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“You guys never want to admit when you’re sick.”
    “Where are you going?” Beau questioned.
    Cassy didn’t answer. Instead she walked around the front of the car and opened Beau’s door. “Shove over,” she said. “I’m driving.”
    “I can drive,” Beau said.
    “No arguments,” Cassy said. “Move!”
    Beau didn’t have the energy to protest. Besides, he knew it was probably best even though he wouldn’t admit it.
    Cassy put the car in gear. At the corner she turned right instead of left.
    “Where the hell are you going?” Beau asked. With his head throbbing he wanted to get back to bed.
    “You are going to the student infirmary at the University Med Center,” Cassy said. “I don’t like the way you look.”
    “I’ll be all right,” Beau complained, but he didn’t protest further. He was feeling worse by the minute.
    The entrance to the student infirmary was through the ER, and as Cassy and Beau walked in, Pitt saw them and came out from behind the front desk.
    “Good grief!” Pitt said when he took one look at Beau. “Did the Nite organization cancel your interview or did you get run over by the women’s track team?”
    “I can do without your wisecracks,” Beau mumbled. “I think I got the flu.”
    “You ain’t kidding,” Pitt said. “Here, come on into one of the ER bays. I don’t think they want you down in the student walk-in clinic.”
    Beau allowed himself to be led into a cubicle. Pitt facilitated the visit by bringing in one of the most compassionate nurses and then by going out to get one of the more senior ER physicians.
    Between the nurse and the doctor Beau was quickly examined. Blood was drawn and an IV started.
    “This is just for hydration,” the doctor said, tapping the IV bottle. “I think you have a bad case of the flu, but your lungs are clear. Still, I think it best for you to stay in the student overnight ward, at least for a few hours to see if we can’t bring your fever down and control that cough. We’ll also be able to take a look at your blood work in case there’s something I’m missing.”
    “I don’t want to stay in the hospital,” Beau complained.
    “If the doctor thinks you should stay, you’re staying,” Cassy said. “I don’t want to hear any macho bull crap.”
    Pitt was again able to grease the skids, and within a half hour Beau was comfortably situated in one of the student overnight rooms. It looked like a typical hospital room with vinyl flooring, metal furniture, a TV, and a window that looked south over the hospital lawn. Beau was dressed in hospital-issue pajamas. His clothes were hung in the closet, and his watch, wallet, and the black mini-sculpture were in a metal valuables cabinet affixed to the top of the bureau. Cassy had programmed the combination lock with the last four digits of their home phone number.
    Pitt excused himself to get back to the ER desk.
    “Comfortable?” Cassy asked. Beau was lying on his back. His eyes were closed. He’d been given a cough suppressant which had already taken effect. He was exhausted.
    “As comfortable as can be expected,” Beau murmured.
    “The doctor said I should come back in a few hours,” Cassy said. “All the tests will be available and most likely I’ll be able to take you home.”
    “I’ll be here,” Beau said. He was enjoying the sensation of a strange languid sleep settling over him like awelcome blanket. He didn’t even hear Cassy close the door behind her when she left.
    Beau slept more soundly than he’d ever slept. He didn’t even dream. After several hours of this comalike trance his body took on a faint phosphorescence. Inside the locked valuables box the black disciform object did the same, particularly one of eight small domed excrescences arrayed around the object’s rim. Suddenly the tiny disc detached itself and floated free. Its glow intensified until it became a pinpoint of light like a distant star.
    Moving laterally the point of light contacted