Penacony, Land of the Dreams

The attendants bow with identical smiles and, over the background music, raise their voices to welcome the guests: “Welcome to the Planet of Festivities! Beautiful dreams await you.” The guests smile and step forward, take the drinks full of bubbles and empty them in a single breath.

The scenery slowly turns dreamlike, and it feels as though silk were lifting them up. Travelers from unfamiliar countries slip free of gravity and stroll along the walls. Strange toys receive life and wander the streets in welcome. A spring of water swims through the halls of the tower like a colossal whale. Open a window and look into the distance, and what you see is no longer the constellations in the deep sky, but streams of light that shift without pause along the currents of the city, amid the constant echo of the great bell and the theater. At this moment the guests finally realize that they never woke up at all, but are witnessing the true shape of Penacony inside a dream, the land of dreams where time is stilled forever.

Everyone knows that under the rule of the “Family”, the great gates of Penacony are opened to the stars: to gain transcendent experiences, to awaken inspiration, to soothe worries and wounds, guests of great standing come in throngs, giving up their pain in exchange for peace, drinking fine wine and wandering through a sea of dreams. Some spend an unforgettable holiday here and then leave satisfied. Others become obsessed with the festivals of song and dance and settle here from that day on. The hotel surrounded by stars is the precious jewel of those who weave dreams, the kingdom of those who make dreams, and the paradise of those who chase dreams.

Very few travelers know the dust covered history of the past: the threads that weave the dream are made out of reality. The splendor of Penacony today was born out of bitter salt rust, heavy chains and freedom taken away. The Planet of Festivities was once the Corporation's prison, where countless convicts were transferred to scoop up the memory bubbles of the Hall of Memories as it surged and churned. People repeated their bitter labor without a moment of peace, until their bodies grew heavy as poured lead while their souls became as light and nimble as sea foam: no one knows when it began, but the narrow prison was cut off from reality, and the consciousness of every person was linked together inside a dream. In the sound of the bell at midnight, that shared dream was utterly real, the opposite of a reality full of lies.

Until “Destruction” melted the Corporation's iron chains, “Trailblaze” connected this frontier to the stars, and “Harmony” came at their invitation and sowed the seeds of peace. Freedom at last broke its shell and sprouted, and at the same time it gave that first beautiful dream a new name, “Penacony”.

Today there is no trace left of the ruined prison. Inside the dream, countless high rise buildings sprang suddenly out of the ground, and the desert was made over and turned into a great city, a new land where those who chase dreams look for the chance to grow rich, a promised land for pleasure seekers to sink into a life of joy. The past of the “Planet of Festivities” is like a photograph that fell by accident to the bottom of a cabinet: it truly exists, but no one cares about it any longer.

Today the land of dreams sings happily and turns the past into an amusing piece of gossip, left behind quietly in the opening lines of a comedy, in the backstage of some cartoon, or in the side column of some magazine.

Anyone who has visited Penacony will surely agree that “built upon dreams” is no frivolous metaphor, but a wholly accurate account. The splendor of the hotel is no more than the tip of the iceberg on the Planet of Festivities, and only when you “stay and dream” are you considered to have formally entered Penacony. From then on, the kingdom of dreams formed out of twelve dreamscapes slowly opens before the traveler's eyes.

Guests who come here for the first time may be overwhelmed by this festival stage. But do not worry too much. Raise your head and look up: the metal tracks that cross and fly between the multi-story buildings, and the “ball cages” that roll along the tracks as fast as flight, are the most eye catching means of transport in this city of dreams, and they guide travelers on a tour of the city.

Starting from the central station, the intricate ball cage tracks are like the blood vessels of the city. Whether it is the underground pipeline in the “Moment of Dawn”, the vast open plain in the “Moment of the Tropical Desert”, or the shining stadium in the “Moment of Stars”, the brilliantly colored spheres roll on without stopping, carrying the flow of people to each station precisely, efficiently, safely and comfortably, and breathing a sleepless vitality into the dream of Penacony.

Dreams cover everything in a feeling of graceful, soaring flight, and the “ball cages”, shaped like nuts, are regarded as both transport and toys inside the land of dreams. But few people remember that the “ball cage” was originally a “prison cage”, and that the vehicle that carries one into the dream was originally a device for confining convicts.

Long ago the Corporation sent a great number of convicts to the Asdana star system in an attempt to stop a disaster from spreading. People collected memories here and gradually lost their way between reality and illusion. The spherical labor pods in the vacuum became an unforgettable “memory” for the convicts: the hard curved wall inside, the unpleasant feeling of spinning, the daily work and its incomparable torment. Perhaps these pains ran too deep, for when those who regained their freedom went out as pioneers to open up the desolate dreamscape, the spherical cages appeared along with them.

But things are no longer as they were, and peace and freedom have given birth to an optimistic spirit: rather than destroying, over and over again, a nightmare that cannot be driven away, it is better to add the colors this place ought to have, to accept them and to embrace them. And so the “prison cage” of the past became the “ball cage” of today.

Inside the city of Penacony, colorful ball cages move at great speed everywhere, and faint vibrations come from them… Whispers hidden in the strangeness of the city of dreams blend with ambitions and with lively laughter and talk, just like the land of dreams, the place where time stands still forever.