Page 3 of Palaces and other Prisons
It wasn’t bullshit.
Where there had been water around them when he’d gone to bed, now there was land. Land in the middle of the North Sea.
Not only land, but what appeared to be a village.
Someone nudged him and pointed to the coast, where something that looked like a medieval castle was perched. It seemed like someone had pulled the oil platform out of the sea and dropped it somewhere in the Middle Ages.
Which was impossible. But it was also impossible that the platform was now on an island.
“What the fuck happened?” Dawson said as much to himself as anyone.
“Where are we?” The man next to him pulled out his mobile phone. Dawson hadn’t thought about grabbing his as they weren’t supposed to grab any personal belongings in an emergency. “I’ve still got a signal. That’s a good sign, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.” It meant they weren’t in the Middle Ages. He was reading far too much fiction in his free time because time travel wasn’t real…yeah, and oil platforms didn’t move onto islands either. Nor did islands suddenly appear in the sea. None of this should be happening, and it was definitely going to end up in a documentary. “Did the oil get shut off?”
The man gave Dawson a look like he’d banged his head too hard. “We’re in the middle of an island…I don’t even know if there is oil.”
That was a solid point. Although if the platform hadn’t moved, then there should have been oil beneath them. But then how had the island risen?
How did an island rise out of the sea and have a village and a castle as if it were inhabited? “Do you think there are people down there?”
“I guess. Those houses seem to be ruins, but it’s hard to tell from up here.”
Dawson wanted to climb down and find out. He wanted to slide over the deck to the railing and get a better look. He wanted to do a lap of the platform to see more of the island.
“Apparently, we haven’t moved. We’re in the same location.” The man held up his phone.
Dawson rolled his eyes. “That’s really helpful.”
The platform had been drilling near Doggerbank, and he knew that once the sea had been shallow enough for people to live there. He stared at the castle in the distance and thought of all the fantasy novels he’d read growing up. They’d been his escape. Rereading his favorites was like revisiting his favoriteplaces and friends. The way his family had constantly moved around had made it hard to make friends and keep them.
Maybe the islanders had time-traveled.
The idea made as much sense as anything else.
The alarm shut off, and for a few seconds, his ears rang with the echoes.
What happened now? Was there even a protocol?
The speaker crackled to life as if answering his thought. “Please return to your schedule.”
Dawson glanced at the man next to him as everyone exchanged confused glances. They were supposed to go back to what they were doing before and ignore the island? Was there going to be more to that announcement? They all stood around, expecting something. The seconds ticked by.
Without the noise of the alarm or the sea below his feet, the morning was eerily quiet.
Someone took charge. “Okay, go and do whatever you’re supposed to be doing, whether that’s working or sleeping.”
A few people started toward the door.
How was he supposed to go about his day when there was an entirely new island right there? When the platform was now tilted at what had to be an unsafe angle.
The speaker crackled again. “When we have some answers, we will update you until then exercise caution.”
Chatter erupted around him.
“Shouldn’t we be evacuating in case this thing falls over?”
Where were they going to evacuate to? The island that may or may not be inhabited?
