Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine

A small, dark world, located in the remotest part of the galaxy - that is, it is almost never discovered, because it is protected by a large improbable place, only six people in the entire galaxy have it the key.It was raining heavily there. The rain poured down and lasted for several hours.It fell on the sea and stirred up a mist; it beat the trees; it stirred a scrub-covered land by the sea into mud. Raindrops danced wildly on the corrugated tin roof.This is a small shoe in the center of the shrub-covered land.The rain flooded the rough path leading from the hut to the shore, and washed away the neat and beautiful pile of shells that lay there,

The raindrops hit the small roof, and the sound was deafening when heard from inside the house, but the people in the house hardly noticed it, and his attention was focused on other places. It was a tall, swaying man with disheveled blond hair that was just beginning to get wet from the rain that leaked from the roof.His clothes were torn, his back was hunched, and although his eyes were open, they looked no different from closed eyes. In his room, a broken... armchair, a scratched... table, an old bed guard, some cushions, and a small but warm stove. The cat, like a weather-beaten lion, was the focus of the man's attention, and he bent and wobbled towards it.

"Kitty, kitty, kitty," he yelled. "Googoogoogwow cat want his bag? Delicious fish. Do cat want it," The cat doesn't seem to have made up his mind yet.It hesitantly pawed at the fish the man offered, but was soon attracted by a cloud of dust on the floor "The cat doesn't eat his fish, and the cat is getting thinner and thinner every day." The man said with a hint of doubt in his voice. "I feel like it's something that's going to happen," he said, "but how can I say it?" He passed the fish again. "Cat thinks about it," he said, "to eat fish or not to eat fish. Maybe it would be better if I didn't mix in here." He sighed.

"I think the fish is delicious, and I think the rain is too much. Well, what can I say, why should I make random judgments?" He put the fish on the floor, left it to the cat, and went back to his seat, "Smell, I think I saw you eating it." He said sharply: the cat finally got tired of all the entertainment that cloud of dust could provide, and then jumped on the fish. "I like to see you eat fish," said the man. "In my imagination, if you don't, you'll be getting weaker every day." He took a sheet of paper and the end of a pencil from the table, holding one in one hand and another in the other, and experimented with various ways of putting them together.He tried putting the pencil under the paper, then over the paper, then next to the paper: he tried rolling the pencil around the paper, he tried pressing the blunt end of the pencil against the paper, and he tried the fork. he pressed the end of the pencil point to the paper, and the result of this was to form a print of himself, a discovery he rejoiced in, and which he rejoices in every day: he picked up another Paper.There was a crossword puzzle on the piece of paper. He studied it for a while, filled in a few pieces, and then lost interest.

He tried sitting on one of his hands, the feel of his hip piqued his interest. "Fish come from far away," he said, "that's what I've been told = or I imagine I've been told. When those people come - or in my imagination when those people come , they travel in six shiny black ships' do you imagine them coming too, what do you think, Misty?" He looks at the cat.Rather than thinking about these issues, it is more interested in eating the fish as quickly as possible. "When I hear their questions, do you hear the questions? Their voices mean something to you, maybe you just think they're singing to you," he thought about the question carefully, then Found the only speculative loophole.

"Maybe they were actually singing to you," he said, "but I imagined they were asking me questions." He paused.Sometimes he even eats for several days, just to see what it looks like to eat for several days. "Do you think they're coming today," he said, "I think so: mud on the floor, cigarettes and whiskey on the table, fish on the plate—that's for you...and that's what's in my head About their memories. I know, these are not conclusive evidence, but then again, all evidence is not conclusive evidence. Let's see what else they left me."

He went to the table and picked up something from it. "Crosswords, dictionaries, and a calculator." He played with the calculator for an hour.The cat fell asleep, and the pouring rain continued to fall outside.Finally, he finally put the calculator aside. "I think I must be right to think that they're here to ask me questions," he said. "To come all the way here and leave so many things behind just to sing to you is a strange thing to do, at least I think so. Who knows? Who knows?" He picked up a stick of incense from the table and lit it on the flames emerging from the stove.He took a deep breath and sat down again.

"I think I saw another ship in the sky today," he said at last, "a huge white ship. I've never seen a huge white ship, only those six black ones, and Six green ones, and a few more, claiming they came from very far away. There was never a white one. Perhaps at some point, the six little black ships would look like one big white ship. Perhaps I should pour a glass of whiskey. Yes, whiskey seems a little more reliable." He stood up, found a glass on the floor next to the mattress, and poured a small shot from a whiskey bottle.He sat down again. "Maybe someone else is coming to see me," he said.

A hundred yards away, under the pouring rain, lay the Heart of Gold. The hatch opened and a man emerged, huddled together to keep the rain off their faces. "Is there?" Trillian yelled, trying to drown out the sound of the rain. "Yes," said Zarniwoop. "The hut?" "yes." "It's very strange," said Zaphod. "But it's so desolate here," said Trillian, "we must have come to the wrong place. You can't rule the universe in such a small room." They walked quickly through the heavy rain and came to the small tailgate drenched.They knocked on the door, trembling.

The door opened. "What's the matter," said the man. "Oh, sorry to interrupt," said Zarniwoop, "I have reason to believe that . . . " "Are you the one who rules the universe?" asked Zaphod. The man smiled at him. "I try not to be so wet," he said. "Are you getting wet?" Zaphod looked at him in surprise. "Get wet?" he cried. "Don't you think we're not wet enough?" "It seems to me so," said the man, "but your feelings may be quite another. If you think the warmth will dry your clothes, you'd better come in."

So they entered the house. They looked up and down the hut, Zarniwoop with a little disgust, Trillian with curiosity, and Zambed with joy. "Hey, um..." said Zaphod, "what's your name?" The man looked at them suspiciously. "I don't know if you think I should have a name. It seems very strange to give a name to a bunch of vague sensory perceptions." He invited Trillian to sit in a chair, and he sat on the edge of that chair.Zanny Pupe leaned hard against the table, and Zaphod simply lay down on the mattress. "Wow!" said Zaphod, "Big geek!" He teased the cat. "Listen," said Zarniwoop, "I have to ask you a few questions." "Well," said the man gently, "you can sing to my cat if you like." "But will it?" asked Zaphod. "You'd better ask it," said the man, "Can it talk?" asked Zaphod Fork "I don't remember it speaking," said the man, "but I'm a very unreliable person," Zarniwoop took some notes from a pocket. "Well," he said, "you rule the universe, don't you?" "How shall I put it?" said the man. Zannoop made a mark on the paper: "How long have you been doing this?" "Oh," said the man, "it's a question about the past, isn't it?" Zarniwoop looked at him suspiciously.This is not the scene he expected. "Yes," he said. "How do I know," said the man, "that the past wasn't invented to explain the contradiction between my present bodily perception and my state of mind'" Zarniwoop stared at him.Moisture began to rise from his drenched clothes. "Do you answer all the questions like this?" he said. The man replied quickly: "When I feel that someone is talking to me, I say what I feel should be said. I can't say anything else." Zaphod smiled happily. "I'll take a sip for that," he said, and pulled out the bottle of Jakes.He jumped up and handed the bottle to the ruler of the universe, who took a gleeful sip. "Well done, great ruler," he said, "speaks the truth without hiding it." "No, listen," said Zarniwoop, "people come to you a lot, don't they, those ships..." "I think so," said the man.He handed the bottle to Trillian. "Are they asking you," Zarniwoop went on, "to make decisions for them? About people's lives, about worlds, about economies, about wars, about what's going on in this outer universe matter." "This outside?" the man asked, "Which outside?" "Outside here!" said Zarniwoop, pointing to the door. "How do you know there's anything out there," the man asked politely, "the door is closed." The rain continued to beat on the roof.It was quite warm inside. "But you know there's a whole universe out there!" cried Zarniwoop. "You can't escape your responsibility by saying they don't exist!" The ruler of the universe considered for a long time, while Zarniwoop trembled with anger, "You're pretty sure of what you think is true," he said finally, "but I can't trust the idea of ​​a man who takes the universe—if there is one—for granted," Zarniwoop was still trembling, but remained silent. "I can only determine my universe," the man continued quietly. "My universe is my eyes and my ears. Anything else is hearsay." "Doesn't Keti believe in anything?" The man shrugged and picked up his cat. "I don't know what you mean," he said. "Don't you understand? What you decide in your interrogation hut will affect the lives and fates of hundreds of millions of people!" "I don't know. I've never met the people you're talking about. And, I guess, you haven't either. They exist only in the words we hear. Saying you know what's going on It's ridiculous. Only they know, if they exist. They have their own universe, from their own eyes and ears." At this point Trillies said, "I think I'll have to go out for a while." She leaves the house and walks in the rain. "Do you believe other people exist?" Zarniwoop insisted. "I don't know. How shall I put it7" "I'd better go and see what's up with Trillian," said Zaphod, and Litin went out. Outside, he said to her, "I see the universe is in pretty good hands, isn't it?" "Excellent," Trillian said.They walked into the rain together. Inside, Zarniwoop continued. "Don't you understand that people's lives and deaths depend on your words?" The ruler of the universe waited as long as possible.After hearing the faint sound of the spacecraft's engine starting, he began to speak to cover up the sound. "It has nothing to do with me," he said. "The others have nothing to do with me. God knows I'm not a cruel person." "Ha!" cried Zarniwoop, "you mentioned 'God.' Believe in something anyway!" "My cat," said the man affectionately, picking him up and petting him, "I call him 'God.' I'm good with him." "Okay then," said Zarniwoop, returning to his point, "how do you know it exists, how do you know it knows you've been nice to him, and is smug about it7" "I don't know," the man said with a smile, "I don't know. What makes me happy is treating something that looks like a cat in a certain way. You have something to do with the way you behave." What's the difference? Come on, I think I'm tired." Zarniwoop let out a sigh of utter resignation, and looked around. "Where are the other two?" he asked suddenly. "What two other people?" said the Ruler of the Universe, sitting back in his chair and refilling his whiskey glass. "Beeblebrox and that girl! Those two people who were here just now!" "I don't remember anyone! The past is a fiction, to explain..." 'enough! said Zarniwoop sharply, and rushed out into the rain. There were no ships, and the rain continued to churn the mud, with no sign of where the ship had been. He yelled through the rain. He turned Run back to the hut and find the door locked. The ruler of the universe took a nap in his chair, and after a while he fiddled with pencil and paper, delighted when he discovered how to use one to imprint the other.Various noises continued outside the door, but he didn't know if they were real.Then he spoke to his desk for a week to see how it would react.