All About the Slugs

This portion was about the slugs and getting to know them. It was almost like the author was finally unleashing the history and the habits of the slugs. I was excited because through the whole book they were left an unbeatable mystery. Now however, the reader learns about them and what they're capable of.


Sam and Mary go back to the agency hospital for recovery. When they wake up they notice everyone is working without cloths on. Before, I stated that everyone was a suspect who wore cloths. One would never really be able to tell who had a slug. So, they were all told they must work without clothing on. Whoever is spotted with clothing will be shot. The thing is, I'm not quite sure how far this law goes. The book said even the local average police force supported it so it probably applied to the outside world also.


Sam starts thinking about how useful his original slug thought he was. Sam knows he would be an asset to any slug attached to him. Sam knows secrets that no other person in the country or agency know, aside from his father. What makes him most fearful is how quickly that message could be passed along along all the slugs. To communicate all they have to do is have their hosts sit back to back while the two slugs merge and share everything they know. Being so, the slugs that were products of his original slug by the original slugs multiplying himself and the slugs he might have communicated with all know about Sam and chances are that they've all passed his use on.\


What came next wasn't exactly a surprise. The slugs declaring was something that the reader could tell was going to happen. I was wondering how they would fight. That's what got me so interested. I suspected they might use the important people they controlled who had a higher position in the country to fight. Then, the human forces would have a hard time shooting them because if they shoot at the slugs and kill the hosts that would lead to a lot of the nation's important leaders being lost. Instead they used animals such as dogs and even elephants. 


Sam, Mary and the Old Man go back to the root of the problem. They go to investigate the flying saucer that landed in Mississippi. As soon as they enter the saucer, the see these small elf-like creatures. They had used these creatures on their planet as hosts. When they made contact with the air on Earth it killed them all. Mary notices the ship has people suspended to use as hosts. This makes Mary breakdown. The people in captivity she continues to watch remind her f her childhood with the slugs. She was part of a colony of people who traveled to Venus to create a new planet to live on. The slugs took over while she was there and she was captured. Just like these people in the ship, she was put in a tank for a number of years. Lucky for Mary, she caught a disease that killed her slug. That's probably why she has so much experience and is so important to the agency in this instance. She knows more about them than anyone and knows how they work.