"We should contact the Federation," Etru advised as he came onto the bridge with Azrel, Corban, and the Osarian.

Kahn shook his head. "Communications are still down."

"I'm working on it," Dora informed them.

"We must get Tessa out of there," Osari said in his flat voice.

Dora again inserted herself into the conversation. "While the shuttle isn't damaged, the flight hatch is fused shut from the fire. A rescue operation isn't possible at this time."

Kahn's frustration peaked. "There must be something we can do."

Dora spoke hesitantly. "I can contact her through the earrings and the Federation need not know."

"Do it," Kahn didn't hesitate.

Corban lifted an eyebrow and put his arm over his wife's shoulder. Azrel nodded agreement. "Some rules are meant to be broken. If-"

Dora interrupted, "The Endekians have just launched a shuttle to Laptiva."

"Dora, patch Tessa through the speaker so we can all contribute," Kahn ordered.

"Compliance."

"Tessa, can you hear me?" Kahn kept his voice level, but his fingers gripped the console so hard his bronzed knuckles turned a sickly tan.

Everyone on the bridge stopped talking and waited to hear Tessa's answer. There was nothing.

"Are the earrings still working?"

"Yes. Either the Endekians are jamming the signal. Or, she's simply not responding."

TESSA RECALLED the amount of emotional energy required to null-grav her to the surface to breathe, rechecked the distance to the next island and figured "swimming" that expanse of water would tax her limits. And using her psi to go that far was out of the question. She might not have a boat, but she could float partway on a log. But she saw no handy logs floating around or nearby, and she couldn't hack down a palm with just her knife.

Returning to a shady spot on the beach, she took a swig of water from her canteen and ate one of the red fruit. The golden obelisk in the distance seemed farther away than when she'd began her journey earlier this morning.

Obviously, other candidates completed the Challenge, so there had to be a way to get there. She couldn't swim, didn't have a boat, had no way to build a boat. If only she had a flitter like the one Kahn had used on Zenon Prime.

Tessa blinked.

On the beach in front of her-which had previously been empty-now sat an enormous creature that had a head like an giant squid, a body like a whale, and too many tentacles for her to count. Part of the celadon-pearl creature was on the beach, but she had the impression that most of the body remained in the water. Two huge periwinkle eyes on the massive head stared at her. She sensed nothing from the creature, no hostility, no curiosity, no interest. "Hello there."

"Hello there," the creature repeated her words, in her voice.

She tried to communicate again. "Do you live here?"

"Do you live here?" the creature mimicked, its impersonation of her perfect.

She had no idea if the creature was trying to communicate or not. Parrots on Earth could talk, even sing songs, but they had no idea what the words meant. Then again, the creature might be repeating her words in an attempt to learn her language.

Tessa pointed to herself. "Tessa."

"Tessa," the creature obediently repeated.

She pointed to the sand. "Beach."

"Beach."

She pointed to a tree. "Tree."

"Tree."

Tessa pointed to the creature. And didn't say a word. She waited, curious to see what it would do.

"Zar."

She pointed to it again. "Zar?"

"Zar."

Okay, it was intelligent, trying to communicate. Now what? Tessa stood up and walked. "Walking." She halted. "Stopping."

Each time she said the word, Zar repeated. She had no idea if he understood. However, when she stopped, he said, "Zar stopping."

Zar had obviously come out of the sea. She wondered if the creature might be amenable to giving her a ride. Tessa walked down to the water until it was waist high. Then she walked parallel to the creature. "Tessa swim."

Zar backed his massive body into the water. "Zar swim."

Tessa slowly approached the huge beast. "Zar. Tessa. Swim." And she pointed to the Obelisk.

Zar nodded his head. She didn't take that for a yes. A nod could mean yes, no, or I don't understand.

Tessa held up one hand and said, "Zar." She held up her other hand and said, "Tessa." Then she clasped her hands together. "Zar. Tessa. Swim."

Zar turned in the water, and the tentacles signaled to her in an unmistakable gesture to climb onto its back. Since the island held no viable options, Tessa didn't hesitate. Either the creature would eat her, or it wouldn't. Either Zar would give her a ride or drown her at sea.

When she neared close enough to Zar's body, his tentacles grabbed her. She didn't struggle, allowing the appendages to advance her until she sat right behind Zar's neck. She pointed toward the golden obelisk. Zar headed out to sea, aiming for the next island instead.

Tessa sighed. She supposed having the creature swim straight to her final destination would have been too easy. And she was beginning to appreciate the cunning of whoever had set up this Challenge. Each problem that she'd had to overcome required different skills, both physical and mental. The lack of food and water were survival skills. Swimming after the boat stopped proved she could use her psi well enough to reach the next island. This time she'd had to conclude that Zar wouldn't hurt her, that she should make use of him instead of attacking or fleeing. Each task seemed more complex, requiring increasingly intricate mental processes.

She was wondering what awaited her on the next island when Zar spoke. "You must find two keys to open the door to the obelisk."

So the creature could speak. Her pantomiming had simply been another test. "Where will I find the keys?"

"One in your head. The other in your heart."

That was real helpful. "Can you be any more specific?"

Zar didn't answer. He didn't speak again during the journey.

But Tessa spoke to him. "Thank you, Zar. I appreciate the ride and the information."

Zar swam onto the beach. Before she could slip off his back, the tentacles gently deposited her on her feet.

She patted the creature. "I hope we see one another again."

"If we meet again, one of us must die." Zar began to back toward the water.

Tessa followed. "I don't understand."

"Find the keys."

Tessa liked straight-forward problems. Put a hostile subject in front of her, and she'd fight. Give her a business to run, and she'd assess and analyze. But she didn't understand what Zar had told her. She was supposed to find two keys, one in her heart, one in her head. And why if she met Zar again, did one of them have to die? What the hell did that mean?

She watched Zar disappear under the dark green waters with a sinking clench of her gut. The high cirrus clouds she'd noted earlier had burned away with the setting sun. So she had no difficulty spotting a white exhaust trailing through the troposphere.

No one was supposed to be here.

Was something wrong? Or was this another test?

While friends might be coming to this island, Tessa wasn't taking any chances. She walked backward from the water to the palm trees so that it appeared from her footprints that she'd walked into the sea. After using null-grav to disguise her weight distribution, only an expert tracker would read what she'd done from the signs on the beach.

The shuttlecraft hit the sound barrier with one echoing boom that startled the wildlife. Tessa headed into the island's interior, stopping at a pool of water, drinking and refilling her canteen after the liquid tested potable. Her rumbling stomach reminded her that one piece of fruit wouldn't keep her body sufficiently fueled, but she had no time to hunt for food, not with the shuttle roaring down.

She needed a place to hide and wished for the cover of darkness or the dense underbrush on the last island. She had no time to bury herself in the sand. The shuttle landed all too quickly, dead center on the island.

Tessa used null-grav to lift herself into a palm tree. She didn't have to wait long for the hatch to pop open. Endekians ran out, three groups of three in different directions.

Damn! The Endekians had broken the Challenge rules. Complications ran through her head. If the Endekians killed her, the Federation would assume she'd failed the Challenge. No way could she allow this new wrinkle to ruin her efforts. Before she finished assessing the situation a group of men rushed directly her way, their feet stomping the underbrush. Heart thudding, knife drawn, Tessa held her breath, remaining absolutely quiet in the tree.

"Tessa?" Dora spoke to her through the earrings, picking one hell of a time to talk.

"Shh." She didn't dare say a word about privacy mode, not with the Endekians thirty feet below her precarious perch.

"Endekians have landed on Laptiva," Dora whispered in privacy mode.

"Duh."

Tessa waited until the first group passed under her palm tree before speaking again. "Why are we talking?"

"We just got the communications up."

"Aren't we breaking Challenge rules?"

"Since the Endekians broke the rules, Kahn said we could break them too."

"Okay. Come rescue me."

"We're working on it.

"What's wrong?"

"The Endekians attacked us."

Damn. Tessa hated being down here when Kahn and her family were in danger up there. "Anyone hurt?"

"Just minor stuff. But they fused our flight bay doors. We can't-"

Kahn's voice came through loud and strong. "Tessa, I want you to hide."

"Hello to you, too."

"There's no time for pleasantries. You're being hunted."

"No kidding." Slowly and silently, she lowered herself to the ground. If she remained in the tree, sooner or later the Endekians would find her. If Kahn wanted her to hide, she had to find a better place.

"Just stay out of sight," Kahn ordered.

"Look, it's getting dark. I don't know the terrain. With Endekians overrunning the island, I figure the safest place for me to go is inside their shuttle."

Chapter Twenty-Five.

KAHN SWORE. His temper trickled into a puddle of worry for Tessa. "Does anyone know why the Endekians are so interested in ensuring that my wife fails?"

"What do you mean?" Etru asked, shoving back a lock of red hair that had fallen into his eyes. He looked exhausted and haggard as if he had given birth instead of the glowing Miri who lounged in a corner, nursing their son, Kirek. Etru kept glancing at them with a mixture of pride and concern as if he feared she'd topple over, but mother and son were doing better than dad.

Kahn tried to work past his anxiety for Tessa to understand what was happening. "Jypeg and the Endekians want Rystan for the glow stones and our proximity to Zenon Prime. He hates me because every time he sees that scar it reminds him he fled from battle. I didn't just scar his face but his pride. But why would he want Tessa badly enough to risk banishment from the Federation for violating Challenge rules?" Kahn thrummed his fingers on the console. Dora had the visuals back up so he could watch Tessa enter the Endekian ship.

At her actions, his heart swooped up his throat. "What in stars am I missing?"

"Friend, Kahn." Osari slithered across the deck, leaving a film of ooze. "Perhaps in some small way, I may be of service."

"She's done something, hasn't she?" Kahn asked, his anger tempered with worry.

Zical glanced from the Osarian to Kahn and scratched his head. "Tessa's done something to the Endeckians?"

"My wife has a way of finding trouble," Kahn all but growled.

Osari's flat voice filled the cabin. "I do not wish to violate a confidence."

"Her life is in danger. Please tell us what you know," Kahn prodded, distracted by the screen. Tessa sneaked up behind an Endekian and broke his neck. Kahn tensed as two more Endekians attacked. Tessa rolled, swept one man's feet out from under him, and followed through with a lethal blow to the head.