During this sort of discussion it's brought up that you can't tell who is a Controller just by looking at them. Family and friends will still act like themselves even after they are infested. Though some changes do happen as before Jake had found out Tom was a Controller he had stopped playing basketball.
Marco feels nervous about morphing an ant and I don't blame him. My reason is different since I know the hell that will be released shortly.
Tobias reminds everyone, again, that his eyesight isn't great during nighttime but he should be able to watch over the rest of the Animorphs during part of their mission.
Jake says it's time for the mission to begin as Chapman should be at a meeting of The Sharing. Another recap happens that explains both The Sharing and that Tom is a Controller.
Marco makes mention of the fact that you can't go from one morph directly to another. He uses Cassie as an example. Er...not going to mention that Jake tried that trick in The Visitor and it didn't work. No? Okay.
The group begins to morph ants.
Even before the main event I'm getting nightmare fuel. Marco is watching Cassie morph and oh dear lord!
He says that the ant mind doesn't feel hunger or fear. That's very good. But he also has lost a sense of self. Of identity. How the hell did I survive childhood when I read this?
Marco's ant mind realizes it's in a different territory. He knows that enemies will be coming soon and there will be a fight. He also searches for food to bring back to the imaginary colony. Meanwhile Tobias is trying to talk to the others...which is unsuccessful.
As Marco walks to a dead beetle, Tobias continues to yell for them to get control of the morph. I really don't envy Tobias as not only can't he go on certain missions, if shit goes wrong he can only watch.
It slowly starts to dawn on Marco who he really is. He screams so loudly that Tobias probably nearly dies of a heart attack. Marco and Ax both comment on how it was like they didn't exist for a little bit. As this is going on Tobias is begging them to demorph.
As the group debates demorphing or continuing on the mission Tobias says he spots another group of ants. Oh, god! It's going to happen!
Cassie gives a suggestion on how to use the ant eyes. After that bit of info the gang is able to start to head in the correct direction.
Tobias has to fly away from them as it would look suspicious if Chapman saw him. I really do pity that he isn't able to help his friends as much as he'd like.
Suddenly Marco is aware of enemies, aka ants, that are coming towards him. But his ant brain doesn't feel fear and it just knows that there will be a battle to the death soon.
Well...I guess the real terror is next chapter.
Chapter 10
Rachel is briefly startled when an ant goes by her. They decide not to pay the smaller ant. Oh, yes, I'm sure that small ant won't tell the others in its colony that there are ants from another colony in its colony. Oh, yes, I don't see anything bad happening from this.
The descriptions Marco has of what the ant mind sees are...hard to describe but awesome nonetheless. You can just imagine being an ant and walking around.
As the group decides they're in the right spot, Marco is there to remind them of how the ant mind perceives things. He reminds them that they can't properly tell if they're on the ceiling, wall, or floor. Marco is the reluctant Animorph right now, but he does care for the group.
Since he wants to get out of the ant morph so badly, he offers to be the one to go first and check.
Once Marco is demorphed he realizes he could accidentally crush one of his friends and so moves extra carefully. Marco turns the light on.
After Marco gives a signal with the lights the rest of the group demorphs.
Cassie talks a little about how she doesn't want to go back to ant morph again. Marco doesn't say much as he's too freaked out at the moment and if he talks about it he might lose it. I remember the ant morph being terrifying, but holy fucking shit am I about to piss my pants. And we're not even to the main event!
Ax starts looking for the transponder. There is one sentence that I am going to take out of context from now on in case I ever start shipping Ax and Marco.
Ax is surprised that Marco can used an advanced computer they found. Ax tells him to go back to a document that is announcing the arrival of Visser One. Of course Marco is surprised that Ax, an alien, can read the alien language that the documents are in.
Ax talks about the Yeerk hierarchy and says that Visser Three is the only Yeerk with an Andalite host. He also mentions that Visser One has a human host. I wonder which human Visser One's host is...
Once Ax has found the device they morph back into ants. Cassie tells them that ants are extremely strong for their small size. Good bit of info. Too bad there's a bit of info she forgot.
Cassie, Rachel, and Ax go to carry the device. Marco's reaction is best described as, "Holy shit! That's unbelievable!"
Marco and Jake clears the way for the other three.
Without warning a huge army of ants comes towards them. Oh my god! It's finally going to happen!
Chapter 11
What makes this extra scary is that they're afraid of dying in an animal's body. Not just any animal's: but one of the most unnerving morphs so far.
Just imagine dying but as something else. Something that is so far removed from human it's almost alien in nature.
And...oh my fucking god! Is this for kids? How the fuck did I not die of fright when I was younger. HOLY FUCKING SHIT!
Marco describes the ants as machines. They are ripping the Animorphs' legs off, biting at their necks, and generally just trying to tear the Animorphs apart. Holy fucking shit!
As he demorphs, Jake seconds the motion and some ants continue to try and rip Marco in half.
Marco is underground and explodes out of the ground and Jake is on top of him. And here is yet another line I'll take out of context in the future: Jake was on top of me, pushing against me as he grew.
Rachel won't stop stomping the ground and Marco says to not do that again anytime soon. Yeah, I wouldn't like to experience that ever again. And yet I've re-read this book so many times that I'll probably experience it again in the future.
Marco makes a joke to help lighten the mood. And I think the Animorphs laugh for the same reason you laugh at jokes in math class. It's not that the joke is funny, it's just everything is so boring (in the Animorphs' case: scary as shit) that you will laugh at the lamest of jokes.
When Marco gets home and showers he finds the head of an ant still locked onto him. That is...arg! You go home after a battle and there is your enemy still on you.
Chapter 12
But the Animorphs aren't the only ones having problems. Marco's Dad is getting worse as the anniversary of his wife's death gets closer.
Marco says he thinks one day one of the Animorphs is going to snap. He points out that his Dad snapped.
His Dad used to be an engineer/scientist, but when his wife died he lost it. He ended up having to quit his job and ended up taking up jobs that paid a lot less. So Marco started living poorer than he was used to. But Marco says that it didn't bother him about the lack of money, what bothered him was that he lost his Dad.
Here is yet another example of Marco showing that he's a three dimensional character. He doesn't exist solely to make wisecracks, he is an actual person too.
All the bottled worry, anxiety, and fear from last night drive her to shove Jessica.
Marco sees that it's up to him to stop Rachel and so he tries to intervene. He ends up getting hit, whether accidentally or not is never said, by Jessica for his troubles.
I admit it is a little funny to me having Marco get hit when he was trying to help. Sort of like the beginning of this book.
So when Chapman asks if Rachel is stressed out about something I have to laugh. Not because it's funny in a happy way, but funny in a scary way. Rachel could reply that she's stressed out about fighting the Yeerks and nearly getting ripped apart as an ant the previous night. She could add that she had morphed an ant to steal something from Chapman.
Marco has the same thought process, except that he really thinks Rachel may say that. So he intervenes.
He does so in classic Marco fashion by implying that both Jessica and Rachel were fighting over him. This is because they are both madly in love with him. Jessica is shocked and angry, but Rachel says nothing since she knows the guy is helping them out.
After they are dismissed from Chapman's office, Rachel tells Marco to keep his sense of humor. She admits that it annoys her a majority of the time, but that the group needs it to keep it together. I also likes how she says that Marco seems to be in control.
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Animorphs Re-Read Table of Contents
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