Chapter Seven
BY THE STARS! Kahn couldn’t take any more. The manuals he’d studied had told him to expect her to want sex, but they hadn’t told him he would have to go this far or mentioned how he would feel disgusted and sickened with himself after frustrating her. Not to mention how hard he’d had to work to tamp down his own longings to soothe her, to comfort her, to give her what she wanted. And it had all been for nothing.
Tessa had not exhibited one sign of psi ability, and after she’d burst into tears, Kahn couldn’t continue. He’d abruptly ceased the training session, removed the stimulations from her suit, and fled the room, hoping that soon she would fall into a deep sleep. Once outside the chamber, he’d fought to keep himself steady. Without his suit compensating and regulating the flow of blood to his sex, his job would have been much more difficult. And although he’d followed Federation procedural manuals to the letter, then gone further and touched her as she’d asked, the recommended procedure wasn’t working.
Helera’s advice wasn’t helping. Perhaps a man’s point of view would be better.
Heading straight for the ship-to-planet communications console at the ship’s helm, Kahn shot a hyper beacon to Rystan. Moments later, Zical, his right-hand man and second-in-command of their people materialized on the holoscreen. The two had been friends since childhood. They had attended school, hunted, and shared several hair-raising adventures together.
Zical took one look at Kahn and frowned. “You look worse than a frozen octar.”
Octar were the primary source of meat on Rystan. The creatures were nutritious and known not only for their ugly faces, but their temperamental personalities. Even the thought of food made Kahn’s stomach uneasy, and he swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth, noting that his friend looked thinner, his normally squared jaw more drawn, and the creases under his eyes deeper since they’d last spoken. “The Earthling has not yet shown one sign of psi ability.”
Zical’s frown deepened. “He should—”
“She should have at least changed her suit’s transparency before now.”
“She? The Terrans sent a female?” Zical rubbed his hand over his jaw, probably to hide a smile.
Since Rystani customs dictated that the widows teach the younger men about sexual matters, all men knew how to please their inexperienced wives. But Kahn had even more experience than most since he’d been married—an experience he tried hard to put from his mind. Loving Lael and losing her had been so painful that he never wanted to fall in love again. Which made his fascination with the strange Earthling especially difficult for him. His people had sent their leader on this mission due to his expertise in training men to fight—not for any ability with women.
“I’m assuming you’ve done—”
“Much more than should have been necessary.” He left out how much he’d ached to take Tessa into his arms, taste her mouth, plunge into her heat.
“And nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Maybe Earthlings need more stimulation. Maybe they are different from other humans.”
“This particular female doesn’t believe she has any psi ability at all,” Kahn told his friend with a heavy heart.
Zical shoved back from the console with a shrug of frustration. “You should speak to Helera again. Maybe she has another suggestion.”
Helera was their oldest and wisest female. Her gentle nature and healing ways soothed in times of strife, and her wise counsel often helped keep marriages strong—plus she’d helped him through many bad moments after losing Lael after an Endekian attack. But, Kahn suspected that Tessa had more in common with Azrel, his father’s she-devil wife from Scartar, than she’d ever have with the sweet-natured Helera or pliant and steady Lael. But at his wits’ end, he was willing to listen to any suggestions.
Within moments, Helera’s wizened face once more brightened the screen. As if she understood his troubled spirit, Helera smiled kindly. “Kahn, why do you believe that the Terran is not responding?”
“Tessa’s responding sexually, but no psi abilities have appeared.”
“Could she be hiding them from you?”
“Perhaps.” But he recalled her desperation and tears that seemed to have been drawn from her innermost core and shook his head. “But I don’t think so.”
“Psi abilities come from the deepest, most primitive recesses of our minds. You must not have pushed hard enough. She might have stronger barriers than Rystani women. Has she had great trauma in her life?”
“Yes.” Kahn thought of the agony of losing both parents at such an early age. At least he’d had his grandfather. Tessa had no one. She’d lost her parents, the man she’d loved, and now her world. And for what? She’d exhibited no psi ability, without which she couldn’t possible win the Challenge.
“Kahn, you’ll have to go deeper.”
The idea revolted him. “I don’t know if I can.”
Helera locked gazes with him. “You will do what you must. Even if it goes against our customs. Even if it goes against your good heart. We need you to succeed. You know what is at stake.”
Kahn couldn’t look Helera in the eyes. “Tormenting her as I did was wrong.”
“There is no other way. Once she develops her psi, the Earthling will forgive you.”
But would he be able to forgive himself? And worse, suppose Tessa was correct and her psi never developed?
“WHAT IS THAT stuff leaking from your eyes?” Dora asked Tessa who lay on her side, anguished and jagged as if every raw nerve was still exposed.
After Tessa had broken into uncontrollable tears, Kahn had immediately released her and left the chamber. Even an estimated half hour later, her body hadn’t recovered, and she yearned for release. Her shoulders shook. Her hands and feet twitched, and she trembled all over, but her main concern was not for the havoc he’d administered to her body, but the turmoil he’d inflicted to her soul. Tessa had learned with Mike that there were no rules to pleasure. While she’d still believed Kahn had intended to have sex with her, she’d enjoyed his touch and had been fine with going along with his wishes. Her mistake had been opening herself to him emotionally.
After she’d realized that he meant to deny her gratification, it was too late to change her mind set. He’d given her too much pleasure to regroup and turn her thoughts in other directions. While Master Chen had taught her methods to withdraw into her mind and how to separate her thoughts from the pain of the body, she hadn’t seen the need until much too late.
The slaps on her bottom hadn’t been anywhere near the physical punishment she regularly accepted as part of her martial arts training, but the spanking had stung her pride as much as her bottom—especially when the sting had become heat, and the heat had heightened her arousal. Kahn’s intent had clearly not been to cause pain, but maximum sexual stimulation—and after the wonderful pleasure he’d given her, after the marvelous heat he’d created, after she’d wanted sex with him with every fiber of her being, she hadn’t been prepared for him to refuse to have sex. She’d liked everything Kahn had done to her, every stroke, every caress, all the heat. But when he’d held out on her, when he’d stopped, she’d broken. Broken so completely that even now she couldn’t stop the flood of tears. Couldn’t summon the strength to answer Dora.
When Tessa didn’t respond, Dora tried again. “Unless my sensors are failing, the skin on your bottom appears red. Do you require medical assistance?”
“What I require is a way to escape.” Tessa shoved her hair out of her eyes, gingerly sat on her still stinging bottom, and quickly stood. At least she didn’t have to worry about blowing her nose, the suit took care of that problem as well as absorbing her tears.
Dora’s voice piped into the chamber stronger and more insistent than during her last visit. “But—”
“Look. Kahn set me up. I thought we were going to have sex. Instead, he enticed me with more pleasure than I’d know was possible, then the bastard refused to follow through. His methods are underhanded, offensive, and there’s no reason I have to put up with him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought the Challenge might have been my willingness to accept him as a partner—but I was so wrong. My second guess was that he was creating my sexual frustration to elicit my psi powers. But that didn’t work, either. I don’t have any latent psi. Only the stubborn barbarian and Earth’s leaders won’t believe me. This mission was doomed to failure. Now that I’ve given this my best shot and failed, it’s time to cut my losses.”
“What are you saying?”
“I have no doubt Kahn plans to repeat his performance which will have no more success than before.” At the thought of a repeat performance, Tessa shuddered again. “And since I can’t stop him”—her voice hitched at that admission—“I don’t intend to be here when he returns. Are you going to help me or not?”
“What would you like me to do?” Dora asked.
Tessa picked up the eating utensil that she’d hidden earlier and held it up. “Besides stabbing Kahn through the heart, tell me where this will do the most good.”
Dora’s voice turned prim. “If your intention is murder, my program will not permit me to help you.”
“Like this spoon/fork could even make a little dimple in Kahn’s suit?” Tessa rolled her eyes. “For the record my intention is to escape.”
“You are running away?”
“Even Kahn admitted my psi should have appeared before now. There’s no point in staying.” As much as she hated to give up on a mission, as much as she hated to fail, she wouldn’t stay for more of Kahn’s training when she saw not one iota of success.
“Dora, help me get to the shuttle. If I can return to Earth and explain what happened, they will find another candidate.”
“Compliance.” A tiny laser beamed from the ceiling and shined a dot of red light on the wall and Dora slipped back into friendly mode. “Try there. Pressure should open the door mechanism.”
Without hesitation Tessa followed Dora’s directions. “Like this?”
“Use one of the tines.”
Tessa heard a thud like a footstep, but it might have been the irregular beat of her heart. “Is Kahn in the corridor?”
“The commander is at the communications center.”
Tessa frowned and pressed harder. “Dora, I thought you only had sensors in here and on the shuttle.”
Dora giggled. “I’ve been widening my capabilities.”
“Way to go.” Tessa carefully poked the wall. “Gaining information is always critical to survival. Often the one with the most data wins.”
“Wins what?”
“Ah.” The door slid open. “Sweet freedom.”
Tessa saw no one outside on the moving corridor, just the “normal” and spectacular sight of fantastic crystal sculptures and alien machinery whose purposes she couldn’t even guess. Although Dora had informed her otherwise, she’d half expected Kahn to be there ready to come down on her for damaging his equipment with an eating utensil instead of psi power.
“You have only gained access to the corridor,” Dora said.
Tessa jumped at the sound of Dora’s voice and almost told her to hush until she recalled that even if someone stood right next to her, in privacy mode, no one would hear.
Dora continued, “And you are not a prisoner.”
Tessa searched right, left, back over her shoulder, mostly from habit and not because she expected anyone to stop her, before stepping out of the chamber onto the moving walkway. “Don’t tell me you bought Kahn’s line of bullshit.”
“I am a computer. I don’t buy things. And I don’t understand why Commander Kahn would want to sell you bovine manure.”
Tessa ignored the translation problem. “Are there alarm systems to warn Kahn of my movement?”
“There are psi sensors and motion detectors—if he checks them. However, at the moment he is speaking to a woman with a large chest, and his back is to the equipment.”
“You said no one else was on board.”
“She’s still on Rystan. They are speaking over the hyper-link communications system.”
Reassured that she stood a chance of actual escape, Tessa slipped into the hallway and dashed down the moving corridor toward the shuttle, the useful eating utensil still clutched in her hand. “Thanks.”
“I have done nothing.”
“You have been wonderful. Without you I wouldn’t have a friend here. You showed me how to open the door.”
“I am wonderful, aren’t I? No one has ever told me that before.”
Tessa could run and talk at the same time. “What’s Kahn doing?”
“He’s still in conference with Madam Big Chest. If I had a body, I’d want big breasts like that woman.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Big breasts get in the way when you fight.”
“I wouldn’t want to fight.” Dora’s words turned dreamy. “I’d want to make love.”
“Can we table this discussion until I’m safely away, please?” Tessa stopped at the big, solid shuttle hatch that she recognized from her trip to Earth. Her current position left her all-too exposed in the corridor. “Dora, I need you to—”
As if reading her mind or simply anticipating her request, Dora again shined a light on the pressure-sensitive spot that would release the door.
“Thanks, you’re a peach.”
“I’d rather be wonderful than a peach.”
Tessa pushed the utensil’s tine into the red spot so hard that the metal bent. She flipped the utensil over and tried the other side. “It’s not working.”
“Patience.” Dora actually released a very human sounding sigh, which couldn’t be that easy to replicate considering she didn’t have lungs or vocal cords. “Uh-oh.”
Tessa tensed but kept up the pressure. “What?”
“Kahn’s ending his communication.”
“Is he on to me? Can you tell what he’s saying?”
“Sorry, he’s invoked privacy mode. But from his expression, he doesn’t look at all pleased.”
“So what else is new?” Tessa pressed harder, her adrenaline kicking. This might be her only opportunity to escape before they cleared Earth’s solar system.
One step at a time.
Finally, the hatch opened. She slipped inside, pleasantly surprised when the hatch automatically shut behind her and the interior lights came on. Finally her luck was changing, and she prayed that a craft built for emergency usage could be run by non-educated personnel and simple voice commands. She headed straight for the control console where Kahn had steered the shuttle earlier and studied the simple control stick.
“Dora, get us out of here. Maximum speed.”
“Maximum speed would kill you since you don’t know how to pressurize your suit against high G-forces.”
“Well, do the best you can. I don’t care if I lose consciousness. Just don’t kill me.”
“I am not permitted to kill.”
“What a shame,” Tessa muttered, nixing the idea of attempting to turn the shuttle against Kahn after he discovered her absence and followed. She had no doubts he would pursue. Now it was simply a race to return home and lose herself among their multi-billion population before Kahn caught up with her.
She hoped the lockers in the aft section contained supplies. “Do I have enough food, air, fuel, and water to make it to Earth?”
“Yes. The craft is fully stocked. If you lie down on the floor, I can navigate us out of here at a higher—”
“I’m there.” Tessa sat then lay on her back, cranking her neck to see the viewscreen. She could have chosen her stomach, but then she couldn’t have seen four different angles on the viewscreen. The sight of the flight bay doors straight ahead, a sturdy wall of the starship to the rear and one to each side. The pressure on her sore bottom enhanced her determination to leave. There was no point in staying for a mission she wasn’t equipped to handle. She had no psi power. And staying would be like sending an astronaut into space without an oxygen supply. “Head for Earth.”
“Compliance.”
The huge flight bay doors opened, and Tessa’s ears popped as the shuttlecraft pressurized. Slowly, the ship lifted and floated toward the huge open doors.
Warning lights suddenly flashed, alarm bells sounded, and Dora’s voice increased in volume. “Purple Alert. Purple Alert. Kahn is attempting to take computer control.”
“How can I stop him?”
“You can override his command by placing the ship on manual control.”
“Do it.” Tessa’s stomach lurched. “And tell me how to fly.”
“The flight stick controls our motion,” Dora instructed as Tessa shoved off the floor and raced to the console. “If you want to go right, push the stick to the right. Same for the left. If you want to go up, pull back on the stick. Down is the opposite.”
She had no clue as to what made the ship go, but she mastered the uncomplicated controls within minutes, grateful to the engineers who had designed the ship so simply a child could have flown her.
Maneuvering inside the tight space of the flight bay was tricky. Tessa edged forward slowly toward the blackness of space, careful not to scrape the ship against the bulkheads.
“Flight bay doors are closing,” Dora reported.
Tessa’s heart kicked up her throat. Kahn was trying to trap her and the shuttle inside the bay. Shoving the stick forward, she increased their speed, trying to beat the closing doors.
The communications screen lit up with Kahn’s concerned face. “Turn the controls back on automatic and let the computer pilot the shuttle before you do real damage.”
“Warning, Warning!” Dora’s official tone sounded another alert. “Stop engines, we are on a collision course.”
Tessa’s hand tightened on the control, but she didn’t slow the ship. “Dora, plot maximum speed. Can we make it through the doors without crashing at full throttle?”
“No.”
“Is there an emergency overdrive?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Can I boot us into high gear?”
“Not inside the bay.”
“Outside the bay, the speed can be increased?” Tessa asked, her excitement leaping as adrenaline shot through her veins.
“Once we’re outside and away from the mothership, warp power can be initiated.”
“Why can’t we warp from right here?”
“The mothership would suffer damage,” Dora told her.
“How much?”
“Estimated repair time: two days, three hours, and twenty-two minutes. Cost of repairs: two thousand Galactic credits. Loss of life: none.”
She glanced again at the closing flight bay doors. “I can live with that. How do we go to warp?”
Dora made a light on the control panel blink. “Push that button.”
Kahn shouted at Tessa through the holoscreen. “Don’t—”
“Turn him off, please.” Tessa couldn’t afford distractions. The bay doors were already almost too narrow for the shuttle to escape. “On my mark. Now.”
The ship didn’t accelerate. It jumped out of space into another place. Hyperspace. An overwhelming sensation of dizziness washed over her, and Tessa clutched the console to steady herself.
The viewscreen blurred into a crazy maelstrom of lights while her battered senses strived to perceive her surroundings. Gravity disappeared. A sensation of nausea arose as her stomach flip flopped in an effort to seek a fixed harbor. Viewscreen lights pulsed at irregular intervals, and Tessa’s ears throbbed at the humming static. At the same time, her sense of smell heightened. Enhanced by the sweet mustiness of the alien environment, the odor contributed to her feelings of nausea. When she thought she couldn’t stand the heightened sensations another second, the warp drive abruptly kicked off, and the ship returned to normal space.
“Dora, can Kahn track us?” asked Tessa.
“Not through hyperspace.”
She had escaped!
Elation swept over her at the thought of returning to Earth. With Dora’s help, she could go home and regroup. Earth’s engineers could analyze the ship, delve into the secret warp drive, and maybe replicate the design. Maybe they could even figure out a way to get off the damn suit, which continued to torment her but at lower levels than before.
However, no way would she let anyone tamper with Dora. In fact, Tessa wasn’t sure if Earth should give back the shuttle at all. Perhaps they could use the shuttle to trade for the equipment to clean up their atmosphere.
Although Dora had turned off communications, the light still blinked, signaling an incoming message. “Dora, if I answer Kahn, can he track me?”
“No. Communication transmissions go through hyperspace, too.”
Tessa pressed the blinking light. Kahn’s amber eyes narrowed on her in obvious irritation, and he pressed his lips together tightly, jaws clenched. He scowled at her, his tone clipped, his voice devoid of inflection, yet still demanding. “Are you all right? Have you sustained any damage?”
“I’m fine, thanks.” Astonished that his first words to her revealed concern for her welfare, she answered with as much politeness as she could muster. “How about yourself?”
“The ship will require repairs.” Kahn’s voice although annoyed, revealed no hint of the reversal he’d suffered.
“I’m sorry about the damage, but I did check, and the computer informed me that there would be no loss of life.”
“The damage to the flight bay doors is extensive.”
“When you tried to trap me, you left me no choice but to warp into hyperspace,” Tessa reminded him, pleased at how nonchalant she sounded, when in truth his holo-image and voice set her heart hammering, reminding her exactly how much pleasure he’d once given her.
“This is my fault,” Kahn admitted. “I thought you would fall asleep. Never before has a Challenge candidate learned to operate mechanical technology prior to mastering their suit’s biomechanics. I never expected you to flee to the shuttle without mastering your psi. I won’t underestimate you again.”
She didn’t plan to give him another opportunity.
He frowned at her, his head cocked to one side as if trying to figure out what made her tick. “Perhaps your reckless behavior is responsible for your continued failure to progress.”
“I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you.”
Kahn locked gazes with her. “Once repaired, my ship will travel ten times faster than your shuttle.” Oh, no. “And since I know your final destination, I can simply plot a hyperspace jump to intercept your flight.”
Oh, God. She’d thought she’d escaped him, but apparently she hadn’t—unless he was trying to trick her. She turned away so he couldn’t see her talk to the computer. “Dora, is that true?”
“Yes.”
Tired, emotionally spent, but nowhere near ready to quit, Tessa faced Kahn, drumming her fingers on the console and thinking furiously. “Kahn, let me go. I’ll find a way to pay for the damages. Earth can send another candidate—one better suited to the task.”
“I cannot.” To give the big guy credit, he really did look sorry, and his voice oozed sympathy. “It’s against Challenge rules to change candidates once training has begun.”
“Suppose I died?”
“Then I would have failed.”
“But there is no reason to continue. I have no psi power.”
“That remains to be seen.” At his statement another shudder zinged up her spine. “And you must pay for the damages to this ship. That is the law, and by accepting The Challenge, you are bound by it,” he stated firmly.
“I was not a rich woman in my own time, and in this one, I don’t even have clothes on my back,” Tessa countered.
“Then you will pay me with the assets you possess.”
At the glint in his amber eyes, she thanked her lucky stars that for the moment, his ship was damaged and couldn’t come after her. “Goodbye, Kahn, though I can’t say it’s been a pleasure.”
“Can’t you?” Apparently, he couldn’t resist one last parting shot before she severed communications.
Even beyond the spaceman’s current reach, she found the glint in his amber eyes unbearably disturbing, almost as disturbing as his commitment to find her. No way could she let that happen. She recalled every tormented moment of his touch, and her determination hardened.
The shuttle flew toward Earth, increasing the distance between them, but the likelihood of recapture remained at the forefront of her thoughts. “Dora, if we jump back into hyperspace and don’t go directly to Earth, Kahn can’t find me, right?”
“Theoretically, that is correct.”
She absolutely, positively didn’t want him to recapture her. Her bottom still stung, her pride was tattered. But worst of all, her body ached for him. Even now, she wanted his hands back on her. She wanted his lips on hers. She wanted his clever fingers performing their magic. She wanted completion. And release.
Her body may have ached for him, but she hardened her heart. Kahn wouldn’t give her what she desired. He’d simply make the desire worse.
Knowing this might be her best chance to escape, she couldn’t afford to waste the opportunity. Heart and mind in accord, she spoke with certainty. “Dora, put me in contact with Earth’s authorities.”
“I cannot. Kahn’s jammed our communications systems.”
“But we just spoke to him.”
“The channel to the starship is still open.”
“I’ll contact Earth later and let them try to negotiate for a new candidate to take my place. For now, please set a course for . . . Mars. We can hide in orbit behind the planet.”
And then finally, Tessa slept.