Mark could feel tears come into his eyes from the
unearthly beauty the light created. Many dozens of flakes, invisible to
the naked eye, were revealed when the laser beam pierced the
near-perfect sphere. They exploded in glorious colors-gold, orange,
deep red, flaming yellow, silver; even a few brilliant green, deep
blue, and violet sparks traced across the inner world.
The Starmen were speechless. They couldn't take their eyes off the
resplendent glory of the sphere under the laser light. "Beautiful,
isn't it?" asked Vly, gently. There was no need to answer.
"Where do the colors come from?" asked Mark. "Laser light has only one
wavelength, so it can't be refracting in there."
"The crystal's impurities are almost invisible to the unaided eye,"
answered Vly, "but the laser hits the impurities and causes secondary
emissions of light of all sorts of color-the more impurities, the more
colors. It lights up better than a fire opal."
As he moved the laser beam slowly around the globe, the interior lights
changed-first one, then another "flaw" taking the light and surging
into radiance.
All too soon, he switched off the laser and turned the room lights back
on. It was almost as if a spell had been broken.
"C'mon," he said. "I'll show you just where George is on the chart.
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