Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

The main reception hall was nearly empty, but Ford still wobbled and wobbled. Zaphod took him firmly by the arm, and carried him to the small room on the side of the hall, "What are you going to do to him?" Arthur asked. "Wake him up," said Zaphod, shoving a coin into one of the slots, and the lights started blinking and the airflow swirled. "Hi..." After a while, Ford came out, "Where are we going?" "Go down to the parking lot, come on." "Why not time travel?" said Ford. "Just send us back to the Heart of Gold."

"It could, but I'm not interested in that spaceship anymore. Zaniu-chan got it, and I don't want to play his game. Let's go to the parking lot and see what we can find." A Sirius Control Systems human vertical transporter brought them down to the very bottom of the restaurant.They were pleased to find that the machine had been sabotaged, so that no attempt was made to cheer them up during the transport. At the bottom of the transmission tunnel, the elevator door opened, and a burst of cold, stale air rushed in, Stepping out of the elevator, the first thing they see is a long concrete wall to provide sanitation for all fifty major life forms.Still, like any parking lot in the galaxy, or any parking lot in parking lot history, the smell of this one is just as unbearable.

They turned a corner and found themselves in a moving elevated passageway, which traversed a compressed eye-hole-like space and stretched straight into the dim distance. The space is divided into berths, each of which holds a ship belonging to one of the diners upstairs.Some of them are small, utilitarian gadgets, others are big shiny luxury spaceships, the playthings of the very rich. As they passed the ships, Zaphod's eyes sparkled, maybe it was greed, maybe it wasn't.Actually, to be precise...greed. "He's over there," said Lianne. "Marvin, over there."

They looked in the direction she pointed, and vaguely saw a small metal object in a far corner, listlessly wiping a large star cruiser with a rag. Every short distance in this elevated passage, some thick transparent pipes lead to the ground.Zamford approached the passage, entered one of them, and slid lightly to the ground.The others followed him.In retrospect, Arthur Dent thought it was the only pleasant place in his galactic journey, "Hey, Marvin," said Zaphod, striding over to him, "Hey, man, we'd love to see you," Marvin turned around, and if a perfectly expressionless golden face had the expression of a possible 11J☆fu, it was that expression on his face.

"No, you're not happy to see me," he said, "no one is." "You can say what you want," said Zaphod, and turned to one side to look at the ship.Ford used to be with him too, Only Trillian and Arthur really walked towards Marvin. "No - we're really cool," Trillian said, patting him in a way he disliked so much. "Poor guy, has been staying here waiting for us..." "Five hundred and seventy-six thousand million--zero three thousand five hundred and seventy-nine years;" said Marvin, "I've been counting." "Oh, now here we are..." said Trillian, feeling at the same time—and Marvin was quite in agreement—that it was a little silly to say so.

"The first ten million years were the worst," said Marvin, "and the second ten million years were the worst. I didn't like the first ten million years at all. After that , I’m getting used to it a bit.” He paused for a moment, just long enough for them to feel that they should say something, and then cut them off with a fork. "The people you meet in this job frustrate you the most," he said, and then paused. Trillian cleared her throat. "yes…… "I ran into Tao. Ten thousand years ago." Marvin continued and then paused again. "Oh……"

"And a coffee machine." He waited. "That is……" "You don't like talking to me, do you?" said Marvin in a low, forlorn tone. Trillian had to talk to Arthur instead. Chief Ford found something deep in the parking lot, and he really liked the way they looked.There are several of these things. "Zaphod," he said in a flat tone, "look at these star bikes..." Zaphod saw it, and liked it. The spacecraft they saw was small but unique, a toy for rich kids.It doesn't have much bells and whistles to catch the eye, like a twenty-foot paper dart, made of thin but strong metal.It has a small horizontal two-person cockpit at the rear.That small engine obviously couldn't get it to any higher speeds.However, this thing is equipped with a heat sink.

The heat sink weighs almost two trillion tons and is installed in a black hole in an electromagnetic field in the middle of the spacecraft.With this heat sink, the spacecraft can fly within a few miles of a yellow sun, where it can capture and harness the solar flare emanating from the star's surface. Riding the Flare is one of the most wondrous and exciting sports ever played, and those who dare and can afford it are some of the biggest names in the entire galaxy.Of course, this is also an extremely dangerous sport - if the participants did not die in the process of driving, without exception, they died in the crazy orgy at the "After the Shine" party held for them by the Daedalus Club. resulting in exhaustion.

Ford and Zaphod watched as they walked on. "Look at this baby, man," said Ford, "orange star wagon with black solar detonation drives." Like the Star Motorcycle, the Star Carriage is also a small spaceship.But the name is actually completely wrong.It can do everything except interplanetary flight, and it's basically a sporty interplanetary hopper dressed up as something it's not, but it has nice lines.Ford and Zaphod walked on. Next came a huge thing, ten yards long.This is a luxury ship, designed with the goal of making onlookers mad with envy, every detail of the hull painting and hull appurtenance clearly proclaiming: "Not only am I rich enough, Can afford this ship, and be rich enough not to even think about it." Disgusting.

"Look at this thing," said Zaphod. "Composite cluster quark thruster, discrete movable deck. Looks like it must have been built by Lanzilla Leary." He scrutinized every inch of the hull. "That's right," he said. "Look, the pink lizard pattern on the neutrino fairing is Lanzilla's logo. What a fucking shameless man." "I was passed by a fucking thing like this once, out of the Axel Nebula," Ford said. I didn't take it seriously at all, the interstellar thrusters didn't even crank up the power. It's unbelievable."

Zaphod whistled appreciatively. "Ten seconds later," said Ford, "it crashed straight down on Moon Three of Jagranbeta." "Really?" "It does look nice, though. Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, drives like a cow." Ford glanced to the other side of the ship. "Hey, come and see," he called, "there's a big mural over here. An exploding sun—the sign of the 'Catastrophe Zone.' This must be Hotblack's ship. Lucky old bastard: you You know, they came up with that horrible tune that ended with a stunt ship crashing into the sun. They just wanted to make a big show, and of course, the stunt ships are expensive as hell," But Zaphod's attention was elsewhere.His attention was completely focused on the spaceship parked next to the luxury spaceship of Hot Black Dixie Jianyangjun.His mouth was opened wide. "This," he said, "this...is really bad for the eyes." Ford looked over, equally astonished. It was a traditional dirigible, simple in design, like a flattened salmon, twenty yards long, very clean, very smooth, with only one spot where it was unusually siliconized, "It's so dark!" said Prefect Ford. "It's so black that it's hard to judge its shape... The light seems to be falling into it!" Zaphod said nothing: it was love at first sight for him It's so sheer black that it's almost impossible to tell how far you're standing from it. "You'll even slip your eyes off it..." said Ford in amazement.It was a heart-pounding moment, and he bit his lip. Zaphod approached the ship, very slowly, as if caught by it—or, more precisely, as if trying to catch it.He reached out and stroked it.His hands stopped.He reached out again, but stopped again. "Come on, feel the surface," he whispered. So Ford reached out too.His hands stopped. "You...you can't..." he said. "See?" said Zaphod, "no friction at all, this thing must be fucking fast!" He turned and looked at Ford gravely.At least, one of his heads did—the other continued to stare at the ship in awe. "What do you think, Ford," he asked. "You mean...well—" Ford looked over his shoulder, "You mean to drive it around? Do you think that's appropriate?" "No." "I don't think it's appropriate either." "But we'll do it, won't we?" "How could we not do this?" They looked at each other for a while longer.Finally, Zaphod suddenly took control of his emotions. "We'd better act now," he said, "in a little while, and the universe will end. And then all those tasteless fellows will be swarming down to find their shabby, unremarkable ships. " "Zaphod," said Ford. "what?" "What do we do?" "Simple," said Zaphod.He turned. "Marvin!" he called. Margo turned around slowly and laboriously, making a million clanking and creaking noises at the same time. (Simulating that sound was a trick he picked up.) "Come here," said Zaphod, "we have a mission for you." Marvin staggered towards them. "I'm not going to like the job you give me," he said. "No, you'll like it," said Zaphod enthusiastically. "A whole new life is about to unfold in front of you." "Oh, don't have a whole new life," Marvin complained. "You shut up and listen!" interrupted Zaphod, "this thing is going to be a huge thrill, an adventure, and real madness!" "Sounds bad," Marvin said. "Marvin! All I'm asking you to do is..." "I mean, do you want me to open this spaceship for you?" "What? Um... ah... yes. Yes, you're right," said Zaphod nervously.He stares at A, D with at least one eye.Time is running out. "Then I want you to just tell me instead of trying to fire me up," Marvin said, "because I don't even have that stuff." He walked up to the spaceship and touched it.A hatch opened. Ford and Zaphod looked at the opening. "You're welcome," said Marvin, "oh, you won't," and he staggered away. Arthur and Trillian surrounded them. "What happened?" Arthur asked. "Look at this," said Ford, "look at the inside of this ship." "Weird, and getting weirder," said Zaphod, taking a breath. "Black," Ford Dui, "Everything inside is black..." A moment is rapidly approaching in restaurants, and after that moment, there will be no more. All eyes were on the dome, except for the eyes of Hotblack Desciato's bodyguard, which was staring intently at Hotblack Desciato, and Hotblack, Desciato's own Eyes, they have been closed impolitely by the bodyguards. The bodyguard leaned forward.Had Hotblack Diciato been alive, he might have leaned back, or even stood up and taken two steps, to avoid the bodyguards.Because after approaching, his bodyguard looked even more vicious.However, due to the unfortunate situation he was in, Hotblack Diciato remained motionless. "Mr. Diciato, sir?" the bodyguard whispered. Whenever he spoke, the muscles in the left corner of his mouth twisted to the right, and the ones on the right to the left.It looked as if the muscles on either side of the mouth were eager to escape. "Mr. Diciato 'Can you hear me?" Naturally, Hotblack Dixie was silent. "Hot Black?" The bodyguard continued to shout in a low voice: Naturally, Hotblack Dicito still did not answer.Yet, in some supernatural way, he did. On the table in front of him, a wine glass rattled, a fork rose almost an inch, tapped the glass a few times, and dropped to the table. The bodyguard snorted in satisfaction. "We've got to go, Mr. Diciato," the bodyguard muttered. "You're not in the right place to be huddled with other people. You're sure you want to go to a show in comfort and relaxation. There's bound to be a large audience. That was one of the best shows ever, in Kakulavon, five hundred and seventy-six thousand and two million years ago. Don't you expect anything?" The fork rose, stopped in the air, swung back and forth a few times vaguely, and then fell down. "Oh, come on," said the bodyguard, "that's going to be wonderful. You're so cold." Don Streetman must have had a stroke of rage at the tense the bodyguard used. "Black spaceship, crashing straight into the sun. This kind of scene always grabs the audience. The new one is very beautiful. It's a pity to watch it crash. After getting down to the parking lot, I set this black spaceship For autopilot, we'll take that luxury ship ourselves. How about that?" The fork tapped approvingly, and the wine in the glass disappeared inexplicably. The bouncer pushed Hotblack Diciato's wheelchair out of the restaurant. "Now," said Max, center stage, "the moment you've all been waiting for is here!" He waved his arms in the air: behind him, a frenzy of percussion from the band.Max had argued with them to do it, but they claimed it was what they were contracted to do.It seems that his agent needs to clarify this issue. "The sky is boiling!" he cried. "The universe is collapsing into the screaming void! In twenty seconds there will be an end to the universe! Behold, there, the infinite light is bursting above us!" A destructive frenzy surrounded them—just then, from what seemed to be infinite distance, a rather faint sound of a trumpet sounded.Max looked around the band, no one seemed to be blowing the horn.Suddenly, a puff of smoke swirled and flickered over the stage, and the horns sounded louder beside him, as if more horns were playing.Max had hosted such a show no fewer than five hundred times, but nothing like it had ever happened before.He stepped back from the swirling smoke alertly.As he did so, a human figure slowly emerged from the smoke.This is an ancient man with a bearded face and a long robe, shrouded in a halo.Starlight shone in his eyes, and on his head was a golden crown. "What is this?" Max muttered to himself, his eyes widened, "What happened?" At the back of the restaurant, the expressionless group from the sect of the Second Coming of the Great Prophet Zakun jumped up in ecstasy, singing carols and screaming. Max blinked in surprise and looked at them.Then, he threw his arms violently toward the audience. "A big round of applause, ladies and gentlemen," he cried, "for the great Prophet Zakun! He has descended! Zakun has descended again!" Max strode across the stage, handing the prophet his microphone.Thunderous applause broke out below. Zakun coughed.He looked around the crowd gathered below the stage, the stars in his eyes flickered uncomfortably.He fiddled with the microphone in his hand bewilderedly. "Um..." he said, "Hello. Well, look, I'm sorry for being a little late. I've just had a really bad time and everything just popped up at the last minute." He seemed a little nervous in the face of this expectant and awe-filled silence.He cleared his throat. "Well, how much time do we have," he said, "I can have a point..." At this moment, the universe ends.