8.0 KiB
Reckoning chapter 9: Rachel
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Author: u/callmebrotherg now posting as /u/callmesalticidae*
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3pqau5/reckoning_chapter_9_rachel/
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Score: 22
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Created: 2015-10-22T04:02:25
Post:
Reddit won't let me make a link post this time.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11090259/9/r-Animorphs-The-Reckoning
Comments:
u/KerbalFactorioLeague [+10] (48 minutes later)
Wow, I can't believe I never thought of them just asking the prisoners what the Yeerk's plans are, it makes so much sense now
u/Salivanth [+10] (2 hours later)
And things just keep accelerating in pace. Jesus. Within a matter of weeks, this war is probably going to be over one way or the other. Competent Yeerks are scary as fuck.
One thing I'd recommend is finding a way to make the Interlude work as it's own chapter. Perhaps using arcs like Worm, or make the interlude Chapter 9. The interlude packed a lot of meaning into a small space, and people are very likely to just skip over it when archive reading if it's not it's own chapter. And it needs to be read at least twice to understand it.
You've read Worm; imagine how the short chapter would have gone if it had been part of a larger chapter. Nowhere near as impactful if you weren't reading the story when the original short chapter was posted.
I wonder how far Erek's programming goes. Presumably, the Animorphs wouldn't be able to share any attack plans with Erek if it involved the plan of violence. But is infestation violence? Would the Chee be able to use a small amount of violence to prevent a large amount of violence? (Forcibly disarming someone to stop them killing?)
And Rachel clearly knows some disturbing stuff now. The hospital being a major infestation push is the third worst. The school might be the second worst, but I'm sure the worst is yet to come...
This is going to be interesting. And...now I have to wait two weeks for the next chapter! Argh!
u/MugaSofer [+6] (4 hours later)
Would the Chee be able to use a small amount of violence to prevent a large amount of violence? (Forcibly disarming someone to stop them killing?)
Not if they have their canon origin story, where their creators were destroyed by agents of Krayak while the Chee stood by, unable to help.
u/nicholaslaux [+6] (an hour later)
Cheeee!
u/TK17Studios [+3] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (19 hours later)
HOWLERS.
u/nicholaslaux [+3] (a day later)
Optimized Wizards/AI > Optimized Fighters, though. Even being hobbled to being unable to cast any damage-dealing spell doesn't outweigh vast technological superiority. Someone needs to explain to Erek that institutional poverty directly harms a vast majority of humanity and then maybe we end up with instantaneous post-scarcity society? (Probably not, but it's worth a shot.)
Also, their original weakness of shared memory (and thus ability to insert new records into the insecure system) doesn't seem like a "stupid" or easily avoidable weakness and thus would be likely to continue to exist.
On top of all of that, the Howlers never actually came to Earth, so short of direct interference, we might get to just ignore them for the time being. (Yeerks + Howlers, on the other hand... that would likely be bad, so hopefully that doesn't happen.)
u/edanm [+5] (11 hours later)
Great work so far!
I'm still clinging to my initial problem with a rational!Animorphs story - I don't see how competent Yeerks can possibly lose. The story should be over in 2 weeks with a total Yeerk domination of Earth, if they just do the minimum obvious thing - go to Washington D. C., take control of all of it, do likewise for other important capitals, within 2 weeks they should effectively rule the world's governments.
I'm not sure if it was explained in the story yet why they chose this city vs. the above plan.
u/TK17Studios [+13] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (12 hours later)
Not explained in the story yet. There is an explanation (coming soon), and it may not satisfy some readers, but it's probably the best possible place to ask readers to spend their suspension-of-disbelief points, in terms of return on investment.
u/CouteauBleu [+1] We are the Empire. (a month later)
I always thought this was the other way around. There are way too many different ways the invasion can fail for the Animorphs to loose if they play their cards smart : incompetent/corrupt leadership, heavy dependence on expensive centralized architecture, overwhelming low numbers, brewing civil war, fighting people who have a cube who can give them permanent superpowers by touching it (without expending any resources), etc... the factors favor the Earth massively.
There's nothing preventing the Animorphs from going semi-public and telling the military about the invasion, without triggering an immediate orbital bombarding as a reprisal. Once the military is onboard (shouldn't be too hard, morphing powers give the protagonists all the credibility they need), they can discreetly send troops to the Pool, maybe smuggle a nuke in for extra insurance, then go public and threaten to blow the Pool up to even the odds during negociations. If the numbers are anything close to canon, the Yeerks can't afford to loose it. If they decide to go for open war anyway, the american military still has an overwhelming numerical advantage over the Yeerks, so even if they take heavy casualties, they'll win eventually, even without factoring international help.
That's basically what happens in canon, actually. In the alternate timeline where Ax immediately goes public, the Yeerks are eventually defeated by the human militaries, with heavy casualties. And in the main timeline, things quickly go downhill for the Yeerks once their invasion is reavealed (the military root its moles out, the main Yeerk pool is blown up).
u/callmebrotherg [+2] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (12 hours later)
My first thought is that it has something to do with Esplin's plans.
u/Bowbreaker [+5] Solitary Locust (12 hours later)
How enjoyable is this to someone who knows absolutely nothing about Animorphs?
u/callmebrotherg [+6] now posting as /u/callmesalticidae (12 hours later)
Pretty enjoyable, I would predict. There have been setting changes, so I don't think you need prior knowledge.
If you read it, please let me know what it's like so that I have a better idea of how it comes off to someone who hasn't read Animorphs before.
u/booljayj [+3] (a day later)
A few years ago I found a collection of all the books in ebook form and read through them all. They hold up surprisingly well even when read as an adult, and have some pretty mature and interesting storylines (David, Visser One, the Auxiliary Animorphs...). Reckoning does a good job of compressing a lot of the action, but I would still recommend the original books.
u/None [+2] (17 hours later)
very enjoyable. I read maybe 3 Animorphs books out of 50? books and I'm loving this fic.
u/Bowbreaker [+2] Solitary Locust (17 hours later)
Didn't the setting and the characters get introduced in like the first book? Anyway, I'll probably start it tomorrow.
u/TK17Studios [+2] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (19 hours later)
If you do, please let me know what you make of the first chapter (it's the part where you're most likely to be frustrated/confused as a new reader, but if you find it palatable, you'll be able to take the rest of the story without any worries).
u/QuicklyStarfish [+1] (5 months later)
Hey. Posting here because this is how far I am through the story, even though it's an old thread.
Been reading through the series since yesterday (it's been on my to-do since I saw it announced), and I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying it. :)
Leads to interesting reflection on the original series.