John Maddox Roberts - Space Angel by John Maddox Roberts Page A
Authors: John Maddox Roberts
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replied. There was no further comment.
After three weeks of labor, the hold was nearly full. The crew were all bent over from the strenuous labor, and those who were not dark to begin with had been heavily tanned by the ultraviolet light of Alpha Tau's sun, which easily penetrated the thin, cloudless atmosphere. The last few days, the quarriers actually worked within the hillside since almost all of the outcrop had been removed. On the final shift, Kelly and Torwald were slicing the crystal face when Achmed arrived with the powerbarrow.
"Bert says there's room for fifteen more slabs," the Arab announced.
"Great!" Torwald said. "We'll finish up and lift for home this afternoon."
"Hey, what's this?" Kelly asked, sounding mystified. He was lifting the slab Torwald had just cut free. Beneath it, glinting in the light of the lamps they had rigged, was the upper surface of something spherical and metallic.
Calmly, after a moment's hesitation Torwald turned to Kelly. "Run to the ship and bring everybody back on the double. There's something weird here."
After a couple of hours, every test the crew could devise to determine the object's significance had been conducted. Nothing they tried yielded any useful data.
"Well, Skipper, it looks metallic, but it doesn't behave like metal. No reagent will touch it, and, besides, the laser didn't cut it."
"Now what kind of substance lets a laser beam go right through it and cut crystal beyond?" the skipper mused while looking at the slab that had topped the thing. It showed a depression that Finn's measurements had shown to be a perfect section of a sphere.
"The beam didn't necessarily go through it,""Nancy pointed out. "It may have bent around."
"Well, if it did it once, it can do it again,' said the skipper. "Tor, cut away the remaining crystal and let's have a look at that thing. But don't waste more diamond than necessary."
Finn read off some measurements and Torwald set the controls on his cutter. He made three vertical cuts to a depth that should have been at the thing's maximum girth, if it were indeed a true sphere. He then made a horizontal cut at the same depth to meet the others. Gingerly, Ham lifted away the slab. The thing now looked like a globe of liquid mercury, about the size of a soccer ball.
After examining two small instruments that Finn held, the skipper turned to Torwald. "It carries no charge, and it emits no radiation, Tor. See if you can lift it out."
"How about somebody more expendable, Skipper? Kelly for instance. After all, I'm the only quartermaster you've—"?
"Pick it up!"
He picked it up. It lifted easily from its bowl, and Torwald figured its weight at about five kilos. It was silver, but colors chased each other across its surface. It was undeniably beautiful, but the emotions it aroused in the watchers had little to do with aesthetic appreciation. The skipper took the sphere from Torwald and regarded it balefully.
"I'm taking it back to the ship. Finish filling the hold and we'll study this some more when we're on our way."
She left, and the crew increased its work pace, trying to get the rest of the crystal cut and stored. Suddenly, they were all anxious to depart. The operation had been proceeding without a hitch, and suddenly they were thrown a curve. A spacer learns early to distrust intrusive anomalies.
Once again, the crew was gathered around the mess table, but this time they had a new centerpiece. The whatsit sat there enigmatically, in defiance of all common sense. The skipper was fishing for theories to explain the thing.
"Sergei, how old do you figure that crystal stratum
is?"
"Well, the planet's primary star is a stable yellow Type G, much older than Sol, and the diamond would have formed at a fairly early period in the planet's life, so, at a minimum, maybe one billion years. More likely two or three."
"And yet," said Bert, voicing what was in all their minds, "this thing looks more like an artifact than a natural phenomenon.
After three weeks of labor, the hold was nearly full. The crew were all bent over from the strenuous labor, and those who were not dark to begin with had been heavily tanned by the ultraviolet light of Alpha Tau's sun, which easily penetrated the thin, cloudless atmosphere. The last few days, the quarriers actually worked within the hillside since almost all of the outcrop had been removed. On the final shift, Kelly and Torwald were slicing the crystal face when Achmed arrived with the powerbarrow.
"Bert says there's room for fifteen more slabs," the Arab announced.
"Great!" Torwald said. "We'll finish up and lift for home this afternoon."
"Hey, what's this?" Kelly asked, sounding mystified. He was lifting the slab Torwald had just cut free. Beneath it, glinting in the light of the lamps they had rigged, was the upper surface of something spherical and metallic.
Calmly, after a moment's hesitation Torwald turned to Kelly. "Run to the ship and bring everybody back on the double. There's something weird here."
After a couple of hours, every test the crew could devise to determine the object's significance had been conducted. Nothing they tried yielded any useful data.
"Well, Skipper, it looks metallic, but it doesn't behave like metal. No reagent will touch it, and, besides, the laser didn't cut it."
"Now what kind of substance lets a laser beam go right through it and cut crystal beyond?" the skipper mused while looking at the slab that had topped the thing. It showed a depression that Finn's measurements had shown to be a perfect section of a sphere.
"The beam didn't necessarily go through it,""Nancy pointed out. "It may have bent around."
"Well, if it did it once, it can do it again,' said the skipper. "Tor, cut away the remaining crystal and let's have a look at that thing. But don't waste more diamond than necessary."
Finn read off some measurements and Torwald set the controls on his cutter. He made three vertical cuts to a depth that should have been at the thing's maximum girth, if it were indeed a true sphere. He then made a horizontal cut at the same depth to meet the others. Gingerly, Ham lifted away the slab. The thing now looked like a globe of liquid mercury, about the size of a soccer ball.
After examining two small instruments that Finn held, the skipper turned to Torwald. "It carries no charge, and it emits no radiation, Tor. See if you can lift it out."
"How about somebody more expendable, Skipper? Kelly for instance. After all, I'm the only quartermaster you've—"?
"Pick it up!"
He picked it up. It lifted easily from its bowl, and Torwald figured its weight at about five kilos. It was silver, but colors chased each other across its surface. It was undeniably beautiful, but the emotions it aroused in the watchers had little to do with aesthetic appreciation. The skipper took the sphere from Torwald and regarded it balefully.
"I'm taking it back to the ship. Finish filling the hold and we'll study this some more when we're on our way."
She left, and the crew increased its work pace, trying to get the rest of the crystal cut and stored. Suddenly, they were all anxious to depart. The operation had been proceeding without a hitch, and suddenly they were thrown a curve. A spacer learns early to distrust intrusive anomalies.
Once again, the crew was gathered around the mess table, but this time they had a new centerpiece. The whatsit sat there enigmatically, in defiance of all common sense. The skipper was fishing for theories to explain the thing.
"Sergei, how old do you figure that crystal stratum
is?"
"Well, the planet's primary star is a stable yellow Type G, much older than Sol, and the diamond would have formed at a fairly early period in the planet's life, so, at a minimum, maybe one billion years. More likely two or three."
"And yet," said Bert, voicing what was in all their minds, "this thing looks more like an artifact than a natural phenomenon.
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