Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Seven

We were almost shot down by our own people, so we had to take a flying escort of two "Black Angels", which flew back and forth so that they could not go too much faster than us.We were then handed over to the command ship overseen by Air Admiral Rexton.The command spacecraft first synchronized with us, and then used the ring anchor to connect our air car to the cabin.I've never experienced anything like this before, and it's just so nerve-wracking. Rexton wanted to beat us up and send us home because we were technically civilians.But scolding the old man was a difficult and annoying chore.In the end they managed to unload us from the ship.I almost slammed the Skycar onto the road along the coast of Gulf.I should also add that I was terrified out of my wits because we also came under anti-aircraft fire on the way down, overhead and all around, but surprisingly calm around the saucer.

Not fifty yards ahead, the spaceship stood tall.As fake as the fake flying saucer made of plastic sheets found in Iowa, this one is as real as it gets.The huge discus-shaped ship tilted slightly toward us because it landed on one side of an old coastal mansion with high pillars.The house collapsed, and the flying saucer was supported on one side by the collapsed house and the trunk of a tree six feet in diameter that sheltered the house. Because the saucer was tilted, we could see the top of it, which must have been the airlock—a metal hemisphere about twelve feet in diameter, situated at the main axis of the ship.If it's a wheel, the airlock is at the hub.This hemisphere is lifted straight up.About six to eight feet above the hull.I can't see what exactly lifts it off the hull, but I think there must be a central shaft or piston, protruding upwards like a poppet.

It's easy to see why the saucer's owner couldn't take off again: the airlock was smashed, its mouth gaping.The job was done by the Mud Turtle, a small amphibious tank that can move freely on the seabed or ashore in the harbor, and is part of the amphibious landing force of the "Fullton". Let me note what I then learned: the tank was commanded by Ensein Gilbert Calhoun of Knoxville, and with him was Secondary Driver Florence Bersowski and a gunner named Booker T.W. Johnson.Of course, they were all dead when we got there. As soon as I parked the car on the side of the road, a squad of landing troops surrounded me. The leader was blushing, as if he wanted to kill a few more people.After seeing Mary, he was less aggressive, but still refused to allow us to approach the saucer.We did not get an answer until later when he approached the tactical commander, who in turn sought the opinion of the captain of USS Fulton.This request must have been passed directly to Rexton and fed back to Washington for further confirmation.

While waiting for a reply, I surveyed the battlefield.Judging by the situation at hand, I'm glad I didn't have to take part in this vile battle.Casualties are not small—there have been many casualties.Not far from the air car, there was a naked male corpse, a boy under fourteen years old.He's still clutching a rocket launcher and bears the slug mark on his shoulder, though the brute is nowhere to be seen.I don't know if the slug slipped away or died, perhaps it had transferred to the man who bayoneted the boy. By the time I examined the body, Mary had gone west with the dashing naval officer.Thinking that the slugs might still be around, I ran after her and said, "Get back in the car."

Still looking west along the road, she said with bright eyes, "I thought I'd have a chance to fire a shot or two." The young man reassured me, "She's safe here, we've blocked them under this road." I ignored him and snapped at Mary, "Listen, you pugnacious little brat, get back in the car before I break your bones!" "Okay, Sam." She just stepped back and did as I said. I glanced back at the young sailor.Said: "Why are you staring at me?" I was very upset, and I was trying to find someone to vent my anger on.The place smelled of slugs, and waiting made me nervous again.

"It's nothing," he replied, looking me over. "In my hometown, no one talks to ladies like that." "Then why don't you go back to your hometown?" After I finished speaking, I walked away with my head held high.The old man is gone too, and I'm worried. An ambulance was coming back from the west and pulled up beside me."Is the road open to Pascagoula?" cried the driver. The Pascagoula River was about thirty miles from the UFO landing site, basically in the "yellow zone," and the city of Pascagoula, east of the mouth of the river, was at least ostensibly in the green zone, and just sixty or seventy miles west of the same road. New Orleans is the most densely populated area of ​​Titans south of St. Louis.

I told the driver: "I've never heard of it." He chewed his knuckles and said, "Okay... I'll drive over to find the way, maybe I'll come back safely." After speaking, the turbine rattled and he drove away.I continue to look for the old man. The ground battle here has died down, but the air battle continues in the air around us.I watched the exhaust of the plane carefully, trying to tell who was who.I really don't know how the two sides can distinguish the enemy from the enemy.At this moment, a large transport plane flew over like lightning, braked suddenly in the air, and dropped a row of paratroopers.I couldn't help but wonder if they were too far away to see if they had slugs on them.At least these soldiers came from the east, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I finally caught sight of the old man, talking to the commander of the landing force.I stepped up and interrupted their conversation: "Boss, we should get out of here. This place should have been bombed ten minutes ago." The commander said kindly: "Relax, densely populated areas will not be bombed with atomic bombs, even small bombs will not be used." I was about to snap at him and ask him how he knew the slug would think that way, when the old man cut me off, "He's right, kid." Then he took my arm and walked to our car, "He's right, but But for the wrong reasons.”

"what?" "Why don't we bomb the cities they're taking? For the same reason they wouldn't bomb here, at least not while the saucer was intact. They didn't want to destroy the saucer, they still wanted to get it back. Now , go back to Mary. Remember my words?—Watch out for dogs and strange men." I didn't speak again, but my heart was filled with suspicion.I wish each of us could be a braking cog in a Geiger counter, able to offset every second and stop time.Slugs fight against all odds like humans—perhaps because they're not human.Why are they so cautious about one of their flying saucers?Perhaps they were more worried about keeping the flying saucer than about keeping it in our hands.

We got back in the car and were about to speak to Mary when the little naval officer hurried up.He stopped to catch his breath, saluted the old man, and said, "The commander replied that you can watch whatever you want, sir." Judging from his demeanor, I guess the reply message is probably written in large font. "Thank you, sir," said the old man gently, "we just want to check the captured flying saucer." "Okay, sir, please follow me." After finishing speaking, he followed us, hesitating whether to escort the old man or Mary.In the end it was Mary who won his favor.I walked behind, always on the alert, ignoring the presence of the young officer.Although the area along the seashore is well managed, most of it is still jungle.The old man took a short cut and went through.

The officer said: "Be careful, sir, watch your feet." I asked, "Watch out for the slugs?" He shook his head and said, "No, Coral Cobra." At such times, venomous snakes are as harmless and delightful as bees.But I must have heeded his warning, because I was looking down at my feet.Another thing happened. I first heard a cry, and then I saw it, my God!A Bengal tiger is about to attack us. The first shot was probably shot by Mary.I knew that my shot was not behind the young officer, and possibly even earlier, of which I am quite sure.The old man was the last to shoot. The four of us hit different parts of the tiger and ruined the skin so badly that it couldn't even be used as a blanket.But the slugs on it didn't hurt at all, and I fired a second time.The young officer looked at this scene without surprise, and said, "Oh, I thought the dangers on the road were cleared up." "Oh, what do you mean?" "They sent out a whole bunch of tanks, everything from gorillas to polar bears. Hey, have you ever been attacked by a buffalo?" "No, I don't want that to happen to me either." "Not as bad as being attacked by a dog. As far as I'm concerned, other animals don't have spirituality." He glanced at the slug, unmoved, and I felt like throwing up, as usual. We quickly walked out of the jungle and came to the spaceship of the Titans.I feel more uneasy.It's not because there is anything scary about the ship itself, but because of the appearance of the ship. Because it doesn't look right.The ship is obviously not formed naturally, but it is obvious that it was not built by humans, and I can't explain what is going on.The surface is a blurred mirror, with no markings on it, and it is impossible to see how the ship was assembled. Can't tell what material it's made of.metal?Metal of course.But is it so?You expected it to be extra cold to the touch, or extra hot from landing.But when I touched it, it felt neither hot nor cold.Don't tell me it just happens to be the same as human body temperature.I noticed another thing that was very strange: such a large spacecraft landed at a high speed, and it is reasonable to cause extensive damage to the ground.However, it was not in any damaged area at all, and the bushes around the spacecraft landing site were lush. We started to check, starting with the airlock (I don't know if it is an airlock).Just as a hand can easily crush a cardboard box, the edge of the airtight compartment has been squeezed and deformed by the small "Mud Turtle" tank, and the metal armor of the tank has sunk in.These "mud turtles" can be ejected from the mother ship at a depth of five hundred feet, and they are extremely strong. The ship is also pretty solid in my opinion.Although it was damaged by a tank, the airtight cabin could not be closed.On the other hand, no matter what material the spaceship's door was made of, there wasn't even a single impact mark left on its surface. The old man turned to me and said, "You and Mary wait here." "You don't want to go in yourself, do you?" "That's exactly what I thought, time is tight." The young officer said: "I want to go with you, sir. This is an order from the commander." "Very good." The old man agreed, "Come with me." He looked in carefully through the edge of the airtight cabin, and then knelt down on his hands.The young man followed him.I'm annoyed, but also don't want to object to the arrangement. They got into the hole.Mary turned to me and said, "Sam, I don't like this. I'm scared." I was taken aback by what she said.I was scared myself, but I didn't expect her to be too. "I will protect you." "Must we stay? He didn't say so." I thought about it and said, "If you want to get back in the car. I'll take you back." "Uh, no, Sam, I think I've got to stay. Come closer." She was shaking. I don't know how long it took for them to emerge from the edge of the capsule.The young man climbed out, and the old man told him to keep watch, and said to us, "Come with me, I think it's safe inside." "Safe hell!" I said to him, but I went anyway, because Mary had already started digging in.The old man helped her down. "Beware of bumping into each other," he said, "there are low bridges everywhere." It's a cliché to say that things made by aliens are nothing like those made on Earth, yet few people have had the chance to stay in a Venusian labyrinth.Even fewer have seen the ruins of the Martians.I don't have that kind of experience, so I can't even tell what I want to see.If you want to express it in one sentence, I think that although the inside of the flying saucer is not surprising, it is also very strange.The flying saucer is designed by a non-human brain. This kind of alien brain does not have various concepts of human beings. It has never heard of concepts such as reasonable angles and straight lines. Or even though they know it, they think these concepts are not worthwhile and there is no need for them to exist. .We found ourselves in a small oblate room, from which we crawled through a four-foot pipe, glowing reddish throughout, that seemed to spiral downward into the interior of the ship. The pipes gave off a strange, even unpleasant smell, like swamp gas, mixed with a stink of dead slugs.This gas, the reddish light, and the fact that there is no temperature response when you put your palm on the wall of the tube, all these strange phenomena together make me have an unpleasant association: I am crawling in the intestines of some giant monster , rather than exploring exotic flying saucers. The tube stretches like an artery, and that's when we first meet the Titan symbiote.He—I'll just call him "he," with his head resting on a slug, lay on his back with his arms and legs outstretched, like a sleeping child.There was a smile on his rosebud mouth, and at first glance I thought he was still alive. At first glance, the similarities between Titanians and humans are more striking than the differences.We always like to put others first and apply our own concepts to objects.For example, to our eyes, a weathered stone may well look like a human head, or a dancing bear.Take the beautiful little "mouth" just mentioned as an example. Who dares to say that this organ can only be used for breathing?Maybe there are other uses? Although they happen to be human-like, with limbs and head-like knobs, we have to admit that they are not human, and that we are more different from them than a bullfrog is from a bullfrog.But the overall feeling they give people is not scary, but likable and humane.I think of them as elves, humanoid elves on the moons of Saturn.If we can meet them before the slugs take hold of them, I think we can get along well.Judging from their ability to make flying saucers, they are on par with us humans-if flying saucers are really made by them. (Certainly not made by slugs, they are thieves, uninvited guests in the universe.) But these are my later thoughts.As soon as I saw this little guy at that time, I immediately drew my gun in my hand.Foreseeing my reaction, Lao Youzi turned to me and said, "Don't worry, it's dead, they all died of oxygen suffocation when the tank crashed their airlock." I still have a gun. "I want to kill the slugs for good," I said stubbornly. "It might still be alive." The slug wasn't covered in a horny shell like the ones we've come across lately, but had a naked, wet, ugly body. He shrugged and said, "You'll be fine. But it's unlikely to hurt you." "Why not?" "The chemical composition is different. This slug can't live on an oxygen-breathing creature." He crawled over the little guy, and there was no chance even if I decided to shoot.Mary, who was always quick to draw her gun, didn't draw it this time, but cringed and leaned against me, panting like a sob. The old man stopped and said patiently, "Are you coming, Mary?" She complained and choked, and said out of breath: "Let's go back and get out of here!" I said, "She's right. Three people can't do this job. A research team should be sent with appropriate equipment." He ignored me and said, "This work has to be done, Mary, and you know it. And it has to be done by you." "Why must she do it?" I asked him angrily. He ignored me again.Say, "How is it, Mary?" She seems to have drawn strength from somewhere deep in her body and pulled herself together.Breathing returned to normal, and the expression on his face relaxed.Then she crawled over the corpse of the slug-infested pixie, as serene as a queen about to be hanged, without fear.The gun I was holding was in the way, so I could only crawl awkwardly behind them, trying not to touch the body. Finally, we came to a large room.This may have been a command and control room, since there are many dead elves in it, although I don't see any equipment or anything resembling a machine.The interior of the house is a cavity, and instead of the reddish light, the light here is much stronger.This house seems to me meaningless, like a brain gyrus, incomprehensible.I couldn't help thinking again—and I now know, completely wrong—that the spaceship itself was a living, living organism. The old man didn't pay much attention to this, but continued to crawl forward and climbed into another red tube.We followed through the curved pipe to a more open area a dozen feet wide.The "ceiling" above our heads is also high enough to allow us to stand up.But all of this, we don't notice.What grabs our full attention are the transparent "walls". Through the transparent membrane, there are thousands of slugs everywhere, all around us, swimming, floating or twisting in some kind of liquid that they need to survive.Each sink radiates light from within, and I see clumps of slugs jiggling rapidly.Seeing this scene, I really want to scream out loud. I still have the gun in my hand.The old man turned back, put his hand on the gun and warned me: "Don't just shoot if you can't stand the torture. It's for our own good." Mary looked at the slugs calmly.Looking back, I doubt Mary was really sane at the time.I glanced at her, then looked back at the terrifying aquarium walls all around, and said eagerly, "Let's get out of here, and then we'll just blow up this place and we'll be fine." "No," the old man said calmly, "There are more over there, follow me." The tube narrowed again, then widened again, and we were again in a smaller room, similar to the slug's room.I also saw a transparent wall with things floating inside. I had to take another look before I realized what it was and believed it wasn't my hallucination. Inside the transparent wall, a man's body was floating face down. This was an Earthling, about forty or fifty years old, with almost all gray hair gone.With his arms folded across his chest and knees bent, he seemed to be sleeping soundly in bed or in the womb. I looked at him with terrible thoughts.He is not alone, there are many more.There were men and women, young and old, but he was the only one I could see clearly and hold my attention.I was sure he was dead, and I had no other thoughts at all.But just then, I saw his mouth move—I wish he was dead.It is better for him to be dead. Mary walked around the room as if drunk—no, she wasn't drunk, but dazed and dazed.She paced from one transparent wall to the other, staring dreamily into the depths of the crowded transparent walls.The old man kept watching her. "What's the matter, Mary?" he asked softly. "I can't find them!" said the poor little girl's voice.After speaking, she ran back to the first wall. The old man grabbed her arm, pulled her, and said firmly, "You didn't look in the right place, go back to where they came to look, remember?" She stopped and said in a crying voice, "I can't remember!" "You have to remember, think now, that's all you can do. You have to go back to them to find them." Mary closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face.She gasped and sobbed.I squeezed between them and said, "Come on! What are you going to do with her?" He grabbed me with his other hand and pushed me away. "No, child," he ordered me in a soft but firm tone, "don't worry about it, don't meddle in this matter." "But--" "No!" He let go of Mary and led me to the entrance. "Stay here! Listen, if you love your wife and hate the Titans, don't meddle in this. I promise I won't hurt her." "What are you going to do?" But he ignored my questioning, turned and walked away.I stayed where I was, unwilling to let things develop, but I didn't want to interfere with things I didn't understand for fear of making things worse. Mary crouched on the floor, covering her face with her hands like a child.The old man came back and knelt down beside her, patting her arm.I only heard him say: "Go back, go back to the place where you started." I could barely hear her faint reply. "no no." "How old were you at that time? When I found you, you seemed to be about seven or eight years old. Did this happen before that?" "Yes, it happened before that." She sobbed, completely limp on the ground.Shouting, "Mom! Mom!" "What did your mother say?" he asked softly. "She didn't say anything, just looked at me with weird eyes. There was something on her back. I was scared, I was so scared!" I got up and rushed to them, stooping so as not to touch the low ceiling.The old man kept his eyes on Mary and pushed me away with one hand.I stopped and hesitated."Back back, back," he ordered. The words were addressed to me, and I obeyed, but Mary also took a step back.She murmured, "There's a ship, a huge glowing ship—" the old man said something to her, but I couldn't hear her reply.This time I stayed where I was and didn't interrupt them.It was evident that he had done no harm to Mary.In spite of my confusion, I realized that something of the utmost importance must have happened to keep the Don in the enemy's lair alone, and devote all his energy to Mary. He continued to live indifferently with Mary, with comfort and persistence in his tone.Mary calmed down, as if in a kind of lethargy, and only then did I hear her answer the old man's questions.After a while, she began to chatter non-stop, as if suffering from polylingualism, and kept venting her inner emotions.Only occasionally did the old man interrupt her to give her hints and encourage her to continue. I heard someone crawling along the passage behind me, turned around and pulled out a gun, feeling strongly that we were surrounded.It was just a split second before the shot was fired that I realized it was the ubiquitous young officer we had kept outside. "Come out!" he yelled eagerly.He pushed past me into the room and called out to the old man again. The old man seemed to be on the verge of rage, and shouted: "Shut up, don't make trouble." But the young man insisted: "You must get out, sir. The commander told you to get out immediately, we are retreating. The commander said that he may use a bomb at any time. If we are still inside-"boom" No more! That's all I have to say." "Very well," the old man replied unhurriedly, "we'll come. Go out and tell your commander to hold on until we get out. I have vital information. Son, help me carry Mary. " "Yes, yes, sir!" agreed the young man, "but hurry!" He crawled away. I picked Mary up and carried her to where the room narrowed into a tube.She looked almost unconscious and I put her down. The old man said, "We've got to drag her out, and it doesn't look like she'll wake up right away. Here it is—I'll put her on your back, and you'll crawl with her on your back." I ignored his words and shook her. "Mary," I yelled, "Mary! Did you hear that?" She opened her eyes. "What's the matter, Sam?" "My dear, we must evacuate, act now! Can you climb by yourself?" "Yes, Sam." She closed her eyes again. I kept shaking her again. "Mary!" "What, dear? What's the matter? I'm so tired." "Listen, Mary—you've got to crawl out of here. Or the slugs will get us, you understand?" "Okay, honey." She didn't close her eyes this time, but her eyes were blank. I motioned her to climb down the pipe, and I followed.I slap her whenever she gets timid or slows down.I lifted her and dragged her across the slug's room, then crawled through what I thought was the control room.She stopped as she passed a pipe clogged with dead elves.I crawled past her and moved the elf's body away and stuffed it into a branch pipe.The slug on him was pretty sure dead this time, and it made me sick to finish it.I had to hit her again to get her to cooperate with me. After endless nightmarish struggles, we finally reached the outermost door, and our extremities felt like lead.The young officer who had been waiting there helped me pull her up, while the old man and I pushed and lifted her.I helped the old man up, jumped out myself, and took Mary from the young man.It was already dark outside. When I went back, I walked a long way, passed the house that was crushed by the flying saucer, and walked around the dense bushes before I stepped on the coastal road.Our car is gone, but that's okay, we've scrambled into a Mud Turtle tank without knowing it.As soon as we hid, an air battle broke out above our heads.The tank commander pressed a button and rumbled away from the sea wall, backing up and down into the water.Fifteen minutes later.We entered the underwater cruiser USS Fulton. Half an hour later, we landed at the Mobile base.The old man and I had coffee and sandwiches in the officers' common room at "Fulton," and several volunteer officers from the Women's Emergency Wing Corps had taken Mary into the care of the women's quarters.She appeared to be completely back to normal when we left and joined us. I asked her, "Mary, are you all right?" She smiled at me. "Of course, honey, why not?" A small command ship and escort brought us out of here.I thought we'd go back to headquarters, or Washington (more likely).I didn't ask the old man, and he wasn't in the mood to talk.I am content to hold Mary's hand. The pilot flew a difficult maneuver that could not be done by a civilian aircraft-flying at high speed in the air, then got into a cave, and stopped suddenly.And just like that, we entered a hangar in the mountains. "Where are we?" I asked. The old man stepped out of the spaceship without answering, and Mary and I hurriedly followed.The hangar is not big and can only accommodate a dozen aircraft.There is an eye-catching launch platform and an independent launch pad.Only two other ships were parked in the hangar.The guard came and signaled us to continue back to a door set in native rock, through which I found we were in an anteroom.A piercing voice from an invisible speaker ordered us to take off what little clothing we had left.I don't mind being completely naked, but I really don't want to get rid of my gun and my phone. We continued to walk in, and came across a young man with only a corporal armband in his whole body, with three chevrons and crosses on the armband.He turned us on to a girl who was less clad, with just two chevrons on her captain's armband.Both men pay attention to Mary, and both have a typical sexual response.I thought the corporal would be happy to let the captain take over our affairs. "We have received your message," said the captain. "Dr. Stilton is waiting for you." "Thank you, ma'am," replied the old man. "The sooner the better, where is it?" "Please wait a moment." After she finished speaking, she walked up to Mary and stroked her hair. "You know, we have to make sure everything is safe." There was apology in her tone.I don't know if she noticed that most of Mary's hair was fake, but she didn't say anything anyway, and Mary didn't flinch.After the inspection she said, "Okay, let's go." Her own hair was cut in gray waves and short like a man's. "Yes," replied the old man, "no, boy, you can only go so far." "Why?" I asked. "Because you nearly messed things up last time," he replied curtly, "now shut up." The captain said, "The officer's mess is in the first corridor on the left, why don't you go up there and wait?" I followed her advice.On the way, I saw a door with a huge red skull painted on it, and the words "Warning-there are live slugs inside this door", and then there is a small line of "Qualified people are allowed to enter-" Use 'A' procedure." I avoid this door by a wide margin. The officers' mess was like an ordinary club room, with three or four men and two women sitting idly.No one seemed interested in my presence.So I found an empty chair and sat down, feeling uncomfortable in this kind of place. Just as I was about to have a drink, a tall and mighty man sat down beside me.In addition to the colonel's badge on the chain around his neck, there is also a St. Christopher's medal and the identification plate worn by soldiers. "New here?" he asked. I nodded in acknowledgment. "Are you a local expert?" he asked again. "Don't know what an 'expert' is. I'm a Secret Service operative," I replied. "What's the name? Don't blame me for being so nosy," he said apologetically. "Just to clarify, I'm in charge of security here. My name is Kelly." I tell him my name.He nodded. "Actually, I saw your men come in. The voice from the wall was mine. Now, Mr. Nivens, how about a drink? The briefing said what you just did, and I think you should drink A glass." I stood up and asked, "Even if I want to kill someone, I have to have a drink." "—but it seems to me," said Kelly after a moment, "that there is no need for security officers here any more than a horse needs roller skates. Information should be transparent and released as soon as results are available. This It's nothing like fighting a human opponent." I commented that he didn't sound like your average senior officer in a gold tassel cap.He smiled and was not angry at all. "Listen to me, boy, not all gold fringe hats are what people think they are—they just seem to be." I said that, in my impression, Air Force Admiral Rexton was a shrewd man. "You know him?" asked the colonel. ' "Have only met a few times, don't really know him very well. But because I'm on this mission, I've had a lot of dealings with him, and I saw him earlier today." "Well—" the colonel mused, "I've never met this gentleman. You're on a higher level of social life than I am, sir." I explained to him that it was purely accidental, but then he started looking at me differently.He briefed me on the progress of the lab. "So far, we know more about those nasty slugs than Satan does. But how do we get rid of them without harming their hosts? We're still at a loss." "Of course," he went on, "if we can lure one of them into a small room at a time and knock it over with a tranquilizer gun, we can save the host—but it's like the old saying about bird hunting. Stunt: Very simple, just sneak up close enough to the bird and rub a pinch of Epsom salts on its tail. I'm not a scientist myself, but the son of a policeman, and I'm a policeman myself now, just with the The labels are different. But I talked to the scientists here, and I understand what we need. This is biological warfare, and you can win the biological warfare by understanding what it is. What we need is a germ, a A germ that can devour a slug without harming the host. Sounds easy, does it? Yes, we know hundreds of germs that can kill a slug—smallpox, typhus, syphilis, lethargic encephalitis Bubonic plague, Obermeyer virus, bubonic plague, yellow fever, etc. But they can also kill the host.” "Can't they figure out a way to make everyone immune?" I asked. "Take typhoid—everyone gets a typhoid shot, and almost everyone gets a smallpox shot." "It's useless. If the host has acquired immunity, the slug won't get the virus. Now the slug has expanded its parasitic environment from the epidermis to the entire host. No, we need a host that can infect and kill the slug worm virus, but this virus can only give the host a mild fever or a severe headache at best." I was about to take what must have been a genius insight when the old man appeared at the door.I said excuse me and walked forward. He asked me, "What did Kelly pester you with?" "He didn't pester me with questions," I replied. "That's your wishful thinking, don't you know who Kelly is?" "Should I know?" “应该。也许不应该，他从来不暴露自己的身份。那是Ｂ·Ｊ·凯利，当代最伟大的犯罪学家。” “那个凯利？可他没有参军呀！” “可能是保留军籍吧。不过单凭这个，你就可以想像得出这个实验室有多重要。跟我来。” “玛丽呢？” “你现在不能见她，她在休养。” “她——受伤了吗？” “我向你保证过，她不会受伤的。斯蒂尔顿是他这一行中最棒的。但我们还得再深入些，克服许多困难。在这方面总是不顺利。” 我思索了一下，问道：“你得到你想要的东西了吗？” “可以说是，也可以说不是。我们收获很大，但并不彻底。” "what do you want?" 这地方建在地下。我们一直沿着漫无尽头的走廊走着。他带我走进一间空空的小办公室，我们坐了下来。老头子摸了一下桌上的通话器说：“私人会议。” “好的，先生，”一个声音答道，“我们不录音。”天花板上的绿灯亮了。 “我当然不相信他们，”老头子抱怨着，“但这样可以防止除了凯利之外的其他任何人回放录音。孩子，现在我就告诉你你想知道的，我不太肯定你是不是有资格知道这事。你确实和这姑娘结了婚，但这并不意味着她的灵魂都归你所有了——而且，这东西来自她的心灵深处，深得连她自己都不知道这件东西的在在。” 我缄口不言，其实也没什么要说的。他又接着说，语气很忧虑，“也许——还是告诉你更好些，这样便于你理解。否则你会缠着她问个不休，我可不希望出现这一幕，决小希望。这样做只会让她昏过去。我看，光凭她自己是想不起她的过去的。斯蒂尔顿博士的手法很温和——但你却只会让她烦恼，让事情发展到不可收拾的地步。” 我深深吸了口气：“只能由你判断，我不能。” “好吧，我也这么想。来吧，我会透露一些情况给你，并回答你的问题——一部分问题。作为交换条件，你必须保证你决不会再用这些事打扰你妻子。你缺乏问她的技巧。” “好的，先生。我保证。” “好吧，有那么一群人，你或许可以称之为信徒，他们名誉扫地，不受欢迎。” “我知道——是惠特曼人。” “啊？你怎么知道？玛丽说的吗？不，不可能，她自己都不知道。” “不，不是从玛丽那里，是我自己想出来的。” 他以一种奇特的目光看着我，不无敬意。“也许我一直都小看了你，孩子。你说得对，惠特曼人。玛丽就是其中的一员，当时她还只是南极的一个小孩子。 “等等！”我插话道，“他们离开南极时是在——”我脑子在飞快地转动，那个数字终于冒了出来，“——是在１９７４年。” "That's right. What's the matter?" “可那样一来，玛丽就是四五十岁左右了。不可能呀。” “你介意这个吗？” “啊？啊！不——可她吭陴来不可能是这个岁数。” “她是这个岁数，但又不是。听着，从时间上看她在四十岁上下，但从生理上看她只有二十多岁，从主观感觉上看她甚至更年轻，因为她什么都不记得，对１９９０年之前的事情一点都不知道。” “你是什么意思？她失忆了，这一点我能理解——有些事她根本不愿记住。可你其他的话是什么意思？” “我没说错，她比实际年龄要小是因为—一你见过那间打开她记忆闸门的屋子，她在类似的水槽里待了十年，而且很可能是不省人事地在其中漂浮了十年。”