Alloran, in between chanting the names of the Good gods he has heard of, wholeheartedly opposes any alliance of this kind, obviously. Mostly he's scared that it'll make it easier for the Yeerks to enslave the galaxy, which the evil god probably doesn't care about or actively thinks is great. He can't figure out why the girl seems in favor of an alliance between the Yeerks and Asmodeus. Obviously she doesn't know that Yeerks are evil, but also Asmodeus seems horrible and Hell seems horrible and he's confused why she's trying to sell it instead of the alliance with one of the Good gods that would be natural if the situation were really as Mhalir had dishonestly described it - 

- Andalites will be quiet, sometimes, when their society has a consensus that seems to be missing something important they haven't figured out how to insert, but you couldn't get them all all right with being tortured when they died - and they wouldn't defend it to a stranger, just say it's not a topic they're an expert in - 

- Iomedae Iomedae Iomedae help -

Mhalir is in agreement that Asmodeus sounds horrible! (He also so, so badly wants to see the inside of Sevar's head for himself.) He's...not sure that Hell is worse that ceasing to exist. Probably a lot of other people would think it was worse, though, including most Yeerks, which makes it not really an upside for a potential alliance. Probably what he wants to do is use Sevar's intel to kidnap some more powerful wizards, along with their spellbooks, and then get out of here. Possibly come back to explore other countries with less horrible gods. He might consider a more limited trade of resources with Cheliax, but he's far from any conclusions there. 

They reach the planet and descend, still cloaked.

<Remember our agreement> he says to Sevar, before they let her down a couple of city blocks away from her house. 

Betray them or no? The argument for not betraying them is that they might be possible to talk around anyway and if her effort to summon a secret rescue mission is discovered it might make that less likely. The argument for betraying them is obviously that right now she has no leverage at all and also no way to make sure that word of this situation reaches anyone who could do anything with it, and if there's someone then that's much better.

They might be reading her mind. 

She doesn't think so. Mhalir would have to be a very good actor. But he's another species, it's hard to sense peoples' motives even if they're only an Elf or something and the thing he is is stranger than that -

- why give her the opportunity, if he suspected her -

- if they catch her, things will go much much worse than they're going right now. They might dispose of her entirely and kidnap someone more cooperative. They might have already done that, taken hundreds of prisoners, they might be checking who is the easiest to work with -

- when you're uncertain about lots of things, don't break the rules -

- she wants to, but that's not an argument, you can't let the desire to be clever and get away with something make decisions about entire worlds - 

It's not like it's safe to be cooperative. But they clearly get something out of having her cooperative, or they could have done this with threats from the beginning. It seems likely that if she keeps things superficially cooperative, they will too. And that means there'll be better opportunities to escape later.

She doesn't try anything. She walks quietly to her desk and gets her spellbook and walks quietly out.

Mhalir is there when the shuttle collects her. He thanks her for sticking to the agreement. Suggests she get some sleep, it's still the middle of the night.

Yes, wizards need to sleep well in order to prepare spells, otherwise the used spells from the last day are sticky in your mind and you can't prepare new ones. They should consider sending people letters instead of kidnapping them in the dead of night.

She does not fall asleep on the way back, but she pretends to. It's a shame there's nothing to eavesdrop on because they're a race of psions.

Mhalir also does not sleep. He paces. Worries about gods watching them. 

They reach the ship, at which point he can offer Sevar an actual bed, there, and try to get some sleep himself, in a place that feels more secure. He still hasn't had an opportunity to debrief with the Yeerk in her head, but he doesn't want to tip his hand yet. 

She sleeps, eventually. She feels very far from safe, but - she can read their minds, in the morning, if she sleeps well and can think of a way to pull it off.

Her Yeerk leaves once she's asleep and hopes someone is there to catch her.

They're watching the room with cameras, and can send someone in to very quietly retrieve the Yeerk and swap her back into her usual host. Mhalir asked to be woken in this contingency, and he's there within under a minute. 

<So?>

She is shaking, a little bit. "That was a very difficult assignment. I don't want to do it again - I guess I might need to - she was lying almost the entire time, and had a plan to call for help, but didn't end up trying to do it so I didn't have to stop her, she ended up concluding she'd have a better opportunity to escape later probably, and if she kept things friendly we would too. She's very smart. I guess they have to be. She - can I watch a video or something so I can tell you what she was thinking as she said it -"

<I will consider whether you need to do it again. I think I want to see her mind myself, but obviously I cannot stay longer than the morph limit.> 

They get her a video of the conversation. 

Then she can explain. "They have truth magic. It would make it either impossible to say an outright lie or apparent when she was doing so. So, see, none of these statements are lies of the kind truth magic would flag. But - she could have gotten her spellbook from here. She implied she couldn't, but she easily could have. She absolutely can't cast Etherealness and doesn't think any store in the world sells scrolls of it. Thus the phrasing - 'If anyone in Corentyn would have it Tómas would, at Second and Academy', vacuously true, no chance any of them have it. 'and I'm sure some of the people there know how to Detect Thoughts but I'd be very surprised if they were doing it to random passersby,' but they'd definitely do it if someone showed up asking for such a bizarre thing."

And she walks through the rest of it. "She was - sincere about thinking people shouldn't die and Asmodeus would take our souls instead if we asked him. She wasn't otherwise evaluating any of our claims about the war, except as - claims about what we wanted her to believe. I don't think she's a very trusting person."

<I do not think anyone raised in Cheliax with any intelligence would come out as a trusting person. Did you get anything else from her on> how to even put it, <- on how concerning Cheliax is as a country? I have gotten the impression it is competently run in many ways, and also horrible in many other ways.> 

"One of her main jobs is mindreading everyone in her unit and reporting them for disloyal thoughts or plans. Then they get tortured to death, I guess. I think Good and Evil mean, you know, Good and Evil, whether you help people or hurt them, but she was sincere about thinking that it's Evil to try to do stuff, because - I don't think anyone in Cheliax tries to help people, uh, selflessly. She'll be very very scared, if you're straight with her about what you're doing, and I don't think she'll agree to be a voluntary host, but - but it wouldn't occur to her to think that it's unfair, because obviously people will hurt other people as much as advantages them, because if you don't like that you should stop being weak, or stop having preferences, pick one..."

His tail lashes. <I do not think I want to ally with Cheliax or with Asmodeus. I do want to talk to her more. But I also in fact need some sleep.>

He looks to one of the other crew. <Now that she is asleep, is it possible to keep her lightly sedated so she will stay that way a while? I imagine she is very anxious and would otherwise wake up. Which is probably fine, she did not choose to act against us before despite being unaware of the Yeerk, but we should be cautious. Especially since she is probably resistant to stun beams.> 

"The leading theory is that routine exposure to powerful magic and maybe specifically to magic healing is what does it," her Yeerk confirms. "She'd be unusually hard to stop - I really don't want us to accidentally kill her," though she's too shy to point her pleading look at Visser Three in particular. "I think she could come around to helping us, maybe, if we do it right. And even if not - she can do the magic artifacts. We could maybe win the war just with that, given enough time. Invisibility and teleportation and mindreading for everybody."

"We can keep her under," another crew member confirms.

<I do not want to kill her either. I will talk to her in the morning.>

And he heads off to get some not-very-restful sleep.

Carissa sleeps, lightly sedated. She has upsetting weird dreams that would normally wake her and don't.

Visser Three sleeps and wakes and goes to talk to the Yeerk who was previously in Carissa's head. 

<I want to see her head for myself. But - I think it would burn fewer bridges, in terms of obtaining her cooperation, if I ask her about this first. I would like you in her head again, before she wakes, in case she panics and tries to do something unfortunate while I explain some things to her. I am thinking that I will tell her she can prepare Detect Thoughts and read my mind, for confirmation that I do not intend to kill or harm her. My sense of her is - she is more likely to cooperate if she feels she has some amount of leverage? Which she does. She is clever and a wizard, and we need both of those.> 

Unfortunately this will also let her read Alloran's mind, but it's not exactly a good idea to try concealing the ugly parts of their current war from a powerful mindreader whose help he wants to recruit. Might as well explain why, first, and then let her see it. 

(And if she doesn't want to cooperate, he can still force her to make magic items, but he would prefer not that. He would prefer she help him figure out if other wizards on her planet might also willingly help the Yeerks.) 

"That makes sense. Is there some way I can signal you that she's lying other than - seizing her entirely if I need to stop her from doing something -"

He thinks. <Possibly she will not notice if you, say, tap the toes on her left foot? Overall though, I think I do not mind if she is lying about something inconsequential. Though I will tell her that I will know if she is lying, which is true; in fact, I will need to tell her before she agrees that you are in her head, since you will need to leave so I can enter. Anyway, as long as the spell she prepares is Detect Thoughts rather than a different one, and she does not try to murder me, I think that is sufficient cooperation for my purposes.> 

So the Yeerk takes the sleeping human and then they can let go of the sedatives, so she does not stay asleep.

She wakes up somewhere unfamiliar, feeling awful, and -

- she looks desperately around for her spellbook, it's right where she left it -

- kidnapped. By people who claim to come from another world. The spellbook was part of an attempt to get word to her family, which she ended up deciding against - if she stays cooperative hopefully at some point she'll be watched less closely - 

- right now, for example, there's no one in the room, though they might be invisible and they might have a sensor of some kind. She pulls out the spellbook and starts preparing spells. The one to put the spellbook in the Ethereal Plane first, presumably she'd eventually pull it back under torture but it's at least a little additional incentive for them to keep being friendly...

Before she can finish that one, the blue alien-centaur-horse-creature is back. <Sevar. I wish to speak with you. I should explain some more context about our war, and then I have an offer to make you.> 

"Good morning. I'd love to learn more about your war, but I want to finish preparing spells first. I can be ready in about fifteen minutes." She can't prepare most of them in that little time but she can get Detect Thoughts and hide her spellbook.

Probably she's lying about some aspect of that, but it might be fine? He gives her a piercing look, all four eyes on her. <All right. Be aware that we have a way of sensing whether you are telling the truth or intend us harm, and will react accordingly. However, I do not wish to hurt you, because your help is of far greater value to us. In fact, part of the offer I wish to make is to allow you to read my thoughts, so that you can verify this for yourself.>