The lone intelligence admired its handiwork. Not many sentients were involved in this harvest. That suited its purposes for the moment. And if it disagreed with its previous choices, it could always go back and reset the world, and start again. That felt, somehow, like cheating. It would disrupt the experiment. It vowed not to, after all. The lone intelligence felt glee and anticipation. A long time had passed since it had managed to cobble together an experiment. And this one proved no less interesting to it.

In the center of the formation, a towering green crystal sat. It was made of hundreds of hexagonal towers; some were thin as a knife, others were skyscraper-sized. The arid dirt around the formation was cracked and caked, dryer than bones in a desert. On a closer level of inspection, the lone intelligence could see the incredibly slight green haze forming one millimeter from the crystal's surface. Veins of iron, silver, platinum, and copper glinted deep within the formation like frozen smoke.

To the south, a water tower defended a desolate desert town. Nothing moved in the town; all the humans were gone. A general store sat with food still artificially preserved and coke, still cold, in a chest-height refrigerator. The lone intelligence had seen fit to pump in electric power through nano-wormholes connected to the power lines.

To the west, a gaping hole in the ground glowed brightly - deep toward the center of this planet, a magma flare had built and died in a few minutes' time. Hot air shimmered upward above the hole, gradually disappating into the air.

North of the hole, amidst great desert and dunes, a pit ends with a ring of tendrils that wave lazily in the wind. The whole scene appears to be waiting for something, or someone.

Further to the south, beyond displaced moon-scape, a jungle island hums with life. Concrete structures squat, ugly and kitschy, an invader in the mists. The hum of a generator can be heard in the background, providing a steady bass to strange animal roars and growls.