“All present and correct,” Christie confirmed.
“And no more time travelling, right?” Carole said.
“Right. Next stop VIGIL. I’m handing in my licence and gun. This time for good.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Angus said as he helped Jack to his feet. “Suppose life’s going to be a bit boring now… but to be honest, I think history is overrated – I mean – it’s all in the past.”
Some Notes on the Taurus and Time Travel
The Taurus and its energy source stay in one place. In order to move through time and space, the time traveller needs to have physical contact with a time phone, which is controlled and tracked by the Taurus. Time travel is only possible, however, when the Taurus has enough energy and when there is a strong enough carrier signal. As Jack and Angus have discovered, the signal can be as unpredictable as the weather. Periods of time open up and then close, like shifting sands, so that no location is constantly accessible. Then there is the ‘Armageddon Scenario’, which suggests that, if you revisit the same point in space and time more than once, you dramatically increase the risk of a continuum meltdown. Imagine space and time as a piece of tissue paper – each visit makes a hole in that tissue paper, as if you had pushed through the tissue with your finger. The tissue would hold together for a while, but with too many holes, it would disintegrate. It is dangerous, therefore, to repeat too many trips to exactly the same point and the Taurus will seek to avoid such scenarios. The precise parameters of this constraint are not known and have not, of course, been tested.
Day of Rebellion
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In Day of Rebellion, Jack and Angus travel back to China in the 1800s. This was a time of great change for China, as the ruling Qing dynasty faced rebellions from its own citizens and military threats from abroad. The notes below give a little more information on the real people and events of the time.
What was the Taiping Rebellion?
The Taiping Rebellion was a civil war in southern China which took place between 1850 and 1864. It was the worst civil war of all time, killing in excess of thirty million people – more than the First World War. The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan, a Cantonese clerk who fell into a trance after failing his civil service exams and came to believe that he was the brother of Jesus Christ. The Taiping movement was unusual in China because it loosely followed the Christian doctrine – which is why it initially gained some support from sympathisers in Western Europe. The Taiping Rebellion was one of a number of insurrections in China at the time, rebelling against the corruption of the ruling Manchu (Qing) government. The Taiping had a formidable army (with talented generals – such as Li Xiucheng – who appears in Day of Rebellion). However, the failure of the Taiping to take the sea port of Shanghai in 1860 – owing much to the intervention of European troops on the side of the Qing government – proved a turning point and the rebellion was finally defeated in 1864. By this point, Hong Xiuquan had already died from food poisoning.
What were the British and French doing in China at this time?
This was the period of the ‘Opium Wars’, from 1839 to 1860, which were disputes between the Chinese Qing Dynasty and the British Empire over the trading of opium. Instead of silver, the British East India Company traded the drug with Chinese smugglers who distributed it through China, against Chinese law. Aware that the trade was costing the country money and that there was a growing problem of addiction, the emperor tried to ban it. In response, the British government sent in the military to force a settlement. As a result, the Treaty of Nanking was drawn up in 1842. This allowed for further opium trade, and also the opening of four more Chinese ports to allow foreign trade. It also gave Britain control over Hong Kong. Later, in the Treaties of Tientsin agreed between China and Britain, France, Russia and the United States, China agreed to further concessions including the legalising of opium trade and the opening of ten more ports. These treaties became known as the ‘Unequal Treaties’, and had a big effect on British Chinese relations for generations.
Did the British army attack Beijing in 1860?
In 1860, to force the Chinese to meet their obligation under the treaties, eleven thousand British troops, led by General James Hope Grant, and nearly seven thousand French, led by General Cousin-Montauban, landed in the north and marched towards Beijing. The Emperor sent ministers for peace talks when the army neared Beijing, however, the British diplomatic envoy, Harry Parkes, together with Henry Loch and a small group of men travelling with them were arrested during negotiations and at this point the talks broke down. At the Battle of Palikao Bridge, near Beijing (known as Peking at this time) Chinese forces met with the Anglo–French army. The Qing army was destroyed as a result, and the Emperor fled. Although Parkes and Loch were released, a number of their group were interrogated, tortured and died. As punishment for the treatment of the prisoners, British and French troops looted and then burned the Summer Palaces near Beijing (including the Yuan Ming Yuan Haiyan – the beautiful palace that features in the game Point-of-Departure – Day of Rebellion and which Jack and Angus also see for real). Looting by occupying armies was a common occurrence – but the destruction of the exquisite Summer Palaces is now considered a terrible act of vandalism.
Who was Charles Babbage?
Charles Babbage lived from 1791 to 1871 and was a British mathematician and engineer. He was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University from 1828 to 1839. Babbage designed mechanical, programmable computers more than a hundred years before the age of computing and information technology. In the 1820s he designed and worked on a prototype for his first computer – called his ‘Difference Engine’ – although it was never completed. He later designed an improved version, called ‘Difference Engine No. 2’. This was actually built in 1989–91 using Babbage’s plans and it worked! The experiment was carried out at the London Science Museum, where you can still see the Difference Engine No. 2 today. Later, Babbage started designing a more complicated machine called ‘the Analytical Engine’, which could be programmed using punched cards. Babbage had a wide range of other interests too – he was an inventor, astronomer and code-breaker and even stood for a seat in parliament twice, although he never won.
Who was John Herschel?
John Herschel lived from 1792 to 1871 and was a mathematician, astronomer, chemist and botanist. He was also a pioneer of photography, and his work in this area included ground-breaking developments such as the invention of sensitised paper. He was elected president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1845. Herschel was a friend of Charles Babbage and also influenced the young Charles Darwin.
Who was Princess Yi?
Imperial Yi Concubine, also known as Yehonala and later Empress Tzu-hsi, lived from 1835 to 1908 and effectively ruled China aggressively and ruthlessly for nearly fifty years. She was the daughter of a Manchu captain and because of her beauty she was chosen when she was only sixteen to be one of the emperor’s concubines. When she gave birth to the emperor’s only son in 1856, she cemented her political power at the Chinese Imperial court, and when the emperor died she defeated her rivals at court, to become effective ruler of China – even after her son died in 1873. She seems to have been a key mover in China’s resistance when Lord Elgin led British and French troops on an attack against Beijing during the Opium Wars, and was one of the reasons that China resisted modernisation and change in the later nineteenth century. Soon after her death, China became a republic. The other characters featured in Day of Rebellion, including Shu-Fei, Colonel Lai, and Josiah Backhouse, are fictional.
What is the Forbidden City?
The Forbidden City, in the centre of Beijing (known as Peking at this time), was built nearly six hundred years ago as the Chinese imperial palace. It was the home of Chinese emperors and the centre of Chinese government. It has nearly a thousand buildings and houses a fantastic collection of artwork from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
What is the Gr
eat Wall of China?
The Great Wall of China dates back more than two thousand years and was built to protect China’s northern borders from invasion. It is actually made up of several walls that have been built and linked since the fifth century BC. The wall stretches along an arc that more or less follows the edge of Inner Mongolia. It is around 5,500 miles in total and is one of the largest building projects every undertaken. However, the wall did not offer complete protection: the Manchus invaded China from the north in the seventeenth century and went on to form the Qing dynasty which lasted until the end of the nineteenth century.
Did the Chinese really have Zeppelins?
No. The accelerated industrial revolution depicted in Day of Rebellion, caused by Babbage’s access to a VIGIL smart device, is fictional, as is the early industrialisation of China. Ferdinand Adolph Heinrich von Zeppelin designed the first airships, which were built and used by the Germans in the early 1900s. Although used in the First World War, airships proved vulnerable to attack and fragile in poor weather conditions. The airships relied for their buoyancy on the use of a lighter-than-air gas. As only the US possessed helium – a rare gas – in usable quantities, during wartime the Germans were forced to use hydrogen, which was highly flammable. In peacetime, however, German airships did clock up many tens of thousands of passenger miles in safety. However, the age of the airship was dealt a death blow in 1937, when a ship called the Hindenberg exploded when landing in the United States – an event that was captured on newsreel film. The description of the Zeppelin in Day of Rebellion is essentially accurate – including the astonishing sub-cloud car (or Spahkorb) which Jack experiences first hand. These were adopted on some army airships to spot bombing targets when the airship was above cloud level. Manning a Spahkorb was cold and dangerous – especially when bombs were dropped from the airship above! However, it was surprisingly popular amongst crewmembers as it was the only place on the airship that they could smoke safely.
What is CERN?
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, is the world’s largest particle physics laboratory and is situated near Geneva on the border between France and Switzerland. Nearly 8,000 scientists and engineers (including around half of the world’s particle physicists), work on experiments conducted at CERN – using CERN’s giant particle accelerator. CERN also has a large computer centre containing very powerful data-processing facilities. To date, physicists at CERN have not discovered time travel, although some believe it may be possible.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Helen Boyle, Sara Newbery, Alison and David Stubley, Ann and Roger South, Amanda Wood, Anne Finnis, Ruth Martin, Helen Greathead, Will Steele, Tom Sanderson, Phil Perry, Jayne Roscoe, Victoria Henderson, Richard Scrivener, Jonny Lambert, Caroline Knox and Pam Royds. Thanks too, as ever, to Sally, Peter, Tom and Annie and friends and family who continue to support Jack and Angus in their adventures through history.
Have you read Jack’s other adventures?
BY JOHNNY O’BRIEN
Jack is catapulted back to the start of the First World War, where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is about to throw the world into chaos. Should he intervene? Will he survive? The future of mankind is in Jack’s hands. The first dangerous mission in the Jack Christie Adventures sets the pace at full-throttle and the stakes as high as they go.
Paperback £6.99
ISBN 978–1–84877–091–1
Also available as an ebook.
www.jackchristieadventures.com
BY JOHNNY O’BRIEN
In his second perilous mission, Jack travels back to an Elizabethan England riddled with treacherous plots. Amid sea battles, sword fights and subterfuge, Jack must defend the life of the queen, her kingdom, and the world as we know it. Dark dealings and deadly intrigue set the scene for the second thrilling journey in the Jack Christie Adventures.
Paperback £6.99
ISBN 978–1–84877–097–3
Also available as an ebook.
www.jackchristieadventures.com
BY JOHNNY O’BRIEN
Travelling back to the 1940s, Jack finds the world at a crucial turning point as the Nazis threaten world domination. Risking everything, can Jack prevent the Second World War going nuclear? High octane and high speed – the third explosive mission takes Jack and Angus on the ride of their lives.
Paperback £6.99
ISBN 978–1–84877–103–1
Also available as an ebook.
www.jackchristieadventures.com
A TEMPLAR BOOK
First published in the UK in 2012 by Templar Publishing, an imprint of The Templar Company Limited, Deepdene Lodge,
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This ebook edition first published in 2012 by Templar Publishing
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Other than key historical figures, the characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
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