When Peter Attwood discovers a most unlikely find on an archaeological dig in Egypt, he knows the Antique Shop is up to something, and this time, he feels a deep dread. Yes, he has been searching for the tomb of Cleopatra, and yes, he would love to be the one to find it, but is the Antique Shop really going to send him back to see the queen, the last Pharaoh of Egypt? Could the shop be that helpful? Experience told him it was unlikely.

When he gets home to London, he finds that, as usual, the shop will not let him rest until he knows what it has in mind. Now they have Martha Parnell to worry about, a younger woman and ancestor of Rachel's whom they have brought out of the 17th century. She is already afraid of the inventions of the 21st century and she has never heard of ancient Egypt. Why should she? She has scraped a living by thieving and has had no education.

Nevertheless, they all go to the shop, expecting just what they find—an Egyptian headdress. But unusually, no appropriate costumes in which to change so they will blend in. They open the door to the outside, expecting to find themselves in a desert landscape, perhaps with a view of the Great Pyramids. Instead they find themselves in a place so alien, they suspect that this time the Antique Shop had sent them to another planet.