Scouts Read Online Free PDF Page A

the recycler, as we had been instructed, and stepped out into the main passageway stark naked.
    Shirley met us dressed in her plain white clothes. She handed us small bundles of fabric. “These are your new uniforms. The black color identifies you as cadets; you’ll get whites once you’ve graduated to full Scout status.”
    They turned out to be thin, stretchy shorts and tops that left little to the imagination. The fabric clung closely to Valka’s body, making the shape of her nipples and pussy lips clearly visible.
    “This is it?” I said, pulling them on. “This doesn’t seem like much more than underwear.” My cock was outlined so clearly you could see every ridge and vein. “I might as well be naked.”
    “That’s part of your training, cadet.” She crossed past me, patting my butt on the way. “Go on up to the bridge. Headquarters should be coming into view.”
    Valka and I watched from the bridge, huddled behind the control chair. Scout headquarters turned out to be a station totally unlike my home. Instead of a globe of a hundred meters or so, a ring a kilometer in diameter grew before us. Its main structure, a ribbon of green and blue, gleamed in the light of an orange star. The only word that could even come close to expressing my feelings at that moment was “Wow.”
    Masters made a minor course adjustment. “Ten thousand people, an entirely self-sufficient community. We grow our own food, manufacture our own parts and supplies.”
    “And that’s allowed?”
    “We’re the Scouts,” said Masters. “Those rules don’t apply to us. No mandated trade routes, no manufacturing prohibitions. This way, we never have Merchant ships docking at the headquarters. No Merchants, no Pirates; no Pirates, no Fleet. We’re part of the galaxy, but apart from it. They need us more than we need them, and we like it that way.”
    Growing up, the Scouts had been agents of mystery, ghostly ships that would appear, hang mysteriously in the sky for a day or so transmitting and receiving data, and then vanish again. This revelation served only to enhance their cachet. Separate from the Merchants? Separate from the Fleet?
    “So your kids don’t get recruited by the Fleet or the Merchants.”
    “That’s right.”
    The metal walls of a small docking bay enveloped us, close around the ship. I heard and felt lock-downs clunk into place on the hull. Green indicator lights on the console flipped over to yellow, and Masters stood up and nodded to us. “Cadets, welcome to Scout headquarters.”

Chapter Four

    The belly hatch connected to a short access tube, which in turn came out into the center of a circular gallery. A woman met us there, dressed in a sarong of red and blue. She smiled broadly as we filed out and arranged ourselves.
    Shirley provided introductions. “Cadets, this is Academy Director Anna Kal. We’ll be reporting to her during your academy training.”
    “We? You mean, you’re staying with us?”
    The director nodded. “The Scouts operate on a close apprenticeship system. Since Shirley and Masters are the ones who located and recruited you, they have the first opportunity to be your teachers. If that doesn’t work out for some reason, we’ll find you someone else to learn from until you earn your full status.”
    Valka was bouncing on her toes. “What are we waiting for?”
    Director Kal gave Valka a nod of appreciation. “Indeed. If you’ll follow me, we’ll start with a tour of the academy.”
    The academy consisted of a few docking bays on the outer rim of the station and a couple of levels on the side of the main ring. There were classrooms, a dormitory, a gymnasium, a few simulator tanks, and a large data processing center. Here and there we came across groups of people, just two Scouts and two cadets, or sometimes just one of each.
    The five of us had a meal in the cafeteria. I’m not sure whether it was breakfast or lunch, but I hadn’t eaten since leaving Stakroya and I was starved.