Day of Rebellion Read Online Free PDF Page A

kit… packs, clothing… let’s get on it.”
    Jack’s breathing was becoming heavier and his whole nervous system buzzed as if it was wired to the mains. The fact that he had endured this experience several times before did not make him feel any better. Nor was he comforted by the fact that, for the first time, the mighty Taurus would transport them not to the past, but to the future. Or so they hoped. Jack started to notice the physical changes around him in the Taurus chamber as they approached the event horizon – the point of no return. He could hear the shrill scream of the generators, but for somereason the sound was more muffled in their position on the transfer platform high up on the Taurus. Around his feet he could see shimmering eddies of light – the electrical disturbance caused by the temporary wormhole: ion-charged curtains of blue, red and green light. As the shimmering became stronger, it was as if he was standing in the rippling waters of an illuminated whirlpool. The atmosphere within the Taurus structure was also changing and the control room beyond appeared darker and fuzzier. Jack clenched his fists and gritted his teeth…
    3… 2… 1

2046
    T he scene before Jack and Angus, from their position on the Taurus transfer platform, seemed little different from the one they had looked out on only seconds before. There was one other important change, however, and it only took Jack a single glance at his time phone to confirm the incredible truth. The readout winked back at him:
    Date: July 16th 2046
    Time: 2:33 p.m.
    Location: Bass Rock, Firth of Forth,
    Scotland.
    2046. That was the important number. The year. It meant they had travelled more than forty years into the future.
    “You OK?” Angus said.
    “That usual sick feeling. But I’ll be alright. The place looks empty – but there seems to be power.”
    “Yeah. But we can’t be too sure.”
    “Look – the blood trail again…”
    Jack pointed to the entry gantry leading off the Taurus transfer platform. The thin spattering of blood, now dried, continued all the way along, then downstairs.
    “I guess we follow it and we’ll discover something soon enough.”
    “Or someone… we need to be careful.”
    Jack studied the time phone readout. “The Taurus has sent us here on 16th July – that’s two days after Dad and a day after Fenton.”
    “Yeah – but we don’t know where they’ve gone. They could still be here. We need to be careful.”
    The trail of brown-red drops continued into the room below. It then traced its way through to the exit that led back through the library and into a whole separate area of the Revisionist underground complex. The place seemed deserted. There was no sign of Jack’s father or the mysterious ‘Fenton’. The complex contained a large storeroom, kitchen and sleeping quarters. But the trail led them to a small infirmary where it was evident, from some loose bandages and an open bottle of disinfectant, that someone had attempted a hasty patch-up job.
    “The blood trail stops here. If it was him, it looks like your dad managed to stem the blood flow.”
    Jack bit his lip. “That’s one conclusion…”
    The library was the central hub of the complex and there were a number of further rooms leading off it. One of them was some kind of large laboratory. There were computer terminals everywhere, papers strewn around, whiteboards with diagrams and equations scribbled across them, and lots of scientific equipment. Amongst the mess, Jack caught sight of a few historical artefacts which looked a bit out of place. There was an earthenware pot, some medals and an assortment of old firearms.
    “What a mess,” Angus said.
    “The place looks deserted but something’s definitely been happening in here recently. Everything’s on standby.”
    “Yeah – look at those screens over there, they look like CCTV pictures showing bits of the complex. But I can’t see any sign of life. And those ones seem to show the