[ WP ] You buy an old camera in an Antique store that has an unusual set of dials on it , you discover that the dials are for date and time , and that if you take a picture with the camera , it will replace the image with the same image from from the exact time and date set on the camera

The electricity in Joshua & # 39; s gut intensified. Thirteen days they had been on this journey—Joshua, Taylor, and Marie—and they were so close that Joshua could almost taste it. He took a deep breath, almost at peace with the rocking deck underfoot. The fishing boat they were on was Marie & # 39; s father & # 39; s, a quaint 40-foot mini-yacht ( as her father called it ), with a small covering for the captain & # 39; s roost. 
 
 The salt-licked boat rocked under Joshua & # 39; s feet, sending him tumbling to the raining. 
 
 & quot; Ay, careful there! I & # 39; d rather not get this skirt wet jumping in to save your skinny ass. & quot; Marie called over to Joshua from her place at the wheel, black hair tossed about in the wind. 
 
 Joshua propped up his hand against his forehead, squinting at Marie through the sun. 
 
 & quot; Yeah, wouldn & # 39; t want that. I hear salt-water is terrible for cheap polyester! & quot; Joshua shouted, waving vaguely at Marie & # 39; s skirt. 
 
 Marie tilted her head forward, peering at Joshua over the rims of her Raybans. & quot; Boy, you better watch it, or you & # 39; re not getting any of— & quot; 
 
 & quot; The storm is getting bad; the mast just broke! & quot; Taylor & # 39; s voice yelled out from the front of the boat. Joshua rushed over to Taylor, putting his hand on her shoulder to steady himself. 
 
 & quot; Are you sure? & quot; Joshua looked at the camera Taylor had pressed against her face, praying she was right. 
 
 & quot; Hell yes I & # 39; m sure. Unless four dead crewmen and a mass of splintered hull can be mistaken for something else. & quot; Taylor pressed the & # 39; shutter & # 39; button on the camera. & quot; No…five. & quot; 
 
 Taylor took the device away from her face and gave a disgusted look at it. & quot; It doesn & # 39; t feel right, does it, & quot; Taylor started. & quot; following after corpses? I mean, we all know the end game here, we & # 39; re not idiots, but it & # 39; s just a bit…morbid, is all. & quot; 
 
 She turned the device over and over in her hands, like some puzzle box. 
 
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 The three of them had found the & # 39; camera & # 39; off the coast of Mexico while diving. Found in a triple-sealed watertight barrel tied to a slab of crude iron, they hardly knew what to make of it first. When they brought it back to the boat they were diving from and examined it, the first thing they noticed was that it was very old, at least two or three centuries. Second, it looked very similar to a camera. It had a glass & # 39; lens & # 39; in front cut into the shape of a hexagon, a hollow wooden cube-shaped body, a & # 39; viewfinder & # 39; made from another hexagon slice of glass, and an ornate hook on top that, when pulled, caused the device to hiss and flash an image of whatever the viewfinder is looking at. 
 
 Numbers lined several dials on the back of the device, and they could be easily rotated. It didn & # 39; t take them long messing around with the device on the boat to find that something was off about it. Namely, when they looked at the boat through the device and pulled the hook, they could see water, but no boat. heading back to shore and trying it out more provided them with an even bigger shock. The device took pictures of the past. It didn & # 39; t save them of course, but looking through the viewfinder with different numbers set on the dials provided different images of the past, as if one were looking through a literal window into events long ago. 
 
 Over the next month, they fined tuned how to read the dials. Countless failed propositions for meanings of the numbers all scrapped, until a simple solution was reached. Early on, it was suggested that the numbers were simply a way to write dates, but the idea was discarded quickly, as the numbers didn & # 39; t seem to match any dates, and there certainly was not a 15th month, or a 43rd day. 
 
 Marie had the stroke of brilliance, bringing the camera to two different monuments, each labeled with a date of construction. By taking a picture of the day where workers could be seen creating the monuments and taking notes, the group reverse engineered the code for the device, which they now referred to as simply & quot; the camera. & quot; 
 
 Over the next month, they planned what they would do with the camera; none of them knew how long it would last, or how many pictures it would be able to show. They decided it would be best to profit as much as they could as soon as possible. 
 
 The three came up with multiple ideas, but the stand-out one came from Joshua: he told them of a four-hundred year-old ship, the Queen & # 39; s Shield, rumored to have sunk off the coast of Spain soon after leaving for an expedition to the new world, laden with gold coins and silver bars, all intended to kickstart the local economy and dependence on physical trade medium. A small fortune loaded onto the best boat Spain had to offer, brought to its bloody knees by a freak-hurricane. No one knew how far the ship had made it, or where to look for the treasure, as there were no survivors. In truth, no one had confirmed that the ship had truly sunk, but the largest hurricane off the coast of Spain in decades combined with the ship never settling into another port again gave pretty strong hints toward its demise. 
 
 The trio began their quest in spain, scouring every resource they could find as to the exact launching time of the Queen & # 39; s Shield and after hours of searching various manifests and taking pictures near old docking areas, they finally found the beast. 
 
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 Joshua and Taylor took turns examining the viewfinder, confirming that the ship was truly in a bad way. 
 
 & quot; She & # 39; s pulling off to the South, Marie. & quot; 
 
 & quot; Got it. & quot; Marie turned the wheel, correcting for the change in direction. 
 
 & quot; Is that a sandbar? Out there, to the Southwest. & quot; Joshua pointed toward a tan hump in the water, half a mile away. 
 
 & quot; This far off the coast? & quot; Taylor answered, sounding skeptical, eye still pressed against the camera, adjusting the time dial one minute at a time. & quot; Hey, no wait, they & # 39; ve just turned that direction now. I think they spotted it, somehow. I see the Captain pointing that way, with one hell of a yell through the storm…Jesus… & quot; 
 
 & quot; What is it? & quot; Joshua asked. 
 
 & quot; The…the deckhands, they just…one of them just stabbed another one, and now he & # 39; s trying to…I & # 39; m done, I need a break. & quot; Taylor shoved the camera into Joshua & # 39; s hands. 
 
 The next fifteen minutes passed morosely as Joshua continually updated Marie as to the ship & # 39; s direction until: 
 
 & quot; Stop! Here! Here! The ship is sinking! & quot; Joshua was practically dancing on the prow of the yacht. 
 
 Marie and Taylor shared a grin, though Taylor & # 39; s was a bit strained. 
 
 & quot; Dropping anchor! & quot; Marie Exclaimed. 
 
 Joshua let the camera fall to his side, greed shimmering in his eyes. 
 
 & quot; Here we come. & quot; He whispered. 
 
 
 
 
 
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 took a couple liberties with the origin, but I hope you like it!
