Invasion

While they were eyeing the discs and waiting for the stall keeper to be free, a heavyset man and woman pushed ahead of them.

"Here's some more of those black stones that Gertrude was talking about last night," the woman said.

The man grunted.

"Gertrude said she found four of them in her back yard," the woman said. She then added with a laugh: "She thought they might be valuable until she found out that people had been finding them all over."

The woman picked one of them up. "Wow, it's heavy," she said. She closed her fingers around it. "And it feels cold."

She was about to hand it to her friend when she cried, "Ahhh!" and irritably tossed it back onto the shelf. Unfortunately it skidded off and dropped less than a foot into the bowl of an ashtray. The ashtray shattered into a million pieces.

The sound of the breaking glass brought over the proprietor. Seeing what had happened, he demanded payment for the lost ashtray.

"I ain't paying nothing," the woman said indignantly. "That little black thingamajig cut my finger." Defiantly she held up her wounded middle finger. The gesture incensed the owner who mistook its motivation as obscene.

While the woman and the owner argued, Pitt and Cassy looked at each other for confirmation about what they'd seen in the gathering gloom. When the woman had held up her finger it had appeared to have a faint blue iridescence!

"What could have caused it?" Cassy whispered.

"You're asking me?" Pitt questioned. "I'm not even sure it happened. It was only for an instant."

"But we both saw it," Cassy said.

It took another twenty minutes for the owner and the woman to come to an agreement. After the woman and her friend had left, Pitt asked the owner about the black discs.

"What do you want to know?" the man said morosely. He'd only gotten half the value of the ashtray.

"Do you know what they are?" Cassy asked.

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"How much do you sell them for?"

"In the beginning I got as much as ten dollars," the man said. "But that was a day or so ago. Now they're coming out of the woodwork, and the market's been flooded. But I'll tell you what. These happen to be exceptional quality. I'll sell you all six for ten dollars."

"Have any of these discs injured anyone else?" Pitt asked.

"Well, one of them stung me too," he said. He shrugged. "But it was nothing: just a pinprick. Yet I couldn't figure out how it happened." He picked up one of the discs. "I mean they're as smooth as a baby's bottom."

Pitt took Cassy's arm and began to lead her away. The man called after them. "Hey, how about eight dollars."

Pitt ignored him. Instead he told Gassy about the little girl in the ER who had been scolded by her mother for saying that a black rock had bitten her.

"Do you think it had been one of those discs?" Cassy asked.

"That's what I'm wondering," Pitt said. "Because she had the flu. That's why she was in the ER."

"Are you suggesting the black disc had something to do with her getting the flu?"

"I know it sounds crazy," Pitt said. "But that was the sequence with Beau. He got stung, then hours later he got sick."

11

9:15 A.M.

"When did you hear about this Randy Nile news conference?" Cassy asked.

"This morning when I was watching the Today show," Pitt said. "The news anchor said NBC was going to be carrying it live."

"And they mentioned Beau's name?"

"That was the astounding thing," Pitt said. "I mean, he only went out there for an interview, and now he's part of a news conference. That's big-time weird."

Cassy and Pitt were in the doctors' lounge in the ER watching a thirteen-inch TV. Sheila Miller had called Pitt early and told him to be there and to bring Cassy. The room was called the doctors' lounge but was used by all the ER personnel for moments of relaxation and for those who brought paper bag lunches.

"What are we here for?" Cassy asked. "I hate to miss class."

"She didn't say," Pitt said, "but my guess is that she's gone over Dr. Halprin's head somehow and wants us to talk with whomever she's contacted."

"Are we going to mention about last evening?" Cassy asked.

Pitt held up his hand to quiet Cassy. The TV anchor was announcing that Randy Nile had entered the room. A moment later Randy's familiar boyish face filled the screen.

Before he began speaking, he turned to the side and coughed. Returning to the microphones he apologized in advance for his voice and said: "I'm just getting over a bout of the flu, so bear with me."

"Uh oh," Pitt said. "He's had it too."

"Now then," Randy said. "Good morning, everyone. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Randy Nile, and I'm a software salesman."

Discreet laughter could be heard from the onscreen audience. While Randy paused the anchor complimented Randy's humorous modesty; he was one of the world's richest men, and there were few people in the industrialized nations who didn't know of Randy Nile.

"I have called a news conference today to announce that I am starting a new venture ... truly the most exciting, most important undertaking of my life."