"Well—"
"Wouldn't it cut slices out of the landscape, instead of boring holes? And wouldn't it sway or vibrate enough to make the holes miles away from it something less than perfect circles?"
"It could have been very firmly mounted."
"Hugh, does that sound like a practical weapon to you?"
Two seconds of silence. "On the other hand," he said, "instead of a war, the whole thing might have been designed to frighten some primitive race—or even some kind of beast—the hole out of here. A demonstration—"
"Religious," Janus grumbled, still looking around.
We walked on, passing the cactus on the low ridge.
"Interesting," said Gonzales. "The evidence that whatever causes the phenomenon has happened again and again. I'm afraid that the war theory—"
"Oh, my God!" gasped Burton.
We stared at him.