Studio – New London

Dear sister,

The rain is pounding the desert floor outside and the world has turned from a brilliant clear vision to a grey misty outline. The construction came to an abrupt halt as the skies above my home  opened up to a surprising deluge of moisture that has not abated for the past three days.  The change in weather was much celebrated by the members of the crew as this marks the beginning of the rainy cycle for this part of the globe and a relief from the incessant heat. Any type of moisture is welcomed here and Addison has assured me that it will not propagate any delay in relation to the completion of the project.  His timetable included this expected halt to outside work and the members of his crew are now busy within their temporary workshop preparing for the final stage of the build.  For me the change in weather is not so fortuitous  since the grey overcast has completely obscured my view of the Equine and brought to a cessation any new material expedition for the duration of the storm. I have been able to catch up on my lab notes and  organizational tasks but as you are well aware these are not my favorite pastimes. The lab and studio are now in too much order for my comfort and I feel my creatively slipping away while I gaze at the neat rows of acrylic paint containers and stacked empty canvases. The distillation units now stand idle in the conservatory as the additional humidity in the atmosphere outside does not promote the needed environment condition to produce a desirable finished product. The sustainability tests are still in their initial run on the first material subjects and the two week test will not be completed for three more days.  This leaves me limited things to do at this time and I will need these results to continue to the next stage.

I do have positive news.  I received a communication from Katryna answering the request I left her when I was in Medici.  She has agreed to a meeting at my location but gave no indication when.  It seems from her message that she has prior engagements for the next few weeks then she will contact me again. Her tone in the correspondence was noncommittal about my referred request of scientific study but we will take it one step at a time. I now have her electronic contact point for my message center so there is no longer a need to relay messages through the village center.  I worried about using such a public form of contact to relay my request to Katryna and I hope she read between my cryptic wording to realize the jist of my intended message.  I can now be more clear on my request as my private  electronic system if far more secure than the public one at the village hall. It is a welcome divergence to think over what her visit will bring to our work and I am using this weather delay to map out a plan if Katryna agrees to be my research subject.

The loss of the visual stimulation from the Equine has an alarming effect on me.  I was under the impression that even though the Equine is now out of sight  that the emanations would not diminish.  It may be only the gray world outside but I was sadly wrong in my assumptions.  As the days of rain have continued my mental clarity decreases and my mood has slipped into a shallow depression I am struggling to climb out of.  I should be used to this type of weather as days of sunshine are as rare in our homeland of England as rain is here, but I realize now that the visual spectrum is paramount to my relationship to the Anomaly and it’s visual absence is affecting that connection. I am afraid if this weather persists I will need to travel away from the site, at least until the skies clear. Addison assured me that although the storms at this time of year are frequent they rarely lasted over a few days. I hope he is correct about this one as three days already seems an eternity without my companion.

Before the cold weather sets in I have planned an excursion to the desert highlands east of the studio location.  The rains have delayed this plan slightly but I should be able to squeeze at least two trips in before the conditions are too cold for outdoor activities.  There are reportedly a diverse selection of mineral and metal deposits in the upper elevations and I want to take some samples for the next stage of the project.  The new survey I received while on the Derringer shows a large gypsum source ten kilometer from the studio.  This would be an ideal medium for the enhanced canvas foundation I would like to experiment with for my renditions.  Once the colors and materials are finalized I will need to find a more stable base for the final work and this seems an optimal material to begin exploring. The molecular stability along with the spectral neutrality of the Earth variety of gypsum were promising in our initial study and I am confident the New London version will serve. Once the winter sets in it will not be practical to travel to the higher elevation since snow is very common over the one kilometer altitude mark and normally last for several months.  I hope there is a long enough gape in the rain to allow for the trips.

I have spent several days thinking about the extra personnel I will be acquiring in the next month or so. When the construction is finally complete I will be ready for a research assistant and someone for domestic services. The food synthesizer is adequate during this stage of the project but I am not keen on spending the next few years eating algae and soy based proteins out of a machine no matter how creative the flavoring.  The Louvre rep I met with in Delphi has already arranged for a qualified assistant and instructed me to contact her when I am prepared for him to be sent. She also gave me a contact in Newton for the domestic situation. There are two women and one man that were previously employed by Smithsonian employees living in Delphi.  The families have now returned to Earth after completing their assignments and their staff has been left without positions.  Since the work on the information program the Smithsonian produces for most of the inhabited galaxy is near as sensitive as the work we are doing, the security clearance of their staff is adequate for our needs. This leaves the three candidates free to pursue other employment. From what the Louvre rep said they are all three willing to relocate to my area of the world in order to retain their security status. I will of course have to meet them first as I only need one person but from their background paperwork their credentials are good and they come highly recommended.

The land around the studio is now a muddy bog and I have not stepped outside since the storm began.  I had a moment of panic when the sky opened up and I saw the huge drops begin to pelt the outside of my clay home.  Visions of being left standing in a huge melting mud pit passed through my thoughts before I remembered Addison’s reassuring lecture on the durability of the clay construction. There was no threat of the storm damaging the structure but being more familiar with rows of red brick houses I did experience that short burst of panic.  It is indeed an amazing material and my lab equipment has given testament to that. The environmental readings have not drifted an iota from the tight specifications needed and the residential part of the structure is warm and inviting. The renewable energy has also proved itself infallible as there has been no power dips or failures in the last few days. Addison shutdown the fusion reactor over a week ago as the solar, kinetic and wind farms are fully operational. Since I now have placed almost the full load on the source at this point it seems there will be no issue with what has been installed per our estimations. It is comforting to know that some things are progressing as expected.  The weather on the other hand is at this moment not cooperating.

I wish you could project some optimism and confidence from within your static condition as I need it at this time.

Love,

Victoria