To illustrate the kind of mite he was presently looking for, Hackworth 
had brought along a cocklebur that he had teased from Fiona's hair after they 
had gone for a walk in the park. He had shown it to Dr. X, who had 
understood immediately, and eventually he found it. It looked completely 
different from all the other mites, because, as a cocklebur, its sole job was 
to stick to whatever touched it first. It had been generated a few hours 
previously by the matter compiler at Bespoke, which, following Hackworth's 
instructions, had placed a few million of them on the outer surface of the 
Illustrated Primer. Many of them had been embedded in Hackworth's flesh when he 
had first picked the book up.