Tirad is roaming around above the ruined city with his team leader, Arjia. He swims above the collapsed buildings and slump roads. He has to be careful not to get stuck under the buildings that might cave in unexpectedly. He thinks how easier it would have been if they were to mine out bricks instead of metals. But bricks are heavy and are priceless since they are not useable on the ships and lands. They were more valuable three hundred years ago when the islands were built, but now steel, iron, aluminium and copper have more buyers, even plastic is more valuable. Tirad needs to pay attention to his team leader. They can’t talk under the water. Tirad has heard about advanced oxygen masks that have a special device, transferring sound under water and the divers are able to talk to each other while diving. But the Avij Ship has been lucky just to refill the oxygen tanks of these old masks since the diving tools have become so expensive in the last five months that the war rumour has spread. The high prices have put many divers out of work. Tirad has to talk with his partner in gestures. Arjia points at something on the city floor. A road seems to have ruptured and there is a hole in it. He wants to go down and check out the hole. Arjia swims down. Tirad feels uneasy to dive down. The water pressure gives him a heavy headache, even though he takes all precautions and wears the leather earplugs that Dalia has made for him. He always feels like the capillaries on his forehead would erupt any moment, his ears would be deafened and his head explode. The other divers are used to the water pressure and keep telling him it would become easier with time.

A hole has opened on a square where a few roads lead to it. Arjia takes the edge of the hole with his hand. Tirad turns on the flashlight and shines it to the great hall that appears to be under the hole. The chamber seems to have been built under the city ground. Arjia points at him gesturing that they should go down together. The discovered hall is probably full of untouched pre-rain metal objects. They heard that another ship had come to this place before Avij. They were from Harlan and didn’t have any diving permits and had used explosives to blow up the building and roads to mine and dive out concrete blocks. Cement and concrete blocks don’t sell well in Oxan market but Harlan pays them good money for it. There are rumours that Harlan is building an artificial island with concrete blocks. This hole is probably the result of an explosion. It doesn’t matter anyway, Tirad is already so happy to be the founder of this new treasure place. This means a great victory for him and Arjia, even if it was caused by Harlan divers’ explosives. They have to go down now and see what this treasure is worth.