>
> Although a "winnah" has already been announced,
>I thought I'd mention something in the story that
>had me puzzled. To wit, the law of conservation
>of mass as it pertains to the strange cloud-like
>being's method of propulsion through space. It
>appears that the cloud expels a part of its own
>mass in order to propel itself in a particular
>direction -- how is that mass replenished? Of
>course, this isn't an inconsistency or flaw; it's
>just something that isn't vital to the story
>which is rightly left unexplained, and might have
>a perfectly reasonable explanation. The cloud
>could collect particles from space, or convert
>the mass of the moons that it sculpts for its own
>uses. So this isn't a criticism, just a question
>mark over the head of my cartoon avatar.

Not that I really sat down and worked out their anatomy and physiology, but I figure the aliens use some sort of natural waste product to propel themselves through space. Basically, they're farting their way through the vacuum. ;-)

So, they eat something (like the parts of the moons they take off to make the statues) and then merrilly go on their way. I guess that explains how the cload got away so quickly after shaping the moon--it digested all that rock, had this really bombastic gas attack, and flew away at about .5c

:-)