Truckers is the first novel in
Terry Pratchett's non-
Discwold trilogy about the life of
nomes, collected as
The Bromeliad. Pratchett's nomes are six inches tall, and live alongside humans in a
Borrower-like existence.
The story of Truckers is the tale of a small group of nomes, living outside, slowly dying off. They move into a giant department store, where there is already a thriving nome civilization. Unfortunately, the Store is about to close...
The grand kicker to the trilogy (Truckers, Diggers, and Wings) is that the nomes are really aliens who have lost their technology after crashlanding on Earth thousands of years ago. After stealing trucks, living in an abandoned quarry, and stowing away on the Concorde, they contact their ship and go to live as citizens of the galaxy.
Each chapter in the first two books is introduced by a quote from The Book Of Nome, including pronouncements like
X. When Lo! One returned, saying, I have gone
upon Wheels, and I have seen the Outside.
XI. And they said to him, What is the Outside?
XII. And he said, It is Big.
--From the Book Of Nome, Accounts v. X-XII