LDPW USES CAPTURED ALIEN TECH

This reporter has learned that the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) has found a crashed extra-terrestrial space craft crashed in Gaigano (SLurl) and has subsequently reverse-engineered the alien technology to create their own space program. Governor Linden's office has been contacted about these events, but as of of press time has not responded. Efforts to contact Michael Linden, "King of the Moles" and leader of the LDPW, have met with with similar silence. Whether this is simply stonewalling or that the Lindens get to sleep three hours longer than I do has yet to be determined.

Remember this crashed alien spacecraft from yesterday's report here?

Upon further exploration of Gaigano just north of the wreck (approximately at SLurl – I think it moves) is a secret LDPW sea lab. Every time I tried to approach the structure, an exceptionally large catfish-like creature would dart at me and drive me back. But I was able to take some photos to confirm that the Moles do work at the lab.

This leaking LDPW barrel was just one bit of discarded trash that led me to the sea lab from the crash site. Actually, I could see one from the other, but I didn't notice that til late.

Outside the lab with my robo-cam. Little did I know the mutant catfish was behind me.

As long as I didn't move closer the guard fish didn't disturb my robo-cam so I was able to get this shot. The armed (with a pickaxe) Mole suspected nothing.

The lab has an experimental section, seen here, living quarters, and a dive pod with moon pool.

Working on a tip from someone high up in the FIC I then traveled to Mare Secundus (SLurl). What appears at first to be a simple educational outpost with a really nice planetarium is actually a secret LDPW rocket launch center hidden in plain sight. After determining that the craft was fictional probably functional, I had an astronaut friend flown in for her opinion. She suited up right away and jumped in without heed and only a little push.

Usra "Mousra" Ostrich is a true Second Life hero. You may remember she was the base commander at Mos Ainsley (SLurl) during the big crisis there. I'm proud to call her my alt friend.

The spacecraft must use some sort of hypertranswarp drive because within what seemed like only a brief couple minutes to me but less than a few minutes for her, she landed on an alien planetoid some hundreds of meters (Ed note: Meters? You really meant light-years, right?) away and found critters that closely resembled the mutant jellyfish in Giagano and reminded me of the mutant sea horse I found in Imona (SLurl). You can see some in her pictures many of which I was able work up through my iPad to make a comprehensive panoramic image (click it for a larger version).

A really big version of this panorama can be seen on my Flickr stream here.

This huge alien looked very familiar to me. It shouldn't, of course, but there was a time ...

I hope Mousra is alright. She reports no ill effects, but I haven't heard from her since she returned from the planet.

While looking at Mousra's pictures and many from the series that I took yesterday, a persistent sense of Déjà vu nagged at me. Researching through past posts on this blog revealed the answer ... Oak Bay.

The Oak Bay Aquarium (SLurl) is a wonderful place to visit, but the MerMole (native to waters around Bay City) on public view is only a hint to the strangeness you'll find if you can get into the high security building on site.

Outside the high security building is a relic of the Nautilus regions, a place with even more Mole mysteries. A fellow reporter with an overly developed sense of the dramatic used a telescope to check out the building. I don't have the heart to tell her you can just walk up to it as you tour the aquarium. It's a fun trip. you should visit.

Nor do I want to break it to her that she went well out of her way to get this security camera still when she could have waited until someone forget to lock the door (as often happens). In the middle there? A "baby" version of the giant that Mousra found on the planet. On the left? A giant sea horse. The other habitats have additional specimens from the planet. You can feed them with little buttons on each habitat.

I've long believed that the Moles of the LDPW are an amazing collection of talented, kind, and generous mammals, but this investigation has made me question certain motives they may have. Perhaps not all the Moles are involved. This could be a sub-group – an internal Fetid Inner Core, you might say – that have aims not necessarily congruent with ...

Or I could have merely missed that all these places are more or less public and that if I explored as often as I push others to do so I'd have made these connections long ago and either dismissed them or been trundled off by the Moles to Cloud Party so I wouldn't bother SL any more. Still, I wonder. It is all a bit too interconnected.