Sunborn Read Online Free

said, “may soon have far-reaching effects, well beyond the nebula. The shock waves we have been experiencing are just the immediate symptom, and they are dangerous enough. But they likely signal far graver dangers.” He paused a moment. “The quake has passed. As soon as we can run some system and structural checks, we’ll get you out of this shelter. We have a visitor you need to meet.”
        “Visitor?” Bandicut asked.
        Jeaves was silent a moment. Then: “Just a few more checks.” Then: “Good.” The door that had sealed them into the shelter slid open with a hiss. Jeaves’s holo winked out, and his voice rolled in from outside the shelter. “You may come out now.”

Chapter 3
    Ed and the Stars
      
        Emerging from underground, they found the surroundings as they had left them, except for a jagged crack in one of the stone walls and a slowly settling cloud of dust. “Looks like the place is still standing,” Bandicut muttered.
    Before anyone could answer, a clattering sound came from around the stone wall to their left. A moment later, a jointed metal robot trotted into view. It looked a little like an upright praying mantis, with a spring in its two-legged gait. “Napoleon!” Bandicut shouted in delight. “You’re all right! Where’s Copernicus?” Even as he spoke, Copernicus rolled up behind Napoleon. Copernicus was shaped like a short barrel on its side, propelling itself on four wheels that looked like fat, horizontal ice cream cones. The tapping sound of his greeting lifted Bandicut’s heart. The two robots had traveled with him since leaving Triton, back in the solar system. They were now his oldest friends.
        “H’lo, Cap’n,” answered Napoleon. “We left the upgrade center to check on you. Are you  all right?”
        “We’re fine.”
        “Guess who we saw in the maintenance section,” Napoleon continued. “The shadow-people!”
        “I heard,” Bandicut said. “Listen, did you two get any useful readings on that quake?”
        Copernicus tapped. “Cap’n, it was very severe. If we experience any more of them, I would be concerned for—”
        The robot was interrupted by a sound like a soft rumble of timpani. “Is that another quake?” Li-Jared squawked, looking around worriedly.
        “No,” Jeaves said. “That is our visitor.”
        Antares pointed. “Look.”
        Something was creeping toward them over the desert floor. It looked like an enormous fried egg, sunny-side-up. Its motion was slow but not quite continuous. When Bandicut blinked, it seemed to surge forward with a twinkle. It was about a meter across—purple, with an orange yolk. “What the hell is it?” Bandicut asked. “Is it  making that rumbling noise?”
        “I believe so,” said Ik, approaching it cautiously. “Do you suppose it’s talking?”
        There was another rumble. “Bzzzz-rawl-l-lp...”
        The shape began to creep partway up the wall of a stone outcropping. “Brrr-huup-p...”  A breathier sound came this time, and with it the thing’s top surface vibrated.
        “Jeaves?” Bandicut asked quietly. “Is this thing alive?”
        “Yes,” Antares said. “It is.”
        Bandicut gave her a startled glance. “You sense it?”
        “Yes. It is aware of us.”
        The quarx was stirring in Bandicut’s mind.
    /// I think it might be aware of me, actually. ///
        Antares had the same thought, apparently. She pointed as the being moved with a twinkling shuffle toward Bandicut. “I believe, uhhll, that it wants to make contact with you, Bandie John Bandicut.”
        Bandicut swallowed. “Me?” He turned. “Napoleon? Copernicus? You getting any readings from this thing?”
        “Trying, Cap’n.” Tap tap.  “It is difficult to view with sensors, for some reason.”
        “Haa-loooo-p.”  That was from the fried egg.
        “You think it’s really trying to