《The Engulfed Cathederal 》作者：- Carl Frederick【EPUB】

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THE ENGULFED CATHEDRAL by CARL FREDERICK Illustration by Broeck Steadman * * * * New things take getting used to, no matter which side you’re coming from. Issuant from the warm, clear waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, six meters of white stone breached the surface—the pinnacle of a cathedral’s spire. Scattered in a roughly circular array around that gothic steeple lay a few score of boats: pleasure craft, houseboats, and a light military vessel—an aged La Fayette class frigate. The cathedral, gradually engulfed as the Earth warmed and the waters rose, had survived its baptism intact—except for the north transept, the left arm of the cross. The land subsided and the transept crumbled cleanly, leaving a great open archway to the sea. Now, through that arch swam Doctors Paul and Ingrid Ryan: two delegates to the Thirtieth International Conference on Genetics and the Future of Mankind being held in a beachfront hotel. As he swam through, Paul looked up over his shoulder at the ceiling of his world: the coruscating plane of brightness interrupted by the black embossed outlines of the boats. Near some of the hulls, he saw starbursts—the silent splashes of divers descending to attend the ecumenical service. In the far distance, a pod of super-dolphins sped away from this unlikely hub of human activity. He wondered what was going on in those cetacean brains of theirs—and he felt oddly uncomfortable