As Ulduk made his way along the mountainside, the sound of explosions grew louder and louder. It was not long before he reached a stony belvedere, with a long sloping valley between him and the black face of Oort Peak. In the valley below was a line of men carrying tools and bulging sacks. Ulduk was mystified at their presence so high in the mountains. It seemed to him that the men were constructing a ravine, or a ditch along the valley. Yes, he could make out the shovels and picks now, and others carrying canisters which they would deposit on the path before them, then dash away before the canisters exploded with amazing force, leaving a cloud of smoke and a crater in their wake. In this manner, the men had carved a ravine that led down from Oort Peak and ran westward across the valley.

  Ulduk stumbled down the mountainside for a closer look. One of the men was carrying a trumpet, using it to sound out orders to the others. Trumpets and shovels and picks… I know these men. The wisdom of the mountains brought the memory back to him. They were digditchers. One of his tasks as founder of the Society for Wetland and Marshland Preservation had brought him to Adaletou, home of the digditchers, hadn't it? He stopped to reminisce, staring at both the digditchers and his bright blue and pine green necklace for inspiration. Perhaps here was a clue to help him understand more about who he was, and how he came to find himself buried in the middle of a swamp.

  Ulduk's lifelong mission to teach others about wetlands was easier with the support of the wetland society. The organization grew, and Ulduk gained both satisfaction and fame. Nonetheless, the job was not without trouble. Countless people still wanted him dead, or at least immobile, preferably in a swamp. While those of the southern tribes thought well of swamps, the northerners wanted nothing to do with marshes and other such anomalies, except to fill them to make room for club-hitting-passion-fruit-into-holes courses and yam farms.

  He’d been jumped many times, tossed into lakes, and shackled to trees. His house was vandalized when he was away. Slanderous messages were left in his letter box. Yet Ulduk pressed on. If he did not speak up for the swamps, who would? The SWAMP slowly grew, and as it did, the issue of what to do about swamps polarized the culture, dividing families and stressing the tenuous relationship between neighboring tribes. As tensions grew, the society came up with special contests and drives to raise support for their efforts and draw more people to their own side. For example, there was the offer of a hundred cattle if anyone who wasn't already a member of the SWAMP crossed a large wetland on foot. SWAMP members knew that the feat was only dangerous in the sense that crossing a lake without a boat was dangerous. Nonetheless, the reward had gone uncollected, as far as Ulduk could recall.

  Another time, the members went into swamps and caught hundreds of catfish, then gave them away for free, explaining to people that if they filled in the swamps, there would be no more catfish to eat. This brought a few new members to the SWAMP, and a couple developers in Tsyanou promised to stop filling in swamps, but eventually the program was discontinued because Ulduk felt bad for the catfish.

  Some of their contests were just plain silly propaganda, as the group tried to get more recognition. For example, there was the offer of an all expense paid vacation to the Dala Swamp to the person or group that built the largest fountain within the year. There had actually been quite a few entries to that contest, although most were already SWAMP members. Yet, in an unusual turn of events, Ulduk received word that a villager from Adaletou had built a fountain that eclipsed every other entry. Being far north, Adaletou had no members of the SWAMP, and it wasn’t clear how word of the contest got there, or how word of the fountain came back to Ulduk in Oortou. Nevertheless, the rumor went that a certain digditcher named Smith had built a fountain exactly 2,387 feet tall. If this were true, then he was the winner without contest, so Ulduk made the trip to Adaletou to verify the marvelous claims and potentially deliver the prize coupon.

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  The journey to Adaletou had gone much like previous journeys to the north… halfway there, he was mugged and tied to a tree. He'd thought it was all over until some friendly passersby freed him from the tree, though they’d broken his ankle in the process.

  Thus Ulduk eventually hobbled into Adaletou, and sure enough, there it was… water peacefully flowing from the top of Mount Sped, all the way down those 2,387 feet into Sped Swamp below, where Smith's wife Ima explained it went through a network of tunnels back to the peak of Mount Sped to repeat the cycle. Ima also explained that Sentinel City was under attack and Smith had left to help defend it. He was not expected back for a few days. She offered Ulduk a spare bedroom in an empty guest hut to wait for Smith's return, which Ulduk gladly accepted, exhausted from the brutal journey from Oortou to Adaletou. He fell asleep, dreaming of mountains and fountains.

  Ulduk could not remember waking up. What happened to me in that hut? Did I ever meet Smith? He dug around in his mud stained clothes, and pulled out a tattered piece of paper. It was half rotten and covered in mold, but he could read enough to recognize what it originally said: 'This Coupon Good For One Free Vacation With Guide to Dala Swamp. Compliments of the Society for Wetland and Marshland Preservation, Oortou'. I never gave out the coupon. I wonder why. Ulduk tried to remember what happened after that night in the hut, but nothing came to him. Shrugging, he looked down towards the valley at the digditchers carving a ravine between the mountains. Are they crazy? They build houses on cliffs, 2,387 foot tall fountains… and now this? He hurried down the escarpment to find out what they were up to. And if they were from Adaletou, perhaps they would remember him and know what happened after he reached Adaletou. I will have to be careful, though. I must not reveal who I am in case they are among those who hate the swamps and constantly seek my death. Someone buried me in Sped Swamp, and it was probably someone with a shovel.

  He reached a tall, elderly man who appeared to be supervising the project.

  “Um, excuse me, but I was hiking through the mountains and couldn't help but notice–You!”

  “What are you doing here?” exclaimed Joao. “Are you not the visitor who couldn't remember his name? I heard you scream, and then you were gone… where did those strangers take you?”

  “Um… I don't remember anything about strangers. I do remember talking to you about exploding tables; but no, that can't be right… that doesn't make any sense…”

  “It's cabinets. I study exploding cabinets in my free time.”

  “But why are you constructing a ditch across the mountains?”

  Joao looked nervously up at the smoking Oort Peak. “Um, it’s a rather long story…”

  “Maybe I could have a summary?”

  “Here, have a shovel. We’re in a race against time. I’ll explain what’s going on as you dig. Unless you’re on the side of those… barbarians.” He spat the word.

  “Oh no, not at all! I actually just escaped from their camp.”

  “Ah,” smiled Joao. “Then we do have something in common.”

  Jaw and Zartro in fact, as described in History of a Galaxy: Book I – Redbrick.