Levitating behind the runty creature was the character addressed as Zin. He was similar in appearance to Arius—though he was smaller and adorned in more decorative attire. Like Arius, he had a large mouth that did not move when he spoke. “Apprise me, please. Did he deliver any multiples or duplicates?”

“Let us see.” The runt reached inside one of the many pouches on its belt and pulled out a small handheld device. With a stumpy finger he pressed a button on the remote.

A piercing high-pitched ring shot through Eva’s skull. Gritting her teeth, she covered her ears with her hands to block the penetrating sound. Through squinting eyes she saw the liquid on the glass wall evaporate, revealing the room and all occupants in their entirety. Suddenly the piercing sound stopped.

As she exhaled out the pain, Eva discovered that the expansive brightly lit room was devoid of any color. White paneled floors reflected the glare coming in from the latticework ceiling. It seemed to Eva that the entire high-domed roof was one gigantic light. The creature that held the device was also dressed in white—a tight-fitting bodysuit, the material of which reminded Eva of a latex glove. His entire head was covered with hooded goggles, full of numerous thick lenses.

“It looks like we have only one duplicate,” he said as he waddled over to the cell holding the young water bear. “It’s a juvenile. He brought it in yesterday with some others. I accepted it thinking it would look great with the adults. Do you want to keep it?”

With one of his many arms Zin produced a writing tablet from the folds within his ornate jacket. He passed it along from hand to hand. “Yes, let us add it to the collection. So the sum total this week would be?”

The runt in the bodysuit stood in place, counting the captives in the cells. “Thirteen . . . No—he brought one more in today. Fourteen total,” he said.

“So, thirteen unique specimens total, is that correct?” Zin wrote in his tablet.

“Yes,” the other replied, pulling another tiny remote from his many pouches. The cell holding the water bear floated to the center of the room.

“Very well,” Zin said, tabulating. “The aggregate amount, then, is seven hundred and forty-nine to date. He’s got a considerable amount of capturing ahead of him.”

“Well, he said he would have had even more, but some got away.” The stubby creature put the tiny remote away, replacing it with another. A thin rod rose from the bottom of the water bear’s cell. The juvenile paced inside, hooting.