Oh. Great.

The power was also out on the escalator. This was a relatively minor issue as an escalator without power is merely a stairwell. The limited light reflected off the shiny metal sides of the escalator, making it easy to see where my feet should go. I was concerned that the power would flick back on, as it had done with the lights, and throw my balance off. I kept my hands on the rails, just in case.

Once on the second floor, I took a moment. I knew exactly where I was and where I was going but the light levels were different from the escalator and I didn't want to stagger into a display if I could help it. Many of them in the area were at that sensitive upper thigh level. It would have been unpleasant.

The second floor was strangely quiet. I had expected a certain amount of hustling and bustling, people grumbling to depart in the limited lighting. There was nothing. With the diorama and display sounds off, any little sound would echo around the halls. Once I arrived to the Museum early in the morning. I was in the Rain Forest exhibit before the sounds were on. You couldn't help but hear the other people also in attendance. At least the lights were on then. When the sounds came on, it was suddenly, nothing and then all. I jumped in surprise and scurried from the exhibit to catch my breath.

Good times.

The path from one down escalator to the next was not complicated; a right turn, a hallway of displays, and a right turn. On my left was the Bison Hunt and Pow-Wow dioramas. Thankfully, the turntable that rotated the dancers in the Pow-Wow was off. The 'thump-thump' of the turntable as well as the motion would be rather eerie in the low light. It was off and everything was quiet.

Or rather, everything had been quiet.

Much like the sudden light had attacked my eyes earlier, this outbreak of noise assaulted my ears. I jumped in surprise, not unlike that time in the Rain Forest, and hid by the Pow-Wow diorama. Instinctively hiding felt like the right thing to do, at least until these loud voices better identified themselves.

I had positioned myself well. I've never been all that good at picking up the direction of sounds but they had been echoing from the up escalator on the other side of the hall and the circular Pow-Wow diorama was largely see-through. Shadowy figures emerged from the escalator area and moved to their left, towards the locked entrance to the 'Jewels of the Nile' exhibit. Where I was crouching was in the remnants of an exhibitor area that had been less diligent than we had about picking up after themselves. Folding chairs and tables surrounded me. Carefully I adjusted my position to better see what was going on.

Nearer the door they were now in the beam of one of the active lights. There were two men in dark suits as well as a lady in glasses and a sharp blue dress. They didn't all seem to be friends. “Look,” one man explained to the lady, “we already said we'd keep things to a minimum if you cooperated, didn't we? So be a nice gal and open the door, huh?”

“I've had a chance to think about it further and I've realized that you can't really do anything to me,” replied the lady. “I have the code so you can't hurt me and still get what you want.”

“We ain't gotta hurt you.”

I shifted my weight slightly and accidentally brushed against a folding chair enough to make it clatter.

Both suited men whirled around. After a quiet moment where their eyes searched the darkness around them, the talkative one spoke further. “Go check that out.”

“Right boss.” His hand dipped into his suit and emerged with a gun.

I knew something wasn't quite normal about all this. Sometimes I really hate being right.