The Star Zoo. Harry Gilbert
RRY GILBERT
The Star Zoo
THE STAR ZOO
Humans are the most successful animals on the planet Earth – successful, that is, in the fight with other animals. If it’s a question of fighting for food or land, then we humans always win. We cut down trees, build houses and factories, grow our own food. The animals must go and find another place to live … if they can.
We humans always win because we are intelligent. We can think, talk, use tools, make wonderful machines. We are extremely clever animals …
Perhaps too clever. Perhaps people in the future will think differently. Hummingbird (Hummy for short) is a girl of sixteen who lives in about 22,500 AD, on a planet a long way from Earth. She likes clothes and dancing, and worries about who she will marry. She has never seen a tree. She has never seen any animal or bird. She knows what animals are, of course, because there are stories about them in the Book of Remembering. But who can believe old stories like that?
For Will
1
You must marry me
Nothing ever happens on Just Like Home – that’s the name of the planet I live on. I get so bored!
But tonight was Remembering Night and that’s exciting. There’s the big fire where everybody must put on something that they love and watch it burn. Then there’s the dancing round the fire.
But what I like best about Remembering Night are the clothes. We usually wear what we like on Just Like Home – but the clothes must have the name of our name-animal on them. For example, I always have the word ‘Hummingbird’ on my clothes, which means my name is Hummingbird – Hummy for short.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.