This means that what? ” Linda requested. Gene stooped, searched the floor and located a pebble. selecting it up, he threw it during the portal. The stone ticked off the flagstone of the hall flooring, bounded a couple of times and skidded to a cease. “It capability Euclid’s mom wore wrestle boots, yet that’s now not information. ” “Huh? ” “Never brain. I don’t understand what it ability. Who comes out this fashion? And what occurs if we move in? Or is that this simply one other go out in one other a part of the fort? ” the 3 of them exchanged baffled seems to be, then walked again round the portal, happening the trail a couple of ft. “Where to? ” Gene requested. “Let’s remain at the major path,” Linda stated. “I see footprints all over the place it, so someone needs to come right here on a regular basis. i'm hoping it signifies that this portal is likely one of the strong ones. ” “Probably does. good day, perhaps this can be Earth. ” Gene reached to the touch a frond, which right away recoiled, rolling itself up till it gave the look of a protracted eco-friendly cigar. Gene sighed. “Then back, might be no longer. ” They made their approach alongside the trail, relocating throughout the clearing and into the timber. right here the undergrowth wasn’t shy, even though it used to be lush, nearly impenetrable. They turned conscious of sounds. throughout, bugs clicked and chirped. Whooping cries got here from a distance, echoing one of the timber. They walked via deep coloration, the soil of the trail smooth and loamy. Smells have been a variety of, and Gene was once reminded of a greenhouse. The smell of damp earth and rotting crops was once heavy. “Reminds me of Phipps Conservatory,” Gene stated. “Where’s that? ” “My fatherland — botanical gardens. I consider going there on grade-school box journeys. factor is, the crops seems bizarre. Kinda jogs my memory of the Carboniferous. ” “The Carbon . . . oh, you suggest thousands of years in the past. ” “Yeah. truly, perhaps early Jurassic. ” “Maybe we’ve long gone again in time. ” “I doubt it. I don’t realize something, and that i took a number of classes in paleontology. ” “Do you're thinking that this can be one other planet out in house? ” “My bet is we’re on one other planet evidently, however the position is, like, genuine moot. ” “You suggest we would be within the 5th size or whatever? ” “Well, ‘fifth size’ doesn’t particularly suggest whatever. Neither does ‘alternate world,’ to my mind set. really, the observe exchange potential ‘every different one,’ so it's going to be ‘alternative world,’ with a view to get semantically fussy. ” Gene considered it. “No, replacement quite ability a decision among issues, so . . . Hell, what might the right kind be aware be? ” “You’ve misplaced me. ” “Doesn’t subject. rattling. How approximately ‘optional metrical frame’? ” “Anything you assert. ” “ ‘Option body’ for brief. Yeah, i love that. this is often one of the alternative frames. ” “Kvaas ejarnak kevak bo nera? ” Snowclaw growled. Linda responded, “We have been speaking approximately the place this position might be, Snowclaw, and Gene used to be asserting that — ” Linda stopped in her tracks and appeared shocked. “Hey,” Gene acknowledged. “I understood him, too, a bit. Wasn’t what he acknowledged whatever like, ‘What are you humans jabbering approximately? ’ ” “Yeah, that’s what I understood too. ” “Snowclaw, elevate your correct arm.