Chapter 30 Chapter Thirty

That night the stars came out, bright and clear.Ford and Arthur had come a long way, they could not tell how far they had come, and at last they stopped to rest.The night is cool, the air is pure and fragrant, and the sub-ether sensor is always silent.A world where the magical stillness mingles with the soft fragrance of the woods, where the crooning of insects and the bright light of the stars soothe their stimulant spirits.Even Sir Ford, who had seen thousands of worlds in one long afternoon, was deeply moved and thought that this was not the most beautiful world he had ever seen.All day they passed through rippling green hills and valleys, covered with grass, fragrant wildflowers, and tall foliage trees; the sun kept them warm, and the light breeze kept them cool. The interval between each time the Special Officer tapped his sub-ether sensor was getting longer and longer, showing less and less annoyance at the thing's continued silence.He was beginning to feel that he liked the place.

The cool night air made them sleep soundly and comfortably in the field, only to be awakened by a slight dew several hours later.They feel refreshed, but hungry.Ford had stuffed some rolls into his backpack at Sky's End, so they ate their breakfast and continued on their way. Before that, they were just wandering around, but from now on they are moving firmly towards the East.They feel that if they are to explore the world, they must have a clear idea of ​​where they are going. Near noon they found the first indication that the world on which Limon had landed was not an uninhabited world.Half a face was exposed in the bushes, peeping at them.Just as they both saw it at the same time, that half of the face disappeared.In the impression of the two, this is a creature with human characteristics, and they are very curious to see them, but not afraid.Half an hour later, they glimpsed another such face; ten minutes later, another...

After a minute, they stumbled into a wide open space and stopped. In front of them, in the middle of the clearing, stood about twenty or so men and women, standing quietly where they were, looking at Ford and Arthur.Some children were crowded around several women, and behind the crowd was a row of small, crumbling houses made of mud and branches. Ford and Arthur held their breath. The tallest of them all was just over five feet tall.Their bodies are slightly leaning forward, their arms are relatively long, their foreheads are relatively low, their eyes are clear and bright, and they are staring intently at the two strangers in front of them.

Seeing that they were unarmed and not pressing towards them, Ford and Arthur relaxed a little. For a while, the two sides just looked at each other without making any moves.The natives seemed confused by the hearers.Although the two men showed no intention of invading, it was clearly not welcome. Nothing happened. For two full minutes, nothing happened. Two minutes into the cross, Ford decided it was time for something to happen. "Hi there," he said. The woman pulled the child a little closer to her. Although the men did not make any perceptible gestures, it was clear from their overall intentions that such a greeting was unwelcome-it didn't cause much anger, it was just unwelcome.

One of the men was standing slightly in front of the whole group, and so was probably their leader.He took a few steps forward, the expression on his face was calm and calm, even serene. "Ming wa woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo," he said softly. Arthur was taken aback.The Babel fish resides in his ears, which can translate all languages. The translation of the Babel fish is synchronized in real time, and he does not even notice the translation process.Arthur has become accustomed to this, completely ignoring the existence of Fan Ze.And now, he noticed the presence of the Babel fish, because it seemed to be out of action this time.A vague shadow of meaning wandered in the back of his mind, but he couldn't grasp it.He guessed that these people might not have evolved even the most rudimentary language, so the Babel fish couldn't help it.He glanced at Ford, who had much more experience with this sort of thing, after all.

"I think," said Ford, forcing a word out of the corner of his mouth, "that he was asking if we would mind going around the edge of the village." After a while, the man's gestures seemed to confirm this. "Whoa, whoa, whoa; whoa, whoa, (whoa, whoa) whoa, whoa," he went on. "As far as I can make out," said Ford, "he basically meant that we could continue our journey any way we liked, though it would be easier if we walked around the village instead of going through it. Make them all very happy." "Then what shall we do?" "I think we'd better keep them happy," Ford said.

So they walked slowly and cautiously around the clearing.This seemed fine, and the natives bowed slightly to them and went about their business. Ford and Arthur continued walking through the woods.About a few hundred yards past the clearing, they suddenly noticed a small pile of fruit lying on the road ahead of them, berries that looked a lot like raspberries and strawberries, another soft juicy green-skinned fruit that looked It is like a pear. So far they had not tasted any of the fruits and berries they had seen along the way, though there were plenty of them on the trees and bushes. "Look at it this way," said Prefect Ford once, "that fruit and berries on a strange planet may make you live or you may die. Therefore, only if you would otherwise When you're starving, you can start eating these things. That's what you should be doing. The health secret to hitchhiking is to eat only fast food."

They looked suspiciously at the pile of things on their way.They looked so delicious that they almost fainted with hunger. "Look at it this way," said Ford, "well." "What?" Arthur asked. "I'm trying to find the right angle to look at this, which means we should eat them," Ford said. Dappled sunlight hits the skin of what looks like a pear.And what looked like raspberries and strawberries was fatter and more ripe than any strawberry Arthur had ever seen, not even the strawberries in the ice cream commercials. "Why don't we eat them first and think about it later," Arthur said.

"Maybe that's exactly what they want us to do." "Okay, let's look at it like this" "So far, your words sound good." "There's a bunch of stuff out there waiting for us to eat—whether they're good or bad, they don't kill us with poison. If something's poisonous and we don't eat it, they're still alive There will be other ways to attack us. So, even if we don’t eat, we’re going to lose anyway.” "I like the way you see things," said Ford. "Now, eat one." Hesitating, Arthur picked up what looked like a pear.

"I'm always reminded of the Garden of Eden story," Ford said. "Ok?" "Eden. Trees. Apples, remember?" "Yes, of course I do." "That god of yours put an apple tree in the middle of the garden and said, do whatever you like, man, oh, but don't eat that apple. Weird, they ate it, and he ate it from a pile Jumped out from behind the irrigation and yelled 'I got you guys'. In fact, even if they didn't eat, they would have met the same end." "why?" "Because, if you're dealing with guys with that mentality, it should be pretty clear that they're not going to give up. They're going to get you eventually!"

"What are you talking about?" "Nothing, let's eat some fruit." "You know, this place really looks like Eden." "Let's eat fruit." "It sounds like that too." Arthur took a bite of what looked like a pear. "Just pears," he said. After a while, they have eaten a lot.Ford, the officer turned and shouted back. "Thank you, thank you so much Ding," he cried, "You are so kind." Then they continued on their way. All the way east, for the next fifty miles, they were looking for the occasional gift of fruit that came their way.Once or twice, they caught a glimpse of an aboriginal figure in the bushes, but they never met the aborigine directly again. They believed that this race didn't like to be disturbed by others, as long as they didn't disturb them, they would show respect to visitors. own gratitude. After fifty miles the fruit and berries are gone, for here the sea begins. Taking their time, they built a raft and set out to cross the sea.The sea was relatively calm, only about sixty miles wide, so they crossed it with ease.To land on a land at least as beautiful as the one they left. In a word, life here is almost ridiculously easy, which enables them, at least for a time, to combat the problems they face, such as aimlessness, isolation, and so on, by ignoring them.They knew where to find the Golga Flintham if they needed the company of others.But for now, they're happy that those guys are hundreds of miles behind them. Still, Prefect Ford started using his sub-ether sensors more.Only once did he get a signal, but it was so weak and so far away that it was even more frustrating to him than no signal at all. On a whim, they turned and headed north.After several weeks of trekking, they came to another thumb, set up another raft and began to cross.But this time it was tougher, the temperature was dropping and getting colder.Arthur begins to suspect masochistic tendencies in Chief Ford.The increasing difficulty of the journey seemed to give him a sense of purpose - something that was lacking the most.Ford Executive strode forward with perseverance. The journey northwards brought them to a steep mountainous country, where the beauty of the rolling hills and the great jagged peaks capped with snow captivated them.But the cold also began to invade their bone marrow. They were wrapped in animal skins, which were captured by Chief Ford.The technique he used was learned from two Zunpalette monks who, after breaking away from their sect, ran a mindsurfing sanatorium on Mount Shounian. The galaxy is full of ex-Palet monks, all ambitious.The headquarters of this sect is on the planet Odell, and as a form of prayer homework, they have developed a fine punching control technique.This technology, to put it bluntly, is truly remarkable!And so, after completing this training in prayer, a host of abominations left Odell—before finally swearing to spend the rest of their lives locked in small metal boxes. Ford's technique seems to go mostly like this: standing still, smiling. Before long, an animal, perhaps a deer, would emerge from the woods and watch him warily.Ford continued to smile at it, his eyes becoming very soft and shining.He seemed to radiate a deep and universal love, a love to embrace all living beings.Peace and serenity emanated from this man who seemed to be the embodiment of beauty.Slowly, the deer will come closer, step by step, and finally almost snuggle up to him.Then Prefect Ford would throw it down and break its neck. "Pheromone control," he said of the trick, "you just have to know how to produce the right smell."