“You can help us, Liam. You can help the universe.”
Anna bestowed a beatific smile on him.
“Save the baby, Liam. You’re the one who can save me and the baby.”
Unable to resist even this alien Anna, he took faltering steps down from the makeshift bed towards John.
“How do you mean? What can I do? This thing about needing another body—”
His query was cut off as soon as he wandered within John’s range. In a flash he was caught and overpowered, held with his hands behind his back by John while Anna laid a palm on his heaving chest.
“Yes, this body,” she said. “It is healthy and young. And, like me, it is male. I think it will suit me well.”
“Anna,” Liam blurted, tears beginning to spill from his eyes. “What’s happened to you?”
“I am not well, Liam, but you can make me well again. Only you. But you must give me something first. Something so precious.”
“What do you want? Who are you?”
“You can give me your life.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to Liam’s.
Mimi saw that John had picked something up—no conventional weapon that she recognised, but his purpose was all too clear. He aimed the weapon at the side of Liam’s head, and she sprang forward, cannoning into them so that John staggered backwards and Liam was released from his grip.
“Fuck you, John, you aren’t doing this!”
“Oh, well done, Miranda. Now we’re all doomed.”
“No we aren’t, John, we aren’t!”
“Kindly explain,” Anna said, stiff with annoyance.
Liam, having sunk to the ground, was breathing deeply, head buried in his arms.
“You don’t have to kill anyone,” puffed Mimi. “I can’t believe you were going to kill Liam. You…I thought you were better than that.”
“I had to protect Anna and the baby,” said a sullen John. “It’s what I’m genetically programmed to do. You can’t blame me for it.”
“Yes, I can, and I do.”
“The fact remains that I need a host body,” Anna reminded. “Are you volunteering?”
Mimi took a deep breath. “Yes. I am.”
“Miranda, no!”
“You can enter me without killing me. There is a psychic link between John and me. It’s very much weaker than Anna’s—I don’t know why, perhaps strength of character has something to do with it. But it exists. So if you can leech off Anna, you can leech off me.”
“But not you!” moaned John. “I can’t sacrifice you. I have to protect you too. You’re my other brood partner.”
“Never mind that.” Anna winked salaciously. “Two brood partners, eh, Valent? You always were a player. I like her plan. She has more intellectual energy than the male. And I don’t need your facilitation either. I can simply…”
Anna stepped forward, puckering her lips.
Mimi’s instinct was to retreat and she sought John, who quickly wrapped his arms around her.
“I can’t let you do this,” he muttered into her hair.
“I can’t let you kill Liam,” she replied. “How long will this last?”