Starbounders Read Online Free

but this was all that would fit with my stuff.”
    Ryic reached back down, and this time, he pulled out a bag of what looked like green, sugarcoated candies.
    Just as Ryic was about to take one of the treats, a black hole materialized inches away from the bag. A crimson-colored warp glove emerged from the hole and stole the bag. Zachary and Ryic looked down from their sleeping pods to see Apollo pulling Ryic’s bag of candies out from another hole on the other side of the SQ. A millisecond later the black rupture in space disappeared.
    â€œHope you don’t mind sharing,” Apollo said with a cocky grin. Some of his bunkmates laughed as Apollo tossed a handful of the candies into his mouth.
    â€œInteresting,” Ryic said. “Most humans don’t have a taste for Flobian roach brain.”
    Apollo immediately spit out the alien snack, wiping the green from his tongue. Suddenly, the laughter in the sleeping quarters turned on him.
    â€œAttention all Lightwings,” the soothing sidewalk voice said, only this time it came from the walls. “Report to the Ulam for your gravity test.”
    â€œAll right, everyone, you heard Cerebella,” Kwan said. “She doesn’t ask twice.”
    Zachary and Ryic climbed down from their pods and joined the rest of their bunkmates as everybody headed for the door. When Zachary stepped over the threshold, he again felt the electric tingle.
    â€œKeeps away mosquitoes,” Derek said as he passed by.
    It might have been a fine deterrent for bugs, Zachary thought, but it hardly seemed worth the goose bumps every time he walked in or out of the SQ.
    Outside, the black sidewalk beneath Zachary’s feet lit up with bright silver arrows pointing to the Ulam. Upon reaching the building by the parking lot, Zachary and the others walked up the semicircle of steps that led around the reflecting pool and mercury-filled fountain. They entered a large foyer walled in by smoked glass; the room’s dark tint made Zachary feel like he was wearing sunglasses.
    On one of the walls were hi-res satellite projections of the other Indigo bases from around the galaxy. There were dozens of them, some in daylight, others in darkness. Several were inhabited by human-looking Starbounders-in-training, but the majority appeared to be populated by creatures most definitely not of Earth.
    When Zachary glanced up to the ceiling, he noticed that one of the glass panels that made up the top of the foyer displayed what looked like a traditional newscast, except that the anchor was not human but some kind of robot. The sound wasn’t on, but images flashed by of alien farmers coping with floods, the launching of large space pods from bodies of water, and trident-shaped fighter ships with indigo stripes flying in formation.
    On the far wall was a row of pedestals, each with a sculpture of a planet resting atop it. A plaque reading OUTERVERSE MEMORIAL hung above them. Inscribed on the pillars were brief histories of the planets and the date and circumstance of each one’s destruction.
    â€œWe can’t save them all,” said Derek regretfully as he walked past.
    Right at the center of the space was a three-dimensional holographic map of the entire building. Zachary stopped before it and, upon closer inspection, he could see just how big the Ulam was: this glass foyer was only the tip of the iceberg; most of the building’s rooms and tunnels were below ground and not visible.
    â€œI had no idea Indigo 8 was so big,” Zachary said to Kwan, who had come up beside him. Derek and the rest of the Lightwings were already heading out of the foyer.
    â€œTraining future Starbounders is only a small part of what we do here,” Kwan replied. “It’s also a central defense base for the IPDL, so there’s a strategic command center; a detention facility for off-planet criminals; and, fifty stories below us, a fleet of pitchforks and battle-axes ready to be