The Architects of Hyperspace by Thomas R. McDonough

Author:Thomas R. McDonough [McDonough, Thomas R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380751440
Google: CEot2y-wXvQC
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 597805
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1987-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

While Ariadne was unraveling the mysteries of the word projector, Sean found himself in a small, low-ceilinged room with nothing in it but colored dots on a part of the wall near the entrance. Struck by their resemblance to the dots in the airlock, he studied it. Each color occurred in pairs of dots. Next to each pair was a label in the alien language.

Cautiously, he stuck two fingers into the first pair. There was a hissing sound behind him. He whirled, pulling out his gun. Hanging down from the ceiling, nearly touching the floor, was a cylinder as wide as he. It was cut away, revealing neatly stacked objects on shelves. Looking up at the ceiling, he could see faint circles all over it, evidently the locations of many other cylinders. “Closets!” he said to himself.

He turned his attention to the objects on the shelves. School supplies, I’d bet, he thought. He studied them visually, hesitant to touch them. The top shelf contained white transparent hemispheres stacked upside down. Bowls?

The next bore colorful rectangular boxes the size of kelparette packs. Writing implements?

Below that, there were dozens of spheres the size of baseballs, but transparent, with wisps of color swirling inside. It was unclear why they did not roll off the shelf onto the floor. Balls?

The bottom shelf was empty except for a single rod like a conductor’s baton. A magic wand?

Slowly, he reached out and grasped a sphere. It refused to move until he tugged on it, then suddenly popped free. It seemed to be held magnetically.

Up close, it showed tiny facets covering its surface completely. The wisps of colors swirled around the points where his fingers touched it. As he squeezed, the colors swirled faster and grew brighter. When he brushed it with his other hand, new swirls grew and collided with the first ones, sparkling. He played with it for a while, enjoying the sight. He named it the rainbow sphere, and put it into his backpack.

He picked up the wand, It was triangular in cross section, a dark carnelian red, with an intricate web trapped within. He ran his hands over it, tapped it, pressed the ends. Nothing happened. Then he noticed slight depressions in two faces at one end. He squeezed them with two fingers. A beam of blue light shot away. He eased his grip and examined the wall where the beam had struck. There was no mark. A pointer?

He put the wand into a thigh pocket and picked up one of the small boxes. It was colored in an intricate hexagonal rainbow pattern. He found two indentations on the bottom and pressed them, carefully aiming the other end away. A cylinder the size of a kelparette shot out and fell to the floor. He picked it up. It was covered by the same hexagonal rainbow pattern as the box and had a rectangular cross section. He sniffed it. It had a slight musty smell. He looked for finger depressions without success.

One rounded end was black, the other white.

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