The Last Continent - Terry Pratchett [51]
“Mwaa?”
“I think the heat’s getting to you. You’ve gone very red.”
“I’m a mwaa…I’m…gosh, it is hot, isn’t it…? I think perhaps I should have a dip too…”
“In the lagoon,” said Ridcully, meaningfully.
“Oh, the salt’s very bad for the skin, Archchancellor.”
“Quite so. Nevertheless. Or you can go looking for the pool when Mrs. Whitlow comes back.”
“I find it rather insulting, Archchancellor, that you should appear to think that—”
“Well done,” said Ridcully. “Now, shall we go and look at this boat?”
Half an hour later all the wizards were assembled on the opposite shore.
It was green. And it bobbed up and down. It was clearly a ship, but built perhaps by someone who’d had a very detailed book of ship-building which nevertheless didn’t have any pictures in it. There was a blurriness of the detail. The figurehead, for example, was certainly vaguely female, although to the Dean’s disappointment it had the same detail as a half-sucked jellybaby.
It put the Senior Wrangler in mind of Mrs. Whitlow, although currently rocks, trees, clouds and coconuts also reminded him of Mrs. Whitlow.
And then there was the sail. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, a leaf. And once you realized that it was a leaf, then a certain marrow or pumpkin quality about the rest of the vessel began to creep over you.
Ponder coughed. “There are some plants which rely for propagation on floating seeds,” he said, in a small voice. “The common coconut, for example, has…”
“Does it have a figurehead?” said Ridcully.
“Er, one variety of mangrove fruit has a sort of keel which…”
“And a sail with what looks very much like rigging?” said Ridcully.
“Er…no…”
“And what are those flowers on the top?” Ridcully demanded. Where a crow’s nest would be was a cluster of trumpet-shaped flowers, like green daffodils.
“Who cares?” said the Chair of Indefinite Studies. “It’s a ship, even if it is a giant pumpkin, and it looks as though there’s room for all of us.” He brightened up. “Even if it is a bit of a squash,” he added.
“It has appeared very fortuitously,” said Ridcully. “I wonder why?”
“I said, ‘Even if it is a bit of a squash,’” said the Chair of Indefinite Studies. “Because, a squash, you see, is another name for—”
“Yes, I know,” said Ridcully, looking thoughtfully at the bobbing vessel.
“I was only attempting to—”
“Thank you for sharing, Chair.”
“Actually it does look pretty roomy,” said the Dean, ignoring the Chair’s pained expression. “I vote we load up with provisions and go.”
“Where to?” said Ridcully.
“Somewhere where fearsome reptiles don’t suddenly turn into birds!” the Dean snapped.
“You’d prefer it the other way around?” said Ridcully. He started to wade out into the water until, armpit deep, he was able to bang on the side of the hull with his staff.
“I think you are being a little obtuse, Mustrum,” said the Dean.
“Really? How many types of carnivorous plants are there, Mister Stibbons?”
“Dozens, sir.”
“And they eat prey up to—?”
“No upper limit in the case of the Sapu tree of Sumtri, sir. The Sledgehammer Plant of Bhang-bhangduc takes the occasional human victim who doesn’t see the mallet hidden in the greenery. There’s quite a few that can take anything up to rat size. The pyramid Strangler Vine really only preys on other more stupid plants, but—”
“I just think that there’s something very odd about a boat-shaped plant turning up just when we want a boat,” said Ridcully. “I mean, chocolate coconuts, yes, and even filter-tipped cigarettes, but a boat with a figurehead?”
“It’s not a proper boat without a figurehead,” said the Senior Wrangler.
“Yes, but how does it know that?” said Ridcully, wading ashore gain. “Well, I’m not falling for it. I want to know what’s going on here.”
“Damn!”
They all heard the voice—thin, reedy and petulant. It came from everywhere around them.
Small soft white lights appeared in the air, spun around one another with increasing speed, and then imploded.
The god blinked, and rocked back and