Free 01. Midnight At the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker

difference. Go ahead, try it!"
    Hain was already greedily tearing into his, while Vardia looked at the food, bewildered.
    "What's the trouble?" Brazil managed between swallows. "Problems?"
    "It's quite safe to eat," Ortega assured her. "There are no microorganisms that will give you any real problems here—not until you go out, anyway. The stuff's biologically compatible."
    "No, no—it's—" she stammered. "Well, I have never seen food like it before. How do you . . . ?"
    "Just watch me and follow my example," Brazil laughingly replied. "See? You cut it with a knife and fork like this, then—"
    They dug into the meal, Vardia getting the hang of it, although she protested several times that she thought the food tasted terrible. But they were all too hungry to protest.
    Ortega's eyes fell on Wu Julee, who just sat there staring at the food, not eating at all. "The girl—she is ill?" he asked them.
    Brazil suddenly stopped eating and looked at Hain, who had already finished and was just letting out an extremely noisy belch. The captain's face had a grave expression on it, and the fine food suddenly felt like lead in his stomach.
    "She's a spongie," Brazil said softly. Hain's eyebrows rose, but he said nothing.
    Ortega's face, too, turned serious. "How far gone?" he asked.
    "Fairly bad, I'd say," Brazil replied. "Deep mental maybe five years old, voluntary action basically emotive only." Suddenly he whirled in his chair and faced Hain, cold fury in his eyes. "How about it, Hain?" he snarled. "Would you agree?"  
    Hain's piggish face remained impassive, his tone of voice seemed almost one of relief. "So you found out. I thought perhaps I was overdoing the routine at that dinner."
    "If we hadn't been trapped on Dalgonia, I'd have had you and her down on Arkadrian before you realized what was what," Brazil told him.
    Hain's face showed both shock and surprise. Brazil's remarks had gotten to him. Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to him and the old, smug self-confidence returned.
    "It would seem, then, that I have fallen not into a terrible situation, but into a most fortunate one by this—er, circumstance," he said calmly. "A pity for the lady, though," he added in mock sympathy.
    "Why you son of a bitch!" Brazil snarled and leaped at the fat man's throat, spilling food everywhere. The big man was a head taller and twice the weight of the attacker, but Brazil's quickness and the sheer hatred in his soul flowed into his arms and hands as they tightened around the other's neck.
    Hain thrashed and tried to push the smaller attacker away, but all he managed was to cause both of them to roll onto the floor, the small man still squeezing. Hain's mouth was open, face red, as he gasped for breath. The expression on Brazil's face was almost demonic; nothing would keep him from his goal.
    Vardia watched openmouthed, understanding the situation only in the vaguest way and finding Brazil's actions, both recounted and current, incomprehensible. In her private universe, there were no people, only cells composing a whole body. A diseased cell was simply eliminated. So there was no place in her mind for one who caused such a disease.
    Wu Julee watched the two grapple impassively, her meal still on her lap.
    Suddenly Ortega bounded over his desk and grabbed Brazil with massive arms. The giant creature moved almost too fast for the eye to follow; Vardia was stunned at the speed and surety with which the creature acted.
    Brazil fought to get free of the grip, and Ortega's middle arm suddenly came from nowhere and punched the small man hard in the jaw. He went slack, still held aloft in the creature's strong grip.
    Freed of his attacker, Hain gasped and choked for air, finally rolling flat on his back and lying there, his huge stomach rising and falling. He felt his neck, where the imprint of Brazil's murderous hands could still be seen.
    Ortega began examining the unconscious man. Satisfied that no bones were broken, nor permanent damage