I lowered my light and slipped it into the clasp on the armor’s equipment belt. The illumination dropped to the previous level, but it was more than enough. I unslung the imager. “Just keep the light on it I need to take as many images as I can.”
“Yes, sir.”
I moved down the sloping floor, gingerly, shooting images as I moved. I’d already decided not to step onto the dais. I didn’t need to, and I had a healthy respect for anything that worked as well as the Danannian stuff after bil-lions of years.
Once I got within a meter of the dais, perhaps three from the edge of the sculpture device, I checked out the black line between the two spheres. So far as I could see, it was just dark light, not carried by anything crystalline.
“Nuovyl… play the light on me for a moment, not on the sculpture.”
“On you, sir?”
“That’s right.”
“Yes, sir.”
The dimness and the darkness immediately filled the room. Enough of Nuovyl’s light reflected off my armor that I could see there was nothing connecting the two gray spheres directly. I could see the spheres, the crystal arcs, and where they joined, but nothing more.
I took some more images.
“Now… put it back on the sculpture.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once more, the hall was filled with light from that point source. It was definitely a point source, in the pure geometrical sense. I kept moving around the base of the dais, taking images from all possible angles and elevations. Who knew when I’d ever get as much time with the sculpture again?
Finally, responsibility caught up with me. “I need to report to Dr. Henjsen.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ll go out and see how Zerobya is doing.”
“You think we can leave this… ?” Nuovyl’s voice reflected the mixed emotions of duty and relief.
“It’s done quite nicely for the last few billion years.”
Nuovyl didn’t say anything until we were walking down the ramp to the first level.
“Do you have any idea what it is, sir? Why would they leave it here? They didn’t leave anything else. If it’s important… I mean, there aren’t even any directions to it.”
I almost shook my head. “We don’t know that There aren’t any directions as we’d recognize them. I’d guess it’s important, but that’s only a guess. I’d also judge that there was a reason it was left, but we haven’t had much luck in figuring out most of what’s here. So whether we’ll do any better with it… who knows?”
“Sir!” Zerobya voice was so loud it rattled my head inside the helmet. “Dr. Henjsen requested that you contact her ASAP.”
“Can you put me through on the slider’s comm?”
“You’re on.”
“Danann Base—”
“What took you so long to report personally, Barna? What do you have? More windows? Or transparent doors?”
I let the silence hang there.
“Barna. It’s damned late.”
“We have a significant piece of artwork, or a technical model of something I couldn’t begin to understand. It transmits and intensifies light in a way I’ve never seen, but it’s also very artistic. It might even qualify as a great work of art, but I don’t think that’s its purpose. It measures roughly three meters from side to side, a meter deep, and about four and half meters high. That’s the physical structure. It projects light another meter above that I’d guess it weighs at least a good five hundred kilos, maybe even double that, but that’s a guess—”
“You’ve found an artifact that significant, and you didn’t report immediately—”
“I haven’t touched it, Doctor. It’s been here for billions of years. It’s sitting on a perfectly circular dais in a perfectly circular room. It’s the first place I’ve seen that’s perfectly circular. There’s nothing at all around the… whatever it is. I judge that the hall that holds it is the closest thing to an auditorium that the Danannian aliens had.”
“What do you mean by intensifying light?” “If we shine a light on the crystalline part, light flows up to the top, then concentrates to a tiny point almost a meter above the crystal. That point puts out enough light to illuminate the entire hall, and it’s forty meters across and more than ten high.”
“Don’t touch anything. Don’t touch anything at all. Cleon and I will be there as soon as we can be.”
“I haven’t.” I didn’t mention that I’d taken a number of images and would keep taking them from as many angles as possible.
“Stay where you can be reached.” “Either the techs or I will be here at the slider.” Henjsen was silent for a moment. She was probably thinking about whether to demand that I stay away. Finally, she replied. “I can’t stress enough that you shouldn’t touch it or anything around it.” “I haven’t. I’ve stayed off the dais where it is.” “Good. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” That gave me more than a good stan to go back and look at it and take some more images. I probably ought to have taken some of the hall as well, because I’d have to paint the sculpture in its original setting.
Could it even be moved? What if it were an integral part of the entire tower?
If that were the case, I’d better get all the images I could.
Then, if it could be moved, Henjsen and Lazar would find a way. With the scarcity of real artifacts, they’d blow a fusactor to get enough power to cut it from the dais. Even if it could be moved, someone would want an impression of how it looked in its original setting. “We need to head back in to get some more images.” “Yes, sir.” Resignation and apprehension filled Nuovyl’s voice.
I could have been mistaken, but I didn’t think the Danannians would create something so artistic that could last billions of years just to have it explode the first time some alien looked at it. After all, in their minds, we would have been the aliens.
58
Barna
We didn’t get back to base until late on oneday. Actually, it was very early in the morning on twoday. I tried to sleep in. I didn’t sleep well. Despite my exhaustion, dreams of light fountains and strange voices that I could not understand or recall filled my sleep. When those subsided, I got all of half a stan past the normal call time before Fernard’s loud voice woke me.
“Expedition director or not, I’m not her errand boy!”
I rolled over and sat up.
“Well, you got the job done, Edmund.” That was Sorens. “You also woke up everyone else who worked late.”
Fernard had bushy brown hair and a wild reddish brown beard. He looked at me. “After you’ve eaten, Dr. Henjsen would like to see you, ser Barna.”
“Thank you.”
“I’d rather not be in your boots, ser Barna,” added the chemist “Most acids I’ve know are less corrosive than Dr. Henjsen these days.” He offered a sympathetic smile and vanished.
Rikard Sorens studied me. “You know the only thing worse than not finding something?”
“What?” I wasn’t ready for questions or riddles. My whole body ached.
“Being a nonarcheologist who finds it.” He grinned. “Do you have any idea what it might be?”
I grinned back—raggedly. “You saw it You’re the scientist. What do you think?”
“I have no idea, except that the clear crystalline arms are another material that’s unique. It also amplifies light in a way I’ve never seen. I don’t think that’s its purpose, though.”