Not bothering to answer, Haylie moved past her friend and collapsed on her bed.

"Are you hurt? Let me take a look at you."

She squeezed her eyes shut against her tears. "I'm fine, Sara...tired."

Sara's voice came from her bed. "You wouldn't tell me even if you were hurt.

Aren't you going to ask about Kamran?"

Haylie rolled over to face her friend. "He'll be fine...right?"

Sara smiled. "He sure will. I'm looking after him. He was in stable condition when I left. He was far enough away from the explosion when it happened that his injuries were mostly superficial. Except for the concussion."

Relief rolled though her, relaxing muscles Haylie hadn't realized were tense. He was going to be fine.

"Hon, are sure you're not hurt?" Sara moved beside her and stroked her hair.

"I couldn't tell he was alive until you put the oxygen mask on him. I should have known."

"I'm not going to pretend to know what is going on between you two. Now isn't the time to discuss it. I'm going to give you something to help you sleep."

She didn't even flinch when Sara pressed the needle into her arm.

"Sleep and we'll talk in the morning. Okay?"

The injection had already begun to take hold, preventing an answer. Haylie tried to form an image of Kamran in her mind. The color of his skin, his eyes and hair were there, but nothing else. His features blurred together and she lost the image as she drifted into sleep.

She could tell the instant she was dreaming. The walls surrounding her were too bright. The corridors were too straight. Her ears were humming.

Haylie had to concentrate to move her head so that she could see above her. The straight lines of the vent cover were blurred, as if her mind didn't want her to see too clearly what was beyond the protective barrier.

97.

Using her arms as a lever, she pushed herself away from the wall and walked slowly down the hall. She recognized that she was close to the med bay where Kamran was resting. She had to mentally force step by painful step to get to him.

When she reached the door, it was already open. Poking her head through, she was able to see Kamran lying on a steel medical bed, a crisp white sheet draped over him in straight lines.

In a blink, she was standing beside him. His olive skin seemed amplified against the whiteness. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. But, as in reality, Haylie knew that Kamran was alive.

She wasn't sure how long she was standing in her dream. Time had no meaning.

When she looked up from her post, she realized she wasn't alone. Donaldson stood diagonally across from her.

She got goose b.u.mps at the sight of him.

"What do you want?"

He smiled at her, displaying a perfect set of teeth. "Everything."

"Did you do this to him?" Haylie registered somewhere that she was much calmer in her dream that she was in reality.

"What does it matter to you if I did or not?"

Donaldson didn't move, but the distance between them disappeared. Kamran's bed was suddenly off to the side of the room. Haylie wanted to run, but her body didn't respond.

Don't tell him the truth. Her mind was screaming at her.

Donaldson took a half step toward her and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Don't tell me the truth about what?"

In her dream, Haylie could see the shock on her face, her half gaping mouth snap shut.

She realized she couldn't think, only react. "The truth that I am attracted to the amba.s.sador. And that I am also attracted to you."

That seemed to please him and he licked the length of her neck up to her ear.

Somehow she managed not to shudder.

When he pulled away to look Haylie in the face, he didn't even attempt to hide his smugness. "I think you will like me more in the end."

"Why's that?"

The med bay vanished and they were standing on the surface of the planet. Haylie didn't recognize the location, but a mountain range close by hugged around them. The flat area where they stood was protected from the high winds.

Just as quickly, they were back in the bay. This time Donaldson was standing behind Haylie.

"Because the amba.s.sador has no real power."

98.

"But you do?"

His grip tightened around her biceps, "You'll soon see."

Haylie sat up in her bed, gasping. Her sweat-drenched hair was slick against her cheek and neck. She fumbled out of bed, barely making it to the toilet in time.

Sara woke quickly after the first of Haylie's retching.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so. The meds must not be agreeing with me."

Haylie managed to pick herself up and make her way to the sink. The thin trickle of water actually felt good against her face. After a few minutes, she felt able to make it back to bed.

"Computer, time?" Haylie asked before gingerly slipping back between her sheets.

She couldn't quite remember the details of her dream. It slipped away much faster than normal.

"Time is oh-nine-hundred hours."

Haylie sat up, her head pounded from the action. That wasn't possible. She got back out of bed and made her way over to the computer. Light from the hallway blinded her for a moment as Sara made her way through the door.

"I never want another night like that again."

"What the h.e.l.l? I just went to sleep." Haylie tried to shake the fog from her brain.

"It's been three hours. I only gave you a light sedative. You shouldn't be feeling any effects. Maybe you should call in sick today? No one would blame you. "

Sara lightly took Haylie's arm to help her back to bed. Pain shot instantly through her, causing Haylie to cry out.

"What the-"

Cautiously, Haylie pulled her uniform down allowing Sara to inspect the skin.

"Computer, full lights."

They both gasped when they saw the dark bruising that had already begun to rise around the biceps.

"Are these finger marks?" Sara took a closer look at the damaged area. "Who did this to you?"

Everything from her dream came flooding back. Kamran, Donaldson, even the strange valley. "I..." But she couldn't answer.

Sara released her arm and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sweetie, you have to let someone in. You can't go through life keeping things bottled up."

"I'm not bottling things up. There isn't anything to tell."

"I think you forget who you're talking to. Are you a coward?"

If anyone but Sara had said that to her, Haylie would have brushed them off. She wasn't easily goaded. Instead, she looked at her friend, took a deep breath and 99 explained everything. Not leaving out a single detail she talked for a solid fifteen minutes before her story was done. By the time she had finished, Sara simply sat there, unmoving.

Haylie stared back. "Well, say something."

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me that you have found your cosmic soul mate. Who is now in the hospital because someone wanted to blow him up?"

"Yes."

"You are being stalked by Donaldson, who seems to have the hots for you, in your dreams."

"Correct."

"You have an alien bodyguard, but you don't know where his loyalties lie."

"No, Taber will do anything to keep Kamran safe. I just don't think he trusts me."

Sara stood and began to move quickly around the room, "And to top it all off, you say there is someone trying to sabotage the colony by hiring, then killing, a hacker to tamper with doc.u.ments that don't really seem to cause any harm?"

"The really stupid thing is, I can't believe I let myself...I mean, I never thought I'd do this." Her feelings sounded stupid whenever she tried to express them.

"You're not your mother, Haylie."

She glared at Sara. "What the h.e.l.l does that mean?"

"It means that you're not a bad person for finding someone you care for. It also means you're not going to abandon who you are to follow a romantic whim."

Both women stared at each other. Sara was crazy. Of course she wasn't anything like her mother. She'd spent her entire life in pursuit of everything that was opposite to that woman. Sara d.a.m.n well knew that. Haylie wanted to yell. Her jaw refused to cooperate by opening.

"I know how hard it was on you and your dad when your mom took off. She said it was fate that she met that guy."

"There's no such thing as fate." The words slipped out.

"No, there isn't. Everything happens for a reason of someone's choosing. That is more painful than fate."

"Kamran wants me to believe that our relationship was preordained or something.

Why can't I find a nice, normal guy who happens to like me?" Haylie's throat tightened.

"Who's to say your amba.s.sador isn't that guy? What if we're wrong and you two are meant to be together? Would that be a bad thing?"

Gone was the light-hearted doctor. Haylie really looked at her friend for the first time in a long time. They had both come so far in their lives, changing without really noticing.

"You look older," Haylie said, and smiled.

100.

"I was arm deep in body parts for six hours before coming home to my friend who's being a.s.saulted by her dreams. With experience comes age." Despite her words, Sara smiled too.

"Doctor, I think you need your rest."

"I would suggest the same for you. As long as you promise no more crazy dreams."

"I wish I could." Haylie touched her arm and pushed down the panic that threatened to rise. "I think I might stay up. I need to figure out why someone wanted to bomb that meeting."