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Episode 7: Constricted



"I have some things that might help, but you're not going to like it," he was saying. The Earthlings looked from him to Gessy. She tried to look encouraging.

"We have to go home with you?" Betty guessed.

"You have to strip," he replied. He was fishing something out of his pack. Gessy wondered when he got a can of mite-powder.

He placed a square of cardboard on the ground and gestured for the women to stand beside it. A plastic bag was opened and placed beside the square.

"Strip your clothes off, put them in the bag. Then lay down on the cardboard and I'll spray you." Gessy saw the spray can he had and realized what he was going to do. Oh, that was sneaky.

The women didn't want to strip, obviously, but they both started to itch. With another glance at his shin, they started to take off their clothes.

When they were nude, Deckett sealed the bag and offered them each the cap off of a beer bottle. "Cover your faces," he said. "So you don't get the medicine in your eyes."

Gessy watched as they complied, covering their heads with the caps and trying to cover their secret private girl parts with their hands.

Then Deckett sprayed them with the glue he used to mount specimens. In seconds they were trapped on the board, unable to move.

They started to complain. He flipped the lids off and slid the cardboard into a carrier. Before he closed the carrier, Gessy ran forward. "Can I ride with them?"

"Gessy, they have mites."

"I'll stay clear," she promised. She crossed her ears and spat. He shook his head, but lifted her into the box.

Before the top shut, she looked over at the women. They looked weird, standing upright but slightly tilted, feet off the floor.

And not moving. Except for the glares they shot at Gessy. "It's for your own good," she said. Then the cover fell and it was dark.

"Gessy, what is going on?" Betty asked. She sounded mad.

"You sound mad," Gessy said. "I guess you would be." The case started to shift as Deckett moved quickly through the forest to his car.

"See, you have to get a bath, soon, or the mites will eat you alive. With the glue, some of them are trapped and won't drill their way into your body. And, well, you won't scratch yourself this way."

"It hurts," Valerie whined. "It hurts a lot!"

"It'll get worse," Gessy said softly. "But we have stuff at home. You'll be okay. Eventually."



It was the longest half-hour in Gessy's short life. The women became more and more uncomfortable. Deckett's movements became more and more frantic as he hurried, almost knocking his human up against the infected ones.

There was at least a respite from the knocking as he drove home. At the familiar lurch into a parking place, she tried to get the Earthling's attentions.

"Please, please, please be quiet! If the giants in the lobby hear you, they'll stop him. And you'll never be treated in time!" In desperation she tore her sleeves off and tried to stuff them into the mouths of the women to muffle their cries.

In the dark, even with them trying to help, she still nearly lost a finger to Betty's wild bite and was pretty sure she brushed up against Valerie's body.

Somehow they made it through the lobby and the elevator. Deckett mumbled something in the hallway, probably to Mrs. Aggrat.

Then the light was shining in and they were in the familiar bathroom.




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