Invasion

CHAPTER 23

"Help! Please, someone help us!"

We had been hearing cries like that all the way down those steps. But now we were close enough to give the cries a human face. It cut straight to my soul.

There was a second steel pier. That was the loading station. There the host bodies were dragged from their holding cages to have the Yeerks reenter their heads. It was a pretty basic process. They grabbed the hosts, whether human or Hork-Bajir, and forced their heads down into the pool.

The people sometimes fought and screamed, and sometimes just cried. But they always lost. When their heads were yanked back up out of the pool, we could see the slugs still slithering into their ears.

After a few minutes they would become calm again, as the Yeerks regained control. Then off they went, once more slaves of the Yeerks.

It was a horrible assembly line, from the unloading pier, to the holding cages, to the infestation pier. They moved the poor victims through at a pretty speedy rate.

But there was another area we could only now see. There humans and Hork-Bajir waited on comfortable chairs, sipping drinks and actually watching TV. Taxxons squirmed around like gigantic spiny maggots.

I heard the faint sound of a television set. I was sure I could hear laughter from the humans. They were watching the show and having a good laugh.

Tobias said.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

Tobias replied.

"I can't believe that," Rachel said. "No person would ever let this happen to them. No one would ever give up control of himself."

"Some people are scum, Rachel," Marco said. "Sorry to burst your balloon."

"Like spending all their time as a hawk," Marco pointed out.

Tobias had nothing to say to that. He spread his wings and flew up and away.

"Tobias! Come back," I called to him.

"We have to get moving," Rachel said. "We've been standing here staring for too long." She looked at Marco. "Don't be a jerk to Tobias, okay? We need everyone."

Tobias came swooping back toward us. he said.

With my normal human eyes I couldn't see that well in the purple gloom. I could just make out the cop's uniform and the small shape beside him.

"Do you see Tom?" I asked Tobias.

In answer he flapped his powerful wings and gained altitude. I saw him high over the pool. Then he came back toward us in a power dive.

he said.