Before breaking his lunar orbit, Snell reviewed his mission instructions: 1. Locate the lost Observer ship and salvage or destroy it. 2. Destroy any Syssphinx attempt to communicate with its home base. If possible, discover details about the Syssphinx race. 3. Find and communicate with the Lorelei. The first directive would be simple. As for the second one, either the Dark ship was destroyed or if not, so he had almost no chance to complete the directive. The Dark ships and their Syssphinx crews were the sworn enemies of all other life forms in the universe. No one really understood their avowed goal to extermination all life. Repeated negotiations had failed miserably. The second part of this directive was interesting. Behind its words, it demonstrated the Observer s insatiable curiosity to know and to learn. The third directive was the most exciting, but probably not possible. When seen, descriptions of the Lorelei were always different, fantastic and contradictory. A Lorelei could be gaseous, liquid or solid, at will. It could be huge. Or small. It was intelligent. Or primal. It could communicate. Or it was pure life force. Even the Observers didn t know, and they knew everything. Snell smiled. Observers could not be omniscience and without knowledge at the same time. His elders lack of knowledge about either the Syssphinx or the Lorelei both amused and fascinated him. With determination, he activated his thrusters, broke orbit, and slipped toward the planet below. He did not understand just how difficult fulfilling any the directives would be."