Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return Read Free

seeing herself in the mirror, Jesamine had angrily announced she looked like a Mistworld doxy. Brett had asked her how she knew, and the conversation had deteriorated rapidly.
    Brett himself was now wearing a thermal suit with built-in chameleon tech, so that he could fade into any background. He was very pleased with it, on the grounds that it opened up whole new fields of avoiding trouble and not being found when there were dangerous things that needed doing. Brett firmly believed that fighting was something other people did, and feats of heroism and derring-do were for people who needed their heads tested. Being around Rose had done nothing to change his opinion.
    Lewis just knew this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere good, and was racking his brains for some way to derail it when Brett suddenly got a fit of the giggles. Almost despite himself, Lewis leaned out of his chair to get a look at what Brett had on his viewscreen now. Lewis had checked out some of the earlier examples of alien porn, just out of curiosity, and had to say it did nothing much for him. Some of the human—alien interactions were… interesting, but he found most of the alien—alien material frankly incomprehensible.
    On finding out what the Hereward's cargo was, his first reaction had been to declare it should all be seized and held as evidence. Brett had quickly reminded Lewis that he wasn't a Paragon anymore, and Lewis had scowled and muttered and finally said, Oh, hell; drop the lot into space. We can use the extra room. Brett nearly had a coronary. Dump it? Are you crazy? Do you know how much we can sell this shit for on Mistworld? Look, if we're going to be rebels on the run, we're going to need working capital.
    Lots of it. Lewis had finally agreed, in principle at least, but he still wasn't happy about it. He took a look at what was amusing Brett, and felt his scowl headache coming back again.
    "Brett… what is that? I mean, those two whatever-they-are aren't even touching each other! And even if they were, they don't appear to have anything that would make it worthwhile anyway."
    Brett considered the scene. "Maybe it's a mood piece. You know, all in the way they're looking at each other."
    "They haven't got any eyes either!"
    Brett shrugged. "Maybe you had to be there… It just reminded me of a girl I knew once, that's all."
    "Don't go there, Lewis," said Jesamine. "Trust me on this."
    Brett changed the scene on his screen and then sat up sharply, a wide grin spreading across his shifty features. "Well, hello! Oh, I do not believe this… I just tapped in a search on celebrities, and I appear to have found a rather sporty scenario featuring a certain celebrity not a million miles from where I'm
    sitting…"
    Jesamine was quickly on her feet in a flurry of silks, and she stormed across the bridge to glare over Brett's shoulder. Lewis quickly joined her, peering over Brett's other shoulder. The display screen showed what certainly seemed to be Jesamine Flowers and a half-alien woman getting very friendly with each other in a setting where clothing was clearly optional, if not downright discouraged. Lewis could feel his face heating up.
    "That is not me!" Jesamine said firmly. "That is a look-alike, probably fresh out of the body shop. I did do a few... artistic studies, very early on in my career, but they were strictly solo poses, for the serious collector and appreciator of the nude form. I never did anything like that, even when I was touring in rep.
    I do have my standards, darling. And I haven't been able to get my ankles that far behind my ears since I was nineteen. Who or what is that person she's doing that with?"
    "That is Nikki Sixteen," Brett said happily. "An old acquaintance of mine. She's half N'Jarr, all woman, and one hell of a performer. Go, girl, go!"
    "Wait a minute," said Lewis. "I thought the N'Jarr were those squishy little mushroom people?"
    "That's the larval stage," Brett said patiently. "The final adult form