Because the Andalites might have sensor coverage to pick up on it, and do not currently have anything they could use to take it out anyway, Leareth is the only mage who could plausibly have Gated directly there to Final Strike and they...don't have him. And it'll put a bit more oomph behind the surrender message. 

Mhalir thinks, hard. 

- Alloran is also confused by Mhalir, at this point. Presumably this is not the first time it occurred to him that Andalites would destroy Earth rather than let him have it? A similar thing played out on the Hork-Bajir world, after all - a bioweapon - 

No, that's not the new information, Mhalir thinks absently.

- What is the new information? It's a little hard to name it. That Leareth - endorses surrendering in conditions like these, despite, as far as he can tell, thinking exactly the way Mhalir does? That Leareth, despite being - who he is - was able to get Andalites on his side, well, join their side, but same difference, Matirin trusted him with so much... 

<Broadcast another message> he tells his people. <Tell them that Visser Three will consider returning Leareth, verifiably not infested, as an offer of good faith. However, we will likely need some assistance from them on this front, since I worry that if we leave him free for any length of time he will be forced by the mind-editing precautions he took to explode and kill himself> 

"...Visser," says his staff member. "Uh, I am ...concerned about the possibility that the host's magic powers are...affecting you."

Perfect. It's so reasonable of them to be concerned about that. Gah. So close. 

Mhalir draws in a deep breath and lets it out. <I understand your concern. I am fairly sure his mind-powers are blocked, but> He thinks for a moment. <...The Healer, who we gave to Enstat. Can she be brought over here, immediately>

She has Thoughtsensing - well, would have it, if she wasn't Yeerked right now, but they can worry about that hurdle when they get to it. And she doesn't have mind-control. Or the ability to explode. She could...kill herself, probably, if set free? But maybe reversibly, and she's no longer their only hostage or even an especially well-informed one. 

" - yeah, I can arrange that, one second." She looks relieved. 

He waits. 

Daring to hope again only makes it hurt more. 

They get the Yeerked Healer on the fastest shuttle over. "It'll be fifteen minutes."

<Hoo boy,> remarks Enstat. <I think the way this has to work probably is that I have to leave you and then you tell them that Leareth's magic powers definitely can't be affecting the Visser right now? Instead of killing yourself. Or me. Or Leareth. Or all of us. As soon as your Gifts are back. Can we figure out as fast as possible if I can get you to do that somehow? We could get my old host on the phone and she could vouch for me - I guess you can't tell over the phone if there's somebody else in there - we could get her on a shuttle too and you could agree not to kill anybody till you've checked if she's alone, she is, she's being treated for cancer - can you fix cancer ->

Emril is surprised and confused for a moment and then starts trying to actually think. 

...Well, she can't kill anyone but herself as long as they don't leave her touching anyone. She could kill herself, of course. ...She might have to, this isn't a briefing they got or anything but it would be very like Leareth to stick compulsions on his people for that. In which case it's probably based on expectations? If she expects she's about to be Yeerked, but isn't currently, she might literally have to stop her own heart. (Although it occurs to her that with Earth medical tech that could be reversible, and it probably wouldn't force her to give herself a stroke or something more permanent...)

And she thinks the set-command blocking her Gifts is based on expectations, too, it - probably depends on her believing she's free? In the tests they did, it sometimes flipped back on its own and sometimes didn't. 

She's not sure how to work with that because right now she super does not trust Enstat and cannot read Enstat's thoughts even though Enstat can read all of hers, so there's a pretty big asymmetry there. 

<We can ask the Visser if Leareth ordered a compulsion like that and if he did we're... kind of in trouble... so let's assume he didn't. Would getting Aileen on the phone help at all. You'll be able to read my mind once I'm out if you don't kill anybody and I can convince you I'm not going straight back in and neither is anybody else, I can be okay in a fishbowl for a minute or two - Aileen realized one time she didn't know what I looked like and I didn't either, we're blind, and it was technically not in-protocol but she put me in with her goldfish and had a look and put me back ->

This isn't the main point, but that's both hilarious and adorable. Sure, Emril can't think of any other way forward from here, so might as well talk to Aileen, it'll be hard to take any of it at face value but she is curious. 

Enstat places the call from in the shuttle, after the annoying security rigmarole for dialing an outside line, hospital number and extension and "Hello?"

"It's Enstat."

"- prove it."

Enstat sighs and sings, "You are my snailshell, my only snailshell -"

"- okay! Okay! Who are you embarrassing me in front of -"

"It is so complicated. Can you - can you tell her about me - uh, in English, she doesn't have Spanish and if I have to translate that doesn't help -"

"What, just - you know it's kind of rude to ask your ex for references for the newcomer -"

"I told you you're not my ex, we're on a break, and once you're not having poison for lunch every day - actually uh - fuck, that's probably not need to know."

"I hate your need to know protocols," says Aileen.

"Yeah they're sometimes annoying."

"I'm doing fine, by the way, thanks for asking."

"I wrote you a letter three days ago."

"That used to be how long we'd go between not hanging out."

"What do you want me to do, borrow a hospital janitor and bring you flowers, think of the janitor, swapping hosts around all the time is awful for relationship-building - I'm only doing this now because, uh - need to know, but -"

"Uh-huh. You, whoever you are, she has awful taste in telenovela opinions. She got my son talking to me again - I mean, before I had to fake my death, which I'm still mad about -"

"That wasn't up to me, we'll figure something out once you're better."

"He just started talking to me again and then whoops I can't have a Yeerk if I'm getting chemo and your security protocols -"

"Aileen hon I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Sorry - what does she want to know -"

Emril wants reasons why she should trust Enstat, like, at all. Ideally reasons that - are hard to fake by just hearing someone who could be an actor on script say something over the telephone, but that's a hard ask.

What would Leareth do, here? 

She...wants information about Enstat's goals? What sorts of actions she took, what she was trying to accomplish, what drives her decisions. 

"She wants to know what I'm about, what I'm trying to do and why -"

Aileen snorts. "Enstat wants everybody to be friends. Her job's called 'host relations coordinator' at least when she's not doing whatever she's doing with you now which does not sound very host relations coordinated, she comes up with a million and one ways to make hosting a Yeerk a value-add so they're not having to fight for every minute, they'll get you to buckle down and write your thesis just the way you'd write it if you were able to concentrate or - she did my laundry, she kept doing my laundry even when my brother said 'who are you and what did you do with Aileen', I mean, he was joking but that has to be scary if you're a secret bodysnatching alien -"

"Ugh, my soul left my body," says Enstat.

"There you go, but the laundry got done, the dishes got done, she did counseling sessions, she was working on some psychometrics to try to match people better, and I told her 'this is a lot of effort when you could just have no mean no' and she said 'I would love that but everything's hush hush right now, the other aliens hate us, I have to prove that it's not true we can't do better than Gedds, I have to prove that it's possible we can find what we want and there's people who'll want it with us' - Gedds are the ones they evolved with back home but apparently they're, uh, they really need Yeerks, that's why they kept coming back to the pools for 'em on an evolutionary scale, and they aren't very good company? - she's lonely."

"We're all lonely."

"She's lonelier. She wants all the Yeerks to never have to be lonely again. That's what she's about. I miss her," Aileen adds, softly.

<Can you fix her?> Enstat wonders silently.

Depends what kind of cancer, Velgarth Healing can get some better than others, but she remembers her direct boss on the Healers' team being pretty sure that if they got more access to Andalite medicine, they'd be able to combine it really well. So - maybe to probably? 

<It's breast cancer.>

"You still there?" Aileen asks.

"Yeah -" <What else should I ask her?>

Ummm wow this is really high pressure. Aileen...misses her Yeerk?

She wants Enstat to ask, if Aileen had her back, and Enstat needed her help to do something that was - possibly very dangerous, but might help a lot of people - would she do it. 

"She wants to know, if you had me back, and I needed your help to do something dangerous that might help a lot of people, would -"

"Oh god are you on a suicide mission, if you tell me that's not need to know I'll -"

"Aileen!"

"- I'll cancel my cable and be really rude about it so it's a huge hassle to get it back later - don't you get Enstat hurt, whoever you are - I mean I know you're not driving but -"

"Aileen," begs Enstat.

"Yes, goddammit."

She would take a deep breath except she can't because Enstat is controlling her body. 

Obviously she can't take any of that at face value, but...it's not outside the realms of plausibility that it's true. And she has no idea what's been going on in the war since she was taken but they have Leareth so it's bad. And it's not like Enstat leaving her head actually makes her any worse off. Either she won't have her Gifts back, or she'll mandatorily kill herself, or she - won't do either, but she'll still have a chance to kill herself if they backstab her... Oh, but they could knock her out again. 

It seems like the options here are: one, Enstat is telling the truth, and things are very bad but maybe salvageable and possibly she could make the difference. Or, two, Enstat is lying, in which case probably nothing Emril does makes any difference. Well, she could kill Leareth. (The thought is awful.) They - should probably restrain her first so she can't? She doesn't need physical contact to read his mind, just to stop his heart. 

Of course, reading Leareth's thoughts helps the Yeerks. But - only if they're telling the truth, probably? They can get her to read him but they can't put fake thoughts in his head. 

Can Enstat promise they won't knock her out again and re-Yeerk her against her will? She - isn't sure how much weight she could put on that, as a promise, when she can't read Enstat's mind. She could read Enstat first, before she agrees to read Leareth and help them? 

<Yeah, you can read me. I - am not sure of my current authority to make promises - also I will probably not leave if you'll have to kill yourself if I do but we'll ask the Visser about that - I can ask about making a promise like that and if we make it it'll be legit, though, Visser Three's very good about that.> "Love you," she tells Aileen.

"Be safe."

"Beat cancer."

"Like a redheaded stepchild," says Aileen.

Enstat hangs up.

They can ask the Visser about that when they arrive, then. What's the redheaded stepchild reference about, she doesn't get it.