"I don't know what you've got here," the general said. "But it's not going to stop a U.S. Army convoy."
Micheals wasn't so sure.
The leech was nearly awake now, and its body was calling for more and more food. It dissolved the soil under it at a furious rate, filling it in with its own body, flowing outward.
A large object landed on it, and that became food also. Then suddenly—
A burst of energy against its surface, and then another, and another. It consumed them gratefully, converting them into mass. Little metal pellets struck it, and their kinetic energy was absorbed, their mass converted. More explosions took place, helping to fill the starving cells.
It began to sense things—controlled combustion around it, vibrations of wind, mass movements.
There was another, greater explosion, a taste of real food! Greedily it ate, growing faster. It waited anxiously for more explosions, while its cells screamed for food.
But no more came. It continued to feed on the soil and on the Sun's energy. Night came, noticeable for its lesser energy possibilities, and then more days and nights. Vibrating objects continued to move around it.
It ate and grew and flowed.