From the rushes, the scientists surmised, gravity only seems weak because the gravitons that produce it are concentrated in another part of hyperspace, on a different (mem)brane from our own. The region of hyperspace surrounding this 'mother brane' would be warped so severely that an alligator's expressionless eyes are watching us, before slipping back into its dream.

The young captain (His stock joke: "The real captain's not here, but I'll try to run this thing.") lectures us on how the Seminole People, still technically at war with the US, hid on islands; and how politicians are bought by sugar barons who, for quick profit, drained its arteries of vital fluid. I file this information, even while according to Einstein's equations, the more massive a body, the deeper will be the 'depression' it creates in space, and hence the greater will be the force of gravity experienced in its vicinity. Physicists refer to this distorting of space as it's 'curvature.' In general relativity, then, gravity is just a by-product of gawking at the 'gators with the other tourists, and laughing shallow jokes.

Back on shore, waiting to be sold to us, are photos snapped just before we sailed. Does seeing alligators change the way we look?

Nature won't come to an end,
               but it will

look
very different.