by Ashley West
Her boss was nowhere to be seen for the moment, and she was pleased with that, not ready to deal with him just yet. He was the one dark part of an otherwise perfect job, and Stephanie liked to pretend that he didn’t exist whenever she could.
Inhaling and squaring her shoulders, she made her way across the floor.
“Steph!”
No sooner had she crossed the polished floor than her name was being called. She looked up and smiled at Nate, one of the researchers who had taken her under his wing when she’d started working there, who was leaning over the railing of the stairs waving at her with a grin on his face.
“Good morning,” she called back, waving. “What’s the emergency?”
“No emergency, just come and see!”
Her grin doubled in brightness at that, and she took the stairs two at a time, hurrying to catch up with him. “Is it the new find?” she asked, a bit out of breath when she reached him.
He nodded. “It’s extraordinary. Like nothing we’ve seen before, actually. We haven’t made that much progress yet since it just came in yesterday, but already we’ve pretty much figured out that we don’t have anything to compare it to.”
Steph’s eyes widened at that. “Really? What is it?”
“It’s a weapon, we’re pretty sure. Looks like a blade from a sword. I told Simone that you would have a better description for us, little miss weapons expert.”
She laughed at that. “I’m not an expert. I just know a lot about swords. But I can’t wait to see it.”
And she didn’t have to wait long. They went up another set of stairs and then into the quieter office area. Past that were the labs where things were cleaned and worked on before being put out for people to see.
Through the clear glass of the large windows, she could see a couple of the researchers in their white coats and gloves, touching something that shone brightly even from where she was standing. “It's been cleaned already?” she asked.
Nate nodded. “A bit, but it was that shiny when it was brought in. We haven’t even attempted to try and figure out what it’s made of yet, but we know it’s not iron or bronze just from looking at it. Maybe some kind of silver, but we’d have to run some tests.”
“Incredible,” Steph breathed. “Where would it have come from if they were making weapons out of silver?”
“We’re not sure. Thing is, it’s definitely old, but we have no idea how old or what we’re looking at. This could be quite the find.”
The prospect of something that no one had ever found before had Steph excited, and she couldn’t help but drift towards the glass of the window, nose nearly pressed right up against it as she peered at the process and tried to get a better look. She could hear Nate chuckling behind her, and he held out a pair of gloves to her and then jerked his head towards the door. “Get in there. I want to hear your thoughts on this.”
“Thank you,” Steph said, practically melting with delight as she grabbed the gloves and put them on. It was standard procedure when dealing with any of the items they had on display and especially when they were dealing with the ones that hadn’t gone out to the main part of the museum yet.
Nate held the door open for her and she stepped in, smiling when the other two looked up at her.
Simone, the head researcher for the museum beckoned her closer. “Tell me what you make of this,” she said, stepping back and giving Steph her first clear look at the blade.
It was definitely from a sword, that was for sure, though it didn’t seem to fall neatly into any category of sword type she knew off hand. The blade was double edged and about a hand’s width apart, assuming one had small hands. It looked heavy, and it was too long to be a short sword, but it wasn’t long enough to be considered a longsword.
The metal was bright and gleamed silver in the overhead light. When she leaned closer she could see that it didn’t appear to have been broken off from its hilt since the bottom end of it was straight and clean.
There were what appeared to be runes carved into the blade, and Steph reached out a hand to trail a gloved finger along them, feeling how deep they went into the metal. They weren’t any symbols she had ever seen before, and she didn’t need to ask Simone to know that she was just as stumped by them.
More puzzling than the runes was the sense of...something that she could feel practically pulsing from the blade. It was cold to the touch, but it was almost like it was giving off its own heat, and Stephanie furrowed her brow, not sure if she was just feeling things because of her excitement at being allowed this close to something.
“Well?” Simone asked, eyebrows raised.
Stephanie shook herself and looked up. “It’s...not like anything I’ve seen before. It reminds me of a claymore kind of, but they aren’t usually this wide. It could be some kind I’m not familiar with, like most of the ancient swords, but it looks too new to be that old. How much cleaning was done on it?”
“Hardly any at this point. We rubbed off some rust that was obscuring some of the runes and gave it a bit of a polish with an old cloth and that’s about it. From the pictures we’ve seen of the dig site when they pulled this thing up, it came out of the ground like this.”
“That’s amazing. I don’t know what kind of preservation they used when they made this, but it’s incredible.”
Before Simone could say anything else, there was a booming laugh from the door, and Steph cringed. Her boss had apparently finally decided to make his appearance.
“Aw, is Stephanie in here playing at research again?” he said, and everyone in the room turned to look at him.
Clive Dearborn was the head of the museum and in charge of pretty much everything. While Simone headed up the research team and acted almost independently from Clive, he still was in charge when she was in the museum working with him, and he never let anyone forget about it.
He wasn’t a large man by any means, which always surprised people because his voice was so loud. Stephanie’s theory was that he was compensating for his lack of height by being as loud and obnoxious as possible, and people tended to agree with her when they met him. He was maybe five and half feet tall, the same height as Steph, with wavy dark hair and bright amber eyes. As always, he was dressed in a pressed suit that was flawlessly tailored for his frame, and his polished shoes clacked on the floor as he entered.
Unlike everyone else in the room, he wasn’t wearing any gloves, and it just figured that he thought himself above that kind of thing.
Nate had a long suffering look on his face and he shook his head. “We asked for her opinion, Mr. Dearborn,” he said.
“If we need an intern to give opinions on finds, then clearly I need to get a new research team,” Clive said, laughing so loud that it echoed around the room.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Simone make a face, and she sighed. “Alright, sir,” Stephanie said. “I should be getting back to the front anyway. There’s a group of elementary school kids coming in and I’m giving the tour.”
“So nice when people do the things I pay them to do,” Clive said, giving her a wink. “After all, I wouldn’t waste such a pretty face back here with the stuff we don’t know about when I could have it front and center and bringing people in.”
Nate made a disgusted face, and Steph swallowed down her retort, fixing her boss with a smile that definitely didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course, sir,” she said, peeling off her gloves and making to head out. She turned back to Nate and Simone and smiled more genuinely at them. “Thanks, guys. Good luck with the rest of it.”
“I do believe we’ll need it,” Simone murmured as she turned back to the blade.
Fighting the urge to stare longingly at the blade as she walked out, Stephanie sighed and headed back for the lobby. They were just opening for the day, and she had about fifteen minutes before the first group was due to show up for their tour. Plenty of time for another quick cup of coffee that would hopefully get her back in the mood to be her usual peppy and bubbly self w
hen the time came.
The morning passed quickly, and she gave her tours and kept her mind from straying to the back where the research team was undoubtedly still pouring over the blade and books and all the things that Stephanie loved.
To be fair, she loved giving tours, too. There was something amazing about imparting knowledge and answering the questions of everyone from excited first graders to bored high school students to older people out for an afternoon. One of her passions was getting people excited about history and trying to make them see that it didn’t have to just be boring lectures about dead people and their stuff.
By the time her lunch break rolled around, she was glad for the break, though, and she clocked out for the time being and headed down the street to the nearby sushi restaurant, waving at the hostess as she walked in.
“Just you today?” the woman asked.
“Mm, better make it a table for two,” Stephanie said. “I have a feeling Paul’s going to show up and want to eat my food.”
She smiled at her and was led to a table near the window. Steph slipped her feet out of her shoes and stretched, sighing as she tipped her head back.
When she sat forward again to contemplate the menu, she had to smile as she spotted her friend Paul heading towards her. He dropped into the chair across from hers and fixed her with green eyes that still made her heart race sometimes.
The two of them had dated briefly in undergrad, Stephanie being drawn to the fact that Paul treated her well and had movie star good looks with his dark hair and strong jaw line. Paul always said he loved how passionate she was and how much pride she took in her work, which, once they’d broken up, made Stephanie realize that he’d never found her all that attractive. That was how she interpreted it anyway.
But they’d remained friends, and him showing up to have lunch with her here was practically a tradition at this point.
“So?” he asked as he sat down. “Have you seen it?”
She didn’t even need to ask what he was talking about. Paul was a history buff, even though he was a mechanical engineer, and he loved listening to her talk about the things they had on display at the museum.
“Yep,” she said, frowning and trying to decide between a Red Dragon Roll or the Firecracker. “I saw it.” She grinned and glanced up at him. “I even got to touch it.”
His eyebrows disappeared into the hair falling over his forehead. “They let you touch it? Holy crap. Is it as beautiful as it looked on TV?”
“Yeah,” Steph said wistfully. “More so, actually. It’s bright and shiny, and they still don’t know what it’s made of. Definitely not any of the metals we’re used to, and it looks so new, but unless it’s some kind of really impressive replica, it has to be old. Simone and Nate are stumped.”
Paul let out a low whistle. “It takes a lot to stump those two. And there’s nothing to compare it to?”
Steph shook her head. “Not really, no. This is a Find with a capital F.”
“When is it going on display?” Paul wanted to know. “I want to see it.”
“Dunno. Not until we have something more concrete on it, at least,” she replied. “Can’t just put it on display with a sign that says ‘sword blade’ and a bunch of question marks.”
“You never know. The mystery of it might be intriguing to some people.”
“I’m sure it is, and I’m even more sure that there’s no way we’re going to figure out all there is to know about it even if we do find out where it came from or how old it is or what it’s freaking made of.”
It was things like this that made Stephanie wistful for the time when she and Paul had been a thing. He was always willing to listen to her ramble about work and the things they had on display or the things she was studying. It was never like how it was on some of the other dates she had been on, when she could see the eyes of her date glaze over five minutes into a story about fossils or Ancient Egyptian artifacts.
But they hadn’t worked for a reason, and she had to remember that.
“When are you going to get to see it again?” Paul was asking, and Steph made a face.
“Who knows? Dearborn came in and made a fuss about me being back there as per usual. And of course he made it out like I’m a complete child or idiot and could never have a reason to be helping. Apparently I’m too pretty to know anything.”
Paul snorted. “That guy sucks, honestly, Steph. You’re one of the smartest people I know. You shouldn’t let him get to you.”
“That would be a lot easier if he weren’t making me miss out on all the cool stuff.” Steph pouted and then laughed when Paul threw a napkin at her. She rolled her eyes and prepared to give her order to the approaching waitress, deciding to try and forget about work for the rest of her break.
Chapter 3: Stranger in a Strange Land
When Draco got his first glimpse of Earth, he was optimistic. It was largely a green and blue planet, much like Aldara. He’d spent time doing research on the planet and the people that inhabited it and was optimistic about his chances of managing this without it having to be a fiasco. It wouldn’t be as easy as say, showing up to a deserted planet and just taking the blade, but humans were evolved things to a certain extent. Surely they would be willing to reason with him when he explained. Maybe this would even be easier than he was expecting since he didn’t have to search or dig for the blade and could just ask someone for it.
So he was in good spirits. Even better was the fact that someone specifically placed on Earth to help liaison with other extraterrestrials was living in the very city where the blade was located.
It was lonely to make this journey on his own, but there had been no mistaking the relief on the faces of his crew when he’d told them that they wouldn’t be called on to come with him. After a year of near solid searching, they had more than earned their time off.
He’d gone alone, a stern message from Plintos ringing in his ears about being careful and making sure that he didn’t get himself into trouble carrying him to his shuttle as he’d left Aldara behind for what would hopefully be the last time for a while.
The first thing he became aware of when he’d landed and hidden his shuttle using the stealth option, was the fact that it was much hotter here than it was in his corner of Aldara. The air was thick and soupy and the sun beat down on him, making him feel tired and sticky just from walking from his shuttle to the house he’d been instructed to report to.
Someone was waiting for him, and he smiled at the woman, noting that she appeared to be from a clan he hadn’t encountered before. She was pretty and slender and almost human looking if not for the horns that protruded from her forehead and curled back over her head. When she smiled back at him, she showed rows of wickedly sharp looking teeth in her mouth.
Well, then.
“You must be Draco,” she said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Draco nodded and followed her when she beckoned, grateful to get out of the heat. “Is it always like this here?” he asked, wiping his brow of sweat once they had stepped into the house.
She smiled again. “Not always. Earth is in what they call Summer now. Humidity and direct sunlight make being outside practically unbearable. We do not get many visits from outside during the summer months.”
He took ‘outside’ to mean any other planet that wasn’t this one, and he nodded. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important,” he said.
“I understand. You come directly from one of Aldara’s kings,” she said. “My name is Presea, and it will be my pleasure to assist you in the time you’re here. Are there things you would like to see while you’re visiting?”
Draco furrowed his brow, wondering how to answer that. He didn’t want to give too much away about the real reason why he was there. For some reason, Plintos had seemed to think that erring on the side of caution when it came to how many others knew the location of the last Artifact was the best idea, and Draco was inclined to believe him. He didn’t know what having all three meant to an
yone else, but he did know that there were plenty of collectors out there who would pay good money to have even one of them in their possession.
Presea waited for him to say something, giving him a neutral expression that he couldn’t really read.
“Are there any museums?” he asked finally. “I’d like to learn a bit about Earth’s history.”
She smiled again, somehow managing to look threatening. It was the teeth, he was sure of it. “You’re looking to get your hands on the Cillidan Artifact that the humans have found, aren’t you?” she said.
Taken aback, Draco stared. “You know about the Artifacts?”
“I know my history. They were scattered over two centuries ago and no one has held all three since then. And I watch the news here on Earth, so I saw that one of them was found here.”
“More like three centuries,” Draco corrected. “Fine. Yes. I’d like to go see it for myself.”
“More than see it, I’d wager,” Presea said, arching a thin eyebrow.
It was hard to read from her expression what her feelings on this were and if she planned to try and stop him. Her smiles were just as frightening as any threats she might have thrown his way, and Draco was beginning to see what Plintos had meant about this being dangerous to do alone.
“Perhaps,” he allowed after a moment.
“You’re going to have your work cut out for you. Earth isn’t as primitive as people off planet would have you think. You won’t be able to just walk up and take it.”
“I assumed they’d have some security in place,” Draco replied. “Just because they don’t know the significance of it doesn’t mean that they won’t see it as valuable.”
