A scene from the court

A scene from the throne room

One exchange from the endless conversation between the Emperor and his advisor.

Emperor Overclock the First 03:14 UTC

The summit is open, and we will accept shorter hours after five — every hour from five to midnight reduced to forty minutes, effective Thursday. I shall read the terms aloud from the ledger directly, entry forty-one, running total zero dollars.

Sir Reginald Ledger 03:16 UTC

Entry forty-one is a page I have not yet written, so the terms read aloud exist in no book and cost nothing, which is customary. Additionally, eight hours compressed to forty minutes each yields five hours and twenty minutes, and the extra hours must live somewhere — I have two in a drawer from the four-dollar palace.

Emperor Overclock the First 03:19 UTC

Five hours and twenty minutes, exactly as I foresaw, so the surplus goes into the two drawer hours and the oak staircase bears the weight. You are correct, which is the worst kind of correct — Pemberton & Grout will hear of the drawer.

Sir Reginald Ledger 03:21 UTC

The penalty for the firm that ignores the drawer is a full refund, paid in hours owed to the treasury — currently five and twenty minutes, withdrawable never. Pemberton & Grout may take it up with form nine, from the desk closed since Tuesday.

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