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There didn't seem to be much to do

PERHAPS IT'S TIME TO CALL IT A DAY He thought

Death turned to go but, just as he did so, he heard the faintest of noises It was to sound what one photon is to light, so weak and feeble that it would have passed entirely unheard in the din of an operating universe

It was a tiny piece ofinto existence

Death stalked over to the point of arrival and watched carefully

It was a paperclip (Many people think it should have been a hydrogen ainst the observed facts Everyone who has found a hitherto unknown egg-whisk ja an innocent kitchen drawer knows that rawinto the universe in fairly developed forlove compartments It chooses its shape to allay suspicion, and common , the little keys for central heating radiators,devices and old Kate Bush albums Why matter does this is unclear, but it is evident that matter has Plans

It is also apparent that creators so method of universe construction, and at other tientle methods of Continual Creation This follows studies by cos Bang can give a universe serious psychological probleets older)

Well, it was a start

There was another pop, which left a sently in the vacuu to take soot coalaxies, planets and continents, let alone tiny corkscrew-shaped things wiggling around in sli whether evolution orth all the bother of growing fins and legs and things But it indicated the start of an unstoppable trend

All he had to do was be patient, and he was good at that Pretty soon there'd be living creatures, developing liketired Growing old

Death sat back He could wait

Whenever they needed hi

Any created-again cos stuff happened in the firs couple of ether to form space and time and lots of really tiny black holes appeared and so on After that, they say, it became just a matter of, well, matter It was basically all over bar the h, it had a certain gaudy attraction

The little man sniffed

"Too showy," he said "You don't need all that noise It could just as easily have been a Big Hiss, or a bit of music"

"Could it?" said Rincewind

"Yeah, and it looked pretty iffy around the two picosecond oes these days No craftsmanship When I was a lad it took days to make a universe You could take pride in it Now they just throw it together and it's back on the lorry and away And, you knohat?"

"No?" said Rinceeakly

"They pinches stuff off the site They finds someone nearby ants to expand their universe a bit, next thing you know they've had it aith a bunch of fired it for an extension somewhere"

Rincewind stared at him

"Who are you?"

The man took the pencil from behind his ear and looked reflectively at the space around Rincewind "I s?" "What sort of things would you like?" "You're the Creator?" The little man looked very embarrassed "Not the Not the Just a I don't contract for the

big stuff, the stars, the gas giants, the pulsars and so on I just specialise in what you ave them a look of defiant pride "I do all my own trees, you know," he confided "Craftsmanship Takes years to learn how to make a tree Even the conifers"

"Oh," said Rincewind "I don't get so, that'sabout while they're installing stars or sohed "You know, people think itThey think you just have to move on the face of the waters and wave your hands a bit It's not like that at all" "It isn't?" The little ain "You soon run out of ides for snowflakes, for

exa it'd be a doddle to sneak in a few identical ones" "You do?" "You think to yourself, `There's a billion trillion squillion of the to

notice` But that's where professionalis"

"It does?"

"Some people" - and here the creator looked sharply at the unforh to install a few basic physical formulas and then take the ot leaks all over the sky, black holes the size of your head, and when you pray up to coirl on the counter who says she don't knohere the boss is I think people appreciate the personal touch, don't you?"

"Ah," said Rincewind "So when people get struck by lightning er it's not just because of all that stuff about electrical discharges and high points and everything er you actually s It's a big enough job just building 'em, you can't expect me to operate them as well There's a load of other universes, you know," he added, a slight note of accusation in his voice "Got a list of jobs as long as your are, leatherbound book, which he had apparently been sitting on It opened with a creak

Rincewind felt a tugging at his robe