Chapter 3
Circles, Apples and Beyond
Humans, as you might know, are sometimes kind of ...well... they are sometimes focused on the wrong things.
For example, as for right now most human tecnologie developed to detect alien life or rather signals from alien life are focused on all the wrong signals and frequencies, otherwise they would've been able to detect ,not only, a few hundred alien space ships cruising through the solar system but also the tardis which was in orbit of the earth at this very moment.
"So what you're trying to tell me is" Simba was still staring in disbelief at the gigantic blue and green ball floating outside the tardis.
"that this ball thing is a planet and that planets are... what again?."
It now occurred to the doctor that he might have forgotten about just how little your average inhabitant of planet earth truly knew about his or her homeplanet.
"Well Simba, let me show it to you from a different point of view."
The doctor went back to the console and flicked a few switches.
Suddenly it seemed like the big ball outside of the tardis was growing bigger and bigger.
Simba started to slowly back away from the door.
"Don't worry Simba" Said the doctor. "Nothing can happen to us while we're in here."
Simba didn't know why , but he trusted this statement.
Now Simba also realised that the planet wasn't getting bigger, the tardis was just moving towards it.
Slow, yet steady, more and more things came into viewing distance.
It was far beyond astounding to Simba once he recognised the savana to be down there , down there on this ball.
"I hope this little ride helped you understand."
Simaba was still stunned. "W-w-w-where is it ?" The doctor raised his right eyebrow
"Where is what?" It was with an almost ghostly movement that Simba turned his head to the doctor.
"This planet, if the savana is on this planet, then where is this planet ?"
A smile escaped the doctors face before he flicked yet another bunch of swithches, resulting in the tardis backing up again untill planet earth was but the size of a golf ball.
"Do you know what sand grains are, Simba ?" The small lion nodded. "They are like teeny tiny stones and you can't count them because there are to many of them and many many sand grains form a dessert."
This explanation was very pleasing to the doctor."Yes , they are teeny tiny but for ants, for example, they are already
the size of a hands palm"
A confused look rushed over Simbas face "Hands?"
The doctor corrected himself. "Or size of their paws and let's just say, for fun, that there are creatures which are alot more tiny than ants. To these creatures a grain of sand must be ginormous, not to mention the size of a whole desert."
Now Simba started to understand. "You mean that we are like these creatures and we think that planets are gigantic but they really are small and this planet is just one of a whole lot of others. "
Simba gasped for air, this was amazing but he still didn't understand one thing.
"If a planet is a ball , then how come nobody nobody falls off ? "
Smiling like a contest winner, the doctor closed the tardis doors, went up to the console and said, just before flicking yet another switch."These are the kind of questions i want to hear."
1686, Cambridge, England
"mmmmhhh" This noise of appreciation escaped the tea drinking professor as he enjoyed the warm evening air.
He placed the tea cup on the table and leaned back.
The 43 year old professor was truly at peace with himself and the world around him.
Not too far away from this display of human relaxedness, a blue wooden box had just materialized.
The doors of said box opened and a lion cub as well as a shorthaired relatively tall man stepped out of it.
The tall man pointed at the very relaxed professor whose back was turned towards the two of them.
It was obvious that the tall man wanted the lion cub to see what was about to happen, so he placed the feline on his right shoulder.
Then it happened an apple, a very good and tasty looking apple might i add, fell from the tree and onto the head of the previously very relaxed professor.
However the professor hadn't, as one might assume, turned angry, no, instead the professor had become curious.
He picked up the apple and observed it.
The professor stud up and went inside the university building.
Meanwhile the man and the lion cub had gone back back into the blue box.
Said box disappeared about five seconds later.
Present day, Orbit around Earth
"And that's why humans know why things fall down ?" Simba was still confused, even after what he had seen.
"Basically, but the right word for it would be gravitational force. Gravitationall forces are are like the Earth pulling on you and keeping you on the ground. That pull is gravity at work. Gravitational force depends on the size of the planet. The smaller the planet , the higher you can jump , for example."
The doctor was filled with glee as he explained the wonders of physics to the little lion.
Simba tilted his head slightly to the left. "I know that you already showed me a lot of things , but that seems a bit far fetched. Why would i be able to jump higher somewhere else?"
The doctor smiled once again, and just like before he flicked and switched a few switches.
The tardis engines roared up once again and then stopped after about ten seconds.
Once again the doctor opened the tardis doors. A violet ray of light fell into the tardis.
"Asmanias three" He said while pointing at the doors.
Simba approached the source of the violet light untill he faced the surface of the alien planet known as "Asmanias three".
A violet sun hung in the sky , beneath it glittered an ocean as green as an emerald. Small waves of water rolled over the pink beach as birds of unbelievable beauty crossed the sky.
Simba stepped out of the tardis. "Now try'n jump"The doctor said from within the tardis.
Simba jumped and reached without any effort the height of the tardis doors.
It was also now that Simba realized something that he had ignored before. The tardis was smaller on the outside.
Strangely enough though, he didn't really care about that right now.
He had learned so much today and seen things beyond his wildest dreams.
He really couldn't care less about this seemingly small logical impossibility.
"You were right" he said " i can jump higher, this is so cool." The cub kept on jumping up and down.
The doctor watched the cub from a few feet away.
"How i missed this. Showing people , or rather creatures, the wonders of the universe" He thought.
End of Chapter 3
next Chapter
Chapter 4 Cyber- what now ?
