The Yeerk Anti-Morphing Ray is a late-war technological development by the Yeerk Empire intended to counter Andalite morphing technology. The origin of the technology is unknown, but many Andalite researchers are reluctant to believe that the Yeerks came up with the idea by themselves. The usual claims are that the Yeerks likely got the technology by either:
Infiltrating Andalite RnD teams
Collaborating with a race hostile to the Andalites, such as the Kelbrid Sanctorium
Discovering or stealing a technology unknown to the Andalites, possibly from an older civilization such as the Pemalites or the mysterious Ketrans
Some combination of the above
Yeerk records indicate that while infiltration of the Andalites had been ongoing through the late-war period and attempts to recover Pemalite technology had some modest success, the Yeerk Anti-Morphing Ray was first developed as a byproduct of a Z-Space signal jamming project on Earth that interfered with Visser Three’s ability to morph.
Realizing the value of such a device, Visser Three immediately commissioned the creation of the Anti-Morphing Ray. Primary research and development occurred on Earth, where interruption by the Andalite fleet was considered unlikely. Secondary development was continued on the Taxxon Homeworld after repeated sabotage attempts by the so-called Andalite Bandits prevented the project from advancing any further (see File LLSN-33 for more details).
Notes made by the researchers on the Taxxon Homeworld indicate that the device had been fully operational on Earth, but the Visser’s premature execution of the scientists working on the project prevented any further development at the time. A closer inspection of the device’s logs indicated that the “Andalite Bandit” the device was tested on had already been trapped in morph for several months, and a more advanced emitter would have been needed to force them out of morph.
Specifications
Initial prototypes of the Anti-Morphing Ray were a large black-and-gray tube mounted on a short tripod, with sensors at one end of the tube and connections for power cables at the other. Controls were variously placed around rear of the device and at the junction between the tube and the tripod. On the front end was a playful inscription reading “This End Towards Andalite” in Galard.
It was paired with another technology, the Remote Psychological State Stimulator, due to a believe that heightened psychological states such as ecstasy or dread may make the Andalite’s Z-Space signature easier to lock onto.
Later versions attempted to move much of the equipment to a backpack, which was connected to a large pistol-like emitter by a thick cable. Tests of this variant on Andalite-Controllers at the end of the war were promising, but the technology limited by it’s need for vast amounts of power and the scarcity of sensors capable of detecting Escafil Fields.
Captured post-war development of the technology by Andalites led to a number of anti-morphing systems intended to prevent escapes by morph-capable prisoners of war.
Usage
The Anti-Morphing Ray’s operation requires an understanding of morphing and Escafil Fields. When somebody goes into morph, their body is replaced via cascading cellular regeneration, where the original body’s cells are replaced one-by-one with entirely new cells built according to the instructions of the acquired DNA. Meanwhile, the original cells are shunted into Z-space and reassembled into the original body (see Ascalin ‘Snapback’ Event, file DCSN-18), where they are then held in a form of pseudostasis to protect them from the vacuum of Z-Space. This pseudostasis is maintained by unstable Escafil Fields that link the true body in Z-space to the newly created puppet body in normal-space.
Because Escafil Fields are unstable, the process is equipped with two safety mechanisms to protect the user. First is that if the field at any time becomes too unstable, the field ‘crystallizes’, or freezes in it’s current configuration. While this prevents the morpher from demorphing, it has the advantage of preserving the morpher’s life in hopes that they may be able to be restored at another time. This is exactly what has happened to nothlits, meaning that theoretically they could be cured with the correct application of anti-morphing technology.
The second safety mechanism built into the morphing technology is that if the field breaks down entirely, the morpher will spontaneously begin demorphing before they get trapped in Z-Space. Once the demorphing process starts under any circumstance, it will run through to completion, usually saving the morpher’s life.
The Anti-Morphing Ray works by disrupting the Escafil field in such a way that it triggers a demorph. Other prospective versions of the weapon could theoretically cause field crystallization, turning the morpher into a nothlit, or sever the field without causing demorphing. In the event of the second option, the morpher would effectively be dead within minutes, stranded in Z-Space with no air, food, or water. However, this leaves a now-feral puppet body behind, which can be a severe problem if it is something large and powerful like a tiger.
As of 2020, no known variant of the Anti-Morphing Ray has been produced that turns the victim into a nothlit or kills them outright.
A hypothetical use of the device was proposed by Prince Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill in his paper titled Observations on Novel Technologies in the Earth Theater of the Yeerk War (June 20th, 2002, published from the Andalite cruiser Intrepid). In this paper, Prince Aximili outlined that with the correct sensors, dedicated power supply, and some work to identify weakpoints in a crystallized Escafil field, it may be possible to restore a nothlit to their former state. However, as of 2020, this proposal also remains untested.
Limitations
Anti-Morphing technology is a line-of-sight technology, rendering it useless against unseen targets.
Additionally it requires special sensors with a massive power draw. For this reason, portable emitters remain very large, requiring either a cumbersome power pack with a limited number of discharges or a fixed mounting in a room or vehicle with adequate power.
Additionally, alternate uses for the device remain a frightening possbility should the technology be acquired by the wrong people. Thus, any research into the technology is tightly controlled and closely guarded, limiting any attempts to use the technology to undo the nothlit state.
