Using the viewing disc was like looking down a hole into another world, and at first the three kept lurching back and clutching each other every time they tried, feeling as if they might be about to fall in. The viewpoint appeared to be hovering a few metres above Eo’s head, showing anything that came within a circle of a couple of metres centring around him. Everything was oddly foreshortened from that angle, of course, and they got to know the different characters that entered the circle mainly as clumps of hair with noses sticking out the front. What they were able to hear also centred on Eo, though the audio range extended further, beyond the circle of what they could see. What was peculiar, however, was the way they could only hear something when Eo was paying heed to it. When his attention wandered, the speaker’s words blurred into white noise. It was an interesting insight into the selective hearing of the young, but maddening for the G on the beach. The words, ‘Why can’t the boy pay attention!?’ were heard on more than one occasion, with a range of adjectives added on.
