Page 36 of The Last Aquarius
Aquarius didn’t bother packing up anything. All the items he’d brought could be replaced, and they might be more useful here in case they had to return.
Their trek to the portal happened initially in silence, which he broke, saying, “Kind of bummed we won’t get to share a dream again tonight.” Might as well broach the subject.
“You’re assuming we would have slept.”
The reply almost had him tripping over his own feet. “Maybe this won’t be anything major and we can… um, er…” His cheeks heated as he failed to spit out what he wanted to say.
She glanced sideways at him. “Spend the night together?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d like that.”
Would it be unseemly for him to yodel and do handsprings down the hall? Probably, so he settled for an utterly romantic, “Cool.”
Ugh. Despite his inability to properly respond, he caught her smiling as they reached the portal.
Upon arriving back at Tower, they hit the stairs and were immediately zoomed to the seventh level. The door to Aries’ office swung open, giving a clear indication of where they should go.
They entered to find Sage holding the baby and Aries pacing, his short hair tufted as if he’d been running his fingers through it.
Hearing them enter, Aries turned. “Oh good. Tower, I mean Nimrod, managed to get a hold of you. We have a problem.”
Wild guess? “What did our body-snatching alien do this time?”
“The day you left, the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum was robbed.”
Odd thing for an alien to do. “Any idea why?”
Aries tucked his hands behind his back. “It would seem the thieves were after a gemstone, the only kind in this world?—"
“The kyawthuite,” Ishtar murmured.
The boss eyed her. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“As I was telling Reece earlier, the kyawthuite, which I know as luughal, is not local to Earth but rather Mars.”
“And why would, say, an alien asshole be after it?” A sign of Aries’ agitation that he resorted to cursing in front of the baby.
“Because it is a very efficient power source, and I’ve found nothing comparable to it on Earth. Likely the Kukakk wished to use it create and power some nanobots, which he could have used to signal others of its kind. It also probably wishes to build some more effective weapons.”
“More effective than those energy beams that vaporize people?” Poor Aries almost lost his eyebrows in surprise.
“The ones it’s constructed thus far had a very limited range. With enough luughal, it could wipe out entire cities or armies at a time.”
“Meaning it would be very bad if it got its hands on some.” The obvious conclusion by Aries.
“Very.” Ishtar’s lips pressed into a grim line.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing the chunk in the museum was fake. I don’t suppose you know anything about that?” Aries eyed Ishtar.
Her lips curved as she admitted, “I had need of some, so I removed it.”
“Where is it now?”
She pointed overhead. “Powering my spaceship.”
“So out of reach of the alien asshole. Good. But it being a fake caused some issues.”
