Baked, Boiled, or Fried
Part D
Blair's POV
Something was digging into my back. I mumbled a protest and
reached beneath me to pull out the lid of the Vaseline jar.
Jim turned his head on the pillow beside me and grinned.
"Good thing you had some lubricant, Chief, although I don't think I want to
ask why the jar was nearly empty."
He didn't see my blush, which was fortunate. I really
didn't want to explain about needing to stimulate my prostate every so often.
"Lucky for you it was. I'd never be able to explain to
Mrs. Chapman why there was Vaseline all over my blankets."
"You okay, Chief? Did I use enough?" He angled
himself over me and stared down at me. His fingers stroked over a spot on my
neck, and I tipped my head back so he'd keep doing it, and then his mouth was
there, suckling the patch of skin.
I made this sound that was a cross between desperate and
demanding, and tipped my head even further back, hoping he'd suck harder.
"Did I?"
It took a second for me to recall he'd been asking if he'd
used enough lubricant. "You used plenty."
"Why are you shifting as if you're sore?"
"How did you know…" I could see from his
expression that he wasn't going to tell me. I was feeling good in spite of the
ache deep inside me, or maybe because of it. I'd never had a lover who was so
skilled in the use of his dick. Or one who warmed me so well. Even though the
blankets were mostly on the floor, I was cozy in his arms. I burrowed against
him. "Okay, fine, have it your own way."
His hand fondled the curve of my ass, tracing the crevice,
dipping into my hole which was still slick with the lubricant and his come.
"I'm okay, Jim. In fact, I'm so okay, I'm up for
another round." I wrapped the fingers of his other hand around my dick to
show him how 'up' for it I was. They were warm and lightly callused. He
rubbed his thumb under the flared head, and I gasped. "How about you?"
I nipped his collarbone.
"Hey!" His hand came down on my ass cheek in a
playful spank.
"Hey!" I rubbed the abused cheek, pretending to
be aggrieved.
"Something wrong, Chief?" he asked innocently.
I had my fingers curled to launch an attack on his ribs,
but in the blink of an eye, he was no longer beside me in bed. "Jim?"
The man moved like lightning, no exaggeration. He already
had his pants on and was yanking his undershirt over his head. "Something
is wrong."
"What is it?" I used the sheet to wipe myself
off, uncaring of what anyone might say over its condition, then began dressing,
putting on my socks first. The floor was always cold, and I didn't want to be
hopping all over, with my dick bouncing up and down, although no doubt it would
have amused my lover immensely. "Jim?"
"I don't know. I… I can't tell, Blair. I just know I
have to… Wait a second! What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm going with you." From force of habit I
slipped the lanyard that held the greenhouse key over my head. "If nothing
else, it's obvious you need protecting from your ex-wife."
He tucked his shirt into his pants and zipped the fly.
"And you're the man to protect me?"
"That's right. I'll slap her silly if she even looks
like she wants to get close to you." I stepped into the half boots I wore
in the station. "I'm all set, Jim. You want to take your flight suit, or
leave it here?"
"I'd better take it." I picked it up and threw it
to him. He caught it and went to the door. "How come you aren't questioning
me, Chief?"
"Dunno, Jim. As I told you the other night, I lived
among some primitive peoples, and I learned some interesting things." I
could see he was becoming more and more anxious. "Never mind all that.
Let's get going."
****
"Jim? What's up, Cap?" One of his men, who I
recognized as Erickson, the navigator, looked up in surprise as Jim and I came
hurrying into the rec room. Seated beside him was the radio operator, Eddie
Dykes.
Jim looked ill-at-ease. "Barnes relieved you without
any problems, Ken?"
"Yeah." He glanced at his wrist watch.
"About half an hour ago. Right on time." He began to grin. "Wanna
know how your mystery turns out?"
"I told you…" His head whipped around, and for
a moment I would have sworn he was vibrating.
We heard the door to the mess hall slam open and someone
come pounding in.
"Where's Captain Banks? I have to see him! I have to
tell him that Thing is alive! I have to…"
Jim bolted into the mess hall. We were right behind him.
It was Barnes, sheet-white and hyperventilating. His irises
were like twin marbles surrounded by the whites of his eyes.
"Captain Ellison!" He rushed at Jim, waving a
gun, his words running together in short, jerky, panic-stricken sentences. The
gun was too close to my lover for my comfort. Carefully I approached the pair.
"That Thing!" His panic named our visitor. "It's alive, alive, I
tell you! It came at me, I shot at it, but the bullets didn't stop it! It's
alive!"
They were close to a table, and someone had left a glass of
water there.
"You have to do something! It was horrible! Those
hands, and those *eyes*! You've got to…"
I threw the water into his face. Barnes gasped and
shuddered and sagged, and I got an arm around him before his legs could give out
and he collapsed.
"Easy, Danny. Easy." I helped him into a chair.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Simon came running in. "What's going on? I heard
shots?"
Behind him were the Chapmans, Dr. Carrington, and a few of
the other scientists. Except for Dr. Carrington, they were all dressed in their
nightclothes.
"Danny, can you tell us what happened more calmly
now?"
"Yes, I'm sorry." He wiped the drops of water off
his face. "I relieved Lieutenant Erickson at 1, and after he left, I
checked the storeroom. Everything seemed okay, so I poured myself a cup of
coffee and started reading that mystery that was on the desk. After a while I
started getting this awful feeling, like… like … I dunno, like someone was
staring at me? The hairs on the back of my neck felt like they were standing at
attention, and I… I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a
shadow on the wall in front of me, I don't know. When I looked over my shoulder,
there it was! Those weird eyes and those hands and… "
"Easy, Danny." Simon squeezed his shoulder.
"You're safe here."
"I know. I'm sorry." He gulped and rubbed his
fist over his lips. "It started coming at me. I pulled out my gun and shot
at it. I shot six times, and I know I hit it, I could hear the bullets as they
hit, this soggy... " He had to swallow a couple of times before he could go
on. "It made this high-pitched mewling sound and kept coming at me."
He shuddered and gulped again. "I'm sorry. I ran. I… I ran."
"It's all right, Danny." Mrs. Chapman knelt
beside him and drew him into a comforting embrace, while her husband went to
brew a pot of coffee.
"Ken, do you have your gun? Eddie?"
"In our quarters, Jim."
"Go get them. Better wake up Bob and Joel. Meet me in
the corridor near the storeroom."
They left on the run.
"I'll break out the station's weapons, Jim." I
couldn't remember ever seeing Simon look so grim.
"Thanks, Simon. We just may need them."
"I'm going with you."
"Chief, it isn't safe."
"Captain Ellison, I'm going also."
"Dr. Chapman…"
"Hugo, be careful."
"Always, my dear." He hugged his wife.
Megan Connor ran in, belting a red silk kimono over her
pajamas. Japanese dragons were embroidered over it in black and gold threads.
"What's all the ruckus about? I thought I heard gunshots!"
"That Thing in the ice got out somehow and attacked
Barnes. We're going to check out the storeroom. *You* stay here. You're *not*
invited along!"
"Because I'm a woman? And I suppose I was just
kibitzing at
"I'm not giving you a gun."
"Don't need one." There was a smug curl to her
mouth, and she pulled a revolver from the pocket of her kimono.
"Damn."
"What are you going to do?" Dr. Carrington
demanded. "You can't harm it! If it's survived, we'll need to see to its
injuries, try to communicate with it!" His voice had grown strident.
"You can't harm it!"
"I have no intention of harming it, Dr. Carrington. As
long as it doesn't try to harm me or my men." Jim headed out the door,
followed by me, Simon, Connor, Dr. Chapman, and Dr. Carrington, who continued to
harangue my lover. Jim ignored him, coming to a halt to glare at us. "What
is this, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? This is strictly a military
operation!"
"I'm going," I told him flatly. "And you
can't stop me. I'm not under you." As soon as the words were out of my
mouth, I knew I was in trouble. "I mean…"
"Not now, you're not, Sandburg," Jim growled at
me in a low voice I hoped no one else would hear. "But when I get you
alone…" He let the sensual threat hang.
"Please, Jim. Don't make me wait behind."
"You might as well let him go, Ellison. I'm coming
along as well." Simon was carefully inserting bullets into Barnes' gun.
"And so am I," Connor stated.
"Suit yourselves. Just remember to duck if the lead
starts flying."
We had arrived at the junction of the corridor leading to
storeroom #4. Joel Taggart was waiting there with Jim's other three men. They
all had their weapons out, thumbs on the hammers, ready to start firing if the
necessity arose.
"All right." Jim had his hand on the doorknob. He
took a deep breath and threw open the door.
The light was out. Wind and snow came whistling though the
broken windows.
Jim took a couple of strides into the room and went down
face first, tripping over something. At the same time there was a rush of air
through the space where he had stood.
"What the…?"
The light from the corridor gave some illumination, and we
could make out the shape standing above him, the stance aggressive. Jim rolled
onto a hip, his gun braced in both hands, and opened fire. Six other guns also
fired, the simultaneous sound like rolling thunder, deafening in the confined
space of the room.
Suddenly the outer door was flung back, and I could see a
tall, monstrous shadow disappear through it into the storm.
"Somebody, *shut that door*!"
Erickson, Dykes and MacAuliff struggled against the wind,
finally succeeding in getting the door closed.
"Jim, what happened? What did you trip over?"
"Get some light in here!"
I fumbled against the wall and found the light switch.
"It's Mrs. Ellison… " Lieutenant Erickson
smiled weakly as Jim glared at him. "…er… Miss Plummer."
Jim went down beside her and searched for the pulse in her
throat. "She's alive."
He brushed her hair back off her face. Blood was streaming
from a wound on her temple. He searched for something to staunch the flow, and I
dug a handkerchief out of my pocket.
"Thanks, Chief. Head wounds always bleed like a
bastard."
"It looks like she hit her head on the edge of that
crate, Captain Ellison." Dr. Chapman was on one knee, carefully probing for
broken bones and other injuries. "She was lucky."
"What makes you say that, Dr. Chapman?" Connor,
ever the reporter.
"If she had been struck with the same force of blow
that… whatever that was swung at the good captain, I'm afraid it would have
taken off her head! As it is, she's going to need stitches. I think she's also
going to have one very bad headache." He raised an eyelid. "She's
concussed, but she is alive. I'll bring her to my wife. Esther will take care of
her."
Mrs. Chapman was a licensed doctor, but because two Dr.
Chapmans would have been too confusing, Dr. Carrington decreed she should be
referred to by the title 'Mrs.', and she graciously permitted it.
"I'll give Hugo a hand, if that's all right with you,
Jim?"
"Yeah, Simon. Thanks."
The two men carefully maneuvered the comatose woman out of
the storeroom.
"Look!" Connor's voice was high and tense.
We rushed to the windows, trying to see through the dark
and the wind-driven snow. It was difficult, but with the help of a fitful moon,
I could just about make out what was happening.
Our visitor had stumbled into the spot where the sled dogs
had been bedded down for the night. They were ill-tempered, even more so for
having been awakened. We could hear the deep-throated, savage howls. They threw
themselves on the creature en masse.
"He's dead meat!"
He went down beneath eight of the dogs.
"Holy smokes! Would you look at that?"
Somehow, the Man from Mars had regained his footing. He
flung one of the dogs at its mates, managed to stagger beyond the reach of the
chains that tethered the dogs, fall, and then get to his feet again and vanish
into the night.
"That puts paid to him. He'll never last in that
cold!"
"Yeah? He survived pretty good in a block of ice for
more than twenty-four hours!"
"We've lost him!" Dr. Carrington bemoaned.
"We've truly lost him. All that knowledge, that wisdom, gone!"
"How the hell did this happen?" Jim wasn't happy.
"That Thing was frozen solid in the ice!"
"This did it, Cap." Joel picked up a blanket. An
electrical cord ran from it to an outlet. "It's still warm. My fault, Jim.
I didn't even know it was plugged in."
"No." Connor's lips were etched in white. "*My*
fault. I wanted Jo… Taggart to be comfortable. I didn't tell him I'd plugged
it in; I didn't think it would matter. Oh, jesus, I'm sorry."
"Nice to know even the infallible Megan Connor can
screw up."
"You try being a woman in a man's field,
Taggart," she snapped at him. It took a visible effort for her to bite back
whatever else she would have said. "I'm going to get my camera."
"It's a little late for that, don't you think?"
"Drop dead, Taggart. I'll photograph the block of ice,
and at least there will be a record of its shape." She stalked out of the
storeroom. Taggart watched her go.
"How come none of us realized it was an electric
blanket?" Ken Erickson looked more than a little disturbed. He kept
glancing at the crew chief. I remembered Barnes had volunteered to take Bob
MacAuliff's watch. If he hadn't, MacAuliff would have been the one to face down
that Thing.
"The gloves," Jim muttered. He stood with a hand
on his hip, running a restless hand over his hair. "It's got to be the
gloves. I had them from Joel and was wearing them when I put the blanket around
Carolyn. You were wearing them when you straightened it on the ice, after…
"
I frowned at him. What was he doing putting a blanket
around that woman?
"And I gave them to Barnes. It was so friggin' cold in
here!"
Jim ran a hand over his hair again and looked at each of
his men. "I'm going out there to see if I can find anything. I won't order
you to come with me, but I'm asking for volunteers."
"Count me in, Jim." "Me too." "And
me." "Ditto."
"Jim, I can help calm the dogs."
He hesitated a moment, then said, "Okay, Chief. Dr.
Carrington, if we're able to find anything, you can have it to dissect."
"Thank you, Captain." He had himself under control once more.
"All right, people. It's cold out there. Get your
outer gear. And somebody rustle up some flashlights. Now, let's move like we've
got a purpose!"
****
Between the wind, the snow, and the cold, it took us what
felt like forever to make our way to where the huskies had been bedded down.
The dogs stood stiff-legged, facing the spaces beyond the
camp, their hackles raised, ears flat, and lips wrinkled, baring their teeth in
now-silent fury.
I approached them with caution, using the crooning tones I
knew would calm them. The Eskimo angatkuq had told me, when he'd first seen me
working with the huskies, that my inner spirit was a wolf, and the half-wild
animals, with the wolf strain in them separated by not more than a generation,
responded to me because of that.
They allowed me to get close enough, and I stroked and
petted them until their ears rose and their stance, while not completely
relaxed, became less aggressive.
"Where is it?" "Can you find any
tracks?" "I can't see a goddammed thing!" "Where in friggin'
hell did it go?"
Jim turned, his shoulders heaving. I left the dogs to fend
for themselves and slipped and skidded over the icy snow to his side.
"What's wrong?" I kept my voice low. His men were
casting around, looking for any signs of our visitor from Mars, and were unaware
that something was bothering him.
"That smell, Chief! I … It's too…"
I didn't know what he was talking about, I couldn't smell
anything, but I could see he was in distress. I caught the fingers of my left
glove between my teeth and yanked it off, then, skin to skin, cupped his cheek
and forced him to meet my eyes. The temperature was subzero, and almost
immediately my bare fingers began to freeze, but I blocked out the feeling.
"Jim, picture a dial. Can you do that? Good. Now, this
smell is at the top of the dial. I want you to turn the dial down."
The shudders that ran through him eased as he concentrated,
and after a couple of minutes stopped completely. He took a shallow breath,
either to avoid another lungful of the smell that had affected him so strongly,
or to avoid the damage the freezing air could do to his lungs.
"Thanks, Chief. That helped a lot. Thank you."
His gloved hand covered my bare one, warming it.
"Jim! There's something over here! *Jim*!"
Joel called, pitching his voice to be heard above the wind. He shone his
flashlight over a large, dark splotch on the snow, then squatted down to study
it. Jim joined him. "What do you make of it, Cap?"
"It's blood. Dog's blood."
"How can you tell? It might be Plug Ugly's."
"See for yourself." Jim raised his flashlight,
and the circle of light revealed the bodies of two of the dogs.
Ikuma, the lead bitch, approached her dead comrades. The
coats were stiffening as the blood that drenched them froze in the Arctic night.
White bone gleamed in the artificial light, while ribbons of intestines had
spilled out onto the snow.
I gasped, sucking in the air and then choking as my lungs
protested the cold, cold invasion. The odor of perforated bowel had been what
Jim had smelled, before any of us picked up on it.
"Jesus, they look like they've gone through a
shredder!" Erickson sounded shaky.
Ikuma nosed the bodies, then threw her head back and began
an ululation of mourning. The other dogs joined in the eerie, spine-chilling
howls.
"Hey! I found something!" The tense cry had us
turning to where Dykes, the radio man, was standing and pointing, his mouth
twisted in revulsion.
Not the Man from Mars, but… Under one of the eviscerated
bodies was something long and pale. It was an arm. Tatters of material fluttered
in the dying wind. I swallowed convulsively.
In a moment of absolute absurdity, I wondered if it was the
same one that had seemed to be reaching for me.
Jim hesitated a moment, then used great care in picking it
up. "All right, let's get this inside. We're going to need more men, more
flashlights, and some damn big shotguns. And we're going to find that damned
Thing!"
****
My lover was out there in the night and the storm with his
men and Simon's men, and our visitor from space.
I was in the laboratory, surrounded by scientists who were
arguing over the arm with its ten-fingered hand. I picked up a pair of surgical
scissors, and with extreme care, I cut through the material that covered the
arm. The… skin… for want of a better word, was an odd texture that I
couldn't quite place.
I reached for a scalpel, but Dr. Carrington was there
before me.
"Dr. Auerbach, if you'll do the honors, please?"
Dr. Carrington extended the scalpel to him.
I opened my mouth to object to our resident pathologist
taking over the dissection of the arm, then closed it. Dr. Carrington was the
titular head of this station, after all. And all I had to go on was a gut
feeling about that arm.
"Thank you, Doctor." Dr. Auerbach cut into the
skin of the forearm and inserted a thermometer. "Let's just see if it will
register anything."
Something suddenly drew Dr. Carrington's attention. He
fingered the blood-smeared tissue at the severed end of the arm.
"Dr. Stern, would you mind taking a look at
this?"
The senior botanist studied it for a moment. "This was
torn off at the shoulder!"
"Yes. As strong as the dogs are, it would take
something larger and much more powerful than a husky to rip off a man's arm,
much less this creature's."
"And the bone… Blair, what do you make of
this?"
"What does *Blair* make of it? What about *me*?"
Professor Laurenz snarled. "I've got seniority over him!"
"Oh, this is very interesting," Connor whispered
in my ear. She had taken the time to change out of her pajamas and was again in
her usual attire of pants, boots, and a flannel shirt.
"What? You thought that just because a man had a
string of letters after his name he couldn't be a…" I bit back the words.
I *was* a junior member of this station, and it wouldn't do for me to
call a man whose research I had once cited a 'petty prick'.
"Of course I'm always interested in what you have to
say, Andrew," Dr. Carrington asserted. "You know I value your
judgment."
Professor Laurenz preened. "Thank you, Arthur."
Dr. Auerbach removed the thermometer, gazed at it
thoughtfully, then reinserted it.
"Now, as *I* see it…" Laurenz was
staring at me, his expression smug, as he reached for the arm. He yanked his
hand back. "Ouch!"
"Andrew! Your hand is bleeding!"
"How…? I don't understand!" He pulled out a
handkerchief and wrapped it around his palm.
"Most interesting!" Dr. Stern examined the long,
thin, curved fingers, exercising extreme care not to touch them. "These
appear to be some sort of chitinous material."
"Chitin- what?"
"Chitinous, Connor. Like the exoskeleton of a
beetle."
Her toe was tapping out an impatient tattoo. "Words of
one syllable,
I smiled, liking the nickname she'd given me. "A rose
thorn?"
"Dr. Stern is right. That is interesting."
And those fingers had cut through the sled dogs' hide and
muscle like a warm knife through butter.
"Would you mind if I took some tissue samples to
examine under a microscope, Dr. Carrington?"
"Yes, you may as well. I'd like to learn why the dogs
were able to tear this being's arm off at the shoulder."
I put on my glasses, prepared the slide, and adjusted the microscope to get the best viewing. I growled under my breath, removed my glasses and rubbed at them with a shirt tail, then put them back on, tucked in my shirt tail, and looked into the microscope again. I let out a low whistle.
"What is it, Blair?"
"Porous, unconnected cellular growth." There were
startled sounds from the other scientists. I looked from Dr. Stern to Dr.
Carrington, to Professor Laurenz. "I'm not surprised the dogs were able to
tear this Thing's arm off."
"Nerve endings? Arterial structures?" Dr.
Auerbach demanded.
"No. And it's no wonder all those bullets Barnes shot
at it didn't do any harm. It was like shooting a cabbage!"
"But what about the blood around the shoulder?"
"The dogs' blood, I would think. I need to run more
tests, but I think we'll find any fluid in this arm will have …"
"A sugar base?"
"Yeah. Plant sap."
"A *vegetable*?" The reporter appeared
stunned. "A vegetable that *thinks*?"
"That's not as unusual as it might seem, Miss
Connor." Professor Laurenz was so busy pontificating that he didn't notice
her irritated expression. "Five million years ago, in the Pliocene Epoch,
when the Earth was cooling, it could have been a toss-up as to whether the
worms, fish, and lizards that dwelled on the Earth and evolved into us emerged
victorious, or if plant life took over."
"Yyyyeah."
He smirked at her scoffing. "There is evidence of
intelligence in the plant kingdom, Miss Connor. The acanthus century plant, for
example, uses a sweet syrup to lure bats, mice, other small mammals, into its
clutches and feeds on them."
"It sounds like a Dionaea muscipula."
"You're familiar with the Venus flytrap?" Connor
gave him a tight smile, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Well, actually, there is a vague similarity."
"There's also the telegraph vine, Professor."
"You want to fill us in on that,
"Sure. It's been proven that it communicates with
other vines of its species that are as far as twenty to a hundred miles
away."
"Why would one plant want to talk to another?"
"Well, if there's an insect migration, while the first
vine will be fodder for them, the others in the path will have an advanced
warning and will actually change their chemical structure so that the insects
take one taste, and the dinner bell fails to be rung."
"You're being facetious, Dr. Sandburg."
"Possibly, Professor, but it's a fact, none the less.
There's also that plant that's turned up in
"Triffid? Oh, yeah, those three-legged plants that
actually go walkabout."
"Yes, Connor. And that's so strange. I mean, there are
more wonders in the world than can be accounted for, but these plants suddenly
appeared one day out of a clear blue sky. Bill Masen was actually one of the
first people to be stung by a triffid and survive."
"I've been following the studies about that plant.
Perhaps that will be the next phase in evolution." Dr. Carrington was
flushed. Only a discovery in science affected him in that manner. "Just
think. On the planet where this creature evolved, plantlife became the dominant
species. It built a craft, powered by a source we have yet to discover, and
traveled millions of miles to Earth.
So powerful, so intelligent. Unhampered by the petty jealousies that plague
mankind." Dr. Carrington was bent over the hand, carefully working
something free of the palm. "Seeds! Painless, emotionless
reproduction." He looked enthralled.
"Wait a second, Dr. Carrington!" Connor
challenged. "You're one of the most brilliant minds on the planet; I'm *not*
going to accuse you of being stuffed full of wild blueberry muffins, but it
sounds like you're not only describing a super carrot, but a *female* one
at that!"
"Not necessarily so. You know the male
seahorse…" He stopped talking. The silence was disrupted by a clicking
sound.
One by one, we turned to stare at the arm on the table.
Dr. Carrington's voice was tight. "Where is Miss
Plummer? Dammit! Dr. Sandburg, please take this down. At
****
I was on my way to the mess hall when Jim and his men came
back in.
"You're gonna get frostbite, Bob," Erickson
admonished the crew chief. "Go stick your hand in a pan of ice water and
rub it."
"I think you're right, Ken." MacAuliff winked at
him.
I opened my mouth to tell him that might not be such a good
idea, but the crew chief was already heading for their quarters. I turned to the
man who had made me see fireworks earlier.
"Jim, any luck finding our guest?"
"No. Simon's gone out with some of his men, but the
wind is kicking up again, and any tracks will most likely be obliterated."
I knew the security team was taking their turn searching
snow banks and drifts. I licked my lips. "Can I talk to you a minute?
Alone?"
"Why, Chief! Is that what they're calling it these
days, 'talking'? You sexy devil, you!" His teasing smile suddenly vanished.
"Your heart rate is up. What's wrong?"
"How did you…?" My heart actually felt as if it
was trying to rhumba out of my chest. "Never mind. Let me buy you a cup of
coffee. The pot Dr. Chapman brewed before should still be warm." If it
wasn't, I'd heat it up. I didn't think we'd have time for a new pot.
"It's about Plug Ugly?"
"Yeah."
Jim followed me into the empty mess hall. While I poured a
couple of cups of coffee, he pushed the hood of his flight suit back off his
head, tossed his gloves onto a table, and unzipped the outer wear.
"Start talking."
"That… that Thing didn't run out into the night just
to get away from us. It…" He put his hand over mine, then turned it over,
and I stared down at the sugar cube in it. "Jim?"
"That's the fifth one, Chief. At this rate, you'll be
taking coffee with your sugar."
"I don't take sugar."
"I know, babe. I may not remember much about the other
night, but I do remember that." He ran his thumb over my knuckles, then
took my cup, went to the kitchen area and poured it down the sink, and brought
me a fresh cup. "Here. This should be better. Now talk to me, Blair. What
do you mean it didn't run to get away from us?"
"It was hungry, Jim. It went after those dogs because
it wanted food."
"How do you figure that?"
"The arm we brought in had canine blood on it. At
"WHAT? That isn't possible!"
"You don't think so? Men from Mars aren't supposed to
be possible either. Dr. Auerbach had a thermometer in the arm. He said there was
a twenty degree rise in the temperature. He thinks that rise made it able to
ingest the blood." I fiddled with my cup, avoiding his eyes. "I… I
went back out to let the rest of the dogs loose. At least they'll have some kind
of a chance if they're not chained like sitting ducks. Jim, one of the dogs was
already gone; its collar was sliced through."
He looked as sick as I felt. "That means he's gonna
come back, looking for another food source."
"Yeah. And I've got even more interesting news. It's a
plant."
"A plant? Wait a second! That's why the bullets Barnes
fired at it didn't do any harm!"
I was gratified that he picked up on that aspect of it so
quickly. "And that's why the dogs were able to rip its arm off. You're
gonna need axes, hatchets, cleavers, anything that'll slice and dice."
"I'll have to find Simon and make sure he's aware of
this new turn of events."
"He knows, Jim. I told him before he and the guys went
outside. I didn't want any of you coming face to face with that Thing and
finding *then* that your gun isn't
worth diddly." I dropped my voice, knowing Jim would still able to hear my
next remark. "I'd go after the damned Thing bare-handed if it hurt
you!"
"Chief!" He threaded his fingers through my hair,
but there wasn't time even for a kiss. "We'd better check the station and
see if it's already returned. Send someone to get Simon and his men back in
here. I'll get my men. We'll start the search in the rooms off the lower
corridors. If it is here, maybe we can corner it in the upper level. We'll meet
in the main corridor in ten minutes."
****
Jim and his men were waiting, edgy, by the time I got back.
My lover opened his mouth, but I spoke before he could say anything.
"Personal quarters are secured, Jim. So is sick bay.
You ex-wife is still unconscious, but Mrs. Chapman isn't too concerned right
now. And the radio room checks out too.
"Good. Has he been able to get anything out to
Cascade?" He rubbed the back of his neck impatiently when I shook my head.
"Okay, Eddie, as soon as we've checked out the greenhouse, I want you to go
see what you can do to help Tex. General Fogarty is probably ready to string me
up by the short hairs for not keeping in touch."
"To hear is to obey." Dykes grinned at him.
"I'll do my best, Cap."
"All right," Jim continued. "The
laboratories, mess hall, and rec room are all clear as well."
"We nearly thought we found the son-of-a-bitch,"
Taggart fumed, his frustration evident. "That Geiger counter Bob's toting
picked up some radioactivity down that corridor." He pointed to the left.
"The mineralogy lab is down that corridor." I
frowned. "We have uranium ore samples in there."
"Yeah." MacAuliff's grin was sour. "Dr.
Carrington took great pleasure in telling us we were just picking up on your
radioactive isotopes."
Arthur Carrington wasn't the most gracious of men; he was
too wrapped up in his work, and didn't suffer fools lightly, but normally he was
more civil than that. I wondered if he'd had any sleep since the saucer's
arrival had set off the sound detectors.
"He was right; the lab was empty." Jim shrugged
off the scientist's rudeness. "The only room we have left to search is the
greenhouse. Carrington also told us you've got the only key, Chief."
"The greenhouse has been my baby right from the start.
It broke my heart when I had to put locks on the interior and exterior doors,
but Dr. Carrington pulled a real Captain Queeg about the Eskimos taking the
strawberries." I reached for the lanyard around my neck and pulled the key
out.
"Captain Queeg?"
"You know, The Caine Mutiny?" I'd enjoyed the
character interaction in Herman Wouk's novel. Someone had gotten a copy from
home for Christmas, and we'd all taken turns reading it. It wouldn't have
surprised me if that book saw him nominated for a Pulitzer.
"I'm familiar with the book, but…"
"What? You thought I only read scientific
journals?"
"Uh… sorry, Chief." My lover had the grace to
look sheepish.
My lover. I turned away quickly and hurried to the
greenhouse.
He was my lover. As I inserted the key in the lock, I was
thankful that my pants were cut loosely enough to conceal my sudden arousal. I
glanced over my shoulder to find Jim watching me with hot desire in his eyes,
and I nearly broke the key in the lock.
"One second, Captain Ellison!" Dr. Carrington
hurried toward us, three other scientists in tow. "We insist on being part
of this search."
"I never said you couldn't join us, Doctor."
Jim's eyes had turned chill. "Just stay out of the way until we're sure
it's safe." He hefted his ax and took up a position that would allow him a
clear view of the interior of the greenhouse once the door was opened.
"Back away, Blair."
I backed away.
"Hold on!" Connor came running up with her Browning. "I want a picture!"
"I told the others, I'll tell you. Stay out of the
way." Jim waited until he got her reluctant agreement, then nodded to
Taggart. The black man rubbed his palms nervously against his thighs, then
yanked back the door to reveal… an empty greenhouse.
There was a concerted release of held breaths, and Jim
entered. I was about to follow him when Taggart shouldered past me.
"Hey!" I tried again.
"'Pardon me, Dr. Sandburg." The crew chief
stepped around me and went into the hot, humid atmosphere of the greenhouse.
"'Scuse me, Doctor." Erickson was right behind
him, and Dykes, Dr. Carrington, Dr. Voorhees, Dr. Stern, and Professor Laurenz.
Connor grinned at me and sauntered past.
"Well, hell!" I was finally able to make my way
into the greenhouse.
Tables were set up against each wall and in two rows in the
center of the room. A variety of vegetables were in trays on the tables, as well
as the strawberries. In the corners were a number of dwarf fruit trees that I
was using in a 'Frankenstein' experiment; the premise was to see if I could
produce edible apples and pears using the same tree as the host. I'd had no luck
when I'd tried it with peaches and cherries, and the oranges and lemons were too
similar to be considered an out-and-out success.
I was also experimenting with different types of
fertilizers to see how I could enrich the limited amount of soil that was
available in the research station. Bottles of liquid fertilizer lined the
shelves that Dr. Chapman had helped me build, and beneath them were the sacks of
potting soil.
Jim and his men were scouring the aisles, looking under the
tables. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw plant sap smeared on a
storage bin, and I was about to investigate, when Connor let out an enraptured,
"Ahhh!" She swooped down on the bed of strawberries, popped one into
her mouth, and closed her eyes in patent bliss. "Oh,
"I am the very model of a modern major… um…
botanist, Connor." I plucked a
plump, ripe berry and offered it to Jim. "Care for a bite, Captain?"
He dipped his head and took it from my fingers with his
teeth, then smiled as my breath hitched. He licked the juice from his lips, and
my tongue swept over my own lips in helpless imitation.
"Captain." Dr. Carrington sounded irritated. He
glared at Jim, and I hoped he hadn't witnessed the little by-play with the
strawberry. "There is nothing alien in this room."
"I can see that, Doctor." He signaled to his men.
"We're finished in here."
"In that case, *we* have work that needs to be
done." He and the other scientists stood clustered together.
"There's nothing here for me either." Connor
plucked another strawberry. "I'm going to see if
"If she was a man…" Taggart frowned after her.
"You wouldn't find her so fascinating, big guy."
"The woman's a pain-in-the-ass, Jim!"
"You still find her fascinating though, don't
you?"
"Give it up, Joel." Erickson slapped his back.
"You know we can't keep secrets from our captain."
Dykes looked at him with concern, and Erickson gave a small
shake of his head. I wondered what that was about.
"Assholes." Taggart's dark cheeks became darker
under his flush, but he didn't appear angry.
Ice-blue eyes warmed with amusement. I observed this aspect
of Jim's personality with interest.
"If you're not going to leave, Captain Ellison, please
close the door." Dr. Carrington's tone was mild, but there was something
underlying it...
Dr. Stern spoke rapidly in his ear, and Carrington smoothed
his hair and nodded.
The senior botanist faced us. "Some of these plants
are very delicate, and any change in temperature will hinder their growth,
thereby negating the experiments you've worked so hard on, Blair."
"Come on, men."
Jim looked over his shoulder at me, his eyebrow raised, and I shook my
head. The greenhouse was my responsibility, and I was going to give it a
once-over personally.
"Dr. Sandburg."
"Yes, Dr. Carrington?" I was approaching the
storage bin.
"Would you mind finding Drs. Auerbach and Olson and
sending them here? I'd like to speak with them, please. Oh, and I'll need the
results of the experiments you ran on the MacCormick molds verified."
I came to an abrupt halt. "Excuse me? Those results
have been verified."
"Andrew has brought up some discrepancies."
"Dr. Carrington…" Why was he questioning my
work? There was no discrepancy that I knew of. "Dr. Stern?" I looked
toward the man who was my actual superior. There was a hectic color high on his
cheekbones. He shrugged, and his gaze skittered away from mine.
"I want those experiments run again."
Carrington was adamant.
"But…"
"Thank you, Doctor." He turned away in blatant
dismissal.
I stormed toward the door, my fists clenched, growing more
and more frustrated.
Jim was lingering outside the greenhouse. I opened my mouth
to vent some of my aggravation, but before I could say a word,
"And *please close the door*!"
I closed it. I used more force than was actually necessary;
later I would be embarrassed by such a childish act, but right then it felt
good.
"Trouble, Chief?"
"I've got a degree in psychology, a master's in
anthropology, and a doctorate in botany," I snarled, "and the man
treats me like a… Do you have any idea how many times I've verified my
results?"
"Chief…"
"You know what it is, Jim? Andrew Laurenz is
Carrington's fair-haired boy, he's being groomed to take over when he passes on
the torch. It fries Carrington's ass that Dr. Stern keeps giving me that hack's
work, and I do it better and more expeditiously than he ever could."
"You're tense, Chief."
"You think this is tense? You ain't seen nothing
yet!" I was so steamed I felt like
"I hate to say this, but Stern didn't back you
up."
"No. He didn't." And that not only angered me, it disturbed me. Why
hadn't he backed me up? What in hell was going on?
"I wish there was something I could do to ease your
tension." Jim stepped behind me, and his hands settled on my shoulders,
kneading the knotted muscles.
I looked toward his men, but they had rounded the bend of
the corridor and were out of sight. I groaned and dropped my head. "God,
that feels good, Jim."
"Glad the military can be of some service." The
smile in his voice did things to my libido.
"I could stay like this forever, but…"
"I know, Chief. Orders."
"Yeah. Thanks, Jim." He dropped his hands, and I
turned to face him. He was so close he encroached on my personal space. I
stepped closer, until there was no space between us. I ran my thumb over his
lower lip. //One day,// I thought, //one
day I really want those lips around my dick again...//
His lips parted, and he sucked my thumb into his mouth. He
rubbed his tongue along it, the way he had when it was my dick. His eyelids
drifted down until only a sliver of blue was visible. His chest rose and fell
with each rapid breath. My own tongue restlessly rubbed my upper lip.
I ran my other hand over his close-cropped hair.
"Jim!"
He let my thumb slide out of his mouth, and I dragged it
over the faint cleft in his chin, leaving a path of moisture behind.
"I have to kiss you!" I heard the desperate
hunger in my words and was shocked out of the haze of lust I'd been enveloped
in. "Dammit, we can't do this in the middle of this corridor!"
"We can't? No, you're right, babe, we can't." He
smiled.
What an innocuous word that was, I mused. According to
Webster's Dictionary, a smile was a widening of the mouth, with parted lips. It
was obvious to me the guy from Webster's had never seen Jim Ellison smile.
That widening of his mouth, with parted lips, was like the
aurora borealis lighting up the Arctic sky. It was warmth on a cold, cold night.
It was being laid out naked on a soft bed and having every inch of my body
lapped, mapped, and declared the possession of the man before me. It was…
"Are you still tense, babe?"
"Yes!" I growled.
"But in a good way?" His had cupped my arousal.
This time I laughed. "Yes."
His sigh was warm on my face. "Well, our visitor isn't
in the station, so I'd better get my men back to searching outside. Y'know
something, Chief? It would be swell to be on a sun-drenched beach somewhere with
you."
"Ever make love in the sand, Jim?"
He groaned. "When we have this Man from Mars thing
settled…"
"Yeah…"
The door to the greenhouse opened. "Dr. Sandburg, are
you still here? Where are the doctors? Captain Ellison. I thought you were going
to… er… do military things."
"Getting them, Dr. Carrington. I'll see you later,
Jim."
"You bet, Chief. Doctor Carrington." He strode
off in the direction his men had gone, and I watched his ass.
There was a cough behind me.
"I'm on my way, Dr. Carrington." And I left to
find the two scientists.
****
How long had I been working in my lab? The results of the
tests I'd run on the mold spores came out the same way, no matter which way I
looked at them, and I flung the papers away from me.
I knew there had to be something wrong with what I was
doing, with the way I was doing it, otherwise why would Dr. Carrington be
questioning my work?
I scrubbed my face. I couldn't understand why Dr. Stern
hadn't backed me up. I respected the man, even more so after working with him
for the past year. If he was unhappy with the way I did things, this was the
first I'd heard of it. Why hadn't he taken the time to tell me?
I'd thought I was a good botanist, but apparently the
senior scientists disagreed with my assessment of my own capabilities.
I gnawed on my lower lip. Until Eli Stoddard made mincemeat
of the topic I'd selected for my dissertation, I'd also thought I was a good
anthropologist.
Thinking of the subject of my dissertation…
I began to think about Jim. I remembered how he'd been able
to name every ingredient in the drinks we had had at the Hideaway. Taste.
Here at the station, he'd known something was wrong long
before Barnes came running into the mess hall. Hearing.
He'd known the bodies of the dogs were there in the snow,
had picked up the scent of their blood. Sight and smell.
And how had he been able to untie himself by touch alone?
One of Naomi's gentleman friends had been a sailor who had been tickled by my
hero worship of him. He'd spent hours teaching me to tie knots.
I ticked off the senses one by one, growing more and more
excited. Had I found an honest-to-god sentinel?
And then I deflated. Did it really matter? I was a
botanist, and in spite of everything, I really liked my job.
I left my lab and went to the mess hall.
"Mrs. C! What are you doing here?"
"No one seems to have gotten much sleep. The boys are
getting breakfast ready."
"Breakfast? It's only… Holy smoke, it's
"This has been a long night." She shrugged.
"That's for sure!"
She pressed a cup of coffee into my hands.
A draft of cold air blew in, followed by four men so
bundled it was impossible to identify who they were. Gloves were yanked off and
bare hands unwound scarves, shoved snow-covered hoods back off their heads, and
flipped off goggles that protected their eyes from the biting pellets of snow.
It was Jim, Taggart, MacAuliff, and Barnes. They looked
worn out.
"Lee! More coffee!" Mrs. Chapman ordered.
Shivers shook each of the men, and they fumbled with the
zippers of their outer gear.
"Let me give you a hand with that, Jim."
"Thanks, Chief. I've never been anywhere this cold
before!"
"Welcome to the North Pole." While I got him out
of his wet flight suit, Mrs. Chapman and one of the boys helped Taggart and
Barnes. MacAuliff indicated he'd take care of himself.
"Stubborn Scot."
He gave Jim a tired salute.
"We're not gonna be able to keep this up, Cap,"
Taggart muttered, blowing on his fingers. I offered him a steaming cup of
coffee, then brought one to my lover. "It has to be fifty below out
there!"
"You're right." Jim ran a hand over his face. He
gave me a quick smile and accepted the cup. "I already talked to Captain
Banks about it. As soon as he and his men have made a quick sweep, they're
coming back in, and we'll make sure everything is buttoned up tight until this
storm eases."
"Danny." Mrs. Chapman seemed concerned about
Barnes. "Why were you out there with Captain Ellison's men?"
Jim was the one who answered. "Lieutenant Erickson was
falling over from exhaustion, and Lieutenant Dykes has been trying to help
Mrs. Chapman squeezed the younger man's arm in approval.
He hunched his shoulder. "I just don't want everyone
thinking I can't pull my weight."
I noticed his eyes lingered on MacAuliff before they
dropped.
"You do a good job, Danny."
"Thanks, Mrs. C. But I really made a fool of myself
yesterday afternoon when I…er…" He bit his lip and sighed. "When I
puked all over my boots."
"That's nothing, Barnes." MacAuliff toed off his
boots, then stripped the pants of his flight suit down and off his legs. Barnes'
eyes grew enormous. MacAuliff noticed, and his lips twitched in a satisfied
grin. "The first time I had to jump out of a B-19, I sh…" He turned
bright red, and cleared his throat. "Well, I had to change my shorts after
I hit the ground."
Barnes gave a choke of laughter, then covered his mouth in
embarrassment. "I'm sorry!"
"Nah, it's okay. Things like that happen. Don't be so
hard on yourself." He pulled his boots back on.
Jim looked at the outer gear scattered over the floor.
"Joel, do me a favor. Finish your coffee and take the flight suits to our
quarters. Maybe they'll be dry enough to wear sometime in the near future."
"Got it, Cap. Damn snow got in over my boots and
soaked my socks. I'll change while I'm there. I really hate when I have cold
feet."
"Taggart! Say it ain't so, mate!"
The black man spewed out a mouthful of coffee. "Jesus,
Connor, don't sneak up on me like that!" He mopped his mouth on his sleeve.
"Uh… say what ain't so?"
"A big man like you, getting cold feet? I'm so
disillusioned!"
"Connor!" His teeth gritted, he scowled fiercely,
and she stood there, a cool smile on her lips, returning his stare. "What
are you doing here anyway? I thought you'd be pestering
"The transmitter isn't powerful enough. Lieutenant
Dykes said there wasn't a thing he could do. This storm is preventing anything
from getting out." She turned away, her ever-present camera banging her
hip. "How's about some coffee, Mrs. Chapman?" Connor found a seat at
one of the tables and placed the cup down. She rotated it between her palms. The
seat she chose gave her an unobstructed view of Taggart.
"I take it you didn't find anything?" Mrs.
Chapman went around making sure everyone had hot coffee.
"Barnes flushed a polar bear!" Bob MacAuliff
grinned at the younger man.
"Were you scared? Those bears are nothing to sneeze
at. They hate being disturbed when they're hibernating." Connor ignored all
the surprised expressions.
"Not once I saw it was just a polar bear." Barnes
sent a little smile MacAuliff's way, but again quickly looked away.
"Here. Have some coffee." He put his cup in
Barnes' hands, then folded his own hands around them.
Jim was frowning. I took my coffee cup and went to stand
beside him. "What's wrong?"
"I'd have sworn…" He lowered his voice. "I
smelled Ken's aftershave on Bob."
"You mean Bob borrowed it?"
He gave me a look that asked if I'd fallen on my head.
"I smelled it *on* him. On his
clothes, on his hands…
"Ohhh."
"Yes. 'Ohhh.' I hope Bob isn't…" His lips
tightened, and he said nothing more, just stared broodingly at his crew chief.
"Why do you care?" It came out harsher than I
would have liked, but what we had was too new for me to be completely secure in
it.
"They're my men, Chief." Jim gave me that look
again. "The last thing I need is a romantic triangle."
"And that's the only reason you're concerned?"
"Jesus, it's enough! If Bob is screwing around on Ken,
there'd be hard feelings. I'd have to see either one or the other was
transferred out of my crew, maybe both of them, and they're damned good men.
They've been with me since just after the war, and I don't want to break in a
new navigator or a new crew chief!"
Well, as long as he wasn't disapproving because he was
jealous. I relaxed, and a yawn caught me unaware. I didn't even have time to
slap a hand over my mouth. "Sorry, Jim. Geez, I'm beat. All I want to do is
go to bed and sleep a hundred years."
"Think you're Sleeping Beauty, Chief?" His voice
went no further than my ears.
"Only if you're Prince Charming." I knew it would
take someone with sentinel abilities to hear what I said.
Jim made a sound like the rumble of a jungle cat, and his
gaze swept over me, furnace hot. I licked my lips, and that gaze narrowed on my
mouth. He leaned toward me, and I wondered if he was going to kiss me, in spite
of the fact that we weren't alone.
And then the door to the mess hall burst open. Dr. Stern
staggered in, his face twisted in pain, and his left sleeve shredded.
It wasn't until I reached his side that I realized it
wasn't his sleeve that was shredded; it was the flesh of his arm.
****
I dropped my cup and caught him before his legs gave out
from under him, and lowered him gently to the floor.
"Lee, towels!" Mrs. Chapman was pale but
contained. "I'll get the first aid kit. Captain Ellison, call my husband,
please!"
Jim went to the P.A. "This is the intercomm too?"
I glanced over at him. "Yeah. Just flip that
switch."
He did, then leaned close to the mesh that covered the
grill. "Dr. Chapman to the mess hall ASAP."
I sat with my legs sprawled out, cradling the injured man
in my arms. "What happened? Dr. Stern, what happened?"
I could feel his blood saturating my shirt. Lee handed me
some towels, and I placed them over the ruin that was his upper arm and applied
pressure.
There was an abrasion on his forehead, and a lump was
rapidly forming. His eyes were closed and dark smudges stood out like bruises
under them.
We were surrounded by Jim, MacAuliff, and Barnes, Taggart
and Connor.
"Please, *don't crowd us*!" Mrs. Chapman
knelt beside him, snapped an ampoule of ammonium carbonate and waved it under
his nose. I forced myself not to flinch away from the odor that was almost
overpowering.
I looked over my shoulder to see if Jim was being affected
by the smelling salts. He was right behind me, his brow was furrowed, and he was
swaying.
"Dial it down, Jim!"
It took a second, but he got himself under control.
"Right, Chief. Thanks."
"Give him some air, and give me room to work!"
Mrs. Chapman snapped impatiently, and she was automatically obeyed.
"Can you find out what happened?" Jim, as the
officer in charge, would need to know.
"Josef, who did this to you?"
His eyes fluttered open. For a second they were terrified,
and his body stiffened, but then he sagged in relief. "I made it to the
mess hall?" His voice was hoarse, a harsh whisper.
"Yes, you're safe. But what happened?"
Dr. Stern swallowed. "I was working in the greenhouse.
Suddenly there was a blast of cold air. I heard Olson scream. Something struck
at me, and I fell over. I hit my head..." He touched the lump on his
forehead; his eyes closed, and he seemed to fade. Mrs. Chapman waved the ampoule
under his nose again. His body jerked.
"Can you continue, Dr. Stern?"
He nodded; the action made him groan. "I must have
been unconscious. When I came to again…" His voice was so low I had to
bend forward to distinguish his words. "When I came to again, they were
both dead, Auerbach and Olson, their throats were cut."
I gasped, and Mrs. Chapman echoed the sound. I'd worked
with those men for the past year, and she had known them even longer.
"Thank god Helen isn't here! This is going to kill
her!" Mrs. Chapman's eyes clouded. Dr. Olson's wife… widow.
Jim grabbed an axe. "All right, we're going to the
greenhouse."
"Jim!"
"Chief, I need you to warn everyone to stay put. And I
want you to stay here. Please," when he saw I was ready to argue.
I eased the injured man out of my arms and managed to get
to my feet. I grabbed Jim's arm. He didn't object, although later I realized my
grip must have been painful; it left bruises. "Be careful?"
"Always."
I went to the intercomm again and drew in a deep breath to
steady myself. The last thing I wanted was to
cause a panic, although I was unsure how successful I would be. When I was
certain my voice wouldn't reveal the level of my anxiety, I threw the switch and
spoke. "Attention, please. Our visitor is
back, and he's dangerous. Stay where you are and keep your doors locked."
"Like that's gonna do any good," someone grumbled
quietly. "How could it get in? The outer door to the greenhouse was bolted
shut!"
Good question.
Connor had a death grip on her camera. "I'm going,
Ellison."
"Just stay out of the way."
She nodded tersely.
"Everyone have a weapon?" They held up their
axes. Connor had one of Lee's cleavers in her free hand. "Okay, let's
go." They started for the door.
Dr. Chapman came in, with Simon right behind him.
"What's going on?" Simon was still in his outer
gear.
"Josef!" Dr. Chapman crouched beside the injured
scientist.
"The Thing's in the greenhouse. So are two dead
scientists," Jim explained shortly, and
Simon's mouth became a rigid line. Without saying anything further, they all
left, and suddenly the room felt empty.
Dr. Chapman raised the blood-soaked towels. His eyelids
flickered, the only sign of his distress.
"You've certainly gotten yourself into a pretty kettle
of fish, Josef."
"Hugo, I need to get him to sick bay. I'll be able to
stitch him up there."
"Yes, Esther. We'll have to carry him." He looked
up at me, and I nodded. "Lee, more towels."
****
Sick bay was down the corridor and around the bend from the
mess hall, but that trip seemed to take forever.
It wasn't very large, suitable mostly for sprains, strains,
and the odd cut or dog bite; with Jim's ex-wife and now Dr. Stern the quarters
were tight.
"I can't stop the bleeding," Mrs. Chapman said
through tight lips.
Dr. Stern opened his eyes, which were glazed with pain.
"Please, Esther, don't let me die."
"Of course I won't let you die, you foolish man! I'll
stitch you up, give you two quarts regular, and you'll be good as new."
Dr. Chapman and I laid him onto a table as carefully as we
could while Mrs. Chapman scrubbed up.
"Blair, would you mind removing his shirt? Hugo,
prepare the anesthesia, please, dear."
I found the scissors and cut through the material of Dr.
Stern's sleeve. My stomach heaved at the sight of what had been done to his arm.
I forced myself to smile as if I weren't in the least disturbed.
"This is nothing, Dr. Stern. Geez, I thought it was going to be serious!
Why, Mrs. C will have you up and dancing the Lindy in no time!"
His free hand manacled my wrist. "It's bad. I know,
Blair. You have to listen to me. I have to tell you…"
"It can wait until Mrs. Chapman has you patched up.
I'm not going anywhere."
"No, but ... Listen!" The senior botanist was
becoming agitated. "You must listen to me! In the greenhouse. Arthur found
some molds that were wilted. It would only have taken twenty seconds of exposure
to cold air to damage them like that."
"The Thing had been in there?" The layers of
clothing I wore suddenly weren't enough to keep me warm.
"Yes, apparently just before our arrival. Professor
Laurenz examined the door minutely. The bolt had been sliced through. Unless you
tried to open the door, you would have no cause to notice that. That's why
Captain Ellison and his men didn't see it." He took a breath. "The
storage bin…"
"I thought I saw plant sap on it. I was going to take
a look at it, but Dr. Carrington…"
"Yes. I'm so sorry, Blair." His distress now
appeared emotional rather than physical. "Arthur saw that as well."
"Josef, if you don't calm down..." Mrs. Chapman's
tension was evident to me, even if Dr. Stern was too caught up in his
confession.
"No! Let me finish telling him this! There was nothing
wrong with the results of your experiments, Blair. I knew if you realized what
we had discovered, you would have gone right to that captain and told him. We
couldn't allow that. We needed to get you out of the greenhouse. I did what I
thought was best." He laughed, a short, bitter sound. "Good
intentions. The path to hell is paved with them. It hurt you, made you doubt
yourself, I saw that too late, hadn't even thought… I'm sorry; I'm so
sorry."
"That's quite enough, Josef. Blair forgives you.
Hugo?"
Dr. Chapman started to put the anesthesia mask over the
injured man's face, but he batted it away. "I must finish! After you left,
Blair, we opened the bin and found one of the sled dogs stuffed within it. There
was a curiously shrunken quality about it. When Auerbach showed up, he did a
quick necropsy. The animal had been bled dry!"
"Oh, no!"
"Don't blame Arthur. He asked us to keep watch with
him, but he made it very clear it was a voluntary decision for each of us. We
all agreed to it. The opportunity to communicate with this being…" His
eyes became frantic. "We *cannot* communicate with it! It will be
the ruination of mankind!"
Dr. Chapman got the mask over Dr. Stern's face and started
the anesthesia. He struggled a moment, and then succumbed to the gas.
Mrs. Chapman set to work in trying to repair the arm.
"I hope I can reattach the nerves. If I can't… Blair, I'm going to need
two bottles of plasma to start, sweetie. Would you get them for me,
please?"
"Sure." I opened the refrigerator that held the
station's blood supply.
It was empty.
****
We were lucky that Dr. Stern had a positive Rh factor. My
blood type was O negative, and I qualified as a universal donor, but he was
going to need more blood than I could supply.
Dr. Chapman obtained a pint of my blood and placed a
bandage over the vein in my forearm. "You'd better go change your shirt,
Blair."
"Yes." The material was clammy against my skin,
but I decided to pay a visit to Dr. Carrington's personal lab first.
I arrived there, filled with questions.
I left, stunned and sickened by what I had seen, and
changing my shirt became the furthest thing from my mind.
Mrs. Chapman had assured Dr. Stern that I would forgive
him, but I didn't know that I could forgive *them*.
****
The coffee that had spilled when I'd dropped my cup was in
a small puddle on the floor of the mess hall. I found a towel that had been
overlooked in the haste to find something to stop Dr. Stern's bleeding, and I
used it to mop up the liquid.
I sat down. Connor's cup of coffee, long since grown cold,
was on the table before me. Beneath it was a ring, and I concentrated on making
sure the cup was precisely centered on it.
A sound disturbed the silence of the room, and I gazed up
to see Jim standing in the doorway, tension in every line of his body, his eyes
narrowed, fastened on me. He inhaled and just as abruptly relaxed. I raised an
eyebrow.
"Not your blood, Chief." He turned as the rest of
the party that had gone to the greenhouse entered the mess hall.
"Next time, MacAuliff, make sure you raise the sights
on that thing!" Simon gestured to the weapon the other man carried.
"You nearly turned me and my men into Swiss cheese!"
"Sorry, Captain Banks."
"What…?" I met the crew chief's eyes. "I
thought you knew bullets would do nothing against that Thing."
MacAuliff gave me a half-grin that was distinctly lacking
in humor. "Force of habit, Dr. Sandburg. It wasn't a pretty sight, not that
Thing, and *not* what was in the
greenhouse."
"That's what I don't understand. Why the
greenhouse?" Simon's black face had a grayish cast to it. "Why not the
radio room or the mineralogy lab with the uranium?"
"It's the only place with arable soil, Simon. They
found a dog in there, you know, Dr. Carrington and the others. It had been bled
dry. Dr. Stern told me, before the anesthesia put him out."
"The one you said was missing, Blair?"
"I don't know, Simon." I'd told him about that
before I'd gone in search of Jim. "I hope it didn't get to any of the
others. Were you able to get Dr. Auerbach and Dr. Olson out of there?"
"No. It was in there waiting for us." Jim's
tension had ratcheted up, his level of anxiety seeming to rise in geometric
progression. No one else appeared to be aware of it. "I didn't know. I
didn't hear anything, didn't smell anything."
The others looked curious, but I understood. His acute
senses apparently had failed him.
"Tell me what happened, Jim." I stood and
gestured to the seat beside me, and after he'd sat down, I began kneading
his shoulders. "One good turn…" I murmured. The muscles beneath my
fingers were like iron bands.
"We waited by the inside door to the greenhouse while
Simon and his men went back outside to make sure it didn't escape through the
outer door." He gave a harsh laugh. "Talk about your human arrogance.
Bob was ready with the burp gun. Connor had her camera set to go."
"Did you get your picture, Connor?"
"No. It happened too fast, and Ellison was in the
way."
"You want to go back there, Connor? I'll open the door
for you."
"NO!" She was pale, the lines around her eyes and
mouth pronounced.
Jim's mouth twisted, but he nodded and resumed talking.
"I opened the door. Jesus, it was right there! Eight feet tall, and those
eyes…! It lashed out at me, but I was able to get out of the way in
time." No doubt his senses had warned him of the impending attack. I'd have
to give some thought as to why he hadn't known it was so close. "We slammed
the door on its arm. Its arm… " He seemed to drift for a second, then
shook his head. "It made that mewling sound Barnes had told us about,
high-pitched and angry. Once the door was shut, I gave the nod to Bob to blast
the Thing while the rest of us found two by fours to chock the door."
I leaned down. "But why, Jim?" I whispered in his
ear. "You knew bullets wouldn't hurt it."
"No, but I hoped it would distract it, buy us enough
time to brace the door. The key was gone."
"It's trapped in there now, that's for damn
sure," Simon growled.
"You think so?" Taggart had come trailing in, wiping a handkerchief
over his face, and caught the end of the conversation.
"What are you talking about, Taggart?" Connor
glared at him. "The walls are corrugated iron, Captain Banks and his men
blocked off the outer door, and we secured the inner one. There's no way that
Thing can get free!"
"How did it get in here to begin with?" Simon
found a clean cup and poured himself some coffee. He took a sip and grimaced.
"Scorched! Who the fuck left the flame on under the pot?"
"We had other things on our minds, Simon," I
snapped. I knew his annoyance wasn't aimed at me, but my nerves were so raw any
comment felt like an accusation.
"Sorry, Blair." He was surprised. I never lost my
temper. "With everything that's been going on… How's Dr. Stern?"
"I don't know. He's lost a lot of blood. Mrs. Chapman
finally finished sewing him together. I gave a pint of blood, and
"Huh?"
"Makes him a universal recipient."
"Wait a second. I just brought up thirty-five units of
plasma! No one's been hurt in the time we've been here! Well, except for the two
men in the greenhouse."
"And your ex-wife, Captain." Mrs. Chapman came
in. "Is there any coffee left?"
"How's she doing?" he asked reluctantly.
"She's begun drifting in and out of consciousness.
We're just lucky she doesn't need blood. Coffee?"
"You don't want what's in the pot.
I'll make some fresh." Connor went to
the cooking area. "Say one word, Taggart, and I'll pop you one!"
"Not me, Connor. Word has it you make java so strong
you could float a horseshoe in it."
"Damn right I can." She took it as a compliment.
"Mrs. C, how is Dr. Stern?"
She shook her head. "Time will tell. He's started to
run a fever. It's low-grade right now. Blair, were you able to find out what
happened to those units of blood?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I found out."
"Chief?"
I pulled a wad of papers from my back pocket and smoothed
them out. "Dr. Carrington's notes." The scientists in Dr. Carrington's
lab had gotten into a vociferous argument, and I'd managed to leave without
anyone knowing I had taken them. "I think you'd better read them."
Jim scanned them quickly. "Oh, no. Oh, sweet jesus,
no!"
"Jim, what is it?"
"Carrington's…" He couldn't bring himself to
say it, so I did.
"While he had me verifying those goddammed mold
spores, Dr. Carrington was doing a little gardening." I took the pages back
from Jim. "He took the seeds from the palm of that Thing's hand, planted
them, and saturated the soil with two units of plasma. That was at
"Huh?"
I made an unhappy sound. "The ones closer to the
source of nourishment, the blood, were larger, while the ones further away were
considerably smaller. I could almost find it as… fascinating as Dr. Carrington
obviously does, except... Anyway,
Professor Voorhees said he could hear them. That it was like the wail of a
newborn baby."
"This is not good. This is really not good! Joel,
Bob!"
Taggart snapped to attention, hefting the axe in his hand.
"Where's Bob?"
"Said something about taking a leak, Jim." He
stared at Connor, clearly expecting her to… What? Blush? Sneer? Top it with
something more graphic? She stared at him, all expression smoothed from her
face, then turned and poured Mrs. Chapman her coffee.
Jim nodded. "Simon, as head of security in this
station, would you accompany me to Dr. Carrington's lab?"
"Yeah. Let's go. Barnes." He looked around.
"Where's Barnes?"
I'd seen him follow MacAuliff out of the mess hall. Maybe
he had to… use the lavatory too.
"The hell with it." Simon went to the intercomm,
then swore. "If I tell them to meet us at Carrington's lab, the eggheads
will know we're wise to them. Mrs. Chapman, if Barnes and MacAuliff turn up
here, tell them where we are, and tell them to haul ass."
"Yes, Simon."
"I'm going too."
"Geez, Connor, don't you know any other words?"
Taggart demanded.
She blew an exasperated raspberry at him.
****
"Dr. Carrington."
"Captain Ellison, I did not request your presence
here." The senior scientist was hooking up another bottle of plasma. The
sprouts seemed even larger than when I had last seen them.
Jim closed his fingers around the tubing that would feed
into the soil. "Two of your colleagues are in the greenhouse, suspended
from the ceiling, their throats cut."
"That was not my fault," Carrington said calmly.
"I did not ask them to do anything I would not do myself!
I was in the greenhouse; I took the same risks…"
"Blair." My name was spoken quietly, and I turned
to see Dr. Chapman standing there. All I could think was that something had
happened to Dr. Stern. I must have turned pale, because he brought his hand to
rest comfortingly on my shoulder. "He's doing better. I started him on a
third pint of blood. His temperature has come down a bit. It's around 101."
"Mrs. Chapman said it was low-grade!" I kept my
voice low.
"It spiked, but it has come down. We're doing
everything we can for him, Blair."
"I was so angry with him. I felt so betrayed. And now
he might…"
He squeezed my shoulder to get my attention. "You had
every right to be angry. You're not a child, and he shouldn't have treated you
like one. He's been my colleague for quite a few years, Blair, but I can't
condone what he and Arthur have done."
We turned to look at the plant bed with an alien lifeform
developing in it.
Jim was saying, "They're supplying nourishment to seedlings much as you're doing with this plasma, Doctor. I have to say I much prefer your way. It's neater."
"Captain Ellison, we are scientists. We owe it to our
species to learn as much as we can from this being!"
"What can we learn from that," Taggart
interrupted rudely, "except maybe a quicker way to die?"
"All that knowledge! That wisdom! Imagine, traveling
all those millions of miles! We must do whatever
it takes, and *yes*, even die, it that's what it takes, if it will
enhance our store of knowledge!"
"Dr. Carrington, you're a certified genius, with
enough letters after your name to have your own alphabet. You've won the Nobel
prize. If you were for sale, I could get a million bucks from any foreign power
for you." Connor's words made him preen slightly. He hadn't noticed her
expression. "But right now, I think you're mistaking knowledge and
wisdom."
His brows met above his nose in a frigid frown.
"She's right, Arthur. We don't know whether our
visitor is coming in peace, or if he, it," Dr. Chapman sighed. "If
this being is a scout, the forerunner of an intergalactic invasion."
"Come now, Dr. Chapman. You're speaking like a
frightened child instead of a man of science!"
"You're right, Arthur, I am frightened!"
"Right," Jim said. "Let's destroy
this."
"You *cannot*…"
"Dr. Carrington."
"And his response?" Carrington was almost
quivering with excitement.
"Yeah, I got that too, 'though toward the end it
started breakin' up pretty good. Had to take it down in shorthand." He
began to read the messages from Cascade. "'Fogarty to Ellison. Understand
the pilot of the craft is alive. Use every means available to keep it
alive.'"
"There, you see, Captain. You must obey your
superior's orders." Carrington's eyes glittered manically, and again I
recalled that he hadn't slept in a few days. He usually got by on very little
sleep, referring to it as a thief of time better spent doing other things. Maybe
this time he was going on too little sleep.
Jim took a step toward him, but
"Next message, 'Fogarty to Ellison. Radio silence is
unnecessary. Acknowledge previous message.' 'Same to same. Continued silence is
confusing. Acknowledge.' Same to same. Acknowledge.' 'Same to same.'" Jim
and Taggart joined in. "'Acknowledge at once!'"
"Look,
"No. Yeah! Get someone to wake up Dykes. He should
have had plenty of sleep by now."
The radio man tipped him a salute and turned to walk out,
pausing to step out of the way as Barnes and MacAuliff came running in.
"Sorry, Cap. We were in the… uh…" They were both flushed.
"Never mind, Tex. Bob can do it."
"Bob can do what?" MacAuliff grinned.
"Go get Eddie. I want a message out to Fogarty if it has to be delivered by dogsled!"
"On my way, Jim." He glanced at Barnes, who
glanced at Simon.
"Do you need me for anything, sir?"
"No. Get some rest. Who knows when we'll have another
SNAFU. Come on. We've got to figure out what we're going to do."
"I want the rest of the plasma, Dr. Carrington."
"So sorry, I've used them all up."
"Thirty-five units?"
"You know how voracious the appetite of young things
can be, Captain Ellison."
Jim was appalled.
I looked at the seedlings, which seemed to pulse with life.
"What type blood are you, Doctor?"
That question brought his attention to me. "I'm…
why, I'm… I'm B positive. Why?"
"Dr. Stern's going to need more blood. I'm sure you
won't have any problem donating a pint?" There was an easy-going smile on
my lips, but he could read my eyes. They promised I'd be after him if he didn't
turn up.
"No. Of course not."
Voorhees and Laurenz stepped forward until they flanked Dr.
Carrington.
"You gentlemen, also." I waited until they
nodded. "Good." I walked out.
None of us said anything until we got to the bend in the
corridor. "Do you think they realize they've lost you, Blair?" Simon
hadn't bothered staying behind with the scientists.
I shrugged. "For double domes, they can really lack
smarts."
"What are you talking about, Chief?"
"I agree that we need to unlock the secrets of nature,
but they're putting the quest for knowledge above the good of mankind.
That Thing in the greenhouse is reproducing itself, just as Dr.
Carrington is doing in his lab. Fifteen seeds from one palm. That means thirty
from two."
"I can do the math, Chief."
"And suppose this isn't a fully mature representative
of its species? Has he stopped to think what a
hundred of those Things could do? A thousand? Needing blood to survive? If we
don't destroy that Thing, it may well succeed in destroying us!"
"But what did Simon mean when he said they'd lost
you?"
"It means that when this is over, I'm leaving the
North Pole. I'll dig ditches if I have to, but I won't be a party to that, and I
won't work with men who think that way."
"Sandburg's pretty impressive when he's mad, isn't
he?"
"Yeah." Jim sounded proud. "And that's not the only thing about him that's impressive." And this time Jim sounded… possessive.
I suddenly realized how uncomfortable I was. "I've got
to change this shirt. I'll meet you… Fuck. Where should I meet you?"
Simon pulled a cigar from his shirt pocket. "I've got
to check on the men I've posted outside the greenhouse."
"I'll make sure Sandburg makes it to his room safely.
Can't be too careful."
Simon grinned around the cigar between his lips, then took
it from his mouth and pointed it toward us. "Shouldn't take you more than
ten minutes, I would think. I'll meet you in my office, and we'll plot strategy.
I have the blueprints to the station. Ten minutes, gentlemen."
He walked briskly down the corridor whistling through his
teeth, and I started laughing when I recognized the tune.
If I Knew You Were
Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake.
End Part D
