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"Or"Hur, hur, hur"

"Ye can see the stars frorinned at hi "They say every one of 'em's a world," said Evil Harry "Yeah," said Cohen, "How many, bard?"

"I don't know Thousands Millions," said the et what? How old are you, Hamish?"

"Whut? I were born the day the old thane died" said Hamish "When was that? Which old thane?" said Cohen patiently "Whut? I ain't a scholar! I canna remember that kinda stuff!"

"A hundred years, maybe," said Cohen "One hundred years And there's arette and rubbed his forehead with the back of his thuer" He nodded at the minstrel "What did your mate Carelinus do after he'd blown his nose?"

"Look, you really shouldn't think of hie e, really And in many ways he was a lot like you Haven't you heard of the Tsortean Knot?"

"Sounds dirty," said Truckle "Hur, hur, hursorry" The e, coether in the Temple of Offler in Tsort, and it was said that whoever untied it would reign over the whole of the continent" he said "They can be very tricky, knots" said Mrs McGarry "Carelinus sliced right through it with his sword!" said the et the applause he expected

"So he was a cheat as well as a cry-baby?" said Boy Willie "No! It was a draesture!" snapped theit, is it? I " I don't see why he should-"

"Nah, nah, the lad's got a point" said Cohen, who see this one over in his ood story Yeah I can understand that," He chuckled "I can just iine it, too A load of whey-faced priests and suchlike standin' around and thinkin', "that's cheating but he's got a really big sword so I won't be the first to point this out, plus this dareat army is just outside" Hah Yeah Hmm What did he do next?"

"Conquered most of the knoorld"

"Good lad And after that?"

"Heerwent honed for a few years, then he died and his sons squabbled and there were a fearsand that was the end of the empire"

"Children can be a proble forget-me-nots around BURN THIS HOUSE "Soh your children," said the randdads, then"

"Well er "

"See? Now, I got lots of kids," said Cohen "Haven't seenfor theood they did your Carelinus, losin' his empire for him"

"But there's lots more a proper historian could tell you-" said the minstrel "Hah!" said Cohen "It's what ordin'ry people res and savin's It doesn't matter how you live and die, it's how the bards wrote it down" Thelots of notes," he said "Ook," said the Librarian, by way of explanation "And then he says so fell on his head," Rincewind translated "It must have been"

"Can we throw sohten it?" said Carrot "We don't need most of it"

"Alas, no," said Leonard "We will lose all our air if we open the door"

"But we've got these breathing helmets," Rincewind pointed out "Three helnored it The Kite was still passing under the elephants, and the thing showed lance up, and saw that so a card on winch had been scrawled, in large letters: STAND BY Ponder shook his head "Thank you Archchancellor, but I'm far too busy for you to help me," he said "But will it work?"

"It has to, sir It's a million-to-one chance"

"Oh, then we don't have to worry Everyone knows million-to-one chances alork" "Yes, sir So all I have to do is work out if there's still enough air outside the ship for Leonard to steer it, or how , and if there will be enough power left to get theht speed, but I'ons will have left, and I don't know

what kind of surface he'll land on or anything they'll find there I can adapt a few spells, but they were never devised for this sort of thing"

"Goodwe can do to help?" said the Dean Ponder gave the other wizards a desperate look Hoould Lord Vetinari have handled this? "Why, yes" he said brightly "Perhaps you would be kind enough to find a cabin somewhere and come up with a list of all the various ways I could solve this? And I will just sit here and toy with a few ideas?"

"That's what I like to see," said the Dean "A lad with enough sense to ave Ponder a faint smile as they left the cabin In the sudden silence Ponderpondered He stared at the orrery, walked around it, enlarged sections of it, peered at theon flight, stared at aat the ceiling This wasn't the nor for a wizard A wizard evolved the wish, and then devised the co the universe: rocks and trees and clouds could not have anything very intelligent to i on them, after all Ponder looked at the numbers he had scribbled As a calculation, it was like balancing a feather on a soap bubble which wasn't there So he guessed On the Kite, the situation was being "workshopped" This is the ether to pool their ignorance "Could we all hold our breath for a quarter of the time?" said Carrot "No Breath doesn't work like that, alas," said Leonard "Perhaps we should all stop talking?" said Rincewind "Ook," said the Librarian, pointing to the fuzzy screen of the oe words could just be made out: THIS IS WHAT YOU DO Leonard snatched a pencil and began to scribble in the corner of a drawing of acity walls Five ain "Remarkable," he said "He wants us to point the Kite in a different direction and go faster"