'I thought the idea was to learn how to kick the ball into the goal.'
'Ah, yes, but Mister Nutt has a philosophy.'
'Does he?'
'Yes, sir.'
'They're runnin' about all over the place, I know that,' said Ridcully.
'Yes, Mister Nutt and Mister Likely are preparing a little something extra for the banquet,' said Ponder, getting up and opening the top drawer of a filing cabinet. The sight of filing cabinets opening tended to remind Ridcully that he should be elsewhere, but on this occasion the ruse failed to work.
'Oh, and I believe we have some fresh balls.'
'Mister Snorrisson knows an opportunity when he sees one.'
'So it's all going well, then?' said Ridcully, in a kind of mystified voice.
'Apparently so, sir.'
'Well, I suppose I'd better leave it alone,' said Ridcully. He hesitated, feeling at a bit of a loose end, and found another thread to pull. 'And how are those rules coming along, Mister Stibbons?'
'Oh, quite well, thank you, Archchancellor. I'm keeping in some of the ones from the street game, of course, to keep everybody happy. Some of them are quite strange.'
'Mister Nutt is quite a decent chap, it appears.'
'Oh yes, Archchancellor.'
'Very good idea of his to redesign the goal, I thought. Makes it more fun.'
'Aren't you going to train, sir?' said Ponder, pulling another document towards him.
'I am the captain! I do not need to train.' Ridcully turned to leave and stopped with his hand on the doorknob. 'Had a long chat with the former Dean last night. Decent soul at heart, of course,' he said.
'Yes, I understand the atmosphere in the Uncommon Room was very convivial, Archchancellor,' said Ponder. And expensive, he added to himself.
'You know young Adrian Turnipseed is a professor?'
'Oh, yes, Archchancellor.'
'You wanna be one?'
'Not really, Archchancellor. I think there should be one or two posts in this institution that I don't hold.'
'Yes, but they've just called their machine Pex! Hardly a great leap of ingenuity, is it?'
'Oh, there are some significant differences. I believe he's using chickens to generate the blit diametric,' said Ponder.
'Apparently so,' said Ridcully. 'Something like that, anyway.'
'Hmmm,' said Ponder. And it was quite a solid hmmm, possibly one you could moor a small boat to.
'Something wrong?' said Ridcully.
'Oh, er, not really, Archchancellor. Did the former Dean mention anything about the need to totally rebuild the morphic resonator to allow for the necessary changes in the blit/slood interface?'
'Shouldn't think so,' said Ridcully.
'Oh,' said Ponder, his face blank. 'Well, Adrian is bound to get round to that. He is very clever.'