After Veralun had looked carefully into the hole down which staff members were certain the office had fallen, the group realized it was part of a large ravine they had seen but failed to notice during their search near the hole.  This ravine had appeared in the New Mexico desert some time during winter of 2008.  It was odd that the closing of the Cavern Public Gate in early 2008 should have such a seismic effect on the North American tectonic plate, but apparently it caused quite a number of minor tremors that caused more chaos than anyone had imagined.  And these tremors continued for months after the great silent crashing of the gates as they swung closed.  Unbeknownst to these stalwart Cavern Communicating Networking types, the tremors were still tremoring beneath the temporary desert office abode (shack) that was to serve while construction of a new, temporary office space was built.

It was these tremors, not Madge, that caused the Great CCN Temporary Office Loss of 2009.

This, the staff realized as the joined Veralun at the hole down which they surmised the office had fallen.  Tyion made a comment about holding a memorial service and after some of the same type of avoidance that the staff had decided on earlier regarding the danger of the hole, the staff decided a memorial was a very Explorer-like thing to hold when something was unrecoverable.  As Veralun began a rather long-winded objection-yet-acceptance in regard to the memorial, Alty shouted to him to be careful because, standing some distance away, she felt the tremoring of a tremor and feared it would make the hole and ravine even larger.  The staff as a whole realized the tremors were still tremoring as Veralun turned toward Alty just in time to see Ruby walk quickly past him toward the hole.  She was quite intending to look into it — of course she did –  and she pitched forward as the patch of rock she stepped on shook just enough to change the pitch of the ground on which she placed her weight.  Her other foot came down onto part of a board laying close to the edge of the hole, and as she shifted her weight to compensate for pitching forward, the outer edge of her foot slipped off the board.  Arms flailing, she fell forward and down off the edge.

Shouting loudly (and definitely in Dutch), Veralun reached out, grabbed her by her belt and pulled mightily to keep her from falling into the hole.  He managed to stop her descent, but her belt snapped, whipping her around to face up and away from the hole, and as her belt slid through the belt-loops of her pants, her Relto book caught against one of the belt loops and the velcro she’d used gave way under the force.  Tyion lunged forward to grab her arm, reaching out in vain to catch her Relto book with the other hand.  He nearly lost his own balance, but recovered in time to pull Ruby back from the edge.

Ghaelen and Alty grabbed her waist and the other arm (such was the force of her pitch forward) and betwinxt them all they managed to prevent her sojourn into the deep recesses of the new office abode.  She squirmed just a little as they watched her Relto book descend, but since no one was having any part of her sudden notion to follow it, she cried for a while instead.  Ghaelen began to cry, too, then Tyion groaned out loud, and soon all of the staff were indeed conducting the very memorial they had begun to discuss some time earlier.

After much ado, Alty convinced Ruby to come back to the crate, and to make her feel better Tyion called a meeting.   He told her she didn’t really need to attend, but called it anyway as he was at a loss for anything else that might help. Ghaelen kept herself busy attempting not to plan future agendas, but her to-do list kept getting longer and longer.  Veralun and Alty did what they could to mitigate the shock of the fall, the loss, the other loss, and the tears.  Alty complimented the organized manner in which the non-meeting had grown out of the memorial.

Everyone did feel a little better since they knew now that Madge hadn’t actually done anything to the office,  but they did not feel at all better knowing all those boxes and crates of video was still down there in a buried basement somewhere.  “Ruby,” Alty said sternly, “you don’t need that Relto book now, anyway.  When the Cavern opens again, you can surely get another one.”  Ghaelen nodded and suggested that maybe they could just keep using the crate for the time being.  Ruby nodded and agreed as she always did, which made everyone breathe a sign of relief.

Last week, the CCN Staff met for the first time since the close of MOUL to celebrate MORE and their future return to their offices in the cavern.  Tyion reported that office construction was still in progress, but it was very difficult to continue assembling the structures without access to the actual office spaces.   He is assembling what parts he can while restricted to the surface.

Veralun surprised us with a call from far away….. somewhere near the Cleft, he said.  He sounded a bit strange as of yet, but he said he was feeling better and was certain he would make a full recovery by the time we resume our work in the Cavern.  He has actually been at work on a web archive of explorer videos that he found in a dusty old basement in a house out in the desert.  How he discovered that house he did not say….  but he did say he would continue gathering and preserving these videos while we waited for the offices to be finished.  The videos he has gathered can be seen here on the website >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We should add that Altydwarber was quite relieved when Veralun made contact with her several months ago.  She had promised Veralun to keep that news to herself, but when he called us she felt able to /wave and /cheer that her beloved was well.  We all /cheered with her!

Tyion was also busy setting up the new and improved CCN forums.  As the software changed dramatically (and after that little “situation” with the wiring) he discovered the best course of action was to redo and reboot the forums.  So he did, and we all think it very nicely done!  He also mentioned that he is still at work on his audio drama.  He will give us and update at the next meeting.

Ghaelen began work on the new and improved CCN Website, which will carry future CCN CavernCasts, Team Productions (TBA), the Lakewater Theater (featuring the Cavern Players), and CCN’s usual variety programs.  The software now allows us to feed news and programming directly from the site, so she is happily experimenting with the buttons and levers to make the appearance of those program pages just right.  While it will take some time to bring existing programs over to the new site, it is already in progress, and may be complete by the time the Cavern reopens.

Mr. Jules popped in (in his usual way) to say “How Do” and “How does it?”  After a most cordial round of greetings (well, maybe not so much so from Veralun) the staff gave Mr. Jules a far-too-brief snyopsis of their current progres.   Since he didn’t seem to notice, the staff didn’t offer more information on that subject.  he did notice Ruby O’Degee was still absent, which Tyion explained once again.  Ghaelen and Veralun were able to stop the subsequent argument after about five minutes, which they considered quite an accomplishment.

Overall, the meeting was a success.  The next meeting date was scheduled, and Mr. Jules promised to attend for its entirety.

Future meeting topics include, but are not limited to:

~Locating The Lost Cavern Players

~Progress Reports

• Office Construction Update (Tyion)
• Archival Department Report (Veralun)
• Cavern Player Location Efforts (Ghaelen)
• Staff Health and Absenteeism (Ruby O’Degee)
• Recent Complaints and Apologies (Mr. Jules)

Everyone hoped that other members of the CCN Staff would also be able to attend the next meeting.