Free Adrift (The Sirilians Book 1) by Nicole Krizek Page A

completely gravity-neutral.
    Each player wore a form-fitting uniform that was interwoven with sensors, flexible footwear, and small propulsion drives attached to gloves that were used to manipulate the ball and give their bodies momentum while playing. The force released from the gloves could be dialed up or down at the player’s will.
    The object of the game was to avoid getting touched by the ball—which would earn the other team a point—while using the propulsion drives to hit the other players with the ball. If you touched it at any time, the other team scored a point. The team with the most points by the end of the time was the winner.
    Teammates grasped each other’s arms and waited for the signal. Aevum held her breath. She loved this game!
    Suddenly, a horn sounded and a ball was released into the sphere.
    The game was on!
    Aevum stood and cheered loudly, her voice joining the growing roar. Karincin stood next to her, and clapped his hands along with the crowd.
    The players moved quickly to take possession of the ball, but it was a member of the Pulsars that leapt the quickest and used her handheld drive to slam the ball into a red-clad chest.
    Pulsars: 1, Red Giants: 0.
    “Which team are we rooting for?” Karincin asked loudly over the noise.
    “The Pulsars of course! They’re wearing the striped uniforms,” Aevum shouted back.
    The Red Giants quickly pulled themselves back together, and sent their players running along the outside surface of the sphere, to cover as much ground as they could. It paid off. One of them came close to the ball and used their momentum to shoot it into the back of an opposing player.
    The match continued, and immediately it looked like it was going to be a close game. Good, Aevum thought. She hated when one team beat the other too badly—how boring!
    The Pulsars now had the ball in their possession. One player cradled it in his palms, careful to keep it balanced with his propulsion gloves and not touch its surface, while the rest of the team encircled him. They held onto each other’s arms and legs, and since it was against the rules to touch the opposing team, the Red Giants could only wait and see what was going to happen. There was nowhere to hide in the gaming-sphere.
    Suddenly, the player in the middle yelled something—some sort of coded instruction—and two of his teammates flung themselves away from the others creating a wide hole for him to shoot the ball through.
    The ball grazed one of the Red Giant’s calves, and a bell tolled signaling another point. The play wasn’t finished. The two teammates that had pushed themselves away landed against the gaming-sphere and pushed towards the ball again, anticipating where it was going to be thrown. Before the Reds had any chance of following its movement, the Pulsars were able to catch its rebound and lob it at their team-mates. The man in the center of their formation caught it, a look of smug satisfaction on his face.
    Aevum jumped to her feet to cheer, and saw Karincin do the same on her left. She looked at him in surprise as he clapped for the Pulsars. She cheered enthusiastically, and nearly knocked into an arena employee who had just arrived with their food order.
    “Oh! Please excuse me!” she apologized.
    “That’s just fine. Happens all the time,” he replied nonchalantly.
    Aevum took the various items—they were served in sealed packages to minimize spilling—and handed some of them to Karincin. She saw him sniff at one of the food choices and smothered a laugh. She was really pushing his comfort level. But to his credit he took a drink of the intoxicating beverage she had chosen, and raised his eyes to hers in surprise.
    “This is quite good!”
    She couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ve never had it?”
    “No. My parents wouldn’t allow it in our home, claiming that it was too unrefined. But I find this very satisfying. What’s it made from?”
    “That’s a basic one made from grains, but there