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"Are you saying it was an insect that killed these people?" Bryce asked Sara Yauchi

"Actually, the evidence doesn’t point that way An insect would eer to kill and to inject the preservative There would be a puncture wound, however minuscule But Seth Goldstein went over the Wechlas corpse with a lass Literally Over every square inch of skin Twice He even used a depilatory cream to remove all the body hair in order to examine the skin more closely Yet he couldn’t find a puncture or any other break in the skin through which an injection ht have been administered We were afraid we had atypical or inaccurate data So a second postmortem was perforuchi leaned toward the s and peered up the street, looking for General Copperfield and the others When she turned back to the table, she said, "However, everything tested out the same No animate bacteria in the corpse Decomposition unnaturally arrested Tissues saturated with preservative It was bizarre data again But ere satisfied that it wasn’t atypical or inaccurate data"

Bryce said, "If the preservative wasn’t injected, hoas it adhly absorbable and enters the body by skin contact, then circulates through the tissues within seconds"

Jenny said, "Could it be a nerve gas, after all? Maybe the preservative aspect is only a side effect"

"No," Sara Yauchi said, "There aren’t any traces on the victims’ clothes, as there would absolutely have to be if we’re dealing here with gas saturation And although the substance has a toxic effect, chemical analysis shows it isn’t prias would be; primarily, it’s a preservative"

"But was it the cause of death?" Bryce asked

"It contributed But we can’t pinpoint the cause It was partly the toxicity of the preservative, but other factors lead us to believe death also resulted froed constriction or a coe of the trachea"

Bryce leaned forward "Strangulation? Suffocation?"

"Yes But we don’t know precisely which"

"But how can it be either one?" Lisa asked, "You’re talking about things that took a minute or two to happen But these people died fast In just a second or two"

"Besides," Jenny said, "as I remember the scene in the Oxleys’ den, there weren’t any signs of struggle People being ss over"

"Yes," the geneticist said, nodding "It doesn’t make sense"

"Why are all the bodies swollen?" Bryce asked

"We think it’s a toxic reaction to the preservative"

"The bruising, too?"

"No That’s… different"

"How?"

Sara didn’t answer right away Frowning, she stared down at the coffee in herFinally: "Skin and subcutaneous tissue fro was caused by compression from an external source; they were classic contusions In other words, the bruising wasn’t due to the swelling, and it wasn’t a separate allergic reaction to the preservative It see struck the victims Hard Repeatedly Which is just crazy Because to cause that , there would have to be at least a fracture, one fracture, so is the saed to precisely the sahs, on the hands, on the chest, everywhere Which is impossible"

"Why?" Bryce asked

Jenny answered him "If you were to beat someone with a heavy weapon, some areas of the body would be more severely bruised than others You wouldn’t be able to deliver every bloith precisely the sale as all the other blohich is what you would’ve had to’ve done to create the kind of contusions on these bodies"

"Besides"’ Sara Yauchi said, "they’re bruised even in places where a club wouldn’t land In their armpits Between the cheeks of the buttocks And on the soles of their feet! Even though, in the case of Mrs Oxley, she had her shoes on"

"Obviously," Jenny said, "the tissue co other than blows to the body"

"Such as?" Bryce asked

"I’ve no idea"

"And they died fast," Lisa re it onto its rear legs, and looked out theagain Up the hill Toward the labs

Bryce said, "Dr Yauchi, what’s your opinion? Not your professional opinion Personally, infor on here? Any theories?"

She turned to him, shook her head Her black hair tossed, and the bea brief ripples of red and green and blue through it the sa on the black surface of oil, creates short-lived, wriggling rainbows "No No theories, I’ht Just that"

"What?"

"Well… now I believe Isley and Arkha"

Jenny was still skeptical about extraterrestrial connections, but Lisa continued to be intrigued The girl said, "You really think it’s from a different world?"

"There may be other possibilities," Sara said, "but at the lanced at her atch and scowled and fidgeted and said, "What’s taking theain

Outside, the trees wereli away the decon suits"

Sara said, "Yes, but that just wouldn’t take this long"

"If there’d been any trouble, we’d have heard gunfire"

"Or explosions," Jenny said, "Those firebombs they made"

"They should’ve been here at least five… eneticist insisted "And still no sign of them"

Jenny remembered the incredible stealth hich it had taken Jake Johnson

Bryce hesitated, then pushed his chair back "I suppose it won’t hurt if I take a fewaway froainst the floor, ’s wrong"

"No, no Probably not," Bryce said

"You feel it, too," Sara said, "I can tell you do Jesus"

"Don’t worry," Bryce said cal the past twenty-some hours, Jenny had learned to read those hooded eyes quite well Now they were expressing tension and icy, needle-sharp dread

"It’s much too soon to be worried," he said

But they all knew

They didn’t want to believe it, but they knew

The terror had begun again

Bryce chose Tal, Frank, and Gordy to acco, too"

Bryce didn’t want her to come He was more afraid for her than he was for Lisa or for his own men or even for himself

An unexpected and rare connection had taken place between theht with her, and he believed she felt the same

He didn’t want to lose her

And so he said, "I’d rather you didn’t go"

"I’ but an arular fortress here," he said, "It’s safer here"

"It’s not safe anywhere"

"I didn’t say safe I said safer"

"They ht need a doctor"

"If they’ve been attacked, they’re either dead orWe haven’t found anyone just wounded, have we?"