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p bothering him, but that would be a bad idea, so he took a deep breath, summoned all his patience, and said, “Jack, I cannotwith a lot of stuff First priority, before orry about techie stuff, is—”

“Techie stuff?” Jack interrupted His voice was shocked and indignant

“That’s not a diss I’otten when Edilio appeared in the doorway He didn’t rush in as Jack had done He just stood there looking pale and solemn

“What?” Sam asked

“The zekes They’re in the melon field now”

“They’re spreading,” Astrid said

“I could have got all those kids killed,” Edilio said He looked like he’d seen a ghost He was tre

“Okay Enough,” Sa his chair back sharply

Finally

Finally so he could actually do

He should have been worried And he was But the emotion that filled his mind as he strode purposefully fro to have to wait, Astrid I’ to kill some worms”

Two hours later Sae of the melon field Dekka was beside him Edilio had driven the foot on the ground

“How you see this playing out?” Dekka asked

“You lift them, I burn them,” Sam answered

“I can only reach a little area at a time A circle, maybe twenty feet across,” Dekka said