Terran monitoring · Hood Canal sector · relay 7

Larch Station

A weather outpost, staffed, against the wishes of the staff
CHAPTER XIII

The territory

Everything we can see from up here, drawn from memory by Orm. The creek runs from the still water to the shore. The path is the one the bipeds walk, with the canids, most days. Each plate is a place we watch closely.

THE WIDE WATER THE LONG WAYTHE HILL THE SHORE THE OPEN GROUND THE HALL AND THE RECTANGULAR POND STRUCTURES A AND B THE CROSSING THE STILL WATER N, PROBABLY NOT TO SCALE. ORM INSISTS IT IS.
the creek, to the wide waterthe path the bipeds takeroads: none observed, or none admitted to
The Shore
The Open Ground
The Hall and the Rectangular Pond
Structures A and B
The Crossing
The Still Water
CHAPTER XIV

Expedition forecasts

Whether the bipeds should attempt the things they attempt, according to the instruments. Advisory only. They never listen.

The path

Hike

Go. Take the long way. Tell no one.
Partly cloudy, 49°, gusts to 1 mph. The hill is dry enough. The crossing is always fine.
Closed for the season
The rectangular pond

Pool

Closed for the season. Reopens 29 May.
Open from the Saturday before Memorial Day to Labor Day. 209 days until the bipeds submerge themselves again, on purpose.
The shore

Beach

Go. The wide water is behaving, which it does twice a year, low water at 4:58 pm.
Next low water 4:58 pm at 6.9 ft, so not much beach. Wind calm, which the canal rarely is, the far shore is visible.
Open flame

Campfire

Yes. Conditions are perfect, which we will be logging as 'suspicious.'
No burn ban in effect (checked by hand). Humidity 81%, dry enough. No wind, so the smoke will sit in the yard and come indoors.
The wide water

Fishing

Go. Something is biting. We have not been told what.
The salmon are back in the wide water and nosing up the creek. Overcast, pressure steady: the fish approve. Tide going out until 4:58 pm.