She gathered her flame hair into her hands, pulling it up to the crown of her head, then securing the ponytail with an elastic band. Her strange eyes, eyes that were the color of the sea as seen from an ariel shot of a tropical paradise, examined her handiwork in the vanity mirror. She'd managed to tame most of the unruly mop, but her bangs, which were getting too long to be convenient, were still too short to be held by the hair-tie. She tossed her head to move them from her vision, but they quickly settled back over her aqua orbs.

"Stubborn..." she mumbled, then curled her thin lips into a smile. "Looks better this way, anyway."

She pushed her chair back from the vanity, and stood up to get a look at the rest of her. Her reed-thin frame was covered in a fitted white button-up shirt, it's long sleeves unbuttoned at the wrist, and covering all but the very tips of her fingers, and, of course, black leather pants. She tilted her head to the side. Only one thing missing.

She swept the leather jacket off the back of the chair, and pulled it on over her shirt. She adjusted the over-long sleeves, and checked her appearance again. Perfection.

The hotel room, on the other hand, wasn't in such good shape, though, she thought with a smile, it was much better than she'd left Corbin's. At least the door was still on the hinges, and it still had its windows. Still... she hadn't been in a very good mood when she got back to her own hotel. She felt a slight twinge of guilt, she'd taken out her frustration at her failure on the furniture, tipping over tables, tearing up the sofa, that sort of thing, and now the maid was going to have to clean it up.

She bit her lip, then knelt down by the bed, fishing under it for her backpack, the only piece of luggage she ever carried. She felt the nylon strap, and gave it a yank, pulling it up, and tossing it onto her disheveled bed with a look of triumph. She spent a moment diving through it, and came up shortly with a 50 wulong note, which she folded neatly, and set on the table next the bed before slinging the bag over her shoulder, and making her exit.

Getting near Number 26 wasn't going to be easy now that he was with that Faye woman. It was a lot easier to get close enough to strike when he wasn't on a ship, isolated from other humans, but Eve wasn't about to let that stop her. She'd follow them, they had to stop somewhere, and then, she'd catch him... alone... and off his guard.



Corbin watched the smoke from his cigarette swirl against the ceiling, the shifting shadows made a billion and one patterns on the white tile. He had a brief flash of himself, pressed into the earth by a weight against his chest, he looked down to see the top of a golden head over his heart, then he was watching the clouds. That's what this was like, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. Cloud gazing. If he squinted, he could just make out Faye's profile.

He growled and closed his eyes.

Faye again. Between his dreams of Eve, and the fact that he couldn't close his eyes without seeing Faye's face again, just as it had been in the shaft of light, he'd lain awake all night. And now he couldn't even smoke without thinking about her. He'd remained in bed long after his alarm had sounded, because, for some reason, he couldn't bear to face her today, to see that peaceful face full of hatred. He wasn't in the mood for her verbal barbs.

He had another flash, this one of Faye in a pair of gold hot pants, and his eyes flew open as he sat up. This was pointless, he pulled on his pants, and tucked his gun into his belt before heading to the door. He was going to get some breakfast.

Damn borrowed past, all he wanted was a moment of peace.

He could hear the sounds of wretching from the bathroom the moment he opened his door, and smiled. Some hang over... a part of him thought it was poetic justice for the fact that he'd gotten no sleep again. Take that.

He smiled.

He entered the sitting room and his heart skipped a beat. Over the back of the couch, he saw a head of red hair. Eve. He instinctually pulled his gun.

Out of nowhere, a streak of brown shot across the room and latched itself onto his heel.

"Yeow!" he yelled, shaking off what he realized was a Welsh Corgi. He booted the animal into a wall. It shook itself, then launched itself back toward him.

"Ein!" came the sharp voice from the girl behind him. The dog stopped in its tracks, but continued to growl at him.

He turned to face a young girl, that he hadn't met before. He tucked the gun back into his waistband, and the Corgi was silent. Now that he had a better look at her, he saw that her hair was too short, and not quite the right shade of red to be Eve's. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't tall enough, or pale enough, and her eyes were a shade of yellow, a far cry from aqua. He scolded himself mentally for being so jumpy. "Sorry about that, I mistook you for some one else."

"I was about to say the same to you..." she answered. She hopped over the back of the couch, and gripped his chin in her hand, pulling him roughly down, "but then I realized I had to be wrong." She pointed to his eyes, and gave him a wink, "you have a different spark, see."

Corbin pulled his head from her grip, and stepped back, dumbfounded.

"Who are you?" he managed to form after a while.

"Ed?" the answer came from over his shoulder.

The girl ran past him to the woman who'd just spoken. She launched herself at Faye, knocking her over, and sending the both of them rolling onto the floor. "Faye Faye!" Ed squealed.

"Ah! I haven't seen you in months." Faye asked, disentangling herself from the teen, then getting to her feet before offering Ed assistance in the form of an outstretched hand.

Ed took it with a smile, and let Faye pull her up.

"What brings you here?"

Ed's smile melted away like snow. "I saw a story in the Venus Sun, apparently the authorities are looking for the woman who trashed a hotel room, and threatened the tenant. Guess who the tenant was," she said, jerking her head in Corbin's direction.

"What!"

"Uh, yeah..." Corbin started, with a nervous smile. "I was going to tell you last night, but..."

"That's okay," Faye said, not wanting a recap of her drunken escapades, "tell me now."

He shrugged, and walked over to nestle into the arm chair. The two ladies took their cue from him, and sat on the sofa.

"How do I start... well, about a week ago, I started having these dreams..."



Eve shadowed them, staying far enough behind not to be noticed, but close enough not to loose them. She'd been reading up on these people that Number 26 had fallen in with. They were apparently friends of his genetic donor, bounty hunters. Their team was supposedly the best in the galaxy. But then, they'd never gone up against anything like Eve. She smiled. Like taking candy from a baby.



Jet's garden had been woefully neglected since the moment Faye'd asked him for help with Kataki's little assignment, and he was glad to finally have a little time to spend on it. It was a bad time for Faye to be calling.

Jet sighed and answered the ring.

"Yeah?"

"Well, he's here, but it seems there's more to this than bad dreams."

He felt like he'd just entered in the middle of the conversation. "Huh?"

"Corbin... the errand... ringing a bell?"

"Of course." he answered, feeling back on track now. "What is it, he's okay, right?"

"Yeah, but there's something going on here, and I don't like the smell of it. We're going to be in the area in a day or so, could you get him an appointment with a neurologist? I've got a hunch about these dreams... Dimitri mentioned something about planting a suggestion in the subconscious of the subjects, I think someone planted a different suggestion than the one Dimitri intended."

"But, I thought Corbin never made it to that stage."

Faye smiled mysteriously, "Maybe he didn't."

"I'll make a few phone calls."

"Hey, Jet.... thanks."

Jet sat down cross-legged on the floor, and set the clippers in his lap. A suggestion... for what purpose?



Corbin looked at himself in the mirror, staring intensely into his eyes. A different spark in them? He certainly hoped so. He was a different person, after all, wasn't he?

He sighed, and his gaze wandered up to his hairline. A neurologist? What would he find in there? That was the only place he was really different from Spike... in there... the only place the difference had been enough to matter. Had someone really invaded that place, defiled it's sanctity, left a little suggestion for him? He was suddenly furious at the idea of someone else treading around in his cranium. He wasn't about to follow any suggestions.

He took up the toothbrush with a vicious force, coating it with paste, and rubbing it along his teeth and gums. He spat, brushed some more, spat again, and rinsed his brush.



Faye was sitting at the breakfast table when Irma came in.

"Who is that young lady in the sitting room?"

Faye smiled to herself. "That would be Ed."

Irma nodded, "your hacker friend," she glanced over her shoulder, "not quite what I expected."

Faye smiled. Not quite what she expected... now that was the perfect way to describe Ed. She saw Irma raise an eyebrow for an explanation. Faye shrugged in response, and raised her coffee cup to her lips.

"So Corbin's locked himself in the bathroom, we have an odd new guest, and you're at a lack for words, what's up?"

Faye chuckled, but it was without any real humor. "I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out."