“Just like that?” Martha’s voice remained testy. “Well, you won’t mind if I check with the Center to verify these facts, will you?”

“Woman, you are being deliberately disagreeable.” Brock didn’t even try to hide his annoyance now.

“Aren’t I just,” Martha shot back, and then added sweetly, “Good-bye, Brock.”

There was silence from the intercom, long enough for Caris to lean over and whisper to Shanelle, “Does he really think she’s a woman?”

Shanelle could have said that whispering didn’t do a damn bit of good when a Mock II was around, but Martha made that perfectly clear by replying, “Damned right he does, but then he’s an idiot, beyond salvation.”

Only Martha didn’t sound quite so annoyed any longer. She sounded-proud, which had Shanelle grinning. “I thought you liked Brock.”

“Only when he displays a modicum of his vast intelligence, which is rarely these days. He has become, for some male-oriented reason, no doubt, the quintessential barbarian. And when he spouts that condescending warriorlike nonsense, he drives me up a wall.”

“But you can handle that?” Shanelle asked.

“ ‘Course I can,” Martha replied with a very loud snort.

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.”