The visible Plain is barren. The usual desert life - lichens and scrub brush, snakes and lizards, scorpions and spiders, wild dogs and ground squirrels - is present but scarce. You encounter it mainly when that is inconvinient. Which sums up Plain life generally. You encounter the real strangeness only when that is most inopportune. The Lieutenant claims a man trying to commit suicide here could spend years without becoming uncomfortable.