"Maybe the ghouls built the Mound," Channok suggested. "Their great-great-ancestors, anyway."
"They won't go near it now," Peer said, following-his gaze. "They're scared of that, too!"
They studied the rugged, ungainly slopes of the huge artifact for a moment. There was something fascinating about it, Channok thought. Perhaps just its size.
"Santis said the plain was the bottom of a sea a while ago," Peer offered. "So it could have been some sort of sea-things that built it."
"Any entrances into it?" he asked casually.
"Just one, right at the top."
"You know," he said, "I think I'd like to go over and have a look at that thing before we leave."
"No!" said Peer, alarmed. "You'd better not. Santis said it was dangerous—and there is something there! We saw a light one night."
"What kind of a light?"
"Like someone walking around the top of it, near that entrance, with a big lamp in his hand," Peer remembered. "Like he might have been looking for something."