens in the cages were weeping, praying, screaming, cursing; others were silent, as if they had lost all hope of ever being freed.
Then the Doctor heard laughter, and Essak turned his head briefly in order to locate the noise. It came from a smaller group of humans who were laughing at whatever cartoon was showing on a widescreen TV and munching on snack food.
<Those are Collaborators,> Essak informed the Doctor before turning his head away and moving forward in line. <The voluntary hosts.>
The Doctor felt sick all over again. Though he’d grown to care for them less and less over the years, he still couldn’t believe that a human would willingly choose to become a slave—a traitor.
Rassilon, he prayed with all his hearts that Aurora hadn’t followed him down here.
Aurora checked through the dressing room till she managed to find the secret passage. She carefully approached it, peeking inside while keeping herself hidden behind the wall so no one would see her coming. She watched as a line of humans and aliens who were controlled by the Yeerks were heading for the pool. Exiting out of the bodies of their hosts and then put some of them into the cages.
It made Aurora’s two hearts drop, sadden to see the horrifying sight. She had to save these people. She also had to save the Doctor. But it was going to be harder than she thought.
There were only three Controllers in front of him now. The Doctor could tell the moment the Yeerk left its host’s ear: some kicked their feet against the metal pier; others screamed and struggled; yet others did nothing and let themselves be led away. Those few had given up all hope of being rescued, of ever being freed.
There were humans here of every size, color, and age. Some looked like respectable businessmen and women, others seemed as though they should be home with their families instead of down here. There were teenagers, and—he’d seen one in line ahead of him—a little boy who couldn’t have been more than six years old. Cold anger churned inside the Doctor. That kid should have been at home coloring with crayons or playing with toy cars, not stuck in a cage in an underground hellhole.
Then it was his turn. Essak crouched the Doctor’s body down at the edge of the pier, the two Hork-Bajir-Controllers helping to hold him down as he submerged the Doctor’s head in the gray sludge. There was an itchy, slimy, squirming sensation as the Yeerk crawled out of his ear; then nothing as the alien slug slithered into the pool to soak in the Kandrona rays with his brother and sister Yeerks.
Once again in control of his body, the Doctor stood up to his full height. He didn’t say anything as the two Hork-Bajir escorted him off of the pier and over to where the involuntary hosts were kept. Nor did he struggle or try to run—although he wasn’t fond of the idea of being reinfested, he’d seen the Dracon beams the Hork-Bajir, Taxxon, and a few of the human-Controllers were wearing. He had a pretty good idea of the damage they could do, and he wasn’t planning on regenerating (or dying) anytime soon.
The Doctor just hoped that
if Aurora had followed him down here, she wasn’t planning on doing anything stupid.
Aurora watched as the Doctor’s head was being dunked into the water and the Yeerk exited out of his ear. Then two creatures took him to the cages where the other prisoners were. She had made up her mind that she had to save these people before those creatures decide to use their bodies again. But she had to be careful. If she tried anything risky, she would get caught and she wouldn’t be able to save the Doctor and the poor innocent people here.
She waited till the creatures weren’t looking at her before turning to the Doctor. She waved her hands to him while she remained hidden so she couldn’t get caught. But she had to get his attention.
He glanced over at her, eyes widening in surprise before narrowing. “No,” he mouthed, shaking his head. “Get out.” If it meant him being a Controller for the rest of his lives, fine, but he wouldn’t allow them to have another Time Lord (Time Lady, in this case) as a host. One was bad enough.
She watched him as he mouthed out the words to her. But she didn’t want to leave him behind. Same with the innocent people inprisoned. While the controllers were distracted by their conversation, she sneaked her way over to the cages. Hiding behind the cage where the Doctor was. Blending herself in the shadows to avoid being seen.
The Doctor followed her movements with his eyes, silently seething at her stupidity. If she was caught…
<Are you
insane?> he hissed over the mental path common to Gallifreyans. <You’re just going to get yourself caught, and then where will we be? They’ve already got one Time Lord; I’m not letting them infest another one. Leave now, while you still can—and maybe you won’t get fried with a Dracon beam on the way out.>
‘I’m not leaving you and these people here.” Aurora softly spoke to him in Gallifreyan. “If you think I’m leaving that easily, then you are wrong.” She couldn’t use her sonic on the lock. If she did, the creature would hear her for sure and she would be caught. Then an idea popped into her head. Pulling out a bobby pin from her hair. She waited till the Taxxon-Controllers were looking away again before approaching the lock on the Doctor’s cage. Picking on the lock. It took her a little while till she managed to get the door unlock before she went into hiding again.
This time he couldn’t resist rolling his eyes. For Rassilon’s sake… That had been rather… pointless. Brave, yes, but not wise. If he tried to escape now, he’d most likely end up with a nice neat hole through his shoulder thanks to a Dracon beam before being dragged back to the re-infestation pier. The Yeerks, he figured, wouldn’t want to waste such a good host body—especially that of a Time Lord. Although… if he regenerated, what would happen to the Yeerk?
Before he knew it, there was a human-Controller standing in front of his cage, opening the door and helping him out then leading him over to the line at the dock for re-infestation. There were two others in front of him, then he sensed another enter the line behind him.
They’d wasted too much time and now…
The first host in line—a male in what appeared to be his early forties—was visibly trembling as he was forced to all fours, his head lowered into the gray sludge of the pool. The Doctor could tell the instant the Yeerk slithered into the man’s ear and regained control—the host stopped trembling, stood stiffly, turned and walked back without so much as a word.
Next in line was a teenage girl—if he had to guess her age he would say she was fourteen. There was a steely resolve in the way she carried herself, but also something more than that. The Doctor found himself wondering just how long she’d been a slave, felt revulsion rise in his throat.
Then it was his turn.
Aurora could only watch in fear as the Controllers came back for the Doctor, putting her plan she had down the drain. But she had to do something before the Doctor becomes one of them again.
It was risky, but she had to put her next plan into action to save him and the other. She quickly pulled out her sonic screwdriver. Adjusting the settings to just sound before holding it up from where she was. She pressed the button, causing a loud, screeching sound that caused the controllers to cover their ears from the loud, awful sound.
The Doctor winced briefly as the harsh scream of ultrasonics reached his ears, whirled and fought to keep his balance as one of the Hork-Bajir-Controllers on the side of the pier meant to ensure that each of the hosts was re-infested, slammed into him in panic, hands clasped over their ears. The blades on their wrists, arms, knees, tail certainly didn’t help.
In all honestly he’d forgotten about the tail, and hadn’t realized just how strong one of the seven-foot aliens were until he’d tripped over his own two feet (again) in an effort to maintain balance...
...And fell into the murky gray sludge-like waters of the pool.
For a few seconds he was disoriented, spun around in the water, and shuddered as he felt the squishy bodies of Yeerks brush against his skin. As quickly as he flicked some away, more took their place.
Not again, not again, not again!No, he couldn’t afford to panic, not now. He had to think, orient himself, find his way back to the surface before—
Something slimy brushed against his ear; he felt a distant squirt of painkiller, and then...
<Hello, Doctor. Pleased to hear from me again?>
<Oh, shut up,> the Time Lord snapped back. It was terrifying, humiliating, at how quickly Essak had taken control of his body again. <Just get us out of here, all right?!>
There was no mental response, but then, there didn’t need to be. Already he could feel his body righting itself, swimming toward the surface—had he really gone that far down?—and then finally air. He might not need it as much as humans thanks to his respiratory bypass, but there was still a flash of relief as Essak hauled their—no, his—wet skinny frame out of the pool and onto the pier.
Dang it! It didn’t work, Aurora thought in panic as she finally turned off the sonic, quickly hiding herself again. Seeing the creatures’ reactions after the screeching sounds. Now they were searching around the room for the source of the sound. She needed to get out of here and get to the Doctor and get the Yeerk out of his head.
Essak pushed their body to its feet, broke into a run. “Andalites!” he choked out, knowing it was the only explanation the other Controllers would want to hear. “It’s the Andalite bandits in human morph!” The Yeerk lifted a finger, pointed at a small group of human-Controllers.
While everyone else was distracted, he made his way over to Aurora and grabbed her wrist. “C’mon!” he hissed. “Let’s get the bloody hell out of here before someone sees us!”
Aurora gasped as he grabbed her wrists and pulled her out of her hiding place. She wasn’t able to pull away from him, for he had a tight grip on her. “Let me go! You’re the Yeerk!” She glared at him.
“Does it really matter if I am or not?” Essak hissed. “Let’s just get out of here, all right? If it makes you feel better, you can torture me later. Now, come on!”
He didn’t wait for a response; already he was heading for the staircase and tugging the Time Lady after him.
