The chemists used a three-dimensional viewing tank to manipulate complex organic molecules. "Is it in color?" Yes, and so was Inea"s program. She added that last." It would make an impressive if irrelevant demonstration, say, we"ll make a couple dozen copies of a broadcast quality and be sure Inea"s copyright is on it."

It took t.i.tus three hours to organize everything, but at last he took Connie"s black box out to the lab. Inea and half the crew were in the observatory, arguing over the schematics, steaming coffee mugs abandoned behind them.

Working fast, cloaked by a minimum of Influence, t.i.tus spliced the communicator into its circuit and replaced the boards that surrounded it, hiding it from view. If it didn"t malfunction in the first test, he"d get his message out the first time they contacted Earth. He had already reinforced the entire crew"s blindness to the black box. Only Inea could see it, and she wouldn"t say anything.

He returned to his office and coded his message to Connie into his desk unit. The moment this system linked to the Project"s system in Houston, Sydney, or Beer Sheva, the black box would call out the text from his desk unit and send it to a similar black box on the other end. He only hoped that one of Connie"s people, not a Tourist, would pick it up.

In his report, he apprised Connie of his blood situation, and tersely reminded her that, despite his successes to date, he couldn"t handle Abbot alone. He also warned her of the clandestine Project, and sketched his plans.

He wished it were all as simple as it sounded.

Idly watching Inea, all he wanted to do was write poetry in physics and make love. But he shook himself out of it, and breezed out of the lab, telling everyone he was going to the ship. Then he went in search of Abbot"s stringers.

He"d already checked everyone who ever had access to his own lab and had found no trace of Abbot"s meddling. He hadn"t expected to. Now he strolled the halls, examining every pa.s.serby. He searched refectories and snack bars, and detoured through the gym. His most valuable quarry would be someone Abbot had Influenced but left unMarked, and that was hard to spot. So he moved slowly, and triggered belligerent reactions by staring-Mirelle could do this without upsetting people!

With nothing to show for the hour, he headed for Kylyd.

From early in his post-doctoral years, he had learned the only way to keep up on the branches of a complex project was with frequent personal appearances. The other department heads did the same, so he was not at all conspicuous.

Having legitimate business on the ship, he donned his suit openly and accompanied a group of workers on the ride out. While the sun had been up, he had dreaded his open trips, but now they were in shadow again.

He wandered about the ship, unsure if he"d recognize Abbot"s Mark on a suited human. The life-presence was blocked by the suit, but he had Influenced suited humans. Something wasn"t blocked by the insulation. Fractured particles dancing in the moonlight, speeding to oblivion.

Poetry stirred in his soul, poetry and magic, magic and Inea. There"s no such thing as magic. There"s a rational explanation for everything. Sure. He clomped up a slanted floor through a mangled airlock with an arch cut in it.

He squatted to peer at it. The last time he"d been here, they"d despaired of cutting that metal. Progress.

"Something wrong, Dr. Shiddehara?"

The suit beside him bore a familiar technician"s name. He rose and asked about the cutting while he studied the man.

"Oh, Dr. Gold did that yesterday with the magnetic scissors he made in the Biomed lab. You apply a shear planar magnetic field and the stuff falls apart. I guess it"s not exactly a metala" well, that"s not my field."

He bore no trace of Abbot"s touch, but t.i.tus"s neck p.r.i.c.kled. Biomed. That was one place he couldn"t wander freely, but Abbot could. "Magnetic scissors. Fascinating." Next thing you know, they"ll make a sonic screwdriver!

"I saw Dr. Gold going that way," the technician said, Pointing. "He loves to explain it, but I don"t think he"s found anyone who understands what he"s talking about yet."

t.i.tus followed the man"s directions and climbed into a wide Place where bulkheads had been wrenched open on impact. Two technicians were wrestling a device that looked like a scissors large enough to snip down a maple tree. When they had it positioned, the scissors sliced through the twisted bulkhead, and cautiously removed the large panel.

Through the new opening, t.i.tus saw Abner Gold"s and Carol Colby"s suits, and a smaller suit with a Biomed blazon.

Gold gesticulated so emphatically his feet left the deck, and he stumbled. t.i.tus picked his way toward them, mindful that sharp edges could damage his suit, and searched the communications channels until he found Abner"s voice.

". Sisi, that"s not what you told me! Colby, she"s lying, but I know what I know. You owe me answers. There are certain things I won"t be a party to!"

"Calm down, Dr. Gold," admonished the Director. "We are all under a lot of pressure, and it"s going to get worse, if we"re forced to work in a spotlight. In a few days-"

"Few days! Now or I quit! Think about that, Colby! Can you afford to have me quit after what I"ve accomplished?"

"Abner, no one is indispensable. And your att.i.tude displays a certain lack of loyalty which-"

"Loyalty to what? Or doesn"t that matter to you? You just do what you get paid to do and never think about-"

"Dr. Gold, you are hereby terminated, your security clearances revoked. Your final pay and-"

"Terminated? You can"t fire me. I just quit." He whirled and stalked away, coming toward t.i.tus.

t.i.tus stopped him. He was burning with curiosity about what had ticked Gold off, but he only asked, "Abner, are you sure you want to do this? Think! I didn"t hear what it"s about, but this Project is history in the making."

Gold took a deep breath and straightened, looking at t.i.tus with a strained smile. "Thank you, t.i.tus, but I stayed up all night considering it all."

"Well, I want a copy of your paper on the magnetic scissors. Brilliant work."

Gold beamed. "I"ll see you get one."

"After the reporters get through with my lab, I"ll come see you off. I a.s.sume you"ll be leaving with them." Maybe then h.e.l.l tell me what"s so terrible he can"t countenance it.

His face fell. "I suppose." Abstracted, he pulled loose. "Good luck, t.i.tus. You"re a good man."

The offhand compliment made t.i.tus feel inexplicably good as he turned toward the group watching them. Interestingly, he could perceive the misting pattern of Abbot"s Influence around Colby, despite her lack of a Mark. The same signature appeared in the aura around the Biomed tech.

He went up to them. "I"m sorry, Carol, I didn"t mean to eavesdrop."

"That isn"t the first time I"ve fired someone, but-d.a.m.n, I wish I hadn"t had to do that!" Deeply disturbed, she grasped at formalities. "Oh, I"m sorry, t.i.tus, have you met Sisi Mintraub? She runs the Biomed maintenance shop. Sisi, this is the famous Dr. Shiddehara."

"Honored," she offered in a sweet soprano.

"Likewise," replied t.i.tus. "Medical hardware, huh? Would you happen to know where the chemists" tank is now?"

"It"s not my jurisdiction, but I saw it yesterday. Why?"

He told Carol about the demonstration idea, and she nodded. "Sounds good. Sisi, tell whoever has the tank that if they"re not using it, astrophysics needs it for the demo."

"I"ll tell them." She flashed a dazzling smile at t.i.tus. "But chemists are a possessive lot."

Colby added, "If necessary, tell them to call me."

When Mintraub had gone, Colby prompted, "Fill me in on this brilliant idea. I think it"s the best any department"s come up with so far."

"It"s from Inea and Shimon, really," he protested, and elaborated on Inea"s visuals. "What worries me is that it"s not relevant to our work."

"It does look relevant, though. On the other hand, you"re right, some of the reporters know some science. Could you come up with something they"d appreciate?"

"Well, that"s what I came out here for. To see if there"s anything new on the lighting system. With the system up, I could use a standard star catalogue to pick out some stars with the correct spectrum, at least show them how it"s going to be done when I have all the data."

"There was nothing new as of yesterday. But it"s worth checking. Lindholm, Rubens, and that Dutch woman whose name I can never remember were down by what we think is the drive chamber. They found a light panel they suspect is still operative, but they won"t admit to knowing anything."

"Can"t fault them for being cautious. Nothing about this ship follows expectations. Magnetic scissors! Where did Abner ever get that idea?"

"t.i.tus, forgive me, but I don"t want to talk about Abner now. And I"m late for an engineers" meeting. If they can solve just one of the power-supply mysteries, we can energize that light panel and discover its output spectrum. Our power just burns them out."

As she walked off, t.i.tus went to chase down the intact light panel and see what could be learned from it.

Hours later, t.i.tus returned to the lab, with very little to show for his afternoon but the appearance of the chemists" tank. Shimon had ordered pizza brought in. People ate while monitoring screens as the test programs ran.

Inea waved t.i.tus over. "I got my pizza. But I"ve no idea when we"ll be finished. There"re a million glitches."

"Well, look, I"m glad you volunteered to stick with this tonight. Afterwards, well, we"ll reschedule afterwards."

"I hope so," she replied firmly.

He was already hungry, but he had to keep his mind off it. "Carol is pleased with your demo." He related his encounter with the Director. "I didn"t get any new spectral data, but I"m going to go work up something using "best guess" data based on the work done decades ago on the first orbital telescope and some of the guesses based on clues found in the ship. I can run a simulation for the reporters using that, and just show how we"ll plug in the actual data when we get it." He had most of it set up on his calculator.

"Sounds good. Want some help?" She started to rise.

"You"re more valuable where you are." Cloaking the words, he let his voice drop to a caress. "What I want has little to do with it. Later, Inea, I"ll fulfill my promise."

With icy calm, she asked, "What am I to you, a decorative possession or a person?"

"That"s unfair. Have I ever given you cause to-"

"Yes." She kept her voice low, but ferocious. "This morning you wanted to protect me, and expected I"d stand by and let you get ripped apart by a mob rather than speaking up for you. And your only reason was you didn"t want to risk me, as if I were an object you own. Now you order me to a technician"s job when I could be better employed doing astronomy. Okay, I have to sub here because of the reporters. But you didn"t know they"d be coming when you sent me off to learn this stuff. Whyever you did that to me, it wasn"t to advance my career. It wasn"t from professional respect. So I rubbed your nose in it a little this morning, flouncing off like that, but I didn"t really mean it and it was in private. Now, right in the middle of the lab, you start telling me what you really want me for. And it isn"t to write astronomy programs. A person writes astronomy programs."

Stunned, t.i.tus shook his head.

"Person or object," she reiterated. "That"s the rock on which all my other relationships foundered. I want it straight from the beginning. What am I to you?"

"I don"t want to make love to a decorative possession. I"ve never understood men who did. You don"t know how it turned me on to discover your toy program may save this Project"s funding. You don"t know how I"ve searched for a person like you, but you"re one of a kind. I should have known that. I should have gone back to you years ago."

Her lips trembled and her eyes sparkled. "I hope you mean that. I hope you know what it means to say that."

"You"ll teach me. And I promise-as soon as this job is done, you"ll be back in the observatory. I never wanted to send you away. It was an administrative decision, and you did admit you needed some s.p.a.ce to think it all through."

"t.i.tus, I"m not going to kiss you here. No matter what. Understand? It wouldn"t be professional."

"I suppose that"s best. I"ll see you late tonight."

After that, he couldn"t concentrate on his model calculation. It was as boring as concocting exams for undergrad courses. It simply wasn"t real. But Inea"s presence out in the lab was so real he couldn"t keep his mind off it. He wondered if she"d considered that treating her like an object-like an orl. It was the most disturbing thought he"d ever had.

When he"d finished his program, he used the Brink"s code key to check on Sisi Mintraub. He found nothing of great interest except that she was in charge of the equipment that kept the dormant luren in an isolated and chill environment.

He could see why Abbot cultivated her with as light a touch as he used on Colby. It would be dangerous if she became suspicious, but even worse was the way Security monitored her. They"d notice any inconsistent behavior.

He looked up Sisi"s apartment number. It was in the same dome as the shopping mall. She was the only one of Abbot"s spies he"d yet found, and since she wasn"t Marked, it was no crime for him to use Influence on her.

From his desk, he gazed out his door at Inea working beside Shimon. If he Influenced Sisi, would Abbot retaliate on Inea? But Inea bore no trace of t.i.tus"s Influence. Abbot couldn"t conceive of any luren feeding on a human without Influence. That might be all that will save her if Abbot discovers I"ve been at one of his humans.

Still-if he Marked Inea, Abbot couldn"t touch her. No. I won"t Mark her without her consent. For that, he"d have to tell her the whole story so she"d know why she had to be Marked. But he was scared of losing her. It was worse since he"d tasted what they might have. But which was the greater risk, Abbot taking her, or him alienating her by being too hasty? Either way, he"d lose her. To protect her, he"d try to approach Mintraub without arousing Abbot"s suspicions. At least that"s not treating Inea like a possession!

Decisively, he went to Mintraub"s apartment, but she was out. Deciding he"d rather go hungry until Inea was free than go home and drink dead blood, he went to the shopping mall.

The lift doors opened on a curving mezzanine with an arch of sky blue overhead. Large, lush green bushes were set along the promenade. A sparkling fountain splashed over moon rock at the far end. Leaning over the railing, he saw a Skychef doughnut shop with tables set on a transparent floor, lit from beneath. He didn"t believe his eyes when he saw the first fish. Then a school or large ones flashed by, and he realized he was looking into the breeding tank where Skychef bred all the fresh fish served on the station.

He went down the broad steps, aware that the architects of the Station had designed the public areas to be lavish and the private rooms spartan so people would socialize.

He browsed through some shops. He had heard about the prices, but he was surprised at the small selection, and how the stock was crammed into the tiny shops. In one store, robes hung from shoe boxes stacked up to the ceiling. In another, tables were crammed with swim suits and underwear. Under the table, shirts were stacked by color and size. The clerks wore Skychef uniforms, and minded the shops as second jobs. They all looked very tired.

t.i.tus remembered how, on arrival, he"d been threatened with a kitchen a.s.signment. He"d escaped that only because now there was staff for the extra duties.

t.i.tus scanned the crowd for any sign of Abbot"s Mark or Influence, and noticed many familiar faces. There, strolling with Suzy Langton, was one of the cooks from the Gourmet Lounge near his apartment. The ebony statue of a weight-lifting instructor was leaving with Abner Gold.

In the back of the fifth store, t.i.tus found an array of cooking utensils for microwaves, and some picnic equipment.

He bought a dark gold Thermos and mug set, with a case. It was rated for microwave use, but apparently the people who had no kitchenette used them for take-out food. He wouldn"t be conspicuous carrying his blood from his microwave to Inea"s place. Somebody else bought a plug-in warmer, saying that a group of techs were chipping in for it so they could all eat hot pizza while watching tapes.

In a lingerie shop, he found a filmy thing so nearly ma.s.sless it hardly cost more than it would on Earth. He thought of Inea walking into the bathroom this morning. Though he"d enjoyed we view, he thought she"d appreciate a robe. He chose one in her favorite shade of pink-he hoped it was still her favorite-and a berries set. "Wrap it and deliver it tomorrow morning," he told the clerk.

He was examining a rack of Glynnis brand sportswear when he spotted someone who looked like Mintraub just leaving the doughnut shop, munching on a long twist. He"d only seen her in her helmet, and then later in official photographs. But it looked like her. He worked his way closer. She was wearing a green gym suit, and had her hair bound up in a pink band. She strode along as if following the shortest path to a goal.

But he lost her when she squeezed into a full elevator. He took the next one and got off at her apartment, but she wasn"t there. Back in the elevator, he tried the most popular stop, the connecting corridor to the other domes. She"d been dressed for the gym, so he headed that way.

Signing in, he circulated through the busiest areas, and checked the swimming pool from the observation lounge. He was turning away when he noticed Abbot"s Mark. Other than Mirelle, it was the first he"d found.

The woman in question was a slender, statuesque blonde wearing a white bathing suit designed like a plain tank suit. She climbed the highest diving platform and sailed off it, taking advantage of the gravity to execute a marvelous series of maneuvers before slicing cleanly into the water.

"Do you know who that is?" asked t.i.tus of the man beside him, who was wearing a s.p.a.ce suit-liner, not gym clothes.

"They call her the Diving Belle. I don"t know her name, but she"s here every night putting on a show. They say she"s really one of those stuffy doctors of something or other."

"Oh. Thank you." t.i.tus asked others, but got only the nickname, that she spoke with a Georgian accent, and that she was a physical anthropologist. It was enough to enable him to find her file, but he didn"t have to. Abbot had collected another one with clearance to study the alien "corpse."

Since she was Marked, he didn"t dare touch the Diving Belle, so he moved on around the gym. Gold was in the weight-lifting cla.s.s with the ebony statue, working as if taking out a rage. He has a right. Have to talk to him.

As t.i.tus pa.s.sed, the cla.s.s broke up, but Gold didn"t register t.i.tus"s presence. He headed blindly for the locker room. There was no trace of Abbot"s Influence on him. After that, t.i.tus noticed the ebony statue twice more as he circled. But there was no sign of Sisi Mintraub. He was about to leave when he remembered he owed time in the centrifuge. If he just signed out of the gym, Medical would be after him immediately.

But when he logged into the centrifuge, there was Sisi"s name on the waiting list right above his. The attendant handed him a suit, saying, "Number three will be ready to roll in five minutes. And don"t forget the telemetry."

The five separate centrifuge units started on a regular schedule, but with staggered times so there was no wait.

He changed quickly, determined to get into the same unit Sisi entered. The pale green suit made his complexion more conspicuous, but he set a low grade of Influence around himself so people would perceive his dusky pallor as normal. His human ancestry had blessed him with dark skin, so he didn"t seem as stark white as some luren.

When he emerged, he again noticed the ebony statue lingering nearby, but thought nothing of it. Inside the cylindrical chamber, he found his quarry, strapped in with the elastic safety bands, ready to walk the treadmill. She was the only other one on this ride, though the chamber could accommodate eight on treadmills and six more seated.

t.i.tus took the treadmill beside hers and secured his towel to a bar. Attaching the straps, he called, "Don"t I know you? We met out at the starship today, didn"t we?"

She peered at him. She was quite pretty, and no doubt used to every line in the book.

"I"m t.i.tus Shiddehara," he added.