Lana's Comet (Outer Settlement Agency) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and everybody knows it. Whatever you think you did is probably nothing. You don’t get demoted for wearing mismatched socks.”
    “Funny.” But while it was slightly more than that, Vin had a fair point. One night of heavy breathing wasn’t worth his career. These things happened. As long as he didn’t make it habit, he might get out of this unscathed and go on with the rest of his life.
    Without her.
    He tried to ignore that small aspect of it. He liked her all right and sincerely meant what he’d said about meeting her after training. Or had. No chance of that now, though. It was all for the best anyway. He’d sworn an oath to OSA not to let anything stand in the way of performing his duties. He slipped up once – he wouldn’t let it happen again.

Chapter Five
    E very day presented her with more of the same. He’d glare. She’d glare right back. Inevitably, she’d wind up doing something to have her, or the crew at large, running laps. She gave up trying to reason with him by the end of a couple of weeks, but somehow still managed to piss him off. Whoever that angel was she’d met earlier died once he got in a uniform. The demon she knew now had her slathering analgesic salve over her weeping muscles.
    “He really hates you,” Michi said from her bunk. The blue haze of her omnitablet projected dataspecs of smaller shuttles against the white ceiling. As always, the chick was well into her evening studies. She’d changed almost as much as Cyprus. The annoying girl she’d met on Day One had been replaced by a quiet, almost sullen, creature with her nose in her omnitablet or off staring at the wall.
    “No kidding. You seriously don’t remember him from that night?”
    “I don’t think you do either. There’s no way that man was the same one slobbering all over you. It was too dark to tell. You have to be wrong. How much did you drink that night?”
    “Too much.” Only, she wasn’t that drunk and he’d more than proven who he was. Yet, she hadn’t shared that with Michi. It was better to let her think she’d been wrong, than to have any sorts of rumors weaving their way through an already pissed off crew.
    She’d never seen a man more centrally focused on success. That was even more reason to keep her trap shut. He’d blow up the whole of Earth if it meant being the perfect soldier. Maybe she could use that to her advantage...
    “I’m getting tired of running, Lana.”
    “Huh?”
    “I’m tired of running.”
    “I know and I’m sorry.”
    “Good. You should be. You’ve got to let things go. He’s going to cut you. That’s the story going around anyway. Most of us think the only reason he’s keeping you is to maintain control over us. He knows you’ll do something stupid—”
    “Stupid?”
    Michi breezed past her interjection and pulled up the next set of specs. “Yes, stupid and we’ll be forced to pay for it. It builds cohesion as we’re totally united in our hatred of you. That’s a ‘general we,’ not me in particular.”
    “Thanks.”
    “No offense. Meanwhile, you are the example of what not to do, thus gently persuading us to stay in line. Brilliant, when you think about it.”
    “Are you finished? What’s wrong with sticking up for folks? He has no right—”
    “He does. You’re upset because he’s not the man you want him to be. You need to get it through your head that you don’t have the right to be pissed. He’s an ass, get over it.”
    Only, he wasn’t. At least not always. But that didn’t make Michi less right. “You can’t talk to people the way he does.”
    “He can talk any way he likes. Look, if you really want to piss him off, just do what you’re supposed to do in the first place. Pass quals, move on to the next step and you’ll never have to see him again.”
    *****
    I t was the second week in a row he’d woken up hard and thinking of her. The woman had no sense of respect and yet the fire of her excited his basest nature.
    Too loud.
    Too