"George Zebrowski - The Star Web" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zebrowski George)

"How big is this place?" Juan asked loudly.

In the amphitheater Obrion noticed that there were just enough fixed chairs for them all to sit down.

Malachi asked them to sit down before he spoke.

"Now watch this," he said. He sat down in the fourth chair. Now they were all facing each other.

There was a rectangular console at each right hand.

"You see I needed four people only."

"What are we supposed to see?" Lena asked. "Now relax."

Rassmussen was drumming his fingers on the metallic surface of the seemingly blank solid growing out of
the polished floor next to his chair. Obrion found himself tensing. "Sit back," Malachi was saying. "I had
only a hint before. Wait."

Slowly, like the motion of a fine watch hand, the seats drew back, until they were all facing the space
above the room. Obrion noticed that the light was everywhere, yet there was no direct source.

The circular chamber darkened quickly and he was looking at a starfield, intensely bright in the open
darkness.

"All the brightest stars are G types," Malachi said, "single or double systems. The view seems to focus
attention on them."

Suddenly the stars were gone. Obrion looked around in the dark, sensing that someone had stood up.

"Now look to your right," Malachi said.

The top of the rectangle next to Obrion had opened to reveal a complement of glowing controls.

There was enough light from the four sets to reveal

Malachi's dark shape standing nearby. Magnus was also up from his seat, peering closely at his own
panel, his face a probing profile in the dim light.

"What else have you found out?" Rassmussen asked.

"I have only one more thing to show," Malachi said. "I have been thinking that this area here might be
some kind of entertainment or educational center for the people who once lived here. We might as well
face the idea that there was a high civilization in Antarctica well before recorded history. The date could
be ten to fifty thousand years ago."
"There may be another explanation," Lena said, "but what we see is certainly real enough." The lights
faded in as she spoke.

"Follow me," Malachi said;

He led the way out of the amphitheater, directly through the dissolving portal into the winding passage.