Slither - Edward Lee [77]
`See Spot run," Nora said. "And don't forget our bet."
"Oh, I won't. You'll drop big money when you lose that one," Loren said. Then he winked and left.
Poor fool, Nora thought. The ignorance of youth.
She continued dissecting the worm ... and continued to find physical features that seemed to borrow from several different species: epidermal pores to draw in oxygen from the air-like an earthworm-but also gill filters for water breathing-around intercoelic channels that stored seawater-like free-ranging Polychaetes. Ovaries that produced independent motile ova were possessed of many roundworm species-like the Trichinella classes-while the worm's physical appearance, too, looked like some of the nonmarine orders of Trichinella and Trichina.
On its own, though, Nora knew that the specimen could not be any of those.
Almost like a genetic hybrid, her mind whispered.
When she'd dissected all she could, she jarred the worm in preservatives and spent the next hour inputting notes into her laptop. That's when Trent walked in.
"Going for a swim?" Nora asked, for the lieutenant was wearing trunks and an olive-drab army T-shirt.
"Yeah, I might as well," he replied. "I've been stationed in Florida for the last ten years, but I don't think I've even been to the beach more than a few times. I thought I'd tag along with Annabelle and Loren, while they're looking for their scarlet bristleworms."
"Have fun."
"But I wanted to show you this first." He approached the table and handed her something. "Is that like the thing you mentioned?"
Nora placed it in her palm and knew at once. "The little camera lens, yeah. The one I saw was stuck in a tree, almost like it had been nailed into the bark."
"Same thing here, but I pried this one out. Originally I thought it must've been an electric-eye sensor, or maybe an infrared perimeter alarm, but I don't see any terminals on it."
"I didn't see any on the one I saw either. No connection posts or anything to hook wires to. When the army was using these things, how did they establish a circuit?"
"Beats me. But there does seem to be glass in the head, like a lens."
"I know," she said next. "Let me take a closer look ..."
She placed the cigarette-butt-sized object on the microscope stage, then focused down.
"Yes, it's definitely rounded, polished glass. A bulb, maybe, an indicator light?"
"Can't imagine that. In the woods? And what would the power source be? See any terminals on it, or anything like a hole for wires to go in?"
Nora studied the odd cylinder more closely. "Nothing on the sides or on the butt end."
"See if there's any markings on it. I'll bet there's a defense contractor's name on it somewhere, or an army property line," Trent said.
Nora slowly revolved the object on the stage with forceps. "Wait a minute." She paused. "There is something."
"What's it say?"
Nora rubbed her eyes and got up. She bid Trent to sit. "Tell me if you've ever seen that before."
Trent sat down and put his eye to the scope.
What Nora had seen was oddly familiar. Etched along the object's side were markings like this:
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
(I)
Annabelle stretched her bare legs to the sun. The tan was deepening, made more prominent by a blazing white thong bikini. She glanced down at herself and immediately thought, Lookin' good, Annabelle-as always.
She wanted to catch a few more rays before she and Loren went back in the water for the last of the bristleworm photos. He'll be here soon, she figured, so she took off her top, to let herself be "caught." The sudden sun seemed to lick her nipples, raising them in the heat. She wanted to keep Loren stoked: Sexual anxiety among the men in her range always kept things interesting. Poor little Loren. He'll have blue balls for years....
-Her bare breasts looked like fresh white fruit atop the nougat tan of her belly. She lounged back on her towel. The narrow beach extended off, gentle waves flapping over each other as seagulls glided