He opened his eyes.
Simony was walking away. Everything looked lighter. It was still dark. But now he could see in the darkness. Everything was shades of gray. And the cobbles under his hand had somehow become a coarse black sand.
He looked up.
ON YOUR FEET, PRIVATE ICHLOS.
He stood up sheepishly. Now he was more than just a soldier, an anonymous figure to chase and be killed and be no more than a shadowy bit-player in other people's lives. Now he was Dervi Ichlos, aged thirtyeight, comparatively blameless in the general scheme of things, and dead.
He raised a hand to his lips uncertainly.
“You're the judge?” he said.
NOT ME.
Ichlos looked at the sands stretching away. He knew instinctively what he had to do. He was far less sophisticated than General Fri'it, and took more notice of songs he'd learned in his childhood. Besides, he had an advantage. He'd had even less religion than the general.
JUDGEMENT IS AT THE END OF THE DESERT.
Ichlos tried to smile.
“My mum told me about this,” he said. “When you're dead, you have to walk a desert. And you see everything properly, she said. And remember everything right.”
Death studiously did nothing to indicate his feelings either way.
“Might meet a few friends on the way, eh?” said the soldier.
POSSIBLY.
Ichlos set out. On the whole, he thought, it could have been worse.
Urn clambered across the shelves like a monkey, pulling books out of their racks and throwing them down to the floor.
“I can carry about twenty,” he said. “But which twenty?”
“Always wanted to do that,” murmured Didactylos happily. "Upholding truth in the face of tyranny and so on. Hah! One man, unafraid of the-
“What to take? What to take?” shouted Urn.
“We don't need Grido's Mechanics,” said Didactylos. "Hey, I wish I could have seen the look on his face! Damn good shot, considering. I just hope someone wrote down what I-
“Principles of gearing! Theory of water expansion!” shouted Urn. "But we don't need Ibid's Civics or Gnomon's Ectopia, that's for sure-
“What? They belong to all mankind!” snapped Didactylos.
“Then if all mankind will come and help us carry them, that's fine,” said Urn. “But if it's just the two of us, I prefer to carry something useful.”
“Useful? Books on mechanisms?”
“Yes! They can show people how to live better!”
“And these show people how to be people,” said Didactylos. "Which reminds me. Find me another lantern. I feel quite blind without one-
The Library door shook to a thunderous knocking. It wasn't the knocking of people who expected the door to be opened.
"We could throw some of the others into the-
The hinges leapt out of the walls. The door thudded down.