"Got her?" Bella asks.

Ethan nods.

"Yeah," sighs Robin, withdrawing her hand.

"Okay. Me and Andi can morph Visser Three's host, probably a safer bet than having a hammer around."

Andi squirms, but starts morphing. She winds up blue and furry before any changes in her shape occur.

Bella follows suit.

<How can I lower it? It's not like I'd stop Bella.>

"Yeah, I know. It doesn't completely make sense. Just... one big scary Andalite who looks a lot like Visser Three and would totally take my head off if I made a break for it is plenty intimidating, but when there's two of them and I read one as pretty much gonna hang back no matter what, it kind of, I don't know, dilutes the scary."

Andi shrugs and demorphs. She passes through "blue furry Andi" on her way again, except this time she keeps the pointy ear shape till the very end.

<Cool, you can do 'elf' as well as 'fairy'. Trouble, you about ready?>

"Yeah. Tell Aspret what's up?" he says, dragging a folding chair over next to the bowl.

<Aspret, this is Bella. We're going to put you back in Trouble so you can talk. If you don't come out as soon as any of us tells you to, staying's going to be unpleasant, and if you start to morph or otherwise make sudden movements likewise. The possibility of a complete lack of unpleasantness exists but we need to determine if there's any way we can trust you.>

Bella folds her arms and lashes her tail slightly. It makes a whistly noise, if she angles the blade right.

<I invite you to convince us that we wouldn't all be... entertaining mental guests... or dead or on the run if we found a way to keep you comfortably alive.>

"Are you kidding me?" says Aspret. "Trap me in morph! Please! I won't starve, I won't die, I won't ever have to see that Andalite-wearing sadist again!"

<The fact that he's numbered suggests that there are other Yeerk authorities running around. Even if you don't have any reason to like Visser Three in particular, he's not the only person you could betray us to if we gave you freedom of movement and the ability to thoughtspeak.>

"He's in charge of this—of the invasion of Earth, I mean," says Aspret. "There's no Yeerk I could talk to about, about you guys, that wouldn't lead me back to him eventually." She shivers. "Which is the last place I ever want to be. There are regulations against wastefully killing subordinates, but nobody dares to remind him about them anymore. I've heard rumours—" She bites Trouble's lip, then shakes his head, shivering again. "Some people try to get close to him, soak up the glory, stay on his good side. Not me. I'm done."

<We'd still be running a risk,> Bella says, shifting her weight, rippling her tail. <Even getting the morphing box and then putting it back is a risk, and we'd have to catch you some kind of animal, too. Would you work for us?>

Aspret huddles in the chair, wrapping Trouble's arms tightly around his stomach.

Bella waits.

"...Y...es..." she says tremblingly, and then shakes Trouble's head. "No! Not if I had to go anywhere near another Yeerk! Turn me into a, a bird, a migrating bird, I'll give you... everything I know that isn't something only I know, and I'll just fly away. Be a bird forever. I love birds..." She trails off with a sigh.

<Intel is a form of helping,> Bella says mildly. <I take it you don't have any friends you want to give the same deal?>