![]() It was like looking at a clock in pieces, with every wheel and spring carefully laid out in the dark in front of him. There were complex curves and spirals, brilliant against the blackness. Lobsang stared into the air above the little wooden bobbins. ‘If only I could tell you what everything looks like to me … it’s so beautiful.’ Even to hold in my mind the concept of something called “now” is hard. Even trying to think in a mere four dimensions is a terrible effort. She hadn’t been aware of the rise of her heart, but now it was sinking. ‘You need power to stay human?’ said Susan. ‘I will not have enough power to stay,’ said Lobsang. ‘You’re going to go, aren’t you,’ said Susan. But it is a lie that you can … understand, I think. It bears no resemblance to the truth of the matter in any way at all. Oh, and imagine that all the bits are scattered across the whole of eventuality, and mixing randomly with pieces from other histories. Once a few are in the right position, the rest will be easier. But because they were once linked, they have by their very nature a memory of that link. But … I am very good at spotting edges and shapes. ![]() ‘Imagine … that there is a jigsaw, all in pieces. Lobsang looked down at the bobbins and then across at Susan. ‘People will start saying “What is the meaning of this?” and “Bikkit!”, and we’ll never get anything done.’ ‘He’s got a point right enough,’ said Lu-Tze. They would run around asking questions,’ said Lobsang. ‘Are there not monks who know how to do this?’ said Unity. ‘I can show the ladies how to,’ said Lu-Tze. ‘The … spinners that are left … Can you move the jumpers?’ he said. Lobsang’s mind was already on the way to somewhere else, and now she wondered how large a space it was occupying. ‘I’m … pretty certain,’ said Lobsang, running his fingers over the bobbins on the board. ‘I wish you sounded more certain,’ said Susan. ‘Yes,’ said Lobsang, looking around the stricken hall and heading towards the podium, ‘I do. ‘You know how long that took us last time?’ ‘We put everything back,’ said Lobsang, emerging from the shadows. He watched the man’s retreating back and added, quietly, ‘and if you wake up you might turn out to be the luckiest idiot that ever there was. Lu-Tze wasn’t supposed to know about the bunks. ‘There’s still that little alcove round the corner where you repair the smaller spinners? And there’s still those unofficial bunks for when it’s the night shift and you only need a couple of lads to keep their eye on things?’ ‘And now I’m back,’ smiled Lu-Tze, patting him on the shoulder. ‘We thought you were lost out in the world, and-’ the monk burbled. ‘Not got a lot of sleep, eh? Tell you what, I’ll take care of this. ‘Now, now, you look like a man who’s had a busy day,’ said Lu-Tze kindly. ‘It’s been terrible, Sweeper! Everyone’s up in the Mandala Hall! It’s worse than the Great Crash! There’s bits of history everywhere and we’ve lost half the spinners! We’ll never be able to put it all-’ ‘I hope so, Rambut, but who knows, these days?’ Lu-Tze stepped into the light and sat down. ![]() There the sound was again and, then, the scratch and flare of a match. It was heavy with the smoke of fried rock. Rambut Handisides was all alone in the hall, sitting beside the turning stone in the light of a butter lamp and occasionally throwing a handful of grease onto the base.Ī clink of stone made him peer into the darkness. But one still turned.īig Thanda, the oldest and largest, ground slowly on its basalt bearing, winding time out at one end and back on the other, ensuring as Wen had decreed that the perfect day would never end. In the hall almost all of the giant cylinders stood silent, all time run out. The valley of Oi Dong held on to the ever-repeating day. Like shards of glass, spinning through the air, fragments of history drifted and collided and intersected in the dark. Who knew where humanity began and where it finished? And that was a pretty good definition of Lobsang and, if it came to it, Susan as well. Which, to be fair, meant that Unity, who was getting more firmly wrapped in flesh by the minute, was something like a human. Susan had even wondered if the human soul without the anchor of a body would end up, eventually, as something like an Auditor. All right, the thing was one of them, one that was merely wearing- Well, at least had started out merely wearing a body as a kind of coat, but now … After all, you could say that about everyone, couldn’t you? ‘Life is full of surprises,’ said Susan, but the sight of the creature’s distress made her hesitate. ‘Yes, that kind of thing happens,’ said Susan. * * * - Thief of Time (Terry Pratchett) | Read books online free without registration and downloading Terry Pratchett « Thief of Time» Subject: Comic Fantasy/Science-fiction * * *
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