"You are no longer a computer, and can make mistakes like the rest of us. Someone should oversee and check your work."

"No one is more qualified than me to alter Ranth's programs."

He couldn't with that. "You're missing my point. Who gave you permission to change his systems?"

Dora frowned. Why do I reed permission? I already told you that no one is better qualified than me. Why would I ask permission from someone with less knowledge?"

Again, she made a good point, but he had his own to make as well. "On a starship, no one is better at repairing the engines than the chief engineer. Yet no engineer would modify the engines without the captain's permission."

"We don't have that chain of command on Mystique."

"I understand. However, on the starship orders must be obeyed. Once we're in s.p.a.ce, if you want to make changes in the computer, you'll need to ask my permission."

"Compliance. I mean yes, I understand."

"Good."

"Zical wondered if she really did understand. Her acceptance had been almost too easy. He'd sought her out expecting a long argument, pleas, logic, or s.e.xual innuendos, not this easy agreement that felt as though she'd cut him off at the knees.

"'I know you aren't pleased that Tessa agreed I should go on the mission." Dora .sucked on her bottom lip for a moment, then spoke in a voice that rang with sincerity.

But I want to contribute. Since I'm part of humanity, I want to help us all survive."

He'd neither expected her to be up-front about what he considered her underhanded tactics of going to Tessa instead of him to be a.s.signed to the mission, nor

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had he ever thought she'd feel a sense of responsibility to humanity. Since he'd already explained that there could be nothing personal between them, and was well aware that she feared the known, he was beginning to see her joining the mission as an act of courage.

However, he wouldn't put it past Dora to set aside her innate sensuality to impress him in other ways. Ant if that was her intent, stars, her tactic was working. What worried him was that he might find her even more attractive as an efficient working member of his crew than he did as the s.e.xy vamp. But be appreciated this new side of her, and he impressed that she was learning to fight.

"I'm glad you're coming with us," he admitted, then felt compelled to question her.

"But are you sure you're to go?"

Chapter Nine.

Engineering?" Zical asked from his station on the bridge as Dora watched him prepare to take the starship Verazen into Osarian s.p.a.ce. The Osarian planet occupied a unique position in the galaxy, its...o...b..t located equidistant between two black stars, creating a slingshot effect into hypers.p.a.ce that could save on fuel and increase their speed, enough to take centuries off their journey. The Verazen was a brand-new ship, and therefore tested over the distance and speeds they intended to fly.

Using the ship's drive alone, the journey would take half their suit-extended lifetimes. So they would navigate the deep Osarian gravity well, plunging closer than anyone had ever done to the black holes before swinging into hypers.p.a.ce. Ore miscalculation and the immense gravity could haul the ship in the ship and squash the hull like a mud flea, or fling them in the wrong direction and add additional light-years to their journey. Piloting and navigation had to be exact, the engines tuned to perfection.

Despite the tension on the bridge, Dora was determined to remain as professional as the rest of the crew. She'd been in hypers.p.a.ce more times than she could count, but never in a body. Since hypers.p.a.ce was known to increase the sensitivity of all five senses, she braced for the additional stimuli. Some races sickened and had to be drugged into a sleep state, but humans adapted, even if they suffered a bit of nausea at first. Tessa had advised Dora to lower her suit temperature and keep her eyes peeled on the viewscreen, instead she focused on Zical, enjoying the opportunity to observe him without the others noticing.

The Rystani captain leaned eagerly forward, his posture erect, his head high, his eyes bright with antic.i.p.ation of the unknown. On land Zical was a formidable man, but the helm of a starship was his natural element and where he came alive. Dora had accompanied him on every mission and enjoyed the sparkle of antic.i.p.ation in his eyes that went so with how he led his officers in a calm manner. She also enjoyed his gaze sweeping over her, as if to make certain she was okay, as if he wasn't able to treat her like just another crew member. And on the rare occasions when their glances met, she appreciated the approval he reflected back at her for a job she did well.

"Engineering is a go." Cyn, the chief engineer, a skilled woman from Scartar, patted her console and spoke under her breath to her engines as if they required soothing encouragement. An exotic warrior woman with arms as muscular as a Rystani hunter, she came from a matriarchal society where women ruled. During her computer days, Dora had been vital part of this crew during missions to evacuate refugees from Rystan and she knew that Cyn had no difficulties taking orders from a man. With her fierce

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looks, muscular body, and easygoing personality, the green-skinned Cyn had a reputation for real genius when it came to making repairs, and her underlings adored her.

"Navigation?" Zical's face appeared calm, but Dora noted the growing glitter of excitement in his gaze. The man loved adventure but didn't like to admit enjoying the risk-taking side of his personality. Instead, he usually projected an air of responsible leadership, but in a moment like this one, his true character showed. He was impatient to see what was out there, to go somewhere no Rystani had ever gone, and his excitement stirred a matching one inside her.

She was risking her life for a shot at love, and exhilaration mixed with the dangerous tension in her belly Dora held her breath, the moments pa.s.sing by too fast, and yet contradictorily much too slowly. Hypers.p.a.ce was unstable. No one the Federation had gone out as far as they planned to do and returned to tell about their journey-at least not in the last few hundred thousand years. However, her physical safety was of a lesser concern to her than the emotional risk she'd taken insisting on accompanying Zical.

Instinctively, she'd known they'd needed time together. And she hoped the friendship they shared would grow as the journey progressed. While she was eager to experience pa.s.sion with Zical, she also wanted her feelings to deepen. She wanted to earn his respect and his admiration as well as his l.u.s.t and she wouldn't stand a chance of accomplishing her goal if she'd remained behind on Mystique.

"We're keyed in the groove." Ranth's voice, steady and crisp, helped Dora steady her jumpy nerves.

Zical went down his checklist, his commanding demeanor rea.s.suring. "Weapons?"

"Locked down tight." The Rystani warrior Vax had been Zical's second in command for the past three years during the transfer of Rystani colonists to Mystique.

Serious, loyal. Vax followed orders without question. Short for a Rystani, he possessed a broad chest and wide shoulders, he was a fierce compet.i.tor at Famat, a complex gambling game that taxed mind and spirit, and he could down large quant.i.ties of alcohol without it seeming to affect his judgment.

"Communications?"

Shannon Walker, a quiet Terran woman, handled her station with an ease that belied her age. She'd become a widow due to an accident in s.p.a.ce. She admitted to the spry age of sixty but Dora knew her to be closer to eighty-a mere youngster, considering the suits increased Terran life spans to close to a thousand years. Unless, of course, they died in an accident, nothing was more dangerous than hypers.p.a.ce.

Dora tensed, knowing this part of the journey and the exit in the uncharted territory were probably the most dangerous times of the mission, since that's when they were most vulnerable. Hypers.p.a.ce inside the Federation was usually stable, unless a local star went supernova, unless a black hole destabilized the region, unless a worm hole blasted hypers.p.a.ce to shreds and their ship along with it.

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Telling herself that she would be dead before she knew what had happened and that she'd suffer no pain didn't help. Dora had too many things she wanted to do before she died. Sheesh. She hadn't even made love-an item on the top of her to-do list. But human s.e.xuality was complicated, especially when mixed with stubborn Rystani males.

"Computer?" Zical interrupted Dora's thoughts. As he asked for her report, he didn't look at her, carefully treating her exactly the same as his other crew members.

"All systems are operational." Pleased that she so calm, Dora suspected her effort was destroyed by an tic. Sometimes rubbing the muscles around the eye helped, but she didn't like to be obvious about her disability and turned her head away from the others... and caught sight of... something that didn't belong on the bridge.

"Five seconds to hypers.p.a.ce." Cyn counted down the jump sequence.

The bridge, shaped like a pancake, was positioned on top of the living quartes with the engines in the lower decks. The inside was compact, with large viewscreens around the circ.u.mference, each station consisting of equipment monitors, consoles, and vidscreens to show other sections of the ship as well as the exterior view. Right now the stars appeared stationary, but once in hypers.p.a.ce they'd streak past the windows. For the shift from normal s.p.a.ce, the crew didn't depend on their suits alone to keep them safe. Safety straps webbed them in place, although once in hypers.p.a.ce they could move about freely.

"Three seconds."

"Two."

However, behind the webbing that extended from the ceiling to the floor was something, someone, too small to be a crew member. With the creature's suit matched in color to the webbing to camouflage its presence, Dora would never have spied the intruder if she hadn't angled her head down to rub her eye. Perhaps she was seeing things. Surely Ranth's sensors would have noted an alien presence, so Dora hesitated to say anything, unwilling to trust her human eyes.

Could the fear in her gut be causing hallucinations?

"One second."

The creature moved.

Dora braced for the hyperjump, but still warned the others. "Intruder on board."

"Security alert." Vax issued the warning through the ship's com.

"Where?" Zical asked, turning his head to her with a frown The ship jumped out of normal s.p.a.ce, and their hyperdrive kicked in along with the slingshot effect from the gravity well's release. To Dora the impact of hypers.p.a.ce was like a kick in the gut. Her hearing picked up every hull vibration. Colors sharpened.

The air in her lungs seemed crisper. And the hair on her arms stood or end. Due to the intensity of her untried senses, the silhouette of the intruder appeared to blur, causing her to wonder if she'd seen anything at all.

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Perhaps the problem with her sight was simply a side effect of hypers.p.a.ce. They were traveling faster, farther, than anyone in the Federation had ever done before. The speed was more than her human brain could comprehend, and although it seemed impossible, they'd already pa.s.sed four percent of the way through the galaxy.

Ranth disagreed with Dora's alert. "My sensors haven't picked up an intruder."

Nothing Ranth could have said, could have upset her more. Since her transformation, Dora had had trouble adjusting to her human eyes that only looked forward and somewhat to the sides. And Ranth could see everywhere. He could note an alien presence in dozens of ways. He a could hear breathing, sense their body heat. Pick up any number of clues on his scanners and internal sensors.

"Dora." Zical eyed her, his expression worried. "Where's the intruder? Talk to us."

Obviously, Zical and the rest of the crew didn't see it hiding. But she could still see a blurred silhouette in the webbing. So either her eyes were faulty, or she was going insane. Or the hypers.p.a.ce speed was playing tricks with her sight. But then the creature moved again. She was about to raise her hand and point, when the creature emerged.

from hiding.

Not a creature.

A boy.

Kirek.

The rascal had sneaked aboard. His parents were going to be furious. Zical would no doubt give the boy a good tongue lashing for his antics.

Relieved she wasn't crazy and that her eyes had not somehow malfunctioned, Dora rubbed her forehead, which was beginning to pound from the intense hypers.p.a.ce vibration. She supposed if that was the worst thing she suffered, she wouldn't complain. At least the ship hadn't disintegrated from the enormous forces. Her attention focused on Kirek, who looked both sheepish and not so innocent, but ready to own up to his actions.

How had a four-year-old-boy avoided the most sophisticated ship's sensors known to the Federation?

Security double-timed onto the bridge, weapons drawn. When they spied Kirek, they lowered their weapons before Zical gave the order to stand down.

"We are on the mark, Captain," Vax reported from his station.

"Hull temperature rose four decrees. Nothing we can't handle." Cyn retracted the webbing, leaving Zical to deal with his stowaway.

"Inform Miri and Etru that their son is with us," Zical ordered his communications officer.

Shannon nodded. "Aye, sir, but their response will take some time due to our considerable progress."

Zical approached the boy and kneeled to look him in the eyes. "What are yon doing here?"

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"And how did he avoid Ranth's sensors?" Dora asked.

"You need me." Kirek answered Zical in the voice of a toddler, but with the demeanor of an adult.

"Your parents need you," Zical told him.

"Ranth, are your sensors picking up Kirek now?" Dora asked.

"Yes. But it's as if he's decided to allow me to scan him. I have no explanation."

Zical arched a brow and waited for the child to say more. Dora wasn't so sure he could explain, but she admired Zical's patience. There were fish that gave off electricity but they certainly couldn't explain how they did so. Some mammals used sonar to fly in dark caves, but that didn't mean the user understood the process.

However, Kirek was not just unusual for a child, he was unique. As the only human being known to have been born in hypers.p.a.ce, he'd exhibited signs of maturation and genius early. His psi was extraordinary strong for an adult, never mind a child, and his intelligence was off all measurable charts.

"I can cloak myself from machines, "Kirek said So he did have an explanation.

"How?" Zical asked.