Free Infinity Cage by Alex Scarrow

to Liam. ‘If our estimation of the tangent of the beam was correct, that is.’
    Liam looked at the rest of the city, a carpet of terraces and flat rooftops that undulated with the underlying geometry of shallow valleys and gentle slopes. The temple platform, and thetemple in the middle, was spread on top of the city’s highest hill. He recalled the bowl-like shape of that Mayan city in the jungle, tucked into a concealed sinkhole or caldera, and, beneath the central plaza, that enormous cylindrical chamber; he could imagine a similar structure concealed somewhere deep within this hill. Looking at the shape of the city … it seemed the most likely place to hide something so big.
    ‘So … are your cat’s whiskers picking up anything yet?’
    Bob cocked a thick brow at him. ‘I do not understand.’
    ‘Tachyons?’
    He nodded his head slowly. ‘Negative. The beam is very tightly directed. If it is down there, beneath the temple platform, I will need to be much closer before I will be able to detect any rogue particles.’
    ‘Well then, looks to me like the temple is wide open for business, even at this time of night.’ He pulled the strap of his goatskin bag on to his shoulder.
    ‘Would you like me to carry that?’
    Liam gave that a moment’s thought. ‘Aye … you’re right. What am I doing? You’re the big strong one.’



CHAPTER 10
     
2070, New York
     
    ‘We chose to stay on here,’ said Walt. He smiled warmly at his wife sitting across the large marble dining table. ‘Myself and Charm. Our babies bein’ grown up and all with babies of their own – they got their own lives in other places. So it was a decision just for us. When the Manhattan authorities finally said there was nothing left of the city for them to run, and that we should all pack up and leave, me and Charm decided we weren’t goin’ anywhere.’
    They were sitting round a circular table of rich dark polished marble. Sitting on ridiculously expensive-looking designer dinner chairs and all of them gazing out of the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that circled them all the way round the top of the W.G.S. Tower. Darkness was beginning to set in already, even though it was only just gone four in the afternoon. Outside, in the gathering overcast gloom, were several dozen pinpricks of light and the flicker of movement coming from the tops of other abandoned skyscrapers, as others in this artificial-island community passed in front of their candles and gas lamps and electric lamps, preparing their evening meals.
    Becks stood like a stone sentinel, silhouetted against one of the panoramic windows and studying the flooded world outside for any approaching signs of danger.
    ‘When did that happen, Mr Roberts?’ asked Maddy. ‘When did this place get flooded?’
    He smiled at her. ‘
Walt’s
more than good enough for me,’ he said. ‘New York
officially
became an abandoned city back in ’61. But it was more’n dead already when them damn levee walls gave way the year before.’ The old man shook his head sadly. ‘Tidal surge that caused it. Tidal surge that rolled right up the Hudson and East Rivers like a freight train. Large section of them levee walls just gave up the struggle and caved in. Damn mini tsunami, twenty feet high if not more, washed down into all these streets.’
    Charm, a handsome old woman with tight coils of grey hair held back by a thick hairband, pressed her lips together then spoke. ‘That wave went and flooded the Manhattan subway lines still being used by folks to get to work. Thousands of people were drowned. Those poor, poor souls; they never stood a chance. People in carriages, trapped in those long dark tunnels. All of them drowned in just a few seconds.’
    ‘God,’ whispered Maddy. ‘That must have been awful.’
    ‘Yes, miss, it was,’ she replied. ‘Ever since then, this place has remained underwater. Nobody ever reclaimed all those bodies. Somebody said that maybe five or six thousand