‘Imagine those tendrils much longer. Six feet, maybe. Imagine them finding their way up his throat, out into the air. Imagine them finding their way in between the cells of his body, infiltrating themselves past arteries and veins, through muscles and into his brain, and then out through his scalp. Imagine-’
‘Thanks. I get the picture.’ A thought struck Jack. ‘Hang on — that worm thing had tendrils at both ends.’
They both glanced down to Scotus’s groin. Was it Jack’s imagination, or was there something stirring down there as well?
Jack looked up at Scotus’s face. ‘What happened?’ he asked simply.
‘I tried one of the pills,’ he said. ‘I had to. Who would buy diet pills from a fat nutritionist? I got the same cravings as the others, the same desire to eat anything, no matter what it was. I suppressed it, with powdered protein supplements at first, then using drugs. Eventually, I discovered that by taking sedatives I could cause the creature’s appetite to reduce. Its weight is stable now, but the tendrils you mention — the way it perceives the world — continued to grow. They permeate me. They have infiltrated me.’
‘Then why not take the second pill?’ Gwen asked. ‘Why not flush the thing from your system?’
‘Because the tendrils are too entwined with my brain and my nervous system,’ Scotus said simply. ‘Killing the creature would most likely kill me. That’s one reason. The other is simpler. It won’t let me.’
‘It won’t let you?’ Jack stepped forward.
The goon behind Gwen tracked Jack with her gun, but let him go. The man was too engrossed in what was going on. It was obvious from the expression on his face that he thought he’d fallen into a pit of madmen. ‘You mean, it’s controlling you?’
‘Nothing that obvious. It’s not intelligent; not as we measure intelligence, anyway. But it does have instincts, which it communicates to me. The instinct to survive is very strong.’
‘I think I’ve heard enough,’ Jack said. ‘Have you heard enough?’
‘More than enough.’
Jack reached into a pocket of his greatcoat. His hand closed around the alien device that they had found at that Cardiff nightclub what seemed like years ago now. Toshiko had already set it up so that it would pick up local emotional reactions and amplify them further away. All he had to do was to press a couple of buttons to activate it. His fingers found them quickly.
He nodded to Gwen. She bent and quickly pulled the shroud off the bird-cage before the goon could stop her.
The winged alien creature in the cage shifted, confused by the sudden flood of infra-red signals.
‘Jesus!’ the goon said, and stepped backwards, raising the gun and aiming it at the cage.
One of the other alien devices that Toshiko had determined was part of a matching set was wired to the cage, shoved in through the little flap through which the creature had originally been shoved. It transmitted electrical charges along a plasma path generated by a low-power laser beam. It was aimed directly at the creature, which didn’t have any room to squeeze out of the way.
Before the goon could stop her, Gwen pressed the button that activated it.
A lambent orange glow filled the cage, and the creature suddenly bucked as a charge of electricity went through its body for the second time that day.
The pain it felt was picked up by the original alien device and amplified all around. Scotus doubled over in agony, throwing up on his desk; Gwen collapsed, eyes rolling up in her head; and the goon just keeled over. Gwen’s gun fell from his fingers.
Jack fought against it. Pain and he were old friends. He could keep going through agony that would fry the nerves of any other human.
While the effect lasted, Jack walked slowly through the pain like a man walking underwater, collecting all the weapons and dumping the goon’s body next to that of Doctor Scotus, fastening both of them to the canning machinery with some flexible metal restraints that he’d brought with him from the Hub. Then he turned both alien devices off.
Gwen recovered first. He’d expected that. She had more force of will than almost anyone he’d ever known.
Owen pulled Toshiko to her feet.
‘What was that?’ she asked.
‘That was Jack’s plan working,’ Owen said grimly.
‘It was as if someone was drilling out all my teeth at the same time.’
‘Let’s hope it bought Jack the time he wanted.’ Owen looked around at the winged creatures that had spilled out of the cold store. The pain felt by their brother had obviously hit them hard, but they were beginning to recover. ‘Quick, let’s get out of here.’
He half-dragged Toshiko through the door and into the room beyond, pulling the door shut behind him. He didn’t have much time to take in the sight of all the canning machinery, and the two men fastened to it. Jack was standing in the centre of the room, propping Gwen up. He smiled at Owen and Toshiko as they arrived.
‘Are we having fun yet?’ he asked.
‘There’s something you should know-’ Owen started.
‘There’s many things I should know, including how to mix the perfect hyper-vodka and how to recover from its effects. What’s this one?’
‘There’s about thirty of those winged things loose outside, and a hospital ward with about the same number of sedated patients,’ Owen said rapidly. ‘The winged things are going to head right for them, plunge themselves right in and lay their eggs. The eggs we can deal with — I recommend a flamethrower and then some acid on the ashes — but that leaves us with thirty-odd dead people, and I’m not comfortable with that.’
Jack raised his eyebrows. ‘I can’t leave you alone for a moment, can I?’
‘I reckon we have about three minutes before it’s too late.’
Jack’s gaze flicked left and right as he considered his options. ‘Bullet’s will take out those flying things, won’t they?’
‘Yeah, but there’s a swarm of them. You’d never get them all before they get you. Remember, they’re attracted by body heat.’
‘Yeah, I remember.’ A grin burst across Jack’s face. ‘Did I see a fire extinguisher out in the corridor?’
Owen shrugged.
‘Yes, you did,’ Toshiko answered.
‘Carbon dioxide or foam?’
Toshiko thought for a moment. ‘Judging by the colour coding, carbon dioxide.’
‘Perfect. Can someone get it for me without getting hit by one of those things?’
Gwen, Owen and Toshiko exchanged dubious glances. Eventually, Toshiko opened the door, Gwen grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall and Owen held his automatic at the ready in case any of the creatures flew at them.
He needn’t have worried. They were all crawling or flying unsteadily along the corridor, gaining strength by the moment, towards the medical unit. Towards their new hosts.
Jack had taken his coat and shirt off, and was standing bare-chested, arms extended. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Do it.’
‘But-’
‘Do it.’
Owen raised the fire extinguisher. He looked uncertainly at Gwen and then at Toshiko. They just stared back.
He pulled the safety pin out and pressed the handle firmly down.
Carbon dioxide gushed from the fire extinguisher’s nozzle, enveloping Jack in a pall of white fog. The gas, expanding as it emerged from its pressurised state, sucked heat from the air. Jack’s hands were just visible, emerging from the cloud, white with frost, the fingertips glistening. He was turning slowly, letting the vapour hit him from all sides.
Owen released the handle and let the fire extinguisher drop.
Jack stood there like a marble statue, every muscle on his stomach and his arms standing proud and firm.
He opened his eyes and winked at Owen. Then he scooped up the guns — his and Gwen’s — from the table. Gwen held out a spare magazine she had taken from her pocket. Jack took it, then walked stiffly out of the room and down the corridor.