Hot Zone

by Cindy Dees

  The past two weeks with her flashed before his mind’s eye. The night she’d showed up at that feast, wreathed in power. Their kisses. Their arguments. Their lovemaking. Their laughter. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t give her up. He wasn’t strong enough.

  “I insist that you take the crystal.” Her voice was low, but hard as steel. She was serious about this.

  “Absolutely not.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, a mulish look in her eyes, but he cut her off. Although it was tearing his heart in two, he knew what he must do. He reached deep. As deep as when he star-jumped. Maybe deeper.

  “Kentar knows I’m here. And he knows I’ve found a powerful star navigator. More of my kind will be arriving here any time now to make sure you don’t get away from us. I’ll be rescued soon enough.”

  She stared up at him, appalled as his meaning sunk in.

  To reinforce the point, he said forcefully, “You have to leave. If you stay in this time and place, you’ll die.”

  “But—”

  “Don’t ask me to go home and leave you here to Centaurian assassins who will do what I cannot. I will not go. If you stay, I stay. And that’s all there is to it.”

  He didn’t bother to send her a taste of his determination to do exactly as he’d said. The frustration in her eyes announced clearly that she believed him.

  He spoke urgently. “You have to go, my love. The sooner the better. My kind can travel to within a few minutes of a time and place coordinate. Knowing Kentar, he’ll pop into this very room with a half-dozen soldiers armed with needle guns and kill you before you even know he’s here.”

  “I can’t leave you!” she cried. Anguish swam in her gaze, and the thought that he’d put it there about drove him to his knees. He couldn’t bear to hurt her like this. But the alternative was unthinkable.

  “You must, my darling. It’s the only way for you to survive. Kentar doesn’t know when you’re from. He won’t be able to find you if you have all of human history to hide in.”

  She flung herself, sobbing, into Rustam’s arms and he buried his face in her hair. What was that wetness on his cheeks? And his eyes were burning ferociously all of a sudden.

  “Will you find me again?” she choked out.

  “I promise. If it takes the rest of my days, I’ll come to you again. I swear it upon my honor. Upon my life. Upon my heart.”

  She looked up at him, her beautiful eyes awash in tears. “Early twenty-first century. The United States. Flagstaff, Arizona. Red Rock University. I’ll be there. Waiting for you.”

  Then and there, his heart broke. She had just laid her life in his hands, telling him when and where to find her, and they both knew it.

  He kissed her fiercely and she kissed him back just as desperately.

  Still kissing her, he slipped the cuff on her left arm.

  And pressed the crystal.

  Twenty-Three

  The first thing Tessa became aware of was a swirl of energy building around her. Where had that come from? The energy was white, not her violet, nor Rustam’s blue. Was it Kentar? Had he come back for her already?

  And then she recognized the building heat across her skin.

  No!

  She became aware of the clasp of cool metal on her left biceps. Rustam must have slipped the cuff on her and activated it! She couldn’t leave him! She wasn’t ready!

  Another disturbance rippled in the air over Rustam’s right shoulder. A vortex…but not the one building around her! This one was yellow. And big. Big enough to encompass a half-dozen people.

  A humanoid shape began to materialize. Hippoclides-Kentar.

  And Rustam had his back to him.

  And then it hit her. If Kentar knew she was in this time-place and had come back for her, what would he do to Rustam for letting her slip away?

  That big, lovable, exasperating jerk! Rustam was planning to sacrifice himself to let her get away safely.

  The heat rapidly built to a prickle, and then to a painful electricity zinging across her skin.

  Panicked, she reached for her newfound wellspring of power. She didn’t have the faintest idea what she was doing, but opened it up all the way, wrapping all her power, all her love, and even her arms as tightly around Rustam as she could. She concentrated with all her might on bringing him with her. Tessa had heard that it was possible for two people to be brought back to the lab if they were holding on to each other. She was leaving nothing to chance, though. She pictured the two of them racing through space and time together, linked in body, spirit and soul. Pictured them materializing back in the professor’s lab inside the quartz booth.

  Rustam fought her. No. You go. I must know you’re safe.

  Come with me. Be safe with me.

  But—

  No buts. We’ll figure it out later. But first you have to live.

  And then it was too late. As the transparent forms of Hippoclides-Kentar and a half-dozen men armed with needle guns solidified behind Rustam, the ship faded out in a nimbus so bright and hot she couldn’t bear to look at it. Her body became unnaturally light, and then there was nothing at all.

  Her body—if that was the heavy, awkward thing she was suddenly encased in once more—felt as weak as a kitten’s. She was so exhausted she didn’t think she could open her eyelids. Twin bands of steel supported her entire weight. The tongues of flame licking at her skin faded away, leaving her hypersensitive and achy.

  “Brave little fool,” a familiar voice murmured into her hair.

  Her lips curved faintly. She forced one eye open to peer up at the underside of a square male chin.

  “Are we alive?” she mumbled.

  “Yes,” he answered, amused exasperation lacing his voice.

  She became aware of something warm and vibrant in her hand, pulsing energy into her in waves that rolled over her entire body. She was feeling better by the second. “Where are we?”

  “I have no idea. Some sort of glass cage. With some very shocked humans outside. Perhaps you’d better take a look.”

  She lifted her head, and saw the familiar curved walls of the time-travel booth. Beyond it, the stunned faces of Professor Carswell and Beverly Ashton stared back at her.

  Tessa murmured, “We made it. We’re home.”

  He grunted. “You’re home. Well, that’s one thing I managed to get right, in spite of your meddling.”

  She grinned up at him. “Hey, you’re still alive. Don’t knock it. Just as we jumped out, Kentar and his pals jumped in.”

  “I felt them.” He sighed, a heavy sound echoing through his chest beneath her ear. “And now I’m a fugitive. You just threw away everything I ever worked for.”

  She frowned. “Give us a chance to figure something out. The folks here are pretty smart. We can come up with a plan.”

  Another deep sigh from him with a skeptical edge.

  “Welcome home, Captain Marconi,” the professor commented, rising up out of her chair and taking off the time-travel headband as she did so. “I see you’ve brought along a guest.”

  Tessa opened the booth’s door and stepped out. Rustam followed cautiously.

  The professor frowned, looking past him into the enclosure. “I felt three spirits. Where’s the third one?”

  Tessa whirled quickly, terrified that Kentar or one of his men might have managed to hitch a ride on their time jump. There was no one. Only Rustam, smirking. Smugly. At her.

  And then it hit her. The baby. She was pregnant, just as he’d said she was. His hand came to rest lightly, but possessively, on the small of her back.

  From behind her, Athena exclaimed suddenly, “He’s Centaurian! Arrest that man!”

  Tessa whirled, flinging up her arms in front of him defensively. “He’s with me! He’s okay!”

  Beverly Ashton stepped forward, glaring. “Are you so sure of that? We’ve been having trouble with his kind.”

  Rustam, beside her, held his hands carefully away from his sides. “I mean no one here any har
m. I did not intend to come to this time-place at all. I’m afraid Tessa took matters into her own hands and decided to include me in her jump, however.”

  Athena shot a hard glance at her.

  Tessa gulped. “It’s a long story.”

  “In there,” Athena ordered sharply, pointing at the soundproof, surveillance-proof briefing room off the main lab. “You, too,” she snapped at Rustam.

  The two of them followed her and Beverly Ashton into the chamber and took side-by-side seats at the conference table. Tessa reached out her hand, and Rustam grasped it protectively. Their auras swirled and mingled comfortingly.

  Athena’s gaze narrowed as she studied the two of them, apparently taking in their shared aura, as well. “Start talking, Captain.”

  Surprisingly, it was Rustam who jumped in to answer, however. “Let’s cut to the chase. She can fill in the details later. Tessa is a star navigator.”

  Athena retorted impatiently, “We know that. Why else would she be involved with this program? It greatly enhances my ability to time-travel a subject if they carry the latent talent.”

  Rustam snorted. “There’s nothing latent about her talent. She’s a full-blown navigator now. She’s been making deep space jumps for the past two weeks.”

  Tessa’s mouth fell open. What? “What are you talking about?”

  He turned his gaze on her. “What did you think was happening every time we made love? Those were jumps. Without a ship and without a focus object, and without crystals, as far as I can tell. But I’ve been a navigator for twenty years, and I know a space jump when I make one.”

  Tessa peeked over at the professor and the general in chagrin. Nope, they hadn’t missed the making-love bit. Thunder rumbled on both their brows. She swung her gaze back to him. “Are you serious?”

  He grinned. “Think about it. The darkness of space. The stars all around. The weightlessness. We were out in the middle of the galaxy.”

  Her? A star navigator? She mumbled under her breath, “Holy cow.”

  He grumbled, “Now there’s an understatement.”

  “How come we didn’t die in the vacuum of space?”

  “I created a pressure and oxygen bubble around us. It’s an emergency skill all star navigators learn in case something happens to their ship and it doesn’t make a jump with them. We can stay in-between like that for a few seconds, normally, but then we have to jump immediately to someplace with an atmosphere. By the third jump, you were creating the bubble yourself, probably without realizing you were doing it.”

  “But we stayed there for several minutes at a time.” As she realized what she’d just said, Tessa’s face flamed. She must be beet-red.

  He frowned. “I’ve never heard of anyone being able to stay for extended periods of time like we did. As best I can figure, our combined star power must’ve been able to sustain the bubble much longer than a single navigator can.”

  Athena interrupted briskly. “How did you get here, Mr.—”

  “His name is Rustam,” Tessa interjected quickly.

  He said dryly, “Lord Commander Rustam Fisoli d’Antonus, First Navigator of the Fifth Merchant Fleet of the Centaurian Federation, at your service.”

  Tessa quickly introduced Professor Carswell and General Ashton to him in return, doing her best to hide her trepidation at his rather fancy-sounding title.

  Athena said, “I ask again. How did you get here, Lord Commander?”

  He shrugged. “Ask her.”

  Athena’s intelligent gaze turned on Tessa, who answered, “Kentar was jumping in just as I started to jump out. Rustam intended to stay behind and sacrifice himself so I would make it back here safely.”

  He winced beside her. You weren’t supposed to figure out that part.

  I’m a military officer. The dynamics of the situation were hardly likely to escape me.

  Remind me to stop underestimating you, my love.

  She continued aloud, “I couldn’t leave him there to die. I reached for my power the same way he did when he moved Artemesia’s ship, and I wrapped him in the energy field as best I could.”

  Athena’s gaze swiveled to him.

  He supplied readily, “Once I realized what she was doing, and that she’d actually generated a powerful enough vortex to move us both, rather than risk her safety I didn’t fight the process. And here we are.”

  “How did you meet him?” Athena shot at her.

  Her mouth twitched in humor at the memory. “We met at an orgy. Xerxes was throwing the party. I sensed the disk as soon as I arrived—” She broke off and held out her hand, in which she still clasped the Karanovo medallion. “Here it is, by the way.”

  Beverly Ashton, who was sitting nearest to her, took the priceless bronze wedge with a faintly shell-shocked look on her face.

  “When we met, I abruptly lost my ability to sense anything unless he was with me.” She hooked a thumb in Rustam’s direction. “The fragment turned out to be mounted on the figurehead of Queen Artemesia’s ship. It sailed the day after I arrived, and the two of us chased it south overland. We had to dodge the battle at Thermopylae, and then we headed toward Athens. We hooked up with Artemesia again just before reaching Salamis. Rustam was her court sorcerer, and she was glad to have him back with her.”

  Tessa glanced up from the tabletop and realized the two women across from her were staring in open shock. She elaborated, “Rustam crashed his spaceship and was stuck in Artemesia’s court as her slave. He used bits of his power to convince her he was a wizard and survived that way until we met.”

  Tessa looked over at him to see his gaze brimming with amusement and veered back to her main story. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Rustam talked us onto Artemesia’s ship and told her the Athenians were escaping the city by sea.”

  “What?” Beverly squawked.

  Tessa replied quickly, “It was too late to change the course of history. The Persian fleet was already bearing down on the straits there. We helped Artemesia not get crushed in the logjam while we found the Karanovo fragment. As soon as we had it, we helped her not get sunk by the Greeks. Then we got out of sight so we could make the time jump and arrived back here.”

  “And you brought the enemy directly into our lab? What were you thinking?” Athena growled.

  Tessa flinched. “We only had one crystal between the two of us. I figured if I brought him here, we could give him another crystal so he can get back home.”

  That brought both women to their feet, their expressions furious.

  Tessa cut them off hastily. “Look. It was his job to kill me. But he chose not to. It was his job to steal that fragment from me, too. But he didn’t do that, either. In fact, he insisted that I take it and bring it here. He’s the one who slipped the cuff on my arm and activated the crystal. Not me. You have this precious piece of the stamp because of him. We owe him. And I owe him my life.”

  The two women subsided into their chairs. They were definitely not thrilled about this turn of events. They traded grim looks.

  “Go outside, the two of you,” Athena ordered. “We need a moment to talk. Alone.”

  Rustam held her chair for her while Tessa stood up. She smiled up at him but feared the expression didn’t reach her eyes. They stepped outside and the door popped shut in its soundproof casing behind them.

  “They need to kill me,” he murmured. “You might have saved me from Kentar, but I believe you did neither of us any favors. You merely prolonged the inevitable.”

  “Don’t say that!” she cried. “I won’t let you die! You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save me, and I’ll do no less for you!”

  He gathered her into his arms. “Ahh, my brave Tessa. I do so love you.”

  “And I love you, too. That has to count for something.” She rested her head against his chest, comforted by the steady thud of his heart. After a while, she murmured, “You have to live.”

  “Why’s that?” he replied quietly.

  “I don’t want to be a single paren
t. And any child of yours is going to be a terrible handful to raise. She’ll drive me crazy.”

  A rumble of laughter rose from deep within him. “It’s a boy.”

  “Don’t tell me you can control gender, too!”

  He grinned down at her. “Actually, it can be done easily in a lab, but when I impregnate a woman by mounting her, nature takes its course in that regard.”

  “Ha! So it could be a girl!”

  “Either way, our child will still be a handful,” he remarked, grinning broadly.

  “Just think,” Tess groused. “With two full-blown star navigators for parents, she’ll be jumping all over the galaxy by the time she can walk.”

  The grin faded abruptly from his face and a fierce light came into his eyes. “That’s it! You may have found the answer to our problem!”

  She blinked up at him. “I did? What answer?”

  “Our child. By receiving the recessive navigator gene from each parent, he’s guaranteed to be a navigator.”

  “And?”

  “Not since the very first navigators were identified among my people has there been a female navigator to pass along the gene to her offspring.”

  “Help me out here, Rustam. I’m not following you.”

  “All of our children will be navigators. One hundred percent of them. The Centaurians are lucky if one in five hundred children is a navigator now. But with you…” His voice trailed off, his eyes thoughtful. With his arm firmly around her shoulders, he dragged her over to the conference room door and knocked firmly on it.

  Athena, startled, opened it.

  “I have the solution to our mutual problems,” he announced.

  The professor stepped back from the doorway. “By all means, let’s hear it.”

  Tessa followed him inside once more. She took a chair while he sat on the edge of the table. Ever the alpha male, assuming a position of dominance in a room, she mused.

  And you love it, he shot at her.

  You can stop picking my thoughts out of my head like that.