Kennett brought a D’ni sounding device with him last time he visited me in Afelahn. He determined, that there was a rather large cavern behind one of the rock walls of the valley. The wall was rather thin, and the surrounding parts of it stable enough to try and bore a hole into it.
When the dust had settled, we looked through the hole in what appeared to be a cavern, that had been enclosed by rocks always until that time. It is stable, so we can bring some bigger equipment into it and start drilling or excavating from there on. There still is the problem with the bigger machines, though…
I talked to Kennett, and he said, he wouldn´t take those machines apart. He isn´t even sure, if they CAN be dismantled, because some parts of it look like they are fused together – there are no screws, bolts or stuff like that visible. They are much to big to carry them with us… the only other option would be some kind of beast of burden. I don´t think, we´ll be able to make an elephant walk down to D`ni… that would the only beast of burden on earth I could imagine that would be strong enough to pull one of the bigger excavators.
While having a break from all the work in Afelahn, I began to write another age. This time I want an age with a little more humidity and warmth – Afelahn is quite cool, dry and windy, and I want a more comfortable place, maybe even something like a garden age.
I started the second age some days ago, and I´m confident to finish it this week already… it will be nothing to complicated. (Well, sweet and simple did work for Anesh, so why not for me?)
Does the cave appear to have been carved out by natural forces, or does the stone look worked?
I asked Shane Kennett, and he says, it has been carved out by natural forces. I think, he said something of water erosion, but I didn´t understand everything
We didn´t find any traces of sentient life yet, but of course you can never be sure unless you´ve examined the whole age.
By the way – I think, we´ve found a solution to the problem with the big machines – I will post more about this later!