“What could this box of yours do for him?”

Was he finally thinking for himself? “It will Transfer us to-where I come from. It will Transfer Challen directly into a meditech unit that will make him whole again.” She couldn’t blame Tamiron for his skeptical look, but for once she couldn’t afford to be doubted. “Damn it, I swear I’m telling you the truth. If you don’t trust me, you can come along, too, but don’t waste any more time, Tamiron. Return to the castle and find that box for me before it’s too late.”

“This will not be necessary. I have it.”

“What?”

“Challen gave it to me with the warning that it was to be kept from you. Knowing your penchant for going where you do not belong, I felt the safest place for it was on myself. Serren,” Tamiron called to the nearest warrior not nursing some hurt she’d given in her earlier loss of control. “Bring to me the sack on my hataar.”

He let Tedra up finally while they waited, but tried stopping her again from going to Challen. “You still should not see him-”

“Don’t get foolish again on me,” she snapped. “It doesn’t matter how he looks now, because he’ll be whole again before the day ends, without even a tiny scar to show for it.”

“That would be a miracle,” he said with total disbelief.

“Yeah, well, we have a lot of things where I come from that will seem like miracles to you.”

“Are you truly, then, from another world?”

“Not just another world, but a completely different Star System. With any luck you might see it one day. But you’ll see the proof of it in just a few minutes, so be warned, warrior, not to be surprised by the strange things you see.”

She ignored him then to turn to Challen, and didn’t move another muscle. They’d tried to spare her this. Tamiron hadn’t told her the full extent of Challen’s injuries. There was damaged muscle, skin scraped raw, skin slashed open, even his face… blood everywhere. And sticking out of his chest was a two-foot-long spike of wood nearly four fingers around. Oh, Stars, the pain he must have felt when he woke, yet all he was concerned with was her leaving him.

The tears started again and ran unchecked. She reached him, but was afraid to touch him. She wanted to cradle his head in her lap. She wanted to hold him, but was filled with so much emotion she was afraid she might hurt him even more. How much time did he have-was he even still alive?

“Hurry up, damn it!” she threw over her shoulder.

Tamiron was already at her other side, and placed the communicator in her hand. Tedra almost kissed him, but all she spared time for was to swipe at her cheeks with the edge of her cloak before she hit the audio button.

“Martha, I’ve got an emergency here, so spare me all comments for now. Are you there?”

“What’s the problem, doll?”

“My warrior is…he’s dying. I want you to open the meditech and Transfer him directly into it as soon as I say. Have you got that?”

“Sure, two to Transfer.”

“No. I’ve got my unit, so I’ll Transfer up myself and one other. You just concentrate on Challen. Have you got a lock on him?”

“If he’s the one with the low energy level,” Martha answered. “But you’d better get everyone else away from him so there are no mistakes.”

“In a moment. I have to remove something first.” To Tamiron, “Tell your buddies not to go into shock when we disappear.”

She said it only to distract him, since she had a feeling he’d try to stop her if he saw what she was going to do, had to do. But she was so loath to do it, Tamiron had returned before she got a grip on the long spike of cracked beam.

“No.” He drew her hand back. “It stems the blood. Do you remove it, he will last no more than moments.”

“In less time than that Challen will be out of danger. It has to come out or the meditech unit won’t be able to close over him and do its job. And there’s no one up there who can do it except Corth, but he could be clear on the other side of the ship.”

“A ship… up there?”

“Don’t ask me questions now, Tamiron. There’s no time. And let go of my hand.”

“No, I will do it. It is wedged between his ribs. You would not have the strength to remove it.”

“Thank you,” she said with some relief. “But the second you have it out, step away from him.”

He nodded, though reluctantly. He was putting his trust in her, and well she knew it. She wasn’t sure if she were in his place that she’d believe even half the things he’d been told. She knew she wouldn’t.

In another moment Tamiron stepped back, Tedra with him. “Now, Martha!” She took Tamiron’s hand in hers, telling him, “All you’ll feel is a little tingling, warrior, so don’t let it disturb you.”

She didn’t bother to ask if he was ready. She was too anxious to follow Challen, who’d already vanished. And then they did as well.

“Welcome home, kiddo.”

Chapter Thirty-five

Tedra had forgotten that the coordinates of her unit were set to Transfer her back to the same point from which she had left the ship. And the Control Room was a long way from Medical. She’d also forgotten how clear and strong Martha’s voice could be when it wasn’t coming through a link. The louder sound of it had startled Tamiron, but that was before he opened his eyes and saw where he was. “Shocked” didn’t even come close to the way he looked now, but hopefully the warning she had given him would help him function.

“I’m only visiting,” Tedra said in answer to Martha’s greeting.

“I’d already figured that out. Who’s your guest?”

“He’s called Tamiron Ja-Na-Der, a friend of Challen’s. Be a good girl and answer his questions while I-”

“There’s no point in your rushing off to Medical, kiddo. The big guy’s closed up tight, and let me tell you, it wasn’t easy fitting him into the meditech. It will be quite a while before the unit’s finished with him, though, as bad shape as he was in.”

“I still need to know that we weren’t too late.”

“Then why don’t you ask me? Or are you forgetting the extent of my powers?”

“Stop trying to impress the warrior,” Tedra said in irritation, having indeed forgotten that Martha was linked and in ultimate control of everything in the ship. “He’s not even listening to us.”

It was true. All Tamiron was doing was staring, in awe and fascinated horror, at everything in the room. Sirens could have gone off, and he wouldn’t likely have noticed.

“Well?” Tedra said impatiently now. “What are you waiting for, permission? Link up.”

“I’m already linked, kiddo. I’ve been monitoring the unit since your warrior arrived.” For once Martha didn’t make Tedra pry every little piece of information out of her. “He’s already out of danger, since the worst wounds have already been sealed, and his body tolerated the transfusions, which he needed a great deal of. That was the only question mark, if he could accept alien blood. Right now the damage is being repaired from the inside out. His vitals are good, major organs sound, and that punctured lung is no problem.”

“His lung was punctured?” Tedra asked in a small voice.

“You want a full inventory of injuries?”

“No-that won’t be necessary. Just tell me, can everything be fixed?”

“In your line of work, you ought to know there isn’t much a meditech can’t do, except bring the dead back to life, and the scientists are working on that one. Your warrior will be good as new.”

Tedra sank into the nearest adjustichair, the relief making her weak. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“All I did was bring him aboard.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Martha,” Tedra snapped, her old impulses returning now that she could breathe easier. “Stars, I need a bath, a decent bath,” she said, noticing for the first time how filthy she was, her chauri and cloak not only stained but hanging on her in shreds after that demonstration she gave of a woman gone nuts. “I’ll be in my quarters, if there’s any change in Challen’s condition. And keep an eye on Tamiron here.”