Read A Stellar Affair for Free Online

the stress.
    “Move,” the guard holding her said.
    His fingers just about fused themselves to her forearm. She gritted her teeth and did what he said, leaving the Oberon behind. On board the Roimiran vessel, the guard forced her into a flight chair and strapped her down. She knew all she could do now was hold on to her wits and strength in the trials ahead.
    Roimiran base, planet Ryso
    Jack whistled as he crossed the compound. The weather was nice and sunny this morning, and they were heading into late spring here on Ryso. He hoped the heat wouldn’t be too bad this summer.
    When he reached the door to the communications building, he stamped his feet before entering. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dimmer light inside, but he already knew what he’d see. This building was split into three rectangular rooms that opened into each other in a long chain. He walked into the first room on the left—one of two with a door to the outside.
    He smiled as his vision cleared. Sure enough, there was Nash, sitting at his consul with his headphones on, monitoring the long-range communications. As usual, his friend had his shoulders hunched at a funny angle because of a stiff neck. Farther back in the room, Norma paced back and forth as she checked her readings and jotted down notes on her clipboard. Neither had noticed him yet.
    Norma never looked up from what she was writing. “Nash, I really need those logs. You can’t fall behind. We’ve got to get them analyzed while they’re still current news. The information is no good if it’s outdated. Hot off the waves.”
    “Blah, blah, blah,” Nash retorted. “Do you want me to monitor or do you want me to report? I can’t do both.”
    “Stop whining. We need both, so you’ll do both, and you had better do it right.” She finally glanced up. “Jack!”
    Her booming welcome made Nash jump and wrench his neck. “Damn you, Norma.” He flung the headphones off and sat cringing.
    Jack laughed and walked over to him. Ignoring his friend’s objections, he grabbed Nash’s neck and gave it a massage.
    “You carry all your tension between your shoulders,” he told him. “You should practice those relaxation exercises I taught you.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Nash grumbled. “I’d like to see what condition you’d be in if you had Norma nagging at you all day.”
    “I heard that,” Norma said.
    Nash let his head roll forward as Jack’s ministrations began to take effect. Just then, the door opened, and Celia Roberts walked in.
    She stifled a laugh when she saw them. “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something? I could leave you two alone.”
    Nash’s face flushed bright red—not an uncommon occurrence around Celia. “Very funny.”
    Jack arched an eyebrow. “Jealous?”
    Celia rolled her eyes and handed some documents to Norma. As soon as she was gone, Nash dropped his head and let out a self-pitying groan. Jack knew what his friend was thinking, so he gave him a pat on the back.
    “Why don’t you tell Celia how you feel?” he asked for the hundredth time. “You’ve been dying to go out with her for months now.”
    The young man feigned a sob. “What’s the use? She probably doesn’t even give me a second thought. I’m just some guy she sees when she’s delivering the latest downloads.”
    “I’ve already told you she likes you. If you wait too much longer, though, she’s going to lose her patience.”
    Nash raised his head. “I don’t know what to say to her. Can’t you give me some kind of mental zap? You could feed me the right words to say next time she’s here. You’re good with women.”
    Not exactly. Jack did know women’s minds. After all, he was a high-level precept, and he had been raised by a mother and aunt with the same gift. His upbringing had given him a great deal of insight, but that didn’t mean he was good at relationships. It was hard to be himself when he was bombarded by his date’s thoughts and feelings. Reading a woman’s