The parasitologist, pathologist, and diener all took a full step backward. “Did you see that?” Yano demanded. “It moved!” All sorts of thoughts raced through Devlin’s mind as she stared at the fleshy matrix. The scientist’s first inclination was to try and save the specimen since it would theoretically be possible to learn more from a live organism than a dead one. But that might be dangerous since none of them knew how the parasite had been acquired. So rather than run the risk Devlin took a step forward, raised the scalpel high, and brought it down in one quick strike. The blade plunged down through the purplish nodule with ease but came to a sudden stop as it made contact with McCracken’s spine. There was an audible pop as droplets of pus-like material sprayed Devlin’s face shield. The pulsations stopped. “Damn,” Charles said, feelingly. “That was disgusting!” “Yes,” Devlin agreed soberly. “It is. Let’s cut the organism out of there, section the tissue, and send the samples in for testing.
