before.”
“Do you mean to say the fish have seen some probes before ours?”
“I couldn’t tell you what they have encountered. But why else would they need a magnetic detector sense?”
“I really wouldn’t know, damn it!” grumbled Rohan. He regarded the tom metal garlands and leaned over the railing. The bent ends of the black metal rods trembled slightly in the robot’s slipstream. Ballmin used long pliers to pinch off some wires sticking out from a tunnel-shaped opening.
“Let me tell you,” he continued, “there could never have been very high temperatures around here; otherwise you would find traces of oxidation on these metal surfaces. So much for your hypothesis about a fire having caused this destruction.”
“Any hypotheses would fail the test here,” muttered Rohan. “You know, I just can’t see the connection between this maze and the fact that the Condor has vanished somewhere on this planet. Everything is dead here.”
“That can’t always have been the case.”
“Maybe it was alive a thousand years ago, but not just a few years back. There is nothing else for us to do here. Let’s return to the convoy down there.”
They did not exchange another word until the robot landed in front of the green signal lights, Rohan ordered the technician to let the television cameras roll and transmit a report to the Invincible.
He and the scientists withdrew to the cabin of the lead vehicle. They released additional oxygen into the air supply of the tiny room, then they ate and drank coffee from their thermos bottles. The white light of the overhead fluorescent lamp felt pleasant to Rohan’s eyes after the red daylight of this planet. Ballmin spat into a paper napkin; it was some sand that had insinuated its way into the mouthpiece of his breathing mask and gritted between his teeth.
“That reminds me of something,” said Gralew unexpectedly, as he screwed down the top of his thermos bottle. His thick black hair glistened in the light of the fluorescent lamp. “I’ll tell you about it, but don’t take it too seriously.”
“If it reminds you of anything at all, that means something,” replied Rohan with his mouth full. “Shoot!”
“It’s nothing special, really, I heard a story a long time ago, almost a fairy tale, about the inhabitants of the Lyre constellation.”
“Why a fairy tale? They did exist. Achramian even published a treatise about it,” remarked Rohan. A small bulb began to flicker behind them on the dashboard, a sign that contact had been established with the Invincible.
“Yes. Payne suspected some of the inhabitants may have succeeded in saving themselves in time. I’m not so sure that he is right there. They must have all perished when the nova exploded.”
“That took place sixteen light years from this planet,” said Gralew. “I don’t know the book. But I did hear somewhere that these people tried to escape. They presumably sent spaceships to all the planets of the other stars in their vicinity. They were well acquainted with the principle of space flight close to the speed of light.”
“And then?”
“That’s all I heard. Sixteen light years is not such an enormous distance. Why shouldn’t one of their spaceships have landed here?”
“Then you think they might still be somewhere around?”
“I couldn’t say. I was just reminded of them when I saw these ruins. They might have been their buildings, who knows?”
“What did they look like?” asked Rohan. “Did they resemble us?”
“According to Achramian, they did,” replied Ballmin. “But that is just another hypothesis. Practically no trace of them has survived, not even as much as from our own Pithecanthropus.”
“Strange.”
“Not at all. Their planet submerged for thousands of years in the chromosphere of the nova. Sometimes its surface temperature exceeded ten thousand degrees. Even the rocky foundation of the planetary crust underwent a complete metamorphosis. No trace
“Do you mean to say the fish have seen some probes before ours?”
“I couldn’t tell you what they have encountered. But why else would they need a magnetic detector sense?”
“I really wouldn’t know, damn it!” grumbled Rohan. He regarded the tom metal garlands and leaned over the railing. The bent ends of the black metal rods trembled slightly in the robot’s slipstream. Ballmin used long pliers to pinch off some wires sticking out from a tunnel-shaped opening.
“Let me tell you,” he continued, “there could never have been very high temperatures around here; otherwise you would find traces of oxidation on these metal surfaces. So much for your hypothesis about a fire having caused this destruction.”
“Any hypotheses would fail the test here,” muttered Rohan. “You know, I just can’t see the connection between this maze and the fact that the Condor has vanished somewhere on this planet. Everything is dead here.”
“That can’t always have been the case.”
“Maybe it was alive a thousand years ago, but not just a few years back. There is nothing else for us to do here. Let’s return to the convoy down there.”
They did not exchange another word until the robot landed in front of the green signal lights, Rohan ordered the technician to let the television cameras roll and transmit a report to the Invincible.
He and the scientists withdrew to the cabin of the lead vehicle. They released additional oxygen into the air supply of the tiny room, then they ate and drank coffee from their thermos bottles. The white light of the overhead fluorescent lamp felt pleasant to Rohan’s eyes after the red daylight of this planet. Ballmin spat into a paper napkin; it was some sand that had insinuated its way into the mouthpiece of his breathing mask and gritted between his teeth.
“That reminds me of something,” said Gralew unexpectedly, as he screwed down the top of his thermos bottle. His thick black hair glistened in the light of the fluorescent lamp. “I’ll tell you about it, but don’t take it too seriously.”
“If it reminds you of anything at all, that means something,” replied Rohan with his mouth full. “Shoot!”
“It’s nothing special, really, I heard a story a long time ago, almost a fairy tale, about the inhabitants of the Lyre constellation.”
“Why a fairy tale? They did exist. Achramian even published a treatise about it,” remarked Rohan. A small bulb began to flicker behind them on the dashboard, a sign that contact had been established with the Invincible.
“Yes. Payne suspected some of the inhabitants may have succeeded in saving themselves in time. I’m not so sure that he is right there. They must have all perished when the nova exploded.”
“That took place sixteen light years from this planet,” said Gralew. “I don’t know the book. But I did hear somewhere that these people tried to escape. They presumably sent spaceships to all the planets of the other stars in their vicinity. They were well acquainted with the principle of space flight close to the speed of light.”
“And then?”
“That’s all I heard. Sixteen light years is not such an enormous distance. Why shouldn’t one of their spaceships have landed here?”
“Then you think they might still be somewhere around?”
“I couldn’t say. I was just reminded of them when I saw these ruins. They might have been their buildings, who knows?”
“What did they look like?” asked Rohan. “Did they resemble us?”
“According to Achramian, they did,” replied Ballmin. “But that is just another hypothesis. Practically no trace of them has survived, not even as much as from our own Pithecanthropus.”
“Strange.”
“Not at all. Their planet submerged for thousands of years in the chromosphere of the nova. Sometimes its surface temperature exceeded ten thousand degrees. Even the rocky foundation of the planetary crust underwent a complete metamorphosis. No trace
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