He's pretty clear on that part anyway. "I apologize. I've spent too much time expecting them - and they mostly only work with alternate universe versions of themselves." Slight smile. "They do mean well, and I would be delighted to maintain contact with Tide. Has anyone explained the general trajectories of Ardas to you?"

"They keep finding it convenient to send me things to read rather than having to explain them in conversation or work around my ignorance, so yes."

"So when we encountered the multiverse we'd yet to come up with electricity, and we've had very filtered access to more information since. What are you imagining we could offer each other?"

"Well, for one thing I have people who can explain electricity, if that's not yet installed here. I have somewhat scattershot personnel because those Yeerks who were genuinely loyal Imperial subjects are not moved into hosts at this time, but I should be able to pull together an infrastructure team, it was one of the strategies tried for securing cooperation of host or otherwise strategically useful species during the war. For my part I would benefit very much from the loan of Elf architects, city planners, that sort of thing. A portion of my population has opted to morph Flat Elves and serve as hosts for another portion, and they will need Elf-compatible living conditions; I have architects but I am short on artists even poaching from Amicus Terra. The Elf morphs can also use osanwë, which my understanding indicates will allow them to learn to make magic items."

"Yes, it will, and anyone can learn the magic music even though composition only seems to work in Ardas - do they not just want a duplicate of Tirion or similar -"

"They want something more technologically modern, and while we could copy Space Arda cities they aren't designed around pools and we wouldn't know how to maintain their world's brand of technology."

"I can get you artists and city planners. We have people learning electrical engineering now but would certainly still benefit from infrastructure teams. Are Yeerks in Elf morphs going to be Elf-like, do you have the usual set of complications of governing Elves -"

"They have Elf instincts - on top of Yeerk ones - but not Elf-like histories or habits. And they're forming an extremely telepathically intimate little culture - the reason it's Elves and not humans is not principally because of the eyesight, it's because of the telepathy, it soothes approximately the same drive that leads Yeerks to take hosts or reproduce. We have yet to test whether they have difficulty with imprisonment but they can be re-morphed Yeerk again with some rigmarole at need and then kept in pools; did you have other complications in mind?"

"For flat but not Space Elves sex results in a permanent metaphysical soul bond?"

"The morphed version is somewhat 'reductionist' - they have tried and cannot swear binding oaths, someone has discreetly reported to me that the soul bond problem does not occur in morph either."

"I was assuming you'd been warned about oaths but that's even better."

"What hasn't been tested is whether a Yeerk forcing a genuine Elf host to swear an oath leads the Elf and/or the Yeerk in question to be bound thereby. There is one genuine Space Elf who is remaining with his Yeerk but I have not pressed them for an experiment yet and the result might not hold for Flat Elves."

"Issiak didn't get a chance to test that. I would tentatively expect it not to work but we should probably be careful not to let any more rogue Yeerks run around and find time to try."

"Security has been tightened," she nods. "To the point where a few Cube humans who've heard about it are writing angry blog posts about profiling."

"I favor making everyone with the teleport indestructible but I have had no luck at persuading the peal I ought to be. And there are other methods of interdimensional travel, in particular from here...in a few years we'll be exporting Materian magic items."

"Indestructibility means one has to let a Yeerk in; it does not guarantee that unexpected Yeerk betrayal would be counterable."

"Means there'd be a maximum of five days of it, though."

"Depends on what other resources a traitor Yeerk could secure in that time."

"Perhaps you can suggest to Vanda Nossëo that they invent a security system for their necklaces."

Nod.

"Anyway, I would be delighted to find you and send you some people who can help design a Elven Yeerk city and teach the magical engineering principles and so forth."

"Thank you. And do let me know if there's any other way we can be useful to one another."

Nod. "How are you feeding everyone on Tide, demons? Imports?"

"Tide has some food production capacity and we're also importing from Earth. Nest started with a demonic bequest and is setting up agriculture."

"I will look forward to hearing about their progress."