And now Emril is free and has her body back and - yes, it seems like her Gifts are her own too, and now she can read Enstat. Carefully and politely trying not to read the Andalite too although she can't help picking up fragments. 

Is Enstat sincere about everything she said? 

Yup. She's trying to think that nice and clearly. Also she's very worried about Aileen who in her letters complains about being sick and miserable and bald and gets ambiguous test results.

Oh no. That's really tragic and it makes Emril blink and dab at her eyes, although maybe she's just emotional and shaky from the aftereffects of being mind-controlled by a brain slug - although she's a lot less ughh about the entire concept, now, for some reason. Poor Aileen. Poor Enstat, losing a friend, bumped around from one head to another. 

"I'm going to do my best to help her," she says, levelly. "Please don't put another Yeerk in my head, I meant that." 

And she turns to the other Controllers. "I, er, have Thoughtsensing back and I want to help, I can read both of them. Should I do that now?" 

"- yeah. I guess so. I don't know what checks the Visser had in mind - I guess if he proposes them, then they're not as credible -"

They confer anxiously for a moment speaking a language she doesn't. "Can you read them and just describe what is going on. Please."

Emril takes a deep breath. She can do that. 

Leareth's Gifts are blocked. Very blocked. He feels very helpless, and scared and sad and frustrated, there's still no particular tactical reason to fold away his emotions so he hasn't bothered. It's vaguely upsetting him that he doesn't know more of the strategic picture. He's very confused about Visser 3's decision process, right now, but he's also feeling almost painfully hopeful. They've lost a lot - it's going to hurt for a long time - but maybe they can stop the body count here. Maybe. He still feels trapped and out of options, and terrified, but - it's reassuring, seeing Emril there, calm and trying her best to help. 

Wow she did not know Leareth was capable of being that scared and upset, it's really weird! 

Emril reports what she's reading in a toneless voice. "He can't be mind-controlling the Visser," she finishes. "He doesn't have Gifts and he's terrified about it. He's just - thinking about what he would do in your situation. Um, should I read the Visser next." For some reason she's even more scared to do that. 

"Yes, please." They also look nervous about this but the Visser has never yet executed a subordinate for being paranoid when it was inconvenient.

She does so. 

Visser 3 is also very scared, and feeling grief and anger about all the deaths, though he's trying much harder and mostly succeeding at keeping that at bay. 

Most of his thoughts are on the fact that Leareth is basically him, except a couple thousand years older and wiser, and correspondingly more wily and paranoid - he keeps noticing parallels, it's not just Seerow and Urtho, the entire way they think - the way they relate to their emotions, to their goals, to people, to the world - is similar. Except Leareth is better. Visser 3 still doesn't even have a hypothesis for why this is a thing but it's pretty undeniable. 

Leareth lost. In his version of their story, whatever the hell that means, he didn't have the information he needed, he failed to de-escalate, and Urtho's superweapon nearly destroyed the world. Millions of people died, not billions, because Velgarth is smaller, but still. Leareth still regrets it. Leareth said instantly that he would have surrendered, even if it lost him his empire and everything he had built, because he can do math and that wasn't worth the risk of what ended up happening. 

Five billion people. 

And - Leareth's thoughts on the upside of trust, and what he's giving up by closing all those doors. Leareth's years of talking to Vanyel. Matirin wanted to persuade the Andalites to give the Yeerks morph, if they won. 

He doesn't know that it's the right gamble, but he's in Leareth's head and he is, at this point, pretty convinced that Leareth knows what he's doing more than Mhalir does. He's had so much more time. 

Emril reports this, slowly, in a shakier but mostly level voice. 

What. 

That doesn't make any sense. 

But - there's no way she made it up, most people aren't that good at lying and her Yeerk didn't think she was a stunning exception, and -

- it's not mind control. It's just - 

- how can different people be the same person, how can a Yeerk and a human be the same person - that's a very interesting question but they don't have to answer it, right, they just have to answer whether Visser 3 is still trying to do the best thing for the Yeerks - and he is, right -

"Okay," the subordinate who raised the complaint in the first place says shakily. "Thanks. Uh, please go on not killing yourself. I guess we're surrendering. To the Andalites. Who are going to kill us all but - maybe give the babies morph. In fifty years. Or something."

This is the first Leareth is hearing about Mhalir's thoughts! What! That makes no sense! ...It's probably a good thing? Whatever it even means, metaphysically speaking, it - seems to result in Mhalir trusting him? 

<Yes. It does> 

And to everyone else present: <Please broadcast the message again. ...To Andalite frequencies but to everywhere on Earth, this time, their other locations may be elsewhere. Tell them we are committing to returning Talik and Leareth unharmed and arranging a way to verify that they are not infested, and we are very willing to negotiate on returning all of their people who we have captive> 

They do this. 

There is not an immediate reply.

Emril is kind of shaking. Also she wants to hug Enstat, like, a lot? Unfortunately Enstat is currently in an Andalite who probably hates Yeerks, they all do. 

:Thank you: she says to her in Mindspeech instead, fervently. 

<You're welcome.

You know how to pay me back.>

She does. She just really, really hopes all the other players in this game will let her keep that promise. 

Mardic is with Donni and Rasha in the echoing emptiness of a base that was hastily evacuated in both directions. Watching a radio and the surface sensors and the human television and some tapped phone lines that don't have anything on them right now. They're very willing and ready to Final Strike at the slightest hint of trouble, they have a Companion who would catch something like the gas happening, and Nayoki figured someone ought to stay on Earth. 

Donni is taking apart some piece of technology the Andalites left behind, because of course she is.

:–Donni. Donni, come here right now: 

Donni comes. 

They don't know what to do about the radio broadcast claiming that the Yeerks are surrendering. It's...good news probably? Leareth is maybe alive? Unless it's a trap?

They spend the next candlemark talking about whether or not to reply. Decide against, it's too irreversible and this is so far above their pay grade. 

They try the inter-world version of the comms spell a few times, to get through to someone in Velgarth - they try for Vanyel and another mage - but they're not really strong enough and they only sort-of-learned it, very quickly, and it doesn't work. 

They pace. Wait. Watch the television. Eventually take shifts to get some sleep. 

...Eventually Visser 3 is going to have to get out of Leareth's head, he's running out of morph time. 

<Are we going to have a problem with the compulsion forcing you to explode?> he asks Leareth. 

...No, Leareth doesn't think so, actually. He's more paranoid than Emril and - concerned that means they're going to have to be really careful about not even looking like they might put a Yeerk near him. But he provisionally trusts Mhalir to order his people not to do that.