1632 Snippets
The Newton Cipher – Snippet 07
The Newton Cipher - Snippet 07 Arrival A Plane to London The woman sitting next to Trina was stunning. She was older; her skin stretched thin over her cheekbones and there was no shortage of wrinkles around her eyes, but her silver-gray hair, pulled back in a long, loose ponytail, was thick and silky. Her deep azure eyes were kind, and her relaxed smile made Trina think of the nuns she saw around Notre Dame, or some sort of meditation guru in a yoga magazine. "I said, it's very pretty," the woman repeated. "Your pendant." She was wrapped in a...
1636 The Atlantic Encounter – Snippet 28
1636 The Atlantic Encounter - Snippet 28 Chapter 18 Boston Gordon did not want to go alone into town -- he thought about giving the line he'd used in Newfoundland, that they only traveled in pairs -- but Endecott left no choice; the troop formed up around him and they marched away from the wharf. Boston was like a rural German town, but even more so. Most of the houses were no more than log structures with clay chinking in between to keep out the drafts; they were covered with thatched roofs. He could see people looking out through the...
The Newton Cipher – Snippet 06
The Newton Cipher - Snippet 06 To O'Hare South Bend, Indiana It wasn't until Trina was back in her Jeep and crawling slowly down Edelstein's driveway that the tears came. She could barely see the ambulance tracks ahead of her, still fresh from when it rushed Edelstein to the hospital twenty minutes earlier. After they'd strapped him into a gurney and sped away, she'd answered questions for the police, even producing her receipt from the Saint Joe to prove she was where she said she was before coming to Edelstein's house. "You said he vomited...
1636 The Atlantic Encounter – Snippet 27
1636 The Atlantic Encounter - Snippet 27 "I thought it was all empty." "Is that what your up-timer book told you?" "It didn't tell me near enough," Gordon said. "All I know is that there should be a good-sized town at Boston, and the governor is some guy named Vane." "I believe that is in error," James said. "Winthrop is still governor -- or was in the spring, when we last had intelligence of the place up in Newfoundland." * * * As they crossed the bay toward Boston they could see the smoke from chimneys, and through a spyglass Gordon picked...
The Newton Cipher – Snippet 05
The Newton Cipher - Snippet 05 Kew Gardens Kew Gardens London, England Two days earlier Charlotte Dovey pinned a new slide onto the metal stage and adjusted the knobs on her digital microscope. It was late, and most of the other techs had gone home, but Charlotte had promised the director of the lab that she'd analyze these dried petals before tomorrow. England's Kew Gardens had been the world's premiere botanical garden for nearly two centuries. When England's navy controlled the seas and the British Empire ruled most of the planet, plant...
1636 The Atlantic Encounter – Snippet 26
1636 The Atlantic Encounter - Snippet 26 Chapter 17 Atlantic Coast North America Maartens took his time sailing Challenger south from Newfoundland. Gordon would have liked to see the pace pick up, but the Dutch sailing master insisted that there were all sorts of dangers -- shoals and rocks and other things -- along the coast. They had some of the soundings maps for the Maine shore, but not enough of them to satisfy Maartens. Instead, he relied on John Smith's map from 1614 which, in Gordon's eyes, was more a work of art than a navigational...
The Newton Cipher – Snippet 04
The Newton Cipher - Snippet 04 The Saint Joe South Bend, Indiana The Saint Joe was one of South Bend's most popular restaurants. Housed in an old mansion built during the heyday of the Studebaker era, the Saint Joe looked like an old stone castle, four stories high. Its walls were built with river rock, and accented with cut limestone arches and columns. A red slate roof was pierced by multiple chimneys and a round turret that dominated one corner. The grounds were green and manicured -- at least in summer -- with huge oaks and maples...
1636 The Atlantic Encounter – Snippet 25
1636 The Atlantic Encounter - Snippet 25 Chapter 16 Land of the Five Nations Samuel de Champlain had been an artist and cartographer during his earliest travels, and he amazed Stephane with his skill. Even with somewhat diminished eyesight, and a slight palsy that made his drawing hand shake, he was able to render an accurate depiction of Challenger, as well as the features in Thomasville and Nye-Alborg that Stephane was able to describe. He also did a quick sketch of Stephane himself, which he scarcely recognized. The last few months had...