Crater

The crater isn't there anymore.

That isn't to say that the station is there. It's gone, and the furrow is clearly visible, trailing off into the distance. The crater itself is now a lake.

We could see the weak sun glinting off of the water as we pulled up to start making camp. I couldn't tell what I was looking at. As we closed in, I realised it was water. The other researchers questioned me about how the station used to be, what the crater looked like. They didn't believe that such a large space could fill with water so quickly. We walked up to the edge and stared in. The water is dark, and the drop precipitous; you can't see the bottom, or even much of the side of the crater. The researcher next to me started sniffing, then knelt down and took a big lungful of air right over the surface of the water. Before anyone could stop him, he dipped his finger in, pulled it out, and tasted it. Salt. Somehow, the crater is full of salt water.

We're staying here for a few days while we run some experiments, then we'll start to follow the furrow. I watched them set up their weird device for measuring the mal. It didn't work, and they didn't know why. I think I know. The residual mal here is too strong. It's like trying to put up a weather vane during a tornado.