Alien Upstairs (15 page)

"He found you,” Margaret said, “and brought you back. The Pathway had drifted—it happens on occasion—or you would have found yourself on his station instead of his world. He discovered the problem just in time, and went back for you."

"You're going to leave with him. Raf told me."

"Yes, I shall. He will return for me, and we shall join others. What is wrong?"

Sarah moved closer to the smaller woman. Margaret had said she was from the past; she was a living document. Sarah suddenly wanted to talk to her. “What was it like?” she asked. “Your village, I mean.” She paused. “I used to study history, but I never thought I'd see a witness to it in the flesh.” She tried to smile.

Margaret's mouth twisted. “We lived. Sometimes we had enough to eat and sometimes we did not. The world was as it was. Raf made me curious, that was part of it, but he also promised me food and deliverance from death. Why think of it now? I am no longer that girl. You look on the past as a story. You can read stories. Do not ask me to tell them to you."

"Raf's going to keep us here,” Sarah said quickly. “You must help. I don't know what to do."

Margaret lifted her chin. “I can do nothing."

"Please."

"What can I do? I was going to him now, to ask him if he would join me on my quest. If he does, he must leave you. It will take you many years before you learn enough to return home."

Sarah clasped her hands together. “No. You can't."

"There must be an observer here. You could be given long life, and take the post.” She shrugged. “Or you could come with me."

Sarah stared at the other woman. “Damn you,” she said, “We don't deserve this."

"Do you not? You must have sought Raf out, or he would not have brought you. He has told me he never took anyone who did not assent.” Margaret spun around and moved toward one of the doors. Sarah hurried after her and grabbed her arm.

"Help us, Margaret.” Sarah held on to her. “If you don't, I'll make sure you don't leave. I don't know how, but I will. If we stay, you stay.” She was sorry almost as soon as she had said it, and released the other woman.

"Very well,” Margaret responded. “Where is Raf now?"

"I don't know."

"We must find him.” Margaret led her through the door. “I think I know where we may find him.” She stopped in the corridor and took Sarah's arm. “Listen to me. I shall do what I can, but I cannot jeopardize my plans. If I am not here in time to join my companion, he will begin the search without me. It will be hard for me to follow, because I do not know the Pathway as he does, and even with the route set, a long time may pass before I find him, or learn enough to try again. I have waited for this. I have tried before, only to have Raf rob me of my memories.” She took a breath. “I am not going to wait here until I become one like Raf.” She walked away, and Sarah followed.

 

They came to a small room with a transparent door and several suits in carapaces on the wall. Margaret opened the door and led Sarah inside, then removed two of the suits. She gave one to Sarah. It looked bulky, but felt light.

"I was right,” Margaret said. “A suit is missing. Put this on."

Sarah dressed in the suit, then put on a helmet. “Stay close to me,” Margaret said. Her voice seemed to be next to Sarah's ear. “There is a field around this place I do not fully understand which holds us, but you can become disoriented on the surface. Be very careful how you walk."

The door slid open. They entered darkness. A cliff was before them. Margaret began to climb, showing Sarah the gouges and handholds along the sides of the scarp. Sarah crept up cautiously, afraid she would fall, and afraid to admit it. She did not look down. Margaret disappeared over the top. She crawled after her, and stood up.

Mars was below them. A dust storm raged across its surface, obscuring it with pink and yellow clouds. She watched it, unable to move, then looked away, following the small helmeted figure. She could see no horizon, and felt disoriented as she stepped carefully over the rocky ground. The light of Mars lit her way. She looked back, and could no longer see the crevice out of which they had climbed.

A third suited figure appeared ahead. It stood near a patch of jagged stone. Margaret lifted a hand. “Raf,” she said, hailing the other. “Raf."

Sarah watched him turn. His helmet was a small red globe; she could not see his face. “I thought you'd gone,” he answered in a weary voice.

"Be assured that I shall, and soon. But I had to speak to you. I must leave."

"I know. Everyone does. Everyone has."

"Please come inside, Raf."

His hands fluttered, then fell to his sides. Sarah supposed that Margaret could have spoken to Raf from below, and had come out only as a gesture.

Margaret held out her hands to him. “Come below, Raf. I must speak to you."

"Speak to me here."

"Raf, I am leaving soon. I shall go with my friend to his station, and we shall search for those beyond us. You must come with me, and say good-bye. There may still be time for you to return these others to their home, and then you can follow me through the Pathway. We shall leave it set for you, so that you will be led to us."

"I have new friends. I don't need you now, Margaret."

"You have no friends, you have prisoners."

"Call them what you like."

Margaret turned, and motioned to Sarah. They left Raf and made their way back to the precipice.

 

Margaret did not speak until they were inside and had taken off their suits. She put them away, then turned to Sarah.

"I could not say more to him out there,” she murmured. “I was afraid of what he might do."

She led Sarah into the corridor. “There is only one thing I can do now,” she went on. “I must return you to Earth myself. I may have barely enough time to do so and return. We must get the others and go."

She darted through the hallways, Sarah following her into unfamiliar passages. She hurried to keep up with the smaller woman. Soon they came to a familiar hallway with manuscripts and photographs heaped against the walls. Margaret led her into their room.

"Sarah,” Gerard said. He came quickly to her side and held her. “I lost you, so I came back here. Where have you been?"

"There isn't time to explain,” she replied. “We have to go, we have to leave now. Margaret will take us back to Earth."

Mr. Epstein stood up slowly. “I haven't even had time to look around."

"You must leave now,” Margaret said. “If you do not, you will be prisoners here. You will remain as long as I have, perhaps longer."

The old man looked at Gerard. Sarah could see that he was undecided; even Gerard was hesitating. She tapped the floor impatiently with her toe. At last Gerard gathered up their coats. They moved toward the door.

It slid shut.

Margaret ran to it and hit the wall, slapping it with the palm of her hand. The door remained closed.

"No,” she cried. She hit it again. “He knew. He knew I would come here."

"Can't you get us out?” Sarah asked.

Margaret turned to her. “I do not know. If I had some tools with me, perhaps. But I have nothing. Raf can keep us here as long as he likes."

 

While they waited, Sarah told her story to the two men. Margaret paced the room nervously.

As Sarah finished, the old man shook his head. “If there is nothing we can do,” he said, “then we must wait. I wasn't sure I wanted to return anyway."

"You want to stay here?” she asked.

He shrugged. “There's a lot we can learn."

"There's a lot we can learn about insanity, with Raf here."

Margaret had stopped pacing. She sat on the floor, head bowed. Gerard stared angrily ahead.

"Margaret,” Sarah said. The small woman raised her head. “Can't you still follow your friend? Raf has to let us out eventually. Can't you go to that room—to the Pathway—and follow him?"

Margaret's mouth twisted. “Of course, if Raf does not tamper with the Pathway. My friend will try to leave me a route to follow. But Raf will tamper with it now, I am certain.” She bowed her head once more, then got to her feet. She went to the far corner and sat down, drawing up her legs.

Gerard motioned to Sarah. She followed him to the other side of the room, away from Margaret. He held her hand. “I'm sorry,” he said softly. “We may be trapped here, and it's my fault."

"It's not anyone's fault."

"I could have insisted that we not go with Raf."

"Maybe I wanted to go, deep down. Maybe I would have gone by myself."

"I don't think so."

She was suddenly irritated with him. “Don't be so sure.” She released his hand. “It doesn't matter now, anyway."

"Listen. If Margaret can escape through that Pathway you talked about, why can't we?"

"You don't understand. It's too dangerous. It won't take us to Earth anyway—even if it did, we wouldn't know how to get there. We don't know anything about it. Look at Raf—he knows about it, and he's still afraid of it, even after all this time."

"Then we're prisoners."

Sarah nodded.

"We can keep Margaret here,” he whispered, leaning closer to her. “We can help Raf make sure she doesn't go."

"Oh, no."

"He wouldn't have any reason for keeping us then. She can't stand up to all of us. Why not?"

"I said that to Margaret before,” she replied. “I wish I hadn't. Don't you understand how cruel that would be? We can't do that to her, she's waited too long for her chance. It wouldn't be fair."

"Who cares? What's Margaret to us?"

"Another person. I would think that'd be enough."

Gerard scowled. She could not tell what he was thinking. “Raf's playing with us,” she went on. “Don't you see that?"

The wall behind Margaret brightened suddenly. Sarah looked up. An image of Raf appeared. Margaret climbed to her feet.

"I see you are all present,” Raf said. “I hope you've had time to consider things. I would have been so unhappy to see you leave so soon. I'm sure that's what Margaret had planned for you. I'm going to open your door soon. Margaret, you don't have much time. I'll meet you all in the Pathway chamber, I'm sure you can find your way.” The image disappeared.

Gerard clutched Sarah's shoulder. “We can still keep her from leaving,” he said.

"She was going to help us. Do you want to do that to her?"

He sighed. “No, I guess I don't."

Margaret was watching them. She was very still. Sarah crossed the room to her. “You'll have to lead the way,” she said to the other woman. “We'd probably get lost. We'll see you off, we'll say good-bye."

Margaret gazed at her mutely.

 

Margaret opened the door to the large room, and led them inside.

Raf was waiting for them. Sarah looked for the disks at the far end of the room, and could not see them. The chamber seemed smaller. Raf raised a hand.

"You have put down the shield,” Margaret said. “You will not let me through."

Raf shrugged. “Just a safety measure. I should have put it down before, so that our guests wouldn't injure themselves.” He held out his right hand; he was wearing a slender bracelet on his wrist. “You can unlock it, of course. You'll have to go find your own controls, and circumvent this lock, but you can do that. In the meantime, of course, your alien friend may go on without you."

"You cannot do this, Raf."

"But I can."

Margaret looked like a bewildered child. She folded her hands and held them to her chest. Raf shifted his eyes to Sarah. “I'm helping you, my dear. Without Margaret, you shan't get home. I might take you back myself, if I know she's still here, but I am not willing to stay here alone."

Margaret's mouth twisted. “I have something to tell you,” she said. “Pay heed. If you stop me now, I shall depart at some other time, even if I must go to a place where I am not known, even if it means a greater risk. Do you understand me?"

The tall man laughed. His laughter was sharp, without cheer. “I don't believe you, Margaret. You fear death too much for that. You came to me on Earth long ago because of your fear. Have you forgotten? You'll take a calculated risk, but not a reckless one, I think."

"Let me go, Raf."

He crouched. “You can fight me. That's another way out. But I think I can beat you. Then I'll take your memory away. How does that sound?"

Margaret stepped to her right. She was suddenly throwing herself at Raf. His left arm went out and hit her on the side of the head, knocking her across the floor. She rose and aimed a drop kick at his torso. He fell, rolled, and reached for her, flinging her against the shield. She crumpled to the floor, moaning.

Mr. Epstein grunted. Gerard was running toward the tall man before Sarah could stop him. He grabbed Raf's left arm. Raf twisted away. His right arm moved. Gerard abruptly doubled over. Sarah strode to him and held him.

Margaret said, “Let me go, Raf."

He watched her with his large eyes as she got to her feet. “I know you, Raf,” she went on. “I have had many years to know you. You have done cruel things, but I know you are not a cruel man. Your soul can be reached. You have watched the Earth for so long that you have become despairing and angry. Unable to punish those who rise and then fall away, you punish those whom you bring here. And you punish yourself. You see your own failure mirrored in the failures of people, and you deny your own humanity."

A muscle in Raf's cheek was twitching. Sarah looked at his hands, and thought she saw them quiver.

"You punished me when I chose to remain here. But now I want to go on, as the others you brought here chose to go. You could have stopped them, too, but in the end you did not. You will let me go because, in your soul, you know I should, and that you should as well. You will let me go, and punish yourself for your fear by letting me go."

Raf was very still. Then he pressed his bracelet. The wall slid up and disappeared into the high ceiling. Margaret moved toward the disks.