"01 - The Demons at Rainbow Bridge UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

"I have already constructed and programmed such a unit, an-
ticipating your actions. However, it is now past dark down there
in its area, and I would suggest a daytime foray. Get some food
and rest. In the morning we shall test this thing's mettle."

The probe dropped fairly close to the object, in part to see if
that would provoke any reaction from it. No scans or other trans-
missions were detected, and the probe settled to its point just
slightly off the ground and proceeded slowly toward the artifact
as Cymak and his monitoring computer watched on the screens
above.

From ground level, the long, exposed end, which sometimes
looked like the rough end of a crystal shard and sometimes like
a depression, looked very much the latter, almost a tunnel ringed
by sixteen even facets of crystalline substance leading back to a
single black point that might or might not have been an entrance
of some kind.

The probe did not at first try an approach to that point, but
instead rose up and did as much of a survey of the exterior as it
could. The initial measurements held up; it was a hair over forty
meters in length, seemingly embedded or wedded to the bed-
rock, the exposed portion a bit under four meters high from
ground level. There were no observable or measurable openings,
but it did seem to "bleed" gases in the broken, or entry, end,
almost as if it were somehow selectively porous. The region of
atmospheric bleed or exchange went in a bit over six meters and
then stopped abruptly.

"Definitely some sort of atmospheric chamber," the ship told
him. "It might be the entire inhabitable life zone within the
object, or it might be the only one that requires it. At the far
end are two isolated spots giving off heatЧnot a lot, but defi-
nitely indicating a coolant mechanismЧand that's it."

"See if you can take a sample and analyze it," Cymak sug-
gested, more fascinated than worried.

The probe settled down on top of the structure, anchored itself

THE DEMONS AT RAINBOW BRIDGE 7

on three tight suction feet, then extended a small-core drill and
attempted to take a small sample. It didn't happen. All the drill
did was whirl around and begin to melt in the frustration of
going against something harder than its bit, even though the bit
was made of the hardest substance known to the Xymanth.

"Whatever it is, it's not quartz," the computer commented.