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In a voice even shakier than Bryce felt, Sara Yaet a tissue sa to be able to study it under a et some idea of the cell structure Maybe we could find a weakness… a way to deal with it, maybe even a way to defeat it"

Flyte said, "I’d like to study it… just to be able to understand… just to know"

An extrusion of tissue oozed out froan to acquire a hu in front of him Before the phantom was entirely realized, while the body was still luh the face wasn’t finished, the mouth nevertheless opened and the replica of Gordy spoke, though not with Gordy’s voice It was Stu Wargle’s voice, instead, a supre touch

"Go to the lab," it said, itswith perfect clarity "I will show you everything you want to see, Dr Flyte You are my Matthew My Luke Go to the lab Go to the lab"

The unfinished ian dissolved almost as if it had been conarled tissue flowed back into the larger bulk behind it

The entire pulsating, heaving h the u duct

How much more of it lies there within the walls of the inn? Bryce wondered uneasily How e is the god Proteus?

As the thing oozed away froer than a human mouth, a dozen of the of birds, the cries of sea gulls, the buzzing of bees, snarling, hissing, child-sweet laughter, distant singing, the hooting of an owl, theout si, decidedly oh the wall vent Only Frank’s severed head and the bent grille fro Hell-born had been here

According to the electric wall clock, the ti until dawn? Bryce wondered An hour and a half? An hour and forty minutes or more?

He supposed it didn’t matter

He didn’t expect to live to see the sunrise, anyway

Chapter 37 – Ego

The door of the second lab stood wide open The lights were on The co was ready for the to hold to the belief that they could still somehow resist, that they still had a chance, however sile, cherished belief was bloay They were powerless They would do only what it wanted, go only where it allowed

The six of them crowded inside the lab

"Nohat?" Lisa asked

"We wait," Jenny said

Flyte, Sara, and Lisa sat down at the three bright video display terainst a counter, and Tal stood by the open door, looking out

Fog foa wasn’t easy Each second was an ordeal of tense and morbid expectations

Where would death come from next?

And in what fantastic form?

And to ould it come this time?

At last Bryce said, "Dr Flyte, if these prehistoric creatures have survived for round lakes and rivers, irk the deepest sea trenches… or wherever… and if they surface to feed… then why aren’t mass disappearances -fingered hand and said, "Because it seldos"

"But why seldom?"

"I doubt that more than a handful of these beasts have survived There e that killed offinto a subterranean and suboceanic existence"

"Nevertheless, even a few of them"

"A rare few," Flyte stressed, "scattered over the earth And perhaps they feed only infrequently Consider the boa constrictor, for example That snake takes nourish feeds irregularly, as seldom as once every several months or even once every couple of years Its metabolis may be possible"

"Could its life cycle include periods of hibernation," Sara asked, "lasting not just a season or two, but years at a tiood, indeed That would also help explain why the thing only infrequently encounters men And let me remind you that mankind inhabits less than one percent of the planet’s surface Even if the ancient enemy did feed with soainst us"

"And when it did," Bryce said, "it would very likely encounter us at sea because the largest part of the earth is covered ater"

"Exactly," Flyte said, "And if it seized everyone aboard a ship, there wouldn’t be witnesses, we’d never know about those contacts The history of the sea is replete with stories of vanished ships and ghost ships from which the crews disappeared"

"The Mary Celeste" Lisa said, glancing at Jenny

Jenny remembered when her sister had first , when they had gone next door to the Santinis’ house and had found the table set for dinner

"The Mary Celeste is a fareed, "But it’s not unique Literally hundreds upon hundreds of ships have vanished under mysterious circumstances ever since reliable nautical records have been kept In good weather, in peacetiate, thecrews must surely number in the tens of thousands"

From his post by the open door of the lab, Tal said, "That area of the Caribbean where so le," Lisa said quickly

"Yeah," Tal said, "Could that be…?"

"The work of a shape-changer?" Flyte said, "Yes Possibly Over the years, there have been a few mysterious depletions of fish populations in that area, too, so the ancient enemy theory is applicable"

Data flashed up on the video displays: I SEND YOU A SPIDER

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Flyte asked

Sara tapped the keys: CLARIFY

The sae repeated: I SEND YOU A SPIDER

CLARIFY

LOOK AROUND YOU

Jenny saw it first It was poised on the work surface to the left of the VDT that Sara was using A black spider Not as big as a tarantula, but er than an ordinary spider

It curled into a lued First, it shimmered dully The black coloration was replaced by the faer The spider form er shape: It becae cockroach And then a s whiskers

Neords appeared on the video displays

HERE IS THE TISSUE SAMPLE THAT YOU REQUESTED, DR FLYTE

"It’s so damned cooperative all of a sudden," Tal said

"Because it knows that nothing we find out about it will help us destroy it," Bryce said morosely

"There must be a way," Lisa insisted, "We can’t lose hope We just can’t" Jenny stared in wonder as the mouse dissolved into a wad of shapeless tissue

THIS IS MY SACRED BODY, WHICH I GIVE UNTO THEE, it told theious references

The lump rippled and churned within itself, formed minute concavities and convexities, nodules and holes It was unable to reer mass, which had killed Frank Autry, had see to remain motionless for even a second

BEHOLD THE MIRACLE OF MY FLESH, FOR IT IS ONLY IN ME THAT THOU CANST ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY NOT IN GOD NOT IN CHRIST ONLY IN ME