Starbounders Read Online Free Page A

deployed at a moment’s notice.”
    â€œWait, did you say the spaceships were underground?” asked Zachary.
    â€œThe spacecraft don’t launch like traditional rockets into the sky,” Kwan answered. “Instead, they slip through a fold in space that sends them to the dark side of Jupiter. That way they go undetected by Earth’s telescopes. Hubble, Magellan, Gemini—none of them have any idea we exist. So government officials, scientists, and everyday people don’t either.”
    Zachary had spent his life surrounded by those everyday people. His neighbors, his friends. Even his science teacher. All living in their small town of Kingston, never realizing that space travel to other galaxies was not only possible but happening all the time. And soon it would be Zachary’s turn to make that trip.
    â€œCome on,” Kwan said. “We should catch up with the others.”
    Before Zachary took off, his eyes were drawn back to the holographic map of the Ulam. There on level three he spotted the Frederick Night Dimensional Strategy Center. He’d heard his family speak with pride about the center, but seeing his great-great-grandfather’s name on the map just added to the pressure he already felt to excel at Indigo 8.
    Zachary hurried ahead, imagining that one day part of the Ulam might bear his name, too. He caught up with Kwan, and found the rest of the group in a long hallway with massive glass terrariums built into the walls. Each recreated a different alien ecosystem and had vegetation and life-forms that were clearly not native to Earth. Zachary walked up beside Ryic, who had stopped to stare at a swamp of red plants and vines. Swimming circles in the murky puddle of water was a trio of creatures that resembled dreadlocked orange fish.
    â€œReminds me of my first pet,” Ryic said.
    â€œI had goldfish, too,” Zachary said.
    Just then, one of the three creatures exploded, sending pea-sized eggs all over the terrarium.
    â€œOf course, none of my goldfish ever did that,” Zachary said.
    â€œMine did,” Ryic said. “There’ll be lots more soon.”
    Ahead of them, at another terrarium, an overexcited trainee was slapping his palm to get the attention of whatever was inside. Zachary walked over to see a sluglike organism hidden among a patch of frost-encrusted flowers. The silvery-gray slug did an excellent job blending in with the icicle-covered thorny shrubs that filled the wintery habitat.
    â€œHey, hands off the glass,” Derek said. “You like it when people shake your bed when you’re trying to sleep?”
    He had barely gotten the words out before the slug flung itself against the window at the boy’s hand. The trainee jumped back as the creature bared a row of gnashing teeth and tried in vain to eat its way through the glass.
    â€œGive that window a kiss,” Derek said. “It just saved your right hand from a vreek.”
    The boy tucked his fingers into his pockets and shuffled away.
    They kept moving until they reached a translucent tunnel that connected the Ulam to the ten-story-tall zero-gravity cube. The group entered a small holding room where around fifteen Lightwing girls were already waiting. Zachary’s attention was drawn to two trainers who were gliding downward inside the cube, somersaulting through a series of rings and platforms that floated in midair.
    The two trainers’ boots landed squarely on the floor, and Zachary got a good look at them. The young man had inch-long black hair and a beard of equal length. He wore a skintight silver bodysuit and what looked like moon boots with some kind of rough Velcro tread on the bottom. The young woman was dressed in a matching outfit.
    The male trainer pressed his thumb against a panel, and a glass door slid open, allowing him to pass through an antechamber before entering the holding room.
    â€œI’m Loren.” He gave an exaggerated bow.