Fragment #3 - The Novelist: Part 3

Paris is huge! I’ve been walking for hours, letting Antoinette see the city and she’s amazed! So much of the center city was in ruins in her day, primarily the government centers, but many of the historical landmarks as well. The aliens had taken a ‘slash and burn’ approach to decimating the many nations’ capitals. It wasn’t enough to prevent counter-attacks, but it greatly reduced the effect of Earth’s retaliation since the militaries had to fight without their leadership.

Right now I stand in the Place du Parvis Notre Dame, the great, paved plaza in front of the world’s most famous cathedral. Its pale stones and so elaborate carvings are a marvel to me and I’ve already pulled out my camera to take pictures. I’m wanting to use a wide-angle lens, but Antoinette begs me to use one of my longer telephoto lenses to see the detail around the great doors and up the towers. “This was all gone,” she tells me. “One of their great beams of light tore right through the cathedral as though they knew how sacred it was.” I take her inside to view the great sanctuary. The statues of the saints; the beauty of it all; she and I both marvel at the craftsmanship displayed in this great edifice. Destroying such a place would surely disrupt the morale of the people. Oddly, I hadn’t known when I wrote Antoinette’s story that the destruction had been so complete.

Still, she wanders in awe through the cathedral and back outside, giving me a chance to photograph the great flying buttresses and view more of the architectural detail. Truly, a marvel of the world. I walk on around to the back of the cathedral, discovering the gardens with its square-cut tree-tall hedges. It’s too early for real blooms yet, but the flowers have sprouted and it won’t be too long before this park is a riot of color.