Free The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) by Egan Yip

grinned at Darek's reaction. “You are at that age. It's not unusual. You don't need to keep it a secret from me.”
    “I don't have time for that,” Darek snapped. “Not to mention, it's not like we can go to the universe whenever we want. It's strictly for business. There's no point in having a girlfriend you can't even see.”
    Kyrie grinned mischievously. “Who said anything about a normal relationship? There are female Judges...”
    Darek smacked himself on the forehead. “Yeah, like three . The one in the Conclave was old enough to be my grandmother. And the other one is at least twice my age! The only other girl is Elize.”
    Still grinning like an idiot, Kyrie nudged Darek. “And? Anything going on there?”
    Darek groaned, “Elize is.... She's...”
    “Well?”
    He hesitated to finish. “Elize is...more of a...”
    “More of a what?” Kyrie paused and gasped. “Don't tell me she...doesn't like guys?”
    “What? No!” Darek said angrily. “It's not like that at all.”
    “Hmm? Then what?”
    Darek sighed. “Elize is like a sister to me.”
    “Oh...” Kyrie sounded shocked. “I see.... She's like a sister...”
    And she said nothing more during their meal.
    Once they finished eating, they stopped outside for a moment to look at the map of the floor.
    Kyrie said, “We still have to get you guys some boards. You could rent some at the track, but those can’t compare to the boards they have at the Hover Stop .”
    They made a quick trip to the Hover Stop to pick up three boards. Slade chose the DynoTrek, a simple long black slab that housed an extremely powerful engine. Darek, after careful consideration, settled on the Inferno; it was a short red board with flames painted on.
    When they were satisfied with their choices, Kyrie guided them to a narrow tunnel. It was quiet until herds of shoppers stampeded all at once into the tunnel. During this time, while they elbowed and kneed their way through, Kyrie shouted over the ruckus, explaining that hover board races were the only major sporting events on Grehelm. There wasn’t much of anything else to do. It was difficult and costly to build special arenas for other sports, and so hover board racing became the most popular.
    The rush of the crowd carried them along the winding passageways until they finally reached the main hall of the racing complex. The main hall was formed from a round glass, very much similar in design to the residences on the tree, although the hall was much larger and longer, making the bubble-shaped covering seem stretched. The glass covering for the hall was transparent, allowing everyone inside to get a glimpse of the starting point of the racecourse.
    Filled with anticipation, Darek ran to the glass, pressed his face against it and gawked at the course, watching as several contestants were already starting their preliminaries. There was something exciting about this race that got his heart pumping.
    He had never entered any competitions in his life. Darek had always been training to become a Judge. The only competitions he had were the rivalries between himself, Slade and Rex when they played their games. While it was fun competing in their own little circle, he had always wondered what it would be like to compete against people he didn’t know. The galaxy was vast. There were sure to be prodigies in everything. There were also people who trained day and night for one moment of glory. Here he was, about to enter a competition, but he knew the competition would be fierce.
    As he continued to watch the preliminaries, his initial excitement was snuffed out. He was not here to have fun. He was here to win. If they could not get that ITD, they’d be stuck here for a few weeks. There was no telling what kind of trouble the other Judges were facing at this very moment. They needed to regroup as soon as possible.
    But watching these trained athletes only served to crush his optimism. These riders were good—unbelievably good.