Thief of Time - Black Hole Durability

If there had been such a thing as time, it would have been a few minutes after Susan and Lobsang left that a small robed figure, about six inches high, strutted into the workshop. It was followed by a raven, which perched on the door and regarded the glowing clock with considerable suspicion.

'Looks dangerous to me,' it said.

SQUEAK? said the Death of Rats, advancing on the clock.

'No, don't you go trying to be a hero,' said Quoth.

The rat walked up to the base of the clock, stared up at it with a the-bigger-they-are-the-harder-they-fall expression, and then whacked it with its scythe. Or, at least, tried to. There was a flash as the blade made contact. For a moment the Death of Rats was a ring-shaped, black-and-white blur around the clock, and then it vanished.

'Told yer,' said the raven, preening its feathers. 'I bet you feel like Mister Silly now, right?’

***

The Thief of Time - p257