“The U-boat carries a cargo that was never on any manifest,” Rasputin insists. “The Serpent’s Egg . A celestial chronometer built by Nikola Tesla for the Austro-Hungarian navy. It can manipulate local magnetic fields. With it, a man could steer ships onto reefs, collapse bridges, or… lift a U-boat onto a mountain.”
As Achille runs off, Corto Maltese lights his last cigarette. The sun sets over the Pearl River, painting the world in shades of gold and blood. He has no treasure. No prize. No glory.
Corto sits on a dock, fishing. Achille is beside him, drawing the cave in a notebook. I Classici del Fumetto Nr 01 Corto Maltese
But Corto is faster. He doesn’t grab the Egg. He grabs the U-boat’s keel and kicks a loose stone. The stone flies into the Egg’s field – and hovers, perfectly still, defying gravity.
His name is Corto Maltese. And he is already late for an appointment with destiny. “The U-boat carries a cargo that was never
Then, with a metallic shriek, the Egg’s rings begin to spin backwards.
One night, the boy, , asks Corto: “Why do you help people who betray you?” It can manipulate local magnetic fields
She offers him a map to the lost library of the Kingdom of Saguenay. He laughs.
Corto lights a cigarette, the flame trembling in the humid wind. “Because, little Achille, a man who expects loyalty is a fool. But a man who offers it anyway… is a romantic. And the world has too few romantics left.”
He smiles. It is enough.