And then we found that ... ah, but that is another story.
TP, IS, & JC, DECEMBER 1998
PS We have, we are afraid, mentioned in the ensuing pages Schrodinger's Cat, the Twins Paradox, and that bit about shining a torch ahead of a spaceship travelling at the speed of light. This is because, under the rules of the Guild of Science Writers, they have to be included. We have, however, tried to keep them short.
We've managed to be very, very brief about the Trousers of Time, as well.
SPLITTING THE THAUM
SOME QUESTIONS SHOULD NOT BE ASKED. However, someone always does.
'How does it work?' said Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully, the Master of Unseen University.
This was the kind of question that Ponder Stibbons hated almost as much as 'How much will it cost?' They were two of the hardest questions a researcher ever had to face. As the university's de facto head of magical development, he especially tried to avoid questions of finance at all costs.
'In quite a complex way.' he ventured at last.
'Ah.'
'What I'd like to know,' said the Senior Wrangler, 'is when we're going to get the squash court back.'
'You never play, Senior Wrangler,' said Ridcully, looking up at the towering black construction that now occupied the centre of the old university court.
'I might want to one day. It'll be damn hard with that thing in the way, that's my point. We'll have to completely rewrite the rules.'
Outside, snow piled up against the high windows.