Chapter 20 Chapter Eighteen

After the explosion, the Heart of Gold continued to sail on its course quite normally, although the interior was redesigned.The space is larger, neatly organized, and glowing in light and soft greens and blues.In the middle of a spiral staircase leading nowhere stood a fern with small yellow flowers.Next to it is the pedestal of a stone sundial, above which is the main computer terminal.The lighting and mirrors are so cleverly placed that it feels like being in the middle of a conservatory facing a manicured garden.At the edge of the conservatory stood several marble-topped tables with legs of handsome wrought metal.When staring at the bright marble surface, you can vaguely see the fuzzy outline of the control equipment inside through the stone surface. As long as you reach out and touch, these devices will truly be in your hands.Look at these mirrors from the right angle and you'll see all the data you need, though not particularly clearly.All in all, the space is simply beautiful.

Sitting relaxed in a wicker sun lounger, Zaphod Beeblebrox said, "What the hell happened?" "Oh, I was about to say it," Arthur lazily leaned against a small fish pond, "there's an improbability-driven switch over there..." He waved his hand to where the switch used to be.There is now a potted plant in that place. "But where are we now?" said Ford, sitting on the spiral staircase with a frozen bottle of Pan Galactic Gargle Blast. "Should be still where we were, I think..." Trillian said, because at this moment the mirrors around them suddenly and simultaneously showed the dead surface of Magrath, the planet still turning below them.

Zaphod jumped up from his seat. "What happened to those missiles?" he asked. A new and shocking sight appeared in the mirror. "They seem to have become," said Ford dubiously, "a pot of morning glory and a very queer whale . . . " "Based on an improbability factor," Eddie put in, which didn't appear to have changed at all, "the odds of this happening are 8,767,128 to 1." Zaphod looked at Arthur. "Have you ever thought of such a situation, Earthlings?" he asked. "Oh," said Arthur, "all I did was..."

"You know what, that's a brilliant idea to start the improbability drive without first activating the protective screen. Hey man, you just saved our lives, you know that?" "Oh," said Arthur, "really, it's nothing..." "Really?" said Zaphod. "Well, let's forget about it. All right, computer, here we go." "But……" "I said it, forget it." Another fact that was overlooked was that, against all odds, a sperm whale did suddenly appear a few miles above the surface of a planet. It's not a very normal position for a whale, so the poor innocent creature didn't have much time to establish his identity as a whale, and instead establish that he wasn't a whale anymore. identity.

This kind of thought runs through its entire life from the moment it is born, until the end of its life. Ah... what happened?it wants to. Um, wait a minute, who am I? anyone there? Why am I here?What is the purpose of my life? What do I mean when I ask "Who am I"? Calm down, try to understand now... Hey!This feeling is so funny, what is it?It's a...yawn, a tingling feeling in my...my...by the way, I think I'd better name things first so I can talk about the world around me, call this part me Stomach bar. Great.Oh, it got so strong.Hey, what should I call this sound that whizzes past the part of me that I'm supposed to call my head?Maybe I could call it... wind!Is it a good name?Might as well... Maybe I can think of a better name for it after I figure out what it's for.It must be something pretty important, because it looks like there's a lot of it here.Hey!What is this?This is... let's call it a tail... yes, a tail.Hey!I can swing it pretty neatly, can't I?oh!oh!It feels so good!Doesn't seem like much use, but I'll figure it out later.Now, have I established a coherent system of these things?

not yet. Nevermind, hey, this is so exciting, there's so much to find, so much to look forward to, I'm literally dazzled...   Is it the wind? There must be a lot of wind this time, no? oh!Hey!What is this thing that is rushing towards me all of a sudden?Very, very fast.So big, so flat, so round, it must have a grand-sounding name, like... um... oh... earth!That's it!What a good name - the earth! I wonder if it will be friends with me? After a violent impact, the rest was all silence. It's very strange, when this pot of morning glory fell, the thought that passed through its mind was, oh no, don't do it again.Many have speculated that if we could know exactly why this morning glory thinks this way, we would know a lot more about the universe than we do now.