Wings
AIRPORTS: A place where people hurry up and wait. (Wings)
... humans are very good at not seeing things they know aren't there. (Wings)
It has been said that everything everywhere affects everything else. This may be true.
Or perhaps the world is just full of patterns. (Wings)
'You get more air close to the ground,’ said Angalo.‘I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up.’
‘Why not?’ said Gurder.
‘Dunno. It’s frightened of heights, I guess.' (Wings)
They stared at the branch. There wasn't just one flower out there, there were dozens, although the frogs weren't able to think like this because frogs can't count beyond one.
They saw lots of ones. (Wings)
He didn't even wait to catch his breath. Experience had taught him that it was when you stopped to catch your breath that things caught you. (Wings)
'You're not supposed to eat like that,' said Gurder severely. 'You're not supposed to shove it all in your mouth and then cut off what won't fit.' (Wings)
Little dishes of strange wobbly stuff tasting of pink turn up in nearly every meal on all aeroplanes. No one knows why. There's probably some sort of special religious reason. (Wings)
Many humans spend a lot of time travelling from place to place, which is odd because there are usually too many humans at the place they’re going to anyway. (Wings)
'There’s more than one kind of truth.' (Wings)
'I thought you always said kids spent far too much time running around and getting into mischief these days?’
‘Ah. Yes. Well, that’s juvenile delinquency,’ said Gurder sternly. ‘It's quite different from our youthful high spirits.' (Wings)
'I don't think humans want to know things that disturb them.' (Wings)
'It is a helicopter.’
‘It’s certainly noisy,’ said Gurder, who had never come across the word.
‘It is a “plane without wings”,’ said Angalo, who had.
Gurder gave this a few moments’ careful and terrified thought.
‘Thing?’ he said slowly.
‘Yes?’
‘What keeps it up in the-’ Gurder began.
‘Science.’
‘Oh. Well. Science? Good. That’s all right, then.' (Wings)
'So is it safe to get out of the bag now?’
‘“Safe” is a relative word.’
‘What? What? Like “uncle”, you mean?' (Wings)
'That's an important theological point,' he muttered. 'But I'm too hungry to think about it, so let's eat first, and then if it turns out to be wrong to eat it, I promise to be very sorry.' (Wings)
There are times when Time itself pauses.
Masklin realized he was standing at one of those points where History takes a deep breath and decides what to do next. (Wings)
This is a planet. Most of it is covered in water but it's still called Earth. (Wings)
This is a bit of the continent, sticking out into the warmer sea to the south-east. Most of its inhabitants call it Florida.
Actually, they don’t. Most of its inhabitants don’t call it anything. They don’t even know it exists. Most of them have six legs, and buzz. A lot of them have eight legs and spend a lot of time in webs waiting for six-legged inhabitants to arrive for lunch. Many of the rest have four legs, and bark or moo or even lie in swamps pretending to be logs. In fact, only a tiny proportion of the inhabitants of Florida have two legs, and even most of them don't call it Florida. They just go tweet, and fly around a lot. (Wings)
Mathematically, an almost insignificant amount of living things in Florida call it Florida. But they're the ones who matter. At least, in their opinion. And their opinion is the one that matters. In their opinion. (Wings)
'What was that thing, Thing?’ said Masklin.
The Thing extended one of its sensors.
‘A long-necked turtle.’
‘Oh.’
The turtle swam peacefully away.
‘Lucky, really,’ said Gurder.
‘What?’ said Angalo.
‘It having a long neck like that and being called a long-necked turtle. It’d be really awkward having a name like that if it had a short neck.' (Wings)
'It's a wild-life preserve,' said the Thing.
Gurder looked shocked. 'What? Like jam? Made of animals?' (Wings)
'If it is alligators,’ said Gurder, trying to look noble, ‘I shall show them how a nome can die with dignity.’
‘Please yourself,’ said Angalo, his eyes scanning the undergrowth. ‘I'm planning to show them how a nome can run away with speed.' (Wings)
As a form of transport, the goose leaves a lot to be desired. (Wings)
Belief is a wonderful thing for those who need it .... (Wings)
SPACE: There are two types of space: a) something containing nothing and b) nothing contains everything. It is what you have left when you haven't got anything else. There is no air or gravity, which is what holds people on to things. If there wasn't space, everything would be in one place. (Wings)
For some reason, humans needed things that weren't true. (Wings)
'Is it dead?' said Gurder.
'It can't die! It's existed for thousands of years!'
Gurder shook his head. 'Sounds like a good reason for dying,' he said. (Wings)
... it was often said that the sky was full of stars. It was untrue. The sky was full of sky. There were unlimited amounts of sky and really, by comparison, very few stars. (Wings)
SCIENCE: A way of finding things out and then making them work. Science explains what is happening around us the whole time. So does RELIGION, but science is better because it comes up with more understandable excuses when it’s wrong. There is a lot more to Science than you think. (Wings)
There is no sound on the moon, but this doesn’t matter because there is no one to hear anything. Sound would just be a waste. (Wings)
GRAVITY: This is not properly understood, but it is what makes small things, like nomes, stick to big things, like planets. Because of SCIENCE, this happens whether you know about gravity or not. Which just goes to show that Science is happening all the time. (Wings)
'I was embarrassed. It’s always embarrassing, meeting deities,’ said Gurder. (Wings)
'Flexible? Flexible? My mind’s got so flexible I could pull it out of my ears and tie it under my chin!’ snapped Gurder. (Wings)
Once you know things, you’re a different person. You can’t help it. (Wings)
Some parts of the world had night while other parts had day. This, Gurder said, was bad organization. (Wings)
'They think you have just arrived.'
'Well, that's true.'
'Not arrive here. Arrived on the planet. Arrived from the stars.'
'But we've been here for thousands of years. We live here!'
'Humans find it a lot easier to really believe in little people from the sky than little people from the Earth. They would prefer to think of little green men than leprechauns.' (Wings)
'I think these are quite bright humans, Thing. I pointed to my mouth and they understood I was hungry.'
'Ah,' said Thing. 'Take me to your larder.' (Wings)
'You'd think one world would be big enough for all of us,' said Grimma.
'Oh, I don't know,' said Masklin. 'Maybe one world isn't big enough for anyone.' (Wings)
'Where are we heading Angalo?'
Angalo rubbed his hands and puller every lever right back.
'So far up,' he said, with satisfaction, 'that there is no down.' (Wings)
... humans are very good at not seeing things they know aren't there. (Wings)
It has been said that everything everywhere affects everything else. This may be true.
Or perhaps the world is just full of patterns. (Wings)
'You get more air close to the ground,’ said Angalo.‘I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up.’
‘Why not?’ said Gurder.
‘Dunno. It’s frightened of heights, I guess.' (Wings)
They stared at the branch. There wasn't just one flower out there, there were dozens, although the frogs weren't able to think like this because frogs can't count beyond one.
They saw lots of ones. (Wings)
He didn't even wait to catch his breath. Experience had taught him that it was when you stopped to catch your breath that things caught you. (Wings)
'You're not supposed to eat like that,' said Gurder severely. 'You're not supposed to shove it all in your mouth and then cut off what won't fit.' (Wings)
Little dishes of strange wobbly stuff tasting of pink turn up in nearly every meal on all aeroplanes. No one knows why. There's probably some sort of special religious reason. (Wings)
Many humans spend a lot of time travelling from place to place, which is odd because there are usually too many humans at the place they’re going to anyway. (Wings)
'There’s more than one kind of truth.' (Wings)
'I thought you always said kids spent far too much time running around and getting into mischief these days?’
‘Ah. Yes. Well, that’s juvenile delinquency,’ said Gurder sternly. ‘It's quite different from our youthful high spirits.' (Wings)
'I don't think humans want to know things that disturb them.' (Wings)
'It is a helicopter.’
‘It’s certainly noisy,’ said Gurder, who had never come across the word.
‘It is a “plane without wings”,’ said Angalo, who had.
Gurder gave this a few moments’ careful and terrified thought.
‘Thing?’ he said slowly.
‘Yes?’
‘What keeps it up in the-’ Gurder began.
‘Science.’
‘Oh. Well. Science? Good. That’s all right, then.' (Wings)
'So is it safe to get out of the bag now?’
‘“Safe” is a relative word.’
‘What? What? Like “uncle”, you mean?' (Wings)
'That's an important theological point,' he muttered. 'But I'm too hungry to think about it, so let's eat first, and then if it turns out to be wrong to eat it, I promise to be very sorry.' (Wings)
There are times when Time itself pauses.
Masklin realized he was standing at one of those points where History takes a deep breath and decides what to do next. (Wings)
This is a planet. Most of it is covered in water but it's still called Earth. (Wings)
This is a bit of the continent, sticking out into the warmer sea to the south-east. Most of its inhabitants call it Florida.
Actually, they don’t. Most of its inhabitants don’t call it anything. They don’t even know it exists. Most of them have six legs, and buzz. A lot of them have eight legs and spend a lot of time in webs waiting for six-legged inhabitants to arrive for lunch. Many of the rest have four legs, and bark or moo or even lie in swamps pretending to be logs. In fact, only a tiny proportion of the inhabitants of Florida have two legs, and even most of them don't call it Florida. They just go tweet, and fly around a lot. (Wings)
Mathematically, an almost insignificant amount of living things in Florida call it Florida. But they're the ones who matter. At least, in their opinion. And their opinion is the one that matters. In their opinion. (Wings)
'What was that thing, Thing?’ said Masklin.
The Thing extended one of its sensors.
‘A long-necked turtle.’
‘Oh.’
The turtle swam peacefully away.
‘Lucky, really,’ said Gurder.
‘What?’ said Angalo.
‘It having a long neck like that and being called a long-necked turtle. It’d be really awkward having a name like that if it had a short neck.' (Wings)
'It's a wild-life preserve,' said the Thing.
Gurder looked shocked. 'What? Like jam? Made of animals?' (Wings)
'If it is alligators,’ said Gurder, trying to look noble, ‘I shall show them how a nome can die with dignity.’
‘Please yourself,’ said Angalo, his eyes scanning the undergrowth. ‘I'm planning to show them how a nome can run away with speed.' (Wings)
As a form of transport, the goose leaves a lot to be desired. (Wings)
Belief is a wonderful thing for those who need it .... (Wings)
SPACE: There are two types of space: a) something containing nothing and b) nothing contains everything. It is what you have left when you haven't got anything else. There is no air or gravity, which is what holds people on to things. If there wasn't space, everything would be in one place. (Wings)
For some reason, humans needed things that weren't true. (Wings)
'Is it dead?' said Gurder.
'It can't die! It's existed for thousands of years!'
Gurder shook his head. 'Sounds like a good reason for dying,' he said. (Wings)
... it was often said that the sky was full of stars. It was untrue. The sky was full of sky. There were unlimited amounts of sky and really, by comparison, very few stars. (Wings)
SCIENCE: A way of finding things out and then making them work. Science explains what is happening around us the whole time. So does RELIGION, but science is better because it comes up with more understandable excuses when it’s wrong. There is a lot more to Science than you think. (Wings)
There is no sound on the moon, but this doesn’t matter because there is no one to hear anything. Sound would just be a waste. (Wings)
GRAVITY: This is not properly understood, but it is what makes small things, like nomes, stick to big things, like planets. Because of SCIENCE, this happens whether you know about gravity or not. Which just goes to show that Science is happening all the time. (Wings)
'I was embarrassed. It’s always embarrassing, meeting deities,’ said Gurder. (Wings)
'Flexible? Flexible? My mind’s got so flexible I could pull it out of my ears and tie it under my chin!’ snapped Gurder. (Wings)
Once you know things, you’re a different person. You can’t help it. (Wings)
Some parts of the world had night while other parts had day. This, Gurder said, was bad organization. (Wings)
'They think you have just arrived.'
'Well, that's true.'
'Not arrive here. Arrived on the planet. Arrived from the stars.'
'But we've been here for thousands of years. We live here!'
'Humans find it a lot easier to really believe in little people from the sky than little people from the Earth. They would prefer to think of little green men than leprechauns.' (Wings)
'I think these are quite bright humans, Thing. I pointed to my mouth and they understood I was hungry.'
'Ah,' said Thing. 'Take me to your larder.' (Wings)
'You'd think one world would be big enough for all of us,' said Grimma.
'Oh, I don't know,' said Masklin. 'Maybe one world isn't big enough for anyone.' (Wings)
'Where are we heading Angalo?'
Angalo rubbed his hands and puller every lever right back.
'So far up,' he said, with satisfaction, 'that there is no down.' (Wings)
