The silurian bridge, p.34
The Silurian Bridge, page 34
The work was time-consuming and complex. But it forced him to focus and forget about all their past mistakes.
“This time,” Hanley said, and lowered his goggles.
Rashid nodded and looked back to the new rat. “Good luck, Ernie. Come back to us.”
He pressed the initiation switch, and the blue glow began to form around the spherical device in its sealed chamber, then homed in around the glass case on the pedestal.
“Go,” Rashid whispered.
In a blink, the rat was gone. And just as the glow was receding, it brightened again, and the case returned.
The light died away. And then a cheer went up.
Ernie was still there. Alive, and by the look of him, unharmed.
“Yes.” Hanley fist-pumped the air. “Well done, everyone. I knew we could do it.” He grinned at Rashid. “Well done.”
Rashid gave his colleague and friends a small salute.
Hanley began to leave the room. “Continue with the examination. I want to know everything that went on, and is going on, inside that animal.”
Rashid nodded and then turned back to the rat to smile sadly. “Sorry, Ernie. Your reward for being the world’s first successful chrononaut is death and dissection.” He looked up, trying to find Doreen Peng, but she had already left the room.
Odd, he thought. At this important time.
He waved one of the other bio-technicians over. “Take Ernie into the surgical laboratory and prepare him for a full autopsy. I want to know everything, right down to the chemical, skeletal, and cellular level, about what effects that jump just had on his system.”
Rashid then looked back at the tachyon device and shook his head, smiling dreamily. His voice was soft, and he spoke mostly to himself. “Ladies and gentlemen, we just perfected the world’s first time machine.”
About Greig Beck
Greig Beck grew up across the road from Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. His early days were spent surfing, sunbaking, and reading science fiction on the sand. He then went on to study computer science, immerse himself in the financial software industry, and later received an MBA.
Today, Greig spends his days writing, but still finds time to surf at his beloved Bondi Beach. He lives in Sydney, with his wife and a loopy golden retriever.
If you would like to contact Greig, his email address is greig@greigbeck.com and you can find him on the web at www.greigbeck.com.
Also by Greig Beck
The Alex Hunter series
Arcadian Genesis
Beneath the Dark Ice
Dark Rising
This Green Hell
Black Mountain
Gorgon
Hammer of God
Kraken Rising
The Void
From Hell
The Dark Side
The Well of Hell
The Matt Kearns series
The First Bird
Book of the Dead
The Immortality Curse
Extinction Plague
The Fathomless series
Fathomless
Abyss
Leviathan
The Valkeryn Chronicles
Return of the Ancients
The Dark Lands
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First published 2024 in Momentum by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Greig Beck 2024
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Original cover design and illustration: SaberCore23-ArtStudio.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent to describe actual conduct.
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Greig Beck, The Silurian Bridge
