"—ruthless Aarnians. This warning cannot be taken too seriously. Detain is doing everything in its power to recapture the four criminals but, as is known, the Aarnian psyche is able to leave its body at will and inhabit the body of another entity, subjugating the mind of its host and contro—"
"My God," Ray whispered, "I've heard of those devils!"
"—in all likelihood will seek to escape from Mars. To prevent this, all persons now holding tickets for interworld travel must submit to being psycho-screened before entering liners. No more tickets will be sold—"
Sarah's eyes were wide and round. "They'd have to leave their bodies behind—here on Mars!"
Big Kent—because he was one of the Caradacs' oldest friends and could do such things—put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She was shivering.
"—tenant Smith of Detain informs us that the Aarnians are unable to pronounce certain consonantal diphthongs such as jee and jay—even if occupying bodies that can normally pronounce such sounds. This is very important, as it may be an only possible means of identification, for the Aarnians will undoubtedly seek new bod—"
Sarah switched off the telaudio, her brown face openly sick. She bit her lip and looked at each of the three men surrounding her.
"That gives me the shivers," she said. "Let's go home."
After that they didn't talk much. Under the red twilight, they packed up the pots and pans, leaving the unwanted food for the night-crawling nolls. They spent a lot of time looking over their shoulders as they did this, although each tried to conceal it from the others. At last the skimmer moved silently away from the bank and pointed its nose at the distant haze that was Ofei, By the Great Canal.