Aurelia had no idea how long she had slept, but Nicholas was already up and around, preparing food when she opened her eyes.
"Hungry?" he asked.
To her surprise, she found she was starving, and she eagerly accepted the bowl he handed her. She was even able to feed herself, a definite step forward.
As Nicholas joined her to eat, he asked her how she was feeling.
"Better, I think. We need to decide what we're doing."
"I think we're going to have to wait here for at least a couple more days," Nicholas said, taking a mouthful of soup. "You're in no condition to move yet."
"Agreed," she said. As good as she was feeling, she knew she wasn't capable of walking, maybe not even standing. "How far are we from the dome?"
Nicholas paused to think. "I'd say about three days' walk. Maybe five, since you won't be able to move at full speed."
Damn. That was further than she'd thought. "And once we're there, can we get back in?"
Nicholas shrugged. "I think so," he said. "Bryn would probably help us if I can get hold of him, but I can't contact him from here."
"So our plan is to get closer to the dome, camp there, and get Bryn to let us in. Alrighty, I like it. Simple." Now that they had a goal, and she had hot food inside her, Aurelia was more optimistic than she'd felt in days.
They spent a couple of hours playing chess. Nicholas had brought a small set with him, and after eating again, Aurelia was feeling stronger. She had Nicholas help her to stand and found she could take a couple of steps without too much pain, though the effort it took was immense, and she needed his support. Thinking it was a start, she let Nicholas lower her back to the ground.
"Not bad," she said.
"Not great," he responded.
"You're such a worrier sometimes," she told him.
In truth, she enjoyed the time she spent with Nicholas. He was intelligent, a good conversationalist, and an excellent chess player. He was also funny and good company. It was just as well that they got along, because it would be another three days before Aurelia could get around on her own. In the end, they used the remainder of their bandages to strap her chest, which prevented the broken bones from moving too much and at least made it bearable to walk.
Nicholas watched her walk the perimeter of the small dome. "We're going to be slow, but I think we can go tomorrow."
"Agreed," said Aurelia, smiling. "A good meal and a good night's rest, and tomorrow I'll be even better than today. Let's do it."
She was eager to get moving, anxious to get back under the dome, though she'd given little thought to what they would do once they got back inside. She realized in horror that she'd been absent for a week and a half, and she could only hope things at the hospital had gone on without her. Thank Gods for Jason, she thought. She was sure he'd have handled things.
The next morning, they pulled on breathing suits. Aurelia struggled until she sat on the floor to dress herself. Nicholas packed the supplies they had left into one big pack, which he shouldered. Finally, there was only the dome left. Making sure both breathing suits were powered on, Nicholas reached up to a hidden control panel and hit a button. With a faint hissing noise, the dome collapsed. All that remained of it was a small black box, which Nicholas shoved into one of the pockets of his pack.
They were so busy preparing to depart that they didn't notice the two men until it was too late. "I believe that you have something of mine," said a voice.
Aurelia recognized it immediately. Garda.
Nicholas turned around. "What?"
"You heard me."
Garda stood, stunner raised in his hand. Another, taller man had stopped a step or so behind Garda.
Aurelia looked on helplessly, begging Nicholas with her eyes to help her.
"I'm afraid Aurelia won't be going with you," her companion said.
"Look, clone, let me take the girl, and you can go on your way. No problem. Don't make me shoot you," said Garda, waving the stunner.
"She doesn't want to go with you," Nicholas said.
Aurelia wondered why he wasn't fighting, how come no military combat techniques he'd said they all learned. Garda took a step towards Nicholas, who held up his hands. "Leave now," Nicholas said.
His eyes were flashing, and Aurelia could see his muscles were twitching with the effort of holding himself back.
In a flash, Garda was on him, flinging himself at the clone and wrapping him in a headlock. "I say you and me fight it out like men, then." He swung a fist to connect with Nicholas's cheek.
Nicholas struggled but still didn't attempt to fight.
"Aurelia," he said quietly, "I need you to tell me to hurt them."
What the hell? Nicholas had relaxed his body so the chokehold loosened.
"Aurelia," he said again, equally calmly.
Sensing movement behind her, she tried to turn but was too late. The other man already had her wrist and was twisting her arm back behind her, tearing at her chest.
"Aurelia, tell me to hurt them," repeated Nicholas.
An arm came around her neck, a hand cupping her chin and pushing her head up, and Aurelia didn't know what was happening anymore. She screamed, and the hand squeezed. She could barely breathe, and her eyes dimmed. "Hurt them!" she heard herself cry.
It seemed like minutes but must have been only a second before the hold around her slackened. She turned in time to see the tall man fall to the ground, Nicholas standing over him. She sank, herself, and saw Garda equally incapacitated.
"What . . ." she began.
"They're out of it but not dead," Nicholas said curtly. "I've tied their wrists; should take them a while to get free. In the meantime, we walk."
He pulled his pack onto his shoulders and set off, not waiting to see if Aurelia was following or even how she was feeling.
She dragged herself up and trudged after him, wondering what the hell had happened. Why Nicholas was suddenly acting so strangely. She found that as her muscles loosened, she could fall into a rhythm and walk fairly easily, though slowly. Nicholas set a medium pace but kept a few paces between them.
She stared after him. Fine, then. Let him be that way. Whatever had happened, he was sulking and didn't want to talk to her. Whatever. She gritted her teeth and concentrated on walking.
***
After a couple of hours, Nicholas stopped and allowed her to catch up. He didn't speak, simply handed her a canister of water, made sure she drank, and set off again, still keeping a distance between them.
It wasn't until they stopped late in the day, when Nicholas had already begun the process of setting up the dome, that he finally spoke. "It'll be about an hour before the dome's solid. You can't take your breathing suit off," he said.
She nodded, sitting in what would become the center of the dome, glad to be resting her aching feet. "Nicholas."
"What?"
"Stop it and come and sit with me."
He had been arranging supplies, but when asked, he stopped and approached. He sat opposite her, his head hanging, and she knew he was ready to speak with her now.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I'm embarrassed," he said.
"Why on earth are you embarrassed?" Aurelia knew she didn't always understand men, but he had just rescued her, after all. And then he'd spent the rest of the day sulking. Well, not sulking apparently, but being embarrassed.
"Because I couldn't fight for you," he said.
Okay, now she really didn't know what was going on. "Er, I think you'll find that you did fight for me," she said. "Which is why I'm sitting here with you instead of being beaten up in Garda's tent again."
"No, you don't get it, Aurelia." He looked truly miserable.
"Damn right I don't." She was becoming annoyed. "Why don't you explain things to me?"
"Fine." He looked at her defiantly. "I couldn't hurt them until you told me to do so."
She let that sink in for a minute, but she still didn't understand. "You're going to have to do better than that," she said.
He sighed. "You really don't get it, do you? Here's me acting the idiot all afternoon, thinking you'd done it deliberately." He picked up a stone and turned it in his fingers. "I can't fight until I'm told to do so; none of us can. It's a sort of safety device, something implanted into us. We can only injure or kill humans when expressly ordered to do so by another human."
Aurelia looked at him. "Are you serious?"
"Dead serious. It stops us rebelling and makes us easier to control on the battlefield. After all, you don't want thousands of highly trained clone soldiers able to kill humans, do you?"
"I guess not." She was quiet.
"We can act in defense of ourselves if necessary, but that's pretty much it. Anything else, we need a direct human order."
She shook her head in wonder. "You really are designed as tools, aren't you?"
He nodded, still looking miserable.
A sudden thought occurred to her. "You assumed that I deliberately didn't give you the order to hurt them to humiliate you or make you look bad?"
"I . . ." But he didn't finish, simply nodded.
"Gods, Nicholas, you really do have to trust me. I had no idea; why would I?"
"I forget how you're so new to all this." He reached for her hand. "Forgive me? I know I'm an idiot, really, and I'm sorry for sulking all afternoon and not taking care of you."
She smiled. "Forgiven. Is there anything else that I should know about? You know, like you've got pistols hidden in your chest or knives for fingernails or something?"
He grinned. "My biology is . . ."
"Exactly the same as mine," she finished for him. "With the exception of whatever it is that stops you from hurting humans."
"I guess."
The dome was forming over them, the sky shimmering.
"If you forgive me, I'll show you something," said Nicholas,
"I've already told you I forgive you; don't push your luck."
He pulled her up by the hand and stepped gently through the edge of the dome. Aurelia felt a mild pressure as she crossed the threshold, and there was a brief snap as she pulled free of the dome itself.
"Okay," said Nicholas. "Close your eyes; it's just about time."
She did as she was told and felt his hands on her shoulders turning her on the spot.
"Right, now open," he said.
She opened her eyes and took a second to adjust her focus before she saw it. On the very edge of the horizon was a small, curved sliver of color. It reminded her of something. But what? Sunrise. That's what it was. But this wasn't the sun. She concentrated, peering closely, and then it hit her.
"Earth."
"Earthrise," said Nicholas, putting his arm around her shoulder.
She watched as the curve of the planet appeared over the edge of the lunar landscape, the familiar blue-and-white swirls of her home gliding into view. She found that she was crying. Not sobbing, but a quiet, slow release of emotion. Nicholas said nothing, merely hugged her as they watched until the full planet was in view. Aurelia took her fill of the sight, then sniffed and leaned her head on Nicholas's shoulder for a brief moment.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"You're welcome," he said, equally low.
She pulled herself together. "Come on; the dome will be ready, and I'm starving."
"Me, too," said Nicholas, turning back.
Aurelia took one last, long look at Earth before she joined him, feeling her homesickness swell in her chest before she swallowed it and went back to the dome.
***
On the second day the walking was a little easier, and by the third day Aurelia was walking almost at normal pace. Her chest still burned if she overexerted herself, but she could keep up with Nicholas. It was close to lunchtime when they saw figures.
"One, two, three," counted Nicholas.
"What do we do?" asked Aurelia.
"Wait until we can see them better, I think," he said. "There's little point in running, and if they're brigands, we'll find out soon enough."
The figures had seen them and adjusted their direction a few degrees to intercept them.
Quietly, Aurelia and Nicholas waited as the forms grew larger.
"Er, Nicholas," said Aurelia after a minute or so.
"Mmm?" He was watching the horizon.
"Can I give you, like, pre-emptive permission to hurt them if necessary?"
She heard him chuckle. "Yeah, but that's a bit dangerous since you don't know who they actually are. You don't want to give me permission to hurt people who might want to save you, you know?"
"Right."
They went back to watching.
When the figures were close enough, the leader put his hands above his head. Aurelia saw Nicholas do the same.
"They're unarmed," he explained. "I'm telling them we are, too."
Finally, people in this hostile place who don't want to kill, capture, or rape me, thought Aurelia. But she was curious as to who these figures were. She hoped that maybe they were some of the traders she'd met before, remembering how friendly they'd been. But the leader didn't look big enough to be Gray Beard.
They were within several yards now, and Nicholas shouted a greeting.
"We're looking for friends!" the leader cried back, getting closer.
Aurelia took off at a run, ignoring the pain in her side and her tired legs. She ran until she almost collided with the lead figure, then she swung her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.
"Aurelia!" he said in a muffled voice.
"Jonathon!" she murmured happily.