They were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a laboratory technician who brought in a dry photographic print still warm from the developing box.
He laid it on the desk before Underwood. "I thought you might be interested in this."
Underwood and Terry glanced at it. The picture was of the huge, gemlike artifact, but a number of the facets seemed to be covered with intricate markings of short, wavy lines.
Underwood stared closer at the thing. "What the devil are those? We took pictures of every facet previously and there was nothing like this. Get me an enlargement of these."
"I already have." The assistant laid another photo on the desk, showing the pattern of markings as if at close range. They were clearly discernible now.
"What do you make of it?" asked Underwood.
"I'd say it looked like writing," Terry said. "But it's not like any of the other Stroid characters I've seen—which doesn't mean much, of course, because there could be thousands that I've never seen. Only how come these characters are there now, and we never noticed them before?"
"Let's go out and have a look," said Underwood. He grasped the photograph and noted the numbers of the facets on which the characters appeared.
In a few moments the two men were speeding toward the surface of their discovery astride scooters. They jockeyed above the facets shown on the photographs, and stared in vain.
"Something's the matter," said Terry. "I don't see anything here."