He was not sure why he had brought the box with him. He fully intended to examine it, but there was no hurry to do that. Perhaps he had hoped it would speak to him, that he might learn from it a better understanding of his woman. But he knew not how to make it speak, or if it even would speak to anyone other than Tedra.
The box was white, with small gray things rising on its surface, some round, some rectangular. There was a smooth square black surface on one flat side, with a circle below it that contained many holes. In one end there was a deeper hole like an inverted cone, and all over the box were tiny raised markings similar to the scribbles in the scrolls kept by the Guardian of the Years.
Challen shook the box, but that did not wake the voice. He had seen Tedra point the box to give stillness to the taraan and himself. Stunning, she had called it, but how she had made the red line that had touched them both come out of it he knew not. He had also seen her hit the box to make the voice silent. Could that also wake it?
He hit the box, and was so startled by the red line that shot out of it to touch the tree limbs above his head, he immediately dropped it to the ground. As soon as he had let go, however, the red line disappeared. He stared at the box now, unwilling to touch it again, but knew he would. He had managed to stun a tree. He would get the box to speak, too.
He picked it up again and carefully pointed the coned hole, which the red line had come out of, away from him. Then he began touching the gray shapes to see which one had made the line when he hit it. The first shape did not depress, but slid up and down, moving no more than an inch. Nothing happened in either direction. The second shape depressed and brought the line back. He played with that for a moment, intrigued because the line stayed on only while the round shape was depressed. The next shape was round with a line on it that pointed to markings. This turned, but did nothing that he could see. The next shape also depressed, and the noise that then came out of the box was so loud, Challen was again startled into dropping it.
“Where the hell have you been?!” the woman’s voice screeched up at him from the ground, and then there was silence.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Challen knew the woman inside the box was waiting for him to answer her question. But the question had not been meant for him, surely, so he said nothing. And also, he was not so sure now that he wanted to speak with her. What could she tell him, after all, that could assuage his guilt or aid him in making amends for what he had done?
And then the voice came again, in a much calmer tone.
“I retrieved your belt. I don’t have to tell you how disturbed I was that you weren’t in it.” Again there was the waiting silence, then, “Tedra, can’t you talk?”
The next silence worried him, being much longer. If he didn’t speak, the voice might go away, and he wasn’t sure if it had come by itself or if he had brought it.
“Tedra is not here.”
Immediately he was asked, “Who are you?”
“Challen Ly-San-Ter.”
“A lot that tells me,” the voice grumbled. “Look, fella, be a good sport, why don’t you, and give the unit back to Tedra. You do know who she is, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you know where she is?”
“Certainly.”
“Certainly? Why do I get the feeling that word has a wealth of meaning in it?”
“Are you Martha?”
“Ah, I thought so. So you know Tedra well enough for her to tell you about me. That’s good. That will make things much easier. But why don’t you pick up the unit and turn it around now? The grass on your world is interesting, but I’d rather see whom I’m talking to.”
“Are you inside the box?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. At least a small part of me is inside the box, which lets me speak to you and see you. If you’ll just turn the unit over, you’ll see what I mean. Go ahead, it won’t bite you— not if you don’t touch any of the buttons and switches.” After a long moment of nothing happening, Martha gave her best imitation of a sigh. “That was a joke, kiddo. What was Tedra thinking of to let you have the unit without telling you how it works?”
“She did not. I took it from her.”
“I see. Well, that certainly explains a lot, and tells me who you likely are. So pick up the unit and let’s see if my deductions are as accurate as always. It doesn’t bite. The worst it does is stun, but I think you already know all about that, don’t you?” The sound of chuckling was unmistakable—and challenging.
Challen picked up the box and turned it over so the flat side with the colored things was facing him—and almost dropped it again. The small black square was no longer black. There were tiny, needle-point lights flashing from it in what looked like another box in what looked like a miniature room. Inside the small box-unit? Impossible. But a voice inside it was also impossible, yet he heard it, spoke to it, and had it answer him.
“I knew it was you, warrior,” the voice said smugly now. “Probables is my forte, after all.”
“You can see me?”
“Quite clearly.”
“Then why do I not see you as well, woman?”
“That’s rich, doll. Don’t you know you’re talking to a computer? Computers don’t have gender in anything but voice. And you are seeing me. I’m the gorgeous machine with all the flashing lights you’re frowning at. No, don’t turn the unit away again. You haven’t told me where Tedra is, or how she is, for that matter.”
Challen’s expression turned inscrutable. He didn’t answer. He was wondering himself how Tedra was now, if she was still in need, if she would let him see to that need when he returned. He wanted to explain it all to the—the voice, or whatever it was, to tell it what he had done. Probables? Deductions? It could tell him if he would be forgiven or not.
“Come on, warrior, I want some reassurances here.” The voice came out sounding impatient. “Fair is fair. I let you have Tedra for the month of service she owes you. I didn’t have to do that, you know. I could have brought her back to the ship that day, and there wouldn’t have been anything you could have done about it.”
That possibility enraged him, that he might have no control over keeping the woman or not, but there was no indication of it when he asked, “How do you know of her service to me?”
“I was there, remember? She turned me off so I couldn’t see or comment on what was going on, but I still had a fix on you both and could hear everything that was said and done. And hearing for a computer that is expert in probables is just as good as seeing is for you humans. Did you breach her?”
He almost took insult at the impropriety of that question, until he recalled what Tedra had told him of the need to have her breaching proved. “Are you the one who will record that it was done?”
“Yes.”
“It was done.”
“Did she like it?”
“Yes.”
“I figured she would. She’d been waiting a long time for someone like you to come along, but you never did. She had to go to another world to find you. So tell me, are you willing to return with us?”
“Return?”
“To Kystran,” Martha clarified. “To wrest control back from those Sha-Ka’ari warriors you people bred about three hundred years ago.”
“I know nothing of which you speak.”
“Hasn’t Tedra told you anything?”
“I cared not to discuss the reason for her being here.”
“Well, don’t get all out of joint about it. I suppose that’s your privilege. And you’re just what she’s needed, so her stay with you isn’t a waste of time as far as I’m concerned, though I doubt she’ll see it that way. The woman takes life too serious. Work, and train so she can work better, that’s all she’s known. And now she’s set herself up to be the salvation of Kystran . . . but that’s not your problem. As long as she’s enjoying herself with you, I’m satisfied I made the right decision.”
“And if she is not?”
“Now
why would you ask that, unless she was not? What’s happened, warrior, to have you looking so guilty?”
Challen flushed, startled that the voice could read him when he was being so careful to school his features to blandness. Deductions and probables again. He would have to watch his words as well as his reactions if he did not want the thing inside his head, knowing his every thought. And he did not. Answers were all he wanted from it, but he would not get them unless he was honest now.
“The woman disregarded certain rules, a matter demanding punishment. This she was given by me.”
There was a short silence, then, “I think I’m going into what you humans call shock. I’ve made a mistake, but I’m not programmed to make mistakes. How the hell could I have been so wrong about you, warrior? I thought you wanted her!”
Challen did not know whether to feel insulted by the contempt coming out of the box or guiltier. “You were not wrong in that,” he said stiffly.
“Then how could you hurt her? More to the point, how badly have you hurt her? Does she need a med-itech?”
“I know not what such is, but the woman was not hurt. She was made to feel great frustration and physical need, with no relief to ease it.”
“That’s what you’re feeling guilty about? And here I thought you’d half killed her. Well, that’s different, but if that’s all you did to punish her, what’s with the guilty conscience that threw me off the track?”
“I—took something to make my duty less a burden.” He went on to briefly explain the rest of it. “But I have not returned to her since I left her near the new rising. I know not whether she will accept the matter as finished and welcome me as before, or whether she will now abhor my touch.”
“You’ve got yourself a problem all right, kiddo. First off, you don’t punish a Sec 1,” Martha told him plainly. “They’re a law unto themselves.”
“Here she is no more than a woman, one who must obey rules as all women must.”
“Oh, I bet she just loves that.” The voice came out exceedingly dry. “And only a barbarian would think to use a woman’s body against her for a means of punishment. But I suppose you great big fellas had to come up with something to keep from killing your women off with those mighty fists.” There was a short span of chuckling here, not at all sympathetic to the difficulties of a Sha-Ka’ani male. “So are you asking me what you can expect, now that you’ve given Tedra a more thorough taste of your world?”
“It comes to me that you likely know her better than I,” he replied.
“Smart of you to figure that out.”
Challen stiffened at the unmistakable sarcasm. His need to instruct the voice on the proper respect due a warrior was strong, but quite impotent. How could he enforce that instruction when the one needing it was hidden inside a box which he knew not the workings of, much less how to open? The voice was safe from retribution, which only proved that such impunity encouraged objectionable behavior, whereas the promise of swift discipline prevented it.
Challen controlled his vexation long enough to demand, “If it is true you know the woman so well, you will give me the probables you claim skill in so I may determine how best to deal with her.”
“Will I? If you use commands instead of requests with Tedra, it’s no wonder she’s breaking rules. But you’re right on the nose, doll, in supposing you need my help. I’ve been programmed to know her better than any human ever could, and I can tell you there’s only two ways she’ll react to what you’ve done. If she hits you with a broadside of verbal anger, then you’ve got nothing to worry about. She’ll swear up and down she’ll get even with you, and any number of other things you won’t like hearing, but that’s her way of getting all that bruised emotion out of her system. That’s not to say her fury won’t be very real.”
“It was my hope you could suggest a means of defusing it,” Challen reminded the voice.
“My suggestion is you not even try. If you cajole her out of it before she’s had a chance to let you know how misused she’s feeling, then you’re only asking for more trouble. You should have discovered by now that she’s easy as computer basics to provoke, with that quick temper of hers. But the thing you aren’t likely to figure out on your own is that she doesn’t like to be angry at people. That’s one of my purposes, channeling her anger and frustrations in my direction, since it’s easy to yell at a machine without feeling guilty about it afterward.”
“So I am to allow her to be disrespectful?”
“If that goes against the grain, warrior, you might as well give her back to me right now. But I thought you were looking for a way to make amends for that guilt you were feeling,” she reminded him.
“But to allow—”
“You can’t make amends without giving a little, big guy, and it seems to me you owe her all the disrespect she cares to dump on you.”
There was a long hesitation before Challen asked, “Do I allow it, how long before she puts her anger to rest?”
“If you weren’t just bragging and she really has liked sharing sex with you, then count yourself lucky. The most she’s stayed mad was two days, and that only because no one was smart enough to talk her out of it after she’d had her blowup. But she’s looking at her stay with you as temporary, so she won’t want to waste much time nursing resentment.”
Challen knew very well the woman thought in terms of temporary. That he had no intention of losing her after her challenge service was ended was best kept to himself, certainly not to be disclosed to one who claimed such powers as this Martha.
“Did you not mention two possible reactions that may be anticipated?”
“The second one’s more simple, kiddo. It’s silence. If Tedra’s got nothing to say to you, then you can bet those overdeveloped muscles of yours that it’s because she’s decided the only thing she wants from you is your blood. If that’s the case, I want her back now, since she’ll be of no further use to you in that state of mind.”
“No.”
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t think the second possible reaction will be a problem? It wouldn’t be because you found it so easy to defeat her in the challenge, would it? I hope you’re not so arrogant that you haven’t considered the possibility that you came out the winner in that fight only because the woman wasn’t trying to kill you, merely defeat you. There’s a world of difference in what she’s capable of doing when it doesn’t matter to her if her opponent gets seriously hurt or not, even more difference if she’s actually trying to kill him.”
“Perhaps this is so if the opponents are the non-warriors of Kystran. The woman has told me they know not the art of weaponless fighting. And perhaps you yourself are unaware that weaponless fighting is the sport of warriors. There is no arrogance involved when I tell you the woman cannot defeat me, no matter the level of her skill.”
“Be that as it may, I think you’ve missed my point. If she’s out for your blood, you’ll have to fight her every time you get near her, and confine her otherwise. You won’t be having any more fun with her, and I mean that both ways. The probables in that scenario tells me it’s just going to get her more and more punishments, and I didn’t leave her with you so you could abuse her. If I determine it’s necessary, I will get her out of there.”
Again a rage reared up, that it might be possible the voice could do as it claimed, and this time he didn’t even try to control it. “The woman is mine for one month by her own word. I will have your word you will not interfere.”
“That’s rich, doll. You keep forgetting I’m a computer. I’m not programmed for integrity.”
“Does this mean you would not keep your word did you give it?”
“It means I do whatever I think is best, regardless of anything.”
“And if I destroy this box?”
“Tedra needs it to come back on her own. I don’t need it to bring her back if I get a fix on her as I now have on you. And you can lead me to her.”
“Your threat lacks substance, computer
. Could you follow me to her as you say, you would not have lost this fix on her you claim to need to take her back.”
“Picked up on that, did you? But you don’t think I’d give away information like that without a reason, do you?”
“And your reason?”
“It’s true I can lose you in a crowd and be unable to pinpoint your position again without a great deal of luck, and computers don’t deal in luck. And you’d know I’d lost you if you abuse Tedra and nothing happens from my end. So I’ll make a deal with you. I’ve already determined you’ll keep your word if you give it, so I want it that you won t abuse the woman if she foolishly tries to kill you.”
Challen suddenly burst out laughing. “By the stones of gaali, the gall you have is astounding.”
“Only a gentleman would put it so nicely. Do we have a deal?”
“For what are you dealing?”
“I get your word, as well as being kept apprised by you of her reactions to your arbitrary way of doing things down there. In return I’ll practice hands-off and allow you the full month she owes you before I demand her return. I’ll even throw in free advice if it’s needful, and if I know my Tedra, it’ll be needful a great deal.”
“You have already told me you cannot be trusted. Do I speak with you when she is near, the matter of luck becomes more a matter of probables and deductions for you in the ‘fixing’ on her location.”
Chuckling came out of the box. “You’ve got me there, warrior. But you’re overlooking a couple of things. If Tedra’s only good and mad, but not enough to want to kill you, then chances are she’ll get back to thinking she’s got to honor her service to you. If that’s the case, it won’t matter if I decide to take her out of there. She’d only get a new Transfer unit and come right back to you to complete her service. Now that’s what she’d likely do. But what I can do, if you don’t care to deal with me, is create havoc on your world of the like you’ve never dreamed of. Whole towns can be demolished, making your people think the world is coming to an end. Of course, I wouldn’t do that without knowing in what town you have Tedra stashed. But destroying your crops would accomplish the same thing, causing widespread panic and fear. Actually, just showing myself would probably do it. To appreciate that, you should know the Rover is the size of a small town. What impression do you think it would make on your people to see it hovering threateningly over your towns and cities?”