Eric Russell - Three to Conquer

General Conway harumphed, decided that there were no satisfactory methods of overcoming this difficulty, went on to say, “You have made contact with an alien life-form. So far as we know, you’re the only one who has done so and remained able and willing to talk about it. Can you add anything that may help us to determine the true nature of the foe?”

“I didn’t see it with my own two eyes. Therefore, I cannot assist you with an accurate description.”

“Quite so. But you must have gained some kind of an impression.”

Thinking it over, Harper conceded, “Yes, that’s true.”

“Let us have it. No matter how vague or fleeting, we need every datum we can get on this subject.”

“For no apparent reason, I felt that alien ownership of another body is a natural phenomenon. That is to say, I knew, more or less instinctively, that the thing occupying the body of Jocelyn Whittingham was functionally designed for such a purpose. It was perfectly at home, and knew how to use what it had gained. The girl was a human being, from toes to hair, in all respects but one: another and different life-spark had been substituted.”

“Which suggests that it’s nature, is wholly parasitic?” asked Conway. “It normally exists in possession of some other life-form?”

“Yes. It’s an old hand at that game.”

“And that, in turn, suggests that when it acquires another body, it also gains the data within the brain, all the knowledge, the memory and so forth?”

“Undoubtedly. It could not survive without doing so; otherwise, its own incompetence would betray it at once.”

Turning his attention to Benfield, the general remarked, “The inevitable deduction is that Venus harbors various life-forms, some of which are the natural prey of a possessive parasite. Also, that this parasite is capable of taking over a form higher than any in its own habitat. It can adapt right out if its own environment and, if I may put it that way, it can raise itself by its own bootstraps.”

Benfield nodded agreement.

“Also,” continued Conway, “It is probably microscopic, or germlike. That’s my guess; I’ll have to leave that angle to others more expert. They’ll be able to make shrewder estimates of its characteristics.”

“It would help more than somewhat if we could discover how that girl was mastered,” Harper pointed out. “Her body might tell the story.”

’That is being looked into. We have confiscated her corpse, despite violent objections from her relatives.”

Harper looked at him, eyes glowing. “Which of them raised the biggest outcry?"”

About to add something more, Conway paused and registered momentary bafflement.

“Why?”

“We Venusians must stick together.”

“You mean—?”

“Yes, I mean what you’re now thinking.”

Firming his lips, Conway reached for the phone, ordered, “Take the entire Whittingham family into safekeeping at once. No, it is not an arrest; there are no charges. Tell them it’s for their own protection. Eh? If their lawyer chips in, refer him directly to me.”

“That will do a fat lot of good,” remarked Harper. “If one or more of the Whittinghams is no longer of this world, you’re helping him create a bunch of Venusian cops out west.”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take.”

“Not necessarily. You could put them in animal cages, and feed them with long tongs. Anything—anything, so long as they can’t get near enough to help themselves to their own guards.”

“That would be gross violation of their constitutional rights. We could get away with such tactics only by justifying them before the public. To do that, we must release information that we wish to reserve, at least for the time being.” His eyes questioned Harper as if to say, “ What’s the answer to that?”

Harper took it up promptly. “Tell the Whittinghams that Jocelyn died of a new, malignant and highly contagious disease. They must be isolated until found free from it. The black plague again.”

“What, when they know she was shot?”

“ I had the disease. I was raving mad with it. I touched her, contaminated her; she’s lucky to be dead. You’ve got to give a clean bill of health to whoever handled her afterward. Some clause in the health laws can be finagled to cover their incarceration. No protectors of civil liberties are going to bawl about the freedom of suspected lepers—and the story will be substantially true, won’t it?”

“You may have something there.” Conway used the phone again, gave instructions, finished, “Consult Professor Holzberger about the technical description of a suitable pretext. What is needed is something strong enough to convince, but not strong enough to cause a panic.” He ended, said to Harper, “And now what?”

“When there’s a chance, let me go out there to look them over. If I find them all clean, give them a mock check-up by some worried-looking medico and let them go. They’ll be too relieved to gripe.”

“But if one of them is possessed?”

“I’ll smell him at first sniff; he’ll know it, too. Keep him at all costs. When the others have gone, pull him apart. You could do that without a qualm, because you’ll be carving an animated corpse. With luck you might be able to isolate whatever it is.”

Conway frowned. Jameson looked slightly sick. Benfield didn’t enjoy it, either; he was visualizing his hands shaving himself at another’s behest.”

“We’ll take that up shortly,” said Conway. “There is one more cogent point- yet to be considered. You say that the instant you recognized the Whittingham girl, her immediate thought was of escape?”

“Yes.”

“But not to a specific place?”

“No.”

“Therefore her impulse to flee was instinctive, and no more?”

“Not entirely. She experienced the shock of somebody deprived, without warning, of a long-established and greatly valued truth—namely, that recognition is impossible. She was confronted with an irrefutable fact which was contrary to all experience. She felt the dire need to get away from me and tell the others.”

“Which others? Where?”

“I don’t know.”

“You know only that she didn’t know?”

Harper fidgeted around, brooded at the floor. “Frankly, I’m unable to give a satisfactory answer; she may have known, but succeeded in suppressing the knowledge. That I doubt. Or—”

“Or what?”

“She may have possessed some alien sense which enables her kind to contact each other. “Something like the homing instinct of pigeons or dogs, but on a species basis.”

“But you are convinced that she was not telepathic?”

“Not in the way that I am.”

“In some other way, perhaps?”

“Nothing is impossible,” said Harper flatly. “It is beyond my power to list the attributes of things native to some place umpteen millions of miles away, after a one-second glance. Catch me another dozen. I’ll take a longer look, and tell you more.”

Responding to Conway’s gesture, Benfield switched off the tape-recorder.

“Catch you another dozen,” echoed Conway. “How the devil are we going to do that? We know of three, and it’s not beyond our resources to find and seize them sooner or later. Getting any others who may be around is a different matter. We have nothing to go upon, no details concerning them, no way of identifying them.” His gaze came up, levelled on Harper. “Excepting through you. That’s why you’re drafted. We require your services to test every suspect we can lay hands on.”

“So I’m expected to stay put, wait for your lineups, look them over and say yes or no?”

“Exactly. There is no other way.”

“There is,” Harper contradicted.