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see," said Masklin, hoping that Gurder was in a state to take all this in. "He won't know it, but he'll be helping us. So it'll all be right. Probably it's meant." Not meant by anyone, he told himself conscientiously. Just meant in general.
    Gurder considered this.
    "Well, all right," he said. "But no cutting the bag. We can get in through the zipper, all right?" They did. It stuck a bit halfway, since zippers always do, but it didn't take long to get an opening big enough for the nomes to climb down inside.
    "What shall we do if he looks in?" said Angalo.
    "Nothing," said Masklin. "Just smile, I suppose."
    The tree frogs were far out on the branch now. What had looked like a smooth expanse of gray-green wood was, close up, a maze of rough bark, roots, and clumps of moss. It was unbearably frightening for frogs who had spent their lives in a world with petals around it.
    But they crawled onward. They didn't know the meaning of the word "retreat." If it came to that, they didn't know the meaning of the word "bromeliad." Or "frog." Or any other word.
     

Chapter 4
    HOTELS: A place where travelling humans are parked at night. Other humans bring them food, including the famous bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. There are beds and towels and special things that rain on humans to get them clean.
    From A Scientific Encyclopaedia for the Enquiring Young Nome by Angalo de Haberdasheri.
     
    Blackness.
    "It's very dark in here, Masklin."
    "Yes, and I can't get comfortable."
    "Well, you'll have to make the best of it."
    "A hairbrush! I've just sat down on a hairbrush!"
    "We will be landing shortly."
    "Good."
    "And there's a tube of something -"
    "I'm hungry. Isn't there anything to eat?"
    "I've still got that peanut."
    "Where? Where?"
    "Now you've made me drop it."
    "Gurder?"
    "Yes?"
    "What are you doing? Are you cutting something?"
    "He's cutting a hole in his sock." Silence.
    "Well? What of it? I can if I want to. It's my sock." More silence.
    "I shall just feel better for doing it." Still more silence.
    "It's just a human, Gurder. There's nothing special about it."
    "We're in its bag, aren't we?"
    "Yes, but you said yourself that Arnold Bros. is something in our heads. Didn't you?"
    "Yes."
    "Well, then?" "
    This just makes me feel better, that's all. Subject closed."
    "We're about to land."
    "How will we know when -"
    "I am sure I could have done it better. Eventually."
    "Is this the Florida place? Angalo, get your foot out of my face."
    "Yes. This country traditionally welcomes immigrants. "
    "Is that what we are?"
    "Technically you are en route to another destination." "Which?"
    "The stars."
    "Oh. Thing?"
    "Yes?"
    "Is there any record of nomes being here before?"
    "What do you mean? We're the nomes!"
    "Yes, but there may have been others."
    "We're all that there is! Aren't we?"
    Tiny coloured lights flickered in the darkness of the bag.
    "Thing?" Masklin repeated.
    "I am searching available data. Conclusion: no reliable sighting of nomes. All recorded immigrants have been in excess of four inches high."
    "Oh. I just wondered. I wondered if we were all that there was."
    "You heard the Thing. No reliable sightings, it said."
    "No one saw us until today."
    "Thing, do you know what happens next?"
    "We will pass through Immigration and Customs. Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of a subversive organisation?"
    Silence.
    "What, us? Why are you asking us that?"
    "It is the sort of question that gets asked. I am monitoring communications."
    "Oh. Well. I don't think we have. Have we?"
    "No."
    "No."
    "No. I didn't think we were. What does 'subversive' mean?"
    "The question seeks to establish whether you've come here to overthrow the Government of the United States."
    "I don't think we want to do that. Do we?"
    "No."
    "No."
    "No, we don't. They don't have to worry about us."
    "Very clever idea, though."
    "What is?"
    "Asking the questions when people arrive. If anyone was coming here to do some subversive overthrowing, everyone'd