They were all staring at her now and she scowled. “What? Have none of you ever seen a clone before?”
“Nope,” Rico said, studying her closely. “Shouldn’t you be a man?”
“Apparently not. Dr. Yang made a few changes. I think she was a little bored.”
Dylan was studying her, his head cocked to one side. “Yeah, I can see the resemblance, now I know. I always did get the feeling you were familiar. Jesus. Are you going to start acting like him? Any ambitions to take over the world?”
“I’ll let you know.” She glared. “Are we doing this?”
Rico chuckled. “I like your girlfriend,” he said to Milo. “Okay, move people.”
Destiny hurried over to where the nukes were stacked. The wooden cases were around six feet in length, three feet wide and two feet high. She figured they could carry one between two of them. That would be six journeys.
“Can’t you magic them to the ship?” she asked Milo.
“I’d rather not. Just in case…”
Rico shuddered. “No way. We carry them.”
He picked up one end as though it weighed nothing, and Dylan took the other, and between them they carried it from the room.
Milo looked at her. “Are you okay to do this?”
“Of course.” She hated that she wasn’t as physically strong as they were. But she could manage one end of a nuke. She hoped. Milo picked up his side and she picked up hers. It was heavier than she’d expected. Milo frowned, then whispered a word and the weight vanished.
All she had to do was guide the thing, and they caught up with Rico and Dylan as they were carrying their bomb up the ramp.
Rico glanced back over his shoulder. “You know, maybe we should just get some explosive and blow up the tunnels, bring half the planet down on top of this thing. Might be easier than taking them with us.”
She didn’t want to blow up the alien ship, but she kept her mouth closed. She’d read about nukes. She would do anything necessary to make sure they were never used as a weapon.
“Let’s decide when Destiny has had a look at them,” Milo said as they dumped the box down and headed back out. “If she can disarm them, we go that route. If not…”
As they came down the ramp and stepped onto the sand, Destiny stroked the smooth metal of the ship. “I’ll be sad to leave her behind,” she said. “She’s the first thing I ever thought of as mine.” She sighed. “She needs a name.”
Milo whispered a word and the illegible script on the side of the ship shimmered and reformed. Destiny’s Heart.
She smiled. “Perfect.”
They did four more journeys with no problems. But their luck couldn’t last. As they were setting off on the last and final journey, lights flashed in the tunnel that led to headquarters. She heard the sound of feet on the rock floor.
“Shit,” Milo muttered, pulling his wand from his belt.
In front of them Rico and Dylan came to a halt, and both of them glanced back over their shoulders. Without any warning, something whizzed over her head. It hit the tunnel wall almost directly between her and Rico, exploding with a roar and a flash of light.
For a moment she was blinded. Then Milo shoved her to the floor, and she went down. Rocks were falling and everything was chaos, noise and dust and panic. She couldn’t move. Milo was a dead weight on top of her.
Was he dead?
He couldn’t be dead. She wouldn’t think that.
She wriggled and he rolled off her. Pushing herself onto all fours, she shook herself. Everything was dark. Groping, she found Milo, then trailed her fingers over him until she found his throat and the steady beat of his pulse. The tight band around her chest loosened. He was alive.
But for how much longer? All around her the tunnels creaked as though they were about to crumble. They had to get out of there.
Then lights flashed on. Her gaze flew to Milo where he lay on his back close by. His eyes were closed, but she could see the rise and fall of his chest. Rocks lay all around them. One must have hit him on the head while he’d been protecting her.
She rubbed the dust out of her eyes. Rico and Dylan were nowhere in sight. Hopefully they were on the other side of the rubble and not under it. They had to get out of there. But the tunnel back to the ship was