Space Junque Read Online Free Page A

turned emerald green. His exquisitely tailored suit gave him the aura of power. Was he becoming a courtier, a suck-up? Or was Jake right, and Mike was better connected than he'd let on?
    "I had some clothes and things sent to your room from one of the shops on Vacation Station. I thought you'd be close to Sky's size."
    Poor guy. It had to be hard for him to see the duplicate of his lost love walk through the door. Hell, all this had stirred up her pain too.
    "Hey, Mike." Jake joined them from the bar, holding a drink. It seemed impossible that she'd first met him only a few hours ago, standing just so with an iced latte. "Meadowlark."
    She didn't have feelings for Jake. The world was cracking up. She wouldn't have feelings for anybody. But she was disappointed when he took the chair on Mike's side of the sofa and not the perfectly good empty seat at her left side.
    Jake was a little taller than Mike, and his good looks were definitely natural. His foo-foo drink had an origami dragon impaled on a floating strawberry. He swallowed half the pretty concoction in one gulp then bit into the strawberry, his lips stained by the fruit.
    "I see you're taking good care of our girl."
    Cripes. It made her all tingly inside when he said   our girl.
    Mike's guttural   hmm   felt territorial, practically a growl.
    "I didn't think you'd be back so soon," Char said.
    "I almost didn't make it back at all. The   Junque 's com system is buggy. I had trouble docking."
    "I'll send a tech to help Rani," Mike said. "It's the least I can do. And Jake. I'm sorry about Tyler."
    "Excellency. How fortunate to find you here." Without asking, a heavy middle-aged man sat down beside Char. He ignored her though he spilled out of the chair, his knee pushing into hers. Now this was the model of an incompetent mid level bureaucrat, eager for face time with his superior.
    Mike leaned back and spread his arms on the sofa. "Reynaldo," he said. "I take it you received the contract?"
    Excellency.   Char sighed. What else did she not know about Mike?
    Reynaldo's young companion sat across the cocktail table from Char. When he saw Jake, he almost jumped out of his seat. His gaze darted about the Blue Marble then back. "Hello, Jake."
    "Why hello there, Geraldo." Jake finished off his strawberry.
    "Where's Rani?"
    "Nervous?" Jake's chuckle was devious. "Let's see. The last thing I heard Rani say about you was 'when I see that insect again, I'm going to squish him like a fly.'"
    "Ah." Geraldo blanched.
    "You got lucky. She stayed at the V for some R&R."
    Vacation Station.   Most Coveted Destination Not On Earth   was its false motto .   The actual most coveted destination not on earth was not the V but the "I" -- the Imperial Space Station.
    Geraldo seemed highly relieved that seven-foot-tall, muscle-bound, no-nonsense Rani was taking R&R on the V. He turned his attention to Char, openly examining her as if he was evaluating a horse.
    If Rani didn't like this unctuous little man, then Char liked Rani more.
    Two servers, a male and a female, set trays on the cocktail table. They were dressed alike as someone's fantasy of sex slaves. If you could call it dressed. Naked but for leather belts and harnesses and short leashes hanging from their chokers.
    "Excellency," Reynaldo said, "allow us to celebrate."
    At first, Char thought the servers were shaved, but they must be mutants, naturally hairless, as both were bald and without eyelashes or eyebrows as well as other body hair. Like Rani, they hadn't gone ghost. As of yet, anyway; the male was dangerously thin.
    Supposedly, mutants were not allowed off planet. Mike avoided her questioning look, and the others didn't seem to think anything was amiss. Certainly everyone accepted Rani being in orbit.
    Geraldo pulled the female server to him and buried his face in her stomach. He ran his hand over her buttocks and moaned a little. Char looked away, only to realize scenes like this were happening all over the bar.
    This was