“Too bad, sweetcakes.” She patted his cheek in regret. “But I don’t care for slavery, no matter how good-looking the master is. We’d have ended up killing each other.”
“What’s that?” Rourk asked behind her.
“Nothing. Are you sure he won’t remember anything after you give him the agent?”
“Not a thing. And he’ll have a sore head to assure him he imbibed too much, if his loss of memory doesn’t.”
“There was another warrior with him when they stopped me. He’s likely to remind Kowan-”
“Then why don’t you scratch him or something so he’ll have a reason to wish he could remember?”
Tedra grinned and leaned forward again, putting her lips to the sleeping warrior’s throat. When she finished, there was a small bruise of the like she had often seen on Rourk’s neck after Xeta had shared sex with him.
“That ought to make him swear off intoxicants for a good while,” Rourk said. “Are you sure you don’t want to be breached before you lose yourself in space?”
She glanced up and was shocked to see that he was serious. “Rourk!”
“Sorry,” he said, flushing. “I’ve just never seen you looking so soft.”
Had kissing the warrior done that to her? She was annoyed, thoroughly. After all, the farden slime had wanted to make a slave of her.
She got to her feet abruptly, grouching, “You picked a fine time to remember I’m a woman.”
He chuckled, now that the Sec was back. “I guess the timing is kind of lousy.”
“Did you get me a World Discoverer?”
“No, but I got you a priority rating, so you’ll have no trouble clearing port.”
“And just what, then, am I going to clear port in? What other single-pilot, long-distance craft-”
“I had to take what was available, Tedra. The Discoverers are all off planet or in repair. I got you a Transport Rover instead. It’ll go just as far as a Discoverer, even farther, and faster, too. It’s just bigger.”
“One hell of a lot bigger, Rourk. How am I supposed to pilot a craft that large? I don’t know the first think about Rovers. My studies, short as they were, were on Discoverers.”
“Not to worry.” He grinned. “Tell her, Martha.”
“He’s right, kiddo.” Martha’s voice traveled across the room, proving she’d been listening to their exchange. “All you have to do is hook me up to the Rover’s on-board computer, and I take over. I’m programmed to fly anything they’ve got. Why do you think I’m so expensive?”
“I did always wonder,” Tedra came back dryly, only to hear what sounded suspiciously like a snort from the computer.
“Now, now,” Rourk intervened, looking at Tedra with silent laughter.
Tedra just sighed. “Were the supplies taken care of?”
“For a Rover, supplies are regulated,” Martha told her. “I only had to give them the date of departure, and the craft gets fully stocked.”
“For a full crew? A Rover usually takes a full crew, you know. And what about that? Is spaceport going to let me leave without one?”
“You’re scheduled to pick up a crew on Tara Tey, as far as they know.”
“And once you’re gone, I’ll have Slaker erase all entries,” Rourk added. “The extra supplies might well come in handy, babe.” At her raised brow, he reminded her, “It could be years before it’s safe to come back. You might as well do a little world discovering while you’re out there.”
Years, Tedra thought, feeling a little sick. She thought about the new house in the suburbs that she had moved into only last week, all her belongings she’d have to leave behind, her friends…
“Stars, my possessions!” she gasped. “Who’s going to pick up Martha’s controller boards? She’s only here on a linkup. Her heart and soul are at my new house.”
“You don’t think I’d forget such important little details, do you?” Martha asked in her voice labeled smug. “Rourk’s friend Slaker is already taking care of it. I’ll be aboard the Rover long before you will.”
Tedra gritted her teeth. “Did you happen to think of Corth and Bolt when you sent someone to collect yourself?”
“Forget my little friends? Me? I’m not the one who can’t even remember that an identilock requires at least two seconds to make identification.”
Tedra’s face flamed with color. She wasn’t going to ask how Martha knew about her run-in with the door, she really wasn’t.
“No comment, kiddo?” Martha purred.
“Not in mixed company,” Tedra bit out, sending Rourk a look that dared him to say just one word.
Chapter Four
“Where are we now, Martha?”
“Still in deep space, kiddo, same as last time you asked. If you’re going to be so impatient, you should have elected to stay in our own Star System. There are still hundreds of planets unexplored there that you could have amused yourself with.”
“And a frequency range that could have got me called home. I am a female pilot, remember.”
“I’m the pi-”
“Don’t argue,” Tedra cut in, almost losing her patience for real. “You know what I meant. It’s within the laws of probability, and I’d just as soon not take the chance for a while of being put on Kystran’s wanted list if I refuse to acknowledge a summons home. And as long as we have some time to kill-”
“We go Star System-hopping.”
“What are you complaining about? You thought it was a great idea last week.”
“That was when I still had the occasional asteroid belt to play dodge with. This space is so empty a blind man could navigate it.”
“Don’t tell me you’re bored, Martha.” Tedra chuckled. “You have to monitor the control stations of every absent crew member. You don’t have time to be bored.”
“Child’s play.”
“Don’t give me that. You love it, being in such control. You’re just trying to pick an argument, aren’t you, since we haven’t had one in so long? But it won’t work, you know. I’m still too delighted with you for raiding the Relics Hall before we left. That was really a sweet, thoughtful thing to do.”
Silence. Tedra laughed to herself. Martha hated it when her tactics didn’t work. And Tedra had discovered it was a lot of fun, thwarting Martha. But she’d also spoken the truth. When she had found literally hundreds of history tapes in Martha’s files, she’d been ecstatic. She had thought she would have to give up her hobby until it was safe to go home. But she had enough tapes to last her several years, if she didn’t run through them all on Sublim format.
“Tedra, you haven’t fallen asleep, have you?” Martha’s voice returned about fifteen minutes later.
“Not yet.”
“You’re right, kiddo, maybe I am bored. Why don’t we discuss your love life?”
Tedra started up, almost taking the bait. But then she lay back down on the adjusticouch that had been widened so Corth could lay next to her on it. She settled back into his arms, but caught him grinning at her, after Martha’s off-the-wall suggestion.
She gave the android a stern look when he started to speak, and said to Martha, “Why don’t we discuss your love life instead, old girl? How are you and the engineering computer getting along together?”
A very definite snort. Martha was getting good at that sound. “Let’s get serious, shall we? There isn’t a machine on this ship up to my standards. But you’ve got one there up to yours. I brought the kid along so you could make use of him. So why don’t you?”
“I am,” Tedra replied, wrapping Corth’s arms more tightly around her.
That was all she needed occasionally from Corth, to be held. Being raised in the Kystran Child Centers left a big void in some people’s lives, probably why so many young people started going to Stress Clinics as soon as they were old enough, looking for the love they had lacked in their growing years. The Child Centers were for learning only. They gave you approval, motivation, self-esteem, and any number of other good qualities, but they didn’t give you love.