Death

Death personified explains to Mort that he merely cleans up after people die in whatever manner. Fate, not Death, decides, for instance, who drowns. Death personified attends only special deaths and unless one understands "point incarnation" and "node focusing," explanation is meaningless. When one dies, the physical body sloughs off as a ghostly shape and the victim's "morphogenetic field" emerges. Death comforts it and, after it weakens and shrinks into a tiny pinpoint of light, tucks it tenderly away inside his robe. Death warns Mort against interfering with Fate, with which the gods alone may tinker, and assures Mort that folks get what they think is coming- paradise or suffering - and emphasizes that there is no justice.

Needing time off, Death sends Mort on solo "Duty." During his travels, Mort meets a bent old witch, whose morphic field is young and sexy before dissipating into nature; he...