ridge of the tiny silver creature until my finger was almost entirely inserted into the hot opening at the base of the host body's neck. I traced my way to the anterior antennae, feeling the taut lines of the bound attachments stretched tight like harp strings into the deeper recesses of her head.
I twisted my finger around the underside of the soul's body, caressing down from the first segment along the other line of attachments, as stiff and profuse as the bristles of a brush.
I felt carefully at the juncture of these tight strings, at the tiny joints, no bigger than pinheads. I stroked my way about a third of the way down. I could have counted, but that would have taken a very long time. It would be the two hundred seventeenth connection, but there was another way to find it. There it was, the little ridge that made this joint just a bit bigger-a seed pearl rather than a pinhead. It was smooth under my fingertip.
I pressed against it with gentle pressure, tenderly massaging. Kindness was always the way of the souls. Never violence.
"Relax," I breathed.
And, though the soul could not hear me, it obeyed. The harp strings loosened, went slack. I could feel the slither as they retracted, feel the slight swelling of the body as it absorbed them. The process took no more than a few beats of my heart. I held my breath until I felt the soul undulate under my touch. Wriggling free.
I let it twist itself a little farther out, and then I curled my fingers gently around the tiny, fragile body. I lifted it, silver and gleaming, wet with blood that was quickly shed from the smooth casing, and cradled it in my hand.
It was beautiful. The soul whose name I'd never known billowed like a silver wave in my hand... a lovely feathered ribbon.
I couldn't hate the Seeker in this form. An almost maternal love swept through me.
"Sleep well, little one," I whispered.
I turned toward the faint hum of the cryotank, just to my left. Jared held it low and angled, so it was a simple matter for me to ease the soul into the shockingly cold air that gusted from the opening. I let it slide into the small space and then carefully relatched the lid.
I took the cryotank from Jared, easing it rather than tugging it, turning it with care until it was vertical, and then I hugged it to my chest. The outside of the tank was the same temperature as the warm room. I cradled it to my body, protective as any mother.
I looked back at the stranger on the table. Doc was already dust-ing Smooth over the sealed wound. We made a good team: one attending to the soul, the other to the body. Everyone was taken care of.
Doc looked up at me, his eyes full of exhilaration and wonder. "Amazing," he murmured. "That was incredible."
"Good job," I whispered back.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" Doc asked.
"That depends on how much chloroform she inhaled."
"Not much."
"And if she's still there. We'll have to wait and see."
Before I could ask, Jared lifted the nameless woman tenderly from the cot, rolled her face-up, and laid her on another, cleaner resting place. This tenderness did not move me. This tenderness was for the human, for Melanie...
Doc went with him, checking her pulse, peeking under her lids. He shone a flashlight into her unconscious eyes and watched the pupils constrict. No light reflected back to blind him. He and Jared exchanged a long glance.
"She really did it," Jared said, his voice low.
"Yes," Doc agreed.
I didn't hear Jeb sidle up next to me.
"Pretty slick, kid," he murmured.
I shrugged.
"Feeling a smidge conflicted?"
I didn't answer.
"Yeah. Me, too, hon. Me, too."
Aaron and Brandt were talking behind me, their voices rising with excitement, answering each other's thoughts before the questions were spoken.
No conflict there.
"Wait till the others hear!"
"Think of the -"
"We should go get some -"
"Right now, I'm ready -"
"Hold up," Jeb cut Brandt off. "No soul snatching until that cryotank is safely on its way into outer space. Right, Wanda?"
"Right," I agreed in a firmer voice, hugging the tank tighter to my chest.
Brandt and Aaron exchanged sour glances.
I was going to need more allies. Jared and Jeb and Doc were only three, though certainly the most influential three here. Still, they would need support.
I knew what this meant.
It meant talking to Ian.
Others, too, of course, but Ian would have to be one of them.