Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

Arthur fell on a shattered piece of reinforced concrete, grinning in pain.Light clouds drifted past, and there was a faint sound in the ears, as if it was some kind of carnival activity. Arthur couldn't make out the sound right away.One is because he has never heard the song "I Leave My Legs in Jagran β", and the other is because the band is already very tired. Some members play in three or four beats, some in four or four beats, and some in Drunk eyed r2 shot - it all depends on how much they last caught up on sleep. He lay on the ground, sucking in the moist air, feeling where he was hurt.He felt pain everywhere he touched it.Soon he discovered that it was his hand that was injured.Seems to be a bit of a sprained wrist and a bit of a back injury.However, he was soon relieved to find that the injury was not serious, just a little scratch and a little fright.Who can avoid it?He really didn't understand why a house should fly in the sky.

Having said that, he also couldn't explain his behavior of flying in the sky, so he thought he and the house should understand each other.Arthur straightened up and looked around.Behind him was a pale, dirty stone wall—a building, to be precise.He himself was where its edge jutted out, about three or four feet across.This is the ground near the foundation of the building that the building flies with to keep it stable. He stood up cautiously, took a quick glance beyond the edge, and immediately had a reaction of fear of heights.So he leaned back against the wall, drenched from mist and sweat.His mind was spinning, and his stomach was turning upside down.

Though Arthur had come here by himself, he dared not take the risk.He didn't want to take chances.He didn't want to take another step to the side. Holding his travel bag tightly, he walked slowly along the base of the wall, hoping to find the entrance.The weight of the olive oil gave him no small comfort. He moved slowly towards the nearest corner, hoping that there were some doors in the wall there, at least better than the wall without doors. The building wobbled, and he felt a wave of fear.Soon, he decided to take the towel out of his bag and use it—again proving the versatility of towels for rovers—he put the towel over his head so he couldn't see what he was doing.

He fumbled along the wall.One hand groped for the wall. Finally reached the corner.The hand turned around the corner and suddenly bumped into something, which made him almost fall in fright.That's the other hand. Two hands clasped together. He wanted to use his other hand to tear the towel off, but that hand was clutching his travel bag, which contained olive oil, wine, and postcards from Santorini, which he would not let go. There is a kind of "self-awareness" in his heart-that is, when you suddenly look back, look back at your heart, and think about "who am I? What am I pursuing? What have I achieved? Am I doing well?"He whimpered softly.

He wanted to pull his hand out, but he couldn't help it, the other's hand was tightly clenched.He had no choice but to move on.He leaned against the wall and shook his head vigorously, trying to shake the towel off.This action seemed to startle the stranger, and he let out a shrill cry. The towel fell down, and Arthur realized that he was looking at Ford Chief.Behind Ford was Slarti Bartfast, and behind the two of them was a welcoming avenue leading to a closed gate. They leaned against the wall, looking at the cloud covering the sky in shock while resisting the shaking of the building.

"Where did you go when he praised you?" Ford asked hoarsely, with lingering fear. "Uh, uh..." Arthur stammered.He didn't know how to sum it up in one sentence, "Somewhere. What are you doing here?" Ford looked at Arthur uncomfortably. "We don't have any wine, so we won't let you in," he hissed. Things Arthur noticed as the three joined the party: the noise, the suffocating temperature, the colorful smog, the carpet spilled with broken glass, soot and avocado juice, a group of people dressed in lamé Pterodactyl-like creatures—they scrambled to drink the precious bottle of Greek wine that Arthur had brought, shouting excitedly "New thing! New thing!" And he paid most attention to Trillian, Thor is accosting her.

"Did I see you in 'The End of the Sky'?" the man said. "Are you the one with the hammer?" "Yes. I like it better there. Less depravity, more compassion." The room was filled with dizzying noise.Joyful crowds rubbing shoulders, noisy creatures of all kinds, so many that one cannot see the other end of the room.The laughter was deafening and people couldn't hear each other talking, so there were often problems. "Quite interesting," said Trillian. "What did you say, Arthur?" "I said, why are you here?" "I do random motions in the universe. Have you seen Thor? He's a thunderbolt."

"Hello," said Arthur, "I think that must be interesting." "Hey," said Thor, "that's interesting. Do you have any wine?" "Well, no..." "Then why don't you get some?" "I'll see Arthur later," Trillian said. A thought flashed through Arthur's mind.He looked around. "Zaphod isn't here, is he?" "See you later." Cui Lian said without doubt. Thor stared at Arthur with dark, menacing eyes, his beard bristling, and a single light cast a menacing light on the horn of his helmet.

Thor put his incredibly strong arms around Trillian's elbows, and the muscles in his upper arms rose and fell like a couple of Volkswagens had parked in. He took her away. "One of the interesting things about being a fairy," he said, "is that..." "There's an interesting thing about space," said Arthur, who heard Slartibartfast talking to someone.The opponent was a shaggy behemoth who looked as if he had fought a battle with a pink duvet.The creature was fascinated by the old man's deep-set eyes and silver beard. "That is, it's very boring."

"Boring?" The creature blinked, her eyes puckered and bloodshot. "Yeah," said Slartibartfast. "Surprisingly boring. Terribly boring. You see, it's so big and yet so empty. Would you like to hear me cite some statistics?" "Well, uh..." "Please let me quote, I'll be happy. Those data, too, are boring." "I'll hear it later," she said.She patted the old man's arm, lifted the hovercraft-like skirt, and walked into the crowd. "I don't think she'll leave here," the old man muttered. "Come on, Earthlings."

"Arthur." "We need to find the silver crossbar, which is near here." "Can't we just relax?" said Arthur. "I've had a bad day. Trillian's here too. By chance. She didn't make it clear. Maybe it doesn't matter." "Think of the dangers of the universe..." "The universe," said Arthur, "is big enough and mature enough for half an hour to take care of itself. Do it..." he went on, as Slartibartfast kept urging him to hurry up. Go, "I'll go for a stroll and see if anyone has seen it." "Fine, fine," Slartibartfast said, "Fine." He made his way into the crowd himself, and everyone he met told him to "relax." "Have you ever seen a cross-bar?" Arthur asked, noticing a small figure who seemed eager to hear a word. "It's made of silver, and it's been a long time since it's vital to the future security of the universe." "No." The little man wrinkled his face enthusiastically, "but you can have a drink and tell me what's going on." Ford bounced past in a very contorted way.He was doing some kind of crazy, rather lewd dance, with a partner wearing what looked like a Sydney Opera House on her head.He shouted something to her amid the din—a useless conversation. "I love this!" he exclaimed. "what?" "I said, I love this hat!" "I'm not wearing a hat!" "Oh, then I like this kind of head!" "what?" "I said, I like this kind of head, the skull structure is very interesting!" "what?" Ford shrugged while maintaining his intricate dance moves. "I say, you dance very well," he exclaimed, "just don't keep nodding!" "what?" "Because every time you nod," said Ford, "wow!" his partner nodded again when he said "what," and Ford yelped.Because his forehead was pecked hard by her protruding skull again. "My planet was blown up one morning," said Arthur.He didn't expect to tell the little guy his life story, or, at least, the edited version, "So I'm dressed like this, in my nightgown. My planet was blown up with my clothes. You see, I didn't Thinking of going to a party." The little man nodded enthusiastically. "After that, I was thrown from the spaceship, still wearing a nightgown. Not--a space suit as you usually think. It wasn't long before I found out that my planet was actually made of rats, and you can imagine what I did about it Thoughts. Then, I was beaten and blown up again. It’s actually quite funny, I was often blown up, insulted, collapsed, and had no tea. Not long ago, I fell into a swamp, in a broken cave Lived there for five years." "Ah," the little man said with great interest, "are you having a good time?" Arthur was drinking, choking hard. "What a wonderful cough!" The little man was taken aback, and said, "Can I join?" Then, the little man coughed loudly, and Arthur was very surprised. When he was about to choke, he found that he was already choking, so he was a little at a loss what to do. The two "played together" the "heart-piercing duet" for a full two minutes, and finally, Arthur hiccupped and stopped. "How inspiring!" the little man panted, wiping his tears. "What a wonderful life you have! Thank you so much!" He shook Arthur's hand enthusiastically and disappeared into the crowd.Arthur shook his head in disbelief. Walking up to Arthur was a young-looking guy with an aggressive look—hooked mouth, lantern-shaped trousers, beaded cheekbones.He was dressed in black trousers, a black silk shirt with what looked like a belly button open (though, Arthur now knew, don't make random guesses about anyone's anatomy), and a lot of strange golden things dangling around his neck Son.He has a black bag, and, obviously, he wants people to notice that he doesn't want people to notice it. "Hey! Well, I heard you say your name just now?" he asked. Arthur had said many things to the little man, and the name was one of them. "Yes, Arthur Dent." The man danced, though it was completely out of tune with the half-dead accompaniment of the orchestra. "Yes," he said, "it's just that there's someone in the mountains who wants to see you." "I've seen him." "Yes, but he seems anxious to see you. You understand." "Yes, I have seen him." "Yeah, just to let you know." "I see. I've seen him." The man stopped talking and chewed his gum.Then he patted Arthur on the back. "OK," he said, "alright. Did I tell you? Good night, good luck, and the prize." "What?" Arthur felt that it should be taken seriously. "Whatever. Do your thing. Do it well." He gurgled with something he was chewing, and made a few more exaggerated poses. "Why?" Arthur asked. "Bad shit," the man said, "What the hell? Who the hell cares?" The man suddenly yelled, his face suddenly bloodshot. "So what if you're crazy?" he said. "Go away and disappear, boy. Like you!" "OK, I'll go." Arthur replied immediately. "Really." The man waved his hand lightly and disappeared into the crowd. "What's the matter?" Arthur asked a girl behind him. "Why did he call me a prize?" "Just joking." The girl shrugged. "He just won an award at the Ursa Minor α Star Entertainment Phantom Annual Awards Ceremony, so he always wanted to show that he didn't care. But you didn't mention it at all, so he couldn't express it." "Oh," said Arthur, "oh, I'm sorry. What prize did he get?" "Most gratuitous use of the word 'fuck' in a serial script. Quite an honor." "Got it," said Arthur. "Oh, and what's the prize?" "A jolly cup. Just a little silver thing on a black base. What do you say?" "I didn't say anything. I wanted to ask the silver thing..." "Oh, you said 'oh.'" "Say what?" "Oh." Over the years, many people have come to this party.Many well-dressed uninvited guests from extraterrestrials.One occasionally glances at the world below and sees bleak cities, barren avocado groves, dying vineyards, vast newborn deserts, seas of biscuit crumbs and worse—they The planet is undergoing a small change, probably a little worse than before.Some people think: I don’t know if everyone can stay awake enough, it’s best to add an interstellar travel function to the building, maybe it can be moved to another planet, then the air will be better, and everyone’s head will not hurt so much up. On the ground, the few peasants are starving.They were eking out a living on the barren land, and they were relieved to hear the above news.But one day, the party came roaring through the clouds, and the peasants looked up, terrified at the prospect of yet another cheese and wine robbery.Obviously, the party isn't going anywhere for a while, and besides, it's going to be over soon.Soon, people will be able to put on their hats and coats and step out of the building drunkenly to see what day it is, what year it is, whether there are taxis available in this ruined and desolate land. The party is surrounded by a spooky white spaceship.Half of the spaceship was embedded in the building.Together, the spaceship and the building are swaying and swaying in the sky, forming a grotesque picture.The clouds parted and the fog cleared, and the wind howled and blew it away.The building and the battleship were still struggling and flopping like two ducks.The first duck wants to make a third duck inside the second duck, but the second duck tries to explain that it is not ready for the third duck, especially the third duck that the first duck wants. It's a duck, and I don't want it to appear in my body.Because, the second duck is busy flying. There were bursts of terrifying loud noises in the air, and a shock wave rushed straight to the ground, shaking the surroundings. Suddenly, the spaceship disappeared with a "huh". The party building stumbled through the air as if it had accidentally leaned against an ajar door.Dizzy, ramming around, wanting to go east but going west, and even flying backwards in a daze. The building has been dizzy for a long time, of course, not for long.The party at this time has been severely damaged.Joy is gone, and the building can't even spin on one leg now. The longer you stay in the sky, the harder you will fall in the end. The interior was just as bad.People are in pretty bad shape.Many people gritted their teeth in hatred and cursed at those begging robots.They stole the award for the most gratuitous use of the word 'fuck' in a serial script.The place where the prizes were placed is now a mess.Arthur was very sad, like a runner-up in the Jolly Cup. "We'd love to stay and help," cried Ford, emerging from the mess, "but we won't." The building shook again, and the ruins were filled with cries and groans. "Look, we've got to go save the universe," Ford said. "Yeah, that's a poor excuse... Anyway, we gotta go." Suddenly, he saw a bottle of wine on the ground, unopened and, miraculously, unbroken. "Can I take it? You don't need it anymore." He grabbed another bag of potato chips. "Trillian?" Arthur called nervously.You can't see your fingers in the smoke. "Earthlings, it's time to go." Slartibartfast urged uneasily. "Trillian?" Arthur called again. A moment later, Trillian staggered into view, and Thor, her new friend, held her up. "This girl is coming with me," Thor said. "There's a big party in Valhalla, and we're flying over..." "Where were you?" Arthur asked. "Upstairs," Thor said, "I'm weighing her. Flying is a technical job, you have to calculate the wind..." "She's coming with us," said Arthur. "Hey..." Trillian said, "I'm not..." "No," said Arthur, "you come with us." Thor's burning gaze was fixed on Arthur, menacing--but bewildering. "She's coming with me," he said quietly. "Hurry up, Earthlings." Slartibartfast tugged at Arthur's sleeve uneasily. "Come on, Slarty Bartfast." Ford tugged at the old man's sleeve.Slartibartfast's hand was already on the transmitter. The building swayed and swayed, making people dizzy.But Thor and Arthur did not.Arthur was trembling slightly, staring into Thor's eyes. Slowly—incredibly, Arthur raised his thin fist. "What do you want?" he said. "Excuse me, kid, say it again?" Thor asked gruffly. "I said," Arthur's voice could not hide the fear, "what do you want?" He waved his fist comically. Thor looked at him rather surprised.Then, there was a trace of light smoke coming out of his nostrils, with sparks. He crossed his hips. He puffed out his chest, as if to announce to everyone: Unless you have a group of Sherpas to help, you can't beat me. He took the magic hammer from his waist.He raised the sledgehammer, its head huge and hard.Now, I believe anyone should have figured it out. "You ask," his breath was as heavy as the sound of water flowing in a mill, "what do I want to do?" "Right." Arthur replied.Strangely, his voice suddenly hardened.He waved his fist again, seeming to be serious. "Do you want to go outside?" he shouted at Thor. "Okay!" Thor snapped.He bursts out of the gate like a raging bull (actually, "like a raging Thor" would be more accurate). "Well," said Arthur, "get rid of him. Let's go, Sis."