The Gravitube - Tenth Wonder of the World by Vincent Dott
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| Thanks to Professor H’s Wayback Machine Oh dear, I’d like to point out that non-avian dinosaurs have been extinct for 55 million years. |
Author: Vincent Dott
Publisher: Not known
Source book: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Vincent Dott quotes US President John F Kennedy: ‘By the time this decade is out, we aim to construct a transport system that can take a man or a woman from New York to Tokyo and back again in two hours....’
‘For mass transport over the globe there were primarily the railroads and the airship. Rail was fast and convenient but stopped short of crossing the oceans. Airships could cover great distances - but were slow and fraught with delays due to weather. In the fifties the journey time to Australia or New Zealand was typically ten days. In 1960, a new form of transportation system was begun - the Gravitube. It promised delay-free travel to anywhere on the planet. Any destination, whether Auckland, Rome or Los Angeles, would take exactly the same time: a little over forty minutes. It was, quite possibly, the greatest feat of engineering that mankind would ever undertake.’
Thursday Next travels to Sydney from the Arne Saknussum International Gravitube Terminus just West of London. From Sydney she takes the Overmantle to Tokyo, and then a Skyrail to Osaka. The entire journey takes about four hours. She wants to speak to Mrs Nakajima who she knows can transport herself into books.
Mrs Nakajima doesn’t really live in Osaka anymore. She has moved to Thornfield (in the book Jane Eyre) and is the housekeeper, and perhaps the tour guide for literary tourists. And why not? But she’s left a handy note for Thursday in a book: ‘For Thursday Next, in grateful anticipation of good work and fine times ahead in Jurisfiction. I jackanoried you into a book when you were nine but now you must do it for yourself - and you can, and you shall. I also suggest that you are quick; Mr Schitt-Hawse is walking along the corridor outside as you read this and he isn’t out collecting for ChronoGuard orphans.’ Thursday escapes through the book into an enormous library.
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| Journey to the Centre of the Earth: thanks to Behance |
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