Kate quote

[Kimon Berlin <BERLIN@FRECP12.BITNET>]

... or, more appropriately : Kate featured in a novel.

I think I mentionned this a while back, but never got around to post the
original excerpt.

So... this is taken from "Eric", by Terry Pratchett (with lavish
illustrations from Josh Kirby), page 88 in the deluxe-comic-sized paperback.

(The universe has just come to an end, the only, er, being left is Death.
The Death - you know, tall dark guy, kinda bony, with the scythe...)


   Nothingness uncoiled its unterminable length through the draughty
spaces at the end of time.
   Death waited. After a while his skeletal fingers began to drum on
the handle of his scythe.
   Darkness lapped around him. There wasn't even any infinity any more.
   He attempted to whistle a few snatches of unpopular songs between
his teeth, but the sound was simply sucked into nothingness.
   Forever was over. All the sands had fallen. The great race between
entropy and energy had been run, and the favorite had been the winner
after all.
   Perhaps he ought to sharpen the blade again ?
   No.
   Not much point, really.
   Great roils of absolutely nothing stretched into what would have
been called the distance, if there had been a space-time reference
frame to give words like "distance" any sensible meaning any more.
   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 of matter, popping into existence.
   Death stalked over to the point of arrival and watched carefully.
   It was a paperclip (*).
   Well, it was a start.




(*) : Many people think it should have been a hydrogen molecule, but
this is against the observed facts. Everyone who has found a hitherto
unknown egg-whisk jamming an innocent kitchen drawer knows that raw
matter is continually flowing into the universe in fairly developed
forms, popping into existence normally in ashtrays, vases and glove
compartments. It chooses its shape to allay suspicion, and common
manifestations are paperclips, the pins out of shirt packaging, the
little keys for central heating radiators, marbles, bits of crayon,
mysterious sections of herb-chopping devices and old Kate Bush albums.
Why matter does this is unclear, but it is evident that matter has
Plans.


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Kimon Berlin - Ecole Centrale Paris - France