to be a burden. She needed to appear strong and capable. The last thing she wanted was to give him any excuse to leave her behind or send her back, thinking she was weak and needed protection.
She stood up straight and gave him a bright smile. “I’m good.” And of course she was. There was light this time, Milo had kept the flashlight on, and they were walking, not running in the dark.
Dylan had already disappeared from sight and Milo gave her a last look then followed.
It was strange. She had the feeling that out of the two of them, Dylan was the “nicer” person. There was something not so “nice” about Milo, even though she enjoyed his company, but she couldn’t work out what it was. A darkness behind his eyes. A coldness. At the same time, she sensed that it was only because of Milo that she was still with them. If it was up to Dylan, then she guessed she’d have been back in her cell or abandoned or worse. But for some reason, Milo was okay with her coming along. She wouldn’t go so far as to say he actually wanted her there, but he wasn’t totally averse to the idea, either. The thought widened her smile and put a skip in her step as she followed him.
She liked watching him move. She’d never seen an animal up close, not even a mouse, but he reminded her of what she would have imagined a big wild cat—a lion or maybe a tiger—would have moved like, all smooth, easy grace and coiled energy. Ready to pounce. A shiver ran through her. She really was feeling a little strange.
Dr. Yang had told her there were animal fetuses in cryo on board the Trakis Four. They would be woken up and brought to full-term growth if the conditions were right. One day, there might be lions roaming the forests. Or wolves. She’d love to see a real, live wolf. Maybe there was something similar already in the forests. Silas had told her that they were going to set up teams to explore the planet, make an inventory of any indigenous creatures. She would love to be part of that.
Milo glanced over his shoulder and slowed down so she could catch up. The tunnel was wide enough to walk side by side now. “You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “I was just wondering if there were any wolves in the forest.”
He raised a brow and glanced up ahead, toward Dylan. He’d stopped at a point where the tunnel branched out and was clearly waiting for them. “I hope not,” Milo said, lowering his voice. “Dylan is afraid of wolves.”
“He is?” She couldn’t imagine Dylan being afraid of anything.
“He got bitten by one back on Earth, now he’s terrified of the things.”
“Poor Dylan.”
“Why am I poor?” he asked as they stopped beside him.
“Milo told me you’d been bitten by a wolf. That must have been awful.”
Dylan’s eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to Milo.
“He was just trying to explain why you’re afraid of wolves,” she hurried on. Maybe Milo had been out of line telling her that. Or maybe Dylan was ashamed of his fear.
Dylan shook his head and then grinned. “Yeah, scared shitless. I have nightmares about Little Red Riding Hood.”
“What’s that?”
“A storybook from back on Earth. A fairy tale. You know what one of them is, don’t you?”
“They’re not true. And they’re frivolous. Not serious reading. Dr. Yang told me.”
“Your Dr. Yang does sound like a real killjoy.”
She’d never heard of the word before tonight, but she could guess what it meant and her lips twitched, suppressing a smile. Yes, if there was any joy then she had a feeling Dr. Yang would kill it dead.
“I’ve read The Count of Monte Cristo,” she said. “About a hundred times. It was the only storybook I had.”
“We’ll have to get you some reading material,” Dylan went on. “Some really, really frivolous stories. Some fairy tales and”—he glanced at Milo with a sly grin—“some romance.”
“Romance?”
“Didn’t Dr. Yang tell you about romance?”
She shook her head, then smiled. “Though she did give me a manual on human reproduction. But she said it was a little archaic and that test tubes were much better for fertilization. I was born in a birthing bag. Apparently, it’s much more hygienic and safer. She believes most reproduction will be carried out that way in the new world. We need to carefully monitor the genetic combinations of new humans