The headache burned behind her eyes as the crowd pressed in around her. Thousands of sweaty, smelly people pushed from all sides, and she feared she would go down and be trampled beneath their feet. For an instant, she thought she would faint.
Susan fought the faintness down. She had no time for it now. She had to locate Hyatt. And instantly the intricate snowflake pattern grew in her thoughts, and the monosyllabic chant came to her lips.
Where is he? she wondered, scanning the crowd. Where in this mass of humanity could he be hiding? He had been smart. He had known she would track him, no matter where he went. His only hope had been in finding a place where he could still remain hidden. This was just such a place.
She stood on her toes and strained to see over the heads of those around her, trying to pick Hyatt out of the crowd. She was taller than most of those around her, but it would still be an impossible task. There were simply too many people-a million, maybe more-and he was incredibly short. She could not possibly hope to locate him in this mass of humanity.
But perhaps her newly attained ability could. She had tracked him through time and space. Now that she was here, she might just be able to fine tune the location procedure, pinpointing him exactly.
Clearing her mind, she thought of nothing but Hyatt. She formed a detailed image of him, careful that she did not visualize the Hyatt from her own time. There were no physical differences of which she was aware, so she concentrated on the small differences in personality and character.
Just in time, she brought herself out of it. Her mind had been concentrated entirely on the task, and she had been oblivious to the crowd around her. She was swooning. She had nearly fallen.
With an effort she regained control. She would have to pay closer attention to her surroundings. Although the crowd was in gay spirits-happy and eager to ring in the new year-they were a hazard.
Again she concentrated on locating Hyatt. But this time she kept just enough attention on her surroundings to maintain her balance and stay upright.
She became barely aware that those around her were staring as she cast her thoughts out over the crowd, searching for the small man in the sea of humanity filling Times Square. Her consciousness swept out in ever increasing circles, like the wave effect of a pebble dropped into a still pond.
And suddenly, she had him, off to her left and perhaps five hundred feet distant. But there were hundreds of people between them-hundreds of bodies made of hard, unrelenting flesh. How would she possibly get to him through this crowd?
The answer was simple: The pendant. She would jump to his location, the same way she had jumped to this time and place.
Then it struck her. That very action was what had set off the New Years Eve riot of 2141-the riot that had killed both her mother and her father. Even now, those around her were watching intently.
And why shouldn't they watch? she thought. Here was a tall woman in Fleet red, standing in their midst, mumbling strange syllables and weaving as if in a trance. If she suddenly vanished, they would panic. They would try to scatter in mad fear. Within seconds that fear would spread through the entire crowd, and thousands would be killed.
Among those thousands would be Susan's own parents.
Yet, it was the only way she could get to Hyatt. He had to be stopped, no matter what the cost.
Besides, she had done it. The New Years Riot was part of history. Her mother and father had died in it.
But until now she had not realized exactly what had caused that riot. No one had.
She took a deep breath and, without another thought, jumped.