Cindy Cartan was happy. School was cancelled. All the adults were too busy to bother her. She had the entire lakeshore to wander, and they gave her packets of seeds to go plant every day. Cindy was a responsible little girl, and had been told VERY firmly not to enter the water or she would lose all her beloved trust and freedom.
Cindy also had her very own tent to stay in while the cabin was being built for her family, and it was filled with her bed and all her favorite toys - along with big bags of blankets and a chest of clothes. She missed a couple of her school friends, but her cousins often visited from the other Gateway where all the big stuff was happening. Most of the time, the shore of Crystal Lake was all hers.
It had been kind of dull at first, with only a few yards of grass stretching along the lakeshore. And then it had been miserable for a day as a rainstorm came through and she'd been stuck in her tent the whole day. But after the rains, plants started springing up nearly everywhere. Her mom spent an hour with her pointing out which were weeds to pluck out before they could overrun everything. But today had been her favorite so far - she had gotten to release the rabbits!
Dad had come home last night with a cage of 6 bunnies, 2 big ones and 4 little ones, and a little shelter hutch built like a small wheelbarrow. This morning, she got to come with her dad as he found a good spot about 20 feet from the lake. Dad cleared a patch of ground, then placed the hutch and told Cindy - "Send out the new owners of the Crystal Shores Grasslands!". Then he went back and let her bratty older brother do the same for the frogs - but at least they didn't have any pretty shelter to come home to. The rabbit hutch became Cindy's new base of operations, and she would come every day with her tea set and stuffed animals.
No one noticed or cared that most of her tea-time sessions included Frikzel the stuffed green frog...
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15 year old Will Cartan and his cousin Jake (14) barely noticed little Cindy as they took their new kayak to the lake for the first time. Their mission - to explore the lakeshore for 2 hours in each direction. This was a welcome break from their last 2 weeks of hauling supplies and being construction gofors. At their parent's insistence, they had a full 2 days of backpacked camping supplies and a simple radio direction-finder that could point them back to base camp if they got lost.
The big perk, from the boy's perspective, was that they would be allowed to name any streams of features they discovered during their exploration. They were also charged with seeding a new "lifespring" outpost at each of the far points of their exploration - releasing premade packets along the water's edge with all sorts of "useful" goo and creepy crawlies they didn't really understand the need for.
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The boys eagerly set off, paddling the kayak across the serene lake surrounded by the alien landscape of the new world.
As they reached the midpoint of their journey, the boys marveled at the untouched beauty of the lakeshore. Will pointed to a peculiar-looking upwelling of tinted water and suggested, "How about calling it 'Stellar Blossom'?" Jake nodded in agreement, and they marked their discovery on a digital map provided by the base camp.
Continuing their expedition, they encountered a crystal-clear stream flowing gently into the lake. The water shimmered with an otherworldly glow. Excitement filled the air as Jake suggested, "Let's name it 'Lumina Creek.'" They secured another waypoint and moved on, their youthful enthusiasm driving them deeper into uncharted territory.
The cousins reached the farthest point of their journey, a breathtaking waterfall cascading down from a cliff covered in shimmering crystal. The sight was awe-inspiring. Will grinned and said, "This is the 'Cascade of Dreams.' What do you think, Jake?" With a nod of approval, they recorded their find and prepared to seed the new "lifespring" outpost.
Following the protocol, they released the premade packets along the water's edge, each containing a mix of unknown substances designed to foster life in this alien ecosystem. The boys exchanged puzzled glances but followed through with the task, trusting the wisdom of their parents and the scientific minds behind the outpost project.
As they returned to base camp, they couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Little did they know to what degree the seeds they had planted and the names they had given would become integral parts of this new world's future. But there was a strange twinkle in the corner of the eye of Cindy's stuffed frog.
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Back on Earth, several outbreaks were causing havoc in various cities around the world. Despite containment efforts, at least 3 pandemic-level diseases were in regional circulation. The best treatment option, ironically, was return to Gateworld, where patients in the early stages of disease (nearly ANY disease) had about an 80% chance of rapid recovery. This effect fell off to only about 30% in later stages of infection.
Several organizations were formed demanding that trips to Gateworld be one-way, and claiming Earth could not afford the consequences of these alien mutations. Many nations began to pass laws covering return procedures, but it would be some time before any such rules were widely enforceable.
In the physics community, a whole new brand of hell was breaking loose. In Gateworld, it appeared that instead of "radioactive decay" there was simply "radiation decay". All samples sent to Gateworld lost 0.97% of total radioactivity per day WITHOUT producing any measurable radiation as a result. As one physicist put it - in Gateword, "half-lives have a half-life there". To activists, this was immediately heralded as the final solution to the problem of nuclear waste. To developers, it meant their plans to have nuclear generating plants in the new world were doomed.
But the physicists themselves had another question: Where was all that energy going?