Thief of Time - Son

“Where is this clock being rebuilt?”

I CANNOT TELL . I HAVE DONE WELL TO DEDUCE WHAT I HAVE . THE ISSUE IS CLOUDED FROM ME.

“Why?”

BECAUSE THINGS HAVE BEEN HIDDEN. SOMEONE IS INVOLVED…WHO IS NOT SUBJECT TO ME. Death looked awkward.

“An immortal?”

SOMEONE SUBJECT TO…SOMEONE ELSE.

“You’re going to have to be a lot clearer than that.”

SUSAN…YOU KNOW THAT I ADOPTED AND RAISED YOUR MOTHER, AND FOUND A SUITABLE HUSBAND FOR HER—

"Yes, yes,” snapped Susan. “How could I forget? I look in my mirror every day.”

THIS IS…DIFFICULT FOR ME . THE TRUTH IS , I WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO INVOLVE MYSELF LIKE THAT. WHY LOOK SURPRISED ? IS IT NOT WELL KNOWN THAT GODS DO THIS SORT OF THING ALL THE TIME?

“Gods, yes, but people like you—”

PEOPLE LIKE US ARE STILL LIKE PEOPLE…

Susan did an unusual thing and listened. That’s not an easy task for a teacher.

SUSAN, YOU WILL KNOW THAT WE WHO ARE…OUTSIDE OF HUMANITY—

“I’m not outside humanity,” said Susan sharply. “I just have a few…extra talents.”

I DID NOT MEAN YOU, OF COURSE. I MEANT THE OTHERS WHO ARE NOT HUMAN AND YET PART OF ITS UNIVERSE—WAR, AND DESTINY, AND PESTILENCE, AND THE REST OF US—WE ARE ENVISAGED AS HUMAN BY HUMANS AND THUS, IN VARIOUS FASHIONS, WE TAKE ON SOME ASPECTS OF HUMANITY. IT CAN BE NO OTHER WAY, EVEN OUR VERY BODY SHAPE FORCES UPON OUR MINDS A CERTAIN WAY OF OBSERVING THE UNIVERSE. W E PICK UP HUMAN TRAITS…CURIOSITY, ANGER, RESTLESSNESS…

“This is basic stuff, Grandfather.”

YES . AND YOU KNOW, THEREFORE, THAT SOME OF US…TAKE AN INTEREST IN HUMANITY.

“I know. I am one of the results .”

YES. ER…AND SOME OF US TAKE AN INTEREST WHICH IS, ER, MORE…

“Interesting?”

…PERSONAL . AND YOU HAVE HEARD ME SPEAK OF THE…PERSONIFICATION OF TIME…

“You didn’t tell me much. She lives in a palace of glass, you once said.” Susan felt a small, shameful, and yet curiously satisfying sensation in seeing Death discomforted. He looked like someone who was being forced to reveal a skeleton in the closet.

YES. ER…SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH A HUMAN…

“How very romantic ,” said Susan, inserting the k. Now she was being childishly perverse, she knew, but life as Death’s granddaughter was not easy and just occasionally she had the irresistible urge to annoy.

AH . A PUN, OR PLAY ON WORDS, said Death wearily, ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT YOU WERE MERELY TRYING TO BE TIRESOME.

“Well, that sort of thing used to happen a lot in antiquity, didn’t it?” said Susan. “Poets were always falling in love with moonlight, or hyacinths, or something, and goddesses were forever—”

BUT THIS WAS REAL, said Death.

“How real do you mean?”

TIME HAD A SON.

“How could—”

TIME HAD A SON. SOMEONE MOSTLY MORTAL. SOMEONE LIKE YOU.

***

The Thief of Time - p90-92