Watching Movements in the Water
Standing along the rail at the Ferry Terminal looking out over the lake, I find that I am amazed by the sheer amount of water that must be in the system of caverns where the D'ni built their city.
After stone, water must have been something important to the D'ni. Water can be used to shape stone into something different. Water cools that which is hot. The water in the cavern's of the D'ni lights the darkness.
Standing at the rail, I watch the movement of this water. A body of water this big is always in movement. It washes over the rock at the edges of the cavern, continuing to shape the cavern to this day. The water moves against the rock, till the rock gives way.
The dynamic movement of water against the static strength of the stone.
Closing my eyes, I can form a picture of what the smallest building block of the lake looks like, a single molecule of water.
Water can be a fascinating and beautiful thing.
I have wondered about the currents in the water. The great fans of the D'ni circulate the air in the cavern. How does this affect the movement of the water. The passage between the surface and the cavern passes through volcanic vents. Does the heat of the earth lend additional movement to the water, warming one current ever so slightly?
And what of the life that makes a home in the water? From the microscopic organisms that light the cavern to the reports of fish, and maybe things larger, what lives in the water of the cavern, missing up the water while going through the motions of their lives.
All of these forces mixing in the water of the lake; various currents moving together, with and against one another, each affecting how each other flows, altering each other, forever.
Water is important for the health of the new tree. Fresh water feeds the roots, allowing the new tree to grow larger and stronger. Water is important to the life of the lake. Without the water, the lake would be nothing more than a large empty cavern, dry and lifeless.
I also image what secrets exist in this water. After ten thousand years of living beside, on and around this water, what secrets are hidden beneath the waves, held tight by the currents?
Watching the waves break against the bulkhead of the Ferry Terminal, watching the waves ebb and flow. Small eddies form and divert the water, lasting but a second, but changing the path of individual molecules. Yet on the whole, the water does not change much over time.
Behind me there are other members of the Explorer community, both here in the cavern or in the Ages. Each is a molecule of the Explorer community. Always there are movements in the community. Currents of activity and thought, drawing us together and tearing us apart. Alone and together, we have shaped the rock of the cavern and the ages. Alone and together, we have left some mark, altered each other ever so slightly, forever.
Somewhere else, either in the cavern or in the Ages, are the members of the DRC and their employees. What secrets do they keep? I am sure there are secrets there, much as I am sure there are secrets in the water. What secrets have they yet to discover? Lost to the ages, locked in a manuscript still waiting to be translated? What dangers or evils do they hide from our community?
There are rumors, some would say there are facts, that soon we will be able to affect the light from the water. Some secret about the health of the microbes soon to be released. The Explorers will have something to do with the health of the organisms in the water. We we make it brighter? Do we make it darker? Do we keep it the same?
Water can be an awesome and powerful force.
There are eddies in our community, times and places when the combination of forces seem to draw us together. For better or for worse. Alone or together.
In the darkness, beneath the desert. In the light a distant Ages.
Is the new tree healthy?
