Artemis Files 0.5: Lexington Read Free Page A

mister.”
    Without waiting for a response, she pushed him onto the bed. Grinning hungrily while she cast off the robe and climbed atop, the blonde curls fell over her face and across the naked shoulders. It was a distraction from all the trouble that he didn’t mind, even if it wouldn’t help solve the problems around them.
    Squeezing his eyes shut, he could only hear the gentle whispers. She was saying his name over and over, making it into a chant. Bunching up the material of his shirt, she crumpled it in her hands while trying to pull his hands to her body.
    He opened his eyes as their lips crushed together, her hands now supporting him as he slipped his own arms about the warm body. The perfume swept through his head, a sweet aroma of lilies and violets, and he could breathe nothing else but the fragrance. Trying to study her as red lips held him fast in a hypnotic pursing motion, he could only see the bright eyes staring back at him, stealing his soul and thoughts away.
    As their breathing became laboured, she pulled her lips away to whisper words that were barely audible.
    “I need you, darling, you’re my sanity in every mad thing around me.” Her speech became lost in the sighs between long, hungry kisses.
    Mumbling a reply, he let the succulent lips drown him with their urgent need. They still had each other, and that was all that mattered.

Aran System, Britannic Kingdom

January, 4284
     
    “ Commander Bren Caramar Montclare, Valentine Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, Meritorious Combat Cross, aide-de-camp to the late Governor General of Galway, and previous to that you were a Flight Leader in the Britannic Royal Flight Corps that succeeded the Naval Flight Corps. You have a dozen combat service ribbons, two command clusters, two wound badges and a long service record commencing seventeen years ago when you enlisted as a general entry recruit due to court orders… is this correct?”
    “Yes, dammit! You know it is.”
    “Don’t be insolent with me, Commander, this is a disgraceful business we are dealing with today helped through no thanks by the facetious remarks you made to news-streams following the Governor’s assassination. Fortunately for the kingdom, we instituted an emergency D-Notice before your comments could spread beyond Galway, and time will tell if we are successful. It is only by the grace of God that the interim Governor saw fit to remove you from the world before the media frenzy reached manic proportions.”
    The man shook his head, the frown deepening over his face. “ You’ve left us in an awful state, and the Royal Family have asked the Admiralty and Foreign Office to specifically deal with your situation, hence my presence at the behest of the Second Space Lord’s Private Assistant.”
    Shaking his head, he stared at the rotund officer, studying the corpulent features and ruddy complexion. There was not a single decoration or award on his tunic other than for time in service or excellence in typing and drinking tea, there were no combat service awards or badges denoting a ship or shore command. The man was a bureaucrat like the rest of those that had ruined his life before.
    Exasperated, he inclined his head to the officer. “Captain Pringle, how many bureaucrats does it take to screw in a light bulb?”
    “Eh, what?” The large hazel eyes flared open in confusion, caught unaware by the question. Puzzling out the words, Captain Jorsapeth Pringle frowned with one of the bushy eyebrows lifting in sudden concern.
    “It should be none because we don’t use them anymore, but the bureaucracy doesn’t know that and specify it must be at least twenty-four people signing off on the change. I saw it in the Base Standing Orders today, officially routed from the Second Space Lord’s of fice as a point of concern for Maintenance Officers’ excessive light-bulb replacement claims. So are you one of them?”
    “One of what?” The Captain puffed his cheeks at the question and just