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‘And his nose,’ added sohter

‘Was he badly hurt?’ asked Arthur

‘Hurt?’ Alyse laughed ‘When you’re working on the tower, as as, if you fall off and your wings don’t work, you don’t get hurt You get dead Even a Denizen can’t survive that fall Twelve thousand feet, straight down We were lucky to find his belt and tools, and his wrench had to be replaced Bent like a crescent, it was’

Arthur shook his head He’d always thought Suzy was quite callous, but these Piper’s children were even worse

I suppose when you’ve lived a very, very long tiured I wonder if I will feel the sa at his elbow interrupted his thoughts

‘I have to go,’ said Dartbristle ‘Got work to do, and there’s a flood due through right after twelve’

‘Thank you,’ said Arthur ‘I really appreciate your help’

He offered his hand, and bent down close to shake the Raised Rat’s paw and whisper in his ear, ‘If you hear anything about Part Six of the Will, send word to me’

‘Aye,’ said Dartbristle ‘Goodbye, Ray and Suze’

‘Thanks, Dart,’ said Suzy with a wave

Once the Raised Rat was gone, she added, ‘Coood-sized ed porcelain teacups and anised piles around the spirit burner Several grease athered there to drink tea started to say hello, and Suzy poured tea with one hand as she spat and shook with the other

‘I’ to checkthing to do The other grease monkeys went back to their activities, and none ca

Arthur put on his rain-mantle, which was like a sleeveless raincoat with a hood that went over his peaked cap The cap had a buckle to fasten under the chin Beneath the cap on the peg was a pair of clear goggles, which Arthur tried on and adjusted to fit In the single large pocket of the rain-s Arthur took them out, shook them so they expanded to full size, and spent tentheain

The utility belt was very heavy One of the six pouches held several different sizes of nuts and bolts Another had a mouldy apple core in it, which Arthur re until Arthur tightened the nozzle The fourth pocket contained a pair of light leather fingerless gloves, which he put on The fifth had an apparently unused cleaning cloth, a s brush and a cake of soap that had BEST QUALITY WATERLESS PERPETUAL SOAP stamped on it

The sixth pouch was empty Arthur tested its strap, then quickly slipped his elephant and the Fifth Key inside

He looked around to see if anyone had seen hied to be surreptitious That done, he took the soap back out of the fifth pouch and tried it on an oily patch on his coveralls Part of the stain was erased with surprising ease Arthur was about to clean it off corease ear

All of them had stained coveralls, and Alyse’s coveralls were the most splotched of all, with at least a dozen different-coloured oil stains

Arthur quietly put the soap back in its pouch and put the belt on Suzy was putting her belt on too, farther down the line She waved at hiht Arthur She lives in the ht s wrench and hefted it, slapping the head against his palm It was very shiny and very heavy The screheel that opened and shut the ritted up, so Arthur quickly cleaned it with the brush and applied a spot of grease fro him with approval

‘They can scrub us between the ears,’ she said, ‘but good workers never forget to look after their gear’

She climbed up onto one of the tables and waited expectantly The last of the greaseon his belt, and they all turned around to face their leader Arthur and Suzy followed a beat behind

‘Are we ready?’ asked Alyse

‘Ready!’ called the grease o!’ Alyse jumped off the table and took her place at the head of the line The grease ht turn that would have eant Helve start screa at the informality and slovenliness of it Completely out of step, they marched to the door

TWELVE

ALYSE UNBARRED AND opened the door Splashing through the first puddle outside, she led the grease monkeys out onto a rainy, cobble-paved square that was surrounded on three sides by warehouse-style buildings made of riveted iron, and on the fourth side by the sharp corner of a truly vast and led reception coroup of a dozen Denizens huddled under black urey waistcoats and pale-blue shirts, with grey cravats and hats that were like tophats, only not so tall Their white trousers were tucked into green waterproof Wellington boots and they stood in a senored the that Arthur figured was the one Suzy had spotted from theof the warehouse Now that they were closer, he could see it was a tower that stretched up and out of sight, its great bulk appearing to rise even higher than the pallid, rain-obscured sun that hung off to one side

Arthur could now also see what he had been told – that this toas completely made up of boxlike office units that had no walls and latticed floors, so you could see a long way up the inside It was rather like looking into a ht, if that skyscraper also had interior glass walls

Judging from the closer offices, which Arthur could see into very distinctly, each one of these little boxes was inhabited by a Denizen working at a desk Each desk had a green-shaded lamp and an umbrella over it The umbrellas, Arthur noted, were of ure out why

Arthur was second last in the line of grease rease monkey behind him stopped to shut the door behind theood foot shorter than Arthur, had brown hair as badly cut as Alyse’s, and big sticking-out ears Instead ofbehind Arthur, he walked next to him, spat on his palm, and offered his hand

‘Whrod,’ he said ‘Bolt-turner Second Class We’ll probably be working together’

‘Rod?’ asked Arthur, re to spit this time before he shook

‘Whah-rod,’ said Whrod