Datasets:
BlinAI
/
Testo

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
0
4.23k
Upon reentering the meeting hall several hours later, Caine expected to find it a hive of activity. What he found, when the security guard on his left opened th...
The innermost ring of ten persons was incomplete: seated about a round table, their circle was broken by two empty chairs. The next ring was that of the advis...
Nolan had been waiting beside the door, smiled when Caine noticed him, accompanied him to the two empty chairs at the round table, indicated the one on the ri...
"Ladies and gentlemen, you have all heard about Mr. Riordan, and what he found and experienced during his three weeks on Delta Pavonis. Please remember that M...
"Mr. Riordan, allow me to introduce the bloc representatives gathered here today. Starting on your right: Ms. Hollingsworth of the UK and Mr. MacGregor of Aus...
Caine noted which delegates offered a nod or some other sign of recognition: both of the Commonwealth delegates, Sukhinin of Russia, Visser of Germany, Medina...
All five blocs. Two representatives from each. The US was conspicuously absent, probably because the mediator-Nolan-was a fairly famous American, and also in ...
Nolan's voice was gentle. "Mr. Riordan, whenever you're ready."
"Uh, yes-sorry." Wonderful beginning. Ass. He glanced down at his palmtop, at the notes he knew by heart, and calmly decided to ignore them. "Ladies and gentl...
-and he was there. His own voice became distant; he fell out of the council chamber and emerged into-
* * *
-The glare of Delta Pavonis, low on the horizon, glinted off the semi-rigid body armor of the Marines who, face shields down and weapons in an assault carry, ...
He popped over the rise, side-footed down to the base-where the head archeologist was waiting, pudgy hands on pudgy hips, rounder, dustier, more gnomelike tha...
Caine couldn't decide whether he was more struck by the superfluity or petulance of the utterance. "Thanks for coming."
Gnome snorted: Caine's "request" to meet had been, in reality, merely a polite ultimatum. "What do you want?"
Caine debated whether he should try to apologize for the ruse he had used to get information out of the Gnome when they first met, but pushed that aside: ther...
"Oh? Maybe a time machine, so I can undo the past and not ruin my career by talking to you?"
"No, better than that."
Gnome's truculence gave way to interest. "How much better? What kind of 'better'?"
"The kind you really want: a ticket out of this place. Here's the offer-and you've got one minute to consider it.
"Someone has to write up a full report on the collective archeological findings from this dig site. That report will be presented at a global summit, sometime...
"Does that mean you accept?"
Gnome sputtered and nodded. "Yes, yes-what do you want? How can I help?"
"When we met last time, you were about to explain something more about this ruin, about to show me something else, and then you stopped yourself."
A furtive look returned to Gnome's face. "I suppose I did."
"Show me now."
Gnome nodded and beckoned with a crooked finger. He went to the side of the temple, disappearing around the corner from which he had emerged the first time. C...
Caine looked, saw a hole, about the size of his thumb, maybe a bit narrower. And then he saw the brown, rusty stain rimming it. He reached out, held his hand ...
"Go ahead," said Gnome, "all us researchers do. Those of us with any sense of a larger universe, that is. Go ahead. Put your finger in."
Caine did. He felt around. Felt a smooth, cold surface recessed half an inch from the exterior wall, restrained the impulse to either giggle or yell.
"Rebar," supplied Gnome. "Eerie, if you ask me. Chemical composition consistent with mid-grade industrial steel. The stereobate-that's the foundation-is actua...
Caine barely heard him, could not remember if he nodded or even waved farewell. He scrabbled up the berm and back toward the Marine lander. He was short of br...
* * *
Caine once again became aware of the faces ringing the round table. The looks were hard to read for a moment: fragments of many expressions were rippling up t...
They kept looking at him, as if they were waiting for more.
Nolan stood. "I think you see why we saved Mr. Riordan's footnote for last. It is-singularly provocative. I'm sure there are questions. Who'd like to start?"
Visser leaned forward. "You finished by saying that the presence of the rebar explains all the other secrets of what you found. What did you mean by that?"
Where to begin? "I'm going to jump ahead to the most important conclusion that can be deduced from it." Caine took a deep breath. "Taken along with the local'...
There were sounds of restlessness among the delegates. "How long before?"
"I can't be sure, but I'd say at least fifteen thousand years. Probably more like twenty thousand."
The first moment of stunned silence spawned its opposite: Gaspard snorted the word "outrageous" through pinched nostrils; Medina laughed; Karagawa smiled; Mac...
Nolan had his hand raised for order, but Caine was suddenly weary of having to rely on someone else's authority: "Listen: do you want to hear why this conclus...
Sudden stillness. Nolan was hiding a pleased grin behind the hand upon which his jaw was resting.
Caine leaned forward. "First, the facts: the local's indication of our star was absolutely unmistakable, once I realized what he was doing and what he was poi...
"So once we've established that he does know where I came from, the question becomes: how could he know? There are two reasonable answers, excluding blind luc...
Durniak was thoughtful. "Could they have visited us? Were they once a starfaring civilization?"
Caine nodded, impressed by the rapid flexibility of her mind. "That's one possible mechanism to explain their prior knowledge of us. But the data argues again...
"Why?"
"Lack of gross physical evidence. Let's use ourselves as an example. If Earth reverted to a primeval state, and never rose up from that again, later visitors ...
"Such as?"