Floor 13: Hooray for Science

[not_a_rock]

The stars are so bright tonight... it's hard to believe they're really little cities up in the dome of Heaven. Though, that would explain where the light comes from; they must be all lit up with torches!

... But I still don't understand how air can have parts.

Comments

[canttrustliars]

[Totally amused]

The stars are little cities?

[not_a_rock]

Yes! Lika said she came from the star of Saturn! And that they only look so small because they are so far away.

[canttrustliars]

[Chuckle.]

I see. I think she was trying to make it simple for you, Ki. Not all stars are cities, only some. And they aren't so much cities as other worlds. Imagine another planet, another Earth, but all the way out near the stars.

[not_a_rock]

[Oh, Hajime. Copernicus won't be around for a good 4000 years or so.]

But that doesn't make any sense. The stars are suspended in the dome of Heaven. To be another Earth they would need their own dome of Heaven.

Unless you just mean it's much bigger than one city? They must be VERY far away then, to look so small.

[captainverg]

I thought they were balls of burning gas far.. far away.. or pictures of the gods.

You can use them to travel when lost at sea.

[not_a_rock]

Burning... gas? Like a foxfire? But then how could people live on them?

You can use them on land, too, but I never traveled so far that I needed them.

[captainverg]

People don't live on stars.. they're large balls of burning gas..like fire balls. The ones that don't twinkle are planets. That's what my Papa said. Sometimes you can see Mars, Venus, or even Jupiter.

They're all very very very far away though.

I never traveled on the -land- before either. Not there was much land hahah heh on my world to begin with.

[not_a_rock]

What's a planet?

There is not much land - so, it is mostly water? Where do you grow food?

{OOC: The twinkle is caused by the Earth's atmosphere, not the stars or planets themselves - see here. Papa must not have been an astronomer?}

[yousoundblue]

...

[Okay, you know what, JUST FORGET IT. Lika will find a copy of Cosmos or something and make Ki watch it.]

Do you see any constellations you recognize?

[not_a_rock]

I...

You know, I don't. That's very strange.

[yousoundblue]

I haven't seen anything I recognize, but I haven't been looking closely. To be honest, seeing the sky without Saturn or Jupiter looks odd to me, anyway.

[To be completely honest, Lika hasn't really been looking at all, since "staying on this side of the balcony door" doesn't really count as stargazing, and a sun that appears bigger than it does on Jupiter freaks her out, anyway.]

[not_a_rock]

Oh, that's right - things must look very different up on Saturn! Can you see Earth down below?

[Ki is presuming that she misheard Lika about seeing Saturn in the sky, because Lika is FROM Saturn, because the moon business made absolutely no sense to her.]

[loldemonlord]

Oh... that sounds like a story my friends used to tell me!

Ummm. Parts?

[not_a_rock]

You've heard such stories before?

Yes, parts, that's what she said. "Ox-eegen" is the part we use. But I don't see how something you can't hold, see or touch can be divided into parts.

[fullmetal_twerp]

(have a thunk as Ed's head hits his desk at your ignorance)

Stars aren't cities, and I'm guessing you've never heard of the concept of atoms, have you? (sounds oh-so-pained)

[not_a_rock]

[Ed! Be nice to the Bronze Age girl! It's not her fault she was born 3-4000 years before Copernicus! She's ignorant, not stupid, and she CAN tell that you think she is.]

What is it of Adam's that I'm supposed to have heard of? Everyone here comes from different places, you know, I don't look down on you just because you haven't heard of King Marduk.

Well, there's a girl on the boat who says she's from the traveling star Saturn, so maybe you should talk to her.