（外文电子版资料）Terry Bisson - First Fire.pdf

Published in SCIENCE FICTION AGE, September 1998. FIRST FIRE Terry Bisson An unusual request indeed. Why should I fly you to Iran? Because you have money and I dont, Emil wanted to say, but didnt. Because I can help you authenticate your discovery at Ebtacan, he said. What discovery? The Flame of Zoroaster. The Tycoon nodded his head. His knee had been nodding all along. He was the richest man in the world, and clearly one of the most impatient. He wore Levis and a Gap T shirt under a linen sport coat. His legs were crossed and his right foot was bobbing up and down as if he couldnt wait to get out of the office. Emil had gotten this appointment only by pulling every string and calling in every marker. He knew he had less than thirty seconds to make his case. There is a legend that the fire at Ebtacan is the same one Darius worshipped, he said. I know the legend, said the Tycoon. The Ebtacan dig was one of the few of his many projects that he followed closely. Most of them he ran through one foundation or another, but his interest in archeology was genuine, and deep. Emil knew that he had visited and even worked at the the dig several times. Archeology is not about legends, said the Tycoon. Its about objects. Small, hard objects you find in the dirt. What if I told you fire was a hard object, said Emil. The Tycoon narrowed his world-famous eyes. They were boyish only in photos. Im listening. I have developed a way to date fire. Not ashes, not charcoal, not the remnants or evidences of fire, but the flame itself. Im all ears. Using my device, which I call the spectrachronograph, I can date a flame to its precise moment of ignition, said Emil. With most fires thats only an hour or two. In the case of, say, the Olympic flame, it may be decades. I wont bother you with the technical details, but ... Bother me with the technical details, said the Tycoon. Emil explained how every flame has a unique spectragraphic signature, whi