Page 132 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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where Mr Halman resides. In other words, they are surrounded by quite a large

portion of the building you saw last night. The main house is a great deal larger
than our false hallway and my study. In fact, by the use of great construction
skills, it is almost impossible to detect that our hallway and my study are
within the
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moderately sized servants quarters, and, with some cleverly placed false
windows, it would take even a very experienced architect a great deal of time
to discover there is “missing space”, as we call it, within the main house.
‘The rest of my building is underground. The views from the windows are

achieved with great technical skill. Within the box, that is part of the house,
there is a cyclorama, and our somewhat large and expensive home underground
is also surrounded by a similar cyclorama. You know what a cyclorama is,
Peter?’
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‘Yes. A device usually found in theatres.’
‘A curved screen. A large structure. In this case a very large, long curved
screen made of cement and covered with the same material used for making
wide screens in movie houses.’

‘So those incredible views are somehow projected on . . . ?’ Bond began.
‘In simple, laymen’s terms, yes.’ Now Brokenclaw was smiling like an
indulgent parent. ‘But there’s a great deal more to it than that. The detail and
movement are recorded by what is a further step in laser technology. You know

of the laserdisk principle, I presume?’
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They both nodded, Bond thinking that this set-up alone must have cost
millions.
‘Well, what you see when you look from the windows and the system is

running is really a super, three-dimensionalised laserdisk throwing the images,
in great clarity, and in three dimensions on to the cyclorama. If you bothered to
stand there for a long time, possibly with a stopwatch, you would see almost
the same cycle repeated – car movements, cattle and horses grazing – about

once every two hours. However, there are further enhancements. The
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projections at dusk and dawn can be changed to conform to fifty-nine different
patterns, while we can pick random sequences which will alter the weather
over a twenty-four hour period. The whole is, naturally, computer controlled.’

‘Naturally,’ Bond murmured.
‘It is all very effective, and I do have some specialised tricks – like the one
you saw of seventeenth-century London, Peter.’

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