12 KiB
r Animorphs: The Reckoning, Chapter 13: Esplin
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Author: u/philh *
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11090259/13/r-Animorphs-The-Reckoning
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Score: 44
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Created: 2016-01-02T14:29:40
Post:
Comments:
u/philh [+5] (13 minutes later)
eeeeeeee
So Rachel somehow tricked Erek into leaving the field without her, and then he couldn't get back in to stop her from attacking Esplin? I'm not sure what happened with the hologram he was hiding her with. Was he able to leave it up, even though he was compelled to try to stop her?
Is Esplin's modified fighter the thirteenth from chapter 12?
Actually, that's a question I forgot to ask: if there are "presumably four" on the surface, and an unknown thirteenth that Ax can't detect - it sounds to me like there are five that Ax can't detect, he assumes four are on the surface, and one could be anywhere. That seems like a strange assumption. Am I reading it right?
u/TK17Studios [+4] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (3 hours later)
[Author responses; seek clarification at your own risk.] (#s "You're reading it right. I may never get around to explaining in-story that Yeerks typically divide their squadrons of 13 into three flights of 4, with one ship left over. That ship variously serves as a scout, a bomber, a reserve, a command, a black-box recorder, etc., depending on the needs of the conflict. As for the holograms, Chee can project asymmetrically and at fairly good distances, but they always remain somewhere inside the sphere of the projection, and can't reliably project through walls or force fields (so yeah, the cloak went down as Erek passed through the barrier). The thirteenth fighter is Esplin's/the Blade ship (so it's smaller/less overtly cool than it was in canon, though hopefully MORE cool overall given that it was cobbled together by Esplin himself, a la Galen's Blackbird Viper from BSG).")
u/ketura [+4] Organizer (3 hours later)
u/scruiser [+4] CYOA (7 hours later)
I am reminded of an idea brought up in another rational fanfic (I think it was /u/datapacrat's MLP fic) The Fundamental Theorem of Poker. Basically, Esplin is overestimating animorphs numbers and capabilities badly enough that he is making interesting mistakes. I wonder if the animorphs can capitalize on this tendency. Unfortunately, he seems to be updating extremely quickly on his threat estimates... I am kind of worried if the author can actually let the animorphs win without serious Ellimist intervention (it was in canon, so it wouldn't quite be a deus ex machina, but it would be kind of story breaking). Given canon, I think one major intervention at a decisive point might be reasonable, so long as it merely gives the animorphs a fighting chance (as in canon) as opposed to giving them a win.
u/DCarrier [+1] (9 hours later)
it was in canon, so it wouldn't quite be a deus ex machina, but it would be kind of story breaking
I disagree. It's still a deus ex machina, even if it's canon. I kind of wish he took out the Elemist and the Chee.
u/TK17Studios [+7] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (18 hours later)
The problem here (and it's a difficult one, that I've spent many hours discussing with close friends) is: how do you tell a story that's truly ABOUT the Animorphs, and yet also have it take place on a galactic-civilization-affecting scale?
In canon, we go all the way to the top—Yeerk, Taxxon, and human cultures are FOREVER altered by morphing technology, and the resolution of the war creates galaxy-wide accords that shape the face of future history. It was a huge stretch to have all of that hinge on the decisions of five kids, especially in a universe that contained things like the Chee, the Ellimist, and the Time Matrix.
If you're K.A. Applegate, you can just fall back on Ellimist Ex Machina whenever you have to. In a rationalist fic, it's not that easy. By rights, this story should be about the President, or Visser Three, or the Chee as a whole, or just a straight-up two character drama in which the Ellimist and Crayak are really the only entities who matter, since they're on scales like 10^6 while everyone else is a 1 or a 10.
But I want it to be about Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, Marco, Ax, and to a lesser extent V3 and Garrett and Jara Hamee and Erek King, while also playing in that same universe. So my solution is to include all of the same pieces, but to balance them against one another. If you've got 1,000,002 on one side and 999,998 on the other, then suddenly it becomes believable that the number 5 can tip the balance.
Fortunately, canon provides us with exactly the right framing for such an otherwise-unlikely-and-unbelievable "perfect match." The chess game between Ellimist and Crayak is what makes the story work. They've got their own personal codes, their own side agreement, and they're each willing to abide by the outcome of the match, meaning that the Animorphs can have a disproportionately large impact without the need for a lot of godlike intervention. Ellimist is tidying things up here and there, but not affecting the PLOT. Mostly, Ellimist and Crayak's job is to keep one another OUT of the plot.
u/scruiser [+2] CYOA (10 hours later)
If it occurs relatively early in the story and is just used to set up further conflict, it's not a deus ex machina. If it occurs at the end to resolve the conflict unexpectedly without foreshadowing then it is a deus ex machina.
and the Chee.
The Chee are being introduced early in the story, and their limits and capabilities are being established, so I would say they are not a deus ex machina. Also, given how powerful rational!Yerks are, I think they need the help.
u/DCarrier [+2] (10 hours later)
The Elimist is literally a god. The Chee aren't. I'm not calling the a Deus Ex Machina. But they're still insanely overpowered, and the only reason they don't win immediately is that they're total pacifists.
u/TK17Studios [+5] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (a day later)
For those who don't like ff.net: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5627803
u/iamthelowercase [+1] (10 days later)
Ooh, that'll be handy. ff.net is blocked on my major network. Thanks!
u/protagnostic [+3] (17 hours later)
What's up with "Leeran hypersight"? It sounds like the ability differs from (and is significantly more powerful than) the telepathy they possess in canon, which makes me wonder why the adjustment.
u/TK17Studios [+2] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (18 hours later)
Two reasons: first, I couldn't see my way clear to "eavesdropping telepathy" in any way that made sense cross-species (how the heck does a Leeran just KNOW how to interpret the meaning of a bunch of neurons firing?), and second, I needed a way for the ability to be truly flawed/a dangerous tradeoff, such that it didn't become the answer to everything a la the Eagles in LOTR.
u/protagnostic [+2] (a day later)
I may be missing something, but the flaw/danger doesn't seem clear from context. I read the end of the chapter as spoiler
u/TK17Studios [+4] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (a day later)
[What's missing—since we only saw things from Esplin's POV—and will be obvious in later chapters, is that ] (#s "the effect of a Leeran's presence is symmetrical and egalitarian. Esplin got a shattered, chaotic glimpse into the minds of Rachel and Erek, and gained some measure of private, tactical information. So, too, though, did Rachel and Erek get a shattered, chaotic glimpse into the minds of Esplin and Alloran. Nobody else got anything more than a dream, since everyone else in range was unconscious (Yeerks in an unconscious host are somnolent, just like Yeerks in a dying host die).")
u/TK17Studios [+3] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (2 days later)
Huh. I was figuring this entry would provoke MORE discussion than the previous chapter, not less. Need to update my models, I suppose.
u/None [+1] (5 days later)
I am still rather confused about the whole 'multiple bodies' thing...
u/TK17Studios [+4] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (6 days later)
[Author responses; seek clarification at your own risk. By now, you have enough information to put these things together, but they HAVEN'T been spelled out yet and thus are actual spoilers.] (#s "So, there's a weird thing going on, in which morphing tech and Yeerk infestation do exactly the same thing (controlling an underlying body/mind). There's also a species called the Arn, who haven't been explained in this story yet, but who (in canon) were incredible bioengineers, to the point that they literally designed the Hork-Bajir from scratch because they couldn't be bothered to do yardwork. Visser Three doesn't have full understanding of/access to the workings of morphing technology—he can't build another blue box. But he's chipping away at the edges through study and experimentation. In particular, while he hasn't made much headway on the actual transformation process, he's been able to gather a LOT of information about the Z-space signal that links the original body to the construct. That, he can straight-up monitor and study. So you've got 1) a preliminary understanding of the control signals between a human/Andalite and its morphed construct, 2) an Andalite brain capable of juggling multiple lines of thought simultaneously, 3) a Yeerk with access to cloning and other high biotech. What those add up to are a system whereby V3 has basically stashed 'blank' copies of himself inside other bodies, copies which are top-down controlled by the same kind of link that lets him control his own morphed body. At will, he can control the other versions of himself which are controlling other hosts, which means he can be in five or six places at once. No more than that, because even an Andalite brain can only juggle so many things simultaneously. But still. ó.O")
u/royishere [+3] (2 days later)
At first, I took the talk of stuff hidden in "artificial skin" and an "extra set of eyes" to imply that Esplin had managed some REALLY freaky stuff with the morphing power.
Cloning is still pretty freaky, though. That's another strike against the Animorphs winning... but of COURSE the yeerks would have press-ganged the Arn into service.
Not sure what to make of the Leeran ability. Does it do that to everyone who passes within its range? If Rachel had been out of range, would Esplin have gotten nothing at all? And who got the bigger benefit from the hypersight, Esplin or Rachel? Given how incredibly unprepared she was this chapter, I'd say Rachel... especially since with Ax on the team, the Animorphs are going to be radically changing their game plan anyway. Esplin won't be able to predict that, since Rachel doesn't know about Ax yet.
u/chaosmosis [+2] and with strange aeons, even death may die (11 hours later)
Do Yeerks die when you kill the body they are Controlling?
u/ketura [+3] Organizer (12 hours later)
Not in canon, though they're hooked into everything so it's extremely debilitating if they don't pull out at the right time.
u/chaosmosis [+2] and with strange aeons, even death may die (12 hours later)
She could have picked up his head and interrogated him!
u/TK17Studios [+1] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (a day later)
In canon, they can escape a dying host, but if they don't do so very quickly, they do indeed die.
u/ketura [+2] Organizer (a day later)
Hmm. I suppose the only examples I can think of are actually in reverse, with the yeerk dying while in the human host. I suppose there's a couple of offscreen mentions, but I can't actually think of any examples of hosts dying and thus killing the yeerk. You'd think yeerks bailing mid-battle would be much more of a thing if so.
u/TK17Studios [+1] Author of r!Animorphs: The Reckoning (a day later)
They talk about it directly a couple of times. I can pull up references if you're having trouble finding them (I can't remember them off the top of my head, either, but I'm fairly confident).