Keeper of the Heart

Chapter 3

Shanelle woke the next morning feeling a good deal of the excitement her friends had been feeling last night, but for different reasons. As much as she wasn’t looking forward to what might happen soon after her homecoming, she was definitely looking forward to seeing her family again. She had missed them terribly, and her friends, too, even the servants, even her spacious home.

For the past nine months she had lived in a box of a room; at least it was boxlike in comparison to what she was used to. Of course, the Kystrani knew how to make good use of a little space, using movable walls to section off whatever room was desired at the push of a button, so that you could have four or five rooms in the space of one single room, everything coming out of the walls, even the toilet and bath.

She had seen some pretty incredible things on Kystran, but no less incredible than some of the things she had grown up with. The Sha-Ka’ani might disdain the modern conveniences of other worlds, but Tedra certainly didn’t, and whatever Tedra bought for herself, she also bought for her daughter.

Tedra would have done the same for her son and lifemate, but like the rest of the male populace, they stubbornly wouldn’t touch anything not made on their world, or was closely similar to what could be made on their world-except for meditech units. Warriors weren’t stupid, after all, and this was one modern wonder that beat the hell out of slapdash healers. Anything that could actually save lives given up for lost, repair tissue, and leave no scars was worth having, and just about every town on the planet now had at least one meditech unit; some, like Sha-Ka-Ra, had more than one.

“Rise and shine, kiddo.” Martha’s voice floated into the room at the exact moment Shanelle sat up, deactivating her air blanket by the movement. “I’ve been having a long chat with the Visitor’s Center, and it looks like my good buddy Brock didn’t tell us even half of what’s going on.”

“You really get a kick out of that Ancient’s lingo, don’t you, old girl?”

“Me and my Tedra both.” Martha chuckled. “But if you haven’t noticed, the same ‘lingo’ pops out of your own sweet mouth.”

“How could it not, listening to you two all my life? So what didn’t Brock tell us? I assume you mean about the competitions?”

“You got it. It seems your father was planning this competition a good month or two before he got around to telling your mother about it, and he didn’t mention it to her until after I’d left to pick you up. But the ambassadors somehow got wind of it months ago, and they’ve had time to inform their home planets in case anyone wanted to participate. Apparently competitions like these appeal to one hell of a lot of people, because the Visitor’s Center is just about overflowing.”

“But that would mean-”

“You got it again, kiddo. Sha-Ka-Ra has been opened to visitors-at least the park is. Anyone can come into our fair city for the duration, even if it’s only to watch.”

“And father agreed to that?”

“Shocking, huh?”

Shanelle just stared wide-eyed at the audiovisual console the Commander’s cabin contained, trying to grasp the implications. She finally concluded, “Mother must have talked him into it.”

“When he’s been adamant all these years about keeping visitors out of Sha-Ka-Ra? When it was his idea to set the Visitor’s Center out in the middle of nowhere, and do that before the trouble? When the airobuses have to go out of their way to fly above the atmosphere just so they won’t be noticed? When all bus stations are inconveniently located well outside city limits?”

“What’s your point, Martha?”

“Your mother may wield a lot of influence where your father is concerned, but not when it comes to the well-being of his Sha-Ka’ani. This sounds more like a warrior idea, a little proof positive of who’s the superior fighter. I just wonder what brought it on.”

“You should have asked Brock.”

“That cretin wouldn’t tell. He just loves keeping Challen’s motives secret. For whatever miscircuited reason that had him class me with every other female, he now has it in his mind that I have no business involving myself in warrior business. He also won’t admit that I’m his superior, when any fool knows that a Mock H’s intelligence and capabilities increase with age, and I’m older than he is.”

“You don’t have to convince me, Martha.” Shanelle grinned.

She headed for the Sanitary corner, activating the walls for a little privacy. Of course, the walls didn’t affect the Rover’s communications system, which meant Martha’s voice could follow her anywhere. It did.

“You do realize,” Martha was saying now, “what this competition means, don’t you? There will be warriors down there who don’t know you. And with the city open to visitors, you won’t even have to show up in a chauri, which would declare you a Kan-is-Tran woman. As far as the out-of-town warriors will know, you could be a visitor yourself. That means you won’t be off limits, and neither will they. Are you catching my drift, kiddo?”

“Loud and clear, Martha.”

But Shanelle had already realized the implications for herself, and was now feeling a new kind of excitement that had nothing to do with homecoming. This really was a golden opportunity, one she had no intention of passing up-but not for the same reason Martha had in mind. If there were going to be a great many warriors down there, there were bound to be a great many male visitors, too, possibly the best-of-the-best from other planets. Not even possibly. They had to be the best if they were here to compete with warriors. Talk about saving time and energy. Instead of her having to go to their planets to find them, they had come to hers.

“Well?” Martha prompted.

“So maybe I’ll sample a warrior before I leave, just so I’ll know what I’m escaping from.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“Or maybe I’ll find a visitor I like even better.”

“Pull Martha’s leg, why don’t you?” the computer scoffed.

“You don’t think that’s a possibility?”

“It’s a well-known fact that of all humanoids, Sha-Ka’ani males are superior. They don’t put them together any better, or are any better-looking, than right at home.”

“That’s a whopper and you know it.” Shanelle laughed. “Every world has its fine examples of manhood, even if they end up being the exception to the norm.”

“You didn’t find any to tempt you on Kystran, and how could you, being spoiled by what you’ve got at home?”

“I wasn’t there long enough, Martha, nor did I leave Gallion City to tour the rest of the planet.”

“All right, all right,” Martha said in exasperation.

“There’s no point in arguing about it when the truth will tell. I’ll be monitoring your vital stats while you’re down there, so I’ll know exactly when your libido gets snagged.”

“Well, keep it to yourself. If it’s going to happen, and I do mean if, I’d like to figure it out for myself.”

The head of the Visitor’s Center was on hand to welcome Shanelle back to the planet. She was surprised, because Mr. Rampon usually didn’t leave his plush office unless Tedra or Challen made an appearance at the Center, or unless they were expecting some really important visitor.

“Welcome, Miss Ly-San-Ter, welcome,” he began effusively. “Your mother has purchased an airobus for you, and a good thing, too. Our airobuses can’t keep up with the demand, because of the competitions. We’ve had waiting lines, if you can believe it.”

All Shanelle heard was that she had her own airobus, and her smile turned brilliant. “Did mother tell you I wouldn’t need a pilot?”

“She mentioned it, and a good thing, too, since we don’t have any extra pilots just now. She also mentioned that you might be flying for us in the near future.”

“I just might.” Shanelle grinned.

“Well, if you’ll step this way, I’ll sign your guests through personally, to save time.”

Shanelle was again surprised. “Why, thank you Mr. Rampon.”

“Just ask him what he wants, Shani.” Martha’s voice drifted up from Shanelle’s waist where the computer link was attached to her belt.

Shanelle’s cheeks pinkened, but not nearly as much as Mr. Rampon’s. He cleared his voice and said uncomfortably, “As it happens, I do have a small favor to ask. One of the High Kings of Century III arrived a while ago. We were able to fly him and his party to the bus station below Sha-Ka-Ra, but the pilot returned to inform me that Ground Transport has run out of hataari to rent, and even after all the extra mounts that were brought in.”

“You’re saying he’s stuck at the station?”

“Exactly. And as you know, it’s not a short walk from the station to the city, and it’s all uphill. Not that such an esteemed personage would even consider walking, nor can we suggest it. Those High Kings take insult so easily.”

Shanelle pictured a pompous, overweight king trying to climb the steep, winding road to Sha-Ka-Ra and almost laughed. “No, we can’t have him walking.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind taking his party up with yours?”

“Not at all. One hataar does seat two, even three people quite comfortably.”

“And a good thing, too, or we would have even more visitors stranded at the bus station. And I do appreciate this. I will consider it a personal favor.”

Shanelle said a few more words about its being no problem, then left her friends with the administrator while she and Corth went to look over her new airobus at the front of the Center. It took at least five minutes just to get there, for the Center’s main building was huge.

The entire complex sat on about two square miles of land, with the port taking up half that area, and now it was overly crowded with spacecraft from dozens of different worlds. The warehouses took up another big section where the trade goods were stored. Then there was housing for the Trade Ambassadors, more quarters for Security and personnel, still more for visitors who weren’t staying long. Then there were the buildings for maintenance, repair, storage, and everything else necessary to run what was in effect a small city.

“And yet they can’t get a few people up to Sha-Ka-Ra,” Shanelle mumbled to herself.

Martha didn’t ask what she was talking about; she just put her two cents in. “Your father may have relaxed the rules enough to let visitors into the city, or to be more exact, into the park, but I didn’t think he’d relax them far enough to let the buses land in the city. That’s a law for the whole planet, not just here. Sha-Ka-Ra is the only city visitors can still get into, even if just to see your father. They are forbidden to travel anywhere else.”

“I know the laws, Martha.”

“Then stop complaining.”

“I wasn’t. It just seems to me that if father was going to let them in for these competitions, he should have made it a bit easier for them to get there.”

“When has he ever tried to make things easy for visitors?”

Shanelle laughed. It was true. Even before the planet had been closed to tourism, Challen hadn’t got along well with the men from other worlds, but no worse than any warrior. Tedra had once summed it up nicely. “Visitors are either too frightened of warriors, and subsequently too subservient, or too condescending, thinking of them as nothing but barbarians in need of civilizing. They don’t leave a warrior a middle ground to deal with them.”

But they had to be dealt with. The natural resources of the planet were too much in demand, in particular gaali stones, which had turned out to be such an incredible power source that they even took the place of crysillium, once again cutting long-distance space travel time down by nearly half.

The Sha-Ka’ani had used gaali stones raw, merely for lighting. Advanced worlds had the technology to put a single stone to work to power a whole city, or a whole spaceship the size of a Transport Rover. And one stone was inexhaustible. The energy in the stones never depleted. Small wonder energy-poor worlds might have gone to war with Sha-Ka’an if gaali stones couldn’t be traded for. And the Ly-San-Ter family owned the largest source on the planet, half a mountain full, which had made them one of the wealthiest families in two Star Systems.

But when war was threatened, it wasn’t from the outside worlds, but from right at home. Too many visitors had flaunted the laws too many times, traveling where they weren’t welcome, helping themselves to women they weren’t allowed to have, stealing the planet’s resources instead of trading for them. Shanelle wasn’t sure which particular incident had set off the fireworks, since she had been too young at the time. But she knew a huge army of warriors from the eastern country of Ba-Har-an had ridden to Kan-is-Tra, a journey taking months because Ba-Har-an was so far away. And there would have been widespread bloodshed of the visitor kind if the perpetrators of the incident hadn’t been turned over to them and the planet closed down.

Of course, the planet couldn’t be closed down completely. Compromises had to be made. So bus stations had been installed outside every town and city, inconspicuous, mere telecomms where a Transport airobus could be sent for if someone had something he wished to trade. The airobuses brought the Sha-Ka’ani merchants to the Visitor’s Center, then returned them to their towns. The Trade Ambassadors no longer got to go seeking for what they wanted, but had to wait and hope it would come to them. Not surprising, the Ba-Har-ani never traded again with anyone outside their own country.

“Did you know about this, Martha?” Shanelle asked as she looked over the brand-new, shiny sky-blue Transport airobus.

“ ‘Course I did. Tedra ordered it right after you left for Kystran. Of course, that was before she figured out that piloting for the Center wasn’t all you were planning to do.”

“Let’s not rehash that again. I will make a sincere effort to fall in love very quickly, at least before my father makes his decision and it’s out of my hands.”

“Mutual lust will do for starters. After all, Tedra didn’t love Challen right off. It took at least a week.”