One evening the gulls that were not night-flying stood together on the sand,

thinking. Jonathan took all his courage in hand and walked to the Elder Gull, who,

it was said, was soon to be moving beyond this world.

"Chiang..." he said a little nervously.

The old seagull looked at him kindly. "Yes, my son?" Instead of being enfeebled by

age, the Elder had been empowered by it; he could out fly any gull in the Flock,

and he had learned skills that the others were only gradually coming to know.

"Chiang, this world isn't heaven at all, is it?" The Elder smiled in the moonlight.

"You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull," he said.

"Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as

heaven?"

"No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time.

Heaven is being perfect." He was silent for a moment. "You are a very fast flier,

aren't you?"

"I... I enjoy speed," Jonathan said, taken a back but proud that the Elder had

noticed.

"You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect

speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the

speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits.

Perfect speed, my son, is being there."

Without warning, Chiang vanished and appeared at the water's edge fifty feet

away, all in the flicker of an instant. Then he vanished again and stood, in the same

millisecond, at Jonathan's shoulder. "It's kind of fun," he said.

Jonathan was dazzled. He forgot to ask about heaven. "How do you do that? What

does it feel like? How far can you go?"

"You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go," the Elder said. "I've

gone everywhere and everywhen I can think of." He looked across the sea. "It's

strange.

The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those

who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember,

Jonathan, heaven isn't a place or a time, because place and time are so very

meaningless. Heaven is..."

"Can you teach me to fly like that?" Jonathan Seagull trembled to conquer another

unknown.