From a Distant Star Read Online Free Page B

been left grounded: a consciousness without a body. In this state, he was an energy field known as bio-plasma: a collection of memory, emotions, and thought processes. But he wasn’t whole. There was no way to go home. And he wouldn’t last long if he couldn’t transfer to a new living vessel. Death was certain.
    When the creature approached, the scout didn’t even try to assess the life form. He saw an opportunity, one he knew he might not have later, and he took it. The second the creature came closeenough, the scout exited his craft and latched onto this being. His life depended on finding a new host and he couldn’t afford to be picky.
    He shimmied in through the moist membranes of the viewing portals, an optimal way to be absorbed and take over. The creature resisted, but was too disoriented to do much. Within seconds, the scout was inside. Initially, the scout let the creature keep control of the body while he got his bearings. When the creature’s ears picked up a sound signal—“Mack? Where are you? Get back here now!”—and responded by moving across the terrain to a structure, the scout recognized it as a summoning. His host, he now knew, was the subordinate of the one creating the noise.
    The creature trotted inside and the scout took note of the earthlings’ habitat—the way the space was divided and cluttered with objects fashioned from deceased plants and mined ore. He watched as two of the “people” communicated back and forth using audible sounds, and afterward, he had the physical sensation of being lifted onto an object where a third inhabitant lay inert. The scout could tell that the creature he inhabited had an affection for the people and especially this one, the young one who—the scout could immediately sense—was near death, the cells in his body having gone rogue and destroyed his health. Why would they allow his body to deteriorate to such a degree when the problem was so easy to fix? Clearly, this society was not very advanced at all.
    He watched as the other inhabitant applied a substance to the eyes and mouth of the unhealthy being. A death ritual? Or maybe it was somehow supposed to help soothe and bring relief? The being leaned over and pressed faces with the sick one and the scout understood that this must be a good-bye. Death was near, in the air and all around. If he could make the leap before this ill organism died, the body would be a perfect container for him.
    His chance came soon enough. When the creature inched closer and his nose aligned with the sick one’s newly moistenedorifices, the scout used all his energy to leave the subordinate creature, departing through the eyes and entering the new body the same way.

CHAPTER FOUR
    For the past three nights, I’d stayed by Lucas’s side, sleeping only a little bit here and there. The lack of sleep caught up to me, though. That night, after unsuccessfully applying the potion to Lucas’s eyes and lips, and sealing it with a kiss, a wave of fatigue hit me so hard it nearly knocked me over. I turned off the small lamp on the side table and went back to the recliner, thinking I just needed fifteen minutes to doze. Two hours later, I woke up to the sound of Mrs. Walker shrieking when she caught sight of the dog snuggled up next to Lucas. “What do you think you’re doing? Get out of there,” she yelled.
    My eyes flicked open as Mack jumped off the bed and took off, tail between his legs. From the light of the kitchen and the nightlight in the corner, I could see Mrs. Walker’s face contorted in anger. “What did I say, Emma? Didn’t I tell you to keep that dog off the bed?” She wasn’t even trying to keep her voice down, that’s how mad she was.
    I rubbed my eyes. “I’m sorry, he must of . . .” And then I stopped, because there was no way I could pretend Mack did it on his own. He was an old dog, and not prone to jumping on the furniture. He even took his time climbing the stairs. Besides that, he was such a