Clayton sat in the jumbled chaos of Susan's apartment as she entered, his huge frame nearly overflowing the room's only chair. But he no longer looked sloppy-fat, simply large. And he no longer wore the soiled and tattered jumpsuit she had last seen him in. Instead, he was dressed in the powder blue of the Survey Service, silver captain's stripes sewn on his sleeves. The beard, too, was gone.
"This is quite a mess," he said, looking around the trashed room. "I can see why you moved."
Susan almost smiled, but stopped herself. She went to the bunk and sat on its edge. "You've been on the Survey Service compound. What did you learn?"
"It was difficult, but I gained access to Survey's computer. I now have Hyatt's personal access code. And I know your assignment-the mission out to the Crab Nebula."
The Crab Nebula! Susan thought. So that's where she would be going. But it was also where the proprietor of the curio shop back on Fleet Base had said the pendant had originated. Could it be a coincidence? She doubted it.
At any rate, it seemed Clayton was unaware she did not know what her assignment would entail. Should she admit her ignorance to him? Should she tell him Hyatt was giving her information only a little at a time?
No. It was probably best he did not know how little she knew.
"Is that how you got Darcy's unlisted number," she asked, "from the Survey Service computer?"
"That's right."
"Are you going to try to stop my mission?"
"I hope that won't become necessary. But I will if I have to."
"I understand. But you must know how important this assignment is to me."
Clayton nodded. "When are you scheduled to leave?"
She would have to admit her ignorance on this point. "I don't know yet," she said. "If it wasn't in Survey's computer-"
"Maybe Hyatt hasn't decided yet," Clayton finished for her. "When will you be ready to leave?"
"That's hard to say. Hyatt's techs aren't finished with the ship yet, and he won't let me onboard until they are."
"You'll be on your own then, you know. I can no longer protect you after you leave Luna."
"You won't be out there with me?" Susan joked.
"We tried to get someone on your crew, but the ship's a single-seater."
"You're serious. You really think I'll still be in danger after I leave Luna-alone in deep space."
Clayton nodded. "Think about it. Whoever is after you is determined. They've already tried twice, and did this." He motioned around the cluttered room with a sweep of his arm. "Is there any reason to think they'll quit now?"
"No, I guess not."
"Who recommended you for this assignment?" Clayton asked.
"Admiral Renford."
He was silent for a few seconds. Finally he said, "We've uncovered evidence that points to the Admiral as being behind these attempts on your life."
Susan remained silent for a few seconds, her mind numbed with the shock of what she had just heard. Finally she said, "You can't seriously think Admiral Renford is behind this. You can't think he's trying to kill me."
Clayton shrugged.
Standing, Susan paced before the bunk. Again she thought about telling him how little she knew about her assignment, and again decided against it. The less he knew about her ignorance, the better.
After a few seconds, she turned to Clayton and asked, "Have you learned anything about my first two attackers?"
"Nothing about the one you say attacked you outside the curio shop. We couldn't even find anyone who experienced that sudden change in atmospheric pressure you described."
It had been a mistake to tell him about that one, she thought. She should have followed her instincts, telling him only what she knew he could accept.
"What about the one who got into my quarters on Fleet Base?" Clayton had at least acknowledged the existence of that attacker.
"There we've made some progress." He struggled out of the chair and stepped to the phone, then took a memory chip from his breast pocket and placed it in the appropriate slot at eye level below the screen. "Activate display," he said.
Instantly the flat image of a short man looking off to his left appeared on the screen. Instead of the black Base Security uniform Susan had last seen him in, he wore a civilian jumpsuit of gleaming white. His skin was tanned nearly black, and the livid scar stood out on the left sided of his face.
"Is that him?" Clayton asked.
Susan nodded. "Who is he?"
"Just as you thought, he's a belter. Fourth generation. Name's Haxton-Raul Haxton."
"Any ties to Aldebaran?"
"None that we could uncover, but he's been in and out of trouble most of his life."
"You think he was paid to come after me?"
"I would say so, yes."
Susan didn't say anything for a few seconds. Finally she asked, "You don't have him yet?"
Clayton shook his head. "That's the strange part. According to our people on Ceres, Haxton is in prison there, serving a thirty year term for attempted murder. They say he's been in prison for the better part of a year."
"But I saw him only three days ago, here on Luna. He tried to kill me."
Clayton remained silent. Susan couldn't read the large man's expression.
"Where did you get that chip?" she asked.
"The image was recorded less than two weeks ago, as Haxton got off a ship here in Luna City from Ceres Colony."
"Then you're saying he's in two places at once?"
"I'm saying no such thing; I'm merely repeating what I've been told."
Susan nodded. He didn't believe it, just as he refused to believe her when she told him her attacker had disappeared. But she couldn't blame him for that. She wasn't sure she believed any of it herself.
"Anyway," Clayton continued, "he fits the description of a man observed stealing a Base Security uniform a bit more than a week ago." He stepped to the phone and pulled the memory chip. The image disappeared.
Susan felt a few seconds of uneasiness. What was this all about? How could this Haxton fellow be in jail on Ceres, and here on Luna at the same time? It made as much sense as…
As any of this had made so far.
Clayton went to the door and it irised open. For an instant Susan thought she should tell him what had happened with Bill Darcy, about her not remembering him as mayor of Luna City and her remembering the destruction of the solar power satellite. Then she decided against it. How could she possibly convince him that the satellite that gave power to the city he was now in did not exist in her memories, and that the man who was that same city's mayor should not be? She had no proof. And, strange as it seemed, her LIN/C's memory did not agree with her own.
"How can I get in touch with you?" she asked instead, stepping over the clutter to follow him to the door.
"You can't," he answered, without turning. "I'll be in touch with you." He stepped out into the corridor, and the door irised closed behind him.
Susan stood unmoving, just outside the door's sensing field, her mind and body paralyzed with shock. Clayton had hit her with too much all at once. The identity of the dark man and the fact that he seemed to exist in two places. Her assignment's destination. But the most shattering item had been his statement that Admiral Renford might be behind the attempts on her life. That was something she simply could not believe.
That night, in the guest room in Darcy's apartment, only three hours into her fitful sleep, the phone awakened her from the nightmare. It was Fredrik Hyatt.
"Meet me in hangar four," he said, then clicked off.
His technicians were finished with the ship!