There's something recognizable about weapons, Craig mused1, no matter how unfamiliar2. Here were gathered great vehicles of war, bristling3 with the outsize cousins of the heat-tube Brulieres carried and with a myriad4 other menacing shapes. Yawning black tunnels led away at angles—probably, Craig thought, to hidden exits. Repair machines, some with their work partly finished, were scattered5 everywhere, silent and with a long-unused air about them. Nearly all of the aerial dreadnaughts (Craig was sure they were that) showed terrible wounds.
At one place, beneath a trio of round tunnels that aimed steeply upward, was what Craig took to be the main launching area, with ramps8 for loading ... what? The litter showed clearly where great ships had rested, and that the departure had been hasty. Craig drew in deep trembling breaths and imagined the vast alien argosies lifting upon their mysterious legs of force.
He could see the avarice9 in Rabar's eyes, and edged closer to the lieutenant10. He wasn't going to let the man overpower Brulieres and take the weapons, nor was he going to let him pick up any that might be lying around. Not that Brulieres was being careless. Craig noticed that he kept his distance from everybody, and did not turn his back for long.
They must have stared at the alien machines for quite a while before the priest's deep voice echoed in the chamber. "Come. Another tunnel beckons11."
Craig looked where the priest pointed12. He saw a tunnel like the one they'd left, about a quarter of the way around the chamber. It glowed with light. All the rest were dark.
He looked again at Brulieres, and was startled at the man's face. It wore a look of glory. Craig shivered. Why, he thought, the man thinks God arranged this for him.
Apparently13 someone was arranging things, unless the tunnels and the lights were completely robotic. Craig, ignoring the edge of panic that cut at him, followed the priest toward the entrance to the lighted tunnel.
It was short, with two bends in it (probably, Craig thought, to contain possible explosions). It opened into a smaller, lower-ceilinged chamber which had evidently been an assembly hall for troops, or possibly a mess hall. Dark openings led off it which might lead to barracks. In the far end, a single tunnel glowed with light.
They entered that tunnel, which was another short one, and found that they were indeed in the living quarters. These, if the analogies applied14, had been the officers'. There was a small assembly hall, and upon one wall of that were the pictures.
The lighting15 was arranged to fall mostly upon that side of the chamber. The rock had been smoothed to take the murals. The first glimpse shook Craig so that he walked mechanically toward that wall, momentarily forgetting his companions.
A part of his mind admired the basic technique. Outlines in low relief had been cut into the rock, details delicately etched in and colors brought up, apparently, by altering the composition of the rock itself. As for the style it was somewhere between realism and impressionism. Craig was no expert, but he thought the hand was defter16, the viewpoint more penetrating17, than any he'd ever seen. The slight alien air only increased the charm of the work.
Whatever sort of beings the aliens had been, they hadn't been an unfeeling race. Emotion leaped from every line of the murals.
The first few told concisely18 of the establishment on Earth of this outpost, of the local defeat and abandonment. There were some heroic scenes there, but Craig hurried through them, drawn19 to the next series of paintings, yet unwilling20 to turn his eyes to them.
They were Biblical and as stunningly21 familiar as if he'd lived with them all his life.
Feeling churned at his insides again.
One of the first immortalized Noah, or whoever had been the actual hero of the first version of the Flood story. The painting of the sea and the dark doomsday clouds over it was so real that Craig took a step backward. Mountainous wave masses were battered22 white by an incredible rain. Heaved aslant23, decks tumbling water, dwarfed24 by the seas, was the wooden ship. A few half-drowned domestic animals stared in terror, lashed25 to their pens on deck. The bearded man who stood on wide-planted giant's legs, rope-like fingers gripping a tiller that strained to escape, was bedraggled but staunch and muscled to meet the sea. A woman clung to one arm. She had been painted not delicately, but with a strong beauty that spoke26 in thunder of the artist's piercing compassion27.
There was the crossing of the Red Sea, and the painting showed clearly how some force held aside the water. The artist had evidently been fascinated by the still-puddled seabottom.
There were more, but Craig passed them, drawn like a fish on a line to the painting of the man on the cross. The body, more cruelly punished than the Bible recorded, strained in an agony that communicated itself to Craig's own. The face, twisted with pain, sagging28 with exhaustion29, the tortured soft brown eyes, held no bitterness, no accusation30.
The accusation was the painting itself. The bitterness and rage (and remorse31?) was the painter's own.
Craig, frightened and miserable32, looked at the others. Dientes showed only awe and humility33. Rabar was holding himself tautly34, but terror showed in his eyes. Brulieres shook with overflowing35 emotions, his face mirroring worship, glory, worry and doubt. He met Craig's eyes. His voice higher-pitched and cracked with feeling, he said, "Have you noticed—this?"
He was standing36 before a vertical37 slab38 of rough stone which had obviously been used to close up a tunnel. The sealing had been done with melted rock, roughly, leaving a groove39 around the edge. The job suggested haste. Craig's insides writhed40 at what might lie behind the slab.
He gripped himself, walked over beside the priest. He could make out only a few of the characters of the inscription41 burned into the slab. He heard his own voice asking, as if from far away, "Do ... you read Hebrew?"
Brulieres let out a trembling sigh. "With difficulty." He moved slowly closer to the slab, put his fingers to the inscription like a blind man feeling for Braille. Craig saw that his eyes were full of tears. The thin lips mumbled42 inaudibly.
After a long time Brulieres quit reading and stood there, unmoving. Then he started to speak. His voice was lifeless now, a low uncaring monotone. "Scholars will translate it better, but here is the gist43 of it."
TO THE DESCENDANTS OF THOSE WITH WHOSE DESTINY I HAVE BRIEFLY44 MEDDLED45: WHEN YOU READ THIS, YOU WILL HAVE ATTAINED46 A TECHNOLOGY OF YOUR OWN WHICH WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE USE OF THE DEVICES LEFT HERE. ASIDE FROM THEM I LEAVE YOU MY GOOD WISHES, MY APOLOGIES, AND MY LOVE.
WHEN MY RACE ABANDONED THIS PLACE I HID FROM THEM AND STAYED BEHIND BECAUSE I HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH YOUR PLANET AND YOUR RACE. I HAVE TRIED TO HELP YOU. I AM NOT SURE I HAVE DONE WELL.
Craig gripped the priest's arm, heard his own words tumbling out: "It proves nothing, Padre! There can still be a God!" He found that he meant it desperately48.
The priest turned, stared at him, then looked faintly amused. "Conviction? Now? You are a more fortunate man than I."
"No, Padre! Your work! Religion is deeper than...."
Brulieres' eyes flashed with some of their old vitality49. "My work? This is the God in whose name I have schemed and, Heaven help me, killed." Slowly, mechanically, Brulieres drew the heat-weapon from his garments. He aimed it at the groove around the slab and thumbed the trigger. The rock skirled, and ran to solidify50 in waxlike lumps. The smoke was acrid51 in Craig's nostrils52.
When the slab was mostly cut around, some inner seal gave way and air sucked loudly into the crack. With a wrenching53 sound, the slab tore loose. It tilted54 under some power of its own, and lowered itself to the floor.
Lights, harshly angled and dramatic, flashed on in the small room beyond. It was bare except for the stone platform on the floor, and what rested upon it.
Mechanically, Craig stepped in and moved aside to make room for the others. Brulieres went to the opposite side of the platform and Dientes crouched55 beside him. Rabar stood hesitantly in the doorway56.
The creature was larger than a man and like nothing earthly; many-limbed, built as if for a higher gravity. There was no apparent decomposition57 or dessication. The atmosphere of the chamber had evidently been chosen to preserve.
There was still a pungent58, half-unpleasant smell, being rapidly drawn away through ducts in the ceiling. There was a face of a sort, and two closed eyes. The face was recognizably strong. The thing might have been called ugly, but Craig found a handsomeness about it too. He recognized the drama with which the body was arranged and lighted, and somehow for this last small vanity he loved the creature even more.
Dientes clutched at the priest's robe. "It is a lie, Padre!" And, as the priest remained silent, Dientes turned desperate eyes to Craig. "Mother of God! Will no one say it is a lie?"
Craig felt emotionally depleted59. Inside him were a sick regret and a hollowness where something had died, but cold reason remained. If there is no God, he thought, we're just intelligent animals, and we're free to live by our wits. If there is no God, then there is no Devil either.
And, in any event, there were needs and desires, friends and enemies. He stepped swiftly around the alien and took the heat-weapon from the priest's limp fingers. He turned toward Rabar, who was (beyond any worthwhile doubt) an enemy, and who was standing in the doorway with an annoying mockery in his eyes. Of course he's happy, Craig thought; he's a Bolshevik agent and an atheist61. There'll be damned little religion anywhere, now.
He raised the weapon calmly, every nerve and muscle alert, like an animal ready for action. He watched the triumph fade from Rabar's eyes. As his thumb felt unhesitatingly for the trigger, he watched the growth of fear.
The End
The End
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收听单词发音
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1
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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ramps
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| resources allocation and multiproject scheduling 资源分配和多项目的行程安排 | |
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avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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beckons
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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14
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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15
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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16
defter
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的( deft的比较级 ) | |
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17
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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18
concisely
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| adv.简明地 | |
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19
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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20
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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stunningly
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| ad.令人目瞪口呆地；惊人地 | |
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22
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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23
aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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24
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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25
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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26
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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27
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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28
sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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29
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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30
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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31
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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32
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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33
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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34
tautly
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| adv.绷紧地；紧张地； 结构严谨地；紧凑地 | |
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35
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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36
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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37
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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38
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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39
groove
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| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
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40
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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42
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
gist
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| n.要旨；梗概 | |
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44
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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45
meddled
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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47
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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48
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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49
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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50
solidify
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| v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结 | |
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51
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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52
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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53
wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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54
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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55
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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57
decomposition
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| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
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58
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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59
depleted
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| adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词 | |
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60
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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61
atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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