| Prologue |
| Narrated by Matt Alden-Farrow "Sea View Detective" |
| My name is Matt Farrow. I used to be a detective for Scotland Yard, in the UK, but… well… you’ll see soon. Time for a flashback… *** It was in March 2002. I went to work at Scotland Yard as usual. My current case was about a videotape that was missing from Harrods Shopping Store. The tape had been taken from a security camera and had supposedly shown a robbery. It had been my job to find it. Anyway, my boss called me in to his office. As I was about to knock on the door, a man opened it and came out. He smiled at me and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. I entered. “Farrow! You know the tape you have been looking for all week?” My boss snapped. “Yes sir!” I replied. “It has been in your desk for the past three days!” He snapped. “Has it?” I asked. “Yes! It was posted to us anonymously on Tuesday! It was brought to me, so I left in your desk draw with a note attached!” barked my boss. “Ah. Right.” I said, rather nervous. “… And you, meanwhile, according to this report…” He thrust a report I’d filled out the day before under my nose. “ 'Have still failed to find it.' when it was just inches away from you!” “Oh.” I said. “How many times has something like this happened, Farrow?” He asked calmly. I didn’t like that tone voice, but replied: “I’ve made a mistake like this 23 times, sir.” “Precisely. I have no choice but to take drastic action. You’re sacked.” “Wh…what?” I stuttered, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You’re sacked, Farrow! Sacked! S-A-C-K-E-D! I want you out of this building in five minutes! Collect your stuff together and go! You’re months pay check will be posted to you, and I never want to see you in here again! Out!” He pointed to the door. Stunned, I left the office. Outside was the man who’d shown me in earlier. “Give you a hard time did he?” He asked. “He sacked me.” I replied. “Ah. Too bad, mate.” He said and patted me on the shoulder. “Oh, by the way, name’s Thomas Milde. My friends call me Thomil.” He grinned, holding out his hand. “Matthew. Matt Farrow.” I replied shaking his hand. “So, what were you in there for?” I asked as I opened my locker and removed my stuff. “Ah. I’m a captain in the Royal Navy. He wanted some information about one of my crew members.” “Hmm.” I replied, not really listening, slamming my locker shut. “Well, I’d better get going.” “Here, at least let me get you a coffee or something!” Tom smiled. “You’ve had a bit of a shock. I know a good place down near Trafalgar Square. Fancy it?” I nodded, and gave a small smile. “Come on then.” *** That is how I met Captain Thomas Milde. We had a cup of tea in a coffee shop and chatted for a bit. This was also how I learnt about Sea View. He told me that as well as being in the Royal Navy, he was in the Navy of Scorpio Island. Scorpio, he told me, was a small group of Islands 200 miles west of Mainland America. 100 miles south of here, was Sea View. He told me the Scorpio and Sea View were not on the best of terms. He had visited Sea View along with a friend of his and met the man who had built the Sea View Railway, Bill Burnett. He told me that Bill knew most of the secrets that Sea View had to hold. “He mentioned something about a secret area.” Thomil told me. “I asked him what went on there, but he smiled and said he couldn’t tell me. He advised me if I wanted to find out to send someone undercover to Sea View and get them to investigate. I’ve been looking for someone ever since.” Suddenly his face lit up. “Are you good at working undercover?” he asked me. Taken aback I replied “I guess.” “Then, I have to ask you something. Would you like to go to Sea View and investigate it? It might be dangerous, but it would be good for you.” He grinned. “I don’t know…” I said “Well think about it. I’ll meet you here on Saturday and you can let me know. Ok?” “Ok.” I said “Excellent!” He drained his cup. “See you then!” *** Next Saturday, I met Thomil and accepted his proposal. We agreed to meet at Scorpio Island Airport. He told me he’d send me tickets, papers, everything I’d need to get there. As we parted he said “Oh, one more thing, you won’t be able to land on Scorpio by plane. So, if you fly to New York, we can convey you by helicopter to Scorpio. However, you’ll have to do a bit of daredevil stuff, as we have a chopper and 2 planes in our hangers already.” “Ok. What do I have to do?” *** “Geronimo!” It was 7 months later. Thomil had suggested it would be good if I landed by hang glider. I’d agreed, for the thrill more than anything. Coming down for the final approach, I noticed Thomil nearby. He came running up after I had landed. “How was it?” He asked with a grin. “Great!” I replied, breathlessly. *** I was given the details I needed to get onto Sea View, a map of the islands and a camera. Thomil also gave me a laptop, which I would use to report to him. He told me he would be on an aircraft carrier, 50 miles West of Sea View. He also told me that if I needed a shot from a helicopter, he would do it for me and send me the photos. He told me not to refer to him by name. “Just call him 'a friend with a helicopter' ” were his words. I agreed. As I write this, I am on a container ship 20 miles north of Sea View. I don’t know what’s coming to me or where I’m going, but I do know that I’m about to enter a world of adventure! |
 |