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He saw in the dream the darkness close in, as did the feeling of loss, not for himself, but of something, or someone just out of sight of his dying consciousness. A womanly smile momentarily lingered at the edge of memory and then vanished. He felt the horrible pressure of the sea as it started to claim his physical body. He could stand it no longer; he opened his mouth and tried for the breath he so desperately needed. The hot waters of the exploding sea entered his parched mouth, and then the pain he had been feeling started to fade.

The sunlight from above dimmed, and his body grew limp. He was drowning, and while that was once a repugnant thought to him, it now became comforting. He knew he had succeeded in what he had started out to do, and so it was all right. His mind was at ease, except for that one thing his memory could not grasp.

The dream took a different turn, as it always did at this point. Hands were pulling him away, pulling him deeper. He always wanted to shout out that he was dying, so why not just let him get on with it. Regardless of his pleas, they would still pull him down until a false bright light filtered into his closed eyes. Then the pain started as it always did, but now for the first time, a new element was added to this most uncomfortable dream--voices from the dark.

"Our guest is coming around."

"Captain, you scared me. The last I heard you were sound asleep in your cabin."

"The last I heard, Doctor, I had the freedom of my own ship."

"Yes, ma'am, I was just--"

"This man is far more formidable than you are used to dealing with, Doctor. I do not want him to know where he is, and he is not to know who pulled him from the water. Can you keep him under?"

"I can place him into a coma if need be. If I may ask, why save him if he is a danger to you--to us?"

"I have my plans for him. With what I can learn from this man, the dangers are worth the risk of his being here, and we can avoid the risk of losing our asset inside his agency."

"Captain, why the sudden change of mind about placing the implant inside this man?"

"I believe your job onboard this vessel is as physician, mine as captain. That is all you need know."

The dream was fading and the man's mind seemed to be dimming with it. The voices in the dark had an echoing lilt to them as he fell deeper into the abyss of the mind, but the man managed to force his eyes open, if only for a bright, flashing moment. There was a figure standing in the dark. Then he heard a mechanical announcement:"Captain, we have come to the specified coordinates." With that the figure turned and vanished.

A moment passed, and then with blurry vision he saw another, very much smaller form step from the back of the room. Then a soft voice--

"Why did you allow the captain to cancel this man's surgery, Doctor?"

"You heard her, she's the captain and she--what are you doing with that? The captain said no implant!"