As Rico crossed the room, Milo called after him. “What about my wand? I might need it.”
Rico pursed his lips. “Dios, no. You need to be discreet. Which means the last thing we need is you waving a wand around like Harry-fucking-Potter.” And he was gone.
Milo sat back and sipped his drink, feeling the warmth spread through his stomach. He was still finding it hard to get his head around all of this. They’d come five hundred years across space. And he’d been asleep all that time.
But for now, he was on safe ground. At least for the next few minutes. He looked at the others around the table.
“It appears I’m going for a ride in a shuttle with a werewolf.” His stomach churned at the thought. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Logan raised his glass and grinned. “You really want us to answer that?”
Definitely not.
Chapter Four
“He was a fine, tall, slim young fellow, with black eyes, and hair as dark as the raven’s wing; and his whole appearance bespoke that calmness and resolution peculiar to men accustomed from their cradle to contend with danger.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Destiny wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Doctor Yang left.
She’d spent most of the time reading The Count of Monte Cristo on the computer. Doctor Yang had provided her with books she deemed suitable, but they were mainly textbooks that had been used back on Earth. Destiny had studied them diligently and she now had the equivalent education of twenty-eight university degrees in subjects as diverse as Quantum Mechanics to Philosophy. She could also speak fifteen languages fluently.
Unfortunately, Dr. Yang believed fiction to be frivolous and inappropriate. But when she was sixteen, Destiny had found a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo buried deep in one of the computer’s hard drives. At first, she hadn’t even realized it was fiction—she’d never encountered a story before. She’d believed it to be true, historical facts. Eventually she had worked out that it wasn’t real, and she’d been utterly fascinated. The story spoke so eloquently of freedom and honor and duty and…love. And a deep craving had awoken inside her for an emotion she hadn’t even known existed.
She’d read and reread the book. Especially at times when she was feeling down.
Like now.
The story gave her hope. Even if it wasn’t real.
Right now, though, she was running on the treadmill, trying to get rid of her excess energy. She’d been feeling so restless since she’d woken from cryo. Before, when they were traveling through space, there had been nowhere to go—the spaceship had been her whole world and so she’d accepted it. Now she felt trapped. Like a prisoner. Outside of the lab, there was a new world to explore, people to meet, and she wanted to be out there so much her chest ached. So she ran until she was too tired to go any farther, too tired to think, until she could feel her heart pounding, and at least she knew she was alive. And still she kept running.
“Destiny?”
She jumped, then slammed her hand on the control to stop the machine. She hadn’t heard Dr. Yang enter, and, breathing hard, she glanced around warily. Her exercise routine had always been carefully monitored and controlled. Today she had exceeded the recommended use of energy and she studied Dr. Yang. Was she annoyed? Would she punish her? But Destiny could tell nothing from the other woman’s expression.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“No, I could tell.” Dr. Yang smiled. “I have good news for you. You’ve been cleared to leave the ship.”
A grin tugged at her lips and she held them tight together. Dr. Yang didn’t like overt expressions of emotion, but inside she was fizzing. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Go shower quickly and collect your things.” She handed Destiny a bag. “We’re leaving right away.”
She jumped off the running machine and hurried to the small bathroom. After stripping off her clothes, she turned the water on to hot. She showered fast then switched to the dryer, bouncing on the balls of her feet as the warm air brushed over her skin. Once dry, she dressed in an identical outfit, pulled on her shoes, then shoved the rest of her things into the bag. Two more identical outfits and a toothbrush. That was all she had.
Dr. Yang was waiting by the external door when she came out.
This was really happening. She was going outside.
She held her breath, sure something would occur to stop them from leaving, as Dr. Yang pressed her palm to the panel and the door slid open. Her breaths were coming hard and fast, and she slowed them down, counting to ten with each one. Then she was stepping toward the door and through it. She stopped for a moment and looked around. They were in a wide corridor with silver walls and bright light overhead. She hurried to catch up with Dr. Yang, who was striding purposefully away. As they came around the corner she almost skidded to a halt as a figure came into sight.
A man.
The first she had ever encountered. He was taller even than her, with short black hair and dark brown skin. He didn’t slow as he passed her, just nodded, and she followed him with her gaze until he disappeared from sight.
Dr. Yang glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Hurry up, Destiny.”
She shook herself and hurried on.
They came to another doorway. As it slid open, a cacophony of noise hit her ears. She blinked then stepped into a huge, cavernous room filled with things and…people. Men and women. Some pale, some with dark skin, others with Asian features like Dr. Yang. More people than she had imagined could exist in one place. At first it seemed like chaos, but as she watched, she noticed they were actually well organized. They carried things out of the room, unloading the ship. Presumably, this was all the equipment and stores that had been brought with them from Earth. Everything they would need to help humanity settle into their new home.
A couple of men in dark green uniforms seemed to be in charge, directing the unloading. They nodded to Dr. Yang but looked at Destiny curiously. She was dressed differently. The workers were all in beige jumpsuits, hers was yellow—Dr. Yang had let her pick the color. Yellow was her favorite.
She paused to run her hand over a large metal object. She had no clue what it was, but the metal was cold to the touch.
“Destiny!”
She hurried after Dr. Yang. There was so much to see, but hopefully there would be at least a little time to examine all these new things.
Finally, they reached the doorway. She halted, hovering at the edge of the ramp that separated the ship from the new world. And then she was breathing in the fresh air, filling her lungs. It smelled as she had imagined sunshine would smell. As she’d imagined the color yellow would smell.