Anja's Star (Outer Settlement Agency) Read Online Free

with it an unexpected rage. And a sorrow. He was a modern man and understood the way of the worlds just fine, but not her? “If he chooses this life-”
    “You can never know for sure. People don’t do that because they have a choice. Not usually. It starts with a problem that needs fixing. Or a bill that has to be paid. People always say that it’s different on this place or that and maybe he’s happy. But not all of them are. It’s all an act. They aren’t paid to be miserable. Heads up.”
    By now they’d caught the attention of the man. He gave them a one over and sneered, laying his full eyes on a couple dripping in the glittering sashes of red and gold that passed for tunics in the 38 th Quadrant.
    “Keep an eye out for a store.”
    “Just one? There’s another one every two steps.”
    “True, but we need one with the most obnoxious things we can find.”
    Her snort brought a smile to his lips, but it was her gasp a few moments later, that told him they’d found the perfect row of shops.
    Getting inside one proved a far more difficult trick. Two doors locked as they approached the threshold. The proprietor of the third merely laughed and presented his back. It’d taken a lot of pulling to keep Anja from giving him her concerns on the matter, but by the fourth place, they’d slipped in before any gates or twirling lights kicked them out.
    “If you’ll be so kind as to take your filthy, poverty stricken selves back the way you came, I won’t be forced to call for assistance.”
    “Before you say anything else, we were attacked. These were the only clothes we could find and I can’t tell the authorities as her husband might have questions on the matter of our acquaintance. We need clothes. Something befitting us, but not-”
    “Boring,” Anja finished without a look in his direction.
    It worked. The man nodded and waved his measuring wand around the outline of her body. He called out the numbers to someone in his headset and moved on to Retzi. Once again, the wand danced about in the air. This time, however, it was accompanied by ‘harrumphs’ of acknowledgement around certain parts of his anatomy. His set of numbers prompted two red faced ladies to pop out of a concealed door before disappearing once more.
    “Can you believe it’s all hers and she isn’t sure she wants it anymore?”
    “I’m used to something a little bigger,” Anja said separating her fingers and raising an eyebrow.
    The man looked from Anja to him and back to her. “Well, there’s a shuttle down the street,” he said, before entering the now half-concealed door.
    “You can stop looking so proud of yourself.”
    “I can’t actually, no.”
    “You are unbelievable,” she said hands on her hips.
    “That’s what he just said.”
    She burst with laughter at that, the reaction he’d been hoping to see. Second to her begging to see the goods herself, obviously. But really, anything was better than the look he’d seen on her face earlier in the day. He hadn’t been able to shake it. He’d been wanting to kill every man and woman who’d touched her with money in hand.
    Touched her at all.
    The sashaying shopkeeper returned, wares in hand. The ‘something sensible’ he’d asked for was a set of green tunic bottoms and an open tunic, both lined with gold and blue rings. “How does it close and where do I try this on?”
    The man only laughed before turning to Anja. With her garment still over his shoulder, he grabbed hold of her jumpsuit with each side in hand and ripped it open.
    “She never needs to be in this horrid thing again. And woman, do stop sneering before your hurt your face. Hurry up, first one leg then the other, unless you need a diagram.”
    Her body glowed splotchy, red patches of embarrassment. He didn’t know why, she was perfect. An ass that deserved a good slapping, a waist perfect for holding on too, breasts full and bouncing and eyes...eyes...promising a drawn out, painful and inventive death.