This short story takes place in the Psi-5 Aurigae star system, a solar analog with one Earth-like world dubbed Lavoisier. The fourth expedition to that star system made several startling discoveries, the most profound of which involved the planet's prodigious covering of water.
Fiction pen name of Rod Martin, Jr. (full name: Rodney Carl Martin, Jr).
Mr. Martin has been a Hollywood artist with screen credit, a software engineer with a degree summa cum laude, and a published author of several science fiction books.