The alien tissue was very viscous and flowed slowly. Seever thought this might be a good sign, implying that whatever forces permitted the being to control his shape must still be operating. He was right, as it happened, but none of them could be sure. Bob's mention of rigor mortis helped no one's morale.
Eventually the mass of green semi-fluid was in the basin, spreading slowly toward the edges. "Bob, you're, the chemist," said Seever. "What else has he told you about his needs? I assume they include water."
"Not the way we do. It's not inside his cells; they're: not really cells in the way ours are, just complex single molecules. There is water, but it's bonded to the surface for the most part and doesn't form part of the inside architecture."
"Then there's no osmotic problem-it won't matter if we give him fresh water or salt?"
"No. He can exist in both, as well as in our body fluids. You probably needn't give him any, but I suppose it won't do any damage and might be safer. I'd be more worried, though, about food."
"Why?" asked Seever.
"That's really his smallest reserve. He can last for a while outside a host body without-well, fuel-but the time is limited. He has nothing corresponding to human fat or glycogen as a reserve. When he was under water in the pipe he was always catching and eating small organisms which were trying to eat him, he said."
"I see. I suppose any of his so-called cells can carry out digestion, as they seem to do everything else. Well, then, all we can do is sprinkle a little water on him, drop in a piece of cheese-protein seems most likely to have everything he'd need chemically-and hope. It's logical, but somehow it doesn't seem like medical practice."
Whatever it seemed like to Seever, it was what they did. They used only a small amount of water, so as not to shut tile patient off too completely from air. This was unfortunate, since more water would have absorbed the paralyzing agent more quickly. Its distribution coefficient between water and the tissue of the Hunter's species was very small-it had to be, to be as quick a trap, as it was-but it was far from zero.
That left the group with nothing to do but sit and theorize. Most were concerned about the Hunter himself. Bob's mother hadalready started to wonder what the alien's prolonged separation would do to her son, but did not at first mention this to the others.
Maeta suggested that they go back to the waiting room to see what Jenny had learned from Andre, but the older people thought this injudicious, since Andre might still be there, and Bob did not want to leave his symbiont. His mother offered to stay with the patient while Bob got something to eat, but while they were still discussing the matter the door opened and Jenny crutched herself in.
Her question about what had happened at the reef collided with several about her progress with her young suspect, but Jenny, won, and some minutes were spent by Maeta and Bob, telling the story of the morning's events. Jenny took her first really good look at the Hunter with great interest, and was with some difficulty persuaded to take her attention from the hospital basin and report on her interview. Her words were suggestive but inconclusive.
"I can't really prove anything," she admitted, "but I'm more certain than before that he's done most of these things. He's harder to get hold of than a jellyfish. He never actually, denied any of the tricks, but he wouldn't admit them in so many words, either."
"Which ones did you ask him about?" asked Bob.
"The boat? The rope? My handlebars? Your foot?"
"Not all of them. I started with my foot, since I had the sample available, and pointed out how I could have bled to death if there hadn't been anyone around to help. He agreed that this was bad, and remarked that if people were going to leave glass around the island everyone would have to start wearing shoes the way they do in Europe and the States. I didn't ask why he thought it was glass instead of metal or a shell; I wanted to save his slips, if that was one, to dump on him all at once later.
"I mentioned your broken arm, and he said you must have gotten out of bike practice while you were away. How many people did you tell how that happened, Bob?"
"I didn't tell anyone the whole story, except of course you folks here, and Dad. I told the fellows at work that I'd had a fall."
"Did you mention it was off a bike?" she asked emphatically. Bob thought silently for a moment.
"I don't think so. I wouldn't have wanted to sound as though I couldn't ride, and I certainly didn't want to tell anyone about the wire, especially when we couldn't find it."
"Well, Andre knows or is taking for granted that you were on your bike when it happened. I didn't ask how he knew. When I talked about the rope and the leak in my boat, he just asked what we were doing out there all those days, and were we looking for something special, and when was I going to keep my promise that he could come out with us. When you came in with the pipe a while ago, he asked whether that was what we were looking for. I said it wasn't, and then realized I'd admitted we were looking for something. I told you he was slippery."
"How about my handlebars and your brake? Is he a bike expert?"
"I didn't get around to either of them. I'm still sure, from those slips he made, that he's at the bottom of all this, though."
"Maybe he found out about my being on the bike from Silly. She knows, and goodness knows how many of her small friends she may have told," Bob remarked.
"And I still doubt that he's actually at the bottom, in any case," added the doctor. "I agree he's probably involved, though. Iwish I could figure out what happened to the Hunter today; I don't see how the kid could possibly be involved in that. There weren't any boats besides your own out there, were there?"
Bob and his mother said there weren't; Maeta qualified the statement slightly.
"None stayed there. Two or three times fishermen or other people who had come out the main channel
tacked down and called hello, and asked what we were doing, but they always went right on."
"What did you tell them?"
"Just that we were collecting. That could have covered anything-Pauhere's curios, or the Museum Exchange, or just amusing ourselves."
"Do you remember who they were?" asked Seever.
"Most of them, I think. Is it important?"
"I wish I could guess. I wonder if anyone on Ell could have free-diving equipment that the whole world doesn't know about."
"If they have," Maeta assured him, "it's a pretty close secret. As you say, usually everyone knows something like that. I see what you're driving at now, but I don't see any way to be really sure-except that I'd swear no boat stayed close enough for long enough to let a diver get over near us and get back again if he was swimming. Maybe if someone's invented a personal outboard motor for divers it could have been done, but they'd have been taking a chance that I'd be down at any moment and see them."
"Maybe it wouldn't be they taking the chance," Seever pointed out grimly. "Well, we're speculating again. Make a list of the people you saw go by, first chance you get, and let me have it. When you don't know what you're doing, record data, I always say. I know the more pieces there are, the tougher the puzzle; but if the pieces belong, you have to have them. Any other plans, Bob?"