Page 47 (1/2)

Blink

GROVELING ANIMALS, it said

Blink

YOU BORE ME, it said

And then all the screens went dark

Tihed

Sheriff Haance," Tie said, "And that’s more or less how it thinks of itself"

"In a way," Lisa Paige said, "that’s what it really is"

"Yeah," Tal Whitht as well be a god It has all the powers of a god, doesn’t it?"

"Or a devil," Lisa said

Beyond the streetlaue glow of dawn had sparked the far end of the sky

Sara wished Dr Flyte hadn’t challenged the shape-changer so boldly She orried that he had antagonized it, and that noould renege on its pro the short walk frorotesque phanto Itlast, a glare of hope

Elsewhere in town, off in the fog and shadows, there were strange ani that Sara had ever heard before It was still engaged upon its ceaseless mimicry A hellish shriek, uncoether

But they were not attacked

The streets, although not silent, were still Was not even a breeze; thewaited for them inside the inn, either

At the central operations desk, Sara sat down and dialed the nuway, Utah

Jenny, Bryce, and the others gathered around to listen

Because of the ongoing crisis in Snowfield, there was not just the usual night-duty sergeant at the Dugway headquarters Captain Daniel Tersch, a physician in the Arious disease, third in charge of the unit, was standing by to direct any support operations that ht become necessary

Sara told him about their latest discoveries-the er’s tissue, the results of the various h this ell beyond his field of expertise

"Petrolatum?" he asked at one point, surprised by what she had told him

"The amorphous tissue resembles petrolatum only in that it has a soh values But of course it’s much more complex, much more sophisticated"

She stressed this particular discovery, for she wanted to be certain that Tersch passed it along to other scientists on the CBW teaeneticist or a biochemist were to consider this data and then look at the list ofto ask for, he would almost certainly knohat her plan was If soe, he would assemble the weapon for her before it was sent into Snowfield, sparing her the ti it with the shape-changer looking over her shoulder

She couldn’t just tell Tersch what she had inin There was an odd, faint hissing on the line…

Finally she spoke of her need for additional laboratory equipment "Most of this stuff can be borrowed froht here in Northern California," she told Tersch "I just need you to use the arether the package and get it to me as quickly as possible"

"What do you need?" Tersch asked, "Just tell me, and you’ll have it in five or six hours"

She recited a list of equipment in which she actually had no real interest, and then she finished by saying, "I will also need as eneration of Dr Chakrabarty’s little miracle as it’s feasible to send And I’ll need two or three compressed-air dispersal units, too"

"Who’s Chakrabarty?" Tersch asked, puzzled

"You wouldn’t know him"

"What’s his little miracle? What do you eneration" She spelled the nauest idea what this is," he said

Good, Saht with considerable relief Perfect

If Tersch had knohat Dr Ananda Chakrabarty’s littlebefore she could stop him And the ancient enemy would have been forewarned

"It’s outside your area of specialization," she said, "There’s no reason you should recognize the na to move away from the subject as smoothly and as rapidly as possible "don’t have tira on this Dr Flyte very much wants to continue his studies of the cream, and he needs all the iteet them Five or six hours, you said?"

"That should do it," Tersch said, "How should we deliver?"

Sara glanced at Bryce He wouldn’t want to risk yet another of his o driven into town To Captain Tersch, she said, "Can it be brought in by army helicopter?"

"Will do"

"Better tell the pilot not to try landing The shape-changerto escape It would almost certainly attack the crew and kill all of us the moment the chopper touched down Just have thee on a cable"

"This could be quite a large bundle," Tersch said

"I’ht I’ll get on it right away And good luck to you"

"Thanks," Sara said, "We’ll need it"

She hung up

"All of a sudden, five or six hours see time," Jenny said

"An eternity," Sara said

They were all clearly eager to hear about her scheme but knew it couldn’t be discussed However, even in their silence, Sara detected a new note of optiht anxiously