The Bridge over the Chasm [SPOILERS]

Action in the strip has recently returned to the Trog Plunge-site on the side of the Great Chasm. So, a little background info..

SPOILERS

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The Chasm existed before Audra went down and Poked something in the Hot Zone, but said Poking made the Chasm that much Greater. One of the many project on which Ludwig embarked after he became Earl was generally clean up the Chasm area, installing devices which reflected sunlight down, thus providing illumination during the day, and building several bridges across the gap. All(?) but two of these bridges were later destroyed when the Sneeches took over their side of the Chasm. One is located by "Crescent Hall", where most of the Basement VIPs now live, and is fixed. The second is retractable, with its (fairly simple) controls built into a "Duralab", very similar to the one which summons the Great Riddler. It was not constructed this way for defensive purposes, but as a working test for a number of scientific and engineering principles that Ludwig was interested in at the time. Still, the bridge and controls ended up becoming a semi-official E family privilege/secret, and the bridge was thus normally pulled back into the wall. And so it was when the Humans eventually abandoned the Basement; the current generation of Basement-dwellers have no idea the bridge even exists. The Trogs came to use the site for their Plunges after the bridge was built, because it was in an out-of-the-way but nevertheless prominent location, complete with a gap in the fancy ceremonial railing. So yes, Trogs taking Plunges is a relatively new phenomenon. And no, none of this explains the Trog-catching Tree-branch  that Someone constructed further down in the darkness.

Ah, I'll have to add that to the wiki once I get around to it.

I presume the controls don't work for them because they don't pass the herediscan, but... no passing Jibjib has ever noticed that there's a mechanism tucked in under the Plunge point?

They probably do but they also must see a whole bunch of stuff. They might have told someone but a relative few care about every little bit and that.

Also, after the Sneeches did their little walk, if anyone who knew about the bridge probably considered it just fine as it is, retracted. Now that the Sneeches are gone and they left a whole bunch of living space that might change.