She covered Oliver's head with her hand. "Are you still on about the cat?"

Zainman glared at it. "It's just an animal."

"He's my pet," she retorted. "More or less. I'm not handing him over to you, I don't care what kind of dream symbology you are supposed to be." She shooed him away with a flick of her hand. "I don't like you anymore. You can go now."

He didn't say anything, his eyes regarding her with frustration and annoyance. Just like Robert. She hated this stupid dream. It was bad enough living with that look for two years, but to still be dreaming about it was downright pathetic.

"I hope your animal likes space rations." Zainman turned and stepped up to a door that opened automatically for him. He disappeared through it and Lacey was alone with Oliver.

She shook her head in utter confusion. "Maybe this is one of those dreams where you think you are waking up but you really aren't, Oliver."

Silence descended as she waited for the dream to end. Closed her eyes to help things along. Opened them. Still here. Curiouser and curiouser. She stepped around the small room and didn't see a thing that looked familiar.

That's when she noticed the stack of thin boards: paintings. Created in dark, tortured colors, they were a sharp contrast to the gunmetal walls they were leaning against. She peered through the stack. Oddly warped trees surrounded serene lakes and covered low mountain ridges. Reds, blacks, and grays were mixed up in a nightmarish swill. They were very good, almost lifelike in their twisted renditions, Salvador Dali style. Maybe a dream like this was how old Sal got his ideas.

The materials were strange, not quite paint and not quite canvas, but even to her untrained eye she could tell that whoever painted them had tremendous talent and technique. Why would such paintings be in her dream? She didn't paint, had neither the desire nor the talent. Very strange, but then again, nothing about this dream had been normal so far.

A mix of voices and mechanical noises came through the open doorway. Against her better judgment, she walked over to investigate. Beyond the door was a short corridor flanked by doors on each side and a single bed attached to the wall on the right. Past that, she spotted the back of Zainman's head.

She made her way down the corridor. It opened onto a horseshoe-shaped space lined with banks of panels and wide windows. Zainman sat in one of two bucket seats, tapping at a sleek black panel in front of him. Little holographic images popped up and disappeared on the surface, and Lacey watched them with captivated wonder. Colored bars and boxes covered the panel marked with strange writing. Fascinating. It amazed her how an overworked mind tossed things together and made a dream.

Her gaze shifted to the windows with their 180-degree view. Spiky brown plants spread out in all directions across a flat plain. A burnt-orange sun hung just over the dark red cliffs in the distance. Red, she thought. Didn't most people dream in black and white?

Outside, two strange squirrel-like creatures hopped around sparse trees that were right out of a Dr. Seuss book. It all looked very, very vivid. Almost as if it were real-in a creepy kind of way.

"Reene, how long before we recover enough to power the VirtuWav back up?" Zainman said aloud.

"Cell Three has fully discharged. Without an infusion of ancillary power, the VirtuWav is inoperable."

Lacey glanced around the cabin at the voice seeming to come from everywhere. "Who was that?"

Zainman replied dryly, "Lacey, meet Reene."

She looked around. There wasn't anyone else there. She took a tentative step away from Zainman and his invisible friend.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lacey," the omnipresent voice said.

She looked at the ceiling, completely baffled. Maybe she was dead. After all, she had seen those lights. "God?"

"I am not a god. I am a product of artificial intelligence. It is a pleasure to meet an Earthling," the voice said.

Lacey gave a little hysterical laugh of relief. "I knew it. Too many hours on the computer and too many bad sci-fi movies-a guaranteed recipe for weird dreams."

Zainman interjected, "This isn't a dream, Lacey."

She rolled her eyes. "Will this end already? Joke's over. I have work to do, a cat to feed, and I would like to be awake now."

He eyed her for a very long time before saying, "You already are."

Chapter Three.

Zain watched color drain from the woman's delicate features and wondered if she'd pass out on him. As if he didn't have enough problems at the moment.

"You might want to sit down," he suggested and turned the seat beside him to face her.

She didn't move, just stared at him with those incredible blue eyes. Ivory skin paled against soft red lips and shiny, straight black hair that brushed past her shoulders. Little shoulder straps held up a flimsy purple top that hugged her breasts. Darker pants hung from her hips and around her bottom. Outlined were the dangerous curves of a lean, petite body.

She'd been a hell of a surprise when she'd come through the VirtuWav. A classic beauty with a body to match. Unfortunately, she couldn't take orders worth a damn. If she'd only given him her animal, she'd be back home already.

"I'll be going now," she said, sounding dazed. And with that, she turned and wandered back down the corridor to the cargo area and VirtuWav banks.

"Damn," he muttered. All his ship's power levels were in the red, and his one chance at deliverance was trying to walk out on him. He said to Reene, "See what you can do about repairing Cell Three. I'm going to try to pacify our . . . guest."

"Yes, sir."

Zain got up to follow Lacey before she strolled outside and hurt herself. On the way back, he mentally calculated what another live body and a half were going to do to his food and water supply. Normally he carried enough supplies, but only for himself. It had been a long time since he'd had to figure another person into the equation. He didn't even want to consider sleeping arrangements.

He found her standing in the middle of the Virtu Wav circle with her eyes closed, clutching her animal in one arm. The creature blinked at him with golden eyes and gave a small cry.

Lacey's eyes flickered open. He caught a flash of fear in them. So, she wasn't as tough as she tried to be. If she was afraid now, she was going to terrified when she found out what kind of mess she'd landed in.

He reined in his frustration. She couldn't realize what her reluctance in the Virtu Wav had cost them both. If anything, it was his fault for even attempting the transfer. Now she was his responsibility. Her and her creature.

He reached out and ran his fingers across the top of the animal's head, which the creature seemed to genuinely like. It looked very similar to the cat that his friend Tess had brought back from Earth with her. Different color, same indifference.

"What's your cat's name?"

"You tell me," she replied, an edge of desperation in her voice. "I created you, so you should know."

Zain took a deep breath. "This isn't a dream."

She pointed toward the forward cabin. "Yeah, well that's not Kansas out there either, so the only explanation is that you"-she poked him in the gut-"are my imaginary friend and I'm sleeping."

He rubbed his belly where her sharp nail had stabbed him, and she looked at her finger.

"That hurt," she said with a frown.

"I know. You could use that finger as a weapon."

Her face lifted to his and he took the full brunt of her wide, blue eyes.

"Who are you?"

He paused, his ingrained self-preservation conditioning kicking in. A hunted man had to be careful. Then he decided it wouldn't hurt if she knew who he was. She wouldn't be around him long enough for it to matter. "Zain Masters. I'm a being from another part of your galaxy."

Her lips formed a skeptical pout. "Right," she said slowly. "And I suppose this is the USS Enterprise."

He scowled. "What?"

"You can tell Scottie to beam me up now," she said, looking around. "How do I get out of here? There must be a way."

He watched her walk around the cargo space, pushing on the walls and looking behind his survey, exercise, and training equipment.

"My ship isn't very big. You've pretty much seen it all."

Ignoring him, she disappeared to the front cabin. He crossed his arms and waited. He heard her opening and closing doors and cabinets, and let her. It was the only way she'd believe him. The sooner she realized this was real, the sooner he'd convince her to cooperate. She'd recognized something in those jumbled images he'd sent to every information network in the quadrant, and if she wanted to go home so badly, she'd help him figure out what they meant. But first, she needed a little orientation.

"Sir, she appears to be in deep denial. Would you like me to talk to her?" Reene asked quiedy.

Zain shook his head. "I don't think it'll do any good-but you might want to protect all your vital equipment."

Lacey reappeared through the door, looking rather frantic. Then she spied the air lock behind him and her face lit up. He moved to block her.

"You can't go outside."

She tried to sidestep him. "Bullshit, I can't."

"It's too dangerous."

"No, dangerous is being trapped in this nightmare with you." She raised her chin. "So move it or..."

She looked around and then lifted her cat toward Zain's face. "Or my cat will attack."

Zain's eyebrows went up. The cat blinked lazily at him.

"Really?"

"He's a tiger, believe me," Lacey said, her voice rising in warning.

The cat yawned. Zain didn't move. Lacey gave a growl of frustration and shoved the cat into his arms, startling the cat and surprising Zain. It came alive in a flash, sinking its sharp claws into his skin. He swore as he tried to use two hands to control four sets of crazed feet and all that fur. In the meantime, Lacey scrambled by him and the air lock opened.

He finally freed himself of the hissing, biting, scratching beast and it scampered away. Zain turned just as Lacey jumped through the door and outside.

"Damn it!" He pulled a laser pistol off the rack and went after her.

The escape had seemed like such a good idea. Running had always worked before. She didn't even feel bad about leaving Oliver behind since none of this was real. Because if it was, then that would mean that she had finally gone insane and this would be the Home for Wayward Programmers.

Everything made perfect sense until she lost her stupid purple fuzzy slipper. Then everything went right to hell.

Because that's when she looked back and saw the ship. The one she'd just run away from. Ship as in spaceship, USS Enterprise and "Houston, the Eagle has landed."

And even that wouldn't have been so bad if one really attractive, really pissed-off man weren't bearing down on her with a gun in his hand.

"Oh crap," she said and hopped around trying to pull off her other slipper so she could run faster. With both of them in hand, she bounded between the spiky plants and little critters scattering before her.

Any minute now, she'd wake up. Yup, if she ran hard enough and maybe screamed ... She screamed, just in case. Yup, real soon she'd wake up in her bed in her little house in the country.

But it occurred to her as she heard Zain bearing down on her while her lungs burned in the arid heat and her feet were getting cut up by rocks, that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't a dream and he was a male nurse with a straitjacket.

He grabbed her arm from behind and dragged her to a halt. She couldn't fight him if she wanted. Hell, she could hardly breathe.

"Stop it, Lacey," the man growled, his grip like steel.

She pushed him away. "I want out. I'm not kidding."

"There's nowhere to run and"-he ducked as she swung a fist over his head- "no one around to rescue you." He shoved his gun in his belt, gripped both her wrists and yanked her chest to chest with him. And then they stared at each other for a real long time.

Lacey's teeth hurt from breathing through them with her jaw clenched.

"Let me go."

Zain looked down at her, holding her close, and waited for her to stop struggling. He stood like the peaceful center of a hurricane, giving her something she could cling to as her world spun out of control.

"You can run until you die of dehydration or you can come back to the ship with me and I'll explain everything," he finally said. She stared into his face and he met her gaze straight on. Her out-of-control feeling slowed, along with her heartbeat. Beneath the seriousness, there was sincerity in his expression. But Robert had seemed sincere at first, too, and look what he'd done.

She glanced around. On the other hand, the man had a valid point: there was nowhere to go. No buildings, no roads, no people. Only a desert with plants and disturbing little animals and tall mountains in every direction. It looked like the set of an old Western movie, complete with the gunslinger.

Suddenly, Lacey was very tired. Not only that, her feet hurt and she had to use the bathroom in the worst way. She stilled. Wait a minute. That meant...

"Oh no," she whispered and stopped struggling. "It's true. I've gone psycho."

He released her hands and she swayed without his support. He held her arm and guided her back toward the spaceship. Yes, it was definitely a spaceship. It was only about forty feet long-definitely not along the lines of a Death Star, which should be good news but wasn't. The shape reminded her of a giant silver teardrop that had solidified and tumbled to its side on the ground. Black metal webbing covered the surface, from the tip where she could see the front window to the tail where barrel-like engines jutted out, partly buried in the sand.

And all that was fine with her since she was now officially certifiable. It had been only a matter of time, she supposed, before her mind decided to take a small vacation from reality and dump her into her very own Western fantasy. She slid a glance to the cowboy who now seemed quite substantial. Noticing the gun was drawn and the way his eyes scoured the landscape, she realized that she might have more to worry about than losing her mind.

Zain dropped into his seat and rubbed his face with his hands. Who knew one woman could be so much trouble? He'd been shot, stabbed, and attacked in high-risk military operations under dangerous conditions in hostile territory surrounded by bloodthirsty enemies-with less difficulty. Life was much easier in the military. You told people what to do and they did it. Apparently, this woman hadn't heard of that protocol.

He glanced at the killer cat curled up on one of the consoles. "You are one brave animal," he said, garnering a new respect for the species. The cat simply stretched and closed his eyes.

"Stay away from him, Oliver," Lacey said sharply.

The cat blinked a disinterested acknowledgment and promptly went to sleep.

Zain turned to find Lacey standing just inside the lav door where he'd left her. She watched him with intense suspicion as she settled into the copilot chair across from him. Her color was better now and she appeared markedly calmer.

She laced her fingers together in front of her and took a deep breath. "So where am I? At an institute somewhere?"

"You aren't on Earth anymore, Lacey."

"Ah," she said. "Well, that explains a lot."