Chapter 21 Chapter Nineteen

"Are we going to take the robot?" Ford said, looking at Marvin in disgust.Marvin was standing awkwardly under a small palm tree in the corner. Zaphod stared at the mirror screen, which was displaying a panorama of the desolate land where the Heart of Gold had just landed. "Oh, the robot fantasist," he replied, "yes, we're taking him." "But what do you expect this manic and frustrated robot to do?" "You think you're in trouble," said Marvin, as if addressing a newly encoffined corpse, "but imagine you're a manic and frustrated robot, and then you'll know what the real trouble is. What's it like. What would you do then? No, don't bother answering that question, even if I don't know the answer. I'm 50,000 times smarter than you, and trying to think on your level is giving me a headache."

Cui Lien suddenly broke in from her room. "My guinea pig ran away!" she said. Neither of Zaphod's faces showed any worried and concerned god, Sui. "To hell with your guinea pig," he said. Cui Lien glanced at him distractedly, disappointed again. Her words might gain even more attention if it were realized that humans are actually the third-smartest life-form on a planet called Earth, not the second (as is widely held by most independent observers). "Good afternoon, boys." The voice was familiar but different, the tone of a matriarch.When the people on the ship came to the airlock door and were about to go to the outer surface of the planet, the voice sounded.

They looked at each other in bewilderment. "It's our computer," explained Zaphod. "I've found that it has a sort of backup emergency personality, and I think it's for better work." "This will be your first day on a strange new planet," continued Eddie's new voice, "so I hope you all dress warmly and don't mess with any mischievous bug-eyed Monsters play." Zaphod tapped the hatch impatiently. "Sorry," he said, "I think it would be better if the rules were more flexible." "Humph!" the computer snapped, "Who said that?"

"Could you please open this hatch, Computer?" said Zaphod, trying to suppress his anger. "Unless the person who spoke just now apologized," the computer said indisputably, shutting down several neurons at the same time. "Oh, God," murmured Ford, leaning against the bulkhead.He began to count from 1 to 10. He was always desperately worried that someday those sentient life forms would forget how to count.Because only by counting can humans prove their independence from computers. "Come on," Eddie said sharply. "Computer..." began Zaphod.

"I'm waiting," Eddie interrupted, "I can wait all day if I have to..." "Computer..." Zaphod said again, he hoped to find some ingenious reasons to persuade the computer, and had decided not to fight it on its territory, "If you don't open the door quickly, I will rush in Your master database, delete a bunch of stuff, reprogram you, you understand?" Eddie was stunned when he heard this, stopped for a while, and began to think about this question. Ford continued counting softly.It's probably the most challenging thing you can do to a computer, it's like you run up to a guy and keep saying, bastard... bastard... bastard... bastard...

Finally, Eddie finally said softly: "I think we will spend some time in the future to sort out our relationship." Then, the hatch opened. A gust of cold wind blew Song in the face.Wrapping themselves tightly, they stepped down the gangway that lay on the barren land of Manglas. "We'll all be in tears then, I know," Eddie bellowed behind them, closing the hatch. A few minutes later, under an order completely unexpected to him, he opened and closed the hatch again.