Fortunately for the rest of them, since they spent most of their time on Tedra's ship with her, Martha was managing to channel most of the explosive feelings onto herself. It was one of her main functions and she did it extremely well, keeping Tedra from hurting innocent bystanders either with her deadly physical skills or with angry words, which might cause her later grief. Mock IIs were super-modern, super-expensive, free-thinking computers created for one individual only.

These unique computers couldn't be acquired without the buyer undergoing extensive testing first for the final programming that would bond them to their owner. They were more like a companion than an actual computer, their sole purpose be assure the health, well-being, and happiness of the one they were created for.

Not surprisingly, there weren't too many Mock Ils in existence. Because they were so powerful-a single Mock II could run an entire computerized world by itself-their cost was prohibitive, so only highly advanced, rich worlds could afford one. Kystran, a very rich trade world, actually owned two. That Tedra had acquired a third when she lived on Kystran was due only to Garr losing a wager to her, and Martha had been the payoff. That she had bought yet another for her lifemate was a minor point, due to Sha-Ka'an now being the richest planet in the two star systems because of the gaali stone mines there. Their family owned the largest of those mines.

Wealth meant very little to the Sha-Ka'ani, though. They were a simple people with simple needs. But when something specific was needed, it was nice to have the wherewithal to obtain it.

So, Challen had acquired a battleship to accompany his lifemate to Kystran. Her Transport Rover, while able to carry thousands, was a ship used for world discovery, not serious battle. Dalden and another fifty warriors had been sent to protect Tedra, but Challen had wanted her ship protected as well.

They had had no trouble from other ships, though; the trip had been completely uneventful in that regard. But they were all gathered in the Recreation Room six days from home when Martha announced she was picking up a distress call.

"From who?" was Tedra's first question.

"Sunder."

That answer caused major silence, for various reasons. They all knew the planet. All but Tedra had visited it last year, when Shanelle was trying to escape her father's choice of lifemate for her.

Tedra broke the silence first, wanting verification. "Isn't that the planet that Shanelle sought sanctuary on and didn't get it?"

"One and the same," Martha replied in one of her cheerful tones.

But Shanelle complained, "Mother, must you describe them like that? "

She had been sitting on an adjusticouch with her lifemate's arms wrapped around her. Falon Van'yer had been talked into letting his lifemate come on this trip, but not without him. And he hated space travel, really hated it. Yet Shanelle had wanted to come, and he would do anything to make her happy-within reason.

Shanelle now glanced back at him warily. He had good reason to despise the Sunderans and wouldn't like being reminded that they had tried to keep his lifemate from him, had even tried to make him completely forget about her. But Falon was looking absolutely inscrutable, though Ba-Har-ani warriors didn't usually hide their emotions. Kan-is-Tran warriors like Dalden and Challen didn't hide their emotions, either; they just had such unique control of their bodies that they seemed to lack any emotion of a strong nature, be it anger-or love.

But Tedra also had good reason to not like the Sunderans. Martha had given her a full account of all that had happened to her daughter while she was there, and if Tedra had been there, there would have been a lot of hurting Sunderans before she left.

She snorted now at Shanelle's complaint and turned her aquamarine eyes on Falon. "You know I love you to pieces and will, just as long as my daughter does," she told the shodan of Ka'al. "But she sought help from those people and they failed to supply it. It's a moot point that the help was needed against you in particular. And they want help from us now?"

Tedra's ending tone implied, Fat chance they'll get it. Falon merely nodded. Dalden knew better than to comment when his mother's dander was up. He left it to Martha to point out the obvious, which she did now.

"They want help from anyone. We just happen to be close enough to hear it. And having heard it, there is no option of ignoring it-or did you suddenly become an uncaring, callous individual when I wasn't looking?"

That got a baleful glare out of Tedra, directed at the intercom on the wall that Martha's purring voice was coming out of. "I didn't say we wouldn't help, but I don't have to like it, do I?"

"Shanelle doesn't hold grudges against them," Martha pointed out.

"They did try to help me," Shanelle explained. "They just weren't very good at it. But they were dealing with Sha-Ka'ani warriors, so it's hard to hold them at fault for their failure."

"Not hard at all," Tedra insisted. "Incompetents have never been high on my list of want-to-know people. The Sunderans did have a weapon in their Altering Rods that could have worked without hurting anyone-physically," she quickly added for Falon's benefit, since he was the one who would have suffered if he had been made to forget about Shanelle. "And don't get me wrong. I'm pleased with the way that whole fiasco turned out in the end, and so are you. But that doesn't alter the fact that if you had really needed help of a life-threatening sort, you definitely picked the wrong people to get it from."

"Exactly," Falon put in.

Shanelle turned around to her lifemate. "You agree with her?"

"Absolutely."

Shanelle threw up her hands in exasperation. "I give up."

The distinct sound of chuckling was coming out of the intercom unit. "Now can we get around to helping the 'incompetents'?"

"By all means," Tedra said with a smile.

2

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IMPATIENCE WAS SETTING IN. FEW ANSWERS HAD BEEN supplied after they had arrived on Sunder and been escorted to General Ferrill's office. The little general had immediately gotten on Tedra's bad side with his belligerence and condescending attitude, particularly since the Sunderans were the ones asking for help this time around.

Normally she would have ignored it, but in her present fretting mood, it very quickly had them shouting at each other. Which was when Shanelle suggested tactfully that Donilla Vand be summoned to deal with them.

Ferrill had acceded to that request gladly, obviously uncomfortable arguing with a woman he had to look up at, and had left them there alone in his office. He had neglected to mention, however, that Donilla would have to be fetched from prison. That information was volunteered by one of the military types standing guard at the door outside the office when asked what was taking so long.

When Shanelle had sought help from the Sunderans eight months earlier, Donilla Vand had been the general in command of Sunder's military forces. She was also the one who had explained how the women of Sunder had wrested control of the planet from their men, to keep them from going to war with their neighboring planet, Armoru.

It had been a global conspiracy made possible by the invention of what they called the Altering Rod. Sunder was, after all, quite advanced in the fields of science, having conquered all their known diseases. The rods had been created to control the minds of the mentally unbalanced, to make them useful citizens again. That they had been used by the women to take over all positions of power on the planet left many of them feeling quite guilty about it, Donilla included. So Shanelle wasn't really surprised that some of them had finally reversed the process to let their men take over again, though apparently the consequence was that those women had been sent to prison for what they'd done.