Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty-Four

The air vehicle drove them through the steel tunnel at a speed exceeding R17, and rushed to the surface of the barren planet in one fell swoop. What greeted them was another round of twilight before dawn.The weird gray light seemed to condense on the surface of the earth. R is a speed metric that represents a reasonable driving speed that is compatible with the physical health, psychological well-being of the occupant and a delay of no more than - let's say - 5 minutes.It is therefore evidently a variable almost infinitely variable according to circumstances, since the first two factors vary not only absolutely with speed, but also relatively with the perceived awareness of the third factor.Such a comprehensive equation can lead to stress, ulcers and even death if not handled properly.

The R17 isn't a fixed speed, but it's clearly a wildly fast one. The flying car crossed the sky at a speed of R17 or even higher, and finally landed next to the "Heart of Gold", which was quietly parked on the frozen ground like a bleached bone.After putting down the passengers, it suddenly flew away in the direction it came from, probably to perform some important mission of its own. The four stood there looking at their spaceship, trembling all over. There was another boat parked next to it. It was the police spaceship of Bragulen Kappa, a spherical thing that looked like a shark, dark green, and there were some black letters of different sizes on the body of the ship.The letters provided information to those who had the patience to read them, such as where the ship came from, which branch of the police it belonged to, and where the refueling port was located.

It seemed oddly dark and quiet.Its two crew members now lay frozen miles away in a smoke-filled chamber underground, but it was unnaturally dark and quiet even for a ship in this state.Although this is one of those weird things that are impossible to explain and define, people can always feel it when a spaceship dies completely. Ford has such a feeling now, he thinks this is the most mysterious - a spaceship and two policemen just died for no reason.In his experience, the laws of the universe do not seem to be like this. The other three people could also feel it, but they could feel the biting cold even more, so they hurried into the "Heart of Gold" without any nostalgia out of curiosity.

Ford, however, stayed outside and went over to inspect the Bragullen spaceship.On the way, he almost tripped over a steel object lying face down in the cold dust. "Marvin!" he cried, "what are you doing here!" "Please leave me alone." There came a low hum. "But are you all right, Metal Man?" Ford asked. "Very frustrating." "What's wrong?" "I don't know," Marvin said. Ford crouched down beside him, shivering with cold. "Why are you lying face down in the dust?" "It's a good way to be miserable," said Marvin. The way I talk, I know you hate me." "No, I don't hate you." "Yeah, you hate me, everyone hates me. It's part of the cosmic form. I had to talk to some people, And then they started hating me. Even the robots hated me. If you hadn't noticed me, I think I'd probably walk away." He got up on his feet, facing firmly in the opposite direction.

"That spaceship hates me too." He pointed to the police spaceship and said disheartenedly. "That spaceship?" said Ford suddenly excitedly. "What happened to it? Do you know?" "It hates me because I talked to it." "You talked to it?" Ford exclaimed again. "What do you mean?" "Simple. I was so bored and frustrated that I ran over and connected myself to the computer docking port on the outside of it. I talked to the computer for a long time, explaining my point of view, from the universe all the way to himself," Marvin said.

"And then?" Ford asked. "And then it killed itself," said Marvin, and strode toward the Heart of Gold.