THIRTY-EIGHT.

Ten minutes later Terry didn't believe in monsters.

It was because he was outside and the sun was shining. He was driving down the road with his window open and the radio on. Everything was perfectly normal. It was hot. It was smoggy. It was planet Earth, and no one was visiting from the outside. He'd had nothing to drink in the bar, it was true, but bars were filled with drunken people who gave off drunk vibrations. Obviously those vibrations had entered his brain and made him overly sensitive to Herb's madness. And, of course, Herb was mad. A person just had to look at him, the way he trembled and all. The dude was a f.u.c.king s.p.a.ce cadet. Lauren's letter didn't mean anything. She had been in a loving mood when she had written it, if a bit over imaginative. She had just been in a hateful mood when he had visited her at Edwards Air Force Base. Terry nodded to himself. So Mars had made her a little moody. That didn't mean she wanted to eat anybody. Terry turned up the radio and began to relax.

Thirty minutes later Terry began to believe in monsters again.

When he got home there was a message on his answering machine from Kathy Johnson. She wanted him to call her as soon as he got in. She sounded upset. He dialed her right away. It rang only once before she answered.

'h.e.l.lo?' Kathy said.

'Hi. This is Terry.'

'Terry, there's something wrong with Gary.'

All of a sudden he didn't feel so good. 'You've seen him?'

She spoke quickly, breathlessly. 'Yeah. He told me before he left that they might hide him at Edwards when he got back. I drove out there. I went to the gate. At first they wouldn't let me in. But I told the soldier I knew Gary, and he called somebody and they said OK. They led me to a room with a part.i.tion of gla.s.s and left me alone. A few minutes later Gary came in. It was horrible. Something's wrong with him!'

Terry sought to calm himself. 'What did he say?' he asked.

'I don't know! Nothing, really. He asked me how I was, and I said fine. I didn't think anything was wrong. He seemed glad to see me. I was glad to see him. But he kept smiling at me. He wouldn't stop. Then I began to feel sick. I was having trouble breathing. I got scared. I wanted to leave, but he said I couldn't go. And I couldn't! It was like he had hypnotized me with his eyes. I had to sit there, and he kept looking at me, and grinning. I started crying. He said when he got out he was going to visit me. I can't tell you how awful it was. Finally a man in uniform came in. He'd heard me crying. It was only then I was able to get up and get out. I drove home and called you.'

'Did you tell the soldier who helped you out there was something different about Gary?' Terry asked.

'No. I just wanted to get away. The man thought we'd had an argument. What's happened to Gary? What's going on?'

'Did the soldier say when their quarantine was ending?'

'No. I didn't ask. Have you seen Lauren?'

He didn't want to talk about it. 'Yes. Do you remember anything else different about Gary?'

'Isn't that enough?' she cried. 'I told you, his eyes were totally weird. He'd look at me and I'd feel like I was being cut open with knives. Talk to me, Terry! Was Lauren like that?'

'Yes.' Terry closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. He felt as if the top of his brain went into the plaster and got stuck in another dimension where there were no rules about how ugly things could get. No one would believe them. He himself had thought Herb was insane, even after his own peculiar encounter with Lauren.

'Are you still there?' Kathy asked.

'Yeah.' He had a splitting headache.

'What's going on? What's wrong with them?'

Terry opened his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He could remember how revolting the air had tasted in Lauren's company. Like a deadly strip of road where the cars and trucks ran over humans and animals alike, and left them to rot beneath a hot sweaty sun. A strip of road that led back home to Mars.

'I don't know,' he mumbled.

'Terry! Help me!'

Help you? I don't have the time. I have to save the human race. The Martians have arrived. I have to talk to the president.

But Lauren and Gary had already talked to the president. Either the man hadn't noticed anything odd, or else they had spooked him so badly he was afraid to come out of the White House. The man hadn't been seen in public lately.

'Listen to me,' Terry said finally. 'Go to your parents' tonight. Stay inside. Lock the doors and windows. Stay near others. If Gary shows up, have your Dad send him away. Do not talk to Gary under any circ.u.mstances. Do you understand?'

'No. What's going on? You said Lauren's like Gary?'

'I think she's worse.'

'Terry!'

'I don't know what's going on! They went to Mars and caught a disease. That's what it is. Now I've got to talk to some people and tell them Gary and Lauren are sick. I've got to go. Do what I said. I'll call you as soon as I find out something. I'll call you tomorrow. For now, just don't be alone. OK?'

It was not OK with Kathy, but he had nothing else to tell her. She finally let him go. He slumped to the floor and buried his head in his hands.

You see, Terry, there are things on Mars that can take the life out of a man or woman and put in something else. They're evil.

He knew whatever they had caught, a shot of antibiotics was not going to cure it.

Terry picked up the phone and called information. Fortunately the number of Edwards Air Force Base was listed. He had the base on the line a minute later. He identified himself and asked to speak to Lauren.

'What's your name?' the man asked. He sounded young and strict.

'I told you, Terry Hayes.'

'How to you know Dr Wagner is here?'

'I'm her fiance. I was out there a few days ago. Dean Ramsey personally set up a visit with Dr Wagner for me. Call him if you like.'

The man considered. 'Hold on a minute.'

He was on hold for five minutes. What he was going to say to Lauren? Hey, I heard you caught that Martian virus that was going around. It's the pits, isn't it? Have you killed anybody yet? Terry was relieved when the man returned and said she was unavailable.

'She's sleeping right now,' he said. 'She left word she wasn't to be disturbed.'

'She's sleeping in the middle of the day?' Terry asked.

'That's what I hear. Are you a reporter?'

'I was a reporter when Dr Wagner left for Mars. I'm not a reporter now.'

'You understand that no one is to know Dr Wagner is staying at Edwards?'

'Yeah. Don't worry, I know when to keep my mouth shut. Have you seen Dr Wagner yourself?'

'No. Why?'

'Just wondering,' Terry said. 'Do you know when their quarantine ends?'

'That's cla.s.sified information. Do you want me to tell her that you called?'

'Yeah. Oh, when I was at Edwards I met an elderly major. I can't remember his name, but he had a terrible sunburn. Do you know who I'm talking about?'

'Yes. That would be Major Thompson.'

'Could I speak to him, please?'

'I'm afraid not. He's in the hospital.'

'Is he all right? What's wrong with him?'

The man hesitated. 'How well do you know the major?'

'Like I said, I just met him. We had a nice talk. I was just wondering if it was serious.'

'Major Thompson had a heart attack last night. It is serious. The doctors don't think he's going to make it.'

'Oh,' Terry said, for lack of something better. 'Give him my best.'

They exchanged goodbyes. Terry got up and locked all the doors and windows in his apartment. Then he sat at his desk in front of his word processor and asked himself a difficult question.

What next?

He could not 'tell some people' that Lauren and Gary were sick. At the s.p.a.ce station they had undoubtedly been subjected to every physical test known to man. Whatever Mars had put inside them, a laboratory didn't reveal it. He had no facts. He had only subjective reactions from people of questionable character. He was a writer of books about c.o.c.kroaches and clones, and, therefore, immediately suspect - never mind his well-known drunkenness. Kathy was young and impressionable, and had been involved with Gary. Even reporters for the Enquirer probably wouldn't buy Herb's story, not if they met him for a drink and got kicked under the table by one of his twitching legs.

But what the h.e.l.l was wrong with Lauren and Gary? Aliens, monsters, devils - they were just words. They didn't say anything. And he would have to have something to say if he hoped to seek out the help of others.

Terry turned on his word processor and began a file called unusual characteristics. He began to list the strange things he and Herb had noticed about Lauren, along with Kathy's impressions of Gary.

1. Appearance: Pale. Exceptionally long hair and nails. Deep red lips and tongue. Foul odor. Powerful hypnotic eyes. Constant smiles.

2. Manner: Cold, mocking.

3. Remarks: A little pinch and then, sweet. Jim was a fool. You are mine now. Thick laughter.

4. Overall impressions: They inspire terror and nightmares, but appear in pain themselves. Their presence brings streams of perverted thoughts, and difficulty in breathing. They can move quickly. There is something very cold about them.

Terry studied his list. He had a fine description of a monster. He worried that he wasn't getting anywhere. He also felt as if he was leaving a crucial point off his list. He tried as best he could to remember what Lauren had said or done that tied her strange behavior together. For some reason he kept thinking of Jennifer. Yet Lauren hadn't commented on her sister.

Terry got up and paced his apartment. The day was getting on. It would be dark soon. He popped a few capsules of bee pollen in his mouth and chewed them, trying to relax. He was back at his word processor a minute later, starting a second list. He had no trouble constructing it. He'd made it up two years ago, for an article he'd written about the missing Russians - why they hadn't come back.

1. Mechanical failure.

2. Natural calamity.

3. Alien infection.

4. Alien monsters.

5. Insanity.

The first two theories Terry discarded for obvious reasons. The other three ... he saw a new relationship among them. A serious enough infection could have driven the Russians insane. It could have made them act like monsters, and kill one another. He was surprised none of his readers had written into the paper and pointed that out to him. They were always writing him nasty letters. It was no wonder he had gotten fired.

So the reasons relate. So what happened to Lauren and Gary on Mars? Why did Lauren talk about devils in her letter? That's all that matters. Did something there clone them and send back pre-programmed copies to Earth? No? Too farfetched? Well, what if something on Mars ate them, and after it finished digesting them, it looked like them? It's possible, anything's possible. It happens all the time in the movies.

Terry thought about the bottle of Scotch in his desk drawer. For a moment he seriously considered taking it out and draining it and letting the government worry about the problem six months from now when half the world was dead. He had never been hero material. He just had to look at himself in the mirror to know that.

He didn't even need the mirror.

He could feel the tears on his face.

Good G.o.d, he was talking about Lauren. She was his girl. She was his life, or she had been his life. He wanted her back. A hard pain broke in his chest. His tears thickened. He couldn't just sit here and dissect her as if she were an alien specimen that had no feelings. She had to still have feelings. She had Lauren's memories. How could anything remember without feeling something?

He had too many memories of his own. He felt too much. His mind began to play tricks with him. His thoughts kept leaping from the horror of the situation to the days before the mission when the three of them had been together. He had a persistent memory of their last Halloween together, when they had gone out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Only it was clouded. He remembered Jennifer's costume, and his own. Jennifer had dressed up as a fairy, complete with transparent wings and magic wand. He had been the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He had constructed the hump out of small sofa pillows and masking tape. But he could not figure out what Lauren had been, only that she had worn a long black wig and dress. He remembered how they had prowled the blocks with their pillowcases, collecting goodies. It had been a warm night for late October. A sweet smell of drying leaves filled the air. There had been jack-o'-lanterns everywhere, their candlelit grins glowing on dark house ledges. Those candles that had been snuffed out by earlier tricksters were always relit by Jennifer, who carried with her a lighter as well as a pillowcase. Lauren, devilishly wicked in her black clothes, had said Jennifer was a master at bringing the fire ...

I see you brought the...

There was something here he was missing.

Was it a clue?

Enough! He had to concentrate on Mars!

But what if she was serious when she said Mars could put a devil in a person? What if she's possessed? It would be like Halloween all over again, except in a much more serious way. Where am I going to get a priest for an exorcism? I couldn't even get a priest to come to Jenny's funeral.

Terry wiped away his tears. He was freaking out. He couldn't think straight. Again and again, his mind kept returning to Jennifer, to the funeral. What had happened back then that related to right now? Daniel had said that Jennifer blamed herself for what was happening to Lauren on Mars. Stephen Floyd had them read prayers. Then Terry had asked Stephen to open the coffin and take off Jennifer's...

Terry got what had been bothering him. At least a part of it.

Lauren wore a silver ring. A ring identical to the one Professor Ranoth had given Jennifer. All right, that was a coincidence, but what did it mean? Professor Ranoth could have had two of the same ring, and given one to Lauren after they left for Mars. But why would he do that? The rings didn't make great gifts. Neither had been anything to look at.

Yet there were a couple of odd things about the rings. Jennifer had said her ring enabled her to write her story. Lauren had acted as if her ring weighed down her arm.

He shook himself. None of this had anything to do with Mars.

Hold on a second. What about Jenny's story? There were rings in her story. There were monsters in it, too.

The story was in a cardboard box. Where had he put it? Terry got up and searched his apartment. Ah - it was at the back of his closet. He did not know why he wanted it, he just did.

He started reading sitting on the floor.

He did not get up until he was finished.

In the Garden, on the edge of the vast ocean, and the borders of the tall mountains, lived the people of Sastra, the first and greatest of human beings. Because they were from the beginning, they were untarnished, beautiful and wise, of fair form and kind desire. Their King was Rankar, mightiest of the Sastra, and their Queen, Chaneen, loveliest of the offspring of the G.o.ds...