Yes, I can swim across the pool. This isn't exciting, because the east ladder is still caught in the hatch -- that is, it leads down, not up to the east tower.
I gave the ring a pull, and the south hatch did its usual trick. However, water began dribbling in from the vents as soon as the water level dropped. Since the hatch was only open briefly, the pool was refilled quickly.
So I went down the crater to open all four hatches again.
(I left the water turned on. I figured that I would lose access to the west tower as soon as the hatches opened -- the ladder would no longer be secured. If the water was off, I'd be back where I started.)
(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the balloon-sack is still tied to the west end of the beam. Seems like the most effective place for it.)
No surprises at the underground valve. I climbed back up, and walked downhill. The hatches were indeed open, and the pool was draining rapidly. The vents were gushing, but four yard-wide hatches give an impressive flow rate, and it was only a few minutes before the pool was empty.
The current scoured the pit floor clear of mud.
It's not a tile floor. It's glass.
Water ripples over the glass, pouring down the pit walls and out the hatches. But I have seen the spaces below the World.
A green-lit abyss, filled with shifting pale clouds. Not veils or layers or planes of mist, but vast storm-banks of cloud; flowing in slow currents, welling up, sinking into the depths. The clouds cut soft shadows across the emerald radiance, and shafts of light spear up between them.
The downward view is framed by four thin waterfalls -- the outflows of the drainpipes. They curve outward -- probably to keep the view clear -- and then end; four streams of water fan and disperse into the distance.
Far below, tiny shapes drift from cloud to cloud. They look like minnows. At this distance, they must be longer than whales, sporting in the jet-streams of turbulence. Occasionally one passes through the light; it glitters like a fluid diatom.
I knelt on the glass floor, water soaking into my trousers, and watched.
_________________ Andrew Plotkin -- Seltani founding member
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