Dora's hopes rose. "Then you'll help me?"

"Shame on you for doubting me. Of course I'll help. But I expect frequent hyperlink calls for as long as communication remains possible."

"That's going to be expensive."

Tessa laughed. "Don't worry. We can afford it. Our trading partnership with the Osarians is more profitable than I ever imagined." Her expression sobered. "However, Zical is going to be one unhappy male. And I suspect he'll take out his aggravation on you. Are you sure you can deal with him?"

Dora grinned, sharing her happiness. "The last time I annoyed him, he kissed me."

Tessa brushed crumbs from her hands, straightened, and signaled her with a thumbs-up. "Ah, that's a good sign. A very good sign."

The mission was a go. Since Tessa was paying for all the expenses, the Federation leaders had sent unofficial approval. Zical spent five busy days overseeing innumerable details. Under Cyn's supervision, a bevy of engineers crawled over every inch of the starship. Vax oversaw robots that stored replacement parts in the cargo hold, food supplies in the materializers. They brought aboard weapons, trade foods, and the latest starmaps, spare parts and medical equipment. With their destination and the length of the of the trip uncertain, they had to prepare for every contingency, a seemingly impossible task, but helped by the fact that millions of planets in the Federation, they could draw on an enormous amount of information.

Zical worried most about choosing the scientists who would accompany them. He and his officers had picked the remainder of his crew from a bright contingency of volunteers that were mostly Rystani and Terran, but included several other species. All were experienced s.p.a.cers-expect Dora. Every time Zical thought about her joining the crew, his edginess elevated. She'd spent over three hundred years in s.p.a.ce-as a computer-but none as a human.

She was unprepared for danger, and yet Tessa had made such good points in Dora's favor that she'd convinced him that be needed her-for the sake of the mission.

And Zical had accepted Tessa's judgment, not solely because she was funding the mission, but because she might be correct. Dora's unique ability to understand complex machinery might be useful if, no, when, they found the Sentinel.

While Zical couldn't pretend disinterest in Dora after that sizzling kiss, a kiss that had led to several erotic dreams, he planned to control his attraction-not an easy task when they'd be stuck together in a s.p.a.ce ship for long periods of time. He would treat her like any valued crew member. However, he was still trying to ignore his dream from two nights ago. A dream so vivid, he'd awakened in a sweat, his tavis hard at the memory of Dora.

Dore had wed him, and during the marriage ceremony, during the time when Rystani males gave up control to their women, she used her hands and mouth to stroke,

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to tease, to seduce. He'd awakened wild with need, his breath ragged, cursing the golden light that had caused his insatiable l.u.s.t. He might have made a midnight trip to Xentos, but the holosim would only pale in comparison to Dora. So he'd suffered through his yearnings, focusing his thoughts on the mission until his desire had slowly ebbed, leaving his gut raw, his b.a.l.l.s aching, his determination to keep his distance intact.

The fate of the Federation could rest on the success of his decisions, and the responsibility caused him to come to conclusions he might otherwise not have made.

Now was not the time to let himself be distracted by Dora. Not when he had to keep his mind focused. Too much planning and expense, never mind the lives at stake, was going into this mission for him to be thinking about a woman-any woman.

Determined to keep Dora at an emotional distance, he vowed to handle her carefully.

Although he couldn't help but find her physically attractive, although he was all too aware of her presence every time they came within sight of each other, she was not the right woman for him.

He'd promised himself that if he ever again became involved with a woman, he wouldn't try to change her, he would accept her and love her for who she was. And he couldn't do that with Dora. h.e.l.l, he had enough trouble connecting with a Rystani woman, never mind one who had spent her first three hundred years as a machine. He would keep Dora as a friend, nothing more.

Zical had never gotten over the fact he'd gone hunting when he should have known Summar couldn't cope making good choices. During his absence, she had tried to hide in a closet during the invasion of their city. She hadn't had the courage to fight or the daring to attempt to escape as so many others had done. Because he'd been away hunting food and hadn't been there to protect her, to tell her what to do, she'd died, and her death still rode heavy on his conscience.

Never again would he place himself in that kind of situation. And while Dora possessed far more courage in her little finger than Summar had had in her entire body, Dora also possessed a vulnerability that needed much more tending than he was willing to give-especially now. He had to focus on the mission, or making sure his crew survived and succeeded. He would accept Dora as pan of his crew, no more, and no less. He would ignore his attraction to her, ignore his erotic dreams, ignore how much he yearned to kiss her again, he would set a professional tone, establish a comfortable working relationship.

Zical stood on the bridge of his starship, eager to be on his way, when be finally received the news he'd been waiting for. Ranth lit up the near quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy on a holovid monitor. Out near the rim, where the stars thinned, a purple light blinked.

Ranth spoke with an edge of excitement. "The marked system is named Lapau.

According to ancient records the Lapau system was colonized by a humanoid race called the Lapautee. Not much is known about them. However, they have a legend that suggests their planet may be an outpost for a protector, a great, living, G.o.dlike machine,

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that will stand between them and the galaxy we call Andromeda. Please keep in mind that all my theories are pieced together from legends carried back from the homeworld, a homeworld that no longer exists due to their star going supernova."

"Then from where does your information come?"

"It's gathered from hundreds of planets within their former territory. Bits and pieces of history were pa.s.sed down through the ages by the Lapautee people. At one time their race had spread through half a quadrant of the galaxy."

"And the reason their civilization fell?"

"A warlike horde that came from-"

"Andromeda?"

"Yes. Conceivably the Zin. It's possible the Lapautee were what we now call the Perceptive Ones. However, they might have been two races that formed an alliance against the Zin. Or they may have lived during two different epochs and one race learned from the other's mistakes. Too much time has pa.s.sed to be certain."

"Have you learned anything more about the Zin?" Zical asked, all too aware that the information was so ancient that nothing might be accurate.

"Only that they are ruthless, relentless, and-"

"And?"

"Have the extraordinary patience to wait for opportunity and prey on weakness."

"Weakness?"

"If one's guard was ever let down, the Zin were waiting to attack."

A cold shadow seemed to pa.s.s over Zical, and no matter how irrational it might seem, as the meaning of those words sank in, he new the Zin were still out there, still waiting for the Milky Way to exhibit weakness. While it seemed impossible that one machine could hold off an invasion from another galaxy, the Perceptive Ones had made scientific advances far beyond those of the Federation.

"What else?"

"There is an account that the Zin attached and penetrated our galaxy before they suffered a great defeat and withdrew."

"And the regions of s.p.a.ce we fly through? What kinds of conditions do you antic.i.p.ate?"

"We don't know much about the rim. However, there have been signs of ma.s.sive destructive weapons in the region, indicating war and instability."

Zical would obtain updates on the specific areas during their journey. Perhaps he should be talking a fleet of warships with him, but that was impossible. They couldn't afford to leave Mystique undefended. It would take months to place their concerns before the Federation council, and even if they listened to the Rystani request they might not act.

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Besides, one starship could sneak past danger while an entire fleet would be challenged. The unknowns were as infinite and as vast as s.p.a.ce and the risk formidable.

As Zical mulled over Ranth's information, he paced the bridge of his starship. Little was known about the Perceptive Ones and for Ranth to have pieced together even this much data seemed fortuitous, but suspect.

"Ranth, how have you added so much knowledge to our database, so quickly?"

"My systems have been... upgraded."

Zical frowned. Although he wasn't a specialist, and though Tessa kept the data banks fully maintained and the hardware upgraded with the newest technology, he had heard of a major system wide renovation, but then he'd been extraordinarily busy.

However, it seemed odd to him that Ranth had accomplished so much when just a few short months ago, Dora had known so little.

"Upgraded?"

Zical expected a technical explanation. Instead he received another long pause.

"Dora has found a way to increase my ability. Due to her unusual background, she has a gift that allows her to think along nonlinear lines. She's made some innovative alterations to my systems."

"She altered your hardware or your programming?" Zical kept his voice steady, but alarm crested through him. Since he was the most powerful computer known in Federation s.p.a.ce, Ranth's systems were critical to his people's survival as well as his mission.

"The programming modifications are marginal."

"Who approved them?" Zical tried to check his irritation. Although Dora had been a computer, he was aware that she couldn't have transferred all her technical knowledge into her human brain and could now make mistakes like every other human.

"I did, Ranth said.

The answer set Zical back on his heels. White he was well aware of Dora's capabilities when she'd been a computer, as a human she was subject to distractions, possible lack of judgement, errors that could be due to exhaustion or hormones or upsets. Although Zical knew Ranth's systems were in triplicate, what bothered him was that Dora was messing with things without any backup or oversight. They needed to talk.

Zical headed for her quarters but found them empty, "Ranth, locate Dora, please."

It was a measure of his vexation that he hadn't asked about her whereabouts first, but then Dora might have been forewarned of his arrival, and he'd wanted to confront her before she'd a.s.sembled an argument. He couldn't have his crew altering critical equipment without permission-not even Cyn, his chief engineer, had that kind of authority.

"Dora's in the gym with Tessa."

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"What are they doing?"

"Tessa's teaching Dora to fight."

Zical let out a groan. Tessa had studied the fighting arts before she'd possessed a Federation suit that allowed her to move at the speed of thought. After she'd developed her psi, she'd become deadly. Skilled, smart, and daring, she would make a fine teacher.

And he approved wholeheartedly of women learning to defend themselves. While Kahn had initially had difficulty with the concept that a woman could master warrior skills, Zical had seen the advantage immediately. If Summar had had such skills, she and their unborn child might still be alive today.

However with fighting skills, a warrior needed the wisdom of knowing when to use them. He couldn't help wondering if Dora yet had such prudence.

Zical had seen Tessa in action many times, and as he entered the training center, four padded walls, a padded ceiling, and a padded floor, necessary to protect the body when fighting in the three dimensions that null grav allowed, his gaze lasered in on Dora.

Both, women wore skintight black suits that revealed every curve. Dora was taller and curvier, but slower and clumsier, than Tessa. Yet she was much further along in the learning process than he'd have expected.

"We're almost done here," Tessa greeted him Dora didn't even look his way. Tessa was pressing her with a forward lunge ending in a back kick. Dora evaded, but not quite fast enough, and Tessa's, foot glanced off her shoulder, sending her spinning into a wall. Dora didn't fight her momentum, however, she used it, somersaulted and attacked from below with a bold move Zical had never seen.

"Nice." Tessa blocked and countered as both woman floated to the floor. "You'll practice during the voyage?"

"I promised, didn't I?"

Dora's face spasmed. Odd, she'd been in total control when fighting. He'd noted no twitching or unnatural movement during the bout, but now that Dora was simply walking, she once again, lacked control.

Tessa nodded "I'll hold you to that promise. Your instincts are good. Once you lean to trust them, you'll move to the next level. If you excuse me, I promised Kahn I'd meet him for lunch."

Tessa departed, leaving Zical alone with Dora. The suit's evaporation took care of her sweat, but her face remained flushed from her exertions, her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and he couldn't help thinking that she looked alive and lovely, and he wished he'd come here for another kiss. For a woman with no s.e.xual experience, Dora had mastered a surefire way to hone his interest. Between her intellect, her sa.s.sy demeanor, and that skintight catsuit his senses were on high alert.

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Her wonderful scent wafted to him, and he folded his arms across his chest, bracing himself for the coming confrontation. "Ranth told me you've modified his systems."

"A few tweaks here and there. Why?"

From her tone, he could tell that she had no idea she'd done anything wrong. And that was the big problem. If she couldn't comprehend that being human had altered her so that making errors might now be a potential problem, then she couldn't change her behavior. More gently and patiently than he'd thought possible, he explained. "Ranth's systems are complex. We depend upon him for survival."

"That's why he needs to be at his best. My tweaks increased his efficiency" Chin raised, head high, she acted as though she expected praise tor her actions.

"Suppose you'd decreased his efficiency?"

"Then we would have deleted the program change."

Stars! "You are arguing with logic. I'm talking about the possibility of your making human errors."

Dora blinked and then opened her eyes wide. "Huh? You don't want me to use logic?"