"Sir, we are no better than our technology. The snowstorms are hindering-"

"Didn't you hear me?"

Trask turned pale yellow. "What would you have me do, sir?"

"Find Kahn and his mate. I want them dead. Preferably her first, so he can watch her die."

"That may not be possible. Rystani men are most protective of their women."

Jypeg's glowered at Trask. "How dare you lecture me." When Jypeg pointed to the scar on his face, his underling cringed. "Every day I look at this face and recall the protectiveness of Rystani men."

"I apologize, sir. How do you expect our men to find Kahn and the Earthling if our machines cannot see through their thick winter storms and if the radiation distorts our readings?"

"Send men down to the planet. Let them search-"

"But the weather-"

"If the Rystani can survive down there, so can we."

ON THE SURFACE of Rystan, a fifth man walked out of the snow, leading a line of huge gray beasts with beady mocha-colored eyes. The masdons possessed thick muddy-gray hair to protect them from the cold, and reminded Tessa of elephants, but walked on six massive legs.

The man leading the beasts bent against the wind. Older than the others and thinner, Tessa believed he was the eldest of them all. Recalling the life expectancy of people who wore the suit, she figured he would live for at least another century or two. His ancient eyes crinkled, and the lines deepened as he glared at her arms around Kahn's neck.

Tessa dropped her eyes, but she didn't remove her arms. If Kahn didn't want her touch, her husband would have to tell her so himself. She didn't need more men telling her what to do. Her husband was enough, thank you very much.

"Nasser, this is my wife, Tessa," Kahn introduced her, ignoring the man's disapproving glare. "While I settle her into position, you all should partake of the meal inside the shuttle. Tessa prepared her favorite Earth foods of pizza and beer for you. Enjoy."

The men departed, heading for the hatch. While she wasn't hungry, she would have preferred to join them instead of climbing atop the masdon. She'd grown up in cities and had never even ridden a horse. This beast looked huge, and from Kahn's arms and through the falling snow, she couldn't even see the animal's full height.

"Kahn, why don't we use null-grav to travel?"

"The suits don't have that kind of energy."

However, Kahn used null-grav to float them to the animals' back where an armored saddle awaited riders. Tessa only saw one seat and Kahn raised his leg to settle into stirrups. Then she parted her legs, and he floated her in front of him, fitted her feet into her own set of stirrups.

He pointed to a blanket and pillow. "Lie on your stomach. Place your head on the pillow."

"Why can't I sit up?"

"Because Rystani women don't like heights. They travel lying down behind the armor where they are protected from Endekian sniper attacks." He pointed to metal plating that would block her view.

"I won't be able to see anything."

"There's nothing to see besides snow."

"Are we likely to come under attack?" Cowering behind armor while unable to see the enemy or fire back struck her as cowardly.

"Recently, minor skirmishes have occurred all too frequently. We fear Endekian patrols are scouting ahead for the best way to make a major attack."

Tessa laid down on the blanket and found her perch surprisingly comfortable. Warm and cozy and tucked in for the journey, she figured to catch up on some well-earned rest. In preparation for the Challenge, she and Kahn had spent an arduous week training. Her skills were improving but not fast enough. She wanted to learn to use null-grav and to control her suit's temperature. Kahn had pushed her hard during their days and they'd spent the nights making love. A few hours of sleep would be welcome.

When Kahn pulled canvas over the top of the armor, she was in the dark, hidden from view, enclosed in a dark cocoon. Kahn removed the pack from her back and slung it into a side compartment. "You didn't tell me about bringing Dora with us."

"I was waiting for the right time. How long will it take to reach Rian?" she asked, trying to distract him from keeping a secret from him.

"A full day and night. And I'm glad you found a way to keep Dora with you."

Tessa was about to tell him about her arrangement with Osari when his friends rejoined them. Then the masdon suddenly began to move in a gait that was surprisingly soothing. In no time the pleasant motion rocked her to sleep. Dreaming, Tessa floated on a sliver of time, unaware of the actual minutes or hours that passed but when she awakened, something was different.

She couldn't feel Kahn's psi, didn't sense his presence. "Kahn, what happened?"

When he didn't answer, the hair on her nape rose. "Kahn. Answer me."

She listened intently but heard only the mocking keen of the wind, the slow thud of the masdon trudging onward and the flapping of canvas above her head. Reaching out with her psi, she stretched to her limit, searching for him. And met emptiness.

He was gone.

And one thing she knew for sure. He wouldn't have left her alone-not voluntarily.

Chapter Eighteen.

HOW MUCH time had passed since Kahn had disappeared? Tessa couldn't be certain. When she slept or focused on her psi as she'd been doing in an attempt to keep warm, she lost time. He could have been gone minutes. Or hours. The only way to judge was by the rapidly cooling temperature of her skin.

Apparently her psi attempt at temperature control had failed. Protected by the canvas from the wind and snow, she wouldn't survive unless she picked up a new skill. She should remain under the protection of the tarp, but she released the hand grips, pulled back the canvas and straightened to peek over the armor in search of Kahn, his men, and the other masdons.

All gone.

Icy gusts swept across her face, froze her breath. Tessa raised her defensive shields to block the wind. Still cold, her body temperature dropped lower by the second. Desperation made her squeeze the shield tighter, tighter until she'd closed down the shield and no air passed through. Her lungs burned from the lack of air. Freeze or suffocate-what a choice.

Somehow she had to balance the defensive shielding while maintaining enough air holes to breathe. Maybe it was desperation or frustration or concern for Kahn but her angst level had never been higher, and she just barely managed to stay breathing and warm. She might not have mastered her psi temperature control, but she no longer feared freezing to death.

Now what?

Jumping down from the masdon to the snow drifts that blanketed black jagged rock looked too dangerous to attempt except as a last resort. With no sign of life, not a bird or a squirrel, she was on her own in the icy desolation with no idea how to find Kahn.

Was this the Challenge?

No, Kahn had promised to tell her when that time came. So, where was he?

Not about to move from the masdon's back without a plan, Tessa wondered how Kahn had steered the animal. With the size and bulk of a small dinosaur, the beast paid absolutely no attention to Tessa as it slowly uprooted a frozen log with its tusks and searched beneath for frozen grass to stuff into a wide mouth with many sharp teeth.

She saw no way to steer the beast, no reins or harness. While the masdon might take her to Rian if she just waited for it to finish foraging for food, it might also break for freedom and the opposite direction of civilization.

Tessa reached into the side compartment and pulled out her pack. "Dora?"

"Where did everyone go?"

Unfortunately, to conserve the power in the computer's limited batteries, Dora had been in sleep mode since their last conversation. She had no more idea about what had happened than Tessa who quickly filled her in.

"We're lost?" Dora complained.

Tessa searched another compartment for a ladder to dismount. "It's Kahn and his men who are lost, not us."

"Very funny. You have no food, and I have a limited supply of power. We could die out here."

"You wanted an adventure. Now quit bitching and help me think of a way to get to the ground."

Dora sighed. "I don't suppose you figured out how to work your null-grav yet? Leave it to me to make friends with the only person in the universe who has no idea how to operate her suit."

"Hey, if you have nothing constructive to say, you might as well quit wasting power and return to sleep mode."

Tessa twisted around and stared at the tracks the masdon had left in the snow, tracks so wide and deep a child could follow them. "Perhaps we should retrace our steps."

"Good idea. Maybe they'll lead us to Kahn and that handsome Zical. Ooh, how I adore those violet eyes of his. Did Kahn mention if he was single?"

"No, he didn't." Tessa had more important things to think about than Dora's fantasy life. "Any ideas how I can steer this beast?"

"Did Kahn use verbal commands?"

Tessa had been sleeping then. "I don't recall any."

"What about using your feet?"

"You want me to kick it? He could buck us off."

"So be gentle."

Tessa's gut clenched, but she kicked her heels into the masdon's sides. The hairy beast turned its massive head, and she could have sworn it eyed her curiously. As the savage tusks pointed her way, she considered if it was about to snack on her for a dinner appetizer, and sweat popped out on Tessa's brow.

"Hi, fellah," she crooned. "We've got to be friends. I need help to find Kahn."

Watery eyes stared at her unblinking.

Dora sighed, again, a habit she imitated too often. "I think he likes the sound of your voice."

"But does he understand me?"

"I'm a computer, not a vet."

"Find Kahn," Tessa spoke to the creature. "Find Kahn."

Abruptly, the animal turned. If Tessa hadn't grabbed a handhold on the saddle, she might have fallen.

"Good work, girl," Dora's excitement revealed how uneasy she'd been over their predicament, her sarcasm her way of dealing with worry. "The masdon is retracing its steps. You are communicating."

Occasionally the animal paused to uproot logs and feed on the undergrowth, but Tessa didn't try to hasten its pace. She only wished that she, too, could stop and eat. Although she kept her shields as tight as possible, she hadn't figured out how to raise the temperature and depended on keeping her body heat behind her shield to warm her. With darkness, the temperature dropped lower, and she wrapped the canvas about her and searched the compartment where Dora had been for supplies.

While Tessa could probably find Rian and bring back help, she had no idea if anyone would try to stop her along the way-like a battalion of Endekians. And the thought of leaving Kahn behind didn't sit well with her, although she did consider and discard it. She needed him to finish her training for her to complete the Challenge and therefore could justify possibly placing herself in danger to search for him.

Besides, she missed him.

Dora was back in sleep mode to preserve power, so when Tessa found the food and a packet of liquid, she attacked the strange packaging without comment. When she opened the container, the food heated automatically. The strange stew tasted bland but filled her belly, and she gratefully washed it down with liquid that tasted like fruit punch. She'd save the remaining ration kit for Kahn.

The monotonous scenery varied little as the masdon's lumbering steps ate mile upon mile. Where before the outcroppings of rock had been jagged, here the terrain was relatively flat and occasionally broken by rolling hills. The endless snow fell, and she let it stick to her suit, hoping her snow suit would insulate her like an igloo.

With snow drifts on the ground over ten-feet high, she never would have survived alone and on foot. As they crested a hill, she spied a bear-like creature poking its head into a tree hollow. A few miles later at the sight of them, a herd of shaggy bison-like animals with six legs stampeded.

When the masdon suddenly halted, Tessa rocked back at the abrupt stop. The large creature tucked its legs under its mammoth belly, laid its shaggy head on an outcropping of rock, shut its strangely intelligent mocha eyes. Within minutes the beast mocked Tessa with its snores.

Now what?

After the creatures she'd seen, jumping down to travel in the dark on her own two feet seemed not only dangerous, but foolhardy. Bowing to the inevitable, Tessa lay forward upon the saddle, wrapped the canvas tightly around her, and slept in catnaps, awakening the first time to the howl of an animal that sounded close by. The masdon never stirred, and Tessa eventually returned uneasily to her dreams.

When next she awakened, she felt as if someone heavy was lying on her, but the pressure was merely the weight of the snow. Determined to face the day, she heaved herself to a sitting position. The sky was no longer black but a light gray with no sign of the sun. It had snowed throughout the long night, and the masdon tracks were partially filled with new-fallen snow.

Tessa tried to convey a sense of urgency to the masdon. She had to find Kahn today. And she tried not to think about whether he'd eaten or slept. Or if he was even still alive. Kahn was her anchor to this world, and without him she felt as if she was drifting. But she needed to focus, so she wouldn't shatter. And her worry for her husband, she kept locked down tight.

Tessa ate a handful of snow, which didn't quench her thirst, but perhaps the liquid would prevent dehydration. Grateful for her suit for keeping her somewhat warm and clean, she jumped down then tried to convey a message to the masdon. The beast stood and continued its lumbering gait as Tessa sought to urge it to a faster pace. Scrutinizing the snow, she searched for a place where her masdon's tracks had diverged from the rest. If she didn't find that spot soon, the torrential snow might obliterate the trail.

When she finally came across the area where her masdon had left the others, she spied a circular area of crushed snow, trampled logs and dark, frozen blood that stained the snow. Sensing there had been a battle here, she observed a flat place in the snow where a man appeared to have toppled from his mount, and ski-like tracks that made her consider if Kahn and his men had been attacked by men on sleds or on snowmobiles. At least she saw no dead bodies. Unless hungry animals had . . . No. Kahn and his men were alive. She had to think positive.

"Find Kahn," she said to the masdon, again, her voice unsteady. The beast took off, following the trail, and she sagged with relief as it obeyed. Tessa had no way of knowing if the other party had traveled all night or how far ahead they might be. She prayed she would catch up with them by nightfall.

A hard day of riding later, a flickering light in the distance told her that her prayers might have been answered. However, she couldn't let the masdon just take her up to the fire and deliver herself on a dinner platter. She shot a psi thought of sleepiness at her masdon and said, "sleep," for good measure. When the animal folded his knees beneath him and slept, Tessa put on her back pack and slipped the remaining food and drink ration into her pack next to her knife. Before she could think too long about breaking her leg from the fall she was about to take, she leapt into a snow drift.

She'd feared landing on a hard uneven surface, but the snow was soft as feathers. Her immediate problem was suffocation. Clawing and kicking her way out, she breathed deeply and stood on her own feet for the first time in two days. While she would have appreciated Dora's company, she didn't want to risk the power drain and kept her turned off.

Estimating, she was still a good two miles from the fire, Tessa merged into the darkness. Although she'd grown up in a city, she'd trained in many kinds of terrain. Changing her black dress to a white pantsuit to camouflage herself in the snow, she worked her way into the camp, avoiding a two-person patrol that circled the camp perimeter about every fifteen minutes.

From a distance, the men appeared shorter and thicker than the Rystani men from Rian, but in the dark, without a night scope, she couldn't pick out details. Inching forward on her belly, she took about an hour to close the last fifty yards.

Men sat around a fire, roasting meat and drinking a beverage out of a communal vessel. After crawling near enough to spy the yellow skin of Endekians in the fire light, she took cover behind a snowdrift.

She counted four Endekians around the fire, another two on patrol made six. If they'd taken prisoners, they would probably post guards. Before she made a move, she needed to find Kahn and assess the situation, which meant another hour of slowly backing from the fire.

She wished for the company of her old security detail, wished for more eyes on the situation. Maybe Dora could help. But not yet.

If Kahn and his men still lived, Tessa planned to free them and use their help to take out the Endekians. But first, she had to find them. All four domelike structures inside the camp were large enough to hold a squad of men. She picked the one farthest from the fire to approach first. It was empty. She saw no furniture, no belongings, no equipment.

Inside the second tent, an Endekian mechanic tinkered with one of the motorized vehicles that propelled over the snow on skis. She backed out noiselessly.