16 - Counterpoint

It is the evening before the great day. At the Gwair branch of Yifitsin Print Books Malvolio Claxendell and Samuel Quinine are finalising the ‘Writers in their Landscape’ exhibition for the next day’s grand opening. In the corner, the infant-genius, Kolya, is constructing a prototype of a tabletop synchrotron, however he has encountered problems with the the ponderomotive force of intense short laser pulses. Meanwhile Dido Doolittle is working late at the rival Back Room Bookshop with a final rehearsal of the Seven Muses oratorio which opens the week-long New Age celebration. However when dawn breaks they discover that the Gwair quarter has been cut off by the tractors and trailers of local farmers protesting against the public workers strike.