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remained and raised it to its mandibles. Corrie did not actually see the alien eat the fruit, but when it lowered its hands the growth was no longer there.
    “I think that’s what it wants us to do,” Imran said.
    Rube guffawed. “Hey, if you ugly bastards think for one second that...” Disgusted, he tossed the fruit away.
    Instantly, the nearest Gargoyle snatched up the fruit and, with a movement too quick for the eye to follow, advanced upon Rube and flashed a hand quickly across his face.
    Rube doubled up, spluttering. When he stood upright, Corrie could see that the flesh of the fruit was mashed into his mouth, vivid pink juice spilling over his chin.
    He wiped his mouth on the back of his arm, glaring at the alien.
    “I think,” Imran said, “that we’d better eat the things.”
    Corrie looked from her own fruit to Rube. He seemed to be suffering no ill-effects other than a loss of dignity. Hesitantly, along with Tanya and the others, she raised the fruit to her lips and took an experimental bite.
    Sharp, very juicy, and extraordinarily pleasant.
    Then Rube collapsed. Immediately, Corrie was aware that her vision was swimming. She tried to focus on Rachel, but the woman’s face floated bizarrely in her vision. Corrie opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came. She seemed to be drifting, detached from her senses. It was not an altogether unpleasant experience.
    She watched the aliens. They seemed to be closing in, surrounding her team. Corrie knew, vaguely, that she should be alarmed, but the fact was that she could bring herself to feel nothing.
    She was aware of cold fingers, prodding her, and her last thought was that they were being shepherded from the clearing.
    ~
    The cave was a big, horseshoe-shaped cavern excavated into the side of the limestone bluff, with two entrances and a central, hub-like pillar. Set into the curving wall of the cave was a series of hollowed-out cells, each one packed with vegetation from the jungle floor, forming so many beds.
    Corrie lay on her back and tried to recall the journey here. It had seemed to last forever, but it could only have lasted a matter of hours. They had arrived in darkness, she knew. Five to ten kilometres, she guessed.
    How long had they lived in the cave, as guests of the Gargoyles? Corrie raised her hand, stared at the decal. She concentrated, but the figures there made no sense at all. A part of her – the part that knew she was neglecting her duties and herself – understood also that this was not right: another part told her to accept the beneficence of the aliens. It was the only way they had of surviving until the return of the Darwinian .
    She pushed herself upright and looked around the cave. The others occupied their individual cells, either sleeping or simply too blitzed to move.
    She struggled from her own cell and stood on unsteady legs. Her vision swam, and her sense of balance was affected. Across the cave, in a cell opposite her own, Rachel was sitting upright and staring at her with uncomprehending eyes.
    Slowly, Corrie made her way across to the Somalian woman.
    She sat on the edge of the cell, reached out and took Rachel’s fingers. She raised her other hand, indicating the decal. “How long...?” she managed.
    Rachel stared at her, shook her head. “How long until the Darwinian arrives?” Her words were slurred, retarded. She looked mystified.
    Corrie shook her head. “No – I mean, yes... How long have we been here?”
    Rachel stared at her. “On Deneb 5?”
    Corrie opened her mouth to speak. Communication was almost impossible. She could not contain the progression of their conversation in her mind.
    She had no idea how long they had been on Deneb 5. It seemed like a lifetime. Her other life, her life on Earth, seemed like the memories of another person altogether.
    She hit her temple with the heel of her right hand. “No, I mean – how long have we been here, in the cave?”
    Rachel was smiling to herself, her eyes staring