V \\ So there is no vast underground reservoir here. I've traversed the north end of the valley up to the northwest ridge and back down. I've also explored further the southwest ridge. There are no metal plates hidden beneath the soil. Its soil and rock all through. I was mistaken. The only underground networks consist of the haphazard grids of pipework, storm drains, and crypted streams under asphalt roofs. As for the fish, they're probably not there either. I was mistaken.

VI \\ Spoke to a next window neighbor to ask about all the dryness but they didn't know what was going on, but they weren't even there then were they. Window shoppers don't like the new neighbors in the camp up the street, but window shoppers in the town don't like anyone else but themselves. I asked the next window neighbor about the sky's openness but they have no opinion. There's not much openness left, most notable at night with the sat-trains blighting up the starfield like a morse code firework. Its all space junk and soon enough air junk and dirt junk and water junk we can just eat up the rare earth and hydrocarbons or flourocarbons or hexa-choloro-cyanide-stuff. Casting a dozen runes in the wind for it to end. 

VII \\ There was finally a bout of warm weather. Around the wetlands here, out of the scraggly trees and snags and probably the fully leafed out maples now, small bats darted about. They were black against the darkening blue sky. Few clouds that evening were still illuminated by the sun over the horizon, and a few dim stars peeked out.