ssumed the fascinating
qualities of a crime hunt. Now he must act to prevent further murders,
to reconstruct the crime, to find the modus operandi, to track the fluke
to its source, and to execute it before it could do more harm.

Photographs and tri-dis would have to be taken, the parasite would have
to be identified and its sensitivity to therapy determined. Studies
would have to be made on its life cycle, and the means by which it
gained entrance to its host. It wouldn't be simple, because this
trematode was probably Hepatodirus hominis, and it was tricky. It
adapted, like the species it parasitized.

Kennon leaned back from the microscope and studied the illustrations in
the parasitology text. No matter how much Hepatodirus changed its life
cycle, it could not change its adult form. The arrangements of the
suckers and genital structures were typical. Old Doc's library on
parasites was too inadequate for more than diagnosis. He would have to
wait for his own books to be uncrated before he could do more than apply
symptomatic treatment. He sighed and rose slowly to his feet. Tomorrow
was going to be a busy day.

The door opened behind Mm and Copper slipped quietly into the office.
She looked at him curiously, a faint half-shy smile on her face.

"What is it?" Kennon asked.

"Are you ready to fill out the autopsy protocol? It's customary."

"It's also customary to knock on a door before entering."

"Is it? Old Doc never mentioned it."

"I'm not Old Doc."

"No, you're not," she admitted. "You're much younger--and far more
beautiful. Old Doc was a fat, gray old man." She paused and eyed Kennon
appraisingly with a look on her pointed face that was the virtual twin
of Eloise's. "I think I'll like working for you if you're as nice as you
are pretty."

"You don't call a man beautiful or pretty!" Kennon exploded.

"Why not?"

"It just isn't done."

"You're a funny human," she said. "I called Old Doc beautiful, and he
didn't mind."

"That's different. He was an old man."

"What difference does that make?"

"I don't like it," Kennon said, hitting on the perfect answer.

She stiffened. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I won't do it again." She looked down
at him, head cocked sideways. "I guess I have a lot to learn about you.
You're much different from Old Doc. He didn't snap at me." She paused
for a moment, then drew a deep breath.

Kennon blinked.

"About that report," she said. "Regulations require that each
post