The artwork
Illustrations
The illustrations in this book were made through generative tools, manual curation, and narrative revision. Each image holds part of the story. Some are memories the characters never see. Some are false. Some are true. They are not illustrations. They are records.
All 31 of them, printed and unprinted alike. Captions describe what is in the frame; where a plate carries the book's own figure legend, it is quoted underneath — 2 so far.
The Hyperloop at Serenity Junction in the book
Solar canopies, an elevated maglev line, and travellers moving under soft blue guidance light.
The Hyperloop at Serenity Junction
The Treasure Room in the book
Shelf on shelf of pots, lamps, bottles and bundled cloth, lit low. The room Mr Mehta opens.
Mr Mehta shows Sumati the Treasure Room
Mr Mehta and the Books
A tall, thin man with silver hair steps down from an old local train, reading, his arms full of books.
The Bench
A girl and a large pale dog sitting together on a slatted bench. Pencil.
Behind the Boxes
A girl standing in a canyon of stacked cardboard.
The Crow on the Platform
A girl and a brown dog running down a platform, a large black crow low behind them.
Nandini's Tea Corner
A woman at a station stall, drawn in soft pencil.
The Lamp in the Shack
A plank-walled room with straw on the floor and a low red glow at its centre.
Rani and Momo
A green and orange parrot on a stool, and a fat ginger cat beside it, in a bright window corner.
Fly Ash
A figure alone in a wide white field, fronds bleached to nothing, the air chalky.
Cracked Ground
Figures under wide-brimmed hats and parasols crossing dry, fissured land.
Virtual Layer Flooring
A train corridor lit from the floor in blue, empty.
Bazaars from a Train Window
Awnings, fabric and crowds sliding past a carriage window.
The Rickety Bus
A bus with passengers riding the roof, wheat and mustard on both sides.
The Bus in the River
A green bus nose-down in the water beneath a broken span, people wading out along a raft.
The Museum
Holographic biospheres on plinths, visitors small beneath them.
Around the Fire
Villagers dancing and clapping round a fire bowl in the evening.
The Animals
A crow and a line of small mammals among marigolds.
The Library, After
Books off every shelf, pages falling through the aisle like confetti.
In the Stacks
Four people bent over an open book at a table between tall shelves.
Sumati
A girl looking straight out, surrounded by drifts of loose paper.
A Room a Long Way Off
Wood panelling, bound journals and a roaring fire, and a heavily wrapped man seated before it.
The Police Station
Officers lounging at desks among stacked files and papers.
In the Van
Two girls and two officers crowded on the bench seats of a moving van.
On the Platform
A girl between two older men in conversation, one in uniform, under a station sign.
The Commissioner's Room
Polished marble, a heavy desk, framed certificates, and nobody in the chair.
The Vision Board
Maps, photographs, sticky notes and lengths of string, arranged around one portrait.
The Archive Wakes
Two women on cushions among scattered tablets, the library around them lit blue.
The Empty Floor
Rows of workstations under hard white light, every chair unoccupied.
The Desk
A brass lamp, a rotary telephone, and papers left where someone stopped.
Down the Corridor
A caped figure walking a hospital-green corridor, uniformed men on either side.
Artwork by Varna Sri Raman, generated with AI image tools from written prompts and then selected, refined and sequenced by hand. Free to share under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.