"I, the most humble Mother Joachima, now in the one hundred and sixteenth year of my life, in obedience to the request of Mother Superior, was entrusted with chronicling the beginnings of our mission here on Terra Two and the first hundred years of terraforming."

"Many people would have been better suited for this task, since they are much more knowledgeable and eloquent than I, but I was chosen for I was blessed to witness many of the events first hand. Whether I will be worthy of this task is at the mercy of the Almighty, to Whom I pray for guidance and fair resurgence of my memories."

[...]

The sun peeked from behind Terra Two, festooning its edge with a very thin and sharply intense sliver of light that broadened quickly, casting coffee colored shadows on the chocolate rose surface, shimmering on the plane of the water and making it shine like old gold. The images of the methane containers echoed on the restless liquid surface and thin wisps of foam got carried by the breeze to form even and delicate crests between the islands. The waves interfered and harmonized creating complex ephemeral patterns, almost as if the planet was trying to tell the newcomers a story in a language so ancient and abstruse only it understood.