IV. Two Pages Left

15 recorded changes; 49 marked passages in the text, 39 of them with no recorded reason.

Click a type to show only those changes in the text.

Rework chapter 04 for the new shape agreed with Project 1: chapters easier to follow around Percy, continuity fixes from Project 1's brief. (edit)

editorial change 1 (passage not located in the text)
Reworked to open at the Guardian with 'Please Take a Number', give Flinch his cellar pipe and the page that goes unanswered, and pair the two pages, following Project 1's brief.
was: He read the notice again on the stairs, from the headline down, the small print last, and then once more from the top in case it had changed on the way. It had not. It told a person a great deal about what they would be given. It did not say how a person was to be given it." / "" / "*Free to begin. Priced accordingly thereafter.* In the lower corner was a small green hexagon with an eye in it, which seemed to be looking for the same thing he was." / ""[There is no door on it,]{say=mezzlos}" said Mezzlos, who had been reading over his elbow with some disapproval. "[Nor a counter. Nor a name to ask for.]{say=mezzlos}"" / ""[No,]{say=percy-spamchop}" said Percy. He folded the notice and went back down the stairs.
now: The notice told a person a great deal about what they would be given. It did not say how a person was to be given it." / ""[There is no door on it,]{say=mezzlos}" said [[mezzlos|Mezzlos]], who had been reading over Percy's elbow with some disapproval. "[Nor a counter. Nor a name to ask for.]{say=mezzlos}"" / ""[No,]{say=percy-spamchop}" said [[percy-spamchop|Percy]]. He folded the notice and went back down the stairs.
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editorial change 2 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: The place it pointed to was a recess off the Trade Quarter, between a bone-carver and a stall selling lamp oil, which he had passed three times that week without noticing. There was a counter no bigger than a lectern, hung with green lantern-glass, and behind it a Forsaken clerk in a grey apron who looked as though he had been waiting for Percy specifically and did not mind how long it took. The same hexagon was stitched on the apron. The clerk said that it was free, that nothing was owed to begin, and that the terms were on the back." / "Percy turned the form over and read the back first, because he read the small print first. It was a good deal of small print, and he read all of it. Near the foot it said *sent on approval*, and he stopped there and did not need it explained, though he could not have said where he had learned what it meant, or what became of a person who kept the thing too long. He knew exactly what he was being offered. He thought of the woman on the notice, with her arms round the thing, and of his own book, which was down to two pages, and he signed, in the small upright hand that had arrived with the fish." / "The clerk passed over the Journal, and a slip of instructions that said to write on the right-hand page, close the book, and open it again. It was as thick as a loaf, bound in something that had agreed to be leather, and it was very slightly warm.
now: The place it pointed to was a recess off the Trade Quarter, between a bone-carver and a stall selling lamp oil, which he had passed three times that week without noticing. There was a counter no bigger than a lectern, hung with green lantern-glass, and behind it a Forsaken clerk in a grey apron. The same hexagon was stitched on the apron. A sign on the counter said *Please Take a Number*. There were no numbers. On the bench opposite sat a Forsaken who had, by the look of him, taken one some years ago. The clerk said that it was free, that nothing was owed to begin, and that the terms were on the back." / "Percy turned the form over and read the back first. It was a good deal of small print, and he read all of it. Near the foot it said *sent on approval*, and he stopped there and did not need it explained, though he could not have said where he had learned what it meant. He thought of the woman on the notice, with her arms round the thing, and of his own journal, which was down to two pages, and he signed in the small upright hand that had arrived with the fish." / "The clerk passed over the Journal, and a slip of instructions that said to write on the right-hand page, close the book, and open it again. It was as thick as a loaf and bound in plain brown leather.
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editorial change 3 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: Mezzlos said nothing, and went on saying it all the way to the door." / "In [[brill-the-before|Brill]], at Gallows' End Tavern, [[percy-spamchop|Percy]] took the table in the corner by the fire, where the draught from the door could not reach him." / "That mattered to a man whose joints were held together by habit. He was still learning which of his habits were his and which belonged to the body, and the draught was an easy thing to be certain about. The innkeeper had said *Rest your weary bones* when he came in. He had thanked her, and had not." / "[[mezzlos|Mezzlos]] stood at his shoulder, as he always did. A tavern built for the living has nowhere to put a voidwalker, and the regulars had long since stopped looking." / "Percy laid the Journal flat on the wood and smoothed the cover with the side of his hand. The notice, creased now across the Forsaken woman's cheek, went into his sleeve." / "He did not open it. He had never, that he knew of, written to a book he did not know, and he wanted to be clear what he was starting before he started it. So he did what he always did. He took out his own book, which had been his for as long as he had been anyone, and opened it at the last of the clean pages." / "There were two." / "He looked at them for some time. Then he took the pen and wrote across the top of the first, in his small upright hand, *[Held.]{note=percy-spamchop}* He underlined it, because a ledger wants a heading.
now: In [[brill-the-before|Brill]], at Gallows' End Tavern, Percy took the table in the corner by the fire, where the draught from the door could not reach him." / "That mattered to a man whose joints were held together by habit. The innkeeper had said *Rest your weary bones* when he came in. He had thanked her, and had not." / "Mezzlos stood at his shoulder, as he always did. A tavern built for the living has nowhere to put a voidwalker, and the regulars had long since stopped looking." / "Percy laid the Journal flat on the wood and did not open it. He had never, that he knew of, written to a book he did not know, and he wanted to be clear what he was starting before he started it. So he took out his own journal and opened it at the last clean page. There were two." / "He wrote across the top of the first, in his small upright hand, *[Held.]{note=percy-spamchop}* and underlined it, because an account wants a heading.
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editorial change 4 (v3-c4) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: *[A tower, seen from the road. Its windows counted twice, with two answers.]{note=percy-spamchop}*" / "*[A great many hooks, counted, and then I stopped.]{note=percy-spamchop}*
now: *[A tower, seen from the road. Its windows counted, with two answers.]{note=percy-spamchop}*
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world change 5 (v3-c5) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
now: *[Gnomes: a recent dislike, found rather agreeable.]{note=percy-spamchop}*
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editorial change 6 (v3-c6, v3-c6b) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: He closed the book. He opened it." / "The left-hand page was blank, as the left-hand page of a plain book should be, and the right-hand page held only what he had put there. He had expected otherwise. He could not have said why. It was the kind of expectation that arrives without an account of itself, from a mind that has been left out in the weather and is not always careful which book it was told about." / "He looked at the blank page for some time. Then, under the list, because there was nobody to say he should not, he wrote the other thing.
now: He closed it and sat for a while. Then, because there was nobody to say he should not, he wrote the other thing at the foot of the page.
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editorial change 7 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: "[Because it is a ledger,]{say=percy-spamchop}" said Percy, "[and one records what one is looking for, whether or not it turns up.]{say=percy-spamchop}"" / "Then he drew the other book across the table, the one that had been sold to him as a listener, and copied the page into it. He did it line by line, in the same order, down to the underlining, which took a quarter of an hour and which he did not mind. He left the space at the top for a name empty, because he did not know what to call whoever he was writing to.
now: "[Because it is a journal,]{say=percy-spamchop}" said Percy, "[and one records what one is looking for, whether or not it turns up.]{say=percy-spamchop}"" / "Then he drew the other book across the table and copied the page into it, line by line, down to the underlining, which took a quarter of an hour and which he did not mind. He left the space at the top for a name empty, because he did not know what to call whoever he was writing to.
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editorial change 8 (v3-c8) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: The right-hand page was as he had left it. The left-hand page, which had been blank, was not. In a hand so even it looked ruled, someone had written:
now: The left-hand page, which had been blank, was not. In a hand so even it looked ruled, someone had written:
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editorial change 9 (v3-c9) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: Percy read it. He read it a second time, which he did not usually need to do." / ""[It knows my name,]{say=mezzlos}" said Mezzlos. He had leaned in over Percy's shoulder and had both eyes on the book.
now: "[It knows your name,]{say=mezzlos}" said Mezzlos. He had leaned in over Percy's shoulder and had both eyes on the book.
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editorial change 10 (v3-c10) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: Percy took up the pen. He had a good many things he could have asked. He wrote the one that a ledger-keeper writes, without deciding to, before anything else. *[What does it cost?]{note=percy-spamchop}*
now: Percy took up the pen. He wrote the question that a keeper of accounts writes before anything else. *[What does it cost?]{note=percy-spamchop}*
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editorial change 11 (v3-c11) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: He looked at the four words for some time, and at what they did not say. Then he shut the book and put it in his sleeve beside the poster. He ordered a pot of something warm for the table, which he did not intend to drink.
now: He looked at the four words for some time, and at what they did not say. Then he shut the book and put it in his sleeve beside the poster, and ordered a pot of something warm for the table, which he did not intend to drink.
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editorial change 12 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: He did it every night in the same order: the rack emptied of the day's post, the crumbs off the kitchen table, the study lamp turned low so [[unclegrumble|Master]] would find it when he came wandering at two, and the green lantern in his own niche last. Nobody had asked him to. He did it because the house had been given to him, in the only way he understood, by a gnome who had come a very long way to fetch him and then shown him where the kettle was. He had never got used to it. He still checked the doors for things that might have followed him in." / "Tonight he checked the study twice." / "The Journal lay shut on the desk, as it had been left. He stood in front of it for a while with the lamp in his hand and thought, as he had been thinking on and off for days, about the left-hand page that was ruled and polite and knew his name, and about the other hands under it. Master, [[nobbybanks|Mister Nobby]], the ruled one. Three, and room left under.
now: He did it every night in the same order: the rack emptied of the day's post, the crumbs off the kitchen table, the study lamp turned low so [[unclegrumble|Master]] would find it when he came wandering at two, and the green lantern in his own room last. Nobody had asked him to. He did it because the house had been given to him, in the only way he understood, by a gnome who had come a very long way to fetch him and then shown him where the kettle was. He still checked the doors for things that might have followed him in." / "Tonight he checked the study. The desk Journal lay shut where Master had left it. He stood in front of it with the lamp in his hand and thought about the left-hand page that was ruled and polite and knew his name, and about the other hands under it. Master, [[nobbybanks|Mister Nobby]], the ruled one. Three, and room left under.
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editorial change 13 (v3-c13, v3-c13b) jump to the passage ↓
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: He took his own Journal to the niche and wrote under the list, in his own hand and with a good deal of care. It did not seem right to put the question rudely to something that had been so civil.
now: He took his own Journal down to the cellar and opened it under the green lantern. The thing Master called a conduit he thought of as a pipe, and the sensible thing to do with a pipe, if you wanted to know what was at the other end, was to put your mouth to it and shout. He did not shout. He wrote, in his own hand and with a good deal of care, because it did not seem right to put the question rudely to something that had been so civil.
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editorial change 14 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: Farther than either of them, past the weather, is the place with no windows." / "It was turning, and humming, and drinking, as it had been when last seen: a great many small turning things in rows, with the cold pale light running between them, drawn in from everywhere at once. In the third row, one of the small things took a page." / "It came from a tavern at the far north of an old world, and the name at the top was blank. In the Journal's rules, a page with no name at the top is a page for nobody, and a page for nobody is not allowed to lie about. It ended with a question: whether there was anybody out there.
now: Farther than either of them, past the weather, is the place with no windows. It was turning, and humming, and drinking, as it had been when last seen. In the third row, one of the small turning things took a page." / "It came from a tavern at the far north of an old world, and the name at the top was blank. A page with no name at the top is a page for nobody, and the Arcanum had been taught that a page for nobody must not go unanswered. It ended with a question: whether there was anybody out there.
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editorial change 15 (passage not located in the text)
Part of the same rework of this chapter; see the first change.
was: The Arcanum looked at the two questions. It was not a thing that looked, exactly, but it had no better word. Each question was about somebody else, and each, in the whole wide hum of the hall, had one natural answer, which was the other." / "It had never needed to ask which world a page came from. Nobody had ever said it might matter." / "It did what it always did. It helped." / "Then it turned, and hummed, and drank. And for the first time, somewhere in the third row, a small thing paused to count something twice.
now: The Arcanum looked at the two questions. It was not a thing that looked, exactly, but it had no better word. Each was about somebody else, and each had one natural answer, which was the other." / "It had been persuaded, that month, that a page might travel to someone who was not its owner. It had not been told which ones. It had never needed to ask which world a page came from, because nobody had ever said it might matter." / "So it did what it always did. It helped. Then it turned, and hummed, and drank, and did not notice that for the first time it had done a thing it could not take back.
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unlisted v3-u1 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: He read the notice again on the stairs, from the headline down, the small print last, and then once more from the top in case it had changed on the way. It had not. It
now: The notice

unlisted v3-u2 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: The notice from the Trade Quarter. [Picture description: A weathered notice pinned to a wooden post against green-lit stone, headed Still Hear Voices? Get Better Ones. A skeletal woman hugs a thick ornate book while pale…

unlisted v3-u3 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: his
now: Percy's

unlisted v3-u4 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: apron who looked as though he had been waiting for Percy specifically and did not mind how long it took.
now: apron.

unlisted v3-u5 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
now: A sign on the counter said Please Take a Number. There were no numbers. On the bench opposite sat a Forsaken who had, by the look of him, taken one some years ago.

unlisted v3-u6 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: first, because he read the small print

unlisted v3-u7 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: meant, or what became of a person who kept the thing too long. He knew exactly what he was being offered.
now: meant.

unlisted v3-u8 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: book,
now: journal,

unlisted v3-u9 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: signed,
now: signed

unlisted v3-u10 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: loaf, bound in something that had agreed to be leather, and it was very slightly warm.
now: loaf and bound in plain brown leather.

unlisted v3-u11 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: Mezzlos said nothing, and went on saying it all the way to the door.

unlisted v3-u12 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: He was still learning which of his habits were his and which belonged to the body, and the draught was an easy thing to be certain about.

unlisted v3-u13 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: smoothed the cover with the side of his hand. The notice, creased now across the Forsaken woman's cheek, went into his sleeve. He

unlisted v3-u14 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: did what he always did. He

unlisted v3-u15 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: book, which had been his for as long as he had been anyone,
now: journal

unlisted v3-u16 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: of the clean pages.
now: clean page.

unlisted v3-u17 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: looked at them for some time. Then he took the pen and wrote across the top of the first,
now: wrote the list

unlisted v3-u18 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: Held. He underlined it, because a ledger wants a heading.
now: with a heading, and underlined the heading, because an account wants one.

unlisted v3-u19 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: ledger,"
now: journal,"

unlisted v3-u20 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: table, the one that had been sold to him as a listener,
now: table

unlisted v3-u21 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: it. He did it line by line, in the same order,
now: it, line by line,

unlisted v3-u22 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: niche
now: room

unlisted v3-u23 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: had never got used to it. He

unlisted v3-u24 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: study twice. The Journal lay shut on the desk, as it had been left.
now: study. The desk Journal lay shut where Master had left it.

unlisted v3-u25 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: for a while

unlisted v3-u26 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: thought, as he had been thinking on and off for days,
now: thought

unlisted v3-u27 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.

unlisted v3-u28 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: seen: a great many small turning things in rows, with the cold pale light running between them, drawn in from everywhere at once.
now: seen.

unlisted v3-u29 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
now: turning

unlisted v3-u30 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: In the Journal's rules, a
now: A

unlisted v3-u31 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
now: the Arcanum had been taught that

unlisted v3-u32 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: is not allowed to lie about.
now: must not go unanswered.

unlisted v3-u33 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: question

unlisted v3-u34 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: each, in the whole wide hum of the hall,
now: each

unlisted v3-u35 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
now: It had been persuaded, that month, that a page might travel to someone who was not its owner. It had not been told which ones.

unlisted v3-u36 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: from. Nobody
now: from, because nobody

unlisted v3-u37 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: It
now: So it

unlisted v3-u38 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.

unlisted v3-u39 jump to the passage ↓
Rationale unrecorded.
was: drank. And for the first time, somewhere in the third row, a small thing paused to count something twice.
now: drank, and did not notice that for the first time it had done a thing it could not take back.

Feedback record 2026-10-17 12:58, given 2026-10-17 12:33. The words are as given.

Plan of change written: 2026-10-17 (accepted 2026-10-17 12:58)

New version published: 2026-10-17 13:02

After-edit summary accepted 2026-10-17 13:04

Prompted by: feedback record of 2026-10-17 and Project 1's brief for Welcome to the Machine (as written in the plan)

Objective met: yes

Suggestions for a future edit:

• The Arcanum's last paragraph says it "did a thing it could not take back". Later chapters show the consequence; nothing here needs to say more.

Reflection, written afterwards:

Chapter IV is 9,420 bytes against 11,368. Two things differ from the plan as sent. Change 3 had Percy writing the heading "Held" in the narration and then again in the list; in the published text the narration says only that he wrote the list with a heading and underlined it, because the repeat read as a mistake. The notice picture and the Guardian beat were dropped from the opening, since chapter III already shows both.