Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

IV. A R S Se eight walls with crenellations were just the outer shell of the structure —and outer wall, if the castle analogy made any sense. e “keep” behind the wallswas even more of a mystery: sheer mineral walls, with paerns of stone. Behindthe wall was a small courtyard; the ground was mostly covered with steel plates,allowing the soldiers to explore it with a lile help from their magnetic boots.“What do the scanners say, doctor?” Daleworth asked.Dr. Grovepath frowned. “Uh… well, this thing didn't come with a manual,and it's been almost a decade since I've toued a Bauhaus-Wulff scanner — notthat I'd generally object to European scanners from tenological perspective, it'sjust that my stepbrother invested in Detroit ProbeTe—”“What the hell do the scanners say, doctor?” Daleworth said, with a bit clearer,slower and slightly more menacing tone.“—buuu-uut if I remember anything about the symbols, I think it's trying totell me the outer walls have a large amounts of silicates. It's just showing me theemical compounds right now. Hmm… SiO 2 . at's, uh, quartz, right?”“Silicon, huh? ese walls are some sort of… a giant computer ip, maybe?”“I didn't say that. If I were you, I'd hesitate to jump into conclusions like thatwithout any evidence…”Daleworth shrugged. “But it's plausible, right? Don't mind me, I'm just concernedabout Planner ploys, doctor.”“Well, if I can only figure out the buons, I can try to see what the scannersays of the surface details.” Dr. Grovepath wrestled with the user interface for awhile — he was sure the maine had collected the data, but wasn't very surehow to get it to show it to him. “Ah. Here it is. Hmmm… Yep, a bun of silicondioxide, and a bun of other oxides. Identifies it as ‘glass’.”“Well, it looks more like polished stone to me”, Daleworth said.“Well, that's what glass is, right? Molten stone, more or less. Um, and toanswer your concerns, the scanner doesn't seem to identify clearly artificial microformationsand…” Dr. Grovepath pushed more buons. “…also concludes theelectric resistance of the surface is high and there's no measurable electric flowpresent. Whi is to say, it's prey unlikely this would be a giant computer ip.”“Always good to hear”, Daleworth said. “But does this look like any saneperson would build? Structures of glass, stone, whatever — and metal?”“It certainly sounds unprecedented to me. Glass or stone isn't exactly thebest material for spacecra exterior, on the account of risk melting it during thereentry…”“Like meteorites, right?”“Like meteorites. e ones that end up to the ground seem tough and devastating,until you remember the bulk of the meteorites tend to break up in theatmosphere.”“But could a big, reinforced structure like this survive reentry?”