Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-One

It is of course well known that a careless word may cost life, but people generally do not realize the nature of the problem. For example, at the very moment when Arthur said the words "It seems that I have encountered considerable difficulties in my way of life", a perverse wormhole opened in the structure of the space-time closure, bringing his words to the surface. Long, long ago in time, in a galaxy nearly infinite in space, strange and warlike creatures are on the brink of a terrible interstellar war. The two rival leaders are meeting for the last time. A terrible silence fell over the conference table.The commanding officer of Verhegg, wearing a gorgeous battle suit adorned with jewels, stared coldly at the leader of Gugewangt who was squatting opposite him, shrouded in a cloud of green and sweet-smelling water vapor.Behind him were a million fearsome armored starcruisers, ready to unleash electronic death at his word.He demanded that the scumbag take back what he had said about his mother.

The guy was rocking in his hot cloud of steam, and at that moment the phrase "It seems I'm having considerable difficulty with my way of life" floated across the conference table. Unfortunately, in Verhöger's language, this represents the worst insult imaginable.There is no other way to respond to this sentence than to wage terrible wars that will last for centuries. Eventually, after thousands of years of mass murder in their galaxy, it was realized that the whole thing had been an astonishing misunderstanding.So the fleets of the two warring parties put aside their differences and united to launch an attack on our own galaxy-it can now be concluded that this is the source of the culprit's words.

After thousands of years, this huge fleet traveled through space, and finally came to the first planet in the galaxy they encountered-which happened to be Earth-where, due to a serious size miscalculation, the entire attack fleet could not be reached. It happened to be swallowed by a puppy. Those who study the complex interplay of cause and effect throughout the history of the universe claim that such things will always happen and that we are powerless to prevent them. this is life.they said. A short ride in the aircar brought Arthur and Old Mangrass to a door.They got out of the car, walked through the door, and into an anteroom filled with glass-topped tables and Plexiglas awards.Immediately, a light came on the door at the other end of the room, and they entered.

"Arthur! You're all right!" cried a voice. "Me?" said Arthur, startled. "Oh, all right." The light was rather dim, and it took him a moment to see Ford, Trillian, and Zaphod sitting around a large table, Served with exotic plates, strangely sweet meats and weird fruits.They are stuffing food into their mouths. "What happened to you?" Arthur asked. "Oh," said Zaphod, nibbling on a bone-in roast, "here the master gassed us, scrambled our minds, presented a grotesque spectacle, and now at last served a good lunch To make up for it. Come on," he said, pulling a bad-smelling piece of meat out of the bowl, "try a grass-fed rhino steak. It's a delicacy if you happen to like that taste." "Master? Arthur said, "What master? Why didn't I see anything..." At this moment, a small voice said, "Welcome to our luncheon, earth creature." Arthur looked around and suddenly exclaimed stand up.

"My God!" he said, "there's a mouse on the table!" There was an awkward silence, and all eyes were on Arthur sternly. He was still staring straight at the two little mice sitting on the table in what looked like whiskey glasses, and it wasn't until he realized the silence that he looked around at everyone. "Oh!" he came to himself suddenly, "Oh, I'm sorry, I was going to..." "Let me introduce you," said Trillian, "Arthur, this is Benji the Mouse." "Hi." One of the mice greeted him and touched what was apparently a touch-sensitive panel in what looked like a whiskey glass with its whisker, and the glass moved slightly forward.

"This is Frank Mouse." Another mouse said, "Nice to meet you," and did the same. Arthur stood there dumbfounded. "But aren't they just..." "Yes," said Trillian, "they're the two mice I brought from Earth." She looked directly into Arthur's eyes, and Arthur felt as if he had detected a most A small, resigned shrug. "Can you pass me the bowl of Arcturus donkey mince?" she said. Slati Bartfast coughed politely. "Oh, excuse my interruption," he said. 'Oh, thank you, Slati Bartfast. said Benji Mouse casually, "You can go. ""what?OK. ' said the old man, taking a small step back, 'I'll go right away, go back and get on with my cove. ""Oh, ok, but that's not really necessary anymore. said Frank Mouse, "it looks very likely that we won't need a new Earth any more. "He rolled his little pink eyeballs." Now that we've found a native of that planet, he was there seconds before its destruction. ""what? "Slati Bartfast exclaimed in surprise, "This can't be true!I've made thousands of glaciers ready to crush the continent of Africa! ""Yeah, then you might be able to take a ski vacation before you break them down. ' said Frank mockingly.

"Ski vacation!" cried the old man. "Those glaciers are works of art! Elaborately carved outlines, towering snow-capped peaks, magnificent canyons! Skiing on such elegant works of art is simply sacrilege!" "Thank you Now, Slati Bartfast." Benji said firmly, "That's it." "Yes, sir," said the old man coldly, "thank you. Well, goodbye, Earthlings," he said to Ah "Hopefully that way of life works," said Ser. He nodded slightly to the rest of the group, then turned away and walked out of the room sadly. Arthur looked at his back, not knowing what to say.

"Now," said Benji the Mouse, "for business." Ford and Zaphod touched their glasses. "For business!" they said. "Excuse me, but what do you mean?" asked Benji. Ford looked around. "Sorry, I thought you were suggesting a toast," he said. Two mice paced impatiently in their glass vehicle.At last they settled themselves, and Benji moved over and began talking to Arthur. "Currently, terrestrial beings," he said, "the situation we face is this: As you know, for the past ten million years, we have manipulated your planet in order to find that hapless creature, the Something called the Ultimate Question." "Why?" Arthur asked sharply.

"No--we've thought about the question you're talking about," broke in Frank, "but it doesn't explain the answer. Why? 42 . . . You see, it doesn't work." "No," said Arthur, " I mean, why are you doing this?" "Oh, I get it," Frank said, "well, it comes down to habit in the end. Frankly, we're sick of the whole thing. Those damn Vogons, gotta do it all over again. To be honest, I'm getting nervous just thinking about it. You know what I mean? It was just the tiniest bit of luck that Benji and I got our job done , left that planet early to enjoy a vacation, and was able to return to Mangrass with the kindness offered by your friends."

"Mangrass is a gateway back to our own dimension," Benji added. "Since then," continued his mouse mate, "we've gotten a pretty lucrative offer to plug the five-dimensional talk show and speech circuit into our own dimension. Of course, we'd love to Take the job." "I would, too, and you, Ford?" said Zaphod encouragingly. "Oh, of course," said Ford. "Swoop on it like a bullet." Arthur glanced at them, not knowing where these conversations were going. "But we've got to have a product, you see," Frank said. "I mean, ideally, in one way or another, we still need that ultimate problem." Zaphod leaned against Arthur .

"Here," he said, "picture this: They're sitting in a studio, relaxed, and they're saying offhand that they just happen to know the answer to life, the universe, and everything. And at the end of the day, they have to admit the truth of that answer." Exactly 42. That way the show would probably be too short for a sequel. Understand?" "We've got to have something that sounds pretty good," said Benji. "What sounds good?" Arthur exclaimed. "That ultimate question sounds good? From a pair of mice?" The two mice bristled and flew into a rage. "Well, I admit, idealism is right, and the dignity of pure scholarship is right, and so is the pursuit of truth in all its manifestations. But I'm afraid at some point you start to wonder if it's true." There is a so-called true truth. You will suspect that the entire infinite multidimensional universe is manipulated by a group of lunatics. If faced with this choice, one is to spend another 10 million years to find out the answer, and the other is to take money and continue on. Then I Of course I would like to take a stroll and exercise." Frank said. "But..." Arthur started desperately. "Hey, don't you get it yet, Earthlings?" Zaphod interrupted him, "You're one of the last generations of that computer matrix, aren't you? You stayed there until your planet was The moment the universe bounces off, isn't that right?" "Um..." "So your brain is an integral part of the penultimate structure of the computer program." Ford said, and it seemed he had figured it out . "Isn't it?" said Zaphod. "Forget it." Arthur said doubtfully.He never felt himself an integral part of anything, and it was always seen as one of his problems. "In other words," said Benji, as he steered his strange micro-vehicle up to Arthur, "it's highly likely that the frame of that question is encoded into the fabric of your brain—so we'd like to start with You buy it here." "What, that question?" Arthur asked. "Yes." Ford and Trillian said simultaneously. "For a lot of money," said Zaphod. "No, no," said Frank Mouse hastily, "what we want to buy is your brain." "What!" "Blind, who misses that thing?" said Benji Mouse. "I remember you saying that you were able to electronically read his brain," protested Ford. "Oh, yes," said Frank, "but we've got to get it out first. It's a necessary preparatory step. "Take care of it first," said Benji. "Slicing." "Thank you." Arthur finally couldn't help shouting, he jumped up from his seat and backed away from the table in horror. "Usually, it's replaceable," Benji said reasonably, "if you really think it's important." "Yes, an electronic brain," Frank said, "the simplest one will suffice. "A simple one!" Arthur was literally wailing. "Yeah." Zaphod said with a sudden smirk, "you just have to make it say 'what?', 'I don't understand' and 'where's the tea?' and who knows both What's the difference?" "What?" cried Arthur, drawing back even further. "You see what I mean?" said Zaphod, and then let out a cry of pain as Trillian made a small movement against him. "I'll notice the difference," said Arthur. "No, you won't," said Frank Mouse, "you'll be programmed not to." Ford was walking toward the door. "Look, sorry, mice, old fellows," he said, "I don't think we've agreed." "I rather think we must," said the two mice in unison.In their small but piercing voices, the delightful charm disappears in an instant.With a slight hiss, two glass vehicles carried them off the table and flew towards Arthur across the air, but Arthur had already retreated into a dead corner, completely powerless to resist, and also lost the ability to think about anything . Cui Lien stretched out her arms in despair and grabbed Arthur, trying to pull him to escape to the door.Ford and Zaphod were doing their best to open the door, but Arthur was lifeless—he seemed hypnotized by the rodents that were rushing at him from the air. She screamed at him, but he remained dazed. After a jerk, Ford and Zamford finally opened the door.Outside the door was a small group of very ugly people who could only have looked like Magrath's thugs.Not only are they themselves extremely ugly, but even the medical equipment they hold is far from exquisite.They charged. So—Arthur was about to have his head cut off, Trillian couldn't help him at all, and Ford and Zaphod were going to be attacked by a few thugs who were far stronger and better equipped than they were. All in all, at exactly this time, all the sirens on the entire planet rang deafeningly at the same time.For them, this is really a great blessing.