Salvation for Three Read Free

afternoon meal would not be a not good way to die. She ran two miles to stay warm before she saw the shadow of the overhang described in the colonists' latest missive.
    "Jagged cliff edge that reflects back three moons." She checked her microcomp. This should be it. Assuring herself her razor ties were folded into her boot and her sting gun was attached to her left wrist, she flared the cuffs of her jump suit out. Pulling a flame red scarf from the pack, she tied it to her upper arm as was the fashion in the resort colonies. An average tourist snapping cam vids of the cliffs was the image she hoped to present. She sighed, doubting the runner would buy it, but still thought it worth a try.
    Pulling a small cosmetic applier from the pocket of the skin suit,
    15
    she flipped it open. A mirror reflected her pale face back, and she grimaced. Her lips chapped and flaking, her skin the color of dried milk. It wasn't a pretty picture. Dark hair ran wild around the hooded suit. Her mother and nature had gifted her with long black lashes that framed green eyes but it wouldn't be enough to entrance a runner. She pushed the hood back and ran her fingers through her hair, combing.
    "Apply," she muttered into the side sensor.
    A beam came from the reflecting screen. Keer closed her eyes and waited. Laser manual application of cosmetics would be considered archaic for most females. It was popular to opt for perm surgery but Keer had seen those women when they aged. She did not want to be clown-like at eighty earth turns and unable to afford the adjustment treatments on a fixed credit income.
    The light faded and she looked again. Smooth skin, a slight flush provided by the cosmetics, eyes rimmed with ashy color and dewy, pouting lips flashed back in the view screen. A face only a sailor in rec port could love, she thought. Maybe her runner would buy the
    "tourist out for a walk" bit.
    Keer tapped one booted foot against the other and small stilettos appeared where chunked heels had been before. She swayed slightly, heels digging into the dirt. It would slow her down until she could drop the running boots back into place but it would add to the sway that she hoped would lead the runner to her.
    Pulling a small pic-cam from her pack, she looped a strap around her wrist and walked toward the jagged cliffs, hips swinging in the heeled boots, pausing and stopping to crouch. She appeared to be filming the cliffs along the way.
    She saw the first glint of movement within minutes of nearing the rocks. Casually, she reached one arm across her chest to loosen the red scarf pushing her suit fastener down with the move revealing dusty pink nipples. A little flesh hanging in the cold breeze might help matters along.
    Traditional undergarments had been long gone after jump skins 16
     
    came into fashion. Nothing could help a girl's lovelife like a built-in push-up bra and a second-skin jump suit clinging to whatever curves the Terran Mother had given her. A tinge of heat tingled against her skin at exposing herself, and a quiver ran down her legs. She grimaced. Her peak was coming. She needed more time. She checked the horizon.
    The retinal scan showed the runner to be a small man, close to her own size and human. That was a relief. Taking down the huge, hulking Nelds were putting a toll on her. " So, no fish scale wrestling tonight. Thank the gods."
    She shifted her hips, a purely feminine gesture, and then gave a small gasp and sank to the ground in what she hoped appeared to be a faint. Rolling as she fell, her breasts nearly tumbled out of the loosened suit. She resisted the urge to hiss from the cold. "Come and get it, boy, before I freeze these twins off and they go to waste."
    He advanced from the north side, evidently sure of himself and his prey, making as much noise as a garbage trawler through the sand and dirt. Stumbling and pushing red gravel in front of him, he half ran.
    Keer's fingers pulled the sting gun, sliding it down into her