The relief below was palpable. Two of the scientists scurried up the ladder. They joined Corporal Elber on the platform just as he was hauling Roote up from the water. He dumped the lifeless body onto its back.

"Are you going to try to revive him?" Elber asked.

The two scientists who had climbed the tank looked at one another. Their hesitation spoke volumes.

Elber paused, as well. Ordinarily he would never have let someone slip away like this without at least attempting mouth-to-mouth, but Elizu Roote was different. Elber had seen with his own two eyes the horrors the private was capable of.

After an awkward moment punctuated only by the lapping water at the edge of the big tank, one of the scientists cleared his throat. "We, um. Ahem. We should think about an autopsy."

"Mechanical failure, you think?" asked the other, as if they were discussing a defective computer sound card and not a human being.

"Could be," said the first man seriously. "I'll have to let the general know. We'll autopsy as soon as we call in the rest of the team."

"Don't I get a say?"

The three men on the platform froze. The voice had come from below them. As one, they looked down.

Elizu Roote's eyes were open, alert. Smiling. Corporal Elber was first to react. Twisting, he grabbed desperately for his gun. Another hand was already on his holster. He felt the metal pads at the fingertips.

Elber struggled, but he was fighting the strength of a madman. The hand didn't budge.

Roote sat up. "You look shocked," he said, grinning.

As he spoke, Roote swung his other hand around.

More metal pads. Elber saw them recessed into the puckered white flesh at Roote's fingertips. They took the place of fingerprints.

The fight for the gun became more frantic. As Elber struggled to remove Roote's hand from his holster, Roote placed his free hand over the corporal's chest. He looked for all the world like a faith healer at a revival meeting. The image couldn't have been further removed from reality.