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

He whirled around so fast that he knocked against a display table sending jewels and hair sticks in every direction. He couldn’t turn around though, he could still feel her eyes boring a hole into the back of his head.
    “Leave it you lout. I don’t want you touching my things. Hurry and change.”
    He admitted to a small amount of disappointment that there hadn’t been gasps and faints as he stripped. But when he turned around to see what the holdup was, he had a few gasps of his own.
    “Get her one in every color.” It sounded like his voice though he hadn’t remembered saying it. Her ‘something sensible’ was a floor length shift, belted tight around the waist, with a deep cut down the middle. How it managed to cover her breasts...he didn’t believe in magic, but he was looking at the proof of it. Nothing should have kept it there, a slight breeze and it was all over.
    The fabric didn’t hide much to begin with. It was blue, lined with green rings, but nearly transparent, her areolas darkening blue to black.
    “Are you finished staring? There’s no place to hide a weapon in this.”
    He shook his head and then turned back to the owner. “I meant what I said, more colors. Two. Go.” The man clapped and pivoted on his heels, leaving them alone for the moment.
    “You are spectacular.”
    “This thing doesn’t close. It’s only the belt holding it together and did you see the price? All of that for a string of fabric.”
    “It’s worth it.”
    She blushed, smoothed out the garment and rotated her hips, sending the bottom of it twirling around her heels. “Maybe.”
    “And what about me,” he said, doing his turn and bow. “You missed a good show over there.”
    “I’m pretty sure there’s still a live feed.”
    “A compliment? I’m buying everything this bastard has.” He pulled her towards a full length mirror holding on to her as tight as her belt.
    “You flow into one another,” the man said behind them. And Retzi agreed. They did look good together.
    “If Father kills us, it might be worth it by the end.”
    “I don’t plan on that happening.” She paused to flap the hem of her garment with a flicking wrist. “But, if it does, I intend on dying in this.”
    They paid and had their packages sent to the docks waiting for them under a false registration number they’d used upon landing. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her gathering her hair impossibly high, and with the help of the two giggling shop girls, stuffing the hand sized plasma gun into the center of her coif with the aid of a million, glittering hair pins.
    “We look too good to keep this to ourselves. Can I entice you with a meal?”
    Her stomached grumbled a response before her mouth could and they followed their noses to a posh establishment, billed as serving only the best of the 38 th Q.
    After a stomach torturing long wait, a bare chested and short skirted hostess led them to a table near the front of the house. Terrible seats, but it put them near the loud mouthed nouveau-riche.
    She avoided wine during her order and he did the same, though the thigh slapping, glass rattling ruckus from the next table threatened to have him call the server back.  The only thing keeping him stable was her.
    “My face is up here.”
    “And it is just as beautiful.”
    “Don’t you ever stop?”
    Retzi shook his head and leaned over the florescent candlestick. “I can go all night. Really, I can.”
    “Well I’m glad you’re having such a good time. This outfit is ridiculous. And I don’t need any more suggestive remarks from you,” she added hurriedly. “I don’t like being on display.”
    He removed to top portion of his tunic and rose, bringing it behind her. She handled it with more grace than he did, lifting her body in a long, sensuous motion, before sliding her arms into the fabric. Before he sat down, one of the young men from the loud group raised his glass in her direction. “Modesty. Haven’t seen that