Across the planet in another city, Bea had had a similar experience until she got into the barracks. She also froze when she saw no beds to hide under. But thanks to Mathew, she had followed his instructions to the letter, got into the room and scuttled straight for a shadow. Mathew had perfectly anticipated the paralysing fear and when it was most likely to occur.
Bea shivered with terror. Remembering his instructions, she closed her eyes and tried to think. It didn’t work. She stayed paralysed with fear. She thought she could never be more terrified but just then one of them got up and went down the corridor. At his movement, others stirred. Bea tried to become part of the wall. Several minutes passed. The Alien came back and sank onto its bag. It tossed and turned for a while. All this time, Bea quivered in the corner.
Bea couldn’t think. Too frightened to cry even, she couldn’t function at all. More minutes passed. Finally Bea just got desperate. She refused to leave without completing her mission. She unscrewed the top of the container and simply hurled the blobs into the room as far as she could. Then, she slipped out the door and ran. She later realised she had forgotten to look around, check and didn’t know where the Cat was. She just wanted to get away. The Cat found her and took her to her tearful mother.
Back in the barracks, the blobs opened with the force of being thrown just as Helkmid had planned. They were little but mobile. They went in all directions. By the time the Aliens awoke, most were infested. Within the day, almost all. By the next day, all were infested as the bugged and the unbugged shared facilities and occupied planes together.
In yet another city, Ali completed his mission. The next night, Alia and Harsha completed their missions. None were caught. None were seen. The parasites prospered. They laid their live babies who matured in two days on the Bidifix and three days on the Sasgys. When these laid in turn, the concentration would become virulent on the Bidifix and toxic for the Sasgys. They were, as yet, unaware of their happy passengers, who were copulating busily and feeding on their dead skin cells and their blood.