Read Galileo (Battle of the Species) for Free Online Page A

sunglasses on, while a black film cover glided across Renn's eyes, shielding them from the bright light.
    They drove through the low countryside, passing raspberry fields and apple orchards, steadily making their way towards a harbor full of sailboats. They boarded their hover-boat and sailed into the cobalt blue ocean, until they came to the ocean ball full of fish. The top half of the massive ball was covered in solar panels, powering the system that would feed the fish fresh food and keep out hungry predators, allowing the fish to swim unharmed inside the ball.
    Renn and his father dove into the ocean ball with nets and loaded as many fish as they could carry into the boat. As each net was loaded, Max ran around, keeping the birds at bay as best he could. The fish were then packed into soft bags made of Prodlinhide that kept them cold. Prodlinhide was the hide of a cold-blooded species, whose husk never warmed, regardless of the temperature around it. The outside was dark gray like sharkskin, the inside a semi-transparent white gel.
    Once they were done, Renn and Adam sat on the boat with their feet dangling in the dark blue water. They lifted their faces, enjoying the sun, and continued the same conversation they had had for years.
    “What’s so bad about going to high school on Earth?” Adam asked.
    “Because if you go to school on Earth, the focus is agricultural studies and I don’t want to be a farmer. If you go to school on Temin, the focus is business, and I don’t want to work for some lousy corporation for the rest of my life. But if you go to a high school in space, their focus is intergalactic studies: planets, species, alien languages…” Renn said, his frustration mounting, as it did every time they had this conversation.
    “Have you had a dream about being on a ship?” Adam asked.
    “Well…no, but…”
    “Then maybe it doesn’t happen,” Adam said.
    “No! That’s not true, Dad!” Renn replied talking as fast as he could. “Cause the prophecies are always about something bad that’s about to happen, so if I don’t dream about it, then maybe I do go on a ship, but it’s a good experience. I wouldn’t dream about it then. Ha! Think about that!”
    “Renn, it’s too dangerous and you’re too young. I don’t know why the Federation even allows kids in space,” Adam said. “You can finish high school on Earth and then join the space academy when you’re eighteen. I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s just five more years, and then you’re old enough to do whatever you want.”
    “High schools in space start at age fourteen though!  So I can do one year of high school on Earth and then finish in space. Seriously, Dad, I’d be on a space station. What could possibly happen?” Renn asked.
    Adam tilted his head and gave his son a long look. Renn didn’t need to hear his thoughts to hear, “You’ve got to be kidding,” and laughed. It wasn’t that Renn was naïve; he was just taking the opportunity to prod his dad into talking. Adam had spent the majority of his life in space and moved back to Earth when Renn was born, in an attempt to keep him safe. “Safe.” That was his dad’s favorite word. He would, however, sometimes catch his dad staring at the stars for hours on end, when he thought Renn had gone to bed. Reminiscing about the past. Reminiscing about her .
    They drove into town to drop off the fish at the local market and then buy Renn a pair of new shoes. Commercialism was just starting to come back and the town had splatterings of hologram advertisements and animated commercials on the sides of old brick buildings. As long as they didn’t harm the planet, which holograms didn’t, they were allowed in, under Earth’s new laws.
    They drove past a hologram commercial of a woman pitching the Autobotica Corporation, a company that made realistic androids. The woman’s voice resonated through the streets while Renn stuck his head out the window, relishing the feel