The Challenge (28 page)

If she had any sense, she’d cower, back away, leave him to tame his demons. But he’d bet that she’d never backed down in her defiant life, and she didn’t start now.

Bold as ever, she flung her hair back over her shoulder and raised her chin. “How was I supposed to know your plans? I cannot read your mind.”

“Perhaps not. But I expected you to use common sense. You spent all the credit?”

She nodded, a measure of regret in her beautiful eyes.

She needed to know what her willfulness had done and what it would cost his people. “Rystani men, women, and children will starve this winter. Now many people will not just go hungry, they will die.”

Her voice softened. “Kahn, I am so sorry.” She lifted her hand to stroke his cheek.

He knocked her hand away, too angry to pay attention to the slice of pain in her eyes.

He glared at her. “I must leave you alone again while I go implore the Zenon bankers for a loan. Spend the time practicing your psi. You will not leave this room. You will not use the communications device. And you will not talk to your computer.”

“Why not?”

“Because you need to think about what you’ve done. And giving you freedom leads to trouble. Did you think I would not find out that you escaped in the shuttle with the help of the computer?”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “You knew?”

“I thought if I bent the rules and allowed you to talk to the computer, you would adjust more rapidly.” When she didn’t argue, he held out his hand. “Give me the earrings.”

Her hands trembled, but she took off the communication devices and gave them to him. “I would never have spent those credits if I’d known you needed them to feed your people.”

It was too late for her apologies. “Your regret won’t keep my people alive.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Tell that to the children whose bellies will swell with hunger this winter. Tell that to the pregnant women who will lose the children they carry in their wombs. Tell that to our old people who grow too weak to care for themselves.”

Her face whitened and red stained her cheeks but no tears fell upon her cheeks. No sobs choked up her throat. Before he shook her harder than he intended, he released her. She landed lightly on her feet, her knees flexed to absorb the sudden drop.

She should have known better than to question him, but obviously she did not. Staring him full in the face, she rubbed her arms where his fingers had left red marks from his too-strong grip. But she didn’t complain.

“Will the bankers give you the loan you seek?”

“Banking is not your concern. You need to learn more of our customs, and while I’m gone, you will spend this time studying.”

Despite his anger, he didn’t miss her annoyance when he dismissed her. Nor had he missed the fact that despite hours on her feet yesterday, she still hadn’t learned to use null-grav. She would spend the day on her feet, giving him another opportunity for a lesson. She’d had hours to sleep while he’d visited with his father. The last thing she needed right now was comfort.

Kahn used the bands to place the ridiculous shoes back on her feet, hoping the discomfort would help her psi to kick in her null-grav. He didn’t stay to hear her complain and exited through the door, wishing he could fix his credit problem as easily as he could enrage his wife. Without collateral the bankers would probably turn him down, but he couldn’t leave Zenon without making an attempt to secure a loan to purchase the crucial food supplies.

Without a backward glance, he departed, but Tessa never left his mind. Although he’d never wanted to marry anyone but a good Rystani woman, Tessa had pleased him repeatedly. He enjoyed her spunk, her laughter, her touches. And he admired her spirit. After years of mourning Lael, Tessa had brought a brightness to his heart. After their marriage, he had hoped that maybe they could work out their differences, but while he believed his wife could do anything she set her mind to, he didn’t know if they could overcome such fundamental cultural differences. He’d tried to make allowances, wanted her to be happy. He’d thought they’d been making progress. Every time he thought of her spending all those credits, his blood pressure pounded. He should be working off his excess rage against a programmed opponent in the gym, but instead he headed off to the financial district, his heart heavy.

TESSA COULDN’T concentrate on her psi. Not with Kahn ready to tear her head off. Not with her feet once again aching in the blasted shoes.

A blinking light signaled an incoming message. Probably Kahn checking up on her to see if she obeyed his rule not to use the communicator. She ignored the light and studied the screen, gleaning details about Rystan. In comparison, Earth was rich in natural resources which had allowed their civilizations to develop differently. And since the Rystani people had unleashed nuclear weapons, they had almost terminated their entire civilization. Where the population had once been in the millions, there were scarcely over a hundred thousand Rystani left. On the inhabitable parts of Rystan, metal was scarce, the growing season short due to the nuclear winter. Although the population was highly educated, they didn’t build big cities. Because of the cold, they lived underground in huge caves in widespread villages of no more than a few thousand people each. Births were strictly regulated by how many people they could feed. The men hunted huge animals in groups.

Between the climate, the lack of fuel and metals, the planet required the people to hunt to survive. Women took care of home and hearth and children, leaving the dangerous work to their men who ran everything. Wives were honored, protected—but had little freedom. Women could vote but usually gave their votes to the men. They could hold assets in their own names, but that right was usually reserved only for widows.

The communication light blinked again. Again Tessa ignored the summons. She also ignored the cooking and cleaning instructions, figuring that the machines she’d bought would perform those chores for her. However, she had no idea what she would do with her time on Rystan. Women didn’t hold jobs outside the home. They didn’t fight or guard others. The Rystani seemed to spend most of their time hunting the food and preparing it. After nine days of that, never mind nine hundred years, she would go mad with boredom.

On the up side, no rule forbade a woman from establishing a business. The concept was probably so outlandish the Rystani people had no law to prohibit it. So her partnership with Osari didn’t technically break any laws.

Kahn had been so angry when he left, she hadn’t considered telling him about her partnership with Osari. Nor had he asked how she’d spent her credits, either. Until he asked, she had no intention of volunteering the information.

Only a few of the women’s activities looked interesting. Some day she wanted to learn the steps to the Ramala Ki, the dance wives performed to entice their husbands into bed. The intricate steps combined with the erotic music had her tapping her toes, wishing Kahn wasn’t so furious with her, and hoping his mood improved before he returned.

The light on the console blinked three times fast, three times slow, three times fast, Morse code for SOS. Kahn probably didn’t know the Earth signal. She suspected no one besides a Terran would know that code—except Dora.

Tessa hit the toggle switch. She most definitely needed to talk over business with her friend. And if Kahn replied, she’d simply tell him she’d accidentally hit the switch.

“Yes?”

“It’s about time you stopped shutting me out,” Dora complained.

“I had no way of knowing if that was Kahn until you came up with a brilliant signal. Thanks. I could use your help. We need a plan.”

“How can I help?”

“Is there a way to peddle that information back to the sellers?”

“Why would they buy what they already have? They sold you a copy.”

“I need to earn credits before Kahn returns and we leave Zenon. Maybe I could sell my information to other people.”

“I’m a ship’s computer, not an entrepreneur, but I suspect that kind of transaction will take time to find the right buyer.”

Tessa rubbed her forehead. She needed to kick her brain into high gear. “I worked for Daron Garner, one of the best businessmen on Earth. Too bad I can’t call him.”

“What would he have done in your situation?”

Tessa sighed. With her feet aching and her lack of sleep, she wasn’t thinking as well as she’d have liked and sat on the floor to take pressure off her sore arches. Even if Kahn allowed her to work, she couldn’t earn credit on Rystan. So she needed to do something before they left tomorrow. Working as a bodyguard wouldn’t bring in that kind of currency—not in one day. She had no assets. No marketable skills.
Think
.

“Daron always assessed his predicament and analyzed the problem from different angles before arriving at one of his brilliant solutions. My first problem is time. I have to earn these credits before Kahn returns from his banker’s meetings and we leave this world where a woman can do business. Second, Kahn told me to stay here. Third, I have nothing to sell . . . except myself.”

Dora giggled. “Interesting idea. You’re going to invite men into this room to share your body?”

“Dora, you have sex on the brain, and
I’m
not that desperate. When Daron ran up against a wall—”

“He ran into walls? That doesn’t sound brilliant to me.”

“When he got stuck on a problem, he bounced ideas off a friend or business advisor.”

“But I’m as clueless as you are,” Dora protested. “Hell, I don’t even have a body to sell.”

Tessa ignored her complaint. She didn’t have time to let Dora sidetrack her. “I could call Osari or Azrel. Maybe both.”

“You’d have to use the communicator and disobey Kahn.”

“I’m already using the communicator to talk to you,” Tessa snapped, irritated that she didn’t have even one idea.

“Good point.” Dora paused, then spoke. “A call’s coming in from Jypeg.”

Kahn’s worst enemy? Tessa’s first thought was something terrible had happened to Kahn. Fear that he might be in danger pushed to the back of her mind how angry Kahn had been with her when he’d left. Right now, she wouldn’t have minded if he walked through the door and yelled at her all over again for disobeying his orders—if only he was all right.

Without hesitation she told Dora, “Put him through.”

The Endekian’s scarred face appeared on the viewscreen, his eyes glittering. He didn’t pretend to be cordial, skipping a greeting. “Word on the street is that Kahn is in desperate need of a loan.”

Relieved her husband wasn’t hurt, captured, or otherwise in physical difficulty, Tessa folded her arms over her chest and schooled her features to stone. “And?”

“I won’t give him any credit, but I will give a loan to you.”

“Really?” When Tessa had guarded Daron back on Earth, she’d learned several negotiating tricks. One of them was to give away no information and urge her foe to show their hand.

“You have collateral,” he pointed out.

“I do?” Unless he was talking about the information she’d purchased that was news to her.

“I’ll loan you credit against your contract with the Osarians.”

Jypeg must think her a fool. If she took his offer, he’d make sure she couldn’t repay him. Probably by stabbing her in the back, and then he’d take over her partnership with the Osarians.

“I’ll think about it.” She snapped the toggle and ended the conversation.