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doesn’t sound too clever… Hang on, that’s now, we’re in 2046 now!”
    But Jack wasn’t listening. He was deep in thought – it was like trying to assemble a complicated jigsaw puzzle in his head: the wrecked Chinese oil rig, the rise of China in the Timeline Simulator and his dad’s notes.
    “OK, this is what I think happened. Dad was at the Revisionist base and he wanted us to join him to show us something. But, before we arrived, he met this Fenton guy and maybe those two others and there was some sort of big bust up. The two men died, Dad got injured too and he used the Taurus to escape. He went to the future, and Fenton followed him. In the future he discovered something weird had happened. The climate had completely changed. At first he was shocked – like us – but then he started looking for clues. He went outside and saw the oil rig and he investigated. He discovered it was a Chinese oil rig – there was a picture of that Xiuquan guy from China in the 1850s, from the Taiping Rebellion, and that’s really weird, because if I remember right from what I learned at the museum – the Taiping were defeated. But I think something has happened in the past to change that, and to make them victorious. Their victory would have led to other changes… they took over the whole of China and then pretty much the rest of Asia. You saw it in the simulation.”
    “And if China became a really powerful country – maybe they needed oil and that would explain how they came to be building big oil rigs for the Arctic in the 1970s,” said Angus.
    “Exactly. So Dad ran the Timeline Simulator to see if it could tell him what had happened. His notes talk about an intervention in the past and a Point of Divergence in 1860 – that’s the point in history when something happened to change the future – there was a split and somewhere along the line a different future started.”
    “So what caused the change in 1860? And how did it affect the climate so that everything turned to ice so quickly?”
    “I have no idea. But Dad’s note says the Taiping might have taken Shanghai, which is a big Chinese trading city and port. We have to find Dad… question is, where’s he gone?” Worry lines creased Jack’s forehead but suddenly his face lit up. “Of course, what an idiot I‘ve been! We know exactly where he’s gone!”
     
    Angus followed Jack as he rushed back into the Taurus chamber. The great machine loomed over them as Jack examined the output from the control terminal.
    “The online activity log…” Jack said. “It’s all here…”
    TAURUS ACTIVITY LOG
    Departure summary:
    Time Phone Serial: 002
    Time Phone Holder: Tom C.
    Departure Date: July 14th 2046 / 3:37 p.m.
    Departure Location: Firth of Forth,
    Scotland.
    Arrival summary:
    Time Phone Serial: 002
    Time Phone Holder: Tom C.
    Arrival Date: August 20th 1860 / 9:35 a.m.
    Arrival Location: Shanghai, Harbour Area,
    China.
    Jack stabbed his finger at the screen, “There! China! Dad is in China! In fact, Shanghai – just as we thought.”
    “In the year 1860,” Angus added.
    “And look here – Fenton has followed him again!”
    TAURUS ACTIVITY LOG
    Departure summary:
    Time Phone Serial: 009
    Time Phone Holder: Fenton P.
    Departure Date: July 15th 2046 / 4:40 p.m.
    Departure Location: Firth of Forth,
    Scotland.
    Arrival summary:
    Time Phone Serial: 009
    Time Phone Holder: Fenton P.
    Arrival Date: August 18th 1860 / 9:07 a.m.
    Arrival Location: Shanghai, Harbour Area,
    China.
    “Fenton has followed Dad right back to China. But it looks like he arrived in Shanghai before Dad…”
    “So he could spring a little surprise for your dad when he gets there. Says something about the harbour area.”
    “Yes. But this helps,” Jack said hopefully. “We know Dad is in Shanghai, near the Harbour, in China in 1860. We know he’s gone there because he’s discovered that something has changed there in the past to alter the future. And it has to be something big