Staring at him with her emerald eyes glistening under the light, Taylor shook her head, believing that she's having another off-dream, she'll wake up in her office by Jessica, have the same conversation about her hiding from attending the dinner, but as she tried, Taylor sees that she isn't dreaming, this was real life.
"This… this can't be happening!" Taylor shuffled away from this man calling himself the Doctor, unable to illicit more than that from him, she's unable to trust him much less believe him as he insists upon the matter.
Jumping in the air, Taylor sees the door closing on its own, causing her to sharply turning back towards the Doctor, demanding to know what's going on, and his response didn't help.
It'd appear that the unknown pharaoh wasn't all that he seemed, not that it came to Taylor's surprise, as she saw it firsthand.
"What… is it…?" Taylor wanted an explanation on what that thing chasing her was and the Doctor informed her it's a rare alien, not often seen, especially on Earth ruling as a pharaoh, an arapulo.
Spider people, if that helps explaining what they are, identified easily by their violin shaped bodies, four long arms with clawed hands that helps them grip the underside of caves, only able to consume foods by breaking them down into liquid with their salvia, like a spider.
Hence, those jars of now-fermented fruit juices that was discovered alongside the arapulo.
How the arapulo survived this long, they can go into a state of hibernation where they can easily sleep for hundreds of years, their bodies efficient enough that they're no worse for wear when they wake up from their slumber.
The candidness in his tone of voice made Taylor raise her fine brow as she echoed, "A-alien?"
Nodding, the Doctor hurried to the console as he tells her that the arapulo have unusual characteristics, externally and internally, and it's the reason this one survived becoming entombed for over four-thousands years.
That would explain the lack of canopic jars, as the arapulo wasn't mummified.
"But, how…?" Taylor found it difficult that an alien ruled as a pharaoh, but the Doctor candidly told her that it happens more than she thinks, and that's why no one knew what it was initially, or so much as believe that it's an alien.
Of course, there's the conspiracy theorists who're right for the wrong reasons, but they didn't have much privilege to the full-story, though so they claim, anyhow.
Trying to wake herself up proved fruitless, Taylor wasn't dreaming, as she watched the Doctor typing on one of the keypads.
"And… are… are these things… dangerous?" Taylor inquired as she sees the Doctor reading a long strand of text that appeared on the monitor.
Quite reclusive they were, that it surprised him that one openly ruled as a pharaoh.
Suppose it adapted to the humans at the time, that there's a theory he's been kicking around that arapulo are naturally drawn to humans, given that there was one that wrote about humans in the comforts of an underground library to the arapulo ruling as a pharaoh, but being so rare, he couldn't be sure, until he comes across the next one, whenever that may occur.
Otherwise, he doesn't believe the species poses much of a threat, outside maybe becoming defensive, but that's a common trait among every creature and person.
If threatened enough, perhaps the arapulo will attempt to use its claws to slash at attackers, but with its thin violin body, it'll try to do anything to avoid a conflict if it can help it.
"Your pharaoh has spent over four-thousand years asleep in its tomb, that when it woke up, and realized it wasn't in the tomb outside Giza, it'd became curious, trying to understand where it is and how it ended up here," the Doctor summed, "since they're normally underground, it's not too fond of the lights, and destroying them because of it."
The one that turned people into dolls wore dark glasses when it went out, to prevent the sunlight from affecting the pinprick eyes that've evolved to see easily in the darkness, for example.
Blinking, Taylor goes, "So… it doesn't eat humans?"
Shaking his head, the Doctor assures her that it posed no threat to humans, it likely broke into the canopic jars and consumed the fermented fruits stored inside, likely what Taylor saw.
"Then… why was it coming after me?" Taylor brought up the arapulo seemingly chasing after her, causing the Doctor to respond that it'd simply spotted her, seeing her as a human, and having ruled them, it likely thought she was one of the Egyptians that served it, tried coming towards her, but of course, Taylor reacted negatively to it.
Assuring her once more that it didn't pose a threat to her, the Doctor sighs as he finished reading the screen, before coming towards Taylor, as she stepped backwards with her emerald eyes fixated on his chestnut eyes.
"Can't bring it back to Giza, everything's changed, have to track it down, see if we can find it somewhere more comfortable," the Doctor mused that he'll have to track down the arapulo, though communicating with it posed a problem to him, that he asks Taylor if she can speak ancient Egyptian.
Pulling on her stitched coat, Taylor stated that she's a curator, of course she'd know ancient Egyptian.
Her poor mother had to put up with her reading books well into the night trying to pass her proficiency tests, thought she was possessed when she spoke to her in the language, multiple times.
Grabbing her hand, the Doctor goes, "Perfect, that'll work excellently. Come along, Miss..."
He trailed as he didn't catch her name and she gave it, he corrected himself, "Come along, Miss Taylor, we have much to do."
If the arapulo couldn't get to her, it'll likely move onto the next person it can find, leading Taylor to tell him that she wasn't the only one in the museum, that there's a security guard and her friend, Jessica.
"But they won't know it isn't a threat!" Taylor warns that they'll understandably react negatively to seeing a two-meter-tall creature with four arms.
Understanding, the Doctor tells her that it wasn't the first time he had to keep a miscommunication from causing chaos, so the more they stood around, the likelier there's going to be an incident.
Those eyes of his glistening under the light, the Doctor tells her, "Then we better find it before they do, hm?"
With that, he led her out of… wherever it is they were standing inside… outside into the hallway, blanketed in darkness.
The context given, the knowledge bomb settling in her mind, Taylor's able to understand the hieroglyphics better, that the ancient Egyptians that worshipped it as a pharaoh didn't know what it was, simply calling it a deity reborn of some sort.
Whatever it did during its rule, it must've done well, the hieroglyphics that Taylor understood sung praises to the pharaoh that enlightened and enriched his people, adorned with gold, gifts, praise.
When he seemingly passed, they mourned his death for seven months straight, only after the time passed did a new pharaoh take his place, as history went.
Determined to prevent needless confrontation, the Doctor wasted no time running with Taylor behind him, wanting to intervene before the pharaoh accidentally scares more people by mistake.
He hoped that with Taylor's aptitude in ancient Egyptian, he'll easily communicate with the arapulo and convince it to go with him quietly, bring it somewhere it won't risk harm from frightened people.
Her emerald eyes attempting to focus in the darkness, Taylor had no other choice but staying close to the Doctor, while she had her doubts about him, she didn't have much of a choice.
Seeing how the darkness grew perpetuate, even with the moon above shining through the glass domes, the arapulo pharaoh made swift work of the lights above, given how the security cameras were ripped off the mounts, it didn't like the infrared light coming from them, either.
The Doctor began asking if there's any food in the museum, something it could easily digest, and Taylor informs him that obviously, there's food in their offices and the security shack, otherwise, there isn't anything else, because, it's a museum.
Though, Herbert had been kicking around an idea of renovating the museum with the money brought in from the new exhibit and including a large cafeteria for the staff, staffed with the best money could buy, of course, Herbert always thought lavishly, but remained frugal at heart.
Suddenly, there's a shrill, screaming, and footsteps running through ahead of them, unable to see, Taylor heard them coming dangerously close, before the Doctor pulled her away as two figures nearly ran into them.
"Oh my god!" Jessica screamed as her feet slapped against the ground, having lost her shoes in the ensuring chaos she and Owen went through escaping a creature chasing them.
She nearly screamed again when she felt the Doctor's hand, only calming down when she heard Taylor talking to her.
"What the hell's going on here?" Jessica tried looking at them from the darkness, unable as the creature destroyed the lights, and the Doctor candidly told her what he told Taylor, it was an alien, simple as that.
The way he said it, he must've been dealing with events like these for so long, it's second nature for him, causing Owen to balk, "Alien?"
Realizing talking in the darkness wasn't helping, the Doctor produced an object from his elegant pocket, turning it on, showering them in the minty green light.
"Who… are you?" Jessica looked at the Doctor with confusion as he tilted his head at her, Owen swiftly stating that he didn't see anyone else on his patrol, nobody else should've been here, but the Doctor informed him that he didn't break into the museum.
He simply entered through an unconventional means.
"I can't call anyone out, the damn thing wrecked the phones!" Owen warned Taylor that the creature destroyed their chances phoning out to someone, when he was asked by the Doctor, he told him that he and Jessica were trying to get outside, but the creature started coming after them, that they weren't sure they'd be able to get through the front doors in time.
Hearing this, the Doctor told him that the arapulo wasn't going to harm him or Jessica, it's trying to find what it thought were its followers, and food, since it's been asleep for over four-thousand years.
"And I'd prefer no outside interferences, please," the Doctor warned them that he'd like to resolve this manner between them, that if they involved anyone else, it risked causing more problems than its worth.
Shrugging his shoulders, Owen sputtered, "Whatever you want, man, I don't get paid enough throwing out an alien!"
Dealing with the occasional drunk or prissy tourist who didn't understand or want to understand the rules and etiquette of the museum, sure, that's part of the job and the hourly rate, but an alien?
… Maybe Owen could ask for a raise after this, on account this could be something the museum neglected in the contract.
"Follow my lead," the Doctor prompted them to follow him as they walked through the darkened museum with the glow of the handheld object in his hand helping them see through the darkness.
