CHAPTER IIICLOSE SHOT: Ganymede
The red thing was moving closer, very slowly. It looked something like a centipede, but its glistening body was plump and cylindrical, and seemed distended. Moreover, all over it grew wiry, pliant cilia or tubes, and these propelled it over the moss. It hesitated, and coiled up suddenly like a great spring.
Quade’s breath hissed between his teeth. A bolt of white flame leaped from the muzzle of the pistol, and simultaneously the monster flashed into the air toward them, disintegrating as it sprang. Quade, his arm about Kathleen, propelled her away, with a wary backward glance. At a safe distance he paused.
“Look yourself over,” he said urgently. “Those little feelers can burrow into your body even if they’re only an inch long.” He examined his clothing ca
