The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett [37]
"But we can feed them some of the silver plants, can't we?" said Carrot. "The ones here seem to do very well on them."
"Aren't they magnificent creatures?" said Leonard as a squadron of the creatures sailed overhead.
They turned to watch the flight, and then stared beyond it. There was possibly no limit to how often the view could amaze you.
The moon was rising over the world, and elephant's head filled half the sky.
It was... simply big. Too big to describe.
Wordlessly, all four voyagers climbed a small mound to get a clear view, and they stood in silence for some time. Dark eyes the size of oceans stared at them. Great crescents of ivory obscured the stars.
There was no sound but the occasional click and swish as the iconograph imp painted picture after picture.
Space wasn't big. It wasn't there. It was just nothing and therefore, in Rincewind's view, nothing to get humble about. But the world was big, and the elephant was huge.
"Which one is it?" said Leonard, after a while.
"I don't know," said Carrot. "You know, I'm not sure I ever really believed it before. You know... about the turtle and the elephants and everything. Seeing it all like this makes me feel very... very..."
"Scared?" suggested Rincewind.
"No."
"Upset?"
"No."
"Easily intimidated?"
"No."
Beyond the Rimfall, the continents of the world were coming into view under swirls of white cloud.
"You know... from up here... you can't see the boundaries between nations," said Carrot, almost wistfully.
"Is that a problem?" said Leonard. "Possibly something could be done."
"Maybe huge, really huge buildings in lines, along the frontiers," said Rincewind. "Or... or very wide roads. You could paint them different colours to save confusion."
"Should aerial travel become widespread," said Leonard, "it would be a useful idea to grow forests in the shape of the name of the country, or of other areas of note. I will bear this in mind."
"I wasn't actually sugges—" Carrot began. And then he stopped, and just sighed.
They went on watching, unable to tear themselves away from the view. Tiny sparkles in the sky showed where more flocks of dragons were sweeping between the world and the moon.
"We never see them back home," said Rincewind.
"I suspect the swamp dragons are their descendants, poor little things," said Leonard. "Adapted for heavy air."
"I wonder what else lives down here that we don't know about?" said Carrot.
"Well, there's always the invisible squid-like creature that sucks all the air out of —" Rincewind began, but sarcasm did not carry very well out here. The universe diluted it. The huge, black, solemn eyes in the sky withered it.
Besides, there was just... too much. Too much of everything. He wasn't used to seeing this much universe all in one go. The blue disc of the world, unrolling slowly as the moon rose, looked outnumbered.
"It's all too big," said Rincewind.
"Yes."
"Ook."
There was nothing to do but wait for full moonrise. Or Discsink.
Carrot carefully lifted a small dragon out of a coffee cup. "The little ones get everywhere," he said. "Just like kittens. But the adults just keep their distance and stare at us."
"Like cats, then," said Rincewind. He lifted up his hat and untangled a small silvery dragon from his hair.
"I wonder if we ought to take a few back?"
"We'll be taking them all back if we're not careful!"
"They look a bit like Errol," said Carrot. "You know, the little dragon that was our Watch mascot? He saved the city by working out how to, er, flame backwards. We all thought he was some new kind of dragon," Carrot added, "but now it looks as though he was a throwback. Is Leonard still out there?"
They looked out at Leonard, who had taken half an hour off to do some painting. A small dragon had perched on his shoulder.
"He says he's never seen light like it," said Rincewind. "He says he must have a picture. He's doing very well, considering."
"Considering what?"
"Considering that two of the tubes he was using contain tomato puree