It would take less than a second for you to die. But that's quite long enough to be in mortal agony, don't you think?

Why can't we for once have a meeting in Starbucks?

Mulch was not impressed. 'I'm not impressed,' he said.

Certainly, Doctor. Let's talk about your chair. Victorian?

There is always a use for everything, Victor had told him. Even pain.

There were only two men on the planet better educated in the various martial arts than Butler, and he was related to one of them. The other lived on an island in the South China Sea, and spent his days meditating and beating up palm trees. You had to feel sorry for the B'wa Kell.

How was your... eh... trip?" Artemis felt the sting of tears in his own eyes. "Um, eventful.