Banger raises his eyes up to the cavern wall, & from the shadows cast by the hundreds of synchronized daylights mounted high on the ceiling, he can tell it's time to call it a day.

Rising up while clapping the dirt from his hands, he activates his Neural Net, and records his thoughts by speaking out loud:

"Harvest day for lot 16- The leaves are a deep rich green in color, fan-like...however, their surface is far too waxy-looking. The buds are spectacular though; I can see my reflection in some of bigger resin droplets.

...Note: Try reducing the amount of nitrogen in the soil & breed it with lot 18, see how that works out."

With a thought, he stops the recording process & deactivates his Neural Net.

Stepping out from behind the high wall of weeds of lot 16, he walks down the path between the other growing lots that lead to the front porch of his cabin.

He was happy to be met there by the two familiar faces that were waiting for him.

"Hannah! Dengue!" he proclaimed loudly with a broad smile as he embraced them both in a three-way bearhug. "Where the 'ell've you two been off to for so long?"

"Well..." Hannah said, briefly looking over to Dengue before answering. "Just some Green Front stuff, civil projects & whatnot. Pretty boring really, and that's a drag 'cause the job keeps us pretty far away from here."

"Yeah," Dengue continued. "We're here for some weekend R&R and have to head back northwest on Monday morning."

"Time's short then!" Banger said with dramatic emphasis "I need to get you two drunk as soon as possible!"

He ushers his two guests up the other path & leads them out of the Woodlands cavern & into the much more congested Murphy Central, where most of all the pubs are.

As they pass under the gaping cavemouth that separates the central & southern caverns, Dengue asks Banger as they walk: "So, what's up with all the plots of weed you're growing?"

Well, it's a genetic experiment I'm working on." Banger replied, "If I can successfully infuse synthetic cannabinols into the DNA of the plant stock, then I will become the inventor of naturally growing synthweed!"

Hannah giggled out loud, "That's crazy! (Really cool) but just nuts...Still though, What a coup that would be to invent 'gaiaweed' & start getting on Cryers nerves.

"So far though, I haven't been able to get anything to stick." Banger concluded, his tone making clear that the subject of conversation will now change.

It doesn't take long for the daylights to slip into their casings as the synchronized moonlights emerge. Their job, like their daytime counterparts, is to mimic the cycle of night & day as best as can be achieved within the environment of the Green Hell.

As the three of them reach the small but lushly distinctive clearing, settled in the middle of the central cavern known as Beergarden Park, the Islay station generators directly under Hell switch off for the night, causing the excessive heat they generate throughout the day to start to dissipate, while the inner walls of all five caverns begin to refreeze for the night, causing a cascade of fog that falls off the rocky walls and settling into a thick, yet gradually thinning, nightlong haze.

It happens at the same time everyday, & also happens to be the best time of day to buy drinks, because as local tradition holds: Hell freezing over is worth half an hour of half priced drinks.

Starting a blaze in one of the small fire pits, Banger invites Hannah & Dengue to take a seat at the nearest wooden table and within moments, a park waitress emerges to take their drink order.

"Lets hang tight for a while, 'cause when the fog clears just enough, tonight's the night we are going to test out the new window-monitor network for the first-time."

Both Dengue & Hannah look around & notice finally, the vast number of large black monitor screens mounted halfway up the walls and across ceiling in a pattern that uniformly honeycombs nicely with the the atmospheric fans & the lights.

"Cool!" they said in unison, quickly realizing the screens intended function.

"Yeah, I just hope it all works." Banger shrugged with a grin as their beers arrive.

As the time passes, within half an hour, Beergarden Park fills to capacity. The mood across Murphy Central is best described as party-like as people emerge out from whichever pub, shop, brothel or school they happened to be in at the time & prepared for the big event everyone's been waiting for.

Banger, Hannah & Dengue, having joined their table with some other Gaians table they've never met before, all indulged in singing together a decades old Gaian drinking tune.

"Hello?" Banger said as he put down his mug & answered the call coming through his Neural Net.

'Mr. Grimm, we are now ready to go online at your word.' came the reply.

"Start the count now then."

About 10 seconds later, a voice echoes through the PA system, across Murphy Central:

'Network online in 5,4,...'

By the number three, the countdown voice is joined by the full chorus of excited onlookers cavern-wide.

"3,2,1!!"

A slight pause, and the network of black screens power on in unison, turning the black to a lightly pale glowing purple.

A collective gasp of excited anticipation echoes as the screens flicker a few times before blanking out to purple again to the sound of a resounding & disaponted-sounding "AWWWWW!!" from the masses.

'Uh, hang on a second.' eventually came a sheepish voice through the PA.

The screens went back to black & came up seconds later, as the outside view of Islay Station flickered onscreens, giving a surprisingly passable approximation of a bio-dome view to the outside ice cloud amid the deafening cheers of the crowd.

Banger wiped the nervous sweat from his face & collapsed with relief into a freshly filled clay mug of stout, underneath the central caverns' newly created artificial skyline.

After about an hour of boozing & socializing with many random passers by, Hannah announces to her two companions that it's time for a stroll around the alleyways. Dengue & Banger grab their beers as they are both yanked to their feet & proceeded "This way" as Hannah put it, single-mindedly leading the three of them out of the park & onto the nearest cobblestones by hand.

"So, how're the NLH doin' these days?" Dengue asked Banger as they walked up the very narrow street.

"For the time being, I'm on voluntary leave from the NLH so that I can run this place until a new manager can be hired. Till then, I just don't have the time to do both."

"However," he amended, "lately, under Greg Hunt, the NLH has experienced a recruitment boom & a boost in activity, which I feel helped regain the attention of the IND, & with their help, has really given the Islay economy a much needed vitamin shot...Also, I've gotten word that an NLH/Order Non-Aggression Pact has been put on the books this week...So yeah, the NLH are in high health these days & seem to be doing really good.

"I know you're curious about what Dec & I have been up to since we were here last," Hannah volunteered as they reached the edge of the central caverns outer ringstrasse at the wall & turned right, towards another cluster of narrow pubs and shops on both sides that sport the common Green Hell organic architecture that combines Carpentry & morterless masonry into the copious greenery that grows throughout the 5 primary caverns.

She pauses for a moment to consider how much classified information she's willing to let slip, & decides to spill out a few of the bullet points.

"Well," she began...