Not even the sigh of air-moving broke the silence of the huge private luxury liner. His shoes made no noise on the deck as he approached the big man who was staring out the forward observation port. The glowing coal shimmered and curling smoke wafted from the cigar as the big man waved it at the port. "Such a beautiful universe is it not," he said without turning from his contemplation. "It will be beautiful when certain individuals residing in it are dead." He walked up and faced the big man. "How are we going to find them? They could be anywhere by now," he said quietly. "Do I pay you to worry?" the big man asked. "I think not. I don't even pay you to think but you insist on doing it anyway." A cloud of noxious smoke filled the air around him as he puffed on the cigar. "We will find them, I assure you." "When we do I want that Captain. I want to kill him with my bare hands but I'll settle for shooting him." A smile played on the big man's lips. "Like you did with Sally?" he asked. "Yeah. I think he'll last a lot longer though." "Well, in that case, I hope that you can do better with the good Captain than you did with Sally." His head snapped around and his eyes narrowed as he glared at the big man. "What do you mean by that?" "I mean that our dear, sweet little Sally managed to survive your ministrations and is now in the employ of our opponents." He turned slightly to beam a smile at the cadaverous features of his hired killer. "Perhaps you assumed too much that she was such a weak thing you could just leave her to die on her own. Suffice it to say I've docked your account for that fee." He turned back to the port and continued to study the play of light. "And before you think you can get rid of me know that you are the fifth in a long line of killers I've hired on. You would not be here if number four hadn't attempted my life." More smoke billowed. "I'm here and you are his replacement. Don't make the same mistake. I don't really want to take the time to find a replacement for you." "Fair enough." He thought for a moment. "So how is it that you are so sure that you will be able to find them?" "Because I can always sense her. I can always track her down." Leaning forward he tapped a control with his cane. "Commander, change course for the Dead Worlds. Let me know the ETA as soon as you have computed it." "Yes, sir," came a crisp response. "Now, back to the subject. Unfortunately she can also sense me. So we are going to be playing cat and mouse until she finds whatever it is that she is looking for and then she will have to stop long enough for me to catch up with her." "What happens then?" "Then we shall see just how this game shall end. I intend to be the winner but the universe doesn't play favorites." More foul smoke billowed. "I want you to get a team together out of the crew. Ones with your kind of instincts or as close to that as you can find. Train them. I think they will prove useful." "I'll do what I can. These ship slobs don't seem very promising." "I'm sure you will do just fine. Now leave me. I have thinking to do." As he walked away he found himself annoyed that his shoes made no noise. Trying to understand the man was proving impossible. Meanwhile he could look forward to working Sally over again and also killing the pilot. And he would do some research to find out if the big man was jerking him around about having had four previous killers in his employ. It didn't seem possible. The door slid open without a sound as he finally reached it. It closed just as silently behind him. To be continued...