Chapter 8 #3
Shanelle was appalled, knowing her mother would have fits if she’d given herself to a Sha-Ka’ari warrior, unknowingly or not.
She was about to have some fits of her own.
They were slaveholders, for Stars’ sake…
and the worst kind. There might be a few countries on this planet that enslaved women they captured, but they were rare and far from Kan-is-Tra, and their own women were still free.
On Sha-Ka’ar, there were no free women, of any kind.
With her amber eyes glaring at him accusingly, Shanelle demanded of Falon, “Martha’s right, isn’t she? You’re from Sha-Ka’ar.”
“Woman, I have never even heard of such a place,” he replied, annoyance still strong in his voice.
She could no longer accept everything he said as the literal truth. “Martha, what does his body say?”
“That he’s not lying. But I don’t know what you’re getting all upset about. This was something you should have found out before you got involved with a visitor.”
Shanelle was relieved enough merely to say with a sigh, “I thought I asked you to put the lectures on hold until later.”
“Asking doesn’t always get—”
“All right, Martha. Let’s stick to immediate, like getting me out of here.”
Martha managed her own sigh. “If you insist.” And to Falon, “It goes like this, Mr. Van’yer.
Shani failed to mention a few of the more interesting things I’m presently in control of.
Like most Transport Rovers, our ship is equipped with Molecular Transfer.
Are you by any chance familiar with Transferring, or do you require a demonstration? ”
Falon was silent for a moment, possibly because Martha’s voice had turned positively smug, giving him an indication of what was coming. “I have heard of Transferring,” he finally gritted out.
“Well, that saves time,” Martha purred. “And I’ll even show you my let’s-be-fair program and leave the choice up to you, the choice in this case being, you let Shani walk out of here or I Transfer you elsewhere.
And since the elsewhere will be at my discretion, you’re probably looking at being stranded about a hundred miles from the nearest telecomm. So what’s it to be?”
Shanelle worried at her lower lip with Falon staring at her while he made his decision.
But there was nothing to decide. Martha’s let’s-be-fair program wasn’t fair at all.
Shanelle would have to insist he not be stranded in the middle of nowhere if he chose to be stubborn and see if Martha was bluffing.
But he didn’t turn stubborn. He didn’t even sound mad when he finally said for Martha’s benefit, “I would prefer it did she stay, but the woman may go.” What he seemed like was defeated, and he was still staring at Shanelle with those lovely azure-blue eyes.
It wasn’t surprising that she felt a moment’s indecision. No man had ever affected her like this one did. She even took a step toward him, only to be halted by Martha’s voice raised at full volume.
“Hold it right there! I didn’t get you out of this mess for you to hop right back into it. He may not look it to you, but that man is absolutely furious right now. Stay the hell out of his reach.”
“The computer is very astute,” Falon said wryly.
“No, she’s just monitoring your emotions,” Shanelle replied as she slowly worked her way around to the exit. But that “absolutely furious” still disturbed her. “Don’t be angry, Falon, please. I had to ask Martha to help. You knew you had no right to keep me.”
“I would not have kept you long—”
“I know—only until we joined again. But I would have fought you and ended up getting even more hurt.”
“No!”
“You’re wasting your time, Shani,” Martha interjected tactlessly. “He’s not going to see it any way but his way.”
“I’m saying good-bye, Martha,” Shanelle snapped irritably. “Do you mind?”
“Hell, yes, I mind, but you’re going to do it anyway. Stubborn, just like your mother.”
Shanelle glared at the computer unit, but no other noise came out of it. When she glanced at Falon again, it was to find him actually smiling.
“You really do have it under control now, don’t you?” she said to him with some surprise.
He didn’t have to ask what she referred to. “You needed proof. Now you have it.”
“But without guarantees. I’m sorry, Falon, but I’m not going to take the risk again.
However, I want you to know I regret that it didn’t work out between us, more than you can imagine.
You were—are—really something.” She had resisted it all this while, but she finally let her eyes roam all over him for a final time—and ended up groaning, “Oh, Stars. Good-bye, Falon.”
“Shani?”
She wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t used her name for the first time. Still, she had her back to him now. She wouldn’t look at him again.
But she didn’t have to turn around to hear him promise, “Know that if there is a way to obtain you for my own, I will discover it—then will I destroy your computer.”
Shanelle continued to walk out of there, thanking the Stars and the Sha-Ka’ani Droda that the man didn’t know who she was.