A frantic call from a space lane traffic controller is fielded by a helpline representative. Out in the main asteroid belt, stationed on a sophisticated three-kilometer long space habitat, why does the caller find himself utterly alone? Why can't he remember his time away from work? Why does he never leave his cubestation? And why does the helpline rep keep fielding exactly this type of call?

"Watching the Watcher" is a short story set in The Posthuman Cycle universe. Our solar system is controlled by baseline humans who reject posthumanism, eschew genetic modifications and all body/mind augmentation, insisting upon the dominion of the genetically pure. The rest of the explored galaxy is inhabited by the posthuman diaspora, humans who accept and embrace (sometimes radical) body/mind augmentation as the final step in human evolution.