Book Nineteen

Unseen

2029

A photograph of a school gymnasium during an examination, taken from behind a table with a green cloth: in the foreground a grey steel box with a cold light glowing from under its lid and an old man's hand holding an open pocket watch; beyond, rows of students writing at single desks in stripes of sunlight from high windows, one fair-haired boy looking up, and at the far end bolted double doors under a clock in a wire cage. Crown on the Potomac Unseen Book Nineteen 2029

Tuesday 12 June 2029. Frederick is sixteen, six weeks into reigning in his own right and ten days back from the earthquake at Santa Monica, and from nine to twelve he is a candidate in the sophomore history final, in the gym at Ellicott, under an examiner from the Board who does not know who anybody is, with his telephone in a grey steel box. He refused the room by the library that would have let him be reached. At five past ten in Buenos Aires, Colonel Rodolfo Iriarte of the Patricios brings twelve armoured cars into the Plaza de Mayo, in the King's name, and asks the King to govern without his ministers.

Unseen is one day, from six in the morning to the last telephone call at night: a protection officer, a principal, a High Commissioner and a mother at a glass panel, and a regulation that lets none of them in; an essay on 1976 that argues the Viceroy mattered more, written while the Viceroy is mattering; a President of the Council on the Panamericana; an instrument handed back unsigned at a school gate; five words in Spanish; and a colonel who walks across a square at night to surrender to the man at the window.

Each chapter opens with a short extract from the Universal Register, the encyclopedia of the world the book is set in. The extracts are quoted from the Register as it stands; the chapters show what happened in the rooms it was not in.

Begin reading: Chapter One, Six → Characters

Part One: Before (Tuesday 12 June 2029, six to nine)

  1. 1 Six Frederick. 10 min.
  2. 2 The Box Frederick. 9 min.
  3. 3 The Axis Frederick. 8 min.
  4. 4 The Gym Frederick. 11 min.
  5. 5 Regulation Nine Frederick. 10 min.

Part Two: The Paper (Tuesday 12 June 2029, nine to twelve)

  1. 6 Section A Frederick. 10 min.
  2. 7 Twenty to Ten Frederick. 11 min.
  3. 8 Question Seven Frederick. 8 min.
  4. 9 Ten Past Ten Frederick. 10 min.
  5. 10 The Flag at the Gate Frederick. 12 min.
  6. 11 The Viceroy in the Room Frederick. 10 min.
  7. 12 Five Past Eleven Frederick. 11 min.
  8. 13 The Second Essay Frederick. 10 min.
  9. 14 Half Past Eleven Frederick. 11 min.
  10. 15 Pens Down Frederick. 8 min.

Part Three: Noon (Tuesday 12 June 2029, twelve to two)

  1. 16 Not Papa Frederick. 11 min.
  2. 17 The Green Chair Frederick. 9 min.
  3. 18 The Casa Rosada Frederick. 10 min.
  4. 19 Córdoba Frederick. 10 min.
  5. 20 The Gate Frederick. 10 min.
  6. 21 One Sentence Frederick. 12 min.

Part Four: Night (Tuesday 12 June 2029, four to half past ten)

  1. 22 Four O'Clock Frederick. 9 min.
  2. 23 The Kitchen Table Frederick. 12 min.
  3. 24 The Gate of the Casa Rosada Frederick. 12 min.