Read Online The Face of Earth by Kirsty Winkler - Free Book Online Page A

smaller behind him. Those Earthlings were crazy, and he was happy to leave them behind. He headed to the far side of the moon, where he had left his starship. Parked next to his ship was a Stelairian Cruiser.
    Agnar grinned wickedly, flattered that Megg seemed unable to stay away from him. Entering a docking bay, he set the spaceship down and disembarked. Jawol, his pilot, was there waiting for him.
    “So, did you get the goods?” Jawol asked.
    “Of course,” Agnar replied. “Those Earthlings never even suspected I wasn’t one of them.” He shook the case of jewels at Jawol and grinned. “I see we have company,” Agnar continued.
    Jawol laughed. “What did you do to the woman? She insisted on waiting for you.” Jawol clapped Agnar on the back as Agnar joined in the laughter.
    “I honestly don’t know. But you should be grateful to her. She’s the one who provided the youth elixir that increased our life spans.”
    “She sounds like a good friend to keep, then.”
    “Yes. Let’s get to the bridge. She’ll have seen me arrive, and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
    The two men hurried to the bridge. Once there, Agnar connected with Megg’s ship. Her lovely features filled the screen. “Megg, how nice to see you. I had thought you were too busy to make time for someone as insignificant as me.”
    Megg smiled seductively. “Things have changed, Agnar.” She held up an ornate bottle by the neck, swinging it back and forth in front of her. “For one, my assistant has betrayed me.”
    Agnar eyed the bottle greedily before turning his charm back on Megg. “I’m glad to see you came out on top. The universe would seem empty without you.”
    “I think so, too.” Megg lowered her lashes at Agnar. “I’m in the mood to celebrate. Is your business with my experimental species concluded?”
    Agnar glanced at the case he had set on a console before calling Megg. “It is,” he replied, looking back into her dark eyes. “Is yours?”
    Megg shrugged. “Not entirely, but it can wait. I would enjoy a short vacation on Bellos,” she hinted.
    Agnar nearly laughed out loud, but managed to check his reaction before Megg saw it. The woman’s life span was so long that ‘short’ was a relative term. The last time she visited him for a short time, he lost fifty years. He supposed that was why she gave him the youth elixir. It was the only way for an individual of a shorter-lived species to keep up with her. He wondered why she didn’t stick with Stelairian men. Then life span wouldn’t be an issue. Still, who was he to reject a longer life span? He would have been dead centuries ago if he hadn’t met Megg. “I’d love to spend time with you there. Same hotel?”
    Megg nodded. “Race you there?” she asked mischievously.
    Agnar grinned toothily. An intergalactic race with a Stelairian Cruiser would give him a chance to test the limits of the new distortion drive he had recently installed. He had stolen it from a Bitowan Cruiser, to the chagrin of its captain, who hadn’t noticed it was missing until he tried to engage it outside of the Vontyr Galaxy to chase Agnar’s ship. The loss of such an important item must have gotten the fellow in big trouble with his emperor. Agnar wondered if the Bitowans were tired of him making fools of them yet.
    “You’re on,” he said to Megg.
    She giggled and signed off, and only then did Agnar realize that she had lifted off while they were speaking, and had a good head start. “Jawol, go!” he said.
    Jawol shook his head and laughed. “We aren’t going to beat her, even with our new distortion drive. She doesn’t need to sleep; we do, and that’s a nine month trip you’re talking about.”
    “I know that. I just want to give her the feel of a race until we get to intergalactic space. I think one of the things she likes about me is the bad boy image, and I don’t want to disappoint her. Especially with that bottle of youth elixir on the line,” he added