Alien Artifacts

by Seanan McGuire

  It was hot and sandy, just like Phoenix, where Charles and I were from. In other words, I was comfortable.

  There were tourist groups everywhere and I ended up putting Stripes into my purse—I was carrying a large Coach tote so that we’d have whatever we might need—and the cat fit in there pretty well. Had to wear the tote cross-body, though, because Stripes definitely made it heavier. To Chrysta’s credit, once “therapy pet” was explained, she didn’t bring Stripes up again.

  We wandered around the tomb, then went to the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, and the Tomb of Hemon. The kids were excited, but we’d just had a long plane flight, and they wanted to run around and look at things quickly, as I’d figured they would. Chrysta pointed out many sights of interest, but I’d hired our guide for the full week, so she wasn’t trying to push anything onto the kids, either.

  It was heading towards sunset, and we were going to head back to the car, when I realized that we’d lost Alfred somehow. Gathered everyone together—no one could remember when they’d seen him last.

  “Losing Alfred on the first day was not in my lesson plan,” I fretted quietly to Bill, while Chrysta did a quick run around the area and Bill and I both verified that we had no cell coverage here. “I know he’s a grown man, but still.”

  We all looked around and called his name, until Chrysta returned without Alfred in tow. She waved the walkie-talkie that she carried to stay in touch with other tour guides in the area. “I didn’t see anyone dressed like him anywhere,” she said. “And no one else has spotted him. Should we call the authorities?”

  Bill was looking farther out towards the desert. “I think...” He scooped Max up in his arms and took Charlie’s hand. Took the hint and picked up Jamie. “Let’s go quickly but carefully.” With that, he trotted off.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Chrysta said.

  “I’m not letting the rest of us get separated.” And with that, I followed Bill. Heard Chrysta heave a sigh, but she came along as well. Double-checked that I still had Stripes—I did, and he was snoozing in my purse, surrounded by Poofs. No wonder it was heavy.

  Was glad that Charles and I had ensured that we stayed in shape as a family—Bill was going at a pace just over a fast walk that I was pretty sure he could keep up for miles.

  He led us deeper into the ruins, heading for, if my memory served, the Tomb of the Birds. Caught up with him. “Why are we heading this way? I don’t see any footprints.”

  “I saw something flash out here, ma’am.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “I think we’re about to be in that action situation Jamie mentioned in the hotel room. I kind of go…ultra-military when that happens.”

  Couldn’t argue—that Jamie had mentioned action or the need to flip into a mindset that helped you function well in a danger situation. And from Bill’s demeanor, we were in a danger situation.

  I probably should have insisted that we go back to the car, alert the proper authorities, and organize a legitimate manhunt—you know, if Alfred wasn’t back to the car by the time it was dark. But I didn’t. Because I didn’t want to.

  It was stupid, but per everyone in both universes, Cosmic Moi was a total butt-kicker. Sure I’d earned Good Mommy points and even Saved The Political Day points, but not Saved The World points. I doubted that Charles or James would have spent any time fretting if Cosmic Moi was the one asking for an outing they couldn’t go on. And, call me ridiculously competitive with myself, I wanted to show that I could save the day when it mattered, too. Plus, Chrysta was handling the “let’s go back and call the authorities” portion of our festivities anyway. Besides, for all I knew, Alfred had gotten heatstroke and had wandered off unintentionally and, in that case, time would be of the essence.

  We reached the Tomb of the Birds in less time than I’d have expected. But still, the sun was lower on the horizon and the entrance was blocked by rock on either side, making it darker. And creepier. I had a flashlight in my purse and we had Chrysta, who knew the area, but it was going to be dark and scary out here sooner as opposed to later.

  “Looks like there’s a metal gate blocking anyone from getting in,” I pointed out. “So Alfred can’t be inside here.”

  “Actually there were deep tunnels discovered here, before this got gated up.” Bill sounded thoughtful. He put Max down. “You all wait here.”

  Put Jamie down and had her and Max hold Charlie’s hands. “You all wait here.” Trotted after Bill up the small incline to reach the gate as he was trying to open it. It didn’t budge.

  Bill examined the area around the gate.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked him quietly. “I don’t see anything. Other than the approach of nightfall.”

  “Pilot’s instinct is all I have for you, ma’am. That and I know I saw something over here.”

  Alfred, being an A-C, was the fastest thing on Earth. However, I read the comics, and there were plenty of ways to stop a superfast being. Wondered if this was where Bill was going with his worry, so I asked him.

  He shook his head. “Not really, though that’s always a concern. You weren’t with me, but I know we told you about the tunnels where we found him.”

  The tunnels Alfred had been hiding out in for decades had been dug deep into the earth all over the world long before even the dinosaurs were thinking about seeing if they could walk on land. There were rooms in the tunnels, too, and Alfred had turned them into his private storerooms for all the scientific inventions he worked on before he sold them to the government. But at least two thirds of his creations he didn’t want anyone to have, because humanity as a race wasn’t enlightened enough to be entrusted with them.

  The light dawned. “You think he’s gone to visit one of his storerooms and has lost track of time?”

  “Maybe.”

  Considered other options. “You think the tunnels that were discovered are Alfred’s. And people have been locked out, but that doesn’t mean that Alfred wouldn’t want to go in and check to make sure they haven’t found any of his things.”

  “Yes.” The way he said it, I knew there was more.

  “You think there are people down there right now, don’t you? More people than Alfred.”

  Bill grinned at me. “There you go.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Now you’re thinking like…you.”

  “Ah. Um, go me?”

  “Yes. Just channel that. Go with the crazy. Make the weird logic leaps. Figure out what the wildest possibilities are, because at least one of them will be right. That’s what you always do.”

  Looked at him for a long moment. “You want me to be more like her?”

  “You are her. I know the others don’t think so. But I know you both and I know you both differently than they do. And you’re her and she’s you. You have what it takes to save the day, always.”

  “But she was Wonder Woman, that’s what you guys said.”

  “Yeah, for our world, she was. So what that you can’t be like that. Be Batgirl—she always gets the perps, too, and saves Batman and Robin in the process half the time. Just don’t doubt yourself or let the others doubt you.”

  “Will do, Captain Confidence.”

  He grinned. “I like that better than Lunatic Lad, for certain, ma’am.”

  “Duly noted.” Thought about it. “That’s why you’re calling me ma’am, isn’t it? Not just so you’ll be in the kick-butt mindset, but so that I will be, too.”

  Bill nodded. “Yes. Seriously though, I can probably handle anything by myself. If you want to take Chrysta and the kids and go back to the car, now’s the time.”

  Looked back at them and felt my body go cold. “Bill? They’re all gone.”

  * * *

  We searched quickly and frantically, though we stayed together, but the kids and Chrysta were gone without a trace.

  “Think she took them back to the car?” he asked as we retraced our steps at a trot.

  “Not without my kids wh
ining, complaining, or calling to me.”

  “Yeah, good point.” He sounded as worried as I felt.

  “It’s almost dark.” Looked into my purse to dig around for the flashlight. Stripes was in there, awake and alert, but there were now no Poofs on Board. Decided not to worry about them right now.

  Took Stripes and the flashlight out and put Stripes onto my shoulder. “We’ve lost the kids,” I told the cat. Hey, Bill had said to go with the crazy. “And our guide. And apparently your purse buddies.”

  Stripes purred and nudged against me. The Poofs could take care of themselves, but he was on the case to find the kids. He leaped down gracefully and started off at a slow walk, sniffing the air like mad.

  As he did, I remembered his harness. “You know…Stripes is wearing something to ensure he doesn’t get lost. Meaning that he’s wearing a tracking device.”

  “Good one,” Bill said. “Alfred will have the other side of the tracker. Hopefully we’ll see something change on the harness when we get closer to Alfred.”

  Bill and I followed, me handling the flashlight, though Bill wouldn’t let me turn it on, him with a gun drawn from somewhere. “You’re packing heat?”

  “You have a gun in your purse, right?”

  “Yes, and yes, I know how to shoot it.”

  “Be ready to get it out and use it, when we need to.”

  “When, not if?”

  “No one snatches people silently for any good reason, ma’am. Especially not people who are perfect hostages. Which is why that flashlight needs to stay off right now—no need to let them see us coming.”

  Shoved the total panic these statements gave me away. There was no way I could rescue my children if I was freaking out. Now was the time to do what Bill wanted—channel Cosmic Moi’s abilities and just roll with it like a total badass. Sure, I was essentially an accidental badass, but still, it was time to Stand and Deliver.

  Resisted the desire to listen to music right now, despite hearing Adam Ant in my head. It might keep me calm and focused, but then I’d miss small sounds, and if the kids were captives, small sounds would be all we’d hear.

  Stripes slunk around the Tomb, then headed for a nearby hump of dirt that might be a sand dune or another building—without light I couldn’t be sure.

  We followed him and then Stripes disappeared. Managed not to gasp, but only just. Bill went to where the cat had gone and he disappeared, too.

  Had no idea whether I should follow or run screaming for where other people were, when Bill reappeared, holding Stripes in one arm, grabbed my hand, and pulled me along with them. He put his mouth right by my ear. “It’s some sort of optical illusion that’s hiding a path.”

  Nodded. Why let him know I was totally freaked out?

  “So, relax.” Ah. He could tell. Well, whatever. “But turn on the flashlight—it’s pitch black in here and we’re going to have to risk it.”

  Did and we had two choices—we could stay level and go on the narrow path to the right, or we could go on the narrower path to the left, which sloped down at a steep angle. Both looked dicey, but the area around the path to the left looked more recently disturbed. Bill put Stripes down—sure enough, the cat headed to the left and we followed. His harness looked less camouflaged, less like his fur and more like a harness.

  “It was like this in the tunnels where we found Alfred,” Bill whispered as we finally leveled off. “Be prepared for anything, and turn off the flashlight the second I say.”

  We walked along, me keeping the flashlight focused down and just ahead of us, to hopefully lessen the chances of an enemy seeing it. We finally reached a right turn, Stripes looked at us, then slunk around the corner.

  Turned off the flashlight as we hugged the wall to our right. We waited and listened. Couldn’t be positive, but thought I heard the sound of faint voices.

  Bill ducked down and looked around the corner. As he did this, I realized I could see him doing it. Meaning there was light ahead of us somewhere. He stood and took my hand and we moved out.

  There was light coming from what looked like a doorway quite far away. We walked as quickly as we could, still hugging the wall and being as quiet as possible. As we got closer, I could see Stripes sitting just outside of the light, so he was still in darkness. And his harness was no longer disguised—it was clearly visible.

  As we reached the cat, the sounds of voices were much clearer.

  “What the hell is this thing?” a man asked.

  “I have no idea.” The voice was Chrysta’s. She sounded angry.

  “This is your job,” a different man said.

  “No,” Chrysta snapped, “it’s not. I did the hard work. You’ve bungled the easy part.”

  Bill and I exchanged the “oh really?” look. Well, now we knew how the kids had disappeared—Chrysta had lured them somehow. I’d left them in her care after all. I’d kick myself for that later—I had to get my kids and Alfred away from these creeps first.

  “What about him?” the first man asked.

  “I’m neither a tour guide nor an archeologist,” Alfred said. He didn’t sound frightened. He sounded angry.

  “But you’re the person who can read this scroll,” Chrysta said. “That’s why the others called you.”

  “Where are they?” Alfred asked.

  Bill and I got closer and looked inside. The room was large and square and it was clearly not something made by ancient man. Even the Egyptians and Chinese weren’t able to achieve this level of absolute straight perfection. Plus, the walls, ceiling, and floors all seemed to be made from a substance I couldn’t identify. They glowed with a gentle blue light, as if they were lit from the inside.

  There was another door in the middle of the far wall, and it was open as well. The room it opened up into wasn’t lit in the same way—the light coming from it looked far more natural.

  “Nearby,” the first man said, looking at the other opened door. He was big and looked and sounded American. Alfred was on his knees, hands tied behind his back, with what looked like a very ancient scroll laid out in front of him, and this man was holding a long knife at Alfred’s throat. Hyperspeed or not, I wasn’t sure that Alfred could get away without being hurt, if not killed.

  My children were closer to the other opened door, but in the far corner. There was another big man with a pickax guarding them, but he looked Middle Eastern. It didn’t take genius to know that the kids had been told to behave or watch their Uncle Alfred be murdered in front of them.

  The rest of the room was devoid of anything other than Chrysta and the pedestal she was standing near that looked to have risen out of the middle of the floor—the top looked just like the floor, and it was held up by several small, glowing pillars that surrounded a multicolored cloth that sat on the main part of the pedestal. An orb that glowed blue and purple sat on this cloth. Nothing about this looked manmade, either.

  “How do we remove it?” Chrysta asked. “Answer, correctly, or we start killing kids. Slowly.” She turned to look at Alfred and smiled—a very evil smile. “Or their father. You get to pick.”

  The only reason I wasn’t in the room was because Bill was holding me back. The realization that whatever the hell was going on was why Charles, James, Malcolm, and my dad were here waved merrily to me. It so figured that I wasn’t even all that surprised. That they were captives, most likely in the other room, was also not surprising. It was becoming clear that this was how our luck rolled in these situations.

  “You can’t kill the children,” Alfred said quickly. “Only one of them will be able to remove the orb safely.”

  “You’re lying,” Chrysta said, sounding bored.

  “Test it,” Alfred said. “You could release me and let me try it, if you want.”

  She snorted, then went to the other room. “I need Miguel.”

  A man who looked Mexican came into the room. “Yes, Señorita Patrón?”

  She nodded her head towards the pedestal. “Get the orb.”

>   Miguel shrugged and went to do as he was told. “How? The bars are too close together.”

  “Just shove your hand in. The old man said that’s how to get it.”

  Miguel did as requested. At least, he tried. But as soon as he put his hand near the bars, his body lit up with blue flames, he screamed, briefly, and turned into a pile of purple dust.

  Everyone gasped, other than Alfred, who’d clearly been expecting this.

  Chrysta stalked over to him and grabbed his head. “You knew it would do that.”

  “I did and I told you so. The children are the only ones who can remove it safely. The little girl will have the best chance.”

  That did it. I wrenched out of Bill’s hold and ran into the room. “Stay away from my children, you heinous bitch.”

  Chrysta rolled her eyes. “Oh, goody, you managed to find us.” She produced a gun from somewhere and pointed it at me. “One of you get that orb for me or your mother dies.”

  “It’s okay, Mommy,” Jamie said, as she came forward.

  “Yes it is,” Alfred said strongly. “Jamie will be fine, Katherine. I promise.”

  While I contemplated what I could do, which was not much, and what I’d do to Chrysta if my baby was hurt, which was a lot, Jamie walked over to the pedestal. It lowered so that she could reach the portion with the orb easily. She put her hand in and took out the orb. No muss, no fuss. It was clear that the pillars weren’t solid, because I watched them move aside for her. Then the pedestal rose back up to where it had been previously.

  Jamie looked at me, looked at Alfred, then ran back to stand in front of her brothers. “I won’t give it to you,” Jamie said. “You’re bad men and you’re a mean lady.”

  Chrysta walked over and tried to take the orb from Jamie. It glowed purple and blue and threw her back. She hit the far wall, but tucked her head and so wasn’t knocked out. Pity.

  While this was going on, I tried to get Alfred away from the man with the long knife. Unfortunately, this only meant that the man with the knife was able to grab me and put the knife in front of my face. Chrysta regained her feet and went to Alfred, putting her gun to his head.