Orchid

Attending Alfred G.'s birthday party would be the first shot over Selby's bow. An announcement that war had been declared.

'Wouldn't miss it,' Rafe said.

'The relic was similar to the others that you see in that case.' Alexander Brizo gestured toward the locked glass cabinet at the end of a row of laboratory workbenches. 'Made of the same material. A bit longer and narrower in shape than the object on the left.'

Orchid walked to the cabinet and gazed, fascinated, at the collection of alien artifacts. It was clear from their odd designs that they had not been made to fit human hands. They were all fashioned from a silvery alloy that defied analysis.

'This is the first time I've seen any of the relics outside the museum,' Orchid said. 'They really are strange, aren't they?'

'Very.' Brizo sighed. 'We don't know much more about them now than we did when Lucas Trent brought in the first batch. We can't even identify the components of the alloy the aliens used to make these objects. All we know is that the items were not made of anything found here on St. Helens.'

Rafe came to stand behind Orchid. He studied the objects in the case. 'Whatever it is, it must be something incredibly different from anything the first generation colonists brought with them from Earth.'

'Quite true.' Brizo's brows came together in a sober frown. 'The fact that the alloy did not disintegrate within months after it was exposed to St. Helens' atmosphere the way the Founders' Earth-based materials did, means that it is alien in every sense of the word.'

'Any idea yet how old the relics are?' Orchid asked.

'Our best psychometric-talents estimate that they're at least a thousand years old. Maybe more.'

'Too bad the fourth Chastain Expedition hasn't found any biological remains in that so-called alien tomb they're excavating,' Rafe said.

'Not a trace,' Brizo said. 'If there ever were any bodies inside, they decomposed eons ago. The archeolo- gists have not found so much as a bone fragment.'

'Maybe the aliens didn't have bones,' Orchid said. 'Maybe they were as different from us physically as this alloy is from our metals.'

'Or maybe they escaped St. Helens after all, but had to do it in a hurry,' Rafe suggested. 'That would explain why they left a lot of their equipment behind.'

'It's certainly possible,' Brizo said. 'The most popular hypothesis at the moment is that the aliens came to St. Helens the same way the first generation colonists from Earth did, through the Curtain. We assumed that they got stranded here when the Curtain closed without warning, just as the Founders were stranded. But perhaps the Curtain opened again long enough to allow the aliens to escape.'

Orchid stared at the strangely shaped relics behind the glass. Every schoolchild knew the history of the colonization of St. Helens. A little more than two hundred years earlier a mysterious Curtain of energy had materialized in space very near Earth. It had proved to be an interstellar gate between the home planet and a hospitable new world the colonists named St. Helens.

But shortly after the first generation settlers had arrived the Curtain had closed without warning. Cut off from the home planet, the small population of humans had been left to fend for themselves. A desperate battle for survival had ensued. The green world of St. Helens had welcomed the humans but it did not tolerate their Earth- based technology. Something in the very air and soil of the planet was anathema to the machines and materials of Earth.

The aliens had had better luck so far as their technology was concerned, but they, themselves, had disappeared.

'You have no idea at all why Theo Willis would have stolen that one particular relic?' Rafe asked.

'No.' Brizo shrugged. 'It wasn't any more unusual or interesting than the others except for the fact that it was found outside the tomb, rather than inside.'

'Outside?'

'It was imbedded in a small deposit of jelly-ice. Must have fallen into it a thousand years ago and just sat there until the expedition team discovered it.'

'What did it look like?'

'It was a simple narrow rod about a foot long. A bit like a thin flashlight except that there was no visible means of generating light.'

Orchid looked at him. 'You said Theo Willis was found at the bottom of the cliff the day after the relic disappeared?'

'Yes. The police ruled it a suicide, but I'm more inclined to think it must have been an accident. I don't see why Willis would have killed himself right after stealing the relic. The problem is that the artifact was not found at the scene of the crash. It has disappeared.'

Orchid frowned. 'What makes you so sure that Willis took the relic in the first place?'

'Because he seemed keenly interested in that one item in the collection,' Brizo explained. 'In fact, a few days before it disappeared, Theo asked to be assigned to the team that was responsible for conducting the analytical tests on it. He often stayed late to work on his projects and he was alone here the night the artifact disappeared.'

'There was no sign of a break-in?' Rafe asked.

'None.' Brizo gazed at the case full of relics with a deeply troubled expression. 'Whoever took the artifact had the code to the jelly-ice lock.'

Orchid studied the case. 'Theo had that code?'

'Yes.' Brizo looked at Rafe with a puzzled expression. 'The only thing I don't understand is why he took that particular artifact. If he was going to steal one for a collector, as you suggested, why not take one of the more interestingly shaped items?'

'Good question,' Rafe said. 'My, ah, associate, Ms. Adams, and I will find out.'

Half an hour later Orchid stood beside Rafe on the sidewalk in front of the small, depressing little house that had belonged to Theo Willis.

'You're sure it's all right to just go in and look around?' she asked uneasily.

'I wouldn't have invited you to come along if I thought we'd get arrested,' Rafe assured her. 'I know I'd never hear the end of it.'

'Are you implying that I have a tendency to nag?'

'I would never be so crass as to suggest such a possibility. Ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be.'

It occurred to Orchid that Rafe was enjoying himself. She could hardly complain. She was tense and somewhat anxious because of what they were about to do, but she was also undeniably excited. There were answers to be found. Tonight she and Rafe might discover some of them.

She followed warily as he led the way around to the back of the darkened house.

There was a chill in the midnight air. Fog had gathered on the bay and was slowly, methodically swallowing the city. Long, wispy tendrils curled in the street behind Orchid. The streetlight at the end of the block glowed beneath a shroud of mist. The reflected glare did little to illuminate the scene.

Rafe seemed to have no problem navigating the foggy night. He did not even require a focus link. Orchid figured that finding Theo's back door was probably a snap compared to locating a secret exit in the utter darkness of Elvira Turlock's rare book gallery.

When Rafe disappeared around the back porch, she hurried to catch up. She did not want to lose sight of him in the fog.

She rounded the corner and experienced a moment of alarm when she could not see him.

'Rafe?'

'Over here.'

She peered closely and saw him move, a dark shadow against even deeper blackness. 'Has anyone ever told you that you have a way of fading into the background?'

'Is that a polite way of telling me that I don't have a scintillating personality?' A soft click sounded in the darkness. 'Here we go.'

'Did you break the lock?'