Beneath, Volume 1 - All Things Uru

BeneathVolume 12003-2007Tweek

First TripAug 27 03The journey to meet my guide was excruciating; theknowledge that after 6 years of studying D’ni Iwould finally get to see it was overwhelming to saythe least. For days I had been dreaming of nothingbut standing on strange worlds, glancing out at thehorizons.I met with an explorer who worked with the peoplehelping to finance the DRC. He offered me the smallgreenish leather-bound book that Linked to Relto,which until recently I had only known as the InterimAge. The rumors about the Relto Books propertiesPage 1

were indeed true, the book follows the owner throughthe Link, and allows for Linking within the same Age.I had only seen a few photographs of Relto, a smallisland situated in the clouds, covered in scrubgrasses, and shrubberies. Actually being hereallowed me to spy several things that had not beenseen before. Four small hydrant-like objects sat infront of the hut, upon each one different symbolsinscribed. But all of them dominated by a spiralhand symbol.The hydrants would have to wait, as my guideushered me inside the hut where I was shown hiscollection of Linking Books. I picked one whichturned out to be a Link to Gahreesen. We wanderedaround for a while looking over the architecture andthe mechanisms that the Guild of Maintainers hadput in place.A lot of the corridors had barriers blocking themoff, which I wasn’t sure about crossing so I didn’t.Before leaving I took a look at the device thatdispensed KIs to visitors. Unfortunately I wasn’tallowed to pick one up for myself.The next destination was Teledahn, where we spentless time than we did in Gahreesen, only taking amoment to look at the huge mushrooms that dominatedthe Age.I was hoping to explore Eder Kemo, an Age that I hadbeen studying for some time from various photosand documentation. Alas, he did not currently have aPage 2

Linking Book to that Age. Instead we went to KadishTolesa where he left me to my own devices for awhile. I decided to explore the forest of thosetowering trees, playing with the various scopes Ifound and inspecting the strange cloths that bore thesame spiral hand logo as the hydrants. Finally Idiscovered a Linking Book that led to the Gallery inD’ni.My excitement quickly grew to frustration; the doorsleading out to the rest of the Cavern were damaged,and so would not open. I was confined to the Gallery.Eventually my visit drew to an end; we Linked to theCleft from Relto and I had finally exhausted thememory on my digital camera. There we parted waysand I decided to explore the surrounding area beforestarting my long journey home.Page 3

The CallingSep 04 03I have no idea how long that message had been sittingin my inbox. The message in question happened to befrom Jeff Zandi who, despite the wishes of the DRC,was giving me the means to reach the Cleft. Not aguided tour like my previous visit, but access tojoin “The Called” in D’ni.Despite it being late August, the temperature wasextremely hot. Thankfully I had packed plenty ofwater, I was not used to American weather. I had beenwalking awhile, eventually I started recognizing thelandscape from my previous visit. As if to signalthat I was on the right track, I could see the volcanoon the horizon.I had spied the volcano even before I had noticed thefence that surrounded Zandi’s land. As I walked overto the infamous Airstream trailer I was surprised tofind Jeff himself waiting for me outside.Page 4

Surprisingly he had little to say to me, but he didmention a message waiting for me from “her”. Thepower was off so I had to get it running again. Withinthe Cleft was a mechanism linked to the windmill onthe surface. After I finally got the windmill workingand power running in The Cleft, I discovered “her”message.Shorah. Rekooahn treCleft preniv legloenb’rem… Oh yes, not in D’ni, they won’tunderstand.Once again, the stream in the Cleft hasbegun to flow. It was dry for so long.The water is flowing in from thedesert. The storm is coming.Page 5

Have you heard of the City? The deepCity, the ancient Uru? Where there waspower to write worlds? For thousands ofyears, the City lived; lived beneath thesurface, keeper of the secret, keeper ofthe power, keeper of the Ages. Alwayskeeping. The City grew proud, and thenit died.The water flows where it wills. Itseeks its own path uncontrolled exceptthat it flows downward, alwaysdownward.D’ni, the City of Ages, of other worlds,died. But now it breathes again, itawaits. Some will seek that destination,but you should seek the Journey. It’sas a fine tapestry, complex beyondcomprehension, but now torn. We willshow you remnants, pieces of thetapestry. Pieces of the Journey. Findthe remnants, these Journeys. Seven.Seven in each Age, seven here in thedesert. Consider it a quest. No, arequest.Worship.The water flows downward, and there itpools and collects, and finally, itreaches the roots. And the tree beginsto grow again.Page 6

I am Yeesha. My parents brought me tothis place. We will bring you.There is much to study here, there is a documentseemingly penned by Atrus’ own hand to Yeesha, hisdaughter. I shall have to return here with the meansto copy the document for future referencing I think.But for now a quick note of the contents within myjournal will suffice.My search for the cloths took me back up into theheat, as I headed back over to Jeff to see if he hadany thoughts on the message. As I did so, Idiscovered another one of the cloths on the back ofhis Airstream. Despite his lack of words he wasmost helpful in pointing the way at times. My huntfor the cloths led me to discover some interestingartifacts strewn about the area. My first discoverywas sheets of metal, half buried in the desert floor.They encircled a larger object, which I recognizedfrom Catherine’s journals as the telescope fromRiven. Across the way I could spy some large bones,upon which was another cloth. The bones, as it turnsout (from looking at the formation of the skull andtusks), is that of a Wahrk, which leads me to wonderwhat other relics from that infamous Age has fallenthrough to Earth to be left here gathering in the dirtunloved. If I had my way I’d be carting them off tosomewhere safe.Is this the location to where the fissure led afterthe collapse of Riven?Page 7

Incredible, it seems that the seven cloths allow forthe doorway under the tree in The Cleft to be opened.Opening it revealed a tunnel that leads to a cave. Allaround me I could hear strange chittering noisesthat I found unnerving, coming out from the darkrecesses of the cave. Upon the walls were strangepictoglyphs of symbols with D’ni lettering, a figureand spirals, all of which gave off a blue light whenpassed.The path through the tunnels led to a podium of rock,upon which was a small book which I had seen before.A Relto Book, my Relto Book.It’s been a long day, the cave is nice and cool but Ineed to find a place to rest. I will chronicle thepictographs when I return here, but for now I shallLink to Relto and see if I can rest there.Page 8

D’niSep 05 03I awoke with my muscles in pain; the floor of thehut was not the best place to sleep.First order of business was to find a Gahreesen Bookand get a KI. I took a closer look at the hydrants I hadfirst spotted during my visit back in August. What Ihad failed to notice before was that on the tops ofthe hydrants were symbols which indicated whichAge Book was contained within.Opening up the one with the Guild of Maintainerssymbol on it revealed the Gahreesen Book. I openedPage 9

the other 3 hydrants to discover Books for Teledahn,Kadish Tolesa and Eder Gira.I placed them on the shelves in my hut, and in doingso noticed 2 other Books I had failed to notice in myfatigued state yesterday. One was on the shelf I hadplaced the other Books on, it was blue with gold trimon the spine. Flicking through showed an area thatlooked like one of the D’ni Neighbourhoods.The other book was a kind of journal left by YeeshaI’m guessing (her symbol was on the cover), whichcontained various verses regarding the Ages in mypossession (as well as Eder Kemo which I have yetto locate).TeledahnThe truth of a man is found inthe darkness, beneath the surface.Some light might reveal only whatsome men want to be seen.Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -Book 9, Entry 221, Item 29GahreesenThe laws contrived by the proudare their security and their undoing.Such laws make disobedience a virtue,and obedience a sin.Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -Page 10

Book 12, Entry 32, Item 134Kadish TolesaOnly the way a man is when heis hidden, is how he is. A shallowglimpse can deceive. Look deep, ponder,and recognize all that is hidden.Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -Book 9, Entry 221, Item 77Eder Kemo and Eder GiraWhen all is taken from one, theonly hope that remains is what is givenby another. Through this giving, bothare redeemed.Sayings of Regeltavok of Oorpah -Book 2, Entry 1,071, Item 54I’m not yet sure what those passages relate to withinthe Ages they speak of.I decided to remove some of the weight in my bag byputting my spare clothes in the wardrobe beforeheading to Gahreesen to get my KI.I returned to that familiar well that encompasses theLink in area, the warmth of the sun hitting meinstantly. I walked the corridors of the Age,remembering which direction to take from myprevious visit, my fingers brushing the differentPage 11

textures as I walked. I had time to soak it in thistrip, unguided, I could dither if I pleased. I couldalmost see the D’ni Maintainers bustling back andforth along the long corridors going about theirbusiness.I ducked into the first room, which appeared to be astorage area. Lockers adorned the walls filled withBooks that I assume were confiscated by theMaintainers as people came to collect their KIdevices. But there was other maintainer equipmentstrewn about as well, a helmet of sorts and severallong spikes with the Maintainers seal upon the top.But most curious was a strange tablet placed in oneof the open lockers. It was made of a pinkish whitemarble like stone with what looked like the samefabric used on the Journey Cloths covering the front.But the most surprising thing was the Linking panelupon the material…I strained my eyes to look at thelittle box and it seemed that it leads to D’ni judgingby what looks like orange lake water in the distance.Unsure what to do I picked it up and placed it in mybag and took it with me as I felt it warranted furtherinvestigation.I moved on to the next room, which contained the KIdispenser. The dispenser was slightly alarming, youplace your hand inside the device, and themechanism places a KI around your hand, I was halfworried it was going to take my hand off.There was a part of me that yearned to stay withinGahreesen and continue exploring the structure. ButPage 12

too long had I wished to gaze upon D’ni properly, andI knew that had to be my first port of call.After returning to Relto, I used the “Neighbourhood”Book. I arrived in a familiar location, a place I hadseen many photos of before I ventured down here. Butactually being here was different. I spent perhapsan hour, maybe two walking around. I don’t know howmany of those minutes I spent gazing out across thelake towards Ae’gura. Very quickly I noticed howshockingly quiet the neighborhood was, it wascompletely empty. The only sound I could hear wasthe gentle “whump-whump-whump” of the great fanscirculating air in the cavern.During my exploration I did discover what appears tobe a Book room of sorts. Within were Linking Books toGahreesen, Teledahn and what appeared to be EderKemo. However the most interesting Book was in thecenter of the room sat upon a pedestal, which hadmoving cogs and a hand slot with the KI symbol uponit like the one in Gahreesen.The Book took me to a small room with moving cogs,the Nexus. A hub which contains a great many booksthat can be accessed via a user interface whichlinks with the KI. A quick browse through theinterface showed that there were a selection ofneighborhoods that could be visited, as well asGahreesen and the Ferry Terminal in Ae’gura.I selected the Ferry Terminal and Linked.Page 13

It is not what I expected, not at all. I believe it’s thearchitecture, I was expecting something moreclassical, more like Rome.But the Arch…it is so huge, what a sight to behold!The DRC have barriers up all over the place, blockingentrance off to those who aren’t DRC. I ran into agroup of explorers near a “Nexus Point” so I stoppedand chatted with them for a while; there were a fewfamiliar faces I knew from the surface.My visit in August was very solitary, aside from myguide. Meeting fellow explorers in the city wasdefinitely an experience. It was nice to just chat anddiscuss D’ni society along with other things.I still have so much to see.Note: DRC released a KI user manual, obtain a copy ofit later.Page 14

Eder GiraSep 06 03When I get some time I really need to set up a morecomfortable spot to sleep on.I spent a lot of time in Ae’gura yesterday,conversing with a fair few explorers down at theFerry Terminal, not many other places to gathercurrently. The vast stairwell (The Great Stairs as itis known) is blocked off at the top, barring accessfrom the Tokotah Courtyard. Half way up the GreatStairs is a damaged portion of wall that leads to acorridor, within is a blocked area which is curtainedoff currently, I was planning on darting under thecurtain and checking it out but someone approachedthe area so I left, I’ll explore it later.Growing tired, I retired to Relto to once again sleepon the floor with only my backpack as a pillow.I slept late, the constant dark of the cavern andquickly moving to an Age at the peak of its day isjarring, like a really bad case of jet lag. I think itwill take some time to settle into this new pace oflife.This fact was made worse when I decided to spendtoday on Eder Gira.The heat hit me right away, a vent nearby spewedsteam into the evening air. In the purplish sky Icould see that the Age had twin moons.Page 15

The cracked earth gave way to a different substanceof rock, and from the looks of it, I’d venture a guessto say it was caused by a lava flow; indeed thistheory was enforced as I reached the edge of thecliff I was standing upon and looked down to see alava flow.Several pipes led up towards a structure high up onthe cliff wall; it seems to be siphoning the thermalenergy from the Age, but for what use I am unsureof.The Age has rudimentary plant life, some thornyvines and scrub grasses as well as some plants witha large leaf to them. There are also large bell shapedplants which I must admit I had failed to notice atPage 16

first due to their similar colouring to thesurrounding rock.The lower level was blocked by rockfall, butcontinuing past, it opened out onto a wonderful view.A small lake fed by waterfalls tumbling over therocks; jutting from the water was bones of somehuge creature. The best part to all this were thestrange manta ray like fish which swam in thewaters. These fish apparently had some kind ofbioluminescence to them which allows for parts oftheir body to glow a bluish purple colour.Behind the waterfall there is a relatively largecave; inside seems to be some wooden basket likeitems, not sure what the use for these are yet, but Ihave some ideas what I could use them for. It appearsthe cave reaches back and ventures further into therock; despite the two geothermic lighting systems Ifound and activated, the way appears to still be alittle too dark. I shall require alternate lightingbefore exploring into it more.However, not one of these marvels held my interestas much as the strange tablet I found sitting on oneof the bone fragments. A strange item constructed ofwhitish pink rock, upon it was a burlap fabricextremely similar to the “Journey Cloths” I hadseen in the Cleft. Upon the cloth, to my surprise wasa Linking panel, unfortunately I couldn’t quite makeout where it Linked to.Page 17

Across a stream leading from the pool of water was asmall structure of stone and wood, upon it seemed tobe another Linking Book.As it turns out it was, and it was just the Book I hadbeen looking for, the Eder Kemo Book.Page 18

Eder KemoSep 06 03When I was younger, I used to swim with friends inone of the several rivers that cut through my village.There was one area where the water was deep andsecluded under trees, which we used to frequent. Myfirst time jumping in there, I was not expecting thetemperature of the water to be so cold, the initialshock after jumping in robbed me of my breath and Istruggled to stay above the surface.Stepping from Gira to Kemo reminded me of thatmoment in my life, the difference being thetemperatures were not as extreme in difference likethe water was and as I stepped upon Kemo I wasn’tgripped by panic and concerns of drowning.I’m not sure why Kemo became of particular interestto me. Perhaps it was the sense of mystery thatemanated from documents and photos brought back tothe surface by others. I had heard whispers of adoor with an engraving upon it, a door within whichPhil Henderson eventually vanished behind, ofstrange pictoglyphs strewn upon the walls of the Age.By my estimation I had managed to map about 90% ofthe Age from the photographs relayed to the surface,but I was aware I was missing the key point of howthe three areas I had mapped linked together. Now Ihave the chance to complete my work and study thePage 19

glyphs I had only seen from a distance inphotographs before.The Link in point was a small pagoda of sorts whichled out over a rocky arch of a bridge. Below was thepond, an area I had seen before from photographs andone of the areas I had previously mapped. The bridgeled over to a path that cut between the eroded rock;as I crossed I noticed large black bug-like creatureshanging from the top of the rock wall digging away atthe surface and eating something by the look of it.The path eventually opened up into an area I haddeemed “area one” during my previous mappingattempts. A pleasant grassy area with long thin treeswith pancake like foliage, smooth pebble like rocks,and what looked like bamboo. The dirt path I stoodupon led down to a stone path which curved to theleft out of view. Straight ahead of me was theinfamous door. The path also curved to the rightwhere it arched around the area, passing a gazebobefore reaching some steps that led to the fountainand an area with lots of pictoglyphs.I cannot deny, the draw to those glyphs was strong.But the door…I had to see it first, if only for amoment.The door was a little more elaborate than thecounterpart found at the Cleft with an elegant carvedborder surrounding the same spiral hand symbol Ihad been finding everywhere. I reached out, myfingers touching the cool surface of the door,tracing the embossed edges of that hand symbol.Page 20

Touching the door revealed nothing, but that did notsurprise me. In fact I am starting to form an idea onhow the door is opened. If it is anything like the oneback at the Cleft then I will need to hunt down sevencloths.The area next to the door revealed more of thepictoglyphs that littered the Age. It also served toshow me how areas one and three from my mappingwere linked, or areas one and two as I have nowcorrectly labeled them.My interest in the door had been fed, for a spell. Ishall turn my attention back to it when I furtherinvestigate how to open it. In the mean time I felt thePage 21

glyphs warranted further study so I made my wayback to the fountain area. The glyphs in this areaseem to represent some of the other Ages. Indeed Iam pretty sure one of them is Kadish Tolesa, andthere is one that looks like Gahreesen and anotherthat looks like Teledahn. I cannot fathom as of yetwhat story these glyphs are trying to tell; who arethe figures?I decided to spend the rest of the day chroniclingthe glyphs, drawing them in my journal and takingphotos of them and noting down their locations andany other details about them that could be helpful inthe future.I feel like there is a larger story to be told bythese images, I had felt overly drawn to the Agefrom the moment I first heard of the “Garden Age”.Chief amongst my many questions is…Who drewthem?Page 22

Meeting New PeopleSep 07 03I met some interesting people today.I had been sitting for around 20 minutes or sostudying the glyphs in Area Two of Eder Kemo whenthe sky quickly darkened and poured with rain.I decided to warm up in Gira for a bit, dry myclothes out that the storm had soaked in minutes,before heading into D’ni and visiting some of theother Neighbourhoods I had seen listed in theNexus.Most of the ones I had visited were empty;eventually I stumbled into one of them which waspopulated with a few people sitting around by thefountain talking.Upon being greeted, I wandered over to the group tointroduce myself.They had been talking about the Fall of D’ni, KeiraBenson, an Archaeologist, had been studying the fall.She had apparently discovered a D’ni corpse in theAge of Kadish Tolesa as well as other bonefragments in Gahreesen and Teledahn.I sat with them for a few hours, discussing D’ni,whilst people slowly faded into the hood and out; inthe end all there was left was myself, Keira and herfriend James Rofen, an Architect.Page 23

They asked how I had found my way down here, towhich I explained that I was a D’ni Historian and hadbeen studying D’ni for a number of years beforemanaging to get down here. Keira said she hadstumbled across some relic that had been brought upfrom D’ni and her interest in those items had ledher here. James said his friend had been contractedto do some work in the Cavern; upon last seeing hisfriend he had been told of the Cavern and haddecided to come see it for himself.I think we shall be seeing more of each other overtime.Page 24

Find a WayFeb 12 04We knew that it was coming; it finally happened, theCavern is closed. They have closed off the city, shutdown the Nexus.Pretty much all of the explorers have left the Cavern.It is arrogant of the DRC to think they can keep usout of the Cavern, as soon as we started coming downit stopped being about them and it became about allof us.We left the Cavern like everyone else, but we hadprepared to return, gathering what we could into ourhood. On the surface I gathered some supplies, rope,Page 25

water food etc. I linked back to Relto with mysupplies, my hood book was missing, I must haveleft it somewhere which is annoying but that wasn’ta problem. There is a Bahro Stone in Gahreesen thatLinks to a balcony in the hood. Taking my pack withfood, water, flashlight and small tool kit I went tothe balcony. From there I managed to lower myselfdown onto the classroom roof then down again into thehood itself; inside the Book room sat a Nexus book.The Nexus was inactive, I shall have to see if Davidcan get some of the base functions up and running togive us transport between the city areas again.Page 26

Make a HomeFeb 13 04I have been moving all the supplies into the hood, asit will serve as a central location of function. Theothers will be joining me soon, bringing some otherequipment needed for our stay here.The silence of the cavern is immense; for so longthere was the sounds of work being made on theareas of the city, of people chatting and runningaround the city, now all I hear is the gentle“whumping” sound of the fans.Page 27

I had first thought it was this silence that wasplaying with my mind, bumps in the night kind ofthing; perhaps I was getting paranoid. I startedhearing things, seeing flashes of shadows moving.As it turns out, I’m no longer alone down here;perhaps I never was to start off with. It’s arrogant ofme to think that I would be the only one who wouldsneak back in after the DRC left.There are other explorers here.Page 28

CompanyFeb 16 04Been busy setting everything up, decided to take abreak and head into Ae’gura. Nexus is still down so Ihad to take an alternative route; using the BahroStone in Gira, I arrived at the Tokotah Rooftop, I knewthe DRC had an alternate way of getting down as thereis a wooden ladder up there. Using the ladder to getto the adjacent building then used the rope I hadpacked to descend into the alleyway.All very tedious, I think the Nexus and KI needs tobe the first thing we get sorted, even if it only hadthe base functions for Ae’gura access.Page 29

For some reason the DRC decided to put the barriersback up, maybe they had anticipated peoplereturning; not that it matters as the barriers failedto stop us from entering closed areas in the past. Atleast back then, you had the chance of being caughtby a DRC member; now, of course, the city is open tous.The others arrived today; after meeting them on thesurface we moved the supplies down to Tehren andstarted planning what we were going to do next.Page 30

CommunicationsFeb 20 04Quick access to the city was restored today. Dave’sgreat work got the Nexus working, although access tothe Great Zero has been presenting a problem.The KI is still being worked on. Dave has decided toset up hidden communication stations around theCavern running on a wireless connection to allow forus to communicate when in D’ni; this solution willnot work for the other Ages, which is an issue.We know the DRC ran a similar connection at one point,as evidenced by the “Hood Cam”; shame Victor isn’taround for us to consult with, but I have faith inDavid’s abilities.Page 31

Supply RunFeb 22 04Heading up to the surface with Keira in an hour for afew days, need to get some more supplies for Tehren.Page 32

David MissingFeb 25 04Arrived back in the Cavern today with Keira and oursupplies, only to find David has been missing sincewe left a few days back.Locating him has been made harder by the fact thatthe KIs are not working as intended. So we’rearranging everyone in Tehren to start a search partyand look for him.Page 33

No SignFeb 27 04We’ve been searching D’ni and its Ages for 2 daysnow, his work equipment is down at the FerryTerminal where he was working on one of the boats,but there is still no sign of him.Page 34

TragedyFeb 28 04The worst has been confirmed, Keira headed up tothe City Proper to find James, who also hasn’t beenseen since David’s disappearance, figuring thatDavid had gone to get James to return to his projects.There she found David’s body.Keira thinks that David and James got into it,resulting in David’s death. From the look of thescene, it seems to indicate as much, but I’m not anexpert in these matters. David’s body is at a weirdarch from where the balcony above is, indicatingsome speed or force in his fall, which doesn’t appearnatural. We had made our way up to the area Jameshad been apparently living in. The balcony rail hadbeen broken, we found fragments under David’s body.James’ area was full of notes on the Bahro, D’niSlavery and on The Art.We’ve confiscated his journal and notes to study andsee if we can find out what he was planning.We really need to find James and get his side ofthings…Rest in peace Dave.Page 35

AftermathFeb 29 04It’s been a tough few days, we held a memorial todayfor David on his Relto, the Book of which has beenplaced in Tehren.Sophie is heading to the surface to notify thefamily and to take some time out. She and David werevery close; this has hit her hard, indeed it has hitall of us hard.Once I have finished securing everything, I shall beheading to the surface myself. Keira, too, is planningsome time away.As for James I don’t know what to make of it. I knowhe could be confrontational at times, if not shorttempered,but I wouldn’t expect him to do anythinglike what seems to have happened. This ill feelingwas only re-enforced when I was in the City Properearlier. I had gone back to his place to look over thearea and gather up the remaining documents whenJames himself appeared, I had barely glimpsed himbefore he saw me and Linked out.If he did nothing wrong, why did he not stay and tellus what happened? Why run?It seems I am slowly being forced to consider thatperhaps James is guilty for the death of David.Page 36

IntruderMar 10 04Headed back to the Tehren this morning. I found mymood unsettled on the surface, just sat there doingnothing, mourning David. I feel bad for moving on sosoon, but I know continuing with our work is whatDave would want.I Linked in to find another presence in the hood,impossible as it seems (we went to great lengths toshut this hood off from outside visitors) but weappeared to have an intruder.Page 37

I followed the intruder to the book room and managedto snap a KI image of them before they vanishedthrough the Nexus book.It looked a bit like Sophie, but last I heard she wasstill on the surface.Page 38

Keeping BusyMar 20 04Thing have surprisingly been moving along smoothly,seeing it is just myself and Keira who are in chargeof TTP, Sophie is still apparently on the surface.We’ve been working at moving the barriers out,securing areas of the city and Ages, gatheringdocumentation for archiving.I’ve been studying James’ work, reading histheories about the Bahro and the D’ni enslaving them,there’s also a sketch of a symbol which I’m sureI’ve seen before, but I can’t figure out where. Iwould love to write his research off as crazy, but alot of it matches up with my own research on theBahro.If only I could speak to him..We ventured up into the higher areas of Ae’guratoday; there is a lot of damage up there. We’ve beenkeeping an eye out for any Books, but between theDRC, Gehn and Atrus, I would say they would be hardto find.Page 39

Of the Lost ArcMar 23 04More and more explorers have been sneaking backdown into the Cavern; one of them, Max, has deemedthe group D’ni Raiders. They are organizingthemselves, sending out “Raider Reports” tointerested parties.Up until now we (The Third Path) have been watchingfrom the shadows, keeping ourselves to ourselves,but this D’ni Raider concept interests me and so Ihave joined up with them.Page 40

If this group continues to grow perhaps we’ll have apopulation down here again. One can hope at least;sometimes the quiet in the cavern is unnerving.But until then, D’ni Raiders we are.Page 41

A New JourneyJun 02 04I received a whole pile of books today. 1 Linking Book,the others were “Words”, a set of books written by aD’ni Seer called The Watcher. I have read about himin the various DRC journals on the D’ni Kings; hewrote a series of books which more or less amountedto a series of prophecies.I’ve spent the morning reading over them, prettyinteresting.The Linking Book led to a new location, a round halllikeroom with an imager in the center; upon theimager is a symbol I have seen in James’ journal. Itis the same symbol I know I have seen before...Of course!The Cleft!The hologram of Yeesha forms the symbol duringher speech, I can’t believe it took me until now tofigure that out.I must be losing my edge.A stairwell leads up to a balcony above.The canvas sheets over the various doorwaysindicate that the DRC have been here.Page 42

I don’t believe it! The Great Tree! I’ve seen photos ofthis place, have waited to explore this area and now Iam here; now if I can just figure out how to get there.Given the Great Tree, and the fact that there is one ofSharper’s Great Tree jackets here, it’s pretty safe toassume this is the Great Tree Pub he was after.I was right, DRC have one of their notebooks here, oneof Simpson’s research books. This place was builtlong ago for The Watcher apparently. Kadish tookownership of it, started restructuring the place,believed he was the “Grower” that The Watcherspoke of.Apparently this place is in the J’taeri district ofD’ni.Inside the alcove with the notebook is a couple ofLinking Books, will check those out in a bit, first Iwant to explore the second level.Page 43

Balcony is straightforward, there is an alcove thatleads to another room; within this room the walls areengraved with strange markings, almost likecalibration settings. The one wall shows an oddlooking clock, next to it a small metal plate is set inthe ground under a lamp. There is a ramp that curvesup and around leading to a giant metal sphereengraved with the symbol of The Watcher.I assume this is the puzzle game Simpson mentioned.I think I’ll take a look at those Linking Books.The one to the right of the notebook lead me to anenclosed building, lined with metal and familiarstained glass windows that are also in the KadishPage 44

Gallery. At the other end of the corridor-likebuilding was another Linking book which led me toan Age I had seen long ago before the cavern openedfrom some DRC documentation I stumbled upon butwasn’t supposed to see. This Age was Ahnonay.Strange Age, filled with funny little crab creaturesrunning around; they seem to run from me when Iapproach them. I have discovered some JourneyCloths, except unlike the ones which have the spiralhand symbol on them, these have the shell symbolupon them.There is an island I need to get to; looks like I’mgonna have to swim. Maybe a change of clothes wouldbe wise.Page 45

Er’CanaJun 03 04Linked to Er’Cana, reminds me of the cleft. Found astrange square symbol like the one I found on theimager in the Watcher’s Room. I took a KI imagedaresay it’s important. I think after this, I shallcheck out some of the older ages in my possession.What the? I saw a giant petroglyph of the Fissure, Itouched it now I’m in a Bahro cave, except it’sdifferent to the last. There’s a pool of water in thecenter of the cave and some more numbers, 5:18, plussome strange symbols that look like the volcano inPage 46

New Mexico. I think I need to get a KI shot of them.This is not making any sense, less sense than whenI started the journey. This path very few havetrodden I have no one to turn to for help.A search of the Ages revealed nothing new, except atThe Cleft where I discovered a pair of D’ni goggles Ihad overlooked last time I was there. Very pleased Ifound these, they will come in most handy.Returned to Er’Cana. Managed to get this strange tramdevice to work and take me inside the ‘factory’ asI’m currently calling it.4:52 4:10 What do these numbers mean? Times? Orperhaps book passages, the word?3:110 I think I’m in D’ni but where? Not sure, I seethe familiar glow of the orange lake out of awindow. I have no idea what I’m doing here. Why aBahro cave with glyphs on the wall that representpower levels in Er’Cana? I wondered if perhaps thenumber of spikes around the glyphs are the key towhat the power levels should be set as. I shall haveto wait for the timer to run out then try again.Temp – 19 Weight – 30 Time – 40Hope this works. It kind of worked, I managed to getto these pellet things, the problem is I don’t knowwhere to take them, the Bahro cave or the place inD’ni? I took one to D’ni put it in the machine, itscanned it then dropped it into the water below, thewater began glowing white.Page 47

Decided to return to Ahnonay; wonder if any D’niactually live here still. Managed to get to the island,found a door but can’t open it. Found another squarediagram and some more numbers. - 3:72Seems my theory about the numbers was correct, Ishall investigate further. One thing still botheringme though is those darn pellets. Perhaps you need todeliver 5 cells to each location, tedious linking backand forth. It is okay from the D’ni location as thereis a linking book there back to Er’Cana, but I have togo via Relto every time I link from the Bahro cave toEr’Cana.“The door lies at the end of the path.”This is getting frustrating.What is going on here? Figured out the Quabs(Discovered references to the crab creatures insome documents I liberated from the DRC, apparentlythe official name for them is Quabs) were what theclock thing was showing so I chucked them all intothe water, the lights went out. Linked out and linkedback to find destruction, the age is in ruins, grayskies dark and stormy, trees of crystal. Destroyedthe trees; I had to, the clock was showing them lit up.I had no idea such ages were possible; of courseit’s possible the Great Tree makes it so. Beautiful, aruptured Ahnonay floating in space.Things are coming together, three instances ofAhnonay. I follow the shells to link to places that IPage 48

can’t get to in one instance but can in another. It’slike the Truman show, what was Kadish doing?Page 49

AhnonayJun 04 04Still can’t get past that door in Ahnonay, in everyAhnonay. What I don’t get is Kadish claimed thatAhnonay was the home-world. I mean the name means“Water Root”, but how did he pull this off? I’m suresomeone must have known that the D’ni home-worldwas Garternay. Let us see what answers can be found,but for now back to Er’Cana; I want to tinker withthose ovens again to see if I can create the properpellet.Page 50

I loath this place, chills me to the bone, I hate tothink what the D’ni prison ages were like. Myexperiments with the pellets failed, I honestly haveno idea what I’m doing. So I’ve returned to Ahnonay ina bid to see what I can do, I know I really shouldfinish looking through the words of the Watcher butI can’t be bothered right now. I have an idea.2:19 2:30Made it into Sphere 4 of Ahnonay, had to get into thehut of Sphere 1 turn the current off, swim to themaintenance room, use the shell cloth Link to Relto,Link to the Cathedral, then to Sphere 2 then to theCathedral, then to Sphere 3, then to the Cathedral,then Link from the Cathedral to Relto then and thenLink to Ahnonay using the shell book mark.5:57 5:32Found a lovely D’ni jacket. Sphere 4 is unfinished. Agiant statue sits in the middle, guessing it’s oldKadish himself; wonder what it would have lookedliked if finished. A chair led me into a pod-likemachine that took me out of the sphere and actuallyinto Ahnonay proper. There was a control panel withsymbols on that matched the ones in the Cathedral,so I entered them in the order they should havebeen in and a door opened to a laboratory.Page 51

DRC MeetingApr 15 06The results came in; I was elected DRC Liaison alongwith Eleri, Gadren, Wolfie and Vortmax.Marie wanted to meet with us today afteryesterday’s results so I made my way to the UrutoHood that she had given me a Nexus invite for.I don’t know what made me think that I should checkout the imager as soon as possible but I did, and Idiscovered the above image on it. Apparently the Ageis called Eder Delin, a small Garden Age that Mariehas been working on; she said that a lot of rest AgesPage 52

have similar features. I am looking forward tovisiting that place.Lots to do; the DRC suggested setting up Town Hallmeetings between them, Cyan and the explorers.Sounds like a good idea, gives the people who nevergot to see the DRC around back during the restorationto meet them. They are still trying to get thatfunding from Blake; I hope it goes well.I’d best go upload these transcripts to the site forediting.Page 53

FundingMay 08 06I just got word, they have secured the funding; therestoration is back on.This is fantastic news, everyone is blowing up aboutit, I am so excited. Kez is trying not to get excitedfor fear of being let down; I need to keep tellingmyself that despite the fact funding is securedcautious optimism is still the best policy. I wouldhate to see this fall through like last time.Despite my grievances with the DRC’s actions beforethe restoration collapsed, I am kinda looking forwardto seeing how the future progresses. From mymeetings with them I can tell they have changedPage 54

hugely over the last 2 years; the fact they tookYeesha’s journey is proof of that.*Pops open a beer* To D’niPage 55

Ahra PahtsMay 26 06Today I received a Linking Book to Ahra Pahts, I’vebeen watching the progress for a while now, some KIshots of the Age was sent my way and I was lookingforward to visiting the place myself.I was not disappointed; the place is huge. Not surewhere I am, I forgot to bring the map with me. Thework here is coming along nicely I am veryimpressed. It will be nice to see it in all itsfinished glory.Page 56

Need to explore some more, I believe I see somestructures up ahead.Page 57

DRC MeetingJun 13 06Had a meeting with the DRC and Liaisons today,almost missed it as I was busy on the surfacetrying to fix this database problem I have beenhaving with DJC. Thankfully Vortmax sent me a jinglereminding me about it and I was able to make my waydown in time.I believe the others managed to get a full log postedup on the Liaison site. Tomorrow we have a Town Hallmeeting with Victor, unfortunately I have businesson the surface to attend to and so won’t be able toPage 58

make it which is a shame. I am rather interested inseeing what Victor has to say about D’ni technology.Page 59

WorkJun 22 06Spent a few days on the surface getting somesupplies to bring back with me. Returned to the Age Ihave been working on; still a lot to do, seems to beprogressing well. We’re looking forward to seeingthe results.Took a detour returning to the Cavern; decided tocheck out that spot from the Bahro sighting. I wasn’tdisappointed, managed to get a wonderful picture ofPage 60

one; will have to post it sometime. I really need toget the gallery up.The classification documents are coming alongnicely; not much work to do seeing The Third Pathhad pretty much got everything in place already,aside from the new Ages I have recently gainedaccess to.Kodama showed up for the Town Hall the othermorning; that guy can dodge questions like bullets.He answered a few questions I had for him, I hadbeen wondering if the “Canyon Strip” area where theKadish Gallery is, is the Karim District mentionedin one of the DRC notebooks. Kodama said that theKarim District was in the City Proper, Mariementioned that we could have access to areas in theCity Proper within a year which was newswelcomed. Unfortunately Kodama did delay a theory Ihave had for a number of years now regarding theTomb of the “Great” King, (Not sure what’s so greatabout a King who committed genocide then caused thedeath of thousands of his own people centurieslater.) Kodama said the tomb was sealed (Atrus musthave sealed it after the Terahnee events) and wasbeing treated with care.Page 61

TiredJun 28 06I have been wondering of late, perhaps the Liaisonidea should wait until the community grows up somemore. Oh no what am I thinking, of course it shouldstay, I need the power after all.I think the poll should have been better worded, butwhat I don’t get is people ask to see what we havedone as Liaisons, but we aren’t allowed to do our jobwithout being attacked. It is a shame we cannotchoose the people to replace us, perhaps then peoplewould see that everything isn’t all sunshine andflowers. If I wasn’t determined to see this through,Page 62

I think I would have just left the community to it, Icannot wait for this term to end.I am disappointed; indeed, a few people have got theidea. Bravo to them, they realize that the Liaisonsdon’t need to stay on as Liaisons in an officialcapacity to help the next set. We don’t; the questionis, would people mind us sticking around to help thenext set? (as Ex Liaisons if you will) but peopleseem so blinded by petty grudges that they do notsee this, not to mention those who cause troubledeliberately, I mean seriously, what is the point insuch actions? Sometimes I wonder if it’s evensocially acceptable to help/want to help peopleanymore.Some people have a good point (whether it was madewell or not remains to be seen), however some pointsare so far off the mark it’s amusing. Assumptionsand generalizations are such foolish products.People assume to know us, so they say things likeour wanting to stay around is self-serving. I guessin a way it’s right, I want to help people; if mystaying around helps people then I guess they werespot on. However, I think this isn’t what they aregetting at, in which case they are greatly mistaken(I cannot speak for the other Liaisons but I wouldthink/hope it’s the same). So you have a problem withone of the Liaisons, so let’s rope all the otherLiaisons into the same pack, they run together right?So they must be all the same; this, my friends, is ageneralization.Page 63

So people were against the election and want nothingto do with the Liaisons? Okay that’s cool I respectthat, but then if you’re not going to have anything todo with the Liaisons, actually mean it. Oh hey peopleare jumping on the Liaisons, I’m against them thatmeans I can jump in too. Well you’re entitled to yourviews and comments, but how is that not havinganything to do with the Liaison business?Matters not, I have made my plans. I have acquired asecond KI that I am keeping for when my term ends, Ishall modify the ID on it to read another name and Ishall simply fade into the shadows, explore withoutthe arguments and pressure. Such peace will be nice.Page 64

ClassificationJul 05 06Work on the Age has been halted for a while,although I have continued to do the initial mapping.Got word that another explorer has fallen, I will needto set up another stone for Ramsine; such a shame.Classification is going well, some of the initial workdone by others has come in handy and has given mesomething to build on. Not sure how thisclassification will sit with others; shall implementit into DJC when I get the time. Wonder if Deg wouldfind the documentation useful for Uru Explorers.Page 65

Time OutAug 08 06I have been taking an extended break from the Cavern,busy working on The D’ni Jazz Club. Strange that inall the time I have spent in D’ni, I have neverventured to The Cleft at night until today.Things are heating up in the Cavern; the DRC are back,the first group of explorers have been sent down totest the areas and Ages for the reopening of theCavern. I was expecting to go back down with thisgroup but it didn’t happen like it should have, Iexpressed my displeasure with how things werehandled.Page 66

A fair few people seem to be interested in myclassification project, I am hoping to start working onthat again now that the majority of work has beendone on DJC.Found a faulty Linking Book to the Neighbourhood inthe Nexus the other night, not sure what was wrongwith it but when I linked into the hood I wasn’t inthe hood I was 10 meters from the hood balcony abovethe lake. I’m glad I had my Relto book with meotherwise I would have been nursing some brokenbones.Page 67

Tefoonet’ahnAug 15 06Returned to my work on the Age; continued to checkover the structures and classification, found abetter place to get the stones from too. I am hopingwe can pick up work on this soon and get therestoration done that’s needed. Spoke to Richard aboutthe translation I was looking for; decided the Ageshould be called “Place of Memorial”. He told meTefoonet was D’ni for Memorial and the guys over atthe DLF seem to think “ahn” is applied to a name toPage 68

indicate a place, for example Laki’ahn (Place of Laki),so Tefoonet’ahn it is.Page 69

ReturningSep 06 06It’s been a while since I have been back to AhraPahts, been so busy with other matters. Work hasbeen progressing there nicely; some of theimprovements look great and they have began opening“shells” to explorers to move into and work on. If Iwasn’t so busy with Tefoonet’ahn I would considertaking on a shell.Page 70

Last time I was there the bridges weren’t done, nowthey are and looking stable. It’s nice being able towalk over the canals instead of jumping them.Page 71

Time LapseSep 16 06I had been meaning to do this for a while and theother day I finally got around to doing it, I set upmy camera near to Zandi’s trailer and let it do itswork; the results are not too bad.Page 72

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People seem to be enjoying it, they are wanting me torelease a movie version, I shall do so of course as Ihad already considered doing such a thing. Findingthe time to do it will be the problem; might see if Ican get Steve to help me.Page 74

The GuildSep 20 06Had a meeting with Keira, Steve and Sophie a whileago. Keira wants to start the Restorers Guild back upand wants us to return. I decided to decline for now.Who knows what the future holds? However, I haveoffered to host the site and work on it for them. Idid decide to work with them on Tefoonet’ahn;unfortunately due to the Guild being 3 people andother resource issues, work on the Age has beendelayed for now. We have uncovered somedocumentation on the Age.Page 75

DamnOct 10 06Spent some time on the surface working on someupdates. Beneath was getting an update to the imagesdisplayed in posts, I say was because I accidentlyoverwrote the CSS sheet with a new layout design Iwas working on which broke the theme; as a result Ihave had to go ahead and get the theme to a pointwhere it works just to make my blog look halfreadable. I am very irritated that this hashappened. The other update will be coming toUruBlogs;not sure when this will happen. Allsubscribers will be contacted but we are planning onmoving UruBlogs to a new server and give it its owndomain name.I have decided to split my entries into “Journey”sections, so readers can see what part of the path Iwas on when it was written. D’ni Raiders wasn’t oneof Yeesha’s paths but it was a Path as such taken bya few explorers.Page 76

Surface TimeNov 18 06Have been spending a little away time on the surfacefor a day or so; been feeling under the weather. Hada meeting with the DRC the other week; apparentlyLaxman is working on the Lattice again and there is alarge risk of the KI going down. If that happens, thenthe Liaisons are going to have to become messengersin the Cavern. Marie mentioned about a Guild ofMessengers which will take on part of our work. Someseem to think that means we will be a part of theGuild but I don’t think so. If that was the case thenit would be limiting what Guild the Liaisons are apart of which isn’t right. I do know if I will join aguild and if I do which one it would be, possiblyWriters or Archivists.The Town Hall meeting with The Great Tree groupwent pretty well, I managed to attend the firstmeeting but not the second.Page 77

An EndingDec 19 06Today was probably the strangest day I have hadwithin D’ni. I was in the Nexus when it happened; aloud Bahro screech and then I was linked back toRelto. Apparently this Bahro scream could be heardthroughout the Ages and the Cavern at once. Everyonewas linked back to their Reltos.There was a lot of people to witness it too. We had aTown Hall meeting with the DRC today and the turnoutwas huge; there were also people in Ae’Gura too. Dueto the large traffic in the hood, the DRC moved themeeting to another one which annoyed some of theexplorers.Tomorrow the DRC are reopening the Cavern. Thingswill be hectic, I think, unless people end up beingtoo scared to return after today.Page 78

As It Should BeDec 22 06I have been spending some serious time in D’nilately even if I do have work to do. Thankfully, I cansteal into the Restorers Guild’s Hood and use theircomputer set up that they “liberated” from the DRC(as Keira likes to say). UruBlogs is getting a lot ofinterest which is cool; will be even better when wemove to the new domain. Currently there is a problemwith “beta” Blogger accounts; the feed doesn’t workwith our script so Denis is working on a new scriptwhich apparently works with Blogger feeds. Anywaylots of people in D’ni as it should be; areas are stillclosed off after what is being dubbed “The GreatLink” of the 19th. I managed to scale down from theTokotah II rooftop into the courtyard today,registered the Nexus points I could access to makelife easier for me.The DRC have been making regular visits. Engberg’sback in the cavern, which is good. Have been a littledisappointed by some of the behaviour of theexplorers. Some of the comments have been ratherimmature and hostile. It’s been 2 or 3 days sinceeveryone’s returned and they are expecting miracles,I know it’s Christmas and all but for Kerath’s sakehave some patience.The rock is hard. The rock cutter ispatient.Page 79

D’ni ProverbI was saying to Marten the other day that peopleseem to rag on the DRC because people were doing itthe first time around (back in 2003) and so it mustbe okay now or it must be okay ‘cause other peopleare doing it. Now I remember how the DRC used to be,I was there along with others, and I can tell youcompared to how they are now, the DRC have changeddrastically. Before they were distant, they seldomshared information and they made some silly moves(taking Phil for example). Now they have taken onD’ni Restoration Council Liaisons to open up channelsof communication, they have Restoration Engineersgiving orientations to new explorers, they are moreforthcoming with information regarding varioussubjects. Is it perfect? Probably not; to beconsidered perfect, people would want fulldisclosure, and even then people would complain thatthe information is being given to them and they wantto find out for themselves.Kodama said new books are coming; this will be good.The city will be opened up soon too; hopefully thecap in the Nexus will be raised then.Page 80

How Things ChangeDec 28 06Today I surprised myself.More information has been filtering down about“Cate”, with many interesting and humorous theorieson who she is. Some are complaining about her being“in control” of the DRC, some are mad at the DRC thatCate is there in the first place.Me?Well I am quite happy to just sit back and see whathappens, to wait for the announcement that is comingup. Now this is what surprised me;back in the day Iused to be impatient about events going on in theCavern, or with Ages/Areas being opened. Now I’m not.I feel that it’ll happen when it happens. What causedthis change? Was it the 2 years of being around theCavern without the DRC? Was it the waiting forfunding to return but expecting it to take more than 2years? Perhaps it was a combination of all of theseaspects.Page 81

EventsJan 13 07So it’s been 9 days since Steven went off to see ifhe could find out what Age the DRC were planning torelease to us next. Course since then, news filteredout that the age was going to be Eder Delin. So Iguess that’s where he is; not sure why he hasn’tcontacted me like he usually does. The reason I amconcerned is that some new KI images of EderTsogahl were released recently. They areinteresting shots, showing a new version of aJourney Cloth and a new Bahro Door. I thought nothingof it until another explorer pointed out that thestrange shape in one of the Delin images that we havebeen speculating about is very similar to the doorseen in Tsogahl. A new journey? If it’s a door like inTsogahl, I bet that’s where he has gone. I’m sure itwouldn’t have taken him long to figure out how toopen it.It has been a long and stressful week. The DRCLstructure is collapsing, Wolfie decided to step downthe other day and I have stepped down myself today.I also decided to pull my membership from TheGreat Tree group, I don’t think cavern politics has aplace in my life anymore… I thought I had learnedfrom last time; I guess not. Pursuing knowledge is afar wiser path to take.Page 82

My parting “gift” for the community will be thenotebook I have been writing, that will hopefully beleft in the hood classrooms.I guess that extra KI I obtained will come in handy.Hopefully, it hasn’t been damaged by the Bahro eventon the 19th of December. It was inactive so I don’t seewhy it should be.Page 83

Interesting ConceptJan 16 07I spent a while sitting in Gira today, my feet in thewater, the Tsoidrai swimming around them workingon a new design for Beneath. I was thinking about thepost I read on the DRC site earlier that John hadwritten.I’ve heard people talking about making ahome in D’ni (some say it’s from aYeesha speech but I don’t reallyunderstand where or how they hear it,but that’s really not part of thisthread) and I think it’s a great idea.However I haven’t done it. I feel morelike an explorer or a tourist or avisitor. I don’t really feel like I’vemade a home. Even Relto seems morelike a pit-stop to me then a home. Andmy hood feels more like somewhere totalk with people.So how about people here? Do you feellike you’ve made a home somewhere inD’ni (or one of the Ages)? If so, whatdid you do?It is an interesting thought. Reading through, it’ssurprising how many people feel more at home inD’ni than Relto, I wonder if the nature of the Age hasPage 84

anything to do with this, high quiet place or thebusy city?Where do I feel at home? Aside from with Kehra thatis.Well, I happen to feel at home with my first Reltobook; I actually have two books. After the DRC pulledout of D’ni, I retreated to my Relto. For the next threeyears, I visited and lived there, adding itemschipping away rock to make more rooms. The Age evenhas a power source, thanks to the Fireplace Relto Page.This Age is my home, it has a bed it’s where I work.As it is my home, it’s not the Relto that most peoplevisit. My second Relto once belonged to my sister;she was in fact the person who first told me of D’ni.As a result, it was I who introduced her to D’ni forreal. She started to take the journey but laterdecided that D’ni was not for her. She is now off inthe world doing her own thing and she gave her Reltoto me. So I finished her journey, gathered her pagesand her Relto became mine.Would I feel more at home if I had a location in D’nito call my own? I guess that’s something that will beanswered in the future.Page 85

The CoupJan 18 07Today the fruits of our labour have been revealed,today the D’ni Network launched. And I am happy tosay that so far the feedback has been good.We don’t have to worry ourselves with the red tapethat the explorers have been throwing at us anymore.I feel that there is promise in this project.Met with Cate yesterday in Kemo. She told us Delinis being opened tomorrow, which is good; means I cango and find Steven. Got a quick KI off of him lastnight saying something about being very cold andneeding a jacket. Will have to pack one when I visit ifhe is still there… if those thoughts about the doorare correct, then I would expect he has gone throughit. Apparently a new area of the city is openingtomorrow; my money is on the Library.Hope I can get a Delin book to put in the DJCNeighbourhood.Dropped by Tehren, the Restorers Guild’s hood touse their laptop. I say theirs, its actually “on loan”from the DRC, but it is one of the ones they used forthe Hood Cam so it’s got a connection to the surfacewhich is what we need it for. Been working on fixingthe photo gallery on Beneath, and Denis fixed theaggregate script for UruBlogs so that’s all working.Erik mentioned some CSS issues I need to address,Page 86

however they are not on the top of my priority listright now so it may be a couple of days till I getaround to fixing them.Page 87

Eder DelinJan 20 07The DRC had some troubles releasing the Age; seemssome damaged books were placed in the hoods and afew books to Eder Tsogahl got mixed in there too. Soall the books were pulled out and later replaced. Hada quick conversation with an explorer who managed toget into Tsogahl. I don’t think he tried to get throughthe door there. It’s strange what things bring out theworst in people; I was in one of the hoods making myway to the Delin book and just as I was about to useit some guy barges past and uses it first. Terriblyrude some people. I followed to find a lot of peoplethere. The Age is small yet very pretty; startedPage 88

work on classification already. The Age has the samedoor and cloths that Tsogahl has. The people therewere trying to open the door up; it never happenedunfortunately and Steven wasn’t there so I guessthat means he went through it. It didn’t take long tofigure out how to open it, the problem lies in thefact that you need about 8 people at least to do it. Ishall try opening it later; apparently the cave leadsto another Bahro Cave and a stone ring. I guess thisnew journey means that there is a new chapter to myjournal waiting to be written.Page 89

SharperJan 25 07NSymon posted a transcript of a meeting with NickWhite today. Seems like Douglas Sharper is going tobe returning to D’ni; should be interesting to seehow that goes.Seems Tsogahl is ready to go but the release date isbeing argued over.Page 90

BusyFeb 05 07Haven’t seen much of the DRC lately; not surprisingreally given that I have not been down in the Caverntoo much. They finally launched their new site, losta lot of information with the change. Not too pleasedabout that, not to mention that Cate has removed theDRC forums for good apparently. With the constanthostilities that can be found there, I cannot say I amsurprised. However we have lost a lot by having themremoved; that’s why the Archivist Division of theD’ni Jazz Club is working on obtaining the forums sothat the explorer community can continue using them.With the current work on 2 websites coming to aclose and their launching on Friday I should havesome time to commit to the Restorers Guild site.Need to bring in some help with the classificationproject too, still have a lot of work to do.Page 91

Making a Stand/DRC ForumsFeb 06 07Posted on my blog:I would like to ask all of you who are not happy withCate taking away the forums, those of you who wouldlike to see the forums return to join us in a sit-inprotest in the Tokotah Courtyard* on Thursday at12pm Cavern Time (12pm Mountain Time, 2 PM EST , 11AM Pacific, and 19:00 GMT.).We would like to see the return of the forums and toremind Cate that she can’t have everything her way.We hope to see you there* The Tokotah Courtyard is located at the top of theGreat Stairs in Ae’Gura.Page 92

ConfusionFeb 07 07Some people seem to be confused about what we aretrying to accomplish here. I am hearing commentslike “its just a forum”, “its not a big deal” and soforth. It is not just about the forum, the forum is asmall thing; I am looking at the bigger picture here.Once upon a time the DRC would barely communicatewith us. They underestimated the explorers, and sowe rose up (with The Great Tree and with Sharper)and showed them that we are a force to be reckonedwith, that we are in D’ni too and to call forcommunication.The DRC were doing pretty well with communication,until some setbacks, one being the liaisons, theother being the loss of the forums which could havebeen better used.Now this sit-in is not just about the forums; to meit is about the following.• To get the forums back, either for good or as anarchive.• To show Cate that, despite her view, there aresome of us who do care.• To show Cate that we are still here, we shallremain here and we are as much a part of D’ni asthe DRC are; this needs to be remembered.Page 93

• That D’ni isn’t just about her, her instantgratification or the DRC; it’s about us all (Bahroand all).• To show that we can work together and can have avoice and will not be walked over (today theforums tomorrow what? Take away the city?).Just a few of the things this is about to me.Now I am not up for the hostilities, I don’t think Cateis stupid; I do disagree with some of her choices,not surprisingly. Some people don’t get that this isabout more than the forum, and some just don’t getthe spirit of Uru at all, which is a shame.I was in the Cavern last night seeing what kind ofsupport this matter was getting when I hopped intothe Beginners Bevin (the hood that will serve as anoverflow for the sit-in if the City gets full) andone of the ResEng’s was in there. The subject cameup and he asked about it and we told him how we feltabout the forum and he said he would mention it inhis nightly ResEng report. So I guess the DRC knowwhat’s happening tomorrow; whether any of them willshow up remains to be seen.Page 94

A Minor SetbackFeb 08 07Terribly tired, did not sleep too well last night dueto this toothache I have been suffering with.So today was the sit-in; it was a bit of a mess forsure. Holding it in the city was unwise, however theCity is a central location so it seemed a good idea atthe time. Next time (if there is a next time), I shallhold it in one of the hoods. That way, there is noNexus cap so all supporters can turn up; people can’tbe kept out by non-supporters and so forth.Cate turned up, not surprisingly haven’t clued theResEngs into what was going on and people at Cyanwho happened to speak with other ResEngs I knewword was going to make its way to the Council.Unfortunately that’s where everything went downhill.Cate’s comments were drowned out in the masschatter, certain explorers’ behaviour was abysmal,pushing their own agenda.Interesting how the “Anti D R C”movement took special pains today toprevent explorers from attempting tore-institute recently closedcommunication channels with the DRC.So I have to ask: Is this movement AntiDRC…. or are they really antiexplorers?Page 95

- MartenAs a result, Cate left in a huff, unimpressed withthe movement and annoyed that she didn’t get to tellher side to things. As a result, myself and someothers have emailed her asking for a private meetingto resolve the issue,; however given Engberg’scomments of late, Cate doesn’t want the forum thereto be used.So did we fail? Nope, we just took the first step. Willwe succeed? Time will tell with that one.Page 96

Going PublicFeb 13 07I have been quiet of late, I know; have been up on thesurface globe hopping.Michael set up the DRC forums again which is nice,apparently there will be some small consequencefrom Cate which we apparently do not need to concernourselves with. Am I the only one who feels an illwind blowing with such a statement? I guess weshall see what happens there.Had a few issues but I have opened up the Forumssection of Beneath and invited the explorers to dropby and discuss the cavern and its Ages, not onlythat but it serves as a home for the discussion ofthe Classification Project I have been working on thatI am now opening up to the public for their input anddiscussion.Page 97

BusyFeb 22 07Haven’t had time to write in my journal of late; havehad even less time to upload those entries onto myblog.It’s been pretty crazy. I attended that gathering totry and get Yeesha to turn up in D’ni; stayed around2 hours watching with amusement, and taking photosas others formed themselves into spiral symbolsand what not. Then I heard that it had startedsnowing in Delin so I went and checked it out, Iheard later that as I was doing this, an apparition ofYeesha actually appeared in the centre of thefountain, not sure what this means, to be honest Ihaven’t really had time to think of the implicationsthis has on us. We can see she is listening andwatching; does she want to meet us finally? If weactually start seeing more of Yeesh,a what about ouraccess to the Ages? Will we even need the DRC forthat anymore?It was definitely a nice show of the power that theexplorers have; perhaps this may lead Cate to being alittle more cautious around us from now on, insteadof just doing things without asking us.Myself, Rils and a bunch of others have started theD’ni Zoological Society to categorize and classify thewildlife we find upon our travels, hopefully we canPage 98

get Marie to chat to us about it seeing she wasstudying the plants in Kemo at one point.Michael Engberg popped into the Cavern today to saythat they want help restoring some of the stainedglass windows for Eder Tsogahl (like the ones forGahreesen that are in the hood). Popped over to theTehren Hood as soon as I heard this to see if theRestorers Guild would be interested in helping out.Work is progressing quickly and nicely; might havesome pictures up of the work tomorrow depending onhow busy I am.Page 99

NegilahnMar 01 07Tomorrow we are going to hang one of the windows upin Tehren above the Tsogahl book. Looking forward toseeing how it looks, hope the DRC like it too. There’sbeen some very nice work from the other explorers.A Linking Book to Negilahn was placed in the Museumtoday. Some explorers reported seeing a “Gateway”upon Linking to the Age which took them to a BahroCave. There was no such thing there when I got there.Negilahn is fantastic, so rich with wildlife, the D’niZoological Society is going to have a field day withit. I am surprised the DRC did not patch the hole inPage 100

the Pod. It looks big enough to get through; mighthave to see if Steve wants to take a little tripoutside the Pod. Not sure how safe it is but sincewhen has that stopped us?Page 101

The WindowMar 02 07So we put the window up above the Tsogahl book inTehren today. Looks good; will look even better whenwe see how the Delin and Great Zero windows look too.Steven said he is up for trying to breach the pod inNegilahn; haven’t decided when we shall do itthough.Page 102

Outside the PodMar 05 07We finally got everything sorted, Joe decided tocome with us. Nick said that there is something inthe jungle that has the other animals scared, Whil’ssuggestion about Sharper is a good one; wonder ifthat is what they will get him to do.We went out looking for evidence of this animal, butwe couldn’t find any. So we started collectinginformation for the DZS. Joe was getting a sample ofthe “Snake Vines” when we heard this crashingcoming through the Jungle; scared the hell out of us,the thing was freaking huge. I don’t think we havePage 103

ever run so fast in our lives, Joe fell and hurthimself pretty bad. Steven and Keira are taking himup to the surface so we can get him checked out atthe hospital.I don’t plan on getting that close to an Urwin any timesoon.Page 104

PanoramasMar 13 07Well Sharper has definitely returned and is doingthe rounds. I did laugh at the explorers asking if heminded that they read his journal. Morals aside, ifyou are going to read the journal just do it, don’t askand don’t allow them to know you are reading saidjournal. As a result, Sharper now knows we read it,and so if he wants to dish out dis-information hecan and we will lap it up. This kind of thinghappened before; it just blows my mind.He’s off to Negilahn with Nick and Rils to deal withthis “predator” that has been eating the wildlife,apparently there was a blurry photo of some of theremains, morbid for sure but I would like to get acopy of this photo.Have been spending some time out and about with mycamera, started taking panoramic shots of all theAges and areas. Even made a trip back to Ahra Pahtsand took one there.Had a little trouble with exposure at first but I havemanaged to solve the issue, I think the Eder Delinone has got to be my favorite so far.Page 105

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DerenoMar 16 07The DRC released the second “Pod Age”. Dereno it iscalled, an arctic area with most of the Podsubmersed under the water.Pretty cold there, need to remember to take a jacketwith me next time. I think Keira and Steven want tocheck the place out, so I might see about going withthem. Was speaking to Jen last night about historybooks; I said I should talk to Nick or Cate and see ifI can get the DRC to release some new history books.I really enjoyed the resource they have at the Hallof Kings; would be nice to see more like that.Page 107

CommunicationMar 23 07Rils, Douglas and Nick have returned from their tripto Negilahn. What they found shocked them;apparently they discovered a fresh kill. Pieces ofthe corpse were everywhere, it had been ripped apart.No tracks had been found, only some scratch marksin the trees, which has caused people to think itcould be an airborne attack.Not surprisingly, a fair few people think it is theBahro doing, based solely on the fact that they canLink at will and fly. A weak argument if you ask me,and one that is devoid of logic. What’s the point ofthe Bahro doing it? Some feel it’s a warning to us. Ifeel that if I was going to make a warning, I wouldsnatch one of the explorers from the city, not someanimal from a museum Age.Page 108

With the rumors of sightings in the hoods, I havedecided to open a dialogue with them, at least that isthe plan. Whether this will work or not remains to beseen; the Bahro are here to stay, we need to approachthem and see how things will work between us all.Page 109

Seems as I have been writing this entry, a Bahro hasappeared in the hoods and placed a Bahro Stone toAe’Gura there. Does that sound like the actions of abeing who is slaughtering animals?I have not encountered them, not yet but it is only amatter of time. I have received a couple ofinteresting KI images of the Bahro in the hood.Heading up to the surface tonight. I have a meeting toattend tomorrow and a visit to the new familymember to make. I should drop by Tehren and see ifthe RG guys need any supplies brought down.Page 110

Eder Delin Window ProjectMar 28 07Not surprisingly, the DRC have announced anotherrestoration project, this time a window for EderDelin. We had figured this was coming, especiallywith what we found when we started the Tsogahlproject. Our work on the window is pretty close tobeing finished now; we have also been working onone for The Great Zero.Going to head over to Tehren tomorrow and see if Ican get some KI images of the work.Page 111

Surface TimeApr 05 07I’ve decided I need a break from the Cavern, so I amgoing to head up to the surface for a while. Will benice to kick back and chill, get some of theseprojects done, out of the way.Don’t think I’ll miss much.Page 112

SicknessApr 12 07Well I was planning to head back down to the Cavern.Unfortunately, illness has claimed me; a ratherrushed trip to the Doctors cancelled my plans.The Anti DRC Movement had their meeting yesterday.I read the log before it was deleted from the DRCforums (DRC have been getting a little trigger happywith removing/closing posts). It was most amusing toread; their complaints for the most part are aboutfour years old. As for the rest, well completenonsense. I agree the DRC need to step up theirpresence in the Cavern; even if they have no news,I’d be happy to discuss pizza toppings with them,maybe see if they would release some informationon the Ages released lately.The DRC also does not endorse Yeesha.No, and nor do they oppose her, the council has takenthe journey; at one point they were removing ReltoPages from the hoods (this being over 4 years ago)now they let her alter books.They tried to remove the journeycloths for a long time until theyrealized that they would just come back.They removed one cloth for study; given Phil’svanishing act in Eder Kemo, wanting to study that isnot a surprise.Page 113

The DRC has in the past tried to stopthe following of the path by trying toremove the journey cloths, and onlystopped when they decided that theywould acknowledge her wisdom byshowing us theirs.Not quite, when the DRC disbanded they went and tookthe Journeys; not really being held back by therestoration process they were free to do so. Asmentioned before, they removed one cloth for study.Question the fitness and stability ofthe DRC to govern the cavern.I’m not aware the DRC is governing the Cavern; theyhave rules in place yes. Given that we have notsigned any such release form, if an accidentoccurred I would think the DRC would not want to besued for all they are worth, thus ending therestoration once again.In the past, the DRC has had quite a bitof controversy; the incident with thedisappearance of Phil Henderson for ayear and the 2-week kidnapping by Dr.Watson and Victor Laxman and then hisfinal disappearance.Oh I agree that was a stupid move on their part, butcan understand the logic behind it. They wanted toget him away from Douglas. The DRC invited anexplorer to Kirel to see that Phil was ok and chat tohim. As for his final disappearance, well that wasPage 114

his actions not the DRC. The area was unstable andthey told him that.We want to make sure that the DRC,through the knowledge gained by theD’ni found there, are not using theslates to exploit the Bahro in any way.The Bahro are free, they are no longer bound by whatever it was; the DRC couldn’t nor would they exploitthe Bahro.I was shocked and truly horrified tofind… that the organization in chargeof this find of all finds… does nothave a single qualified archeologist oranthropologist on staff!Well, yes they do, let me direct you to the DRC Biosand just to emphasize;Dr. Marie Sutherland: Director of Field Work Born:March 12th 1962 Education: Doctorate Anthropology,Southern Illinois UniversityAnd most importantly. The DRC knowshow the D’ni link. And they knowexactly where that ability came from.If that is true, that would not surprise me. The DRChave been in D’ni for what 10 years or something? Notreally surprising if they found documentation.The DRC learned this information froma variety of ages, that they shut down,Page 115

pulled their researchers from, andsuspended, to this day, 4 years later.Or possibly, they closed those ages due to resourceissues, environmental issues. The D’ni could Linkbefore they came to D’ni. The Ronay from which theD’ni split had the Art back on Garternay.Notes left by Dr. Sharper, Dr. Watson,and more importantly books layingabout in the cavern itself, translatedby DRC staff, indicate exactly how,where, and when the D’ni learned tolink. And its ties to the very creaturesthey enslaved.The Bahro were enslaved 10,000 years ago, this iswhen the D’ni came to Earth. They had the Art waybefore then.When the DRC learned this information,DR. Watson had the ages shut downindefinitely. And now, under CateAlexander, it’s time that the DRC reopenthose ages, so that the D’ni culture canbe shown in the light for what it trulywas.I agree those Ages would be nice to be seen, theDRC’s resources are very limited, the Ages inquestion are big. The DRC has the resources for thesmaller Ages.Page 116

The DRC hasn’t written their own booksbecause they can’t. Because the power todo so doesn’t lay in the hands of theD’ni, or the DRC anymore.So because the Bahro are free the Art no longerworks? Interesting, wonder how I’m using LinkingBooks to get to the Cavern, not to mention theExplorers who have been writing their own Books.Selv, yes. this is true. Unfortunatelythe ages in those books. Gaternay, Rebek,Terahnee. All of these ages are agesthat the DRC has access to, but has notlisted under their site.And the proof of this is where? The Terahnee book isstill within the Tomb of the Great King, where Atrussealed it up after the events on Terahnee. I hadbrought up those books with the DRC many times dueto a theory I have been working on; that was theanswer I got, up to you whether it is believed or not.As for Garternay, the Ronay abandoned that Agebecause the sun was dying; that Age is inhospitable.They have also been keeping a book,hidden in their archives, that directlyis tied to Yeesha and her past.Some proof please.Ask the DRC. they have the book. Thebook Atrus left behind in the K’veerPage 117

asement, that the DRC is currentlyexcavating.Just because it’s not on the list yet doesn’t meanthere is not plans for it. Who is not to say Yeesharemoved the book? Or perhaps it was moved after theevents of the Bahro being freed.may I ask. Have you ever seen a DRCmember wearing a yeesha shirt?I didn’t see what the issue is here, I took thejourneys, paid heed to Yeesha’s lessons. I do notwear her shirt, oh my word I’m a bad person?Have you seen evidence of any changeof heart in the DRC?Having worked with the DRC for a year I can say yes,they have had a change of heart, I have witnessed itmyself.The entire thing is a farce, there are areas the DRCneed to improve but not to an extent where an AntiDRC Movement is needed, especially one that dodgescalls for proof, spouts complete unfounded nonsenseand is 4 years stuck in the past.If you are going to start some sort of movement,people need to do their homework, get their factsright, have a strong motive. The ADM didn’t have anyof this and as a result come across as a joke; whowould take them seriously?Page 118

CalibrationApr 16 07With the illness past me, I decided to head backdown to the Cavern a couple of days ago. Victor wastrying to get the Great Zero fixed; the Great ZeroMarkers from the neighbourhoods were missing. Hewasn’t sure how it happened but they showed up outof the blue, so everyone has been helping calibratethe Great Zero. I decided to give a hand myself; beenwandering around sorting out the calibration withSophie, who has been documenting the locations formapping.Will be nice to see it calibrated and the blue lasersweeping the city.Page 119

I am wondering if I am the only person who noticedthis, but I swear the light in the Cavern is gettingbrighter. I spent a lot of time in the DRC’s absencestudying the lake and the algae, experimenting withvarious things to see if I could increase thebrightness. But I am sure it is brighter; perhaps itis the result of the DRC’s work on Er’Cana and thepellets.Part 4 of the D’ni Creation Myth has surfaced. It isan interesting read; can’t wait for the rest of it tobe released.Translated from unknown religious commentaryand/or text – hard to tell:CreationFrom nothing, Yahvo created a seed.Amidst nothing, the seed lived andgrew until a single root emerged fromthe seed.The light of Yahvo shone on the seed,causing it to grow, but only slightly.Yahvo was unhappy with what he saw andso he waited. Eventually, another rootappeared, and another, and another, andsoon there were millions of rootsextending out from the seed, stretchingthrough all time and space eventuallypleasing Yahvo with their color anddiversity.Page 120

Yahvo smiled at what he saw and createda pool of white water for the roots sothat they might be nourished and growstronger and bigger. He created blacksoil for the roots that they might befed by its nutrients and fill thedarkness further with their shapes. HeHimself provided light for the seeds.As time passed, the roots spreadthemselves across the vastness,growing larger and fuller every day,joining with one another, intertwining,and extending in every direction,reaching all places. Though there wereendless roots, each was different thanthe other, there was one in particularthat Yahvo watched closely. It was thisparticular root that was the first tochange its direction and begin to sproutupward, towards Yahvo himself. Itcontinued to stretch itself toward theheavens before splitting itself apartinto an endless amount of smaller roots,each one spreading away from the other.Yahvo was pleased with the new shapeforming and as He focused Hisattention upon the shape, the other rootsbecame distant, far away, and seeminglyforgotten.Black leaves began to emerge from theupper roots and one particular sectionbecame thicker and more robust. YahvoPage 121

created a special light for the shape,and after time the leaves that had beenblack, became green. The thick sectionof the root formed a thick wooden skinwhile bright fruits appeared betweenthe green leaves. Yahvo enjoyed the newshape and He called it ‘ter’ (tree). But,in time, the tree bored Him. It was thenHe added a thick ground beneath thetree and filled it with blades of tallyellow grasses. Days later, He noticed asmall worm walking along the leaf,eating the green substance. Thelaughter of Yahvo filled the expanse ofHeaven and soon there were many worms,filling up the tree, eating the fruitsand leaves for nourishment.The worms grew in size and soon birdscame to eat the worms. Yahvo enjoyedthe birds and created blue skies forthem to live in and prosper. ThoughYahvo tried to speak with the worms andthe birds, they could not understand orrelate to Him. So, He became upset withall that had been created and turnedaway from it and left to another place.Much time passed before Yahvo went tolook at the tree again. When He did, Hefound that nothing had changed. However,as He watched the leaves bask in thelight, He noticed a man standing belowPage 122

the tree. The man was feeding thebirds and playing with the animals ofthe field. The man looked at Yahvo andspoke. “I am lonely” the man said. “Noone understands me when I speak and noone listens when I talk.” And Yahvolaughed and cried and smiled and wept.And soon woman existed with man.Together the man and woman livedtogether often conversing with Yahvo onall subjects and matter. He taught themof good, and of the way He desired forthem to live. And they had no knowledgeof evil.One particular day Yahvo came to thetree with another handsome looking man.The man was called Jakooth by Yahvoand wished for the man and woman totalk with Jakooth for a while, so thatthey could understand ‘his’ wishes forthem. And so, Jakooth taught the man andwoman of evil… and when he left theirtree, they had the knowledge of goodand evil. They knew what both Yahvo andJakooth desired of them and Yahvo waspleased they had gained this knowledge.And so from that moment on, the man andwoman and their descendants had tochoose whether or not to follow thosethings that Yahvo had taught them or toPage 123

follow those things that Jakooth hadtaught them.Page 124

TetsonotApr 20 07I am not quite sure why, but the DRC released thebook to Tetsonot yesterday. I could tell somethingwasn’t right as soon as I Linked in, the sudden coldwater took my breath away, and the darkness; thereseemed to be an emergency light on.I’m glad I was wearing my shorts and sandalsotherwise I would have been soaked. Judging by thesounds and the leaking water, it’s safe to say we’reunderwater. The map in the Museum backs this up. Itis curious that it is the only pod where we Link inon the bottom floor; why is that?Page 125

The leaking water, the groaning indicates to me thatthe pressure of the water is straining the pod’sstructure. Engberg should have noticed that it hasweaknesses, so why did the DRC allow access to thebook?The Age isn’t safe.I plan to spend more time in what I have startedcalling ‘Reziksehv’ (The Pod Age), Keira wants to setup a remote observation station in one of the otherpods we currently do not have access to, which meansbreaching one of the pods we do have access to andtrekking across the Age.I shall continue to visit Tetsonot. I have my Reltobook in case of an emergency; if I can rig up sometarp sheeting, I can shelter the middle deck of thepod from the leaking water and use it as a dark roomfor my photography instead of trekking up to thesurface each time.Page 126

Pod 12Apr 21 07Well it was decided that we would set up shop inPod 12, which is located in the Payiferen district.It’s a pretty long walk from the looks of it and in thedesert too; we’re looking at several days trekking.Course there is no saying what state the pod couldbe in; we might find it needs a lot of work. As longas it can shelter us and the equipment from theelements, then it should suffice.Page 127

Trek to Pod 12Apr 26 07Well that was a crazy adventure, so hot with that sunbeating down on us; picked up a nice sun tan though.Took us a couple of days to plan out the journey andgather supplies. Course then Keira noticed our stockof books were missing so we had to venture up intothe city in search of some more. Seeing Joe isstaying behind (on account of his arm), he said hewould investigate the books; has me a littleconcerned that they are gone.It took us a couple of days to make the trek. I think itwould have taken us longer if we had made properPage 128

est stops, but given the issue with the animals ofthe Age we didn’t want to take even more of a risk.Tell you what, I am glad I opted to wear my D’niglasses instead of my regular sunglasses; managedto keep the grit out of my eyes during the duststorm. Steven and Sophie were not so lucky.We managed to get into Pod 12 without too muchtrouble; couldn’t see a Linking Book in there but wehad brought our own. We took the opportunity to getsome decent sleep in the safety of the pod and Keirasaw to getting a Link to the pod sorted out.Page 129

Originally we had thought of lugging the equipmentwith us but then figured if we could get a Link tothe pod set up we could just Link there with it, I cansee why the D’ni enjoyed Linking Books; theycertainly can make life easier.Unfortunately the generators we are using with thecameras and laptops don’t last too long so they needto be dealt with every 24 hours. We hope to get somegood footage with them though; we plan to set someup in Negilahn, Dereno and the other Payiferen pod.Page 130

Nice to be back in the cavern though; can’t say I ammuch fond of the heat in Payiferen. I should seeabout getting some armchairs put in Tehren so wecan veg out.It’s all go in the Cavern however, the Bahro haveplaced a stone allowing quick access to The GreatShaft. The Anti DRC Movement clashed with Cate and itdidn’t do their reputation any good, especially withSydney posting a log with Nick White; a log whichlooks like it has been messed with so I can’t say Itrust it.On another note I’ve been having some issues withthe Photos section of Beneath; as a result, I have hadto close it. Hoping to get a solution worked out soon.Page 131

New CamerasMay 08 07Haven’t been able to get out of the hood lately; somuch work to do. Going to be heading up to thesurface for a few days on Thursday, which will be awelcome break.Cameras in Pod 12 have yet to pick up anything ofinterest; we shall keep on checking the place out. Wealso put some cams in Dereno, Payiferen andNegilahn. Sophie has been working on some new minicameras which, if they work, could provide somegreat photography of the various wildlife in‘Reziksehv’. It should allow us to venture off a bitfrom the pods, without actually leaving the pods, viaremote control. We are scheduling a test of the watermodel in Dereno next week.Page 132

Investor VisitMay 18 07Tomorrow the Restorers Guilds investor, Robert, isheading back down to the Cavern to see how thingsare going and what progress has been made. I’ve beenspending some time up on the surface and shall betravelling back down with him.It’s been a while since I have seen Rob, Keira is theone who usually meets up with him these days.The tests with Sophie’s new cameras went reallywell; managed to get some good photographs of thevarious wildlife in Reziksehv. Shall have to sendsome copies over to the D’ni Zoological Society folks.Page 133

RobertMay 19 07Met up with Rob in The Cleft today; he was lookingwell. He wanted to wander around a bit and see ifanything had changed, which it had.Page 134

A WarMay 23 07Wow, I don’t know where to start.So much going on and now this, a Civil War betweenthe Bahro. With one side of Bahro protecting us andthe other side (which I call the Bahronoir) content tokill us.And poor Wheely and Rose, poor Michael..I need to take some time out, head to the surface andbreathe, get some supplies and head back down againtomorrow or Friday.Page 135

MinkataMay 29 07Spent longer on the surface than I expected to; justneeded to rest after all the stress of the Rose andWheely incident, plus the Guild and getting theBarracks set up.Robert and myself headed along to the Library tocheck out the Minkata Age that the DRC releasedwhilst I was gone. Nick was right, the place is huge.We got lost a couple of times during our explorationsbut managed to find our way back to “the cage”.Page 136

We found some interesting rock structures therethat seem to show something that could possibly bea reference to the Bahro Civil War.Indeed, after working with the Bahro Stones for awhile we managed to put together a symbol that borea striking resemblance to the one Nick reportedseeing in Negilahn, and Marie in Ae’Gura during theincident with the two girls.Page 137

I believe it was Nick who said the symbol he foundwas one of “protection”, or at least that is what hisguess is. I am not so sure; I think the meaning issomething along the lines of torn, wounded, scarred,rift or separation. My studies on the Bahro have beenneglected of late; I should really press on and getback to it, especially seeing the ClassificationProject I was working on has now been scrapped.Rob wants to stay in Minkata to explore some more. Ithink I shall dash off to Tsogahl for a while andjust sit and perhaps play on my DS before returningto the Barracks.Page 138

KI ImagesJun 14 07Seems that Er’cana and the Watchers Sanctuary areslated for being released by the DRC; a lot ofexplorers gained access to those places years agobut it will be nice to see them officially open.The images taken by “Robbie” the RG remote camerarobot have been approved for release and have beensent to the guys over at the D’ni Zoological Society.Page 139

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All in all, I think the bots worked well; had someissues with the submersible one though but thatwas only a issue with keeping it air tight, which Ibelieve Sophie has fixed now anyway.Page 145

Busy WeekJun 28 07No rest for the wicked, as the saying goes.This week saw the DRC stopping by the Cavern; theyreleased the Watchers Sanctuary to the public. Onlybeen several years but at least the masses can enjoyit. It was nice being in there listening to thechatting instead of it being quiet, or being filledwith DRC folk during the restoration of the area.They also made Er’cana public, and have asked theexplorers to help restore the lake cycle in the D’nicavern. I have been experimenting with the pelletstrying to find a recipe that is the most potent, I havebeen making notes in the Er’cana Pellets Studysection of Beneath.Received a message the other day asking for helpwith the Memorial Imager the DRC later placed inAe’gura near to the Kahlo Tavern. Given that I hadbeen keeping track of those we have lost along theway (a community Grim Reaper I guess), they wantedthe list to add to the imager.Page 146

Sad thing is the explorer community turned aroundand started complaining about where the memorialwas placed… what the hell are they thinking?Finally ran into Douglas, I was wondering when itwould happen, I was very much expecting aconfrontation from him. No such thing, he was off toNoloben to scout the Age out and I wanted to go withhim; alas, it did not happen. Not that I figured itwould, not by the DRC’s hands, but fortunately forme, the Restorers Guild spent a lot of time puttingdown roots in the cavern whilst the DRC were away;deep roots that allow us to go pretty much where wewant. As the old saying goes “where there is a will,there is a way”. I think I shall wait until Douglasreturns this time before trying to gain accessPage 147

myself. He is apparently gung ho about killing theBahro; revenge if you will. This can have a two-foldeffect; it will either show them that if they messwith us we will hit back, or it will make thesituation worse.Being at war with the Bahro is not something I wishto see happen.Page 148

Great Zero WindowJul 07 07Work on the stained glass window had been going onsince the Delin window project was announced. I hadfigured Tsogahl would be next, then the Great Zero,so work had already began on them before the DRCmade their announcement.However with the new location that is up for Phase 1overseeing, the Great Zero window fell behind.However with the DRC’s announcement, I felt itneeded to be bumped up a notch on the old prioritylist. Repairs to the frame have been finished and thewelding is holding nicely, so we decided to hang itin Tehren before we send everything off to the DRCso others could get a look and for us to take somephotos of it.Page 149

Also got around to sending off the Kadish Tapestryto the Subterranean Restoration guys; pretty pleasedwith how it turned out.Page 150

Restoring the D’ni Jazz ClubJul 12 07For a couple of years now I have been wanting torestore the location to house The D’ni Jazz Club. Butresources have been a big problem in getting it done.This weekend, Phase 1 was finally completed anddetails posted. Upon seeing them, Darryl “Paradox”Pogue kindly offered to help fix the place up,overseeing Phases 2 to 4. Work began pretty quickly;a lot of the damage has been repaired and the DJCtapestries have been hung on the walls.To say I am excited to see this taking shape is anunderstatement; out of all the projects the RestorersPage 151

Guild has going, The D’ni Jazz Club is one of theones I want to see completed most (the other beingthe explorer memorial age Tefoonet’ahn).Page 152

The PubJul 30 07I have found myself spending a lot of time in theD’ni Jazz Club of late. Just wandering around lookingat the great work Darryl has done on the structure.There was a lot of damage when we first found thelocation.Page 153

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People are already asking for access. Not sure whenthat will be; could be a while, given the amount ofprojects on the go and the small team we haveworking in the group. Perhaps we should get ameeting held and vote on suspending some projects;will have to take that up with the others.Page 155

Spending TimeThe last few days have seen me spending a vastamount of time in Jalak Dador.Aug 17 07It has been most enjoyable and relaxing to take sometime out from the grind to construct weird thingswith people like No’ga, “Nadnerb”, Curty and Marein.As well as constructing some new games and testingthem out (my current favorite being Highball).As a result, I have added a Jalak Dador Games sectionto my Archives page. I plan to upload my notes anddiagrams to that section of the games I come up with,Shifting Sands and Highball are already up andready.Page 156

New OfficeSep 22 07I had decided that the second floor of the D’ni JazzClub location was going to house livingaccommodations for myself, perhaps a studio for meto paint in.Course then the idea of using it as an office for TheFiremarble came to me. Currently, we’re operating outof a small room in the Tehren Neighbourhood, buthaving a larger space would be much nicer to workin; plus if more people join the staff we would needmore room.So at the start of the month we cleaned the place up,got some repairs done and started dressing the placeup and removing some of the stuff we had beenkeeping in there.Page 157

The Firemarble is going on a hiatus whilst I seteverything up in the office and work out some plansI have for the paper.It has been a busy month so far; I haven’t really hadtime to reflect on Dr. Watson’s return and otherthings.Page 158

Light Painting D’niSep 30 07The Tefoonet’ahn book of commentary has been takingmy time up lately. Have been debating whether to goexploring some; had been considering seeing if Icould scope Noloben out with Marein, I’m kind ofhoping Esher’s Bahro research is still there and Ican obtain copies for my own research. That said,there is so much of the Barracks Age to explore; themountains to the north look interesting and I knowothers are keen to venture out and explore some more.In the meantime Steven and I have been breaking themonotony of work with light painting in the Cavern.Page 159

Been quite fun; firemarbles provide a great sourceof light for it. Definitely going to do some more overthe coming weeks.Page 160

More Light PaintingOct 01 07Stopped off in Kirel earlier to provide some water tothe fountain.Might have to do some more in Ae’gura, down the GreatStairs perhaps.Page 161

Light Painting Phil’s ReltoOct 04 07Calumon asked me the other day if I had done anyshots in Phil’s Relto, which I hadn’t. But I knewexactly the kind of images I wanted to do, so I gotSteven and Sophie to help me with these next twoimages. Course the “sparkly” appeared in Phil’sRelto recently so the image captured that as well.Went for something a little more difficult with thenext shot. I’m not too happy how it turned out; I thinkit feels too complicated, too much of a set up; I don’tknow. Course it didn’t help that Steve dropped thefiremarble whilst doing the Kadish pillar.Page 162

Thinking of heading to Minkata and doing some there;had an idea I wanted to do which should be fun.Page 163

Last Light PaintingsSpent some time doing some more light paintingtoday. Did some in Minkata and one in the Hall ofKings in Ae’gura, which I really like.Oct 10 07Page 164

I think those two images will signal the end of mylight painting escapades, for now at least. I shouldturn my attention back to work and my studies,especially my Bahro studies. I really should see ifI can gain access to the Noloben book; if Esher’skept documentation of his studies on the Bahroperhaps I can get copies.Page 165

To NolobenOct 13 07Heading over to Ae’gura later tonight. Got theequipment we shall need; Sophie is going to behelping us. We figure there is a book in the Tokotahbuilding, so we’re going to go and look. If there is,Marein and myself shall use it and check the Ageout.Page 166

Back From NolobenOct 13 07Short trip; would have stayed longer but I don’tthink it is safe now. We used the DRC’s ladder to getup on the edge of the Tokotah II rooftop, then after afew attempts attached a line over to the Tokotahbuilding. Pretty unsafe, so I went over first and setup the secure line for Marein to use.Page 167

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Was pretty quiet when we arrived; was a little eerieto say the least, given the state of the Bahro war. Idon’t think either one of us was too comfortablebeing there.Page 169

We headed indoors to see if Esher had left anydocumentation or notes about his studies of theBahro. Was in luck, there were some notes leftaround which I copied into my journal; shall have topublish them later.Page 170

Spent some more time outside wandering aroundlooking for signs of the war, or anything else to helpin my studies. That is when we saw it; not sure ifit was one of the Bahro or the Bahronoir but it gaveout a loud scream and we figured that it was our cueto leave the place. If it was one of the Bahronoir,sticking around would have been unwise to say theleast. Was fortunate to catch a picture of it with myKI though, course looking at it now, it is hard to seeit.Page 171

DRC PR week isn’t until the start of November; Ithink I could borrow the Noloben book until thenwithout them noticing. Would like to go back in abigger group and have a better look around ifpossible.Page 172

Spilling OverNov 03 07As soon as I Linked here I knew something waswrong. The usual infrequent cries of the Bahro hadmultiplied, rolling out over Ae’gura, crying,screaming.Then I saw them too many to count swooping andcircling Kerath’s Arch. The war has spilled over andfinally we are witness to it.Dr. Watson said the deception the Bahro had createdto protect us was failing; it is an awesome sight tobehold, if not frightening. I saw first-hand how fastPage 173

the Bahro can move; if they are wanting blood, I knowI am no match for them.I wonder if they have noticed me watching them fromthe Library courtyard? If they haven’t, what happenswhen they do?Page 174

K’VeerNov 03 07First thing I saw was that fantastic window, the blueinto orange. A combination that is a great favorite ofmine. I strolled over and pressed my hands againstthe cold window, looking out over the great lake toAe’gura. Seeing this area of K’veer is amazing;previous visits to the area had seen me confined tothe room in which Atrus was imprisoned by hisfather.The architecture of this hall is beautiful; there isa cathedral-like atmosphere to it all. So very similarto what was described in Watson’s tale of freeingPage 175

the Bahro. I can almost see Veovis and Rakeri walkingthese hallways…Page 176

Stairs leading down are blocked, I shall have to goupwards…Page 177

Top of the stairs is blocked; alas, I was hoping toexplore more of the mansion. Wait! I see anotherdoorway. Aha, familiar territory, Atrus’ prison room.I must admit it has been a while since I have walkedin this room, brushing my fingers over the carvedstone.Page 178

This place is stunning.Page 179

On RelianceNov 04 07With the growing concerns about the Bahro War,people have unsurprisingly been searching foranswers. The human tenacity for survival can beimmense; a tenacity which, I feel, could surprisethe Bahro.And yet, in times of trouble, everyone looksoutwards to Yeesha, Phil or Dr. Watson. I guess I amnot too surprised; in times past, people frequentlylooked towards figured like Jesus and God. Butseldom do we look to ourselves, draw upon some ofthat tenacity we hold inside and use it to face theoncoming storm. That said, when we look to Phil andDr. Watson, we are in a sense looking to ourselves.They are our people in terms of race. I guess Yeeshais too in a way, as she has human blood within.But as the Bahro War spills over, as the Arch ofKerath is encircled, I find myself feeling the needto step away from “The Grower”. Years ago during aconversation with James, he said to me thatexplorers are forced to follow her path. I asked himhowso, as I could not see it and he said that TheCalled are taken from The Cleft and arrive in Relto,how do they get back? I could see what he was gettingat; explorers end up with no way of returning, lestthey complete The Journey and return to The Cleftvia the fissure. Of course, it could be argued thatthey could just return via D’ni and its tunnels to thePage 180

surface. But how feasible is that? Ae’gura is thepoint of arrival; from there to the tunnels you wouldneed a boat. Not every explorer has a boat. From thetunnels, you need to navigate a labyrinth of tunnelsstretching out for miles, tunnels which havecollapsed in areas, thus needing to becircumnavigated. How many people, especially peoplenew to D’ni, would be able to do that? Not a great manyI warrant.Thus in most part, the explorers are trapped.Now adding on top the fact that it is only really atthe end of the Journey that it becomes clear whatyou have just done, and the fact that some of thisinformation is dismissed by Yeesha as irrelevant.Now we have a war in our house, the result ofYeesha’s journeys. Don’t get me wrong the Bahroshould be released, but we hear nothing from her,for a year some claim, when in fact to some it hasbeen even longer.And now, destruction coming, we hear from her.Congratulations she says, we have seen a prophecythat has no bearing on the situation fulfilled. That’sit? That is all you have to say?Pathetic, we went out on a limb for you Yeesha, andwe had little choice in the matter.Do we really need her? Ah she has knowledge forsure, knowledge of D’ni, of the Bahro, of The Art. Butat what cost does that information come?Page 181

We should look to our own for strength.Page 182

YeeshaNov 05 07“I have words.Destruction is almost upon us. They arehere. Fighting in war. Freed from theirprison, the Bahro choose their way now;good and evil stand before them. Nolonger are they slaves to the tablet, nolonger is their destiny locked to thewishes of others. No longer is theirfreedom captive. They are powerful andwith freedom, some are dangerous.Most of the Bahro are friends. Theystand with us, protecting us from theevil that surrounds you almostconstantly. They sacrifice for you.They battle and die for this cavern.They battle and die for the Ages, andyour comfort. They fight for the D’nias well. They watch over us all.But there are those who have not chosento side with you, with the D’ni, or withgood. They seek revenge for the evildone to them. They seek to impart thatharm on others, just as they weretortured. Revenge is their excuse butfreedom is their cause.Page 183

They are able to make the choice andthey bask in such opportunity to do asthey please. They are free to chooseevil and so they do. With freedomcomes choice and with choice comesevil, as well as good.Their leader can be seen clearly. He ismissing a large patch of skin on hisshoulder – taken from him in thetortuous lab of Esher. Because of that, Iwill draw them away. Away from thecavern. Away from you. I do not knowhow long the evil ones will seek me… Ido not know how long they will seekwhat I carry. It could be only days, itcould be months.Destruction is coming. It is almost here.I will delay it as long as I can but, inthe meantime, you must find a way. Youmust make a home. Destruction will behere soon.I will try to return and help you in thefuture. If things go well, I will offeryou my aid. If things do not, you mustfind a way on your own.Regardless, you must be ready.Destruction will come… sooner or later.When it does, you must have a way. Youmust make a home.Page 184

I will do all that I can in the meantime.”I admit it, I wasn’t expecting her to address usherself, I was thinking another imager message. I’llbe taking my slice of humble pie ala modeplease. That said, what did she really give us? Shetook them away, for now. She tells us what we alreadyknow, and a small item we did not know.Perhaps I would feel different if I had been there;she had left by the time I got over to the area.Telmora took the above image.I don’t know, she stands there, delivers a speechthen leaves. We have questions, we need answers andshe fails to deliver again. If she returns, I am goingto do my utmost to talk to her, actually talk to her.Page 185

Painting EventsNov 10 07Started a series of 3 paintings the other day, thefirst one being of Nekisahloth the Bahro Nekisahl’sleader. According to Dr. Watson, Bahro Nekisahl iswhat Yeesha calls the “evil” Bahro, it means TwistedBahro.The second painting was finished last night; it isof Esher. The third will be of Yeesha of course.Lately I have been interested in depicting theevents that have been going on; they will of coursebe another chapter in the history of D’ni at somepoint (the events not the paintings).I shall be starting Yeesha today.Page 186

Paintings FinishedNov 10 07I finished up the final painting in the series today.Placed them all next to each other and that is when Irealized what needed to be done.Page 187

The painting of Nekisahloth remains; that was thestrongest of the 3. The other two I threw on a bonfirewe had going. I will finish the set; I shall redo theentire series and it’ll look right.Page 188

New AgeNov 20 07Had been waiting on some air samples to get back tous regarding a new Age we have been working with.Results came back that indicated that all was well, soa team is being assembled to venture into the Ageand check it out.Added a new feature to Beneath called Quick Notes, itutilizes Twitter to post quick updates of what isgoing on, a bit like mini journal entries. Theseentries well contain details of what the RestorersGuild and myself are up to in D’ni and its Ages.Page 189

0003 UnknownReturned from the initial visit to what has beendesignated “0003 Unknown” by the guild.Nov 20 07It was nighttime when we Linked in; I was going tosay it was dark but it wasn’t. We had Linked into aledge about half way up the inside of a caldera.Below us was a lake of molten lava just bubbling andcracking away. The ledge seems pretty secure; willhave to get someone to check it over but I don’t thinkit’ll be trying to kill us any time soon. The problemstems from the fact that it’s a volcanic Age; we’regoing to have to put it on some long-term observationto assess if it is going to erupt or not.Page 190

I’m hoping it will prove to be stable. Seeing thevarious fissures in the rocks, the flowing of thelava, I can see that this place would make a uniqueAge.Most of the time was spent looking around theimmediate area, Soph and Steve are heading back withsome equipment to scale the side and get up on thesurface to see what things look like up there, andset up an observation post to keep an eye on things.Page 191

Pod ConstructionNov 29 07Observation equipment has been set up in0003. Sophie’s team has set up cameras around thecaldera and the pods have been constructed along thewalls.We have put a time-frame of one year on theobservation, at which point it will be brought beforethe Guild again and we shall decide what to do withthe Age.We have noticed a fair amount of seismic activity;not enough to be worrying at the moment but thereare rumbles every now and then.Page 192

Back to NolobenDec 03 07Planning on heading back to Noloben this week; giventhe Bahro Nekisahl are away, there will be more timeto do a good survey of the Age and spend more timeresearching Esher’s lab.Whil expressed interest in coming along this time;will need to get him to sign some paperwork beforewe go.Page 193

0003 DisasterDec 06 07Noloben trip is being postponed until next week; anissue has arisen in Age 0003. Seismic activity hadbeen building up over the last week; it had opened afissure in the wall of the caldera, the resultingsplit damaged the observation pod standing over it.The pod was sealed up and the lava built up within itbefore breaching the observation window. Seems ourconstruction of the pods weakened the surroundingrock leading to this problem.Page 194

Thankfully, the other 2 pods are shielded from themiddle segment, so they can still be used. We aregoing to fortify the doors to the center pod just incase. Going to have to find a way to circumvent themiddle pod to get to the last one though, as pod 3 isthe one that has access to the surrounding surfacearea of the volcano.Shall see what the engineers make of it I guess.Page 195

Final RoseDec 07 07One Calendar Rose to complete themall One book to find it One CalendarRose to be of twelve And in my Reltobind them.Received reports that the Calendar Rose Spark forDecember had made an appearance, so I decided tohead out and collect it seeing it was the last one Ineeded.I really should continue my studies on the Roses,especially seeing now that I have all 12, I can seewhat they do when combined.Page 196

We’re BackDec 16 07Back from Noloben; we made some discoveries. Butfor now I shall sleep, it has been a long day.Page 197

Returning to NolobenDec 16 07Whil stopped by the hood to sign the release forms,Robert likes all bases to be covered. Just got thenew forms sent through for some changes to thegroup that are upcoming.Things were pretty calm last time I was in Noloben,a stark contrast to what lay before us now. Place waslittered with the remnants of war.We wandered around for a while just taking stock ofthe scene around us which is when I noticedsomething glinting in the sand. Found out it was a KIthat had fallen off someone’s hand and got stuck inthe sand.Page 198

Seemed to be in working order, no sign of the owner;hopefully he got away and did not come to anunpleasant end. KI has been handed over to Sophie inthe hopes she can pull information from it that mayshed some light on things.We headed topside to explore some more, see ifthere were any more corpses around.Page 199

There were signs of conflict everywhere. I had seenthe aftermath of the conflict before; I was in theWatchers Sanctuary when the Bahro brought in thebody of the one killed by Sharper. But nothing likethis.Page 200

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I decided to bring one of the more intact corpsesback with me to study; not a pleasant notion, and Ican’t tell if this is one of the Bahro or the BahroNekisahl. Even though the conflict is, for now, gonefrom the Cavern, thanks to Yeesha. There is thepossibility it will return and the more we knowabout the Bahro, the better chance we have forsurvival. It’s not all about the greater good; I admitto being selfish and wanting to learn more aboutthem myself.After moving one of the corpses back down to thebeach to collect before we leave, we headed insideinto the Lab. This was my main reason on visitingthe Age again, as this was the place that Nekisahlothwas “born”. Through Esher’s actions and cruelty, apath was chosen that could cause so muchdestruction.Page 202

Made some interesting discoveries; will have to putthem up under the “Studies” section of my onlineversion of this journal when I get a chance.Both myself and Whil feel a clean up of this Age isneeded; give the Bahro a proper burial, eventuallyareas (like the tunnels) could become a healthhazard.Curious if the Bahro have any kind of funeralprocedures; will have to see if Dr. Watson has anyinformation that could help my studies.Page 203

ChristmasDec 24 07Sophie managed to extract some stuff from the KI wefound in Noloben recently. She said something abouta Bahro picture; haven’t seen it yet, she’s gone off tospend Christmas with her family without droppingthe images off in my office.Heading out to spend Christmas with my family too;shall return after.Page 204