The Challenge

by Kearney, Susan

  “Woman, you have done more damage than you know.”

  Her mouth went sand dry, and she simply waited for his words to fall like blows.

  “The theft of the shuttle is a high crime against the Federation.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “The shuttle has been returned.” She didn’t understand why he had gone so stern and more serious than normal or why he spoke in the voice of doom. Was she going to jail? She’d actually find an eight-by-ten cell preferable to remaining with him.

  “A shuttle is the mother ship’s only lifeboat. By stealing it you placed a life in danger. If there had been an emergency aboard the mothership—”

  “Was there?”

  “That’s not the point. I believe your world incarcerates criminals for attempted murder, don’t they?”

  “I meant you no harm.”

  “The Federation has no way to measure intent. There’s no need for a trial since the facts are irrefutable. The penalty is death.”

  She had no reason to believe him, except that as far as she knew, he’d never lied to her, and he practically vibrated with anger, which indicated the seriousness of her actions just as much as his words. She didn’t want to die, but living didn’t seem all that appealing at the moment. “I should have died three-hundred years ago.”

  “Silence.”

  Damn it. She’d known anything she said would make matters worse. Why did she have to go and open her mouth? Because part of her still believed she could extricate herself from her fate. Because part of her believed that if she could just reach Earth and she could discuss the problem of her lack of psi with the authorities, a solution could be found.

  Like an animal caught in a trap about to snap shut, she was clawing to escape. And couldn’t.

  “There is only one exception to the death penalty.”

  She waited, her breath catching in her throat, barely daring to hope.

  “During times of courtship, certain behaviors are forgiven.”

  Courtship? She cocked a hand on her hip. “You realize I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Except for murder, a crime committed during a lovers’ quarrel can be forgiven under certain circumstances.”

  They weren’t lovers, but she didn’t want to go there. “What circumstances?”

  “If we wed, the crime will be forgiven.”

  “No.” She didn’t have to think. She would truly rather be dead than spend more time with Kahn. Death was clean and preferable to even one more hour of that same kind of treatment from him. She might be Earth’s last hope for clean air and oceans, but she didn’t have any psi, so staying alive would serve no purpose.

  Kahn folded his arms across his chest, his expression resolute. “I am not asking.”

  “Good. Tell me how long I have to live so I can prepare myself.”

  “You do not understand. The choice is not yours—but mine.”

  No. “Says who?”

  “Say our laws. You will be my wife.”

  No. “For how long?”

  “Forever.”

  No. “You’ve never heard of the civilized custom of divorce?”

  He shook his head.

  She backed from him until the console stopped her retreat. It was one thing to die during an honorable mission for her world, quite another to commit the rest of her life to . . . him. To a life with no freedoms. To a life on his world. “You don’t want to do this.”

  “For once you’re right. I don’t.” Distaste flickered in the depths of those eyes, then hardened. “I’ve consulted with legal experts who see only one way for you to win the Challenge. And I don’t care if every atom of your soul resists what we must do. I can’t lie about your theft of the shuttlecraft—not with Federation sensors and cameras onboard to monitor our actions. Your rebelliousness has taken all options from us—except one. We will marry.”

  Ice skimmed down her spine. “But—”

  “Because winning the Challenge for Rystan and Earth is more important than our wishes. And you cannot win the Challenge if you are dead.”

  “Now there’s a romantic proposal.” She used sarcasm to try to shut down the maelstrom of fear, an effort equivalent to spitting against a tornado. Tessa wasn’t afraid of death. She was afraid of living without freedom and hope. She couldn’t imagine a fate worse than marriage to this man. As if stuck in some nightmare, she tried to find a way out, a way to awaken. This couldn’t be happening.

  She hadn’t only lost everyone she’d known, her job and her world. She’d lost her freedom, and despite her ramrod straight spine, she swayed on her feet, dark despair clamping her down from all sides until she couldn’t breathe.

  And even worse, she’d failed Earth.

  “Woman, enough sarcasm. You have insulted me—”

  She might be suffocating, but she would protest with every last freedom-loving cell in her. “I haven’t begun to—”

  “You will promise to follow Rystani customs. Our woman do not speak with such rudeness to their men.”

  No. “I make no such promises.”

  “You’ll make them, and you’ll keep your word . . . because if you do not, we can spend every night like we spent our last hours together. With you bent over my lap, begging me.”

  At his intimidation, the blackness in her soul swirled with rage and an impotence that she’d never known before. Giving her no quarter, no room to maneuver, he might as well have nailed her to the wall.

  “Are you saying that if I become your wife and obey your customs, you won’t ever do that to me again?”

  “I shall do with you whatever I wish.”

  He wouldn’t bargain. He wouldn’t give one damn inch. And there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop him.

  Kahn turned on the shuttle’s viewscreen, grabbed her hand, and tugged her over to watch scenes from Earth flash across it. She saw people wearing masks to breathe. Huge masses of clouds so dirty they obstructed entire cities, oceans that were no longer blue, but brown, and rivers clogged with filth, children playing on the banks.

  Kahn made more adjustments to the screen. “This is Rystan.”

  The view was from orbit. He pointed to the glowing continents in both hemispheres. “That’s from radiation.” His entire world glowed, except at the poles where snow and ice covered the land. At the harsh landscape she more than understood his desperation to succeed and wished she could help, but she couldn’t because she had no psi and couldn’t win the Challenge without the skill.

  She spoke past the lump of frustration in her throat. “It’s difficult to believe anyone could survive on Rystan.”

  “We ruined a world of beauty. Rystan’s climate was once like your Earth, but then atomic wars wiped out billions. The major continents will remain radioactive and uninhabitable for thousands of years. There aren’t many of us left, and we’re barely surviving at the North and South poles. We don’t have the resources to fight the Endekians for our world—”

  “You once told me your glow stones are valuable. Can’t you trade them for food and weapons?”

  “Glow stones are atomic in nature. “Their natural shielding prevents radiation, but when inserted into projectile missiles, the stones become bombs.”

  “And the Federation won’t help you?”

  “They won’t send troops to defend us until we are a full-fledged member.”

  “What sort of organization is your Federation if its leaders aren’t concerned over nuclear threats?”

  “Even the Federation has limited resources. Your country was known as the wealthiest and most democratic of its time. Yet, when India and Pakistan threatened to annihilate one another, your United Nations did not send a peace-keeping force. Such decisions are made in our Federation, too. For Rystan’s voice to be heard, we need full status.”

  “And for Rystan to acquire that status, I have to succeed at the Challenge?” she whispered, surprised he’d studied so much Earth history. With the fate of two worlds at stake, she couldn’t
give up—even if the odds of success appeared hopeless. And neither could he. The Challenge that had once been a mission had now turned into a life sentence. She would have to marry Kahn.

  Her bleak future swallowed her like a black hole where time stood still and misery lasted forever. Her spirit shriveled. He’d given her no choice but to cave. In the depth of her despair, a sensation she’d never experienced jolted her from her emotional pain. Oh, God. What had he done to her now?

  The sensations coalesced, then exploded.

  “FOLLOW ME, woman. We must prepare for a wedding.” Floored by the fact that the Earthling would prefer death to marriage to him, Kahn spun on his heel and gave her his back to hide his supreme irritation at her unreasonable attitude. She never reacted as he expected. When he’d mentioned the death penalty, he’d assumed she would fall apart. She hadn’t. When he told her how he could save her, he’d expected her to be grateful. She wasn’t. And when he’d explained her fate, taking the decision out of her hands, did she appreciate that he was willing to shoulder a lifetime of responsibility of protecting and providing for her? No, she didn’t.

  Without years of training, he would never have noticed a totally unexpected psi attack launched at his back. Kahn responded with his own psi out of instinct. Pivoting, he’d blocked and counter-striked, flinging his adversary across the shuttle.

  Stars! No. Only after committing to the block and counterstrike did his brain connect all the elements. Tessa had attacked him.

  She had summoned her psi power.

  But, he’d flung her towards a wall, responding as he would have to any sudden and unexpected assault.

  Krek, he cursed. Without psi training to protect herself, she would be injured. If only he could undo his actions, but that was impossible. He stared in horror as, arms flung wide, she flailed in midair, crashing into a bulkhead with a sickening thud. Even as she crumpled, he lunged across the room and caught her before she hit the floor.

  Fearing the worst, he spoke to the computer. “Medical diagnosis.”

  “She is unconscious,” the computer gave him a medical evaluation. “Her skull is not fractured. The brain is not swelling. She should recover with a powerful headache and a painful lump.”

  Kahn had never struck a woman in his life. Then again, a female had never attacked him, either. Still, he had no excuse. Rystani men protected their women; they valued their women. When he had sexually stimulated and then stopped, he’d mistreated her hoping to evoke her psi. This time he didn’t even have a good excuse. No matter the circumstances, what he had done was unpardonable. Even if she’d landed her intended blow, Tessa’s attack couldn’t have hurt him. She didn’t have enough focus or power, but when he’d responded, he’d reacted without thought and on the sheer instinct as a warrior would have under attack in battle to a deadly force. Still, his action had been totally unacceptable. Unforgivable. If they’d been on Rystan, his offense could have cost him his position as leader, maybe gotten him banished from Rian, his village. Even worse, he might have permanently damaged her.

  Holding her in his arms, he hugged her gently against his chest and prayed for her quick recovery. “Will it hurt to move her?”

  “No,” the computer answered.

  His heart heavy, Kahn exited the shuttle, carrying Tessa. She had been through so many traumas and now he’d added to her burden. He headed directly for her chamber, listening for a moan, hoping for a flutter of the eyelids, a hint to indicate she would fully recover.

  She remained limp in his arms, and he berated himself for his carelessness. He sat on the dais, held her in his arms, nestling her head against his shoulder. Who would have thought such a tiny pink female could cause so much trouble? Or react to her first psi experience with an attack?

  In the Federation’s history of Challenge contenders, no woman had ever comported herself with such violence. She should have been covering her nudity and changing her suit’s transparency, but no, she’d jammed her fist at his kidney.

  A soft moan drew his gaze to her. Slowly, her eyelids opened. Clouded with confusion, her eyes stared at him then widened as she brushed a lock of hair from her face. “What happened?”

  “I owe you an apology.”

  “You do?”

  She didn’t squirm or fidget in his arms and appeared quite puzzled by his words. Perhaps she didn’t remember.

  “I am deeply sorry for hitting you.”

  “I attacked. You countered. No big deal.”

  She did remember, and stunned, he shook his head. He’d treated her terribly, like an uncivilized Endekian. He’d struck her, and it was no big deal? She must not be thinking clearly due to the blow to her temple. “How’s your head?”

  She gently touched the swelling and winced. “I’ll live. But what happened?”

  “I hit you. Then you smashed into the bulkhead.”

  “Before that?” she demanded with exasperation. “I attacked you, but with a force . . . that shot me across the room like a cannon ball.”

  He grinned. “You did it.” Then he kissed her forehead, relieved she would be okay, happy that she’d finally succeeded.

  “I did what?”

  He kissed her cheek. “You used your psi power.”

  She jumped off his lap and paced, totally ignoring her injuries. Tessa acted as if the pain was inconsequential. He would have thought she was fine, except he could see the swelling above her ear and the blood trickling down her face before the suit absorbed it.

  “I have psi power.” Her voice raised an octave in wonder. “I never really believed you.”

  “If you hadn’t taken me by surprise . . . I would have not hurt you.”

  “I understand.”

  How could she be so casual about his negligence? He could have killed her. She must not comprehend the gravity of what he’d done. “After you launched that attack, I reacted instinctively, I should never have—”

  “Look, you defended yourself. It’s not a problem.”

  “It isn’t?” He would never understand her. She caused this huge fuss over his stopping before she reached sexual completion, yet when he’d raised his fist to her, she acted as if he’d simply tripped and bumped her.

  She stopped pacing and placed her hands on her hips. “Kahn, how did I activate my psi?”

  “You tell me,” he challenged her. Proud of Tessa for going straight to the most important detail, he restrained a grin.

  She shook her head as if recalling a terrible moment. “I don’t want to go there again.”

  “You must.” At the dark look on her face, he tempered his demand. “But if you wish to rest or wait until you heal—”

  “I’m fine.”

  She wasn’t fine. The skin around her eye was bruising. Tomorrow, she would no doubt sport an ugly bruise. Every time he looked at her, he would remember his shame.

  She gestured for him to rise to his feet. “I want to try that maneuver again.”

  His lower jaw dropped. “What did you say?”

  “I want to attack you again.”

  “No.”

  “Look. This time you’ll be prepared. This time you won’t hurt me.”

  “This is not the way we train females.”

  “Yeah, well, your method didn’t work, did it?” She looked as if she wanted to say something, hesitated, then took a deep breath. “Exactly how do you train men candidates?”

  “With combat.”

  “Well, duh. Did you ever think that combat might work for me?”

  She stared at him as if he was the most stupid man in the universe, waiting for an answer. Tense, balanced on the balls of her feet, her hands loose, she looked ready for action.

  “You have no idea what you’re suggesting. I can’t believe you’d even think such a thing. On Rystan men don’t battle women, they protect them.”

  “I’d rather go to war than have you keep ‘protecting’ me,” she sneered.

  “You have no cuts, bruises, or broken bones.”

  �
��Those are acceptable risks. And much better than torture.”

  No, what she asked was unthinkable—except that her outrageous suggestion might be the only way to train her for the Challenge.

  She fisted her hands on her hips. “I shouldn’t be the only one expected to make adjustments. Perhaps you should reconsider.”

  Perhaps he should. Yet, no matter how much yielding to her suggestion went against his Rystani customs, winning the Challenge had to take precedence, didn’t it?

  He needed more time to come to a decision. “We will talk no more about your training for now. Today is our wedding day. You must learn our customs and what a Rystani man expects of his obedient wife.”

  She sputtered. “Excuse me. I’m more interested in—”

  “Rystani wives don’t argue with their husbands.”

  “Really? If the other men are like you, I find that impossible to believe.”

  He stood, placed his hands on her waist, and lifted her until her eyes were on the same level with his. “Are you calling me a liar?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” She chuckled, a deep rumbling laugh that made him want to shake her. Had the knot on her head made her lose her sense of reason?

  When she finally stopped laughing, she cocked one haughty eyebrow. “Do good Rystani wives cook?”

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  He set her back on her feet and loomed over her, trying hard to forget the delicious meals Lael had once prepared for him and how she’d enjoyed his praise of her cooking. “You will learn to cook. In fact it’s your job to prepare a wedding feast for us.”

  “Nor do I know how to clean. Or sew. Or take care of children. I am not good-wife material any more than you are good-husband material.”

  “Lael never had any complaints,” he muttered, thinking that he’d never have thought he would be so happy to hear Tessa insult him again. Relief that he hadn’t caused real damage must be blindsiding him to his fate of having to put up with her for a lifetime.