Page 43 (1/2)

'Not in four dihteen, it's all perfectly clear'

'And now, est you ladies leave by the back way?' said Lu-Tze 'People are going to coet very excitable Probably best if you aren't around'

'What will you do?' said Susan 'Lie,' said Lu-Tze happily 'It's a how often that works' -ick Susan and Unity stepped out of a door in the rock A path led through rhododendron groves out of the valley The sun was touching the horizon and the air arh there were snowfields quite close by At the lip of the valley the water fro that it landed as a sort of rain Susan pulled herself onto a rock, and settled down to wait 'It is a long way to Ankh-Morpork,' said Unity 'We'll have a lift,' said Susan The first stars were already co out 'The stars are very pretty,' said Unity 'Do you really think so?'

'I a to Hu is, I mean, there's times when you look at the universe and you think, "What about , "Well, what about you?"' Unity appeared to consider this 'Well, what about you?' she said Susan sighed 'Exactly' She sighed again 'You can't think about just one person while you're saving the world You have to be a cold, calculating bastard'

'That sounded as if you were quoting somebody,' said Unity 'Who said that?'

'Sos, and added, 'We didn't get all of them There's still Auditors down there somewhere'

'That will not matter,' said Unity calmly 'Look at the sun'

'Well?'

'It is setting'

'And?'

'That h the world The body exacts its toll Susan Soon , will become tired They will have to sleep'

'I follow you, but-'

'I am insane I know this But the first time it happened to ine what it is like? For an intellect a billion years old, in a body which is an ape on the back of a rat that grew out of a lizard? Can you iine what comes out of the dark places, uncontrolled?'

'What are you telling ht about this Millions and hts - and then huo She could almost feel sorry for them Almost 'But you didn't,' she said 'No I think Ito be different, Susan Did you have romantic hopes in connection with the boy?' The question came out of nowhere and there was no defence Unity's face showed nothing but a kind of nervous concern 'No,' said Susan Unfortunately, Unity did not seem to have mastered some of the subtleties of human conversation, such as when a tone of voice e rats eat you by day and by night'

'I confess to strange feelings regarding his self that was the clockmaker Sometimes, when he smiled, he was normal I wanted to help him, because he seemed so closed in and sad'

'You don't have to confess to things like that,' Susan snapped 'How do you even know the word romantic, anyway?' she added 'I found some books of poetry' Unity actually looked ee, giant, hungry rats 'I found it e have a power like that? There is no doubt that being human is incredibly difficult and cannot be mastered in one lifetiuilt It wasn't Unity's fault, after all People learn things as they grow up, things that never get written down And Unity had never grown up 'What are you going to do now?' she said 'I do have a rather human ambition,' said Unity 'Well, if I can help in any way' It was, she realized later, one of those phrases like 'How are you?' People were supposed to understand that it wasn't a real question But Unity hadn't learned that, either 'Thank you You can indeed help'

'Uh, fine, if-'

'I wish to die' And, galloping out of the sunset, so Tick Sht Most of the houses had been coh, Soto considered, the word 'shredded' wasby the side of the street, watching carefully, with his begging bowl in front of hi and co noticed, but he'd adopted the begging bowl method ever since Lu-Tze had shown hiive hi the bodies out of the house Initially they'd thought that one of them had been hideously mutilated in the explosion, until it had sat up and explained that it was an Igor and in very good shape for an Igor, at that The other he'd recognized as Dr Hopkins of the Guild of Clockmakers, as miraculously unharmed Soto did not believe in miracles, however He was also suspicious about the fact that the ruined house was full of oranges, that Dr Hopkins was babbling about getting sunlight out of the hi enormous had happened He decided tosaid Soto picked up the bowl and set off through the network of alleys back to his base He didn't bother much about concealment now; Lu-Tze's time in the city had been a process of accelerated education forvariety The people of Ankh-Morpork knew all about Rule One At least, they had known until now Three figures lurched out of the dark, and one of the a heavy cleaver which would have connected with Soto's head if he hadn't ducked