Astounding Science Fiction (UK Edition) — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

14 “As I live and breathe,” shouted Travis. “A map of the sky. I hope whoever laid out that sun track was an astronomer, not an artist,” and he hastily rigged his camera. It took hours to give the pyramid a thorough search. By means of winding stairs behind the pylon they came to upper levels, each being smalier than the one below. Most were the living quarters of the priests, and there were some dark cells for the sacrificial prisoners. Some day archeolo- gists would translate the hieroglyphics and learn what those about to die had scribbled on the walls. There were other caches of treasure, too, but the greatest of all was the library. Here they found many scrolls, most of which were still in tubes sealed with wax. The majority were unintelligible, but they took away for sfudy all that fur- nished clues in the way of illustrations and diagrams. The topmost level was barred by another bronze door that defied all their efforts. In the end they had to get dynamite from the crawler and plant a charge. It was well they took ample cover on the floor below, for the aftermath of the explosion was unex- pected. A freshet of trapped water came tumbling down the stairs and spread out on the floors of the rooms below. After a little it shrank to a dribble, and they climbed the slick, weedy steps to see the ultimate compartment. Here they found another pylon and sun- burst, though mossy from the dammed up water, presiding over a flat stone altar faintly illuminated by the light that shone through the hole overhead. Travis cast his flash about. Clinging algae showed the high watermark overhead. In the corners of the room were some strange instruments deeply incrusted with damp verdigris. They proved to be astrolabes, octants and transits of bizarre design, and one was fitted with a rude crystalline Iens. Travis and Hartley stood for a long time in sober thought, sizing up the place and trying to visualize the rites that had been conducted there. “YT think I’m beginning to get this,” said Travis, suddenly. “It’s clear enough these people were sunworshipers. This is a com- bined temple and_ observatory. The Egyptians did something of the kind, and so did the Aztecs. My hunch is that that hole is set so that at the summer solstice and no other time the sun would shine in here and illuminate this altar. What blood orgies ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION followed then don’t concern us now. The thing is that we have a check on my own orientation—that truncation up there must face south, and, if I can dope out just where that ray hit the altar, Pll have a verification of the altitude of the sun on that day. It’s not all I need, but it is a help.” “The climate must have been a lot differ- ent in the old days,” said Hartley, peering up through the gloom at the small, blurry spot of light. “Of course it was. Vulcanism is the answer. For awhile this planet was stable, and then another era of mountain building set in. The scrap of geology we got from the Maggy showed us what the last up- heavals have done. But it wasn’t only earth- quakes and eruptions that did the Venusians in. Extreme volcanic activity heaves a lot of water into the air. Our own ones do. They get it from the core of the earth where it is still held in solution in the general mass. The Venusians were losing cities fast and their skies were getting thicker. So the smarter ones of them got together and tried to escape. There must have been a very few advanced enough to conceive of space- ships—the Venusian Leonardo da Vincis, ahead of their time—but we know they managed it, and with a little. better luck their race might have survived.” “All right,” agreed Hartley. does that help us?” “We've got a swell observatory here— for Venus. The sun climbs higher every day. I'll keep checking it from the outside and you set up some equipment here. If your instruments register with mine the day it hits the solstice, my theory is proved. This will be the key point—longitude zero and what- ever we find the latitude to be. Then we'll move on to another city and get another set of figures. It won’t be long before we’ve whipped this thing.” “But how That night they opened a bottle of their medical brandy and had a celebration. Then Hartley remembered that he hadn’t made his routine report of the day. They didn’t want well-meaning rescue parties come fumbling their way. He made the usual report that they were O.K., but finding the going slow. “Ask how Driscoll is doing,” prompted Travis, taking another swig. “Not so good,” said Hartley when he clicked off. “For us, that is. Umps says that he recalled the ships that got cold feet and COMIGIOO SS (©