Chapter 77: The Virgin´s Summer, Part 28, The Return Of The Past

On the Project site, Haswell shows me around, comparing what I see on the ground, to what the plans show.

Perhaps it is his apology for misreading me earlier. He is the soul of courtesy, pointing out where old sweatshops and slums have gone, to be replaced by the upcoming, sleek and modern homes; where the bridge, designed by my Master, will span the river, the foundations and pilings already being laid. After a while, he is called away, his attention needed on some snag. “Go wherever you want, Charlotte,” he says. “See everything.”

I trail behind surveyors and engineers, following their tracks, trying to interpret groundworks, and transform them in my head into the soaring city I saw in the model.

Bulldozers are shifting huge tracts of rubble, crushing and flattening it, to lay the groundwork for the next phase of the building works. The old road layout is all but gone. Only because I know where I am, is any of it recognisable.