Chapter Two

Day Two, The Phare de Chassiron

After breakfast, Ray slipped out into the garden carrying his backpack. He sat in the warm morning sun with a cup of tea and started to examine the so called, worthless metal object from his bag.  It still felt strangely cold to the touch and on on further investigation the scratch made by the man from the museum had gone and it was all a uniform bronze colour again.

It was a bit like the juicer Ray remembered, but larger, it had a roughly cylindrical solid centre section with four legs or arms radiating out and down from the centre of the cylinder.   As Ray was thinking that it was strange that the scratch had gone, he also started to wonder why it was not corroded at all and had no concretion on it (Ray knew what that was, he watched the Discovery channel a lot).  The man from the museum, should have noticed that, he probably thought the fishermen had cleaned it up but Ray had seen it like that just as it came off the boat.

Dona appeared at the door at this point and said "what are you doing with that thing, put it down, come in and get ready for a drive.   The picnic is all done for a day out, so let's get going before it is too late to do anything"

Ray came in and put the thing behind the coffee table out of the Dona's way.  Just then Ray's mobile phone lit up but it didn't ring, Ray picked it up from the coffee table and looked at it.  There were no missed calls, no messages, no reminders, no alarms and the battery was fully charged, he shrugged, locked the keypad and put it in his pocket.

In the car they checked they had all the needed for a day out, picnic, drinks, camera, waterproofs, etc. and then checked they had the camera again, then off there want.

They drove about twenty miles to the far end of the island and the large lighthouse there.  From some tourist pamphlets they knew the lighthouse, was the The Phare de Chassiron but didn't expect it to be as popular it was, it was very busy indeed.  They eventually parked in an overflow car park and walked towards the lighthouse, it was a lot more touristy than they thought it would be, with a hotel, bar, souvenir shops and a few fast food stalls.

It was a nice hot day and after looking at the lighthouse and reading all the information signs leading up to the lighthouse, they had a walk around the large headland on which it is situated.
"Are we going to the top of the lighthouse" asked Dona,
"not with these knees and I do not want to waste time in a long line to get in.  lets just have our picnic here and enjoy the sea view" said Ray.
The view was the Atlantic Ocean, the next stop looking out to sea would be Nova Scotia. 

By the time they had the picnic lunch and walked back as far as the car, the car parks were even busier and the Aire there was already filling up with motorhomes.  Ray felt a pang of jealousy, he would much rather be there in their motorhome but costs involved in getting there were just to high at the moment.

They drove back the way they came and then over the bridge off the island, to the Lidl supermarket on the other side. There they stocked up on food and plenty of beer for the rest of the holiday, it was Saturday today and they had often had problems finding shops open on a Sunday in France. So it was bast to be safe.

When they arrived back in Le Château d'Oléron they parked the car at the apartment, filled the fridge with food and beer and when straight back out for a drink.   They chose a different bar to the night before one with a bit more class but this time they only got the local brew on draught.

"Do you know something, my feet don’t hurt and my knee feels great, that is, it's not grating for once. I think that thing back at the room has special powers.  Like it's from outer space and it’s cured me, just like in the film Cocoon" joked Ray.
"What are you on about" said Dona.
"Nothing" said Ray "but my legs do feel good today".
"It's probably the warm weather" suggested Dona.
"could be" mused Ray.

Ray liked Sci Fi, he was not the overbearing nerdy type though, he just liked Science fiction.  Although some of the more modern stuff left him cold, he was more a rocket ship adventure story rather than the Matrix type. Ray liked Sci Fi books, Sci Fi movies and Sci Fi TV. On TV it was anything with Star in the title, Star Trek, Star Gate and so on.

Ray's father had always read Science fiction books but Ray had never taken any interest at all, until he started work.   When he was doing his four years training to operate chemical plants, Ray had three months to learn each plant he was assigned to.  One particulate plant, he was training on, although it was complicated, dangerous and needed constant attention, it only took him three days to learn.   As he was only a trainee, he could help out but wasn't responsible for any of the operations and therefore got very board, especially on night shifts.

So one night, he took one of his Dad's books to work and started to read it, it took him quite a while to finish that first book, as Ray is slightly dyslexic, a condition that was not widely accepted in the days when Ray was at school.  As time went by though, Ray read more and more and even though he still could not spell much at all, his reading is now almost prefect.   Today with all the advances in computing, and mobile devices, spelling is no longer much of a problem, anyway the rest is all history.

When they got back from the pub Ray put his camera and phone on the coffee table, got a cold beer from the fridge, then pulled out the artefact from behind the coffee table.   On the table his phone lit up again, he picked it up and looked at it but again there was nothing, he checked through a few thing on the screen but no, nothing.  So he put it back in his pocket.

Dona then came in from the kitchen with her drink, “What are you doing with that mucky old thing on the coffee table, get it off and get out of here”.
“No I want to have a good look at it” protested Ray,

Dona grabbed it up to throw it out but Ray grabbed one of the other three handles. Dona managed to get two hand on it and pulled hard away from Ray.  Ray retaliated by grabbing the one handle that was still free. They the both pulled together and then, there was a noise, a noise like the catch on a briefcase engaging and then, a moment later, a bright soundless flash.