Free Adrift (The Sirilians Book 1) by Nicole Krizek

Karincin with a small child held over her shoulder. Aevum glanced in his direction, but he didn’t seem perturbed that the little girl was waving her team’s banner only inches from his face. The little girl smiled at him, and Aevum could see the corner of his mouth quirk up.
    She barely felt the lift begin its ascent. It soon tipped sideways to follow the spherical shape of the arena, artificial gravity keeping the occupants’ feet firmly on the floor. It stopped at their assigned seating level, and everyone disembarked.
    Aevum checked her wristunit for the directions to their seat, but the area outside of the lift was congested with people socializing before the match. She picked her way through the crowd, and felt a hand on her lower back. She knew it belonged to Karincin, who was letting her know that he was following on her heels. His palm was warm. A shiver ran up her spine.
    It took several minutes before she was able to find their assigned seats among the energetic throng. Once they were settled, a group of rowdy supporters took seats behind them, and Aevum glanced at Karincin to see his reaction. He looked mildly uncomfortable with the shows of enthusiasm from the other people, but at least he wasn’t leaving. Aevum figured that was a good sign.
    “Have you ever been to one of these games?” she asked loudly, to be heard over the noise.
    “No. Have you?” He leaned closer to her so that she could hear his reply. She mirrored his movement.
    “I used to come all the time with my father to watch my cousin play. He played for the Pulsars, but retired a few years ago. I haven’t been back since. I think his team is playing tonight, though.”
    “Did you enjoy the matches?”
    Aevum was surprised by the question; for the first time he wasn’t asking about anything factual. “Yes I did. I always wished that I could float in zero gravity. It would be like flying.”
    A countdown to the beginning of the game began, and people flooded in to take their seats. Aevum looked around the arena in amazement; no matter how often she came to these games, she was always impressed by its design.
    The artificial gravity that held everyone to the outer edge of the arena meant that if she looked straight up she saw the tops of people’s heads. To her left and right it looked as if people were hanging in their chairs sideways—it was very disorientating if she looked for too long.
    “Let’s order some food,” she suggested as a distraction. With a few taps of her wristunit, she brought up a virtual menu that she and Karo could order from. It had a myriad of options: various flavors of water, intoxicating beverages, finger foods, and even a menu for finer foods that people in the VIP section were known to order. She avoided those options, and brought up a selection of fan-favorites.
    “What looks good?” she asked.
    Karincin scrolled through the selections with his brow furrowed. Aevum watched him, intrigued by his studious perusal. It was almost like he’d never eaten fatty, carb-rich foods before.
    “What would you recommend?” he finally asked her.
    “My father and I would usually get a box of sweet tannis seeds, and pentas.”
    “Then let’s order those.”
    She finished ordering just in time for the announcement introducing the teams. She’d been right: the Pulsars in their white and black striped uniforms were playing against the Red Giants, who wore (boringly predictable) red uniforms.
    The athletes—equally men and women—arrived at the arena and walked up a ramp to enter the inner gaming-sphere. The zero gravity hadn’t been initiated yet so all players began with their feet solidly against the outer surface. They walked along the circular shape until each team stood on opposite sides, the tops of their heads pointed at one another.
    Once they were in position, the gravity was partially disengaged. They were still able to walk, run, or jump off of the outer shell of the sphere, but the center had become