The man nodded and hurried away. Ford folded his arms, staring at Harry. “Could it be that simple?”

Abrams joined him. “Could we be that lucky?” He checked his watch. He remembered Dr Albadi’s warning in Syria about the previous mass extinctions – all major species wiped out, probably eaten alive. The thought that human beings might end up as just another footnote in the fossil record scared the shit out of him.

Abrams’s attention was drawn back to the glass as a small slot was pulled back at the rear of the room and a rabbit carcass was slid in on a tray. The door slid closed. Nothing appeared to be happening; Harry and the dead rabbit were unmoving at separate ends of the room.

Ford nudged Abrams and then pointed to one of the screens that showed an image from the rear of the Harry thing. “Look.”

A single eye formed and then popped open in the back of Harry’s head. It moved along the scalp, parting the hair like a small shiny animal moving through a field of long grass, and then stopped to fix on the rabbit. Immediately, Harry’s back burst open. A ragged maw swung wide like a bear trap, and from within it, dark cords fired toward the small dead body, enveloping it and snatching it up, and then reeling it back into the huge mouth. The glistening tentacles and the rabbit whipped inside the black hole, which then snapped shut. The savage maw seemed to dissolve back into the body, and in seconds had disappeared without trace.

“Now, let’s see.” Ford leaned forward and Abrams felt his heart rate kick up a notch. Please, please, he silently prayed.

In another moment the skin on Harry’s face and body blackened, and then his human shape first swelled, and then burst open. He continued to balloon in front of their eyes, growing quickly into a massive bulb of glistening black flesh, multiple limbs, eyes, mouths that issued all manner of screaming, hooting, cawing and hissing. In another moment, the mangled body of the rabbit was spat onto the floor, and then great gobbets if slimy flesh began to be hived off as the creature tried to expel all traces of the salt that had contaminated the flesh from inside its body.

While they watched, Harry’s flesh shriveled, blobs dropping from him to hiss and steam on the floor. In a moment they were just puddles of stinking black mess. The Harry thing backed away from them, and in its eyes Abrams was sure he recognized the most basic of human emotions – fear.

“So, you can be hurt,” he whispered. He turned to the scientist. “Cover that damn thing; I want to see if it can be killed.”

Ford shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. This is the only creature we’ve been able to capture. If it’s dead, then all our opportunities for study will die with it.”

Abrams gritted his teeth and slowly turned. “I like you, Eric, but tomorrow this time, we estimate there could be millions of these things running wild on the planet. And if that’s not bad enough, soon their boss will make an appearance: a creature about five miles wide, and we have no idea how deep.” He stood in front of the scientist. “Who knows; when they take over, maybe it’ll be you in the containment cell with these things on the outside, experimenting on your body.” Abrams stood closer to the man. “So kill the fucking thing, that’s an order!”