The last mile
Landmarks and memory
What do you keep, when the compass has brought you close?
Generated interpretation
First look
A compass can be perfect and still miss the door. Memory finishes many journeys.
Look closer
Ants learn the look of the nest surroundings. Birds learn ridges and coasts. You learn your kitchen in the dark.
Keep looking
Landmark memory fails when the world is rebuilt. That is why a clear-cut forest can strand a navigator who did everything right.
Where else
Desert ants, Homing pigeons, Humans, Many territorial birds.
Stories that use this
A question to carry outside
What landmark would you miss first if it were gone tomorrow?