And now, at last, some time this week to work on my offering for the upcoming STEAM Hunt 7.

The theme this round is “Time and Space,” highlighting the work of H.G. Wells, who got a little steampunk love (and a surprisingly effective gender change) in a recent story arc on the aetheric vidshow “Warehouse 13” last season.

There was, until a year ago, a little and very grimy-looking shop near Seven Dials, over which, in weather-worn yellow lettering, the name of “C. Cave, Naturalist and Dealer in Antiquities,” was inscribed. The contents of its window were curiously variegated. They comprised some elephant tusks and an imperfect set of chessmen, beads and weapons, a box of eyes, two skulls of tigers and one human, several moth-eaten stuffed monkeys (one holding a lamp), an old-fashioned cabinet, a fly-blown ostrich egg or so, some fishing-tackle, and an extraordinarily dirty, empty glass fish-tank. There was also, at the moment the story begins, a mass of crystal, worked into the shape of an egg and brilliantly polished. And at that two people who stood outside the window were looking, one of them a tall, thin clergyman, the other a black-bearded young man of dusky complexion and unobtrusive costume. The dusky young man spoke with eager gesticulation, and seemed anxious for his companion to purchase the article.

via The Crystal Egg by H.G. Wells | Rediscover Reading

Right, then! The ideas that I’ve had swirling in my mind for the duration of an enforced absence from Second Life during my adventurous vacation can finally be virtually realized.

There may be some opportunity for a real Easter Egg-style joke, too. The prize has to be placed by the 30th, but this time I’d like to finish it far enough in advance to post a sales texture on the STEAM blog (many other creators are well ahead of me on this).

What I have in mind could be a simple few prims, or it might become pretty elaborately textured and animated. I’ll start with the simplest option see how it goes. My idea for the elaboration (which would act as a display pillar or plinth) might end up becoming a separate new sales product. Either way, now that I’ve finally read the story (Internet access was tricky when we were traveling, and I was incubating ideas anyway), I see the way forward.