Tom W. Harris

“ We're after the man Minnn moved to."
Monnn was unperturbed. "Good. You have about an hour."
"One thing," said Chester. "You say Minnn might kill. Any special way he'd go about it?"
"How should I know?" asked Monnn. "Minnn is an outlaw, under pursuit and away from his planet. On our planet there are no killings." And he hung up....
The Perfesser, umbrella under his arm, black serge suit dusty, walked down a long alley and into Steve's Beer Bar. Beer, he always figured, was a real help when you were perplexed. ”

“ Minnn was not enjoying himself. Humans were fun when they were having fun, but other moods were unendurable. Coupled with illogic it was worse. Minnn was considering shifting to the truck driver when the man suddenly arose. "Well, night, Steve, Perfesser—I gotta get the sheets a-rolling," said the man, and vanished out the back door. ”

“ He could learn to live on this planet—perhaps he could even get governmental sanctuary, though that was not essential. He would not be lonely. Ravians do not get lonely. They do, however, have a sense of power.
But the pursuers were coming down the hall, the Ravian in the talking-attendant attempting to sort through the twisted minds, the person from the tourist service almost out of his own mind. And though Minnn was having sport, he was a little tired. He turned the eyes of his host toward the group of hunters, and saw that they had stopped coming and stood talking. ”

“ Interviews with Ravians always made Chester nervous. They wouldn't use the psi-control voice sets, and there was something uncanny in talking to a human, a talking-attendant, when you knew it wasn't the man speaking at all, but the alien intelligence he was temporarily host to. ”

“ Do you think she's all right?"
"Any kid has a restless night sometimes, Mary. Lemme finish. The person is apt to be kind of listless, and might have memory blanks. Oh—and the Ravian enters a host by some kind of physical contact, and he can get to another host only by a contact with the first one."
"Maybe we ought to take Sally to Dr. Price, hon. She just hasn't been herself lately."
"Oh well," sighed Odum, and threw down the clicker-story. "Tell you what. All you do is visor security, tell them you're pretty sure a person has this Ravian, and the person gets a real good physical—free. ”

“ He walked in the front door, up to the receptionist, and touched her. Then he discovered himself standing there, and walked embarrassedly out again.
The receptionist remained at her desk. A visitor was moving toward her; as he passed, the receptionist touched his hand. ”

“ At the same time both he and Monnn drove forth their last few ergs of pressure against Minnn.
Chester felt something raise his arm. His arm moved toward the patient; his palm touched the man's cheek. There was a sudden cleanness in him, and Minnn was gone.
He leaped backward through the door and it swung to and locked. A peep-panel was opened in it and the black fringed husk hung up before the opening. Chester touched the talking-attendant so Monnn could pass over, then leaned weakly against the wall opposite the door.
"I give him half an hour," he said. "Who's got a drink of water?" ”