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"That's not just any library you're talking about. It's something special. Put together by upmarket anarchist types. Twelve of them in total. Not that they go there much. But between you and me, I reckon they're up to something big."[1]
The Agendums of Ascent is a library managed by the Calendar Council.
The Library of Seasons
"The switch is concealed in a recess behind a shelf. When you depress it, the switch withdraws into the wall. A whirring arrangement of clockwork tilts the window slats, slowly narrowing the strips of light between them. At the same time, the interior lamps are snuffed, so the room plunges into darkness."[1]
The Agendums was originally designed by a contracted academic, but someone in the Council overruled her design and re-themed the whole place. It is now organized by season, with each of the primary rooms acting as an archive for three of the months of the Council.[2] Throughout most of the building, there are also hidden mechanisms to darken each room[3] and reveal new secrets.
The Winter Collection is painted a suitably frosty white that captures the light around it.[4] It contains the archives of December,[5]January,[6] and February.[7] Although January is one of the most ardent supporters of the Liberation of Night within the Council, this room does not have a self-contained darkening mechanism.
The Spring Collection is painted and decorated in shades of green.[8] It contains the archives of March,[9]April,[10] and May.[11] When the room is darkened, it reveals a map of London that seems to chart the progress of Liberation and darkness around the city.[12]
The Summer Collection is filled with golden light, reflected around the room by an array of prisms and lenses.[13] It contains the archives of June,[14]July,[15] and August.[16] When the room is darkened, the temperature rises,[17] and a huge schematic appears on the ceiling,[18] implied to be written in cosmogone (the color of remembered sunlight).[19] This schematic is ostensibly a diagram of the Dawn Machine, given its apparently enormous scale[20] and the fact that June was its architect.[21]
The Autumn Collection is "a restful, airy space," decorated in earth tones and the colors of fallen leaves.[22] It contains the archives of September,[23]October,[24] and November.[25] When the room is darkened by two switches pressed simultaneously,[26] it reveals a star map[27] and activates a mechanism in another room.[28]
And Further In?
"Jet-black velvet lines the walls; rare books are arranged like tomb treasures."[1]
Hidden by puzzles leading to a final switch inside the Winter Collection,[29] the Council's Special Collection resides in this innermost room.[30] Lined with black velvet, this Collection contains a treasure trove of rare and ancient books,[31] including a papyrus from the Second City with valuable information about the life and dealings of the Duchess.[32][33]
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"I remember when they bought the building. Strange birds. [...] They wanted me to devise a filing system for their books and papers, which I did. [...] Then yet another of their group scrapped the whole thing. He replaced it with some system based around seasons [...]"
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"...and to top that all off, it plunges the whole mess into darkness. I hope he stubs his toe flailing around in there."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The room of Winter is painted a gentle shade of white. Every gleam, from the hanging lanterns which illuminate the room to the flickering lamps of the street outside, is captured and softened by the frosty walls."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"Here is a chart of conjunctions, and here a timetable for the appearance of comets. The paper is dry, crumbling beneath your fingers. It would not survive being removed from the library. The concluding sections seem more philosophical, correlating the movements of celestial bodies to the affairs of London. [...] the final chapter explains the motivations of stars as if the author knows them personally."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"This is not a true textbook. It presents key concepts from a multitude of different subjects, but only in summary. The bulk of the text dwells on methods to radicalise students of that discipline; lines of argument which lead the listener to feelings of dissatisfaction and righteous outrage."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The thinking here is savage and revolutionary: exploiting sportsmanship to regain an advantage lost; striking a stronger opponent from the shadows to inflict a disabling wound; flirting during a battle to dissuade attacks to the face. The author's gritty, direct style suggests these techniques are far from theoretical."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The room of Spring is decorated in a palette of greens, from the olive upholstery to the pine and mossy shades of the carpet and ceiling."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"It takes a few minutes, but you begin to discern hidden messages among the straightforward absurdity. A substitution cipher for the titles; and here, every third letter spells an instruction: 'Should you, or should you not hide your abilities? A fool might be underestimated – but you should not play the fool. No, such a tactic is overused. Play the fool's fool. Or perhaps not a fool at all. But play. Or fool. Victory is thus inevitable.' ... What?"
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"Why, yes! By surrounding the projectile in a disposable lightweight material, you could keep it centred in the barrel and significantly increase accuracy. That makes sense. Now, how about introducing an incendiary component? This tile looks just the thing."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"These are powerful tales: of hands touching for the first time on carnival rides; of intimacies stolen by doors which listen. The ecstasies captured in the middle section give way to a sombre conclusion: stories of old lovers separated by dark waters, and of hearts turned to stone."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"You have to crane your neck to examine the map. It is an impressive, elaborate piece of work. From the curves of the river, you recognise London. [...] Only on a second look do you notice a different shade of luminescence, a rich purple woven through the streets like a spider's web. In some neighbourhoods it seems sparse; in some it glows freely. On the rudimentary key, inscribed in the same shade, is the word LIBERATION."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The room of Summer is bathed in golden light. An intricate array of prisms and lenses refracts and diffuses the light of concealed flames. The books are bound in warm vermilion and crimson shades."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"To the casual eye, this is a straightforward collection of ideas for frivolous amusements to fill idle afternoons. Yet you can detect an undercurrent of desperation in its party plans; a sense that without an itinerary for every occasion, the author could descend into dangerous introspection. The descriptions are strange, too; and the activities are indexed by season. Is there some connection between the book and this library?"
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"This section concerns radical movements in European cities: the coffee-house agitators of Vienna; the obfuscating aesthetes of Florence; the blooded democrats of Berlin."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"A closer reading reveals a position which shifts and transforms from page to page. You realise that what the author is writing about is the art of debate itself; the pleasure of the spoken word, and its power to change minds. Along the way, you glean many little insights."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The gears whirr and the blind closes, shutting you in to the room of Summer. Was it so stifling before? Not like an oven. Not like that at all."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The entire ceiling is a schematic, traced in orange phosphorescence. [...] The work is exquisite: precise diagrams of clockwork [...] Beyond the main wheels, the cogs are so delicate, and the lines so thin, that it is difficult to even perceive its full extent without climbing on the shelves to see more closely."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"Whatever this device may be, its workings are incredibly complex. And if that scale marker is correct, it is also immense."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The room of Autumn is a restful and airy space, with comfortable chairs of tawny leather and low mahogany tables. Books lie open, their leaves mottled in rust and chestnut shades."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"Each section begins with a sentence and a date. You recognise from the lexical quirks that somebody is quoting Mr Pages. What follows is an exhaustive deconstruction of each sentence, highlighting where it diverges from correct syntax and performing cryptographic analysis on each unnecessary superlative. The colour-coded annotations vary from the trivial to the cosmological. There may be wisdom buried here, but the key insight is into the mind of the author."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"These appear to be genuine nightmares, confessed to physicians and priests. Each is followed by a discussion about how it can be exploited to manipulate political thought. Creaks in the plumbing: can you really trust the Rubbery Men? Menaced by a giant bat: don't its wings resemble the cloaks of the Masters? The thinking is creative and callous."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"An empty book in a library is in itself a potent symbol. The stories to be written on these pages depend on the actions of today. Will they tell of your deeds? And who will be the scribe?"
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The illusion is almost perfect: the cold scintillations paint a familiar skyscape. If you allowed yourself to believe it, just for a moment, you could be back on the Surface, staring up into a cloudless sky; awaiting the first touch of dawn."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"You hear something else this time: a distinct clunk from the next room. If that was a reader arriving for an early morning browse, they may find their text difficult to make out."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The switch is by the entrance, embedded in the door frame. The workings of the library seem so clear now."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"The mechanism turns; the light dies; and there it is. A vertical line of luminescence bisects a bookcase on the interior wall. As the line widens, the books and shelves part to reveal a narrow entrance to a chamber lined with cases."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"Jet-black velvet lines the walls; rare books are arranged like tomb treasures. Your eyes play across volumes of celestial mysteries, secret rituals, hand-drawn atlases. But there it is, the papyrus you are looking for: elegant glyphs painstakingly inscribed with ink thousands of years old."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London"He refers to her with these symbols: the sun-disk, above a cutting tool embedded in a wood block. And here: the youngest of six daughters. He is using circumlocutions, perhaps in an attempt to disguise her identity. But he cannot hide the awe with which he regards her. It is embedded in the construction of the text. I would say... a girl of noble birth."
↑The Calendar Code, Fallen London""She kills her betrothed. She kills him with a snake. To be with her lover, the scribe." The translator shakes his head. "The scribe knows it can never be. He knows they will find out, and they will come for him. He writes that he is already dead. And the betrothed doesn't even die. He becomes—""
