Bonus: The recruitment attempts of Thévenin

Hello sir, you don't seem to be doing very well. Can I help you?

Not unless you are able to resurrect the dead. He replied aggressively.

Unfortunately, I can't do that, but if you have lost a loved one, you should become a member of the sharing group. Many people say it has helped them a lot to heal.

I don't think one can recover from that. Sorry for being so abrupt. He replied more gently.

It's not serious. May I know exactly who you lost?

He began to sob.

My wife and my daughter. They died last week in a car accident. Because of me. Since then, I feel like I am dead too. I don't even know what I am doing here at this meeting.

I give him a big smile:

Well, you are lucky. At the sharing, we will help you move on. Besides, I saw that you have already started to forget. It's good that you are trying to date someone else so soon after. Well, I say that, but I have never killed anyone, so I don't know when it is reasonable to date again. But given your age, it's better that you avoid wasting time.

To my utmost bewilderment, he punched me and then left the room at a run. All conversations stopped, and as soon as the rumor of what had happened reached them, the guests gave me intense looks of disdain. I noted that the most disapproving looks were from the controllers. What had I said wrong?

Thevenin, I agree with you that we must do everything to dissuade people from becoming members. But if you don't show more discretion, we're going to get killed.

How dare he mock me? Besides, it's his fault that I have such a hard time addressing other humans. If he let me access all his memories at any time, I would be as good as any Yeerk. What does he think, that we mess with their brains to make our host suffer? Well, okay, some Yeerks do it to make their hosts suffer. Well, actually, a lot of Yeerks. But normally, it's just to know how a human behaves. My anger must have been so strong that he had to feel it, because he added with fear:

No, but I wasn't saying that to criticize you. You're doing very well. It was just advice.

Wait, but he wasn't making fun of me at all. He was completely serious. But at that moment, I needed to vent on someone.

(Tom, for the last time, I'm not going to hurt you. What do I have to do to earn a little of your trust? I said, raising my voice against him for the first time. Immediately, I regretted it.)

(It's easy for you to say. I am completely at your mercy. He said defiantly.)

I resumed more gently

Every night, I am completely at your mercy.

(It’s not the same. If I do anything to you, I can be sure that my family will be completely infested and I’m sure to be assigned to the cruelest Yeerk in the pool. And then you, you can read my mind. You know in advance if I plan to betray you.)

(It is not entirely pleasant to entrust your life to someone who dreams of killing you)

(I don't wish to kill you)

I doubt that your dreams have evolved much since we started sleeping in separate rooms.

(But that doesn't mean anything. It's not what you think. Yes, I wish I didn't have you in my head anymore, but I really appreciate you.)

(Tom, in view of your infestation, I have had advanced courses on your species. Among you, it is not uncommon for the male to kill the female he loves. The fact that you love me is not particularly reassuring)

(Not in that way. I meant that I consider you a friend.)

(A traitor is always a friend)

In the face of his stunned silence, I explained:

(This is the moral of a very famous children's story Yeerk)