....=††¤@# #@¤††=....
...=††¤@## ##@¤††=...
..=††¤@### ###@¤††=..
...=††¤@## ##@¤††=...
....=††¤@# #@¤††=....
.....=††¤@ ................ @¤††=.....
......=††¤ THE ALVAR FIELDS ¤††=......
.......=†† ¤¤¤##########¤¤¤ ††=.......
........=† †=........
.........= FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, THIRTY ODD =.........
.......... KILOMETERS. FROM WEST TO EAST, FOUR ..........
.......... THOUSAND METERS. FROM TOPSOIL TO STONE, ..........
.......... A FOOT OR TWO. NO ROOTS CAN FESTER, NO ..........
.........= DUST CAN LINGER. =.........
........=† †=........
.......=†† HERE IS EARTH, CLAY, AND STURDY LOW ††=.......
......=††¤ PLANTS. BUSHES FRAME THE STRIP. THE ¤††=......
.....=††¤@ EARTH IS BARE IN PATCHES AS LARGE AS @¤††=.....
....=††¤@# YOU AND ME. #@¤††=....
...=††¤@## ##@¤††=...
..=††¤@### CROSS IT TO GET TO THE OCEAN, OR DON'T ###@¤††=..
...=††¤@## TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE. ##@¤††=...
....=††¤@# #@¤††=....
.....=††¤@ @¤††=.....
......=††¤ ¤††=......
.......=†† ††=.......
........=† †=........
.........= =.........