Penumbra by Esselle Beau

Author:Esselle Beau [Beau, Esselle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-12-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

They headed back to the Bluebird Inn, taking the Omnibus so as to mingle in with the crowds of commuters returning home after a long day at work. It was also market day so there were plenty of people taking advantage of late night shopping, for while many bemoaned the eight-day week, there were also many who took advantage of it. Sebastian had been to the Exhibition Hall that morning and told Ivy all about it on their ride home, because she had never been, and it fascinated her.

Housed in parkland to the West of the city, it had been designed by a handful of Europa’s Oligarchs upon Royal commission. The Crown Prince Theodore (the first), a budding architect with a love of art, culture, and the paranormal, took it under advice that such a grand exhibition would win over the hearts of the people, in fact all people from richest to poorest, and so he had taken a great risk and funded the commission from monies left to him by his Great Grandfather. It had been well worth the risk and was now one of the most popular, and most profitable places within Great Britannia.

It was a structural breakthrough second in innovation only to the Palace itself that had been designed by the great Arthur Crow just before his death. His protégé Monsieur de Leon, who was taken under his wing as an apprentice, soon proved to be a child genius and walked firmly in his tutor’s footsteps. It was a risky venture the Prince took, in employing him at the absurdly young age of ten, but it proved an enormous success.

The Exhibition Hall was in fact a series of ten linked buildings forming a Decagon with one central masterpiece. Each ‘Hall’ was of a differing design and material, but the central, and largest, one, was made entirely of the seven crystalline forms, ranging from Bravais lattices of Sapphire, polymorphic quartz of all colours, and the Perovskite ferromagnetic reds of Carnelian. It was a gigantic area of strange acoustic vibrancy, and the air was charged with an aura that could tune the mood of people that walked below or through the huge structure to move them to tears, to joy, or blissful peace. Many people came to sit there under their favourite crystal lattice, or within the spiky anisotropic growths that were mixed within beautiful tropical gardens. There were walkways and fountains, and exquisite, haunting music often played by string quartets in grottos. This was the people’s place and all were welcome, it was the Prince’s gift to his people.

The surrounding buildings were no less dominant. Built partially of steel, glass and mortar, to mother of pearl and redwood, they were architectural genius; a perfect blend of solidity and light, and ethereal delight.

‘A building, no matter how large, or rough-hewn, no matter the design or material, how tall or wide the proportion, must always look God wrought in all eyes to achieve perfection’, stated De Leon. He achieved these divine proportions, almost as if guided by the hand of the Muses.

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