The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Issahar Artifacts, by Jesse Franklin Bone

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Title: The Issahar Artifacts

Author: Jesse Franklin Bone

Release Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #29271]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS

By J. F. BONE

_Lincoln said it eons ago.... It took
a speck of one-celled plant life on a
world parsecs away to prove it for
all the galaxy._

The following manuscript was discovered during the excavation of a
lateral connecting link between the North-South streamways in Narhil
Province near Issahar on Kwashior. The excavator, while passing through
a small valley about 20 yursts south of the city, was jammed by a mass
of oxidized and partially oxidized metallic fragments. On most worlds
this would not be unusual, but Kwashior has no recorded history of
metallic artifacts. The terrestrial operator, with unusual presence of
mind, reported the stoppage immediately. Assasul, the District
Engineering monitor, realized instantly that no metallic debris should
exist in that area, and in consequence ordered a most careful excavation
in the event that the artifacts might have cultural significance.

The debris proved to be the remnants of an ancient spaceship similar to
those described in Sector Chronicles IV through VII, but of much smaller
size and cruder design--obviously a relic of pre-expansion days. Within
the remnants of the ship was found a small box of metal covered with
several thicknesses of tar and wax impregnated fabric which had been
mostly destroyed. The metal itself was badly oxidized, but served to
protect an inner wooden box that contained a number of thin sheets of a
fragile substance composed mainly of cellulose which were brown and
crumbling with age. The sheets were covered with runes of _lingua
antiqua_ arranged in regular rows, inscribed by hand with a carbon-based
ink which has persisted remarkably well despite the degenerative
processes of time. Although much of the manuscr