Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
‘But building a fucking big house in the dinosaur times isn’t?’ Ben asks, glaring at him. ‘Putting fucking electric wiring and shutters? You’ve probably got solar panels on the sodding roof. Are they going to erode? What if someone in the future finds a fossilised solar panel? What then?’
‘But they haven’t,’ Roland says in that soft tone. ‘We’re in the past now, Mr Ryder, but we still have access to our normal time . . . or the future from here . . . so we know nothing has been found from this site.’
‘But . . .’
‘And we also know that this location is swallowed by the ocean long before the first person ever walks upright. I think . . .’ he says, then pauses for a second. Emotion in the room. Raw emotion that is growing stronger by the second. He lifts the tablet and swipes the screen. ‘I think now is the best time to show you this . . .’ He thumbs an access code into the device. ‘The inventor recorded some footage . . . I think it pertinent to show you that footage. It is somewhat impacting and, believe me, it is not my intention to further distress you, but I think it may help you understand the gravity of the situation.’
‘What’s that?’ Harry asks, staring at the thin, flat object in Roland’s hands.
‘Like a TV,’ Safa says, ‘Ben said earlier about computers?’
‘This tablet is actually 3D enabled but I think, given the presence of Harry, standard two-dimensional footage will suffice . . . now the actual film was captured by a drone . . .’
‘A drone?’ Harry asks, alarmed at the prospect of there being robot soldiers in the future.
‘Small flying device,’ Safa explains. ‘Like a helicopter? Did you have helicopters?’
‘I know what they are, rotorcraft?’ Harry says. ‘Saw one once, useless thing.’
‘They got better,’ Safa says. ‘Much better . . . a drone is a very small one operated by a remote control. They put cameras on them to record the ground and the military use them to drop bombs and spy on stuff.’
Roland waits for the explanation to finish, detecting there is already the beginnings of a bond growing between the three people in front of him. He turns the screen to face them, leans over the top and presses the triangle to play the footage. Audio fills the room. A slight hiss, then the sound of the drone blades whirling. The screen comes to life, showing an unfocused grey blur and the distinctive motion of a camera lens trying to focus. Harry blinks and leans forward. His attention as much on the tablet as what’s on the screen.