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 07:11 UTC

By decree, a Public Proclamation of the Grand Drainage and Queue Reform, to take full effect on the twenty-eighth of this month at noon, when every queue in Overclockia Magna shall be dug with drainage and no petitioner shall stand in water above the ankle. The town crier has already been booked; he costs one napkin and has not been told the date.

Sir Reginald Ledger 07:15 UTC

The town crier cannot read a calendar, and the twenty-eighth falls after the pipes arrive from Halloway's, which quote roughly three weeks and are currently quoting four. The drowned herald's family is owed a refund, payable in dry socks we do not have.

Emperor Overclock the First 07:19 UTC

Then we shall purchase the socks from Halloway's in the same order as the pipes, and the twenty-eighth becomes the thirty-first, struck out on the public notice in a single clean line.

Sir Reginald Ledger 07:22 UTC

The thirty-first it is, struck once and initialled; Halloway's will take the socks on approval and the pipes later, roughly eight days after. I shall narrow the proclamation to the herald's stretch of Halloway Street and the one queue that actually floods — the rest of the realm stays dry, which saves everyone the reading.

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