Up Goer

An up goer is a machine like a very tall, thin container that burns liquid very quickly and is pushed up by this — first through the air, and then higher than the air, to where there is no air at all.

How it goes up

Most of an up goer is not for people. It is two or three big containers that hold liquid that burns, one on top of another. The liquid burns and turns into very hot air that goes out of the bottom very quickly. Pushing all that hot air down is what pushes the up goer up. (When you push on something, it pushes back on you. This is one of the most important things people know about how things move.)

When all the liquid in one container has burned, that container is not needed now. The up goer cuts it from its body, and the container falls back down. Then another container starts to burn.

Why it needs to go around

To be above the air and not fall back down, an up goer needs to go around the ground we live on, very very quickly — much more quickly than the quickest flying machines. It falls at all times; but it moves to one side very quickly, and because of this, as it falls, it goes around the ground and does not hit it. Going up is the easy part. Going around quickly and not hitting the ground is the hard part.

The up goer that most people know about is the one that carried three men up to the white circle in the sky. It was as tall as a building with ten floors on top of ten floors, and most of its body was the liquid it burned.