The Centauri Surprise (Carson & Roberts Archeological Adventures in T-Space Book 4) by Alastair Mayer

Author:Alastair Mayer [Mayer, Alastair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mabash Books
Published: 2019-08-20T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27: FINLEY REVISITED

Maclaren Industrial Research Corporation

CARSON’S MEETING WITH Finley was set up in an office at one of Naomi MacLaren’s companies in town. That was easier for him to get to.

“Thank you for seeing me again, Dr. Finley,” Carson said, “and especially for letting me meet with you here.”

“You said you had new evidence, and something Naomi might want to see? You just better not be wasting our time.”

“I have, and I think you’ll agree I’m not. Where is she, by the way?”

“She has things to do. She’s in the building. I’ll let her know if it’s worth her time. So, what have you got?”

“A little while back, someone inherited a collection of alien artifacts, many of them apparently illegally gathered. It happens, that’s one of the hazards of my business. Anyway, the person decided to do the right thing and sent the collection to various museums and university archeology departments.”

“Okay, so what does that have to do with my volcanic plug?”

“When we last met, you asked me if I had a talisman with a star chart that pointed to Alpha Centauri.” Carson reached into his pocket and pulled out a specimen bag, then carefully slid the talisman out into his hand and held it up. “I do now.”

Finley’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “That’s rather convenient.”

“It was actually in my possession when you asked the first time. I just hadn’t examined it closely, or correlated the pattern with actual stars. It would have been more convenient if I had. But I’m not asking you to take my word for it.” He handed the talisman to Finley. “I’ve had the technetium inside sampled and tested — that’s the tiny hole drilled into the back — you’re welcome to check it out yourself, although I’ll have to insist that the talisman doesn’t leave my sight.”

Finley examined the talisman, turning it over in his hands, feeling the surface, tapping his fingernail against it. He tapped the omni on his wrist. “Naomi, get in here. You’ll want to see this.”

He tapped his omni again and held the talisman up to it. As he turned it around so the small hole faced it, Carson heard the rising squeal of a radiation alert, which faded again when Finley moved the talisman away.

At that moment the door opened and a woman entered, of medium height and tanned skin, with silvering hair. She looked to be perhaps fifty or sixty, but if that was Naomi Maclaren, she had to be in her eighties. Another benefactor of squidberry extract.

“G’day,” she said. “I reckon you must be Hannibal Carson. I’ve heard a bit about you.” She looked to Finley. “Right then, what’s he brought us?”

Finley tossed the talisman to her, causing Carson to wince at the cavalier handling of the artifact, but she caught it deftly.

“He says it’s a talisman that points here, to Alpha Centauri. Technetium battery inside. It is slightly radioactive, I just checked.”

Maclaren turned it over in her hands. “It is a supercircle, I’ll give ‘em that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.