The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards Read Free Book Online Page A

all.”
    Mrs. Resnick raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know Ryan, there are a lot of insects who might not agree with you,” she said, an amused smile coming over her face. “Remember that each thread of a spider web is far thinner than a strand of human hair—hundreds of times thinner, in fact. And yet a web can still stop a large, flying bug. A web of equally thin threads—but made of the world’s toughest steel instead of spider silk—wouldn’t be nearly as strong. Put another way, if you could make a web out of spider-silk ropes as thick as a pencil, this web would stop a jet airplane.”
    “Wow,” said Ryan, truly impressed. “I never thought about it that way.”
    “Most people don’t,” said his mom. She pointed to the staircase. “And these threads are millions of times stronger even than spider silk. We finally began to appreciate just what we were dealing with when our every attempt to cut out a piece for study failed. Our initial efforts failed to even scratch one of these delicate-looking threads. We finally succeeded using a specially made diamond saw, with very fine teeth.”
    Regan raised her eyebrows. “A diamond saw?”
    “A saw with a blade made out of diamond.”
    “Why make a saw out of diamonds?” asked Regan, still confused.
    Mrs. Resnick smiled. “Diamonds aren’t just used for jewelry and decoration. They also happen to be the hardest natural material on Earth, so hard they can even scratch glass. So diamonds are used to make the best saws and drills. Luckily for us the saw worked and we were able to get a sample. The secret of these threads alone could revolutionize dozens of fields: architecture, engineering, aviation, space travel—the list goes on and on.”
    “And this is only the beginning of what we might learn from the wonders of this place,” added their father. “The force-field. The material in the walking path that makes walking so effortless. Even the light-source for the city, which we haven’t even found yet. All of this, and we’ve been here less than two days!”
    “The technology here really is amazing,” agreed Regan. “It almost seems more like magic than science,” she said.
    Dr. Harris smiled gently. “If you took someone from two hundred years ago and brought them to the present day, they would think that our technology was magic. Think about it. Television, computers, jet airplanes, electricity, cell phones. They wouldn’t have any idea how these things worked. They wouldn’t even know what these things were.”
    A thought struck Regan. “Wouldn’t that also be dangerous for them?” she asked. “What if they stuck a finger in an electrical socket to find out what it was?”
    “Excellent point,” said her mom. “That’s one reason we’re trying to be so careful here. We never know when we’re about to stick our finger in the alien equivalent of an innocent looking socket. Prometheus gave a very powerful, but very dangerous, gift to mankind.”
    Amanda Resnick frowned deeply. “But without question this city is the most dangerous gift humanity has ever received.”
     

 
    Chapter 12
     
    Secrets and Peril
     
    The room became eerily silent. Every scientist in the room had long since considered the dangers of tinkering with technology far beyond current human understanding, but Mrs. Resnick’s statement had been a forceful reminder of this point.
    Finally, Dr. Harris cleared his throat to break the tension in the room and said, “I think it’s time to come back to the issue at hand. What do we do now that these kids know about the Prometheus Project?” He paused and rubbed his chin in thought. After almost a minute had passed he finally shook his head and said, “I’m afraid I don’t have a ready answer.” He turned toward the security chief. “Carl,” he said, “you’re the expert in these matters and most qualified to make this decision. I’ll stand behind whatever you decide.”
    Carl nodded solemnly.
    “It goes without