Hybrid Saga 01 - Hybrid Read Online Free

few hours earlier, the refugee freighter they had bought passage onto breaking down just short of its intended destination, Trycon City, on the large Turausian moon, Solta. They had been forced to land here for repairs. Shortly after touching down, the pilot announced that the damage was more severe than originally suspected and that repairs would not be possible. Suddenly stranded, their situation had gone from hopeful to dire.
    Ethan had never been to a city like Trycon before. According to Elora, they were going to make a home there. A real home. Looking around at his current surroundings, he couldn’t imagine what that would be like. Having experienced little else in his life, he had grown accustomed to the dingy, unwelcoming holes of the universe. He wasn’t even sure how he would take to something better.
    With no transport off world, Elora’s plan was to barter their way onto another vessel, but with no credits left to bargain with, that was going to be a tall order here. These kinds of outpost’s didn’t usually attract the most charitable of folks. Of course, there were always ways around that. He and his sister had been to more places like this than he could count, thus, he had developed a certain working knowledge of life on the move, learning from early on that, being a refugee, you had to take what you could get.
    As they wove through another crowd, Ethan bumped into a man heading in the opposite direction.
    “Oh, sorry,” he apologized, receiving little more than an annoyed grunt from the man as he continued on his way. Smirking to himself, Ethan held his newly acquired wallet up for inspection, exploring its contents as he continued walking. He glanced up to find Elora looking back at him again.
    “Where did you get that?” she inquired, suspiciously, glancing down at the wallet.
    “I found it,” Ethan responded, his tone defensive, but from his sister’s reaction, not very convincing.
    Elora frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to stop doing that? One of these times you’re going to get us both in a lot of trouble.”
    Ethan braced himself for yet another of his sister’s many scoldings, but they were interrupted by the booming voice of an old man who was standing up over the crowds, shouting out to all the passersby.
    Waving his hands vehemently, the old preacher called out to anyone who would listen. “Repent, for darkness is falling upon us! The end is coming!”
    Ethan stared at the man, curiously. He had also seen more than enough of these sorts of odd jobs. Most out of the way outposts, remote colonies or just the average city sprawl tended to have their share of mental unstables.
    As if detecting his eyes on him, the preacher’s gaze suddenly turned to Ethan. “Young one,” he began, his voice growing eerily calm. “Do you see it? The end approaches. They are coming for us!”
    Elora grabbed Ethan by the arm, pulling him in her direction. “Don’t listen to him, Ethan.”
    Ethan continued looking back at the preacher while walking forward, the old man continuing to stare at him awhile before finally looking back to the crowds.
    “The end is coming!” he cried again. “The wrath of the Dark Ones is upon us! Repent!”
    Ethan’s attention remained focused on the old man as his sister yanked him through another tightly packed group of refugees. In the midst of the chaotic traffic he felt her grip on his arm falter and as he turned to catch back up to her he bumped hard into some other passerby.
    “Sorry,” he apologized, quickly. His immediate instinct, as it had developed, had him reaching into the stranger’s dark cloak as he tried to squeeze by. Instead of a wallet or anything else worth taking, he was suddenly surprised to feel the grip of the man’s hand on his own, removing it from his cloak. Jumping, Ethan looked up nervously at the darkly clad stranger, who turned to stare back down at him, his face partially shrouded by his hood.
    “There’s nothing in there for you,”