loud that the plexiglass in the windows bulged outward for a moment, and then a bright, instant column of flame. Then nothing. George's brown suit lay collapsed and empty on the floor.

There was an explosion so loud the plexiglass windows bulged outward for a moment.

"It was wearing your suit, George," Marta said hysterically. She was leaning back against the wall, looking faint and sick. "George, it was wearing your suit. Oh, what was it, what was it, anyway?"

Kauss was looking at the debris on the floor. A peculiar expression, half satisfaction, half private insight, hovered around the corners of his lips.

"It was a Mocker, I think," he answered.

"A Mocker? What—?"

"Um-hum. You still find a few of them in the wilder parts of Venus. They're parasitic—ah—entities, that feed on the life force, as well as the flesh, of human beings. No doubt this one came aboard the ship at Aphrodition, in that consignment of Fyella corymbs. They're invisible most of the time, so of course we didn't suspect it."

"But how did it get here?" George demanded. "Why did it pick on Marta as a victim?"

"Well, you see the usual way a Mocker works is to select someone as a host, as a sort of base of operations, and then range out from him whenever it wants to eat. For some reason, whenever it leaves its host, it takes on his features and body and dresses itself in his clothes. That's what happened here. One of the first signs that a Mocker is taking hold is a spell of amnesia, and of course that's what happened to you, Saunders, when we were taking on cargo at Aphrodition, though I didn't realize it at the time.

"A Mocker doesn't usually kill its host directly, but it does draw on his life force to keep itself going, and he usually complains of feeling worn out and tired."

Kauss halted. Marta looked down at her husband's brown suit and the ice cream slowly melting across it.

"Please, George, pick up that stuff before it ruins your suit completely," she said automatically. And then, to Kauss, "But what happened when you threw the plate at it? What happened? Oh, I was so scared!"

"Yes, the Mockers are terrifying." Kauss agreed. He seemed to square his broad shoulders. "However, at bottom they are unintelligent—look 

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