Strangers

you, if you refuse. You understand me?"
        "Oh, perfectly," Bennell said, still unruffled.
        Disgusted, the colonel pushed the remaining personnel files aside. "This is too damn slow. I need the traitor quickly, not a month from now. We'd better repair the polygraph." He started to get up, then sat down as if he'd just thought of what he was about to ask, though it had been on his mind since he entered the Depository. "Doctor, what do you think of this development with Cronin and Corvaisis? These miraculous cures, the other bizarre phenomena. What do you make of it?"
        Finally Bennell showed strong, genuine emotion. He unfolded his hands from behind his head and leaned forward in his chair. "I'm sure it scares the hell out of you, Colonel. But there could be another, less cataclysmic explanation than the one on which you've fixated. Fear is your only reaction, while I think it might be the greatest moment in the history of the human race. But whatever the case - we've absolutely got to talk with Cronin and Corvaisis. Tell them everything and seek their cooperation to discover exactly how they obtained these wonderful powers. We can't simply eliminate them or put them through another memory-wipe without knowing all the answers."
        "If we bring everyone at the Tranquility into this, tell them the secret, and then don't wipe their memories again, the cover-up can't be maintained."
        "Possibly not," Bennell said. "And if that's the case… then the public will just have to be told. Damn it, Colonel, because of these recent developments, studying Cronin and Corvaisis takes precedence over everything else, including the cover-up. Not only studying them… but letting them have a chance to develop whatever strange talents they may have. In fact, when will you take them into custody?"
        "This afternoon, at the latest."
        "Then we can expect you to bring them to us sometime tonight?"
        "Yes." Leland rose from his chair again. He picked up his coat and walked to the office door, where Lieutenant Horner was waiting. He paused. "Doctor, how will you know if Cronin and Corvaisis are changed or not? You think there's no real chance of… possession. But if you're wrong, if they're not entirely human any more, and if they don't want you to know the truth, how would you possibly discover it? Obviously, they could defeat a lie detector or any truth serums we have."
        "That's a puzzler, all right." Miles Bennell stood up, jammed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, and began to pace energetically. "My God, it's a real challenge, isn't it? We've been working on the problem ever since we learned about their new powers from you on Sunday. We've been through ups and downs, despair, but now we think we can deal with it. We've devised medical tests, psychological tests, some tricky damn stuff, and we think that all of it taken together will accurately determine whether or not they're infected, whether or not they're… human any more. I think your fears are utterly unfounded. We thought infection… possession was a danger at first, but it's been more than a year since we learned we were wrong. I think they can be entirely human and still have these powers. Are entirely human."
        "I don't agree. My fears are well founded. And if Corvaisis and Cronin and the others have changed, and if you believe you can get the truth out of them, you're kidding yourself. If they've changed, they're so superior to you that deceiving you would be child's play."
        "You haven't even heard what we've-"
        "And something else, Doctor. Something you haven't thought of but which I must consider. Maybe this will help you appreciate my position, with which you've thus far had little sympathy. Don't you realize I have to be suspicious and scared of more than just the people at the Tranquility? Ever since we've learned of these recent developments, these paranormal powers, I've been scared of you, as well."
        Bennell was thunderstruck. "Me?"
        "You've been working here with it, Doctor. You're in that cavern nearly every day, doing lab work every day, probing, testing every damn day for eighteen months, with only three brief vacations. If Corvaisis and Cronin were changed in a few hours of contact, why shouldn't I suspect you've been changed after eighteen months?"
        For a moment Bennell was too shocked to speak. Then he said, "But this isn't the same at all. My