The Challenge (8 page)

“No. Don’t go.” Tessa surmised she’d hurt her new friend’s feelings. “I was surprised to hear you. I thought you could communicate only from inside the shuttle.”

Dora laughed. “This spaceship has been refitted many times over the centuries. On several occasions the engineers failed to remove certain neurotransmitters. Through a series of patches, I have linked up.”

“That’s wonderful.” Tessa didn’t have to fake her enthusiasm but winced at the newest sensual assault on her body.

Dora oozed sympathy. “Are you in pain?”

“Sort of.” Tessa rolled onto her side on the platform and rested her head in her palm. “How can you tell?”

“I’ve patched into the ship’s medical sensors.”

Tessa frowned at the seamless wall that could open into a doorway where Kahn could enter at any moment. “Privacy mode, please.”

“Privacy on.”

“Dora, what exactly does privacy mode mean? Can Kahn tap into our conversations?”

“Yes, but it’s highly unlikely he will do so. Privacy is valued throughout the Federation. If he doesn’t know I’m here, and there’s no reason for him to suspect my capabilities, it’s unlikely he’ll use his override code.”

That Kahn was probably unaware of Dora’s abilities pleased her. Dora might be her only ally in an incomprehensible universe, and Tessa didn’t want to lose her. “I’m glad we agree that what Kahn doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure that is true, but it’s an interesting philosophy, if somewhat flawed.”

“If Kahn entered this room right this minute, he wouldn’t hear us?” Tessa wanted to make sure she understood the technology.

“Even if he stood right beside you, with the sound-deadening of privacy mode, he wouldn’t hear us speaking, but if he saw your lips move, he might suspect.”

“Hmm. It might be a good idea to develop the habit of talking to myself.” A habit she might not have to fake if this suit didn’t stop torturing her. The slow, sensual strokes had changed to the occasional nip that shot arcs of pleasure into her core. She swallowed down an “ahh,” then an “ohh.”

“I talk to myself all the time,” Dora admitted. “It gets lonely in the shuttle.”

“Well, you needn’t be lonely ever again. We’re friends, remember?” Tessa reminded her.

“I never forget. My memory banks are triplicated.”

“So what can you tell me about the Challenge?”

“Nothing. I only have information that my programmers believed necessary to run a shuttle craft. However, from the moans and grunts you occasionally emit, I believe you might be in need of medical care.”

“I’m fine.” Tessa spoke through teeth gritted against the pleasurable stroking of her bottom. Apparently she hadn’t been doing as good a job as she thought in keeping silent. Either that or Dora’s sensors were more delicate than human ears.

“Your pulse is elevated,” Dora commented.

“That’s because I’m upset.”

“Why?”

“I’d like to get out of this room. I’d like to see the starship, explore a little, at least look out a window.”

“I’m sorry. I have no control over the mechanical aspects of this ship. I’m limited to sight and sound in this room and the corridor.”

“Hey, that’s good. So you can warn me if anyone is approaching?”

“Oh, yes. Would you like me to do that for you?”

“Always. Thanks.”

As Tessa’s suit nuzzled places along her bottom and the backs of her knees that she hadn’t known were so tender or responsive, she squirmed, trying to find a position that would offer relief, but she might as well have tried to crawl out of her own skin. No matter how she twisted or rearranged her limbs, the suit fused to her sensitive flesh.

“So what kind of information is programmed into your circuits?” Tessa asked, trying to distract herself from the pulsing heat between her thighs.

“Navigational information, including evasive maneuvering. Communications. Repairs. Engine mechanics. First aid. Not only is your pulse elevated, your pupils are dilated.”

“It’s my suit. Kahn said it wasn’t malfunctioning, but it’s stroking me . . .”

“Your nipples are forming nubs.”

“Dora!”

“Ah. You aren’t in pain at all. You’re horny!”

Tessa grinned despite her discomfort. “Yes, I’m very uncomfortable.”

“Why don’t you do something about it?” Dora asked with all the logic of a computer who could never understand the tension building inside Tessa.

“I was going to take care of that problem before you arrived,” Tessa admitted.

“How can you take care of the problem when there is no man in the room who is ready for sexual intercourse?”

“I thought you only knew about navigation and first aid?” Tessa muttered.

“As we speak, I’m inserting myself into sensors all over the ship. And my brain was created to pick up data and draw logical conclusions in a manner similar to your ability to learn.”

“You’ve learned about sex from eavesdropping?”

“Exactly. Without a man present, how—”

“Ever heard of self-satisfaction?” Tessa asked wryly. She should at least be pleased that she hadn’t had to explain the basics of human copulation to her new friend.

“Self-satisfaction is not allowed.”

“On my world when one is alone, masturbation is a completely acceptable practice.”

“If that is a hint for me to leave, I shall do so, but your suit won’t permit such actions.”

Tessa sat up so fast that she felt light-headed. “What do you mean?”

“The suit prevents acts of self-gratification.”

Tessa dropped one hand between her legs to test Dora’s theory. Damn. She might as well have been trying to pound Kahn with her fist. The result was exactly the same. Then the implications sank in. All along she’d assumed she could alleviate her problem, but that option had been taken from her.

She couldn’t remove the suit or control it. Nor could she eliminate or relieve her reaction to the continuous sensual assault. Trapped, her desperation increasing at the realization of her helplessness, she fought to keep her tone from rising in panic. “Dora . . . how much more . . . of this am I supposed to take? I need to find a way to stop—”

“You have one viable option,” Dora replied cheerily.

“What?”

“Seduce the Rystani male.”

Leave it to a computer to come up with so logical a solution, one Tessa hadn’t considered. “You want me to sleep with the enemy?”

“Not sleep—have sex. Wild, passionate, lusty sex would solve your immediate problem, would it not?”

If a man from Earth had kept Tessa naked and assailed her with kisses and caresses, she would have had no trouble figuring out his motive. But the alien seemed mostly indifferent to her, except for the occasional direct gaze of those cat-eyes.

“Besides, he’s not the enemy,” Dora continued. “I heard him say that his success is tied to yours.”

Tessa wasn’t about to cast aside Dora’s suggestion without giving it serious consideration, but not for the reasons Dora had mentioned. Kahn wasn’t the frivolous sort. He didn’t strike her as the type of guy to make her uncomfortable for no damn reason. And no one would spend this much time, effort, or resources just to have sex with an Earthling.

She had to look at the facts. The aliens had requested a virgin. And she’d been forced into a suit that sexually stimulated her. Those were two undeniable truths that indicated her circumstances had something to do with sex.

Tessa didn’t believe it was a coincidence that Kahn had told her that her training had begun shortly after the suit had started stroking her. If Kahn called sexual stimulation training, and he’d told her he was supposed to help her develop her psi, was adjusting her suit the method he intended to accomplish his task?

While she’d been told she’d been sent into space, supposedly to perform some unknown alien Challenge with her psi, how did she know the Challenge hadn’t to do with mating? Suppose the Challenge was created for the aliens to evaluate her to determine how well she adapted? To determine if she had phobias that would prevent Earthlings from interspecies mating or if she could fit in? What better way to test her than to see if she would have sex with one of them?

Although Kahn had claimed to have been expecting a man, he could have deliberately misled her. Or if Earth had sent a man, perhaps there was a woman waiting somewhere for him. Tessa didn’t have enough facts to make a good decision. However, she didn’t want to fail. If she’d been willing to give her life to save the president, she ought to be willing to part with her virginity to save her world.

“Don’t you find him attractive?” Dora prodded.

“Yes, but I don’t know him.”

“So what?”

“I don’t have feelings for him—”

“Feelings other than lusting after his delicious looking body, you mean?”

“Dora!” Although Tessa admonished her, perhaps her friend had seen what she could not. Had Tessa’s background caused her to miss the obvious? The aliens had requested a virgin then kept her naked and stimulated and thrown her together with a man from another world. Why? To accomplish her mission was she supposed to have sex with him?

“I wish I had your problem,” Dora admitted. “I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“I’ll think about it.” Tessa doubted she’d be able to think about anything else. Perhaps that was the point. Had Kahn programmed her suit to develop her psi or so she would go to him? The entire idea of sexual stimulation causing her psi to emerge seemed absurd. It seemed more likely the Challenge was a test to see how well she intermingled with Kahn.

“He’s coming,” Dora told her, breaking into her thoughts.

Tessa wished she had more time to think, more information to judge her situation. For all she knew, the Challenge was to see if she could resist the seduction and somehow overcome her primitive biological urges. Or maybe winning the Challenge might require the exact opposite response. Perhaps she’d succeed if she offered to mate with the Rystani. Or perhaps sex had absolutely nothing to do with the Challenge at all.

However, one thing she knew for certain, she didn’t like the suit touching her. It left her restless, angry, and very determined to put an end to her suffering. And if she had to choose between the suit’s impersonal strokes and Kahn’s touch, she’d much prefer the sexy spaceman.

Sexy? Dora’s suggestion now had Tessa sizing up Kahn’s attributes in a way a woman measures a man. He had a great body, attractive features, and compelling eyes, and he’d never touched her with anything but gentleness. However, the idea of having sex with a man who was causing her distress was not the logic of a rational woman—unless her ability to accept this alien as a partner
was
the Challenge.

After Mike’s death, Tessa had wished they’d made love, and she’d discovered that she usually regretted the things in life she didn’t do, not the things she did. Kahn had implied that she might never return from this mission, and she wouldn’t mind experiencing sex before the end came. Would she prefer for her emotions to be involved? Yes. But could she enjoy sex without her emotions being involved? She didn’t see why not. And Tessa knew better than to believe she could have everything she wanted.

She only wished she could be sure that her assumptions were correct. But Kahn had told her he wouldn’t explain anything that had to do with the Challenge. So there was no point in waiting for further information that wouldn’t come her way.