The structure Sooky and the gang just went through is called an aboiteau. It's a little tunnel in a man-made levee in a marsh. It hasa tiny little door that only opens one way to let rainwater out but to keep sea water from flooding back a piece of marshland you want to dry. While growing up on the sand dunes along the gulf of Saint-Lawrence, it took me some time to understand the utility of those things to acadians until I saw the pipes of the Moncton storm drain. They had little doors to cover them at high tide, to keep the Petitcodiac separated from downtown Moncton.
It has no aliens, it's too boring for History television. But If I could take a picture of downtown and CGI all the modern concrete and parkings out of existence, we would only see marshland. Aboiteaux made Moncton possible and keeps the northern Cajuns safe from Katrina's cousin hurricanes.
