Invasion

Alexander saw Beau standing at the ballroom's entrance and joined him immediately. "Looks good, wouldn't you say?"

"It looks tremendous," Beau said.

"I've got some other good news," Alexander said. "We're effecting immediate closure of most of the highest polluting factories around the Great Lakes. This should be completed within the week."

"What about Eastern Europe?" Beau asked. "They are the ones that have been troubling me the most."

"Same situation," Alexander said. "Particularly Romania. They'll be closed this week."

"Excellent," Beau said.

Randy Nile saw Beau speaking with Alexander and hastened over.

"What do you think?" Randy said, while proudly eyeing the emerging central structure.

"It's coming along well," Beau said. "But I'd appreciate a little more speed."

"I'll need more help then," Randy said.

"Whatever you need," Beau said. "We must be ready for the Arrival."

Randy flashed a smile of appreciation before rushing back to his project.

Beau turned to Alexander. "What about Cassy Winthrope?'' he asked. There was a sudden edge to his voice.

"She's not been accounted for as yet," Alexander said.

"How can that be?" Beau asked.

"It is a mystery," Alexander said. "The police and the university officials have been exemplarily cooperative. She'll turn up. Maybe even at the gate on her own accord. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."

Beau lashed out with his right hand, seizing Alexander's forearm in a powerful grip that immediately cut off circulation to Alexander's hand.

Shocked by this overtly hostile gesture, Alexander looked down at the hand that was holding him. It wasn't a human hand. The fingers were long and wrapped around Alexander like miniature boa constrictors.

"This request of mine to find this girl is not an idle whim," Beau said. He regarded Alexander with eyes that were almost all pupil. "I want the girl now,"

Alexander raised his eyes to meet Beau's. He knew enough not to struggle.

"We shall make it a top priority," Alexander said.

Jesse had cut pine boughs in the nearby forest, and after parking the van alongside the shed, had covered it with the branches. From the outside the cabin looked completely deserted save for the wisps of smoke rising from the stone chimney.

In marked contrast to the placid exterior, the interior had been transformed into a crowded workstation. Taking up a lion's share of floor space was the makeshift biological laboratory.

Nancy was in charge in that arena with Sheila working closely with her. Everyone suspected that Nancy was redirecting her powerful grief over Eugene's death to the task of finding a way to stop the alien virus. She was a woman possessed.

Pitt was busy with a PC. He was attempting to do more accurate modeling with information that had become available on the TV. The media had finally picked up the story about the black discs, but not in regard to the flu epidemic. The stories were presented more as a way to stimulate the public's interest in going out and finding them.

Jesse recognized that his input was more in logistics, particularly the practical aspects such as food and keeping the fire going. Presently he was busy putting the finishing touches on one of his specialties: chili.

Cassy and Jonathan were sitting at the communal eating table with the laptop. To Jonathan's delight there'd been a distinct role reversal: now he was the teacher. Also to Jonathan's delight, Cassy had on one of her thin cotton dresses. Since it was apparent she had no bra, Jonathan found it excruciatingly difficult to concentrate.

"So what do I do?" Cassy asked.

''What?'' Jonathan asked as if waking up from sleep.

"Am I boring you?" Cassy asked.

"No," Jonathan said hastily.

"I'm asking if I change these last three letters in the URL?'' Cassy said. She was intent on the LCD screen and oblivious to the effect the physical aspects of her femininity were having on Jonathan. She'd just come in from a swim and her nipples were sticking out like marbles.

"Right ... uh, yeah," Jonathan said. "Dot G O V. Then ... "

"Then backslash, 606, capital R, small g, backslash," Cassy said. "Then I hit Enter."

Cassy looked up at Jonathan and noticed he was blushing.

"Is there something the matter?" Cassy asked.

"Nope," Jonathan said.

"Well, then should I do it?" Cassy asked.

Jonathan nodded, and Cassy hit Enter. Almost simultaneously the printer activated and began spewing out printed pages.

"Voila," Jonathan said. "We're into our mailbox without anybody being able to trace us."

Cassy smiled and gave Jonathan a friendly poke. ''You are one fine teacher."

Jonathan blushed anew and averted his eyes. He busied himself by getting the pages out of the printer. Cassy got up and moved over to Pitt.

"Soup's on in three minutes," Jesse called out. No one responded. "I know, I know," he added. "Everybody's too busy, but you gotta eat. It will be on the table for whomever is interested."

Cassy rested her hands on Pitt's shoulders and looked at his computer screen. He had another pie graph, and now the red was larger than the blue.