Chapter 7
Immortal Art
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Even by Vannevar standards, Valdivia was known for unconventional installations, and speculation had been rife throughout Aurelia as to what exactly her newest artwork was. Valdivia's last piece had included hot lava flows (not true molten rock, but a reasonable facsimile), and several of the spectators at the unveiling had to be treated for blisters. Ms. Tavish was hoping that this piece of art wouldn't be so kinetic.
The class walked to Ajincore Field, the site of the newest artwork, a large, wild park near the northwest edge of Aurelia. This was a fair distance to go on foot, and McKinley was heard to grumble, "You'd think the school could spring for a crocodile, but nooooo….." as the class walked along. A crocodile was a line of jellycars strung together. Usually they were used to deliver large amounts of freight, but sometimes groups of people used them to tour the city. They were very unwieldy.
The route to Ajincore Field took the class through the predominantly Vannevar part of town. Abby and Tom had seen some of these distinctive houses since their house was close to this neighborhood, but they hadn't been on exactly this route before.
Most of the Vannevars favored deep, lush colors even in their architecture. Many of the houses they passes were painted in shades of red and purple, orange and blue. Some of the houses had turrets and towers; they saw one cupola painted in red and lime green stripes, another with small pink polka dots on a silver background. There were balconies that looked as if they were made out of glass, shaped in fantastic arches and whirls. One of the glass balconies shimmered and sparkled in long drips from its edges as if it were lined with icicles. The impression was dazzling.
"Dr. Seuss!" Abby exclaimed. Her friends looked at her with puzzlement, and Abby blushed. "I was trying to remember what this," she gestured to the houses and stores they were walking past, "reminds me of. It's like something out of a Dr. Seuss book."
Sara, walking beside her, agreed, "Right. I loved those books. When I was a little kid," she hastily added.
" 'I lost my way to Solla Sollew,
where they never have problems,
or at least just a few.' " Luke quoted. "My Mom must have read those books a thousand times to me."
As they approached Ajincore Field, there were more and more people. It looked like Valdivia would have a good crowd for her debut.
Some of the Nawaks had ridden their bicycles to the site; they were stacked in a shiny row in a large, custom-made bicycle rack. Of the six sentient species living on Gracchia, only Humans and the Nawaks rode bicycles, and only the Nawaks considered them to be status symbols. For the Nawak, a bicycle was a symbol of sophistication and foreign glamour. One enterprising Human had set up a bicycle manufacturing plant on Gracchia that catered exclusively to Nawaks; they needed special frames and wheels to accommodate their long torsos, relatively short arms and heavy body weight.
Ms. Tavish gathered her class as they all arrived at the park. "Stay together, please." Mindful of the last Vannevarian art debut, she added, "We'll find a place with a good view of the exhibit, but not right next to it."
The class proceeded amidst the mixed crowd of people to the open area where a large object about twenty feet tall sat swathed in a shimmering cover. The crowd was composed of maybe half Vannevars, Tom estimated, but there were also many other Humans, and Gracchians, Nawaks and Aeris. He couldn't spot any Elihu; he'd heard that they didn't attend many public events.
Ms. Tavish settled the students on top of a knoll adjacent to the covered art exhibit. It was perhaps sixty yards away; probably far enough to be out of reach of any danger. They sat cross-legged on the grass and waited for the unveiling. The announcement had said that the presentation would be made 'past the midpoint of the flaming orb across the blue sheet of sheltering atmosphere.' This probably meant after noon. The Vannevar tended to be a bit vague about such things.
After a while, a subtle electricity shimmered through the crowd. A large Vannevar was striding towards the exhibit.
"That's Valdemar, I believe," Ms. Tavish said. "He's the life-mate of the artist, Valdivia." Local gossip had it that Valdemar had fought several duels for Valdivia, and all the girls in Ms. Tavish's class thought that this was extremely romantic. The general consensus among the boys was that Valdemar was an idiot.
Valdemar took a position next to the object and picked up the end of a cord that was attached to the shimmering sheeting. Valdivia came through the crowd and stood on a little platform next to her creation. She tossed her long mane of black hair over her shoulder and held up her arms for silence.
"We each have two arms, two legs, two eyes," she said, "but one heart."
Valdivia gestured to Valdemar, and he lifted the curtain from the sculpture lying beneath. "I call my piece, 'Underneath,' " she said in ringing tones.
As the curtain fell away, a large ball was revealed. It began to rotate slowly on its axis. The crowd stayed quiet, trying to understand what they were looking at. The ball seemed to be composed of many bits of cloth, fluttering as the sphere rotated.
A Human female close to the sculpture emitted a sudden shriek, "That's my bra!"
Could she possibly have said that's her bra? Tom was sure he had misheard. Maybe she had said, 'There's a flaw!' or even 'I feel raw!' Or maybe not.
Some of the nearby Vannevars were pointing to certain bits of cloth on the sphere and making comments, though none were as loud as the Human woman. The murmurs were picking up pace; the sound was like an approaching herd of wild horses.
Abby was the first one to see it. "It's Gracchia!" she exclaimed. "It's the world of Gracchia!" They had all studied the globe in Ms. Tavish's room, looked at the various landmasses and oceans. It soon became apparent that Abby was right. As the sphere turned, they could make out the continents, including the one on which Aurelia was located, and the various oceans and big islands. But what was really startling was that all these masses were formed from wadded-up bunches of underwear, a veritable mosaic of undergarments. A series of blue and green undershorts and socks formed the oceans. Snowy mountain ranges were created out of bras. One archipelago consisted of a line of tiny diapers. Valdivia seemed to have used underwear from all the species that wore them, judging from the wildly different shapes and sizes.
"Never have I been so glad to have fur," Abby heard a nearby Gracchus remark to her friend. The Gracchus and the Nawak were the two species that wore clothing as an option, not a necessity. Abby wondered where all the underwear had come from.
The murmurs and occasional cry of recognition from the assembled crowd suddenly turned to shouts of alarm. The spinning underwear globe was coming loose from its moorings, and the great ball was distinctly leaning to one side as it still spun around. Then with a loud snap, it left its stand and traveled rapidly towards the spectators. Ms. Tavish's class watched in amazement from the grassy hill.
"Wow!" Luis was the only one to say anything, but his comment spoke for all of them.
The ball gained momentum as it rolled along a sloping depression in the field. People in the crowd dived to the left and to the right to avoid being hit. Abby saw a woman chasing after the errant globe, shrieking at the top of her lungs; it was the artist Valdivia. She got a hand on it but it outran her and started to roll even faster as the slope increased. It seemed to be headed for a stream running along one side of the field. Pieces began to fall off the artwork very rapidly, leaving a trail of socks, undershorts, bras and panties in its wake as the underlying framework of the globe became visible.
Incredibly, the great ball reached the stream without running over anybody. It made a splendid splash in the water and bobbed to the surface, the wooden frame making it buoyant. Valdivia continued to follow her creation, running along the bank, trying to keep pace as it was swept downstream. She looked like a pretty good runner, but Tom doubted that she would be able to catch it.
; Valdemar wasn’t helping Valdivia to stop her runaway creation. “Sabotage!” he cried. “This work of art must have inspired envy and dismay; obviously, the intruders have come to destroy the inspiration for thousands!” Valdemar was pacing among the spectators, trying to gin up a reaction.
“Intruders?” Tom asked Luke. “What’s he talking about?”
Luke shrugged. “There have been rumors all over town the last half-year. Every time something goes wrong, every time some kid falls off a bicycle or someone’s milk spoils, they blame the ghosts, intruders, whatever you want to call them. It’s like the boogeyman back on Earth, except for people half seem to believe it.”
The crowd milled around in excitement; no one took the idea of sabotage seriously. They had been well entertained this afternoon. Ms. Tavish didn’t know if she would be attending any more of these Vannevarian artwork premieres and certainly not with the class. They were just too dangerous.
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Far Travels, The Gracchian Adventures, Book One Page 7