She wished she could leave; she wasn't ready for this. She knew she might never be ready for it.

"Susan," he said, without emotion. "It's been a long time."

"It's been nearly ten years," she said, noting the hardness in her own voice. "And in all that time, you didn't even try to see me…not once."

Karl shrugged. "You had your life, and I had mine."

"You still blame me for Aldebaran, don't you? You blame me for all those deaths."

"No, I don't-not any longer. You did what had to be done."

Again she stared into his eyes, hoping to see at least a hint of the love she had once known. But still she saw nothing.

"It can never be the same between us, can it?" she asked.

"No. You're not the same woman you were ten years ago. And I guess I've changed, too."

They were silent for a few seconds. When Susan finally spoke, it was with reluctance.

"How long have you been with the Survey Service?"

"Almost three years."

"Why? You were always such a Fleet man."

After a few seconds, he said, "I guess I finally saw things Survey's way."

Susan looked for a specialty insignia on Karl's uniform. She could not find the Caduceus he had worn ten years ago. "You're no longer in medicine."

He shook his head. "I'm with the Survey security branch."

Susan nodded. "Then this is a security assignment."

"Not exactly. But there is a security angle you should be made aware of." He fished a small memory chip carrying case from a pouch at his waist and pushed it across the table to Susan. She opened it and found four unmarked chips filed inside.

"Scan one," he said.

Susan took her LIN/C from its pouch and set it on the table beside the case, then plucked out a chip. It was unmarked. She placed it over the appropriate spot on her LIN/C, then leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.

Instantly she was Rosco Hamm, a prime Survey Service security operative.

He crouched in the shadows between two disposal chutes, the scent of garbage heavy in his nose, waiting for his target to emerge from the restaurant entrance twenty yards away. The target had been in there more than two hours. He would have to come out soon.

A shiver ran up Hamm's spine-not of cold, but one of apprehension. Normally, he enjoyed his job; he was permitted more freedom than most men, or he took it. At any rate, he enjoyed the thrill of danger that came with the job, and what it did to him.

But this time was different. Here he was, in Ceres Colony, skulking in an alley in the bad section, waiting for a man who had already killed three Survey security operatives.

This target was simply too good. Those he had killed were three of Survey's best. Not as good as Hamm, of course, but still…

He felt a sudden dull pain on the back of his head. Instantly that pain became more intense, then spread throughout his body. His arms and legs went suddenly numb, and he collapsed, falling onto his back.

Looking up through the fog of pain, he saw a blurred figure standing over him. His vision cleared and his attacker came into focus. Dark piercing eyes, high cheek bones, close cropped salt-and-pepper hair. And he was extremely short, with a slim build bordering on frail. A small pendant made of pitted gray metal hung from a fine silver chain around his neck.

This was Hamm's target-the man on whom he had been conducting his surveillance.

As Hamm watched in growing horror, the other pointed a blaster at his head, then pulled the trigger…

Susan opened her eyes and pulled the chip from her LIN/C. Again she sat in the small conference room on the Survey Service compound. Karl sat across the table, watching intently.

That man-Hamm's target-it had been Hyatt! And he had worn a pendant exactly like the one Susan bought in the curio shop on Fleet Base.

While she was Rosco Hamm, the man's subconscious thoughts had been almost unnoticeable. Now they flooded her conscious mind.

That target had not been Hyatt, she suddenly realized. He had been an impostor.

"He's good!" The statement was nearly involuntary.

"He is that," Karl responded.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was Hyatt."

Karl nodded. "He's fooled Survey's best. And he's been using Hyatt's identity for more than a year now, making underworld contacts in locations Hyatt has never visited."

"Why?"

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Hyatt's a powerful man. And he'll be still more powerful when Luna achieves independence."

"Then you think he's trying to replace the Director?"

"Don't you?"

"But you said this isn't a security assignment. If I won't be protecting Hyatt, what will I be doing?"

"Hyatt will brief you on that himself," Karl said. "He simply thought you should know about this first. Study those chips at your leisure. Learn all you can about this impostor, and let me know if you experience anything out of the ordinary- particularly as regards the Director."

Susan fell silent. Should she tell him about what was happening to her. Of course, he knew about the attacks-in general, if not the specifics. Should she tell him about the strange parts, the disappearances and the pendants?

No, not just yet. There was still no emotion in those blue eyes and, as much as she wanted to, she wasn't sure she could trust him with that kind of information. Again she thought of the two attackers. They had both worn Fleet Base Security uniforms, but there was no reason to ignore the possibility that someone in the Survey Service might be recruited to kill her.

Maybe even Karl.

After a moment she said, "Is that all? Are you through with me?"

"For now. Tell the corporal outside to take you to hangar four. Hyatt's waiting for you there."

Susan got to her feet, then turned and went to the door. Karl didn't say a word as the door irised open and she stepped through, out into the corridor.

The corporal did not talk as he and Susan walked the near-deserted corridors. Somehow, he sensed she could not make idle conversation just now. She had too much on her mind. Again that strange apparition haunted her thoughts, the charred image she had seen superimposed over Karl's form.

What had it been? What had it meant?

She didn't know.

She banished it from her thoughts, and instantly something from her past bubbled up to take its place-memory of her tour of duty aboard the Federation Fleet cruiser Defiant ten years ago.

There had never been much room in her life for men; she'd set her career goals high and was now a captain in Fleet because she had allowed nothing and no one to stand in her way. But Karl had been different. From the very beginning she had known he was something special-that all-too-infrequent man who could appreciate her goals, and not subjugate them to his own.

At that time Susan was a commander and Executive Officer onboard Defiant, second in command only to the ship's captain. Karl was two years her senior, and ship's physician. Yet in rank he was her junior, a lieutenant commander, stuck in a designator group that advanced officers at a slower rate than many others.

And, although at first she fought it, they fell in love.

After finally accepting the inevitable, she let down the barriers she had spent a lifetime erecting and for the first time in years allowed herself to become close to another. Initially she felt fear; she was truly vulnerable, her soft spots exposed. But Karl quickly vanquished those fears with love and understanding. With him, there was no competition. He was a kind and gentle man, but also strong and wise, and he made a warm, protected place in his life for her.