A packet storing a piece of data, just like an orange with a message written on it, once pushed travels for a period of time before coming back to the source - and for this period of time, we can safely forget its message without losing data.

This is an old idea, but a fun one...

] As such, the Internet has a non-zero momentary data
] storage capacity. It is possible to push out a piece of
] information and effectively have it stored until echoed
] back. By establishing a mechanism for cyclic transmission
] and reception of chunks of data to and from a number of
] remote hosts, it is possible to maintain an arbitrary
] amount of data constantly `on the wire', thus
] establishing a high-capacity volatile medium.