This time I made sure. Despite Pirate's wails and struggles I forced the slug against the coals and held it there, cat fur and my hands alike burning, until the slug dropped off directly into the flames. Then I took Pirate out and laid him on the floor. He was no longer struggling. I did for him what I had done for Mary, made sure that he was no longer burning anywhere and went back to Mary.

She was still unconscious. I squatted down beside her and sobbed.

An hour later I had done what I could for Mary. Her hair was almost gone from the left side of her head and there were burns on her shoulders and neck. But her pulse was strong, her respiration steady though fast and light, and I did not judge that she would lose much body fluid. I dressed her burns-I keep a rather full stock out there in the country-and gave her an injection to make her sleep. Then I had time for Pirate.

He was still on the floor where I had left him and he did not look good. He had gotten it much worse than Mary and probably flame in his lungs as well. I thought he was dead, but he lifted his head when I touched him. "I'm sorry, old fellow," I whispered. I think I heard him mew.

I did for him what I had done for Mary, except that I was afraid to give him a soporific. After that I went into the bathroom and looked myself over.

The ear had stopped bleeding and I decided to ignore it, for the time being. Someday, when I had time, it would need to be rebuilt. My hands were what bothered me. I stuck them under hot water and yelped, then dried them in the air blast and that hurt, too. I could not figure out how I could dress them, and, besides, I needed to use them.

Finally I dumped about an ounce of the jelly for burns into each of a pair of plastic gloves and put them on. The stuff included a local anesthetic; I could get by. Then I went to the stereophone and called the village medical man. I explained to him carefully and correctly what had happened and what I had done about it and asked him to come at once.

"At night?" he said. "You must be joking."

I said that I decidedly was not joking.

He answered, "Don't ask the impossible, man. Yours makes the fourth alarm in this county; nobody goes out at night. You've done everything that can be done tonight; I'll stop in and see your wife first thing in the morning."

I told him to go straight to the devil first thing in the morning and switched off.

Pirate died a little after midnight. I buried him at once so that Mary would not see him. Digging hurt my hands but he did not take a very big hole. I said goodbye to him and came back in. Mary was resting quietly; I brought a chair to the bed and watched over her. Probably I dozed from time to time; I can't be sure.

Chapter 23

About dawn Mary began to struggle and moan. I stepped to the bed and put a hand on her. "There, baby, there-It's all right. Sam's here."

Her eyes opened and for a moment held the same horror they had held when she was first possessed. Then she saw me and relaxed. "Sam! Oh, darling, I've had the most terrible dream."

"It's all right," I repeated.

"Why are you wearing gloves?" She became aware of her own dressings; she looked dismayed and said, "It wasn't a dream!"

"No, dearest, it wasn't a dream. But it's all right; I killed it."

"You killed it? You're sure it's dead?"

"Quite sure." The house still reeked with the stench of its dying.

"Oh. Come here, Sam. Hold me tight."

"I'll hurt your shoulders."

"Hold me!" So I did, while trying to be careful of her burns, although she seemed indifferent to them. Presently her trembling slowed down and stopped almost completely. "Forgive me, darling-I'm being weak and womanish."

"You should have seen the shape I was in when they got me back."

"I did see. Now tell me what happened; I must know. The last I remember you were trying to force me into the fireplace."

"Look. Mary, I couldn't help it; I had to-I couldn't get it off!"

She shook my shoulders and now it was she comforting me. "I know, darling, I know-and thank you for doing it! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Again I owe you everything."

We both cried a bit and presently I blew my nose and went on, "You did not answer when I called you, so I went into the living room and there you were."

"I remember-oh darling, I tried so hard!"

I stared at her. "I know you did-you tried to leave. But how did you? Once a slug gets you, that's it. There's no way to fight it."

"Well, I lost-but I tried." There was no answer to the mystery. Somehow, Mary had forced her will against that of a parasite-and that can't be done. I know. True, she had succumbed, but I knew then that I was married to a human who was tougher and stronger than I was, despite her lovely curves and her complete femininity.

I had a sneaking hunch that had Mary not been able to resist the slug by some amount, however slight, I would have lost the struggle, handicapped as I was by what I could not do.

"I should have used a light, Sam," she went on, "but it never occurred to me to be afraid here." I nodded; this was the safe place, like crawling into bed or into sheltering arms. "Pirate came to me at once. I didn't see the thing until I had reached down and touched him. Then it was too late." She sat up, supporting herself on one arm. "Where is he, Sam? Is he all right? Call him in."

So I had to tell her about Pirate. She listened without expression, nodded and never referred to him again. I changed the subject by saying, "Now that you are awake I had better fix you some breakfast."

"Don't go!" I stopped. "Don't go out of my sight at all," she went on, "Not for any reason. I'll get up in a moment and get breakfast."

"The hell you will. You'll stay right in that bed, like a good little girl."

"Come here and take off those gloves. I want to see your hands." I did not take them off-could not bear to think about it; the anesthesia had worn off. She nodded and said grimly, "Just as I thought. You were burned worse than I was."

So she got breakfast. Furthermore she ate-I wanted nothing but a pot of coffee. I did insist that she drink a lot, too; large area burns are no joke. Presently she pushed aside her plate, looked at me and said, "Darling, I'm not sorry it happened. Now I know. Now we've both been there." I nodded humbly, knowing what she meant. Sharing happiness is not enough. She stood up and said, "Now we must go."

"Yes," I agreed, "now we must go. I want to get you to a doctor as soon as possible."

"I did not mean that."

"I know you didn't." There was no need to discuss it further; we both knew that the music had stopped and that now was time to go back to work. The heap we had arrived in was still sitting on my landing flat, piling up rental charges. It took about three minutes to burn the dishes, switch off everything but the permanent circuits, and get ready. I could not find my shoes but Mary remembered where I had left them.

Mary drove, because of my hands. Once in the air she turned to me and said, "Let's go straight to the Section offices. We'll get treatment there and find out what has been going on-or are your hands hurting too badly?"

"Suits," I agreed. My hands were hurting but they would not be any worse for another hour of waiting. I wanted to learn the situation as soon as possible-and I wanted to get back to work. I asked Mary to switch on the squawk screen; I was as anxious to catch a newscast now as I had been anxious to avoid them before. But the car's communication equipment was as junky as the rest of it; we could not even pick up audio. Fortunately the remote-control circuits were still okay, or Mary would have had to buck it through traffic by hand.