They were less than two miles away from the house when a military helicopter streaked past overhead, low to the ground and shining its floodlights.

“Jesus, they’re going to find that probe,” Sera fussed.

“Let them. It’ll keep them busy while we get out of here,” Theyn said. “And since the sun hasn’t risen yet, they’ll find the Taluan, and they can enjoy that for a while, too.”

Beno looked at his partner, then he looked at Sera through the rear-view mirror. “I took absolutely everything in that probe that could give them any information. The only thing I didn’t take was the propulsion unit and the cooling system.”

“What about rations?” Theyn asked.

The two Ylians shared an uneasy moment until Beno advised, “I left those, too.”

Sera’s hands were sweating. “Where the hell are we going, guys? I don’t know this area, and the only thing I can think of is to take you to my place, but that’s stupid as hell, because if anybody is looking for me, they’d come right there, and oh my God, what do you mean I’m pregnant?”

“Breathe,” Theyn coached, putting his hand on her knee.

“How can I be Ylian?”

“Our people came and inter -”

“Okay, I know how, but how? I mean, wouldn’t I know?”

Beno shook his head. “Not if it was far enough back in your family history. Your response to the stunner was so typical for an Ylian female that it makes sense to me… and obviously our species are compatible.”

“Pregnant,” she repeated, shocked. She put her hand on her lower abdomen, but of course there was nothing to feel and nothing to show.  “I never thought… I mean, I never… I knew it could…”

They let her babble her fragmented phrases, patiently waiting while she wrapped her head around the idea. It took a long while. By the time she had gotten herself settled down, the sun was beginning to rise and they were near the outskirts of San Antonio. 

Theyn yawned cavernously and Beno suggested, “Why don’t we stop for a few hours? We all need sleep and something to eat.”

“Good idea.”  She nodded. “I don’t know how much money I have on me, and they’re going to be tracking my credit card. We’ve got to live on cash.”

Beno nodded. “All right, then. Take me to a…ATM, I think you call them. Where the money is made.”

Sera had to smile. “It’s not actually made there, but it’s sort of stored there. Are you planning on robbing the bank?”

“I heard that your financial institutions are insured for any losses. We need the cash more than they do.”

“You’re going to rob a bank.” She stared at him in the mirror.  “Oh my God.”

“We’re already fugitives,” he reasoned. “What’s one more reason to chase us?”

“I -”  A hundred reasons to protest and stop him ran through her mind, along with a few very good reasons to allow it.  She shook her head. “All right, then. ATM it is.”

She drove until she found a bank with a drive-through cash machine.  She pulled up close to the ATM and rolled down her window.

“Is there surveillance?” Theyn asked.

“Yeah. Probably set into the ATM itself, so it’s getting a nice shot of my face,” she said.

Beno pulled on his electronics-disrupting glove and slid out of the backseat.  Sera fidgeted, looking for flashing lights or slow-moving police cars. Theyn sat calmly, his hands folded in his lap, and he smiled for her.
“It’s all right,” he assured her. “This is necessary.”

On the other side of the machine, Beno stroked his glove against the plastic housing, and something inside whined in protest. The ATM let out a short puff of air, almost as if it were coughing, and then all of the lights in its touch screen face went out.

“The camera is off now,” Theyn told them.

“Maybe it’s not on the same circuit as the screen,” Sera said, unconvinced.

“I can’t hear it anymore, so I don’t think it’s functioning,” he explained.

Beno clearly didn’t care if there were cameras around or not. He grabbed the shoulder bag that he had used to empty out the Taluan probe and brought it around to the front of the machine. He pressed against it with his glove again, and there was another soft whine-thump sound, and then the front of the ATM fell off, exposing the stacks of cash inside. He filled the bag with money, emptying the drawers at the bottom of the machine and stripping the chutes. When he had taken it all, he climbed back into the car.

“Let’s go,” he said.

In the distance, Sera could hear a police siren, and she gunned the accelerator, chanting all the way, “Oh my God oh my God oh my God…. we’re dead we’re dead we’re dead….”

Theyn put a hand on her knee again. “Calm yourself. There’s no danger.” He smiled encouragingly. “Slow down so you don’t attract attention.”

In the back seat, Beno was calmly counting his ill-gotten gains.  Sera glanced at him in the rear-view mirror. The growing light of dawn made his scales glow softly, and his brilliant green eyes were points of illumination in the back of the car.

“They probably saw us all really clearly,” she fretted. “And our license plate. I’ll bet they got the license plate. We’re going to have to get a new car.”

The blond Ylian’s forehead puckered in confusion, a look that she caused him to wear quite a bit, it seemed. “Why not just get a new license?”

“They’ll be looking for this car.” She felt tears of anxiety stinging her eyes. “Good God… what did I just let you guys do?”

Beno put a stack of cash back into the bag and picked up another. “You let us obtain the material currency we will need to keep ourselves fed and housed until the child is born.  That is our biggest concern.”

She turned onto a wide highway and wished there was more traffic. If there had been more cars, she would have been more confident that they’d be able to lose any pursuers.

Theyn heard her thoughts. Sera, there are no pursuers. Calm down.

Her hands were shaking, and the fatigue and worry of the last twenty-four hours rose around her like a blanket. She sniffed, trying not to cry. Stupid hormones.

They’re a necessary evil, Beno teased. Aloud, he said, “We have twenty-two thousand dollars here. That should be enough to last for a while.”

She took a deep, steadying breath.  “Now we just have to get out of San Antonio… but not until I sleep, guys. I’m not going to be able to keep driving. I’m bushed.”

“Then let’s find a hotel and stop for a while,” Beno suggested. “I will see to the license plate issue while you rest.”

“Don’t you want to sleep?” she asked him.

He smiled tightly. “More than almost anything in the world.”

“Then we will sleep first,” Theyn said. The more she saw of him, the more she saw his propensity for giving gentle orders. If she hadn’t already known that he was royalty, she would have begun to suspect something of the sort.

She found a run-down but not entirely seedy strip motel on the outskirts of town. The sign had a neon cowboy with an oversized Stetson on his cartoon head, and the name of the hotel was The Okay Corral. She groaned at the pun, but it was this place or a chain, and chains had records that were too searchable.

They parked the car with the license plate toward the building, and then Sera checked in and got them their keys. The Ylians stayed with their belongings, keeping to the shadows and trying not to show their true natures. She came back just a few minutes later and led them to their room.

Once they were safely inside, they all collapsed onto the nearest bed, not even bothering to remove their shoes. Before the sun had finished rising, they were all fast asleep.

***

Asa sat at his kitchen table with his wrists cuffed behind him.  On the other chairs were Joely, similarly trussed up, and Rodriguez, who had been cuffed to the chair by his good arm. The fourth chair at the table was grabbed and spun around, and a man in a military uniform straddled the back, leaning his arms on it and giving them all a friendly enough look.

“So who here wants to tell me what that thing is out in the barn?” he asked.

Joely crossed her long legs, squirming in her jean shorts, trying to find a comfortable position. “That thing fell out of the sky last night. We were going to call the authorities, but we weren’t sure who to call, and we were afraid that people would think we were lying.”

The man smiled wider. “That’s a lie, Miss Thompson.”

“If you say so.”

“Now, hold up, there,” Asa objected. “Don’t you go callin’ this lady a liar. That ain’t right. And just who the heck are you supposed to be, anyway?”

“I’m Major Steven Grace, United States Air Force,” he said. “And the gentleman who is searching your upstairs rooms is Colonel Remigio Vasquez of Mexican Special Forces.”

Asa scowled. “Seems he’s a bit out of his jurisdiction, don’t it?”

Grace chuckled. “I know you’re a PhD candidate at the University of Austin, Mr. Brunner, so you can lose the good ol’ boy schtick.” His amicable demeanor melted. “I also know that you had Cooper and the aliens in this house, and I mean to find them.”

Vasquez and two Mexican scientists descended the steps. One of the scientists was carrying an evidence bag containing shreds of fabric. The major and the colonel stepped out into the driveway, too far away for prying ears to hear what they were saying.

“You all right, Joely?”

She nodded. “Yeah. You?”

Asa shrugged. “Considering I’m trussed up like a roasting chicken in my grandma’s house, I’m doin’ just fine. Never better.”

She snorted. “Now who’s a liar?”

Grace returned to the kitchen with four burly enlisted airmen. “You’re coming with us,” he announced to the two graduate students. “I’d say that it’s pretty likely that your academic careers are over.”

Two of the men laid their hands on Asa’s arms, hooking him under the armpits and hauling him to his feet.  He complained, “What the hell are you doing? Are you arresting me?”

“Both of you, actually.” The major took a pair of sunglasses out of a pocket and slipped them over his eyes. The mirrored surfaces reflected Asa’s face back at him.

The other airmen had picked Joely up off of the chair and put her down on her feet.  She complained, “You can’t do this. I’m an American citizen. I know my rights!”

“Do you really?” Grace chuckled.

“Yes. And you can’t arrest us without reading us our Miranda rights.” Joely lifted her chin pugnaciously, clearly thinking she’d stumped him.

Grace put his cover back on his head and smiled again. “We’re the military, ma’am,” he told her. “We can do whatever we damn well please.”

Joely and Asa continued to protest, but their objections were ignored. Asa was deposited into the back of a black sedan with heavily-tinted windows, seated between two men in black suits. Joely was also taken from the airmen and pushed into a hummer with more black-suited agents. She was still arguing as the cars pulled away.

Grace nodded to Vasquez, who turned to the Mexican soldiers attending him. “Quémalo,” he ordered. “Burn it down.”