Finally, Hyatt said, "I suppose I must trust your judgement. Have her orders cut." He glanced at Susan, again fixing her with his gaze, then looked at his wrist chronometer. Without uttering another word, he strode from the room

Susan looked up at Renford. The Admiral glared at the door as it irised closed behind Hyatt. For the first time since joining his staff, she saw disgust in his gaze. Perhaps even hate.

"He's a strange one," she said, more to break the silence than for any other reason.

Renford nodded. "But he's one of the shrewdest, most intelligent individuals I've ever met."

Susan nodded noncommittally. "Why is he like that? Why such concern over General Fund money?"

The Admiral was quiet for a few seconds. Finally he shrugged and said, "You know the story of the Survey Service's formation?"

"Of course," Susan said. Everyone knew the Service's history. It was started nearly fifty years before, by a group of Federation Fleet officers who found they could no longer condone a military presence in space. Humanity should be peacefully exploring the infinite frontier, they proclaimed, searching for signs of intelligent life other than humankind, rather than suppressing its own struggling colonies. They felt the human race could better use its time and talents seeking an intelligence that had not yet been discovered and had not even left a clue to its existence, but which they none-the-less believed did exist. Their convictions were so strong they resigned their commissions in Fleet to form the Survey Service.

"Hyatt was one of the Service's founders." the Admiral said. "He was one of its first pilots, when General Fund money was tighter than it is now."

Again Susan nodded. "What was it you told him I'm right for?"

"A special assignment. He wants you to report to the Survey Service duty desk in Luna City by twelve hundred hours tomorrow."