"Andre Norton - Operation timesearch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

the beam. That which had shown as a flicker when the
film was run at normal speed now became a flash that
made him blink. Then there were the trees and, surely,
beside one of them still that human figure.
"Come on!" Fordham was making for the door in a
surprising burst of speed for one of his age and habits.
They were actually running as they passed down a
hallway and into a small outside parking area. Fordham
jerked at the door of his car and scrambled into the
driver's seat. And Hargreaves had just time to make it
in beside him and slam the door before they skidded
across the concrete, heading for the gate.
The guard saw them coming and must have had his
wits about him, for he threw the automatic switch just
in time. Hargreaves released his breath in a faint
whistle of relief. At least Fordham had not plowed into
that barrier as it looked he might do.
Luckily the road was deserted beyond, for they entered
it at a prohibited speed. Caution must have caught up
with Fordham somewhere along that stretch, for he
slowed to turn into the lower cutting, where they
bumped and skidded along the rough road of the earth
movers.
Then once more the director was out and running for
the mound. His fear or excitement kept him several
paces ahead of Hargreaves, but when the latter rounded
the end of the mound, he came upon Fordham at a dead
halt. The director held a camera in his hands. But of
the figure they had seen on the film, there was no sign
at all.
"He's gone!" Hargreaves stated the obvious.
Fordham looked up from the camera, his face bleak.
"He's gone, yes-out there-" He looked over his shoul-
der to where they had seen those rows of trees. And
Hargreaves shivered, knowing how that other had
gone but not where.
"WHERE?" Hargreaves heard himself putting that thought
into words.

Fordham's answer came in a voice hardly above a whisper.
"Atlantis-perhaps."

"But-you said that the forest could be pre-Columbian -or
even later," Hargreaves protested.

"Sure. It could be that-or anything. You saw it, and the film-
and you see this now-" Fordham waved the camera. "That
poor fool went in, or back, or out whichever way you want
to express it--and we sent him."