Place in Time

Gary Blinco

Description

Ian Lane is fifty-seven years old and he thinks his country is about to be invaded by force of arms and have its lifestyle and culture changed forever. So he leaves his executive corporate position and decides to rely on his suddenly budding career as a novelist to support himself, his wife and ten-year-old daughter. They set out on a long dreamed of caravan trip around Australia while the countrys northern neighbours become more and more determined that Australia should join the powerful Northern Alliance voluntarily - or risk being compelled to do so by force of arms. Australias allies adopt a wait-and-see attitude while the country bubbles with internal and external conflict and turmoil. When the invasion begins Ian and his wife and daughter are camped at an isolated lagoon deep in the northern outback prisoners in their own land watching the invaders swarm down the centre of the continent. A Vietnam Veteran - Ian longs to play a part in defending his land. But what can he do when he is stranded in the middle of nowhere?By chance or destiny he finds a fissure through a wall of desert rock that takes him 252 years into the future. There he finds an ally and access to technology that will help him in his quest to serve his country, and he gains a glimpse at the future that gives him hope for the present. He also finds a new but impossible romantic relationship that inspires and confuses at the same time.

Sujets

• Science fiction

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 26 décembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456600051
• Langue: English

Extrait

A PLACE IN TIME
By GARY BLINCO
 
Copyright Gary Blinco 2004
 
Published by Zeus Publications 2004
http://www.zeus-publications.com
P.O. Box 2554
Burleigh MDC Qld 4220 Australia
 
Published for eBook Distribution by eBookIt.com
 
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-1-4566-0005-1
 
Australian National Library listing:
Blinco,G. A Place in Time
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photocopying or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
EPILOGUE
 
 
DEDICATION
To my children, Kim, Gary and Donata – for keeping childhood imagination and curiosity alive in my being.
 
 
A Place in Time
In my vast universe – you are a speck of dust,
So bright, but brief you’ll shine,
And in the end be just,
Somewhere – a place in time.
 
Gary Blinco December 2003
 
 
About the author
Gary Blinco grew up in the bush on the Darling Downs in Queensland during the fifties and early sixties. His large family existed in poverty stricken and primitive circumstances in those days, and the author credits his harsh beginnings with his insight into landscapes and the human condition. He is also a Vietnam Veteran, having completed two tours of duty as an infantry soldier after being conscripted during the National Service era of the sixties and early seventies.
His first two books, ‘Down a Country Lane’ and ‘The Wounds of War’ are largely about soldiering during the Vietnam War. His writing deals in sensitive terms with personal relationships, including conflict on and off the battlefield, and romance, which provides a refreshing contrast against the harshness of military combat. In this sense his first two books offer more than just a blood and guts war story.
His third book, ‘Under the Harvest Moon’, is a romantic mystery novel set against the backdrop of the first bulk wheat harvest on the Darling Downs in 1957. The book provides an entertaining journey across a spectrum of history, mystery and romance during a time of rapid change.
‘A Place in Time’ is his latest work and a novel that explores what might happen in the near future in Australia – and builds on the author’s venture into fantasy and science fiction writing with a glimpse at the world 252 years in the future.
The Mystical Swagman series will be released shortly and follows the experiences of an orphan boy of mysterious origins who develops mystical powers while tramping the wallaby track with two old swagmen.
Gary works in sales and marketing in the financial services industry and lives on the central coast of New South Wales.
 
Chapter One
Ian Lane sat in his current favourite coffee shop sipping his second flat-white for the day, the small pile of work papers at his elbow untouched as usual. He always brought work with him to lunch but rarely looked at it. Rather it served as a safety net in case someone came along to invade his privacy, then he could pretend to be engrossed in his work and legitimately avoid recriminations of ‘snob’ and ‘anti-social’. He was a very private person and treasured his lunch break as a time to be alone – that’s why this was his ‘current’ favourite eatery – nobody here knew him yet. But the time would come when the staff in the place saw him as a regular and would want to chat. That’s when he would find another place.
He looked at the television screen on the wall and unconsciously shook his head at the rantings of the leader of the Northern Alliance expounding the economic and social logic of the proposed union. Australians must see the obvious benefits of having a regional government incorporating Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. Free passage and free trade among the members, the right to buy and sell property while combining the ample resources of the region made perfectly good sense.
And surely the five-year plan for Australia would mean progress and prosperity for the people. The reallocating of much of the currently useless national parks and heritage listed areas to more productive but environmentally responsible development was inevitable in a world starved of space. And the plan to divert sea and river water to the arid centre of the country would mean an oasis where deserts now prevailed.
The Northern Alliance was formed just after the Iraq War a few years ago and had grown rapidly in numbers and influence. Ill feeling against
America and those who supported her was rampant in certain parts of the world, including the nations that now formed the backbone of the Northern Alliance. Australia sat in the region like an enormous fat cow – blessed with land and resources of all kinds but with a piddling population that seemed oblivious to the reality of its geographical location. Australians saw themselves as members of Western culture, and their apathy precluded them from thinking their status could ever be challenged by other more populated nations to their north. Indeed little had changed in this mindset since the Second World War, when most Australians refused to see the possibility of a Japanese invasion – even after the attacks on Darwin and Sydney Harbour.
Now sixty years later Ian Lane believed that an invasion was not only possible, but also imminent, though he hoped fervently that he was wrong - that it was just the paranoid old soldier in him that fostered that view. He had watched a debate last night between two prominent political figures with opposing views on the subject. He had been surprised at first, and then terrified when he saw the great gap in opinion and perception. His personal views were largely with those who opposed the union. Australians had been politically, religiously and culturally aligned to western principles for over two hundred years and he saw no reason to change that now.
To him it served no purpose to argue that the country’s geographical position in an Asian region dictated where its alliances should lie. As a member of a regional government Australia would soon be irrelevant. Australia’s small population and different culture and values would see it relegated to a small voice in a broader government and it would starve and die for want of a voice.
But whatever Ian thought, it was clear that public opinion was divided – and passions were running hot. The airwave shock-jocks were having a field day on talkback radio, and it was clear, at least to Ian, that the people were being cleverly manipulated in several directions from within. If it came to a physical conflict it would be difficult to tell just who would be on which side and he shuddered when he contemplated a guerrilla war in his own country.
Ian went back to his coffee thoughtfully. It was obvious that a lot of people supported the plan – from politicians to big business executives, despite the screams of protest from the greenies and the fiercely patriotic. Commentary from Australia’s international supporters – notable the USA, was surprisingly ambivalent, particularly given their close alliance during the war in the Middle East a few short years ago. He wondered if Australia could really count on military support if it ever came to that.
Japan was surprisingly vocal in its support for the proposal – but given that nation’s economic success in her tiny group of islands since being repelled in the Second World War, that sentiment was not surprising. God knew the Japanese had little enough real estate at their disposal, and they would never contemplate setting aside hundreds of thousands of square kilometres to national parks as Australia had done. And perhaps there were many people in that country who still believed in the motives that had led them to war all those years ago. Australia’s practice of exporting its raw materials instead of refining and producing actual goods, while it suited the Japanese, did not make any economic sense to them at all. He knew that the wider international community often referred to the Japanese as ‘environmental vandals’ – but he thought theirs was a case of survival. Whatever people said of the Japanese, they had built what was arguably the second largest economy on the planet.
Ian Lane was fifty-seven years old but could pass for much younger. He had a rugged lived-in look about him, and when he was passionate about a subject people said he took on a strange light of attraction. But mostly he was a little distant and surly, with a hangdog look on his face that suggested a constant state of disappointment. He had been raised on the land and since then had been a soldier in the Vietnam War, a business executive for the last twenty-five years and more recently a novelist.
His writing efforts stemmed from the rich tapestry of his life and his astute observations of the human condition. The writing had been spasmodic at first, but developed in bursts of intense passion until he had turned out three novels – each a little better than its predecessor, or so his critics said. But the challenge and frustration of finding a publisher and then actually marketing his books had given him a cynical edge and a gnawing stress. The world was full of critics who could not write themselves, and the established literary community was slow to embrace new writers; particularly one like Ian who skipped across genres with reckless abandon.
The setbacks and challenges combined with the stress of his regular corporate job until he became even more surly, ta