thomas , his movement almost unnoticed , and even if sighted , seeming as if it was dreamlike and was not even real , launched an orbed razor blade the shape and designation of a disk into the air , which soared to the midst of the round crotch-plainwhere , secured to the ground was a thin nylon rope that was coupled to the flying ball , a ball that had been puffed-up just like a normal balloon , and which was floating in the air like a common balloon doesand , swift as an eagle in flight , rapid like lightning snapping and crackling a stone , the razor blade sliced through the compact nylon , which no infirm hands could tear , and having set free the ball , which moved up into the air , it was pulled away by the magnetic fence , where it clashed and stayed on , having left behind the chopped nylon rope falling to the ground .