Starlaw Read Online Free Page B

couldn’t rationally explain what happened.”
    “True enough,” Darius agreed with a slow nod.
    “Besides,” Barst continued, “I popped in and took a look at her, just as Gemma was adjusting a communo-chip. Once the admiral sees that beauty he’ll probably want her aboard
his
ship.”
    For some reason, that comment didn’t settle Darius’s nerves. The admiral’s taste concerning young women was notorious. The man wouldn’t give a flaming nova whether the girl in question was sexually compatible. A be-feathered, avian denizen from the outer rings of Moriar, Admiral Tel’duc’t was nothing if not a hedonist. He liked designing new and exotic ways to pleasure himself, and with females from every conceivable species. Sadly, the bastard openly bragged about it. And though the ladies in his company were always quite willing to serve as arm candy for someone as powerful as a League admiral, those same females weren’t well thought of after Tel’duc’t was done with them. Darius slowly frowned, then turned away. His destination was the med lab.
    Every muscle in his body yearned for rest. He’d been awake for three straight shifts. Thoughts of getting his hands around Goll’s emaciated little neck kept him from sleep. Now, thanks to Barst’s council, he was seeing things more clearly.
    A short time later the med lab hatches opened automatically as he entered the white and silver pristine space. Gemma stood there with her back to him. She was studying a computer screen.
    “How’s the patient?” Darius asked as he glanced at incubation unit.
    Gemma turned to chastise her superior. “When are you going to get some rest?”
    He rolled his eyes and shot her a slanted grin. “I must look worse than I actually feel as everyone is so concerned about my sleeping habits! As soon as you brew some of that relaxation potion you have hidden away, I’ll head to my quarters. Unfortunately … I’ve been awake so long I’m not sure I
can
sleep.”
    “That
potion
is called Turesian tea. It has to be steeped the old-fashioned way for its benefits to be of value.” Gemma grinned and got up to heat some water.
    He took the opportunity to move closer to the only occupied incubation unit in the lab. According to controls on the outside, the Earther’s vital signs were not only stabilized, but they appeared to have dramatically improved from those previously listed on the unit’s database. “You were right. She’s recovering.”
    As he spoke, he gazed through the top view port and noted how the woman’s color seemed healthier. At least it was better-looking by Lusterian standards. There was no other comparison to be made but to what he knew of other races within League jurisdiction.
    The woman’s clothing had been removed, as every patient’s was when placed inside such units. Without it, the injured rested more comfortably. In its place, a ubiquitous blanket covered her slender form. The top of it rested just over her breasts.
    He saw her wound closing. Thanks to the electro-magnetically zerion-altered field within the unit, the flesh was suturing before his eyes. Even the scar would disappear as healing progressed. As he stared, other thoughts took the place of curatives.
    He took a small step back when mental meanderings caused his gaze to linger on her perfect, creamy flesh. Her fingers were long and slender. The tips had been meticulously manicured. Her body was athletically lean without being unappealingly thin. Muscle in her upper arms was evident. Her hair shimmered in the light from within the unit. There were streaks of red in it that he hadn’t noticed earlier.
    How would it feel to run his hands through the long tendrils and curl them around his wrists? What would her voice sound like when she eventually spoke? Again, he wondered about the color of her eyes.
    Blue.
    He decided they must be a deep, sparkling gem hue, the color of Lusterian midnight stones that were rare and prized.
    How soft she looked. How