"Robert F. Young - The Quality of Mercy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

They went on to the next building and it was the same. Crystal trees stood unconcernedly by in little
square plots of listless soil, their quaint leaves sparkling like zircons in the wan afternoon sunlight, tinkling
like glass chimes when the wind blew through them.
After a while they came to a structure much larger than the rest. It was fronted by towering marble
columns and beyond the columns, at the top of a wide flight of marble steps, was a recessed entrance,
free from obstructing rubble. They paused at the feet of the columns, staring at the lofty windows.
The captain started up the steps and Tanner followed. Binns held back. "Do you think it's safe, sir?"
he asked.
The captain turned. A smile softened the line of his lips, briefly banished the years from his face.
"Safe, Binns? Possibly not. But we're in a position where we can afford to take chances, don't you
think?"
Binas' boyish face reddened. "IтАФI forgot," he said. "That was stupid of me, wasn't it? Forgetting
thatтАФ"
"Come on!" Tanner said quickly. "We'll never find anything, standing here talking. There might be
food in there."
Massive portals confronted them when they reached the entrance, but they creaked open when
Tanner applied his heavy shoulders. They stepped into a large vestibule. The dust of centuries covered
everything, walls, floor, ceiling. There was a recess in the wail to the right of the door and a small
statuette stood upon its single shelf. Otherwise the vestibule w empty.
'Looks almost like a church," Tanner said.
"Maybe it is,тАЭ said Binns. "They must have had some kind of religion."
The captain stepped over to the recess. Shadows filled it, half-hiding the lonely statuette. He moved
closer, straining his eyes in the gloom. Then, wonderingly, he reached in and lifted the statuette front the
shelf.
He examined it closely. It was exquisitely sculptured from an Earth-like granitiec and its subject was
so familiar that for a moment the incongruity of his finding it thirty-five million miles from home didnтАЩt
occur to him. When it did occur to him he was speechless.
There was a superimposed alienage in the design of course, and there was an unusual quantity of
detail. But there was no mistaking, that uniquely human implement of torture, and there was no mistaking
the tortured figure nailed upon it: the pain-racked body, the-thin suffering face, the dark haunting eyes,
compassionate even in death.
The statuette was a crucifix.
тАЬBut we don't know, sir,тАЭ Puns said. тАЬThey could have had Christ."
The captain shook his head. He had never been a religious man, but there were some things he knew
were true. "There was only one Christ," he said.
тАЬBut howтАФтАЬ
"I don't know. Perhaps weтАЩll find out.тАЭ The captain returned the statuette to the shelf, setting it
carefully in the small dust-free area where it had reposed for two thousand years. Then he walked across
the vestibule to the inner doors. Tanner and Binns followed.

The doors opened at the captainтАЩs touch and the three Earthmen entered an enormous chamber. Far
above them was a great prismatic dome through which the weak sunlight filtered its a wan rainbow light.
Below the dome were curved stately walls enhanced by three dimensional murals. Circular benches,
regularly interspersed by radiating aisles, covered the floor, encompassing a central dais upon which was
mounted a twelve-foot sculptured cross with a life-size sculptured figure nailed upon it.
The captain recovered from his inertia first and began walking slowly down the nearest aisle. After a
moment, Binns moved after him, and then Tanner. At the base of the dais the captain stopped. Before
him, on a marble lectern, lay a thin metallic volume. He touched it with trembling fingers. Tentatively he
raised the cover, exposing three paper-thin metallic sheets stamped with tiny characters.
"Binns," he said, breaking the silence that had reigned for two thousand years, "you're the linguist.