The Basingstoke Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page A

was
only a grim satisfaction, the vindication of a life-long insistence. I had discovered something
truly extraordinary and real.
    I had to know more.
    The panel was embedded inside the wall--a remarkable technology--and its
symbols were as abstract in matter as they were nonsensical. Neither hieroglyphs or any form of
writing I had seen, they had to be responsible for the vessel's locomotion. Of that much I was
certain, partly because there was nothing else, partly because I wished it be so.
    Twenty-three symbols lined the panel, side by side. Each was unique, yet all remained
elusive as though on the bed of a pond. Above and below these pictorials were smaller crescent
shapes, identical except for the ones above being concave and the ones below being convex. It
seems absurd now but at the time it made perfect sense--the sequence appeared so elementary and
I reckoned a little experimenting would soon capture me this enigma. In my haste, or perhaps in
the off-putting torchlight, I quite overlooked the fact that one of the symbols was lit more
brightly than the rest.
    The fifth symbol from the right caught my attention instead. It closely resembled the
tentacles I had seen affixed to the roof. What arrogance made me match our own methods of
propulsion with this utterly alien discovery I can only guess. My excuse, I suppose, is that
caution is often thwarted by moments of exuberance. In any event, I pressed the concave shape above --to take me up to the surface.
    A slight yet noticeable vibration tickled my feet through the rubber flippers.
    Ah...movement!
    After a few seconds, the turquoise interior began to fluctuate in tone, darkening and then
returning to its normal shade in uneven spurts. The commotion lasted no longer than a dozen
seconds.
    Though curious to learn what I had achieved, I caught a glimpse of my wrist watch. Only
a few minutes of oxygen remained. Scrambling through the keel hole, I was disappointed to find
the vessel had not budged.
    After all that, I thought, noting the exact geographical whereabouts of my
discovery, even though I could again no longer see it. I vowed to return immediately with a fresh
cylinder. The excitement grew to a nervous energy as I approached the surface.
    Right! Sam, Ethel and Rodrigo I can trust, but no one else is getting their paws on
this. I'll kill them first. We have to keep it under wraps, literally.
    On the surface, I removed my mouthpiece to breathe freely once again. The air was
crisp and the sun less intense, as though a spot of inclement weather was approaching. The Moncado and the Aquitaine floated side by side a hundred yards away.
    Maybe they've found something too, I thought, relishing the opportunity to
compare our mornings of discovery. In a matter of minutes, I reached Rodrigo's yacht and
climbed aboard, but had to wait a good twenty minutes on deck for him to re-surface. He paused
as he noticed me, before hurtling up the steel ladder and almost wrenching his mask from his
head in excitement.
    "Jesus, Baz, you sonofabitch. We thought you were dead!"
    "Well, I did cut it a little fine, I have to admit. Just a minute or so left."
    "A minute or so? What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped. "You've been
missing for over a week!"

Chapter 4
    How can one understand time travel? I had skipped over eight rotations of the
earth. An entire week of my life that should have been, never was. Not in the sense of being
unconscious. That would have at least included me in the chaos equation--an entity both acting
upon and being acted upon by the laws of physics. No, I had been whisked away from those
mechanics. A bystander to a cruelly accelerated world. And nothing could atone for that time
stolen away.
    Missing for over a week.
    Rodrigo chose not to follow up his statement. He stared instead, no doubt waiting for an
explanation that he felt I owed him, one that I, too, waited for. The moment was excruciating. I
was the butt of an awful, temporal joke.
    As I stuttered