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This is driving me crazy. I think it's one of the Bromeliad Trilogy, where the narration starts like.
Start with the earth. Find somewhere green. Zoom in, zoom in further. A tree. Zoom in even more. A flower in the side of the tree. Now zoom in even further, and there is a frog.
The flower is a bromeliad plant, which is why I think it's part of that trilogy, also known as Nomes.
But I haven't got access to the books, and I can't find the quote online.
Which book was this in?
Chapter 12 of Wings starts out:
Find a blue planet...
Focus
This is a planet. Most of it is covered with water, but it's still called Earth.
Find a country...
Focus
...blues and greens and browns under the sun, and long wisps of rain cloud being torn by the mountains...
Focus
...on a mountain, green and dripping, and there's a...
Focus
...tree, hung with moss and covered with flowers, and...
Focus
...on a flower with a little pool in it, is an epiphytic bromeliad.
It's possible you're confusing this zoom in on the bromeliad with the start of the story which zooms in on a nome in a dustbin at an airport:
Let the eye of your imagination be a camera...
This is the universe, a glittering ball of galaxies like the ornament on some unimaginable Christmas tree.
Find a galaxy...
Focus
This is a galaxy, swirled like the cream in a cup of coffee, every pinpoint of light a star.
Find a star...
Focus
This is a solar system, where planets barrel through the darkness around the central fires of the sun. Some planets hug close, hot enough to melt lead. Some drift far out, where the comets are born.
Find a blue planet...
Focus
This is a planet. Most of it is covered in water. It's called Earth.
Find a country...
Focus
...blues and greens and browns under the sun, and here's a pale oblong, which is...
Focus
...an airport, a concrete hive for silver bees. There's a...
Focus
...building full of people and noise, and...
Focus
...a hall of lights and bustle, and...
Focus
...a bin full of rubbish, and...
Focus
...a pair of tiny eyes...
Focus
...
Focus
...
Focus
...
Click!
Masklin slid cautiously down an old burger carton
