Hey, Runner! You got a moment?
I was remembering about School, and how we went on a field trip to the big Planet Map in the middle of the City. You made that, right?
So you had to have been to the Surface, what’s that like?
Ok, so a point of clarification. I did go to the Surface more than once, but I actually made that particular map from below.
As you know, reaching the Surface takes specialized equipment, and you constantly have to be careful not to fall back down.
Except inside a building, of course. Have you visited any of the viewing domes?
Nah, Mom doesn’t trust the ride up cause it’s run by the Government.
Ah, well, I recommend it if you can. I suggest the Red Wood Forest Dome in particular.
The gardeners did a great job; it looks like the trees go on forever. I guarantee you’ve never seen a forest like that below the Surface.
But of course they don’t go on forever. Most of the Surface has no life at all.
Really? But it looks so colorful! Doesn’t the Map list like fifty different plants?
You mean the detailed legend at the bottom? That mostly consists of geological features. Maybe three or four plants, tops.
Geolodge?
Geology, the study of rocks and minerals.
And crystals?
Yeah, those count too.
Sadly you won’t get to see the most interesting ones any time soon. Many of them can produce dangerous chemical reactions if misused, so we have careful rules about who gets to go near them.
Some would say too careful…
But you can find pictures at least. Have you seen one of the Bismuth Deposit? It would have a bunch of right angles and rainbow colors.
I don’t think rainbows can have right angles.
Yes, but imagine you have a crystal that has right angle shapes, and you paint it with many colors.
Oh ok, that sounds cool!
It looks even cooler than it sounds. I’d show you but I’m not an artist.
I think you’re a great artist! Artisan?
Why thank you. But I mean I don’t do the kind of fine detail work required for this.
I mentioned rivers to my Dad, and he said they aren’t water, but I thought they were water because that’s what they said in School and I think Mom said that too.
Because water isn’t blue. Is what Dad said I mean.
Whoa, sudden topic change, but ok. Your Mom has it right. Rivers and oceans both consist of water. Ignoring a small percentage of other components.
Water starts to look blue when you put enough of it in one place, even though it looks clear in small amounts.
And that’s what the Surface has?
Yep.
So who decides where the rivers go?
No one. Water flows all on its own, into depressions and gorges in the landscape, and we call that a river.
The Planet’s gravity pulls it in towards the center of the Planet, forcing it to make these shapes, and eventually collect to form the Oceans.
But wait, if water is blue when there’s a lot, why aren’t the Oceans blue?
Well as I said, you get a small percentage of other components. Water digs away at the rocks, minerals, and soil it passes by.
Everything gets carried along and ends up where the water ends up, in the Oceans.
And this debris produces other colors, like the Orange Whirlpool. All the orange comes from salts and silicates running off the nearby land.
Speaking of which, the spiral pattern doesn’t come from a whirlpool. The nearby rivers just happen to enter the Outer South Ocean at that angle.
I gotta go there someday! Don’ttellmyDad.
No, you don’t.
Why not?
I mean, not without careful preparation. It’s dangerous!
I’ll be prepared! A ninja is always prepared!
Since when are you a ninja?
Ah, I shouldn’t have said that. You can’t tell Dad about that either!
But I’m gonna be the best ninja ever! Master of all the elements. Electricity! Water! Fire! Rocks and minerals!
And if I go to the Orange Whirlpool in a storm, I can master them all at once.
Look.
Actually, never mind. Just promise you’ll prepare and you won’t do it alone.
I promise!
I won’t tell your father, but you should. You’ll need an adult’s help to prepare.
Eh…
I can let him tell you no.
Oh, idea! Could I convince you to visit the Northern Salt Flat first?
Why? That sounds boring. It’s just salt, right?
Yes, but have you seen that much salt in one place before?
I guess not, but… it’s still just salt, right?
Well… remember how I said a lot of water in one place turns blue?
Uh huh. Does salt turn blue too?
Well you’ll have to visit and find out, won’t you?
Tell me!
Tell me. I won’t visit if you don’t tell me.
Heh. I knew you had an inquisitive mind in there somewhere.
Salt doesn’t turn blue, on its own anyway. It turns reflective.
On a bright day, at the right angle, it will reflect the sky, and you won’t know which way is up or down.
Cool!
But I already know that. Don’t know that.
I already don’t know which way is up and down out here.
So have I piqued your interest?
Poked my interest?
I mean, have I convinced you to go see it?
Maybe.
How about this. If you go to the Northern Salt Flat, you can find the top of the Far North Rootstalk.
The one for the City?
No, that’s the Near one. They wouldn’t let you get anywhere close to that.
I don’t think I know that Root then.
You probably walked on it if you ever went to the Trade Fair.
Oh that one?! The Root to the Trade Fair! I do know that one!
Heh, funny story. I carved my first crush’s name into it. Then I showed them and they changed their name.
Oh no. I hope you found someone else.
Nah, they already had an appointment for the name change and were really excited about it.
It was just, y’know, the worst timing.
We still went out a couple times.
Good then? I guess. Sorry, I’ve never had a crush.
So I don’t know the feeling.
Yeah, it’s good.
But then they graduated and left for the Gilded City.
Super rich then, I take it?
I guess. They never talked about their family.
And their allowance was the same as mine.
I didn’t care about how many batteries they had, I just liked their jokes.
And singing.
You should try having a crush sometime.
How did we get this far off topic…
I don’t think it works that way, but I’ll take it under advisement.