<Tech first,> Bella says after a long moment's thought. <What they have besides their sluggy little selves, space travel, beam weapons, and pools.>

"Okay..." He chews on his lip. "I mean, that's most of it. They stole a lot of their shit from the Andalites - there's some history there, but Aspret wasn't around for most of it so she's kind of foggy on the details. They've got three different kinds of spaceship here. The one we saw that looked like an axe is Visser Three's Blade ship, that he usually keeps hidden on the ground somewhere, and then there's a Pool ship in orbit and a bunch of Bug fighters - those're the little guys. The Pool ship has a big Yeerk pool on board; the Blade ship has a smaller one. When they can, though, they like making pools on the ground. They name the ones on the ground when they're big enough; the one under Phoenix is called Selt Arash. Aspret was born there - she was one of the first. She got up to a host so quickly because she studied biochemistry while she was in the pool; they have computers they can access in there."

<How does an in-pool Yeerk do computing?>

"They hook up to the interface like they'd hook up to a brain. Basically. The connection's not nearly as good."

<Do you think we could steal a ship? Do the laser guns have stun settings or do they only come in 'vaporize', and either way could we get ahold of those? How do the pools work - how can we throw a wrench in the works?>

"The zap guns are called Dracon beams. At maximum power they vaporize; lower settings burn things, lower than that will stun, and the lowest just hurts like hell. They keep track of 'em, and anybody who loses one is in deep shit, but we could probably get our hands on one if we tried. If you keep asking me three questions at once, I'm gonna keep forgetting the other two by the time I'm done answering one."

<I also asked if you thought we could steal a ship. I imagine it would be conspicuous as hell, but if Aspret knew how to fly one and now you do too it'd be a good option to know about.>

He shakes his head, just visible through the partly open closet door. "She was never a pilot. They use Taxxons - good reflexes - and she steered clear of Taxxon hosts 'cause they have such high attrition."

<Okay, that's that out. If we ever catch a helpful Yeerk with a more cosmopolitan history could we get a ship?>

<How come you want a ship so bad?>

<Don't necessarily, but if we had a plan set up to get one it'd be handy if we ever needed to convince a lot of people at once or someone in authority that there are aliens invading.>

"Hell if I know," says Trouble. "I mean, sure, if we can get somebody who knows how to pilot one, maybe we can steal something. But it's not like Aspret spent a lot of time analyzing their security. Oh - that guy who got shot in front of Robin was an escaped host, by the way. Aspret saw him make a break for it. Happens once in a while, but they almost never get as far as the door."

<They ever get farther than that?>

"Not that Aspret ever heard about. And if they did, somebody'd track them down and kill them. They're really serious about not letting anybody know they're here."

<Where does Visser Three live when he's at home?>

"Who the fuck knows. Blade ship, maybe. His security's top-notch. The guy's kind of a tool, though. Like, that important project Aspret was assigned to - she got kicked off and demoted because he overheard her saying that what he was asking for was impossible and made no sense. He gets into these moods where he'll kill anybody who looks at him funny."

<What was her project?>

"...It's top secret, it's never gonna get off the ground, and she really doesn't want us to know what it was because if the Yeerks somehow get the idea that we know about it they're bound to figure out she talked to us."

<So she didn't tell you or you don't want to tell us?>

"So I'm not gonna tell you unless you can think of a really good reason why you need to know or we find out about it some other way."

<Because you think we'd change something that would give the fact that we talked to Aspret away?>

"Because she really didn't want you to know, and from where I'm sitting I don't see it helping you any."

"They don't all know each other - there's too many. And you can't tell by sight who's in somebody's brain. There's a whole bunch of entrances - one in the used bookstore, one in a McDonald's, one in our school, one behind a bus station, two more Aspret's never come in by, and then there's a tunnel going to a hangar way out of town where they keep a bunch of Bug fighters, but she's never been down it. They guard it, but they're not expecting an Andalite strike force - they're gonna think we're Andalites, even Aspret kept catching herself thinking of us as Andalites and she sure as hell knew better. We could probably get in and out pretty easy as bugs or something, until they figure out we exist."

<After they find out the place is doused in pesticide?>