"Wait!" Kent Knight's voice snapped authoritatively. "I warned him there was danger. Will you destroy me before I can explain?"
The four guardsmen hesitated. Knight said urgently, "Don't touch any living thing on this ship. Shoot anything down if it approaches you. Anything. We harbor terrible Thought Things which steal our minds. One has just seized your commander and—"
Knight's voice halted in mid-sentence.
I'm free, his mind was crying joyfully. It's gone. Act quickly, Kent Knight, act before it can come back. It is busy with Bob and he's strong enough to give it a battle so that It can't watch you, too.
Knight spun around swiftly, seeking Sammy. Sammy has the answer, his mind had said. Now to find it.
Sammy lay in one corner of the airlock entrance, one hand clutching his ever-present bottle. But for the first time in a week, Sammy had succumbed finally to the prodigious quantities of liquor he had consumed. He was sleeping like a child, the bottle held against his breast.
Kent strode over to him and reached down to shake Sammy awake. But before his hands touched the sleeping Sammy, his mind shrieked a warning. Remember, Kent, you touched a furry beastie and you got the Thing. Careful Sammy doesn't give you his.
Oh, Sammy, Kent Knight thought, you have the answer and then, damn you, Sammy, you pass out. Just when I'm free of my Thing—just when we need you and your answer most. Knight was angry for a moment, then his rage waned. He liked the guy, though he was always in an alcoholic fog. Unconsciously, he bent down and punched Sammy lightly in the jaw.
Instantly, he knew his mistake, and his mind cried out, Fool!...
He flinched in expectation. But nothing happened. There was no insidious fingering in his brain. A thought developed within him. Do the Things sleep when their hosts sleep?