Chapter Two
KAHN’S WARRIOR skills allowed him to note the subtle tensing of Tessa’s limbs and the stubborn angle of her jaw that indicated this Earthling was no biddable female like his wife Lael, who had been sweet and uncomplicated and who had died way too soon. Tessa Camen might appear tractable, but her deep green eyes flashed with an intensity that indicated she believed she could escape her fate. While Kahn might find her exotic green eyes attractive and her proportions pleasing, he silently cursed the Terran leadership who’d sent him an unwilling candidate to train. Until now, all aspirants to the Federation’s Challenge had been volunteers, and he didn’t understand what the Earthlings had been thinking. Why couldn’t they have sent him a soldier or a male athlete instead of this weak female?
Yet, so far, he had to admit she had spirit. And though small and soft, oddly, Tessa possessed a sleek muscle tone that surprised him and projected sensuality he didn’t want to notice.
He escorted her through the orbiting starship’s corridors and into the shuttle that would take them to Earth. He piloted them through the opened bay doors of the flight bay, issuing voice commands to the central computer. When he finished, he turned to Tessa to find her staring at him.
“Is your world like Earth?” she asked.
“Not anymore.” He gestured for her to join him at the console. “I imagine Earth is similar to the Rystan of my great-great-grandfather’s generation—before our people set off weapons that caused a nuclear winter. Now our world’s covered in snow.”
“I’m sorry. It must have been terrible.”
“After the atomics were set off, billions of people died. We still suffer from a permanent winter. Life is harsh. Food scarce. Our population is dwindling due to food shortages. Trade with the Federation remains limited due to our lack of natural resources in the non-radioactive regions. Your people have been wiser. Yet, while you haven’t destroyed yourselves in a nuclear disaster, you have polluted your planet.” He tapped a control. Earth filled a viewscreen.
Tessa gasped. “That’s not Earth.”
“It’s Earth three hundred years in your future.”
Tessa’s dark eyebrows narrowed as she stared. “The planet has the same familiar continents, but the clouds are supposed to be white, not this filthy brown haze. Your cartographer got it wrong. My world has sparkling blue oceans, not brown sludge.”
If she refused to believe what was plainly before her eyes, he had a huge problem. “Stars! I was assured that your mind was not inferior like your body. Can you not accept the obvious?”
She flung a black lock of hair from her eyes and scowled at him, seemingly not the least bit intimidated by his size and acting as if he’d insulted her, instead of stating a truth. “Since I’m so inferior, I suggest you choose another candidate.””
“I would be happy to do so but, the choice is not mine to make.”
She glared at him, then at the image of her planet. “I don’t believe my people would ‘volunteer’ my services without at least asking first. The Secret Service doesn’t work that way and neither does the United States government. My country has a large pool of patriots and skilled specialists willing to risk their lives for a worthy mission. It’s not our way to force people into taking on an assignment.”
“Your world has changed—and not for the better.” Impressed by her defense of her people and her obvious loyalty, he refrained from reiterating that the major pollution problems over the ensuing centuries had made her people desperate. Those problems could be fixed by a Challenge win, which would allow her world to trade for technology to clean their skies and oceans. He thought the Earthlings fools for ruining their once-beautiful planet as his own ancestors had destroyed Rystan with atomics, leaving his people with one tenth of Earth’s natural resources.
She rested her hands on her hips. “You’re right that I need to see Earth up close. Anyone can fake a voice transmission on a vidscreen.”
Kahn had permission to land his shuttle on the helicopter pad of the White House and set down smoothly. Accustomed to the comings and going of shuttles from Earth’s orbital space stations, the inhabitants paid no special attention to their landing. Since Kahn didn’t wish to attract an audience, he changed the transparency of her suit and altered the style to match those of her world. She glanced down, noting the transformation, but didn’t say anything.
“Ready?” Kahn unlocked the hatch, his heart heavy at what she must now face.
She nodded, her eyes bright and eager. He popped open the hatch and watched her stride out head high, shoulders back, her well-proportioned, lean legs taking the steps two at a time.
Even with the pollution, he envied the riches he saw. Birds flying overhead. Plants. Buildings and vehicles created with metals and glass and heated with natural fuels.
She stopped, her eyes wide with displeasure. “The White House isn’t brown.”
“I’m sorry, but the acid rains have altered the facade of your ‘White House.’“
She lifted her nose into the air and sniffed the polluted yellowish-gray atmosphere, which was clearly not what she expected. “It doesn’t smell bad.”
“There’s an invisible shield over your head.”
She touched her face. “There’s a filter between my skin and the air?”
“When adjusted properly, the wearer doesn’t feel its presence. I could turn off the filtration system for a moment, but,” he gestured to people riding along moving sidewalks, “Terrans wear face masks outdoors, because the poisons are harmful to your lungs.”
Hover planes buzzed overhead, and she stared at them in amazement. Her hands began to tremble, and she clasped one in the other behind her back. If she’d been thinking of escape, the circumstances must have pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
“Do you believe me now?” he asked softly.
“I’m not . . . sure.”
She looked as unsteady as Kahn’s final opponent in the Federation’s Ultimate Fighting competition when Kahn’s fist had fractured his foe’s jaw. Tessa’s legs wobbled, and for a moment, he wondered if she would collapse. He stood ready to catch her. Then she angled her chin in a way he associated with determination.
“Take me somewhere else.”
He kept his tone brisk and didn’t allow her to see his pity. “Where do you want to go?”
“What do my friends think happened to me?”
“They believed you died.”
“Show me where I am supposed to be buried.” She made the suggestion as if it was a trick question.
He simply escorted her inside the ship and ordered the navigation system to bring the shuttle to her grave at “Arlington National Cemetery.”
After they exited the shuttle, the sight of row upon row of grave markers as brown as the White House, caused her to straighten her spine. A muscle in her jaw clenched.
He spoke softly. “It must be shocking to wake up in another time.”
“That’s the understatement of the century,” she agreed.
Using a directory and a map to take her where she needed to go, she walked swiftly through the deserted cemetery, her shoulders squared, but she couldn’t quite control her quivering bottom lip. Her face whitening, she stopped at the grave marker that read, “Tessa Camen. She died with honor.”
“Who’s buried here?” she whispered, her voice low and hoarse.
“An android.”
She sank to her knees and ran her fingers through the grass. “No one could have gone to such extraordinary lengths to . . .” She glared at him, eyes like green chips of ice. “It’s all true, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Having no idea how she’d react, he’d have preferred to avoid putting her through such a shocking experience. But the truth, no matter how painful, should aid his cause in gaining her cooperation—unless she fell apart on him. Some candidates had proven unable to adapt to sudden changes, failing before they’d even begun the Challenge, but she seemed made of stronger character.
Tears rained down her cheeks. “My friends are all dead? My detail? The president?”
“I’m afraid so.” At the moment, Tessa looked fragile enough to break into hysterics as Lael would have done. But she didn’t. Still, he longed to comfort her, but sensed she wouldn’t welcome his touch. “To you it seems like yesterday, but—”
“They died centuries ago,” she whispered. “And even if you could send me back, it would be to die with that assassin’s bullet in my brain. I really have been pulled forward through time.”
“Yes.”
For a woman, she displayed remarkably strong character and reasoning skills. Even though she finally understood that all of her friends and associates had died, she held her head high, ignoring her tears. But the effort cost her. Her hands closed into fists, and she stared unseeing at the headstone, her thoughts her own.
“I know you need time to recover and regroup.”
Her voice was flat, stunned. “I’ve dealt with loss before.”
Best to keep her talking. “On the job?”
“My parents died in a car accident when I was five.” She wiped away her tears and stood. “And I learned in the Foster homes that crying buckets of tears wouldn’t bring them back. Time finally eased the sharpness from the pain. Then, just when the grief seemed to be fading, I lost Master Chen, my trainer.”
“You were close?”
“He died of a heart attack several years ago. But he taught me that when a door closes, another opens.” A sob rumbled from her chest. “He never said it would be this hard. Or that getting over the loss would be so painful.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you much time to heal.”
She shoved her hair from her face. “I’m tougher than I look.”
“Good. Because we have mere weeks to prepare you for the Challenge. The fates of both Rystan and Earth hinge on our success.”
Her tone turned glacial. “You misunderstand. Yes, the impossible has occurred. I now believe I’ve traveled three hundred years into the future. But I won’t take the Challenge.”
“You must—”
“I won’t be the biggest failure my planet had ever seen.”
TESSA MIGHT be in shock, tears might fall, but she would try and look at this new life as a gift, an opportunity.
So what if this wasn’t her time? Or her world?
She’d beaten a surefire death. She had her health, her memories, her skills. Other people had been uprooted again and again. Other people had been orphaned and then lost their homes and families and gone on to make a new life for themselves. So would she.
Although Tessa had taken on difficult assignments and had accepted missions with little chance of success, she’d never taken on a task where the stakes were so significant, either. She would like to help Earth out. She would. But she was not qualified for this mission.
She looked at the dirty sky with disgust, turned from the acid-stained gravestone of the buried android to Kahn. Like a soldier performing an unpleasant duty, Kahn maintained an inscrutable expression. He stood with his legs braced wide, his head high, and his shoulders squared, not a weapon in sight, yet the taut tension in his muscles told her that if trouble arose from any direction, he would not be taken unawares.
“I’d like to speak to the secretary, again,” she requested, wondering if he’d try to talk her out of a second communication.
He didn’t. Kahn handed her a device that reminded her of a cell phone. The big man’s expression remained patient, yet contradictorily his shoulders tensed and a muscle tightened in his neck as if silently exhorting her of the urgency to keep this conversation pointed and short.
Kahn pressed one button and the secretary’s visage appeared as a three-dimensional hologram on the screen. Another technical marvel from the future.
“Mr. Secretary, thank you for taking my call. Kahn has convinced me that I am no longer in my own time, but I must refuse this mission. Earth should choose someone more suitable, someone who has a better chance for success, someone who has already shown adeptness toward developing psi powers.”
“You are our best hope, Special Agent Camen.”
If the wily politician sought to remind her of her duty to serve, he’d only reinforced her determination. “Kahn has told me that this Challenge requires psi ability. I have none. For the sake of our world, you must choose another more qualified candidate.”
The politician’s gaze went to the upper corner of the screen where he could view the alien in the background. “Kahn has assured us that every race can develop psi powers—”
“Suppose he’s wrong?” The panic that she’d held at bay surged back with a strength that had her interrupting a superior. “He’s an alien and may not be an expert on our brains or physiologies or wherever this psi power comes from.”
“Look. To be frank, we don’t have anyone else who fits the alien requirements.”
“I don’t fit the requirements,” Tessa countered.
“Do you know why we pulled you out of time?”
“Why?” She could guess. After all, she was a highly trained special agent who’d repeatedly proven her loyalty to her government, and she was a virgin—whatever that had to do with anything—but she wanted to hear the secretary’s reasons, so she could offer a counter argument.
“In our time, we couldn’t find a virgin—of either sex—over the age of sixteen.”
“What?”
“The trend of youthful sexual experimentation has made finding a candidate from our time quite impossible.”
“But you could have chosen anyone from our history. Surely you could find someone who exhibited psi—”
“It’s not that easy. We had to search for someone in prime physical condition, someone whose absence wouldn’t change the future if we pulled them out of the past. In other words, we needed someone who was about to die.”
“Oh, come on. You could have chosen from special ops teams from a dozen wars—one of them must have had psi—”
“We chose you. According to our computerized analysis, you are adaptable and strong, skilled in the martial arts and humanity’s best choice. Good luck, and know that our hopes and prayers go with you.”
The link went dead, and she handed it back to Kahn, feeling like a condemned prisoner. To give the big guy credit, he gave her a few minutes to reconcile with her fate. However, mere minutes wouldn’t be enough. She doubted months or years would be enough to fully comprehend all that she’d lost. All that rested on her shoulders.
“We are done here, yes?” he asked.
Before she could think to form a reply, before she could take another breath, never mind form a plan, they were back inside the shuttle. She’d felt no motion. One moment she’d been in the cemetery, the next she was inside the alien craft.
As if her sudden transportation wasn’t enough to deal with, she came simultaneously to three startling and disturbing conclusions.
One: Her suit was again transparent, leaving her naked.
Two: Something invisible had just pressed against her lips, as if she’d been kissed.
Three: She’d missed her opportunity to escape.