The dark side of the sun - By Terry Pratchett Page 0,56

right.’

‘I don’t know about this idea,’ said Keja. The Emperor smiled.

‘You see, my dear, the universe has no time for life. By rights it shouldn’t exist. We don’t realize the odds.’

Dom nodded. ‘We’re so used to the idea of life as an essential part of the universe,’ he said. ‘Even in pre-Sadhim times we peopled other stars with imaginary beings and kidded ourselves that life off Earth was an odds-on chance. We didn’t want to be alone.’

‘Nor did the Jokersss,’ said Hrsh-Hgn, leaning forward. ‘So they altered chancess …’

‘They peopled the stars too, only they must have been biological geniuses. They filled every ecological niche, too, from cool suns to frozen space …’ Dom began. Then he stopped.

He knew about the Jokers. Other sentences thronged in his head, floated like icebergs in his mind. They had entered of their own accord – or had been put there.

He knew all about the Jokers. He remembered how they felt, surveying the empty planets, knowing the inbuilt block that every race ran up against eventually – the limitations of their evolutionary outlook …

He saw Jokers World, and sat stunned. The others carried on talking. The conversation coiled round him unheeded.

‘The dark side of the sun sounds poetic,’ said Keja brightly. ‘How about Screamer and Groaner?’

‘The Internal Planettss of Protosstar Five?’ said Hrsh-Hgn. ‘Far too hot, and short-lived. They did not exist ten thousand yearss ago. So radioactive, too.’

‘You’re talking as if Jokers are human,’ said Keja. ‘It’s never been proved. Couldn’t they be silicoid? Look at the Creapii.’

‘How about Rats?’

It was Tarli. He looked at their faces and shrugged.

‘Well, we know what things are like on its planet. And the reversed-entropy situation might fit the Dark Side of the Sun saying.’

‘The Creapii say any creatures on Tenalp can’t possibly be intelligent,’ said Ptarmigan sharply. ‘And we’ll have no more talk about that world in this place.’

‘I think it’s Earth,’ said Joan firmly. The Emperor turned.

‘That’s a very homocentric statement. Can you justify it?’

She nodded. ‘It’s an old theory, after all. The Jokers were human, and I mean human human – sorry, Hrsh-Hgn, but you know what I mean – and they finally settled on Earth long before we were anything more than apes. They interbred with us eventually. Circumstantial evidence points to this. A lot of aliens consider the Jokers were human. Earth was the only planet apart from the Creapii homeworld to produce a race capable of reaching even its satellite … thirdly, Earthmen are the sort who would build something like the Chain Stars or the Centre of the Universe, just for the hell of it. Lastly, Earth is the home of the Joker Institute. It practically runs the planet. Half the directors of the Board of Earth are also in the Institute management committee. And the theory runs that the whole shooting match is run by a clique of pure-blooded Jokers as a sly way of thwarting Joker studies. They have made attempts on Dom’s life, for their ridiculous reasons. They don’t want Jokers World found by anyone, but themselves.’

Hrsh-Hgn coughed. ‘I sshould point out that ssimilar theoriess have been current with phnobes, drosks, Creapii, tarquins, sspoonerss and a sscore of otherss. Every race sseess itsself in the Jokerss. The Creapii ssay, who but Creapii could amasss the knowledge to capture the Centre of the Universse? The phnobess ssay, who but phnobes would have the insight into Totality to fasshion the Chain Sstars sso perfectly? The sspoonerss say, who but such ass we could have the reimtole into gramepe to sset the Maze? The tarquins broadcast, who but—’

‘Point made,’ said the Emperor.

‘There is only one Sun in the universe,’ said Dom.

They watched him struggle with his thoughts.

‘It’s simple,’ he said, and looked perplexedly at their expressions. ‘There are plenty of stars, but the real Sun, the red bright thing is intelligent life.’

It was tantalizingly close. He saw through them and beyond the room, into the cosmopolitan world of the fifty-two known races, and inside that, snug as the yolk in the egg, the world of the Jokers on the dark side of the sun.

He wondered if the knowledge was being fed into his mind, and decided against it. He could provide too clear a chain of reasoning. All the loose ends tied up neatly, just like in a good probability math equation.

He had thought his father went knowingly to his death, as a good probability mathemagician should do. But his father had also been going to …

He heard a damp