Robert F. Young by Origin of Species

Author:Origin of Species [Species, Origin of]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-01-17T20:28:20+00:00

There were fifteen Neanderthals present. Three of them were Neanderthaloids—i.e., Blue Bolt and his buddies. The rest were of the ordinary garden variety. The latter were armed with stone-tipped spears which they carried slung on their shoulders, and were lounging here and there about the room. The former were facing a twinkling control panel at the base of the machine. Inset in a maze of wires next to the panel was what looked at first glance like a full-length looking glass. The trouble was, it didn’t reflect light; instead, it absorbed it—or seemed to. The result was a sort of abysmal blackness that transcended ordinary blackness and gave the viewer a queasy feeling.

It dawned on Farrell finally that the looking glass was the focal point of the entire machine—the raison d’etre for the whole fantastic scene they witnessed.

“Look,” Miss Larkin said, pointing. “There’s a way we can get down.”

Sure enough, the edge of the ledge nearest the exit gave onto a series of stone steps that had seen cut into the cavern wall. The crude stairway curved down to a point on the cavern floor that was less than ten feet from the archway, and, dimly lit as the wall was, would have made an ideal avenue of escape if it hadn’t been for the three Neanderthals lounging near the exit and for the force-field which awaited beyond the cliff-face. (There was no question in Farrell’s mind that by this time the barrier had been repaired.)

“Do you know what I think?” Miss Larkin said brightly. “I think that this was once a ceremonial chamber of some kind. It was practically on this very spot that Professor Richards dug up the Chateau du Bois artifact.” Abruptly she frowned. “But that doesn’t add up at all, does it? The experts estimated that the artifact originated sometime this year, which means that it couldn’t possibly have played a part in the past ceremonies. Anyway,” she went on blithely, “this still could have been a ceremonial chamber and Blue Bolt could have converted it for its own purposes, and this ledge here could have been where the witch doctor presided over the sacrifices, and that passage we came through could have been his secret hideout.”

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