William C. Dietz

Take a look around,_ the instructor had advised. __sk yourself if there__ anyone else who is better qualified to do the job. Not in the entire galaxy, but right there, at that point in time. If the answer is __es,_ ask them to accept command, and do everything you can to support them. If the answer is __o,_ which it will be ninety-nine percent of the time, then take your best shot. That__ all any of us can do.

Polluting his brain with a hunger so base that it would have made him vomit had he had any possession of his own body. The hunger was more than a desire for food, for sex or for power. The hunger was a vacuum, an endless vortex that consumed every thought, every impulse of who and what he was. He tried to scream but it wouldn't let him.