Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt Read Free Book Online

said, extending her hand. “I’m April Cannon.”
    Max took her coat. “I didn’t expect results quite so soon.”
    Her smile implied there was a secret between them. She sat down, keeping the briefcase on her lap, and looked at him sharply. “I’ll admit we don’t usually do home delivery, Mr. Collingwood,” she said. “But you and I both know you’ve got something very unusual here.”
    Max nodded as if that was all very true.
    Her eyes cut into him. “Where did you get it?”
    Max wondered briefly whether he should keep the source quiet. But what the hell, it’d been on TV. “It was buried up on the border.”
    “The boat ? The one they found on the farm?”
    Max nodded.
    “The boat . I’ll be damned.” Her eyes lost their focus. “May I see it?” she asked.
    “Sure,” he said. “Everybody else has been up there.” She seemed to be drifting away from him. “What exactly can you tell me?”
    “Let me ask you something,” she said, as if he had not spoken. “Did you drop any samples off anywhere else?”
    “No,” said Max.
    “Good.” She released the snaps on the briefcase, withdrew a folder, and handed it over. “How’s your chemistry?”
    “Shaky.”
    “That’s okay. Listen, Mr. Collingwood—”
    “I think this’ll go quicker if you call me Max.”
    “Okay, Max.” She smiled. Max had the feeling that she wasn’t really seeing him. “Colson’s a small operation. I did the lab work myself. Nobody else knows.”
    “Knows what?”
    She pointed at the folder.
    Max opened it and glanced over a one-page form.
    “I wonder if you’d translate it for me.”
    She looked around the office. “Can we be overheard?”
    That startled him. “No,” he said.
    “Okay. The material’s a fiber. It’s very fine, and it’s woven.” Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “It has an atomic number of one-sixty-one. It’s a transuranic.”
    “What’s a transuranic?”
    “An artificially-created element.”
    “Is that a problem?”
    “Max, this is a transuranic in spades. We’ve got one out there now so new it hasn’t even been named yet. It has an atomic number of one-twelve. That’s the top of the chart. Or it used to be. This stuff—” She shook her head. “It shouldn’t exist.”
    “So what are we saying here?”
    Her features were tense. “Nobody has the technology to manufacture this kind of stuff. Even if we did, the element should be inherently unstable. And hot.”
    “ Hot ? You mean radioactive?” Max began reviewing how much time he’d spent close to the sails.
    “Yes. That’s what it should be.” She produced what remained of the sample, and held it up to a lamp. “But it’s okay. Maybe at those levels, elements lose their radioactivity. I don’t know. Nobody does.”
    “Are you sure about this?” he asked.
    “Yes. Of course I’m sure.”
    Max got up and walked to the window. A Cessna was just touching down. “I don’t think I understand what you’re telling me.”
    She did not answer for a long time. “Somebody,” she said at last, “somewhere, has made a technological leap over the rest of us. A big one.”
    “Okay,” he said. “So is it important?”
    “Max, I’m not talking about a moderate advance. I’m talking light-years . This shouldn’t be possible.”
    Max shrugged. “Obviously it is.”
    She got that faraway look again. “Apparently,” she said.
    “So, what are the implications? Is there a commercial advantage to it?”
    “Oh, I would think so. The electrons are extremelystable. Extremely . I’ve already done some tests. It does not interact with other elements.”
    “I’m still not following.”
    “It’s virtually indestructible.”
    Max knew better. “That can’t be right,” he said. “The sample I sent you was cut with a pair of scissors.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t mean that kind of indestructibility. Obviously you can cut it. Or crunch it. But it won’t decay. It won’t fall apart on its own.” She was