Clodia gave the word, and the worm ate her in one bite. She embarked on a breathtaking tour of the wondrous machinery of the worm’s digestive system. In the pharynx she watched as everything was slimed up and mixed together. In the esophagus some new chemicals calmed things down so they could be more easily broken apart. In the gizzard strong muscles crunched everything up into a thick, crunchy paste. And then, in the intestine, friendly bacteria ate their fill and in the process created nutrients that the worm could absorb for its own use. Clodia witnessed all of this first hand: half-fascinated, half-anxious that all of this also happened to her.

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