thought that it was considerate of the thing to anesthetize the area before
inserting its tendrils. She swung an eye to the rear to see what was happening,
andinstinctively raised her upper hands to push away the disk that had left the
dead FGHJ and was attaching itself to her. But the hands fumbled weakly, their
digits suddenly powerless, and the arms fell limply away.
Other parts of her body ceased working, or began twitching and bending in the
random, uncoordinated fashion of a person with serious brain damage. The calm,
detached portion of her mind thought that her condition was not a pleasant sight
for friends to see.
“Fight it, Cha Thrat!” Murchison’s voice shouted from her earpiece. “Whatever
it’s doing, fight it! We’re on our way.”
She heard and appreciated the concern in the Patholo-gist’s voice, but her
tongue was one of the organs that was not working just then because her jaw was
clamped shut. Altogether, she was in a state of considerable physiological
confusion as muscles continued to twitch uncontrollably, her body writhed in
weightless contortions, and sensations of heat, cold, pain, and pleasure
affected random areas of her skin. She knew that the creature was exploring her
central nervous system, trying to find out how her Sommaradvan body worked so
that it would be able to control her.
Gradually the twitchings and writhings and even her fear diminished and were
gone, and her body was able to resume its interrupted journey. The lens of the
vision pickup turned to follow her. When she reached the door, she slammed it
closed and locked it with fastenings that had suddenly become familiar.
“Technician,” Fletcher said sharply, “what are you doingTIt was obvious that she
was locking the door from the inside, Cha Thrat thought irritably. Probably the
Captain meant why was she doing it. She tried to reply but her lips and tongue
would not work. But surely her actionswould tell all of them that she, it, both
of them, did not wish to be disturbed.
Chapter 19
They were all talking at once again. She had to bend the earpiece back to
reduce the sudden howl of translator oscillation that was making it difficult to
think. The vision pickup was still following her and they must have realized the
significance of her action because the babble died quickly and became one voice.
“Friend Cha,” Prilicla said, “listen to me carefully. Some kind of parasitic
life-form has attached itself to you and the quality of your emotional radiation
is changing. Try, try hard to pull it off and get out of there before your
condition worsens.”
“I’m all right,” Cha Thrat protested. “Honestly, I feel fine. Just leave me
alone until I can—”
“But your thoughts and feelings aren’t your own anymore,” Murchison broke in.
“Fight, dammit! Try to keep control of your mind. At least try to open that door
again so we won’t waste time burning through it when we get to you.”
“No,” the Captain said firmly. “I’m very sorry, Technician, they aren’t leaving
this ship…”
The argument that ensued immediately overloaded Cha Thrat’s translator again,
which made it impossible for her to talk to any of them. But there were parts of
it,particularly when Fletcher was speaking in its ruler’s voice, that she heard
clearly.
The Captain was reminding them, and calling on Prili-cla to support it, that the
strictest possible rules of quarantine governed this situation. They had
encountered a life-form that absorbed the memory, personality, and intelligence
of its victims and left them like mindless animals. Moreover, judging by their
recent observations of Technician Cha Thrat, the things were capable of adapting
to and quickly controlling any life-form.
By then nobody was trying to interrupt Fletcher as it went on. “This could mean
that they are not native to the planet of the FGHJs, that they may have come
aboard anywhere, and are capable of doing this to the members of every
intelligent species in the Federation! I don’t know what drives them, why
they’re content to suck out the intelligence of their victims instead of feeding
on the bodies, and I don’t even want to think about it. Or about how, or how