Slither - Edward Lee [64]
"Oh my God."
"What"
"See for yourself," Nora said.
Loren looked in the comparator scope. He only looked for a second before he lifted his eyes away.
"Oh my God is an understatement," he said.
Nora had seen it first, and wanted clarification.
The tiny worms from the lobster weren't so tiny anymore. They filled the entire space of the slide's viewing perimeter now, and the ova in their proximity could now easily be detailed.
Loren stood erect, dumbfounded. Confusion made his eyes looked glazed. "This can't be."
"Tell me about it," Nora said. "Those things are ten times bigger than they were twenty minutes ago."
Loren nudged her back to the microscope. "Look back in there," he said, a little jittery now. "Keep your eye on them fora full minute, then tell me your observations."
Nora did so.
She knew what he was driving at in significantly less than a minute.
She could actually see the worms and ova growing before her eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
(I)
"What do you make of it, Sergeant?" the colonel asked, having made a rare appearance from his makeshift field office. The sergeant had logged the observed activity at the old head shack, believing it to be "atypical."
We must be getting ready to leave, the sergeant pondered. Why's he so interested in a bunch of civilians all of a sudden?
The corporal was manning the monitor controls, zooming the military's very best lenses, but he seemed more fixed on the slender woman with frizzed hair. Have to get that kid's mind out of the garbage, the sergeant thought.
"Look at that," the colonel said. The image onscreen lurched forward from the zoom: a closer shot of the slender woman in the dark one-piece swimsuit. She was leaning over a computer now, typing something. The colonel added, "I don't like it. It looks like she's recording data. Data on what?"
The sergeant stepped closer. "I'm not sure, sir. As I noted in my log, the civilian activity in that building seemed harmless. But I could be mistaken."
"It looks like they're keeping specimens of some kind in there."
"That wasn't the case earlier, sir."
The colonel faced the sergeant directly. "In your estimation, is there any way the civilians know we're here?"
"In my estimation, sir-no."
"What about you, Corporal?"
"No signs of detection, sir."
"The only civilian who ever saw me was in the second arrival group . . . and he's dead. That's verified and recorded. The fourth group's craft has been disabled. In fact, every civilian to come on the island is now infected, this third group being the only exception. What they're doing seems routine and unalarmed. I think it's some kind of nature excursion-the blond woman appears to be a photographer."
The colonel thought on it, then watched the screen some more. "You're always right, Sergeant, and I'm not disputing your assessment. But I still need to know what they're up to. I need you two men to make another trip outside and guarantee me that what they're doing won't compromise our tests."
"Yes, sir," the sergeant said.
"Good, then do it. Do it tonight."
The colonel's boots snapped as he left the room.
The corporal looked up when the door closed. "I wonder what's up his ass."
"He's bucking for general, and he'll probably get it if this mission yields positive results. That guy's been do ing these field jaunts for years-it racks up promotion points. He's not going to let anything screw this up."
The corporal rolled back in the chair, put his feet up on the old desk that was once used by missile-control officers. "The hybrids are duplicating better than we ever expected. We already know that they don't hesitate to attack human hosts. The worms and the ova alike have already proved that they can live in multiple environments. Why can't we just go home now?"
"Because the brass says so, and you can bitch about it all you want, but it won't do any good." The sergeant laughed and slapped the corporal's back. "Just think of all that extra-duty pay you'll get."
Fuck that, the corporal thought. I want