leave, perplexed at what was going through his mind.
When the captain had disappeared from view, Jesse hustled back inside the property booking cage. 'Let's find one of those discs and get the hell out of here,'' he said.
Cassy and Pitt emerged from their hiding place in the knee space below the counter. All three went back to opening envelopes.
'Ah ha!' Jesse said as he peered into a particularly heavy one. 'Finally!' He reached in to pull it out.
'Don't touch it,' Cassy cried out.
'I was going to be careful,' Jesse said.
'It happens quickly,' Pitt said.
'All right, so I won't touch it,' Jesse said. 'I'll leave it in the envelope. Let me sign this custody chit and then let's get out of here.'
A few minutes later they were back at Jesse's desk in the nearly empty squad room. Jesse glanced into the captain's office. The light was on, but the captain was nowhere to be seen.
'Let's take a look at this thing,' Jesse said. He opened the clasp on the envelope and let the disc slide out onto his blotter.
'Looks innocent enough,' Jesse commented. As he'd done earlier, he used a pen to push it around. 'There's also no opening. How could it possibly sting someone?'
'Both times that I witnessed, the person had wrapped either their fingers or palm around the periphery,' Pitt said.
'But if there's no opening it can't happen,' Jesse said. 'Maybe they're all not the same. Maybe some sting, some don't.' He got out his reading glasses, which he detested for vanity reasons, put them on, and then leaned over to get a closer, magnified view. 'It looks like polished onyx, only not as shiny.' With the tip of his finger he touched the top of the dome.
'I wouldn't do that,' Pitt warned.
'It feels cold,' Jesse said, ignoring Pitt. 'It's also very smooth.' Gingerly he moved the very tip of his finger down from the apex of the dome toward the periphery with the intention of feeling the little bumps that lined the edge. The sound of a cabinet banging shut over at the duty officer's desk made him snatch his hand away.
'I guess I'm a little tense,' Jesse explained.
'For good reason,' Pitt said.
Ready to withdraw his hand at the slightest provocation, Jesse touched one of the little bumps. Nothing happened. Equally carefully he began to run the tip of his finger around the disc's periphery. He got about a quarter of the way around when an extraordinary thing happened. A millimeter-wide slit formed in the seamless surface of the disc's edge.
Jesse yanked his hand away in time to see a chrome-colored needle punch out through the slit a distance of several millimeters. From its tip sprang a single drop of yellowish fluid. In the next instant the needle withdrew and the slit vanished. The whole sequence lasted only a second.
Three pairs of startled eyes rose to regard each other.
'Did you see that?' Jesse asked. 'Or am I crazy?'
'I saw it,' Cassy said. 'And there's proof. There's a wet spot on the blotter.'
Nervously Jesse bent his head forward and, with his magnifiers, as he called his glasses, studied the area where the slit had formed. 'There's nothing there, not even a seam.'
'Wait a sec,' Pitt said. 'Don't get too close. That fluid must be infectious.'
As a hypochondriac Jesse didn't need any more encouragement. He got out of his chair and backed several steps away. 'What should we do?'
'We need some scissors and a container, preferably glass,' Pitt said. 'Plus some chlorine bleach.'
'How about a coffee creamer jar?' Jesse suggested. 'I don't know about the bleach, but I'll check the janitor's closet. The scissors are in the top drawer.'
'A coffee creamer jar is fine,' Pitt said. 'How about latex gloves?'
'We got those too,' Jesse said. 'I'll be right back.'
Jesse managed to find everything Pitt needed. With the scissors Pitt carefully cut out a circle of the blotter containing the wet dot and deposited it in the jar. The underside of the blotter didn't appear wet, but still he disinfected the area of the desk with the bleach. The gloves and the scissors went into a plastic bag.
'I think we should call Dr. Miller,' Pitt said when he was finished.
'Now?' Jesse questioned. 'It's after two in the morning.'
'She's going to want to know about this right away,' Pitt said. 'It's my guess she'll want to start immediately trying to grow out whatever is in this sample.'
'Okay, you call,' Jesse said. 'I've got to go in and see the captain. By the time I get back you can tell me if I'm taking you to the med center or home.'
Jesse's mind was a jumble of disconnected thoughts as he headed for the captain's office. So much crazy stuff had happened in so short a time, particularly the crack appearing like magic in the black disc, that he felt numb. He was also exhausted since it was way past his bedtime. Nothing seemed real. Even the fact that he was heading in to see the captain after two in the morning.
The captain's office door was ajar. Jesse halted on the threshold. The captain was at his desk busily writing as if it were the middle of the day. Jesse had to admit to himself that the captain looked better than he had in a year despite the hour.
'Excuse me, Captain,' Jesse called out. 'You wanted to see me?'
'Come in,' the captain said, waving Jesse over to the desk. He smiled. 'Thanks for coming by. Tell me, how are you feeling now?'
'Pretty tired, sir,' Jesse said.
'Not sick?'
'No, thank goodness,' Jesse said.
'Get that problem taken care of with the two kids?'
'Still working on it,' Jesse said.
'Well, I wanted to reward you for your hard work,' the captain said. He opened the center drawer of his desk, reached in and pulled out one of the black discs!
Jesse's eyes widened in shocked surprise.
'I want you to have this symbol of a new beginning,' the captain said. He had the disc in the palm of his hand, and he extended it toward Jesse.
Jesse felt a sense of panic. 'Thank you, sir, but I can't accept that.'
'Of course you can,' the captain said. 'It doesn't look like much, but it will change your life. Trust me.'
'Oh, I believe you, sir,' Jesse said. 'I just don't deserve it.'
'Nonsense,' the captain said. 'Take it, my man.'
'No, thank you,' Jesse said. 'I'm really tired. I got to get some sleep.'
'I'm ordering you to take it,' the captain said. A distinct edge had appeared in his voice.
'Yes, sir,' Jesse said. He reached forward with a quivering hand. In his mind's eye he saw the glistening chrome needle. At the same time he remembered that to stimulate the mechanism, he'd touched the edge of the disc. He also noticed that the captain was not touching the edge but rather palming the disc in his flattened hand.
'Take it, my friend,' the captain urged.
Jesse flattened his own hand palm up and put it next to the captain's. The captain looked him in the eye. Jesse returned the stare and noticed the captain's pupils were widely dilated.
For a few moments it was a Mexican standoff. Finally the captain carefully insinuated his thumb beneath the disc and lifted it with his index finger on top of the dome. He was obviously avoiding the edge. Then he put it in Jesse's palm.
'Thanks, Chief,' Jesse said. He avoided looking at the cursed thing and beat a hasty retreat.
'You'll be thanking me,' the captain called out after him.
Jesse dashed out to his desk, terrified by the fear of being stung at any moment. But it didn't happen, and he was able to slide the disc out of his hand without incident. It clacked up against its colleague with a sound like two ivory billiard balls colliding.
