I felt a surge of anger at Erek. Marco was right: What right did Erek have to cling to his nonviolence in a universe where the Howlers annihilated entire species on orders from an evil force? How do you stand on the sidelines when evil is running amok? Erek was the only one of us who could fight a Howler and win. He had the power. He alone had the power. We'd freed him for one hour from his peaceful programming. The result had been terrifying. He had annihilated a Yeerk force that would have destroyed us all. Yes, the Pemalites had created him and all his kind to be peaceful. To be physically incapable of violence. And it was irrational of me to be angry. But with Cassie and Rachel and maybe everyone dead and me alone, I didn't care. The Pemalites were fools. They'd been wiped out by the Howlers while their incredibly powerful androids had stood by and done nothing. The Pemalites had not reprogrammed the Chee. Idiots! The Chee could have saved them. The Chee could have been turned loose to destroy the Howlers the way the Howlers destroyed everyone else. And then . . .
Just this book. Jake's anger that Erek isn't able to fight the Howlers when he thinks they've killed everyone and he's alone. He's mad even though he knows Erek can't choose violence even when he wants to.
And then... Jake morphs a Howler and learns how they see everything.
<Here they come!> Tobias yelled. <Thirty seconds. If - > <Children, my butt,> Rachel said. <They're murderers!> <They're what Crayak made them,> I said. <They have a life span of three years. They have no mature phase. They don't reproduce; they're grown in a factory. There are no adult Howlers.> I looked hard at Erek. <Did you know?> "Before? No." <When you absorbed Howler memories, did you realize they are children?> I demanded. "They slaughtered my creators," Erek said stonily.
Jake learns that the Howlers have no idea that they're doing anything other than playing a game - they never mature to the point where they can understand that.
And Erek knows too. He's been given their first-person memories, not just the holograms he shows the others. And Erek still wants them dead anyway (while being unable to do it himself) and Jake is the one feeling sad for them.
Just...
This. Book.
