Astra by Naomi Foyle Read Free Book Online Page A

drop. As the three chicks jabbed and clawed at the worm, she nudged Astra. ‘They’re Coded to be assertive. But if you give them another one, they won’t have to fight.’
    This was the moment. Astra peeked into the bucket. Waiting in their spirals, the worms looked like tiny pink ziggurats, the ancient desert temples the school hallway wallscreen sometimes showed. Hokma would say the worm-temples were there to help her worship Gaia. And if Astra didn’t pick one up to feed the Owleons, Hokma might say she could never come back to Wise House. But she didn’t want to touch their lifeless bodies with her bare hands.
    ‘Can I wear a pair of gloves?’ she whispered.
    Hokma laughed. ‘Okay – but you’ll have to wash them afterwards. I’m not wasting expensive lab gloves on a squeamish girl.’
    Hokma went back into the lab. Astra sat waiting, her stomach squeezing. Hokma thought she was being silly, but she
was
going to feed the Owleons. She
was
. Then Hokma would see she was a good Wise House worker. She just needed some practise, that was all.
    The biolatex gloves Hokma returned with were way too big for Astra and the tips of the fingers flopped into the bucket. She chose a worm, hoping it wasn’t the one that had looked up at her. As she pressed her fingers around it she flinched, half expecting a current of pain to jolt up her arm. But there was nothing: the worm felt squidgy through the eco-latex, no different from a living one.
    She picked it up and quickly dropped it in the box in front of Silver. The little Owleon pounced and sucked up its meal with three gulpy hops.
    Astra laughed. ‘He likes it!’
    ‘He certainly does. Worms are their natural food, Astra, so we’re working in harmony with Gaia when we feed them.’
    Hokma fed Copper, dangling the worm so it could slide down the chick’s throat, and Astra tried that next with Amber. It was like the Tablette films she’d seen at school: steppe farmers feeding baby lambs with a bottle. Soon she was eagerly picking up worms and cheering as the Owleons gobbled them down. Then the bucket was empty and the chicks were waddling around, bumping into each other and the sides of the box.
    She sat back on her heels, her heart shining in her chest.
    Hokma scooped up Silver. ‘Do you want to hold him?’
    Oh!
‘Yes, please!’ Astra pulled off her gloves and cupped her hands and Silver, light as a dandelion seed head, explored her palms. The chick’s long claws gently clutched at her fingers as if trying to prise them up into the air.
    Her heart began to evaporate. ‘I feel like I can fly now,’ she whispered.
    ‘I know. I called my own Owleon Helium because of that feeling.’
    ‘Can I see him too?’
    ‘Not today. He’s on his way back from Atourne.’
    ‘Is he on a secret IMBOD mission?’
    Hokma laughed. ‘If he was and I told you, he wouldn’t be any more.’
    Astra flushed. It wasn’t a stupid question. Owleons were sneakernets, everyone knew that. They carried memory sticks and encryption keys on their leg clips, classified material that was too sensitive to trust to the internet. That’s why they were half-pigeon Coded – so they could be trained to fly between home bases – and half-owl Coded, so they wouldlive a long time and fly silently at night, when it would be harder for criminals to see them. In the cities, some rich people used them for love letters and junk like that, but the Or Owleons were all professional IMBOD Code couriers.
    ‘I didn’t mean
secret
,’ she corrected herself as Silver nearly toppled over in her hands. ‘I meant
important
.’
    ‘I know what you meant, but no, he’s just on a regular update flight.’ Hokma stood up. ‘You can see Helium when he gets back, but right now I have to talk to you about something very important.’
    ‘About my IMBOD Service?’ Astra sprang to attention. This mission wasn’t over yet.
    ‘Yes, partly. Let’s go outside. You might need to ask Gaia for Her wisdom.’
    That was