The Chronicles of Jonathon Postlethwaite: The Seed of Corruption Read Online Free

towards  the  goal   of   finding   a stable `dimension door' was slow, frustrating and, it could be said, costly in terms of human lives, although, of course in Dubh human lives were cheap, especially to men such as Silus Flax.
                                The High Hats persevered and continued to record and explore every type of Field Wall anomaly, their positions and duration of opening, Flax's disciples always eager to please him. Eager because Flax's harsh and uncompromising management extended beyond the Halls of Machines to them. Eager because working for the High Hats meant  special  privileges,  rewards,  immunity from Tan laws and enslavement, privileged access to all the High Hats facilities offered by Flax's business ventures  and  favourable  terms  for  payment  of services received such establishments.
                                Being a High Hat was a desirable alternative to everything else the city had to offer or the punishing work regime and danger beyond the Great Gate. Flax's captains now recruited from those who had somehow escaped Tan conscription as well as by the direct exchange of skilled men for unskilled workers to make up for their losses during the exploration of the Field Wall irregularities.
                                Flax's  organisation  worked  tirelessly,  but  it  was
    over two years before they found a dimension door that was both stable and predictable. Silus Flax was overjoyed, his belief that such a door existed out of control of the Tallmen seemingly justified. He hoped that now that world beyond the 'door' was what he desired to further his plans for power. His joy was short-lived.
                                On their first excursion through this tunnel of light to the dimension beyond, his exploratory party had suffered a similar fate as others had before in different 'doors', despite this one's supposed stability. It was no different from the rest in the initial effect it had on the first unfortunate High Hat explorers who ventured through it.
                                The transition through the gate had transformed the High Hat party into creatures almost unrecognisable as human beings. Some had lost limbs or whole parts of their bodies. For others their bodies intact were hideously deformed by the apparent loss of bone in limbs or facial structures. All were insane.
                                Flax slaughtered them all, partly out of frustration and partly to allay fears that all his expeditions into the 'doors' guaranteed a living death to his currently loyal High Hats. He did not need his organisation to decide that Tan employment  was   preferable   to   being   turned   into a vegetable. Why did this happen anyway  thought Flax? He searched desperately for a solution to this macabre puzzle and was soon to find it.
                                After  lengthy  and  subtle  investigations   into the transportation of work crews through the Tan controlled Great Gate, Flax discovered that  when workers entered or returned through it their rate of passage was strictly regulated to ensure that the denser parts of the human anatomy adjusted gradually to the vibratory rate of the gate  itself  and  the dimension beyond. The speed, he learned,  at  which human  beings  travelled  through  a  dimension door was critical if they were to survive. Flax's men had sprinted there and back fearing that the 'door' would collapse at any moment and consequently their bodies had not properly adjusted, leaving bones and limbs in suspension somewhere in between.
                                Whilst  Flax's  recently   discovered   'door' remained  open,  he  frantically  experimented.   Firstly, he tried the same rate of