Tessa sniffed appreciatively. “Smells great.”
Inside the oven, meat roasted on a turning spit. Miri collected juices and basted the meat. “How soon can we have the Jarballa?”
“Coming right up.” Tessa dusted off her hands and gestured to the food materializer. Although she dearly wanted a cup of coffee, she thought it would be rude to help herself to a drink after Miri had gone to such trouble to prepare a meal. “Why don’t you break it in?”
Miri closed the oven, placed the baster in a sink and peered at the machine. “What do I do?”
“Imagine the taste of the spice. Then push the taste at the machine with your psi.”
Miri closed her eyes, twitched her lips. “Done.”
“How’s this?” Tessa opened the door and handed a pungent concoction to Miri who smiled in delight.
“Perfect.”
Enthusiasm lit up Shaloma’s face. “I want to try.”
“Shaloma, you know better than to waste food. We already have a feast. We haven’t eaten this well in almost three years, but for Kahn and Tessa’s welcome, we had to splurge.”
Tessa stepped back and let Shaloma stand in front of the machine. “We needn’t scrimp. I bought enough raw ingredients on Zenon Prime to feed ten people for a thousand years. You and Shaloma must increase your caloric intakes.”
Miri pursed her lips, carefully spreading the spice over the meat. “We cannot do so while others are hungry.”
“No one will go hungry in Rian.” Tessa thought of Rob One and Rob Two who were busy digging out a cavern large enough to house the hydroponics equipment. “We also brought—”
“Do I smell octar meat and Jarballa sauce?” Kahn poked his head into the kitchen.
“Celebrating your safe homecoming and your wedding to Tessa demands a special feast.” Miri tried to shoo him out with a rueful grin.
Kahn didn’t budge. “You told me you used the last Jarballa on my birthday.”
“Did I?” Miri basted the meat, flustered that Kahn was questioning her. She was trying to honor Tessa’s request not to mention the food purchases. Obviously, she wasn’t good at dispensing misinformation, and Kahn angled his head, questions in his eyes.
As if sensing Tessa was behind the problem, he arched a brow in her direction. “Something you want to tell me?”
“No.”
The other women gasped at her direct reply. Dora chuckled.
“But you will tell me.”
“Oh, Kahn. Miri has spent days hoarding food and working hard to prepare this meal, please don’t spoil the celebration.” Tessa tried to soften her clear warning to him to behave.
In the best of moods since his arrival at home, Kahn crossed his arms over his chest, attempting to look stern, but his mouth twitched. “Fine, I promise not to spoil the celebration, so it’s safe for you to tell me what you’ve done now.”
Miri’s jaw dropped in shock. Shaloma’s eyes went from Kahn to Tessa back to Kahn in wide astonishment.
Kahn didn’t take his gaze from Tessa but spoke to the other women. “I’ve given Tessa extra leeway because Earth customs are different. Miri, I trust you to teach her our ways. And, Shaloma, don’t even think about imitating her, or we’ll never find you a husband.”
“She’s a little young for a husband,” Tessa protested, forgetting once again that she wasn’t supposed to argue with her husband, especially in front of others.
“Could you find me a husband?” Dora asked, cutting the tension and causing everyone to laugh.
Tessa knew Kahn still waited for his answer and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “If you must know, I brought back from Zenon Prime a food materializer and supplies to run the machine.”
“And it took you how long to tell me?”
“You didn’t ask. And the subject never came up.” Tessa figured since he’d already promised not to fuss, now might be a good time to confess the rest. “I also bought a cleaning robot.”
“Machines that will cook and clean. Did you also buy one that will hunt? Then no one on Rystan will have to work,” he teased, and she liked the easy grin on his face, the dancing glint in his eyes.
She’d been about to tell him about the hydroponics equipment, but reconsidered. Perhaps he’d had enough surprises for one day.
“Kahn, I could use the mechanical help.” Miri rubbed the small of her back and Tessa wondered exactly how far along she was in her pregnancy.
She also found the family interaction more than interesting. Miri was backing Tessa in a way that made it difficult for Kahn to turn her down without seeming unsympathetic to her pregnancy.
As if accustomed to attempts to softly manipulate him, Kahn didn’t give in easily. “Shaloma and Tessa will help you.”
“Yes, but Shaloma has her studies, and Etru told me over the talkie that Tessa must practice daily for the Challenge.” Miri opened the oven again and savory smells drifted to Kahn’s nose, and his nostrils flared in appreciation.
Kahn grinned, seemingly none too upset that the women had out maneuvered him. “You do know how to bribe a man.”
“And after Tessa tastes your favorite dishes, she’ll be able to produce them herself with the food materializer.”
Kahn sighed. “I should know better than to come in here.” He ducked back out of the kitchen, and they could hear him say to the men, “We’ll be eating soon.”
Tessa sagged in relief. She hadn’t realized that she’d been holding her breath, anxious over Kahn’s reaction. And she appreciated Miri backing her more than she could say. A sincere thank you seemed inadequate.
“Miri, I . . . thanks.”
Miri took a hot pan of bread out of the oven with her fingers, exhibiting total temperature control of her suit. “You didn’t think we would help you?”
“I didn’t know what to expect. I’m a stranger here. Your ways are very different from mine.” Tessa drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly as the other two women exchanged a long glance and frowns. “Look, I want to make this work. So if I say or do something wrong, rude, inappropriate, I want you both to tell me. In exchange, I promise not to ever do anything that would deliberately hurt either one of you. Deal?”
Tessa held out her hand to Miri to shake. Miri clasped her hand and embraced her, then gestured for Shaloma to join the three-way hug. “Deal.”
Miri stepped back, removed a large round fruit pie from the lower oven, and handed it to Tessa. “Can you take—”
“Shaloma,” Tessa couldn’t touch that burning hot pie plate without getting badly burned.
Shaloma rushed over to help Miri then both women looked at Tessa oddly. Miri angled her head. “I know you don’t know how to cook, but you can help serve.”
“I can’t.”
“Is this kind of work beneath you?” Shaloma asked.
Tessa shook her head. “I don’t have that kind of temperature control over my suit yet. If I’d touched that hot—”
“I’m sorry,” Miri calmly handed the pie cutter to Shaloma and gave Tessa another task. “Why don’t you pour the drinks, then.”
Tessa found glasses and filled them, then brought them to the table in the dining area off the kitchen. “I haven’t learned how to operate the null-grav controls, either.”
“It will come, dear.” Miri said encouragingly. “Etru told me that Kahn said you’re doing marvelously well. He’s proud of you.”
He was? This third-hand gossip could be quite useful. She wondered how else she could help. But Miri assigned her tasks, and she carried plates and utensils to the table, feeling like a small part of the team. She hadn’t felt like part of anything for a long time, not since Earth.
She hadn’t expected to like being in a kitchen or being around a woman like Miri who spent her days cooking and cleaning. However, Miri hadn’t just welcomed Tessa, she’d made her feel like part of a family.
So when Miri began to carve the meat and asked about her life on Earth, Tessa didn’t brush her off with a curt answer. She
told the women about losing her parents, her foster homes, and how she’d found a second home in the Secret Service.
Shaloma was fascinated, especially about Tessa’s work guarding a business tycoon and a president. She wanted to hear all about the business details. About the wheeling and dealing. And finally when dinner was on the table and Miri called in the men, Tessa wondered if she’d be able to eat past the giant lump in her throat.
She might not recognize the food on the table. She might have to stand since she couldn’t operate the null-grav in her suit. She might have just met Shaloma, Miri, and Etru, but instead of being the outsider, they’d accepted her. She belonged.
Kahn raised his drinking vessel in a toast. “To the newest member of our family, my wife, Tessa.”
“Cheers.”
Everyone sipped. Tessa’s drink tasted like beer, but more mellow. Miri sputtered and Shaloma gasped.
Kahn’s brows narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Miri replied.
Oh, God. She’d poured and served the drinks. Given everyone alcohol. Miri was attempting to cover for her mistake but a pregnant woman shouldn’t be drinking.
“I’m sorry.” Tessa walked past Miri and Shaloma and picked up their glasses, adding them to her own. “I’ve made a mistake.”
Etru dropped his head into his hands. “You gave Miri and Shaloma spirits?”
“Not on purpose.”
“Women aren’t supposed to ever drink alcohol. Didn’t you know that?”
“I did. I just didn’t know this beverage was alcoholic.”
“Any child—”
“Etru, she wasn’t born here,” Miri defended her. “It was only one sip and caused no harm.”
Etru raised his head and looked at Tessa. “This time, she caused no harm. But what will she do next?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to all of you about.” Tessa came in with fresh drinks for the women, something fruity and non-alcoholic. “I have a plan to suggest. Is dinner the appropriate time to talk business?”
Chapter Twenty-One
AT TESSA’S suggestion to talk about business, Etru about choked on his drink, and Kahn tried to hide a smile. With Tessa around, dinner would never be boring. While Miri had apparently taken Tessa under her motherly wing, Miri would have loved anyone who had saved her husband’s life. And Shaloma, the poor kid had developed a case of serious heroine-worship, looking at Tessa like some kind of awe-inspiring goddess.
However hard Etru was trying to accept Kahn’s wife after she’d saved his life from the Endekians, his friend couldn’t conceal the disapproval in his eyes at her impudent suggestion. Kahn had once reacted to her in the same way. But no more. She’d repeatedly proven to him that she had good ideas. Although he found himself holding his breath, it was due to anticipation, as he eagerly awaited to hear what outrageous scheme she had in her creative mind.
Etru sipped his ale, then spoke firmly. “Women tend to home, hearth, and children. They don’t speak of business matters.”
Kahn spoke lightly. “We should hear her out, Etru. Tessa has a good head for business as well as tactics.”
Tessa spoke softly. “My business ideas focus around putting more food on the table.”
Somehow Kahn just knew she wasn’t talking about distributing supplies she’d bought on Zenon Prime, or cooking, or opening up one of those restaurants he’d seen on Earth. He stabbed a piece of octar meat in Jarballa sauce and savored the spicy treat, which put him in the most easy going of moods. “What are you thinking, woman?”
“You told me the growing season is too short to raise enough crops to feed everyone year round.”
“And?”
“What would you think about growing food inside Rian?”
“Underground?” Etru laughed. “Crops require sunlight for cultivation.”
“Actually, you are partially correct.” Kahn had to give Tessa credit as she ignored Etru’s sarcasm and kept her words diplomatic. Her face remained schooled to reveal none of her thoughts, but he caught a spark of agitation in her eyes as she continued, “Crops need light, but it needn’t be sunlight. On other worlds, farmers use artificial lighting.”
“To make those kinds of lights takes heavy metals and to power them would take—”
“Generators.”
“Which are not available—”
“Actually, they are, now.”
Kahn restrained a chuckle. He could see that he should have pursued his interest in his wife’s purchases, but watching her spring another surprise on the family was actually fun. She’d told him about the food she’d bought and about some of the machines, too—but obviously not all of them. “Tessa, what exactly have you done?”
“When you told me about the food shortages, I put Dora to work on the problem. She suggested our best bet was hydroponic farming.”
Kahn appreciated the our that indicated she’d made Rystani problems her own, and exchanged glances with Etru. While this had to be the strangest conversation his friend had ever had at their dinner table, his expression served to underscore just how much Kahn had changed since meeting his wife. Usually the men conversed about the hunt, the women threw in tidbits about their day. They didn’t discuss starting up a farming business with a name he couldn’t pronounce, and yet, as usual, Tessa had intrigued him. “Water ponics?”
“It’s a system of farming,” Dora explained. “It can be done underground with huge vats, lights, and proper nutrients.”
Now the computer was joining in the conversation. Kahn didn’t know what surprised him more, that everyone seemed to accept her as a new family member or how easily she fit in.
Etru shook his head at the computer. “But we don’t have—”
“We do,” Tessa countered. “We brought back enough equipment from Zenon Prime to begin a hydroponics farm.”
Kahn bit into a delicious piece of crusty bread. “Our resources are limited—”
“Dora can teach us the new skills,” she interrupted, expecting him to argue.
“—but this hydroponics idea sounds like it’s worth investigating.” Kahn backed her idea with enthusiasm.
“Who will Dora teach to farm?” Etru demanded. “The men must hunt or we will not last the winter. The women have their chores to do.”
Tessa kept her voice level as if she was deferring to Kahn. “If I see that the chores get done, can I organize the women to run the hydroponics?”
“I will help,” Shaloma added quickly, her eyes shining brightly.
Miri nodded. “As will I.”
“I don’t like it.” Etru took Miri’s hand. “You cannot exhaust yourself. You already do too much.”
“I will see that she eats enough and rests enough,” Tessa told them. She looked to Kahn, waiting his decision.
Stars help him, if he refused, the women in his household might revolt. And if he agreed, Etru would be none too happy. And yet, starving people couldn’t ignore the opportunity of creating a new food source.
Stalling, Kahn finished the last of his meat. “Where is this equipment?”
“Dora had robots store it in a safe place.” Tessa lowered her eyes. Obviously well aware she should have told him sooner, she’d nevertheless held back information until she thought she held the upper hand. Kahn realized that her caution was due to his past reactions and hoped that would soon change. He didn’t want his wife to be so cautious around him that she couldn’t speak freely.
“Where is the equipment?”
Dora sighed, just like a real woman. “I had Rob One and Rob Two dig out a cavern behind your quarters.”
“Rob One and Rob Two?” Etru asked?
“Robots who used their short-range sensors to find their way into a hollowed out cavern that is suitable for our purposes.”
Kahn could see the hope in Tessa’s eyes, the resentment Etru tried to hide. Kahn understood all too well that his people would be divided over the issue of women working outside the home, although women did
help with the farming during the short growing season. He thrummed his fingers on the table, knowing that if the women failed, Tessa and he would lose much respect. And if Tessa’s plan succeeded, many would resent her because their lives would forever change.
Tessa had placed herself in a no-win situation and yet, she’d put the welfare of his people over any wish she might have had to fit in here. She didn’t seem to mind facing opposition, seemed sure she could convince other women to help her.
But, what choice did they have? Adapt . . . or starve.
Intellectually, Kahn knew that he should thank her for making a sensible choice, for attempting to feed his people. But he and the other men liked coming home from the hunt to a clean house, a warm hearth, with hot food on the table. Even more, they liked knowing their wives would be at home doing chores to make their lives comfortable, not working with some alien machines.
At the same time, he appreciated that Tessa had finally told him about her plan and had not tried to accomplish it without his backing. Although she’d bought the supplies and machines without his knowledge, that she would share her idea with him now proved that she trusted him more each day. And he liked having that trust.
“Are you sure you can pull this off?” he asked his wife, believing she could do almost anything she’d put her mind to. Her fighting skills with her suit had improved until she could almost give him a worthy match—except for the lack of null-grav. And while her temperature control remained shaky, she would fine tune that process, too. What she did not yet realize was that her skill now equaled most men. Thanks to the expertise she’d acquired on Earth, her agile mind and her will to work hard, she had come far in a short time. But he’d never have thought she could be so mentally tough, and remain so attractive. Despite her warrior ways, despite her lack of cooking skills, he took great pride in her accomplishments, and none more so than her winning over Miri and Shaloma to her side.
The Challenge Page 27