Alan Kell sighed and shook his head, then started reviewing the massive task ahead. His little Island was cut off from the rest of the area by a yawning chasm. The water level was still hundreds of metres below but rising day by day.
The plans to make the most of the situation were well underway. The automated construction machinery was already at work on the outer edge of the huge crater, shovelling thousands of tonnes of rock into the hole, creating a slope down to where the water level would be.
The tricky part would be in correctly balancing the ecosystem required for his new lake. Most of what was required was already there in the surrounding rivers and lakes and would take little effort to reproduce.
The new underwater observation deck was being worked on by XM-2333, who seemed to enjoy the challenge. XM was making design plans for a transparent underwater access bridge across to the valley where the stream flowed into the crater and doing an expert job, designing it to withstand anything short of the kind of blast that created the crater.
The big questions were, how was he going to find freshwater dolphins, and was there enough room for them? He reviewed his findings so far. Planet Curacao looked like his best lead, a tipoff from a friendly Kusari pilot. There was little else to go on.
For now, the rickety looking bridge spanning the chasm would have to do for access to the surrounding area. He walked out onto the bridge, looking down through the slats.
"Think I'll keep this." he said to himself, enjoying the thought of salesmen trying to make their way across it.
Checking the plans for the stairwells under the hangar and in the valley giving access to the underwater bridge, he smiled at last. "Looks like it might just work out."
Looking towards Veranda Incognita, he wondered what was going on. XM had come back with scorch marks on it's armour plating after going to check.
