"It looks like a grave."said Veronica, when they got to the top, and saw two monuments.
One, of course, was the Light. The other, they didn't know.
"Someone must be buried in there."said Moira. "But whom?"
"I don't know. Oh, well, that was a nice climb. What a view!"she exclaimed, and looked over the edge of the mesa. "That's the whole valley."she said, and turned the other way to see to the north. "More mountains."
"There's only mountains until you get to Bamboo Valley."said Uncle Jody.
Veronica smiled at him.
"At least it's much better than what I heard this morning. That beyond the Valley lies nothing but Nothing."
"Most of our people think that. Especially the Fourths."
"I wouldn't be surpised."
"But we're trying to change all that."said Moira. "We'll make Isis a better place. Much better."
"I hope so. Anyway, I want to see how the Cave works exactly, and what we need in order to fix it."she said.
Later, as she examined the Shelter Cave, she said that the only thing missing was just some oil, to help the doors close.
"I'm sure we can find oil, or something similar here on Isis. We'll start the search tomorrow."
As soon as Veronica crossed the mountains the north of Cascade Valley, and came upon unknown territory, she began to explore.
"There's not much here."she said to Moira and David.
There was nothing but red rock, the river, and thornbushes.
"These thornbushes are of no use."she said, taking a leaf of one. "Silver."she commented. "And such a spicy fagrance. Perfect for some kind of perfume, I guess. I suppose chlorophyll would be of much use in this environment, you know. It could help increase the oxygen. That's how it happened back on Earth. During prehistoric times, small plants evolved into gigantic trees. And with nothing to devour them, they thrived, and increased the oxygen content. That in turn was how the giant insects developed. However, there's little carbon dioxide in this atmosphere, too. You'd have to have more people for that."
She spotted a giant beast that resembled a hairy dragon, as she looked through her binoculars.
"Hmm. A scaly skin. I suppose to help trap moisture between the scales, and protect it from the sun's rays, and the heat of this climate. I suppose predominately reptiles inhabit this place?"she asked.
David hadn't the slightest idea what she was talking about, but Moira answered, "Well, there's plenty of mammals down in the valley. Rock bunnies and purple furs and such. And birds, too. I haven't seen many reptiles in the valley, though. And I don't know about the uplands."
"You should know more about the uplands. This planet is mostly mountains. Surely when it was settled, that was known?"
"I suppose so."Moira shrugged.
"I really can't believe these people were so…naïve, as to keep to one small valley. Really, it's the stupidest thing. So many colors of plants."she observed.
"None green, though."said Moira.
"Nope, none green."
"Plants shouldn't be green."said David.
"Oh, but there are planets on which there are."Moira told him.
Veronica chose to ignore him.
"We could follow the river towards its source, or we could go somewhere else, and hope to get water from another source."she said.
"I prefer to stay with the river."said Moira nervousely.
"We might find interesting life in there."Vero smiled.
She looked at the blue moss.
"This must contain chlorophyll to some degree. I mean, it is blue. That's a good sign. We might not have to bring something alien to this planet to make it more suitable after all."
Veronica took notes on just about everything. The creatures, the plants, and even the water, took samples, and she made comments to herself, and to David and Moira as she went by.
"The water here is pretty clean. I wonder how long that will last…hmm, the purple in this rock seems more toward the red-violet. That's sad. I always liked darker purples better…it's the mountains. Each layer would tell a specific story about a time period. That's one of the wonders of the Grand Canyon on Earth. I was there, as a very, very small child once, you know. I don't remember much of it, but it was an…implausible sight. Almost like a painting. Isis could probably be a much better tourist planet than anything else. Imagine. It would be great for the economy. Firestones, and these views! Wow!"