swiftly up his legs and back as he swore startledly.
Kenniston, made reckless of danger by his horror, yelled and lunged toward the pilot. Bray was swearing and trying to slap at the gray thing running up his back. But the little creature had now reached his neck. Clinging there, it swiftly dug two tiny, needle-like antennae into the base of his neck.
"Hold him!" Kenniston shouted hoarsely. "The Vestan has got him!"
Bray had undergone a sudden metamorphosis as the gray creature dug its antennae into his neck. His face stiffened, became masklike.
The pilot turned and began to run stiffly toward the jungle. Kenniston's leap almost caught him, but Bray lashed out a fist that sent Kenniston sprawling.
"Don't let him get away!" Kenniston yelled, scrambling up.
But the others were too stricken by amazement and horror to interfere in time. Bray had already plunged into the jungle and was gone.
"My God, what happened?" Captain Walls exclaimed dazedly. "Bray went clean crazy!"
His gun was pointing at Kenniston and Holk Or as though he held them responsible for what had occurred.
"He didn't go crazy, but he's lost now," Kenniston said heavily. "That little gray creature was one of the Vestans."
"But what did it do to him? That thing wasn't big enough to harm anybody."
"That's all you know about it," said Holk Or ominously. "Those little Vestans are the most dangerous creatures in the System."
"The Vestans," Kenniston added dully, "are semi-intelligent parasites. They live by attaching themselves to and taking control of some other creature's body. They do it by jabbing in those tiny, needle-like antennae to contact the victim's nervous system. Thereafter, the Vestan controls the victim's body absolutely. When the victim dies or is hurt, the Vestan simply detaches himself and fastens upon a new victim."
Horror was on the white faces of the others. Murdock gulped and asked, "Then Bray—"
"Bray is beyond saving now," Kenniston said. "The Vestan parasite will control his body till he dies. The Vestans always like to attach themselves to human beings—they know that a man's body is more versatile in its capabilities than an animal's."
Twilight was beginning to descend upon the little clearing in the jungle, for the sun had gone down during the last few minutes. In the gathering dusk, the jungle loomed dark and brooding about them.
Overhead, the sky of this World with a Thousand Moons was burgeoning into its full glory. The hundreds of meteor-moons that spun across the heavens were shining brighter and brighter in the deepening dusk.
Captain Walls broke the spell of horror and dread. "We'd better get back inside the ship for tonight," he said nervously. "We can't do anything about repairs until tomorrow, anyway. By then we'll have figured out some way to deal with those devilish creatures."
Murdock said bitterly to Kenniston, "Bray's end is your fault, Kenniston. You brought him and us and these women into this place, all for the sake of that brother of yours."
"He'll stand trial for that when we get back to Mars," the captain vowed. "Even if he wasn't one of Dark's crew originally, by helping them he's made
