THE DISPUTED RECORD · DISCUSSION 01
One word changes
the record.
In the opening chapter of After the Sleeper, Graham’s machine has fallen. The people preparing a public announcement have not spoken to the examiner. The heading of the suspension notice and the prepared public announcement use different words.
What evidence would you require before changing “reported” to “confirmed”? You do not need to know Wells or finish the novel. The passage below is enough to begin.
The registrar brought it himself. Its heading read DEATH REPORTED. Further down, the prepared notice for public release said DEATH CONFIRMED. He followed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The stage witnesses agree on the fall. We have a medical report from the recovery party. The examiner has not returned.”
“Has anyone here spoken to her?”
“No.” He looked beyond Eliza to the crowded doorway. “Those men want to go home. The officers want to know whose orders they carry. I have been asked the same question forty times. I cannot give everyone an account of what I have not seen.”
“You can leave reported where it was.”
He considered it, then struck through the second word on his copy. “I can recommend it. I am not releasing the bulletin.”
From After the Sleeper, Chapter I — “The Falling”. This is the project’s original continuation, not a quotation from H. G. Wells.
Your reading of the evidence.
Name the wording you would retain, the evidence that would change your mind, and why. A few sentences are enough. Disagreement is welcome; explain your reading rather than judging other readers.
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