“How do they change?”
“Well, Mark, I don’t know. It really depends on who you listen to. Dr. Aslow will say the radiation from the stars mutates Their brains and bodies. Deacon Fielder will tell you that They dance with demons on the surface of the stars and converse with angels during the jump, Pastor Winson will tell you the angels live on the stars and the demons lay wait in the jump. But no one knows Mark, no man but the Ferry Man.”
“Then how do you know that They are always trouble? Maybe They’re cats and we’re kittens.”
“Ferry Men are greater than men in many ways, Mark. Their appetites are greater, and Their ability to take what They want is greater.”
Mark picked up on her meaning and furrowed his brow. “But I’ve never heard of Them breaking laws.”
“The Law of man does not apply to Men, Mark. We are forbidden from imprisoning Them, They perform too great a service to humanity.”
Mark began digesting this as he and his mother began the walk up to their house on the hill.