#ani 24

[bluefox4]

The Helmacron shouted a command in shockingly loud thought-speak. <Male! Male, here!> A hatch in the floor opened. And up through the floor poked a trembling head. It was like the other Helmacrons, but smaller. The flat head had a forward slant. The mouthparts were less horrifying. Still insect-looking, but smaller, gentler. The entire bearing of this creature was humbler. <Male, take these aliens. Instruct them in the ways of obedience!> The Helmacron shoved us toward the hatch. "Male?" Marco wondered. "Did he . . . I mean, was that . . . is this . . . " "I think so," I said. "The loud, hyper ones are females. This is a male." "Oh, man. Now I'm really scared. It's an entire species of Rachels." p. 81-82

Marco, you better mean that in the sense of women that are willing to fight. Because beyond that, there isn't much that is similar between Rachel and the Helmacrons.

And yeah, it makes sense that at least one alien species that we run into is going to be a matriarchy. There is no reason for all of them to be patriarchies. Just looking around at the species on Earth and we know that some are lead by the female members of the species.

[bluefox4]

The yelling and gabbling and wild gesticulating went on at a furious pace for quite a while. Suddenly, without warning, there were steel blades flashing! Where the blades had come from, I couldn't say. It was sudden, violent onslaught. But not against us. There were four or five Helmacrons surrounded by all the others. <Die, fools!> the mob cried. The swords flashed and the little gaggle of Helmacrons disappeared from our view, hidden by the wall of screaming, enraged Helmacrons. Calm descended as suddenly as the violence had been. Through gaps in the crowd I could see Helmacrons lying dead, pierced by swords. It was a shocking thing to experience. But the Helmacrons didn't seem very upset. p. 80

Not the state that you want your captors to be in.

Cassie is the one that is good at reading people and she is lost as to why the violence started. The sudden calm afterwards is just unnerving.

But it is also a good way to show that they aren't human. Things that would bother a human doesn't bother them.

[bluefox4]

"We're going to lead them to Visser Three?" Marco asked me in a voiceless whisper. "You have a better idea?" "No." He shook his head admiringly. "It's just so . . . sneaky. I didn't know you had it in you." p. 78

I said it in my last post that Marco probably needed to be trapped with Cassie to learn what she is capable of. And now the text proves what I was already saying.

Marco! Marco, Cassie was the one that came up with the plan on how to deal with David! You should already know that Cassie is capable of sneaky!

[bluefox4]

"None of them," Marco said. "The other one. The one who's not here." I nodded solemnly. "Yes, the other one." We had no idea what we were talking about, of course. But then the Helmacrons actually sort of supplied the answer. <Do not attempt to deceive us! Our sensors reveal those who radiate with the transforming energy. We will find anyone who bears that energy signature!> Marco and I stole a glance at each other. "Transforming energy . . . you mean, you can tell who had the morphing power?" March asked. <We are the Helmacrons, lords of the galaxy! Our science and technology are vastly superior. We can easily penetrate your simple disguises and see the transforming power at work.> "They can tell people who are able to morph," I said to Marco. I had to resist the urge to giggle. But for once, Marco had not yet figured out what I had just figured out. "O mighty masters," I said, "we were fools to imagine we could deceive you. There is only one other like us on this planet. Only one other who possesses the transforming power! It is he who has the blue box of transforming power. It is he whom you must find. It is he whom you must defeat!" <We will crush him beneath us like the lowliest of creatures! He will grovel before us for an eternity of days!> Marco still looked puzzled. "There's no point trying to hide him from the Helmacrons, Marco," I said. "There is only one other morph-capable creature on Earth. And the Helmacrons are just going to have to destroy him." Suddenly, the light went on in Marco's head. "Visser Three?" I nodded, feeling very pleased with myself. "Visser Three." p. 76-77

Ok, first can we just applause Cassie's fast thinking and deception right here. Remember it was just ten books ago where when asked to supply a name and phone number she panicked and said she was Cindy Crawford and put 12345678 down as her phone number. Part of it is she isn't trying to deceive people that she views as 'the good guys' but another part of it is growth on her part. (In part thanks to David.)

She and Marco know that they can't put one of their friends on the spot. But when the Helmacrons reveal that they can track anyone with the morphing power she realizes very quickly that there is one other person who fits that that she wouldn't mind siccing the Helmacrons on.

And I just love the fact that Marco takes a while to catch up. I think it is good for him to be trapped in this situation with Cassie so that he gets a nice update on how fast thinking Cassie can be.

[bluefox4]

<Turn on the external viewer!> Suddenly, the entire dome ceiling lit up with a three-dimensional view of the inside of the barn. I saw Jake, Rachel, and Ax. All alive, all back in their own forms. They were glaring angrily at the ship we were in. The viewscreen zoomed in to magnify a very tiny Tobias, sitting perched on Rachel's shoulder. p. 75

Hey, I think their external viewer might be better than what we saw on the Andalite ship. I could be wrong since its been a bit since we had an Andalite ship's view.

Good to know that the others are ok. The plan worked as intended! Of course tiny Tobias landed on Rachel's shoulder. Where else would he have gone?

And this is just one of those situations where the others are just fuming. They can't try to attack the ship that Cassie and Marco are on because they are on the ship. They might get hurt if they attack. Rachel must be so frustrated with the situation; she is a girl of action. Waiting is not her thing.

[bluefox4]

"O mighty Helmacron dead guy, we grovel like a video game addict trapped in an arcade without a quarter, that's how much we grovel. You would not believe the depths of our grovelry! We grovel like a guy with a large order of fries and the only saltshaker is at the table of the school bully. We grovel - " <Enough! Now you will tell us the location of the power source.> p. 74-75

Marco getting cut off by the Helmacrons is kind of funny. They told him to grovel and then they had enough of it.

How long would Marco have kept going if he wasn't cut off? I'm not sure if he would have stopped on his own.

[bluefox4]

<Grovel before the captain!> Marco looked at me. "How do you grovel? I've never groveled before." I shrugged. <Grovel!> "We don't know how," I told the closest Helmacron. "I mean, you know, different folks, different customs. Maybe you could show us." They looked at one another. Then the one I'd spoken to said, <You may grovel in the style of your own people. Grovel as you normally grovel.> I saw the sly gleam in Marco's eyes. "You head the man, Cassie. Let's grovel." He scooted his legs forward, lay on his back, stuck his hands behind his head, and relaxed like he was at the beach soaking up sun. "I grovel before the mighty Helmacron captain, most mighty of the mighty, undisputed champion of the world in the dust-weight category! We grovel like the pitiful losers we are! We grovel like a guy who hasn't got a date the day before the prom and the only girl around is the head cheerleader, that's how much we grovel. Cassie, you could join in any time, you know." "We grovel . . . um, like grovelers." p. 73-74

On the one hand Cassie and Marco not knowing how to grovel for the Helmacrons is set up for the following joke where Marco is basically being Marco and making a joke out of the whole thing. You can't tell me that none of them have seen some sort of media with characters grovelling for mercy before.

On the other hand it makes sense for them to not know how to grovel. These are the kids that have been fighting the Yeerks since book 1 with the attitude that they will either get the Yeerks off their planet or they will die trying. Groveling is just out of their wheel house.