Chapter 5 third chapter

Just this Thursday, something moved silently through the ionosphere, many miles above Earth's surface.Actually, it was—things, dozens of huge squat yellow plates, as big as office buildings and as silent as birds.They glide briskly, bathed in the electromagnetic rays of the star called the sun, spending their time gathering, forming, and preparing. The planet below them was completely unaware of their arrival, and the only thing that detected them was a tiny black instrument called a sub-ether sensor, which began to blink silently.It was carried in a small leather knapsack which Ford Prefect always wore around his neck.The inside of Ford Prefect's little backpack is actually pretty interesting enough to make any physicist on the face of the planet dumbfounded, so he always packs two scripts already rolled up (he pretends he's about to audition for them ) on the face to cover.In addition to the sub-ether sensor and script, there was an electronic thumb in the bag—a stubby black stick, smooth but matte, with two flat switches and dials at one end.There is also an instrument that looks very much like a giant electronic calculator, with hundreds of small flat keys and a screen about 4 inches square. can be called out and displayed above.This thing looks almost insanely complicated, and maybe that's one of the reasons that the plastic case that fits it has the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters.Another reason is that this instrument is actually one of the most extraordinary books ever published by the great publishers of Ursa Minor—.As for why it is published in this electronic form based on micro-sub-mesons, it is because if it is printed in the form of ordinary paper media, an interstellar wanderer will have to prepare several buildings to accommodate it.

In Ford Prefect's small backpack, beneath these were some ballpoint pens, a notebook, and a large bath towel from M&S. There are also some explanations for the entry about towels. A towel, it explained, was about the most useful thing an interstellar rover could have.In one respect, towels have enormous practical value: but more importantly, towels have enormous psychological value.For whatever reason, if a "normal person" (normal person: non-roamer) finds a rogue with a towel with him, he will automatically assume that the person also has a toothbrush, bathrobe, soap, biscuits jars, vacuum flasks, compasses, maps, rope bundles, mosquito spray, raincoats, spacesuits… and more.So, he'd be more than happy to lend the wanderer all of these things, and many more - all of which the wanderer happened to "lose".The psychology of this normal man is that a man, roaming the vast galaxy, after facing many terrible odds and successfully victorious, if he still knows where his towel is, then obviously A man worth taking seriously.

So, in the hitchhiking lingo, there's this line, "Hey, have you ever bumped into that fellow Ford Prefect? ​​That's a good guy who really knows where his towel is." (Touch : knew, met, met, had sex with; peers: guys who were really together; good partners: guys who were amazing when they were together) "Have you brought a towel?" Ford said suddenly to Arthur. Arthur--the poor fellow was working on his third pint--looked him up and down. "Why? What, no, no...Should I bring it?" By this time, he was no longer surprised by such an abrupt question. Ford flicked his tongue angrily.

"Do it." He advised. At this moment, there was a muffled bang outside, Arthur choked on the beer and stomped his feet. "What's the matter?" he called. "Don't worry," said Ford. "They haven't started yet." "Oh, thank goodness." Arthur relaxed now. "Maybe your house just got knocked down," said Ford, downing his last pint. "What?" cried Arthur.At this moment, Ford's spell was broken.Arthur looked at him wildly, then ran to the window. "Oh God, they really did that! They're bulldozing my house. What the hell am I doing in this goddam tavern, Ford?"

"It doesn't look like it's going to make a difference right now," said Ford. "Let them have fun." "Lol?" growled Arthur. "Lol!" He glanced quickly out of the window again. "Go fuck them!" he yelled angrily, dashing out of the tavern, nearly knocking down an almost empty beer glass. "Stop, you savages! You destroyers!" cried Arthur. "Stop, you half-mad savages, you hear?!" Ford saw the gesture and knew he had to follow him.So he quickly turned to the barman who had just asked for 4 bags of peanuts. "That's what you want, sir," said the waiter, throwing the peanuts on the bar. "28p, thank you."

After a run along the country lane, Arthur was almost at his house.He didn't notice the sudden coldness, he didn't notice the biting wind, or the sudden storm that came crashing down for no reason.He didn't notice anything except the crawlers crawling over the rubble.The rubble had just been his house. "You savages!" he yelled, "I'll sue the committee for every penny! I'll hang you and quarter you! Flog you! Boil you...until...until ...until I clean up all of you." Ford came running fast after him, very, very fast. "And then I'll do it again!" cried Arthur. "When I'm done tidying up, I'll gather all your pieces together and stomp on them hard!"

Arthur didn't notice that the people he was cursing were coming out of the bulldozers: nor did he notice that Mr. Prosser was looking up in horror at the sky.Mr. Prosser focused on the huge yellow objects whistling through the clouds—they were impossibly large. "Yes, I'll stomp a few more hard feet," growled Arthur, still running, "until I get blisters, or think of something more unpleasant, and then..." Just as he was talking, he tripped, threw his head forward, rolled around again, and finally fell to the ground on his back.Only then did he finally notice objects appearing in the sky.Pointing his finger at the sky, he screamed, "What the hell is this?"

This is the thing, its huge yellow figure flashes across, tearing the sky apart with a dizzying noise, and then drives away, leaving behind the sky that is gradually closing, and there is a loud "bang", it is almost overwhelmed The human ear vibrated into the cranial cavity. Another flying object followed, doing the same thing, only louder. It's hard to say exactly what the people on the surface of the planet are doing right now, because they don't even know what they're doing.But sure, nothing of real significance—going in and out of houses, howling silently through the din, crowds filling city streets all over the world, cars crashing into one car.Then the sound rolled like a tidal wave, over mountain and canyon, desert and ocean, seemingly sweeping away everything it encountered.

There was only one person standing, looking at the sky with sadness in his eyes.He knew what was going on, from the moment the sub-ether sensor he had placed next to his pillow suddenly started flickering in the middle of the night and woke him up.It was what he had been waiting for all these years, but when he deciphered the signals and sat alone in his dark cabin, a chill came over him.Of all the species in the entire galaxy capable of coming here to say hello to the planet Earth, he thought, it didn't have to be the Vogons. Still, he knew what to do.He's got everything ready, everything in place.He now knows where his towel is.

Suddenly, a silence swept over the entire earth.It's worse than noisy.At this moment, nothing happened. The huge spaceship is still in the sky, covering all the countries on the earth.They hang there motionless, huge and heavy, a blasphemy to nature.Many people go straight into shock as they try to mentally make sense of what they see.The spaceship just hangs in the air like this, a masonry building of the same size is not capable of this. Still nothing happened. Then, there was a slight noise, which suddenly sounded like the main switch was turned.All the stereos on the planet, all the radios, all the televisions, all the tape recorders, all the woofers, all the tweeters, and all the mid-range amplifiers were automatically turned on at the same time.

All cans, all trash cans, all windows, all cars, all wine bottles, all pieces of rusted metal became instruments of harmonious sound. Just before the destruction of the earth, they uttered their last voices, forming the largest public address system ever built.However, what came out was not a symphony, nor music, nor loud horns, but a simple message. "People on Earth, please pay attention," a voice sounded, and the sound quality was beautiful.This perfect quadraphonic sound has almost no distortion, pure enough to bring tears to a brave soul. "This is Vogon Jelz of the Galactic Hyperspace Program Committee," continued the voice, "and you are no doubt aware that plans to develop remote regions of the galaxy require the construction of a hyperspace expressway across your system. Regrettably Yes, the planet you live on belongs to the scope of being cleared. The clearing operation will start within two minutes of your Earth time. Thank you." Then, the broadcast system stopped working. Incomprehensible terror descended upon the onlookers on Earth.The fear began to slowly creep through the crowd, like iron filings on a piece of cardboard and a magnet moving under the cardboard.Panic sets in, the panic of wanting to run because you're desperate, but there's really nowhere to go. Seeing these scenes, the Vogons turned on the broadcast system again.It said; "There is no need to show panic about this. All planning forms and clearance orders have been presented for 50 Earth years in your regional planning department on Centaurus Prime, so you have plenty of time to propose any Formal complaints. It's too late to start panicking now, it doesn't make any sense." The PA system fell silent again, leaving only its echoes echoing across the land.The huge spaceship began to slowly turn sideways in the air.A hatch opened at the bottom of each spaceship, like a hollow black square. Then, somewhere on the planet, someone switched on a radio transmitter, selected a frequency, and sent a message to the Vogon ships, pleading with them in Earth's name.No one heard what he said, only the replies.The PA system blared again, this time with a slightly annoyed voice.It said, "What do you mean, have you never been to Centaurus Prime? For God's sake, it's only four light-years away, and you know that. I'm sorry." "Activate the destruction beam." Beams poured down from the hatch. "I don't understand," said a voice on the PA system. "I have no sympathy for this cold, bloody planet," and cut off. There was an eerie silence. A frightening noise. There was an eerie silence. The Vogon building construction fleet disappeared into the star-studded blackness of space.