'That's right,' said Rincewind. 'Currently the globe is a snowball again.'

'So what is the faculty doing there now?'

'Drinking beer, apparently.'

'When the whole world is frozen?'

'Perhaps it's lager.'

'But they are supposed to be running around in the woods, pulling together, solving problems and firing paint spells at one another,' said Ponder.

'What for?'

'Didn't you read the memo he sent out?'

Rincewind shuddered. 'Oh, I never read those,' he said.

'He took everyone off into the woods to build a dynamic team ethos,' said Ponder. 'It's one of the Archchancellor's Big Ideas. He says that if the faculty gets to know one another better, they'll be a happier, more efficient team.'

'But they do know one another! They've known one another for ages! That's why they don't like one another very much! They won't stand for being turned into a happy and efficient team!'

'Especially on a ball of ice,' said Ponder. 'They're supposed to be in woods fifty miles away, not in a glass globe in your study! There is no way to get into Roundworld without using a considerable amount of magic, and the Archchancellor has banned me from running the thaumic reactor at anything like full power.'

Rincewind looked again at the message from the bottle.

'How did the bottle get out?' he said.

Hex printed:

+++ I did that. I still maintain a watch on Roundworld. And I have been developing interesting procedures. It is now quite easy for me to reproduce an artefact in the real world +++

'Why didn't you tell us the Archchancellor needed help?' sighed Ponder.

+++ They were having such fun trying to send the bottle +++

'Can't you just bring them out, then?'

+++ Yes +++

'In that case—'

'Hold on,' said Rincewind, remembering the blue beerbottle and the spelling mistakes. 'Can you bring them out alive?

Hex seemed affronted.