't notice that it happened when the power was on, did you," one
of the engineers asked, nettled at Lattimer's tone. "Well, it was.
Everything's burned out or shorted or fused together; I saw one busbar
eight inches across melted clean in two. It's a pity we didn't find
things in good shape, even archaeologically speaking. I saw a lot of
interesting things, things in advance of what we're using now. But it'll
take a couple of years to get everything sorted out and figure what it
looked like originally."

"Did it look as though anybody'd made any attempt to fix it?" Martha
asked.

Sachiko shook her head. "They must have taken one look at it and given
up. I don't believe there would have been any possible way to repair
anything."

"Well, that explains why they left. They needed electricity for
lighting, and heating, and all their industrial equipment was
electrical. They had a good life, here, with power; without it, this
place wouldn't have been habitable."

"Then why did they barricade everything from the inside, and how did
they get out?" Lattimer wanted to know.

"To keep other people from breaking in and looting. Last man out
probably barred the last door and slid down a rope from upstairs," von
Ohlmhorst suggested. "This Houdini-trick doesn't worry me too much.
We'll find out eventually."

"Yes, about the time Martha starts reading Martian," Lattimer scoffed.

"That may be just when we'll find out," von Ohlmhorst replied seriously.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they left something in writing when they
evacuated this place."

"Are you really beginning to treat this pipe dream of hers as a serious
possibility, Selim?" Lattimer demanded. "I know, it would be a wonderful
thing, but wonderful things don't happen just because they're wonderful.
Only because they're possible, and this isn't. Let me quote that
distinguished Hittitologist, Johannes Friedrich: 'Nothing can be
translated out of nothing.' Or that later but not less distinguished
Hittitologist, Selim von Ohlmhorst: 'Where are you going to get your
bilingual?'"

"Friedrich lived to see the Hittite language deciphered and read," von
Ohlmhorst reminded him.

"Yes, when they found Hittite-Assyrian bilinguals." Lattimer measured a
spoonful of coffee-powder into his cup and added hot water. "Martha, you
ought to know, better than anybody, how little chance you have. You've
been working for years in the Indus Valley; how many words of Harappa
have you or any