"Charles L. Harness-The Araqnid Window" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harness Charles L)

 He looked up the camp street. Across the little valley and up in the range of low hills he could make
out the scattered buildings of the Wolfram Mining Company. The chief engineer had studied under him,
many years ago. Last evening they had sat down to supper together in the crude mining mess hall. The
engineer was sympathetic to the professor's problems. "Professor, all you need is to find this city, and
then you will have so much fame that every foundation on earth will come looking for you. Maybe you
are not digging fast enough. Maybe you should borrow one of my blastavators for a couple of days.
Goes through solid rock like butter."
Speidel had laughed. "I appreciate it, Zachary. Truly I do. But I'll have to pass up the offer. If we dig
faster than a centimeter an hour, we're sure to miss something."
Zachary Stone shook his head. "Well, if you change your mind, just let me know. I will send a machine
anywhere you say, anywhere on the planet."
"I-- " Speidel sneezed suddenly, then fished for his handkerchief.
"Gesundheit!" declared the engineer, looking at him narrowly. "Professor, you are catching something."
"Nonsense. It's just the afternoon mistral. Starts up on the Plateau of Sylva. Flows down the valley
every afternoon." He blew his nose, then buttoned his jacket carefully around his throat.
"Sylva? The volcano?"
"That area, yes. The cone has been extinct for centuries. The lava flows made the plateau. It's all
forested over, now. There's nothing there."
"Maybe we should send a 'vator up. Plow around in the lava a little."
"Not worth it. Araqnia is not on Sylva. All the signs point elsewhere. We've picked up artifacts in a
dozen places, but nothing on Sylva."
"Maybe it's there, just buried."
"Then it's no good to me. I've got to locate and catalog things I can find quickly. Unless I get
something from Interstellar Geographic, this is my last trip. I've got to show results, and I've got to send
the kids out where I know they can find something."
"Sure, Professor. It's your show. Just let me know if I can help."
It was good to have friends. But there was nothing the engineer could do for him. At least not at this
dig.
***


* * *


2. Four Hundred Mounds
***


After breakfast he wound up his morning lecture from the little dais in the mess tent.
"Our topic this morning is the Four Hundred Mounds, located two kilometers north of our camp. As
we know, these mounds are lined up neatly in rows, twenty by twenty, and consist mostly of iron oxide,
Fe 2O3. And that was why the great Derain named this planet Ferria. and there the mystery begins. For
there were suspicious percentages of other metals along with the iron. Nickel was there, and cobalt,
tungsten, molybdenum, chromium. Metals such as are found in our own ferrous metal structures. Our
machinery. Our landcraft. Our seacraft. And, most intriguing of all, our spacecraft. Had these rust heaps
once been proud ships, challengers of the deeps of space? I am almost certain they were. But the great
number troubles me. Had every ship in the Araqnid fleet been caught on the ground by some terrible
disaster? Ah, what we would give to know! And somewhere here the answer is waiting for us.
"It has been proposed that this area was indeed the lost city, and that these piles were the houses.
Impossible. Iron houses? No. And only four hundred houses? Not acceptable. And not storage sheds or