Instantly she appeared before him as he turned to the door to leave. The lump of gray metal burned between her breasts, and the headache grew.

But she couldn't give those symptoms any thought. Hyatt staggered back a step at the sight of her, shock turning his face white. His lips trembled as he spoke.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know," she answered. And she didn't. She had not the slightest idea how she had accomplished it.

Then she realized she would quickly lose any advantage she might have unless she somehow negated the effect of what she had just said. She didn't know how she had tracked him, but it would be a mistake to let him know that. Somehow, she had to cover.

But how?

"I can track you," she said, "and that is sufficient."

"Track me!" he said. "You can actually track me through time and space?"

Wasn't that what he had meant? No, obviously not. Then what had he meant?

Then she knew. Hyatt had not jumped. Somehow, she had jumped him. She had pushed him from her through both time and space.

There was a moment of silence. Susan said nothing, to avoid giving him any information he might use against her. Hyatt remained quiet as well, out of pure confusion.

Then, as she watched, his finger again tightened on the blaster pistol's trigger.

Again the burning lump of gray metal between her breasts, and the pain behind her eyes intensified. This time, however, nothing was changed. Hyatt still stood menacingly in front of her, still pointed his weapon at her stomach.

But there was something different. The smile Hyatt had worn only an instant before was gone, and in its place was shock and fear.

But why?

And again she knew. She had jumped a second or two into the future, to a time just after the blaster's beam had past.

"No!" he screamed. And again he vanished. But this time she knew he had initiated the jump.

Again Susan detected his path through both time and space, like a golden thread of light. And again she activated her pendant with a thought, and followed.

This time she followed him down-time, nearly a year and a half into the past. In space she traveled Earth-side, to a hydroponics farm in southern Florida. She appeared beneath a huge plasti-alloy dome, beside Hyatt, as he came around the end of a row of drip troughs containing nearly mature tomato plants.

"You can't have tracked me again!" he said, incredulously.

Susan smiled. "You can't run," she said. "No matter where you go, I will follow."

"How can you be doing this? It isn't possible!"

How am I doing it? she wondered. She simply could not explain it-not to him, and not to herself.

She reached out for the pendant hanging around his neck, but again he vanished.

Standing still beneath the huge dome, she watched him run. He flashed frantically from one place to another, from one time to another. Luna City, during its first few months of existence, when it was little more than a five-man survival dome. The Ceres colony, out in the asteroid belt, fifteen years in the future. Earth- side, to 1900 China, during the Boxer rebellion. Never more than a few seconds in one place, then on to another time and location.

Throughout it all, she simply observed, making no attempt to follow. And finally he stopped.

He was again Earth-side. New Years Eve, 2141, in a crowd in Times Square, New York.

It was then Susan made her own jump.

The headache burned behind her eyes as the crowd pressed in around her. Thousands of sweaty, smelly people pushed from all sides, and she feared she would go down and be trampled beneath their feet. For an instant, she thought she would faint.

Susan fought the faintness down. She had no time for it now. She had to locate Hyatt. And instantly the intricate snowflake pattern grew in her thoughts, and the monosyllabic chant came to her lips.

Where is he? she wondered, scanning the crowd. Where in this mass of humanity could he be hiding? He had been smart. He had known she would track him, no matter where he went. His only hope had been in finding a place where he could still remain hidden. This was just such a place.

She stood on her toes and strained to see over the heads of those around her, trying to pick Hyatt out of the crowd. She was taller than most of those around her, but it would still be an impossible task. There were simply too many people-a million, maybe more-and he was incredibly short. She could not possibly hope to locate him in this mass of humanity.

But perhaps her newly attained ability could. She had tracked him through time and space. Now that she was here, she might just be able to fine tune the location procedure, pinpointing him exactly.

Clearing her mind, she thought of nothing but Hyatt. She formed a detailed image of him, careful that she did not visualize the Hyatt from her own time. There were no physical differences of which she was aware, so she concentrated on the small differences in personality and character.

Just in time, she brought herself out of it. Her mind had been concentrated entirely on the task, and she had been oblivious to the crowd around her. She was swooning. She had nearly fallen.

With an effort she regained control. She would have to pay closer attention to her surroundings. Although the crowd was in gay spirits-happy and eager to ring in the new year-they were a hazard.

Again she concentrated on locating Hyatt. But this time she kept just enough attention on her surroundings to maintain her balance and stay upright.

She became barely aware that those around her were staring as she cast her thoughts out over the crowd, searching for the small man in the sea of humanity filling Times Square. Her consciousness swept out in ever increasing circles, like the wave effect of a pebble dropped into a still pond.

And suddenly, she had him, off to her left and perhaps five hundred feet distant. But there were hundreds of people between them-hundreds of bodies made of hard, unrelenting flesh. How would she possibly get to him through this crowd?

The answer was simple: The pendant. She would jump to his location, the same way she had jumped to this time and place.

Then it struck her. That very action was what had set off the New Years Eve riot of 2141-the riot that had killed both her mother and her father. Even now, those around her were watching intently.

And why shouldn't they watch? she thought. Here was a tall woman in Fleet red, standing in their midst, mumbling strange syllables and weaving as if in a trance. If she suddenly vanished, they would panic. They would try to scatter in mad fear. Within seconds that fear would spread through the entire crowd, and thousands would be killed.

Among those thousands would be Susan's own parents.

Yet, it was the only way she could get to Hyatt. He had to be stopped, no matter what the cost.

Besides, she had done it. The New Years Riot was part of history. Her mother and father had died in it.

But until now she had not realized exactly what had caused that riot. No one had.

She took a deep breath and, without another thought, jumped.