Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

The first month, the phase of getting to know each other, did not go well.In the second month, try to accept what they have learned in the first month, it will be much easier. In the third month, when the box was delivered, things were a little tricky. First, there is trouble explaining the concept of "month".In the eyes of Arthur, who was used to living in Ramla, the question was lovely and simple.Each day was a little over twenty-five hours, which basically meant an extra lazy hour in bed each day, and of course had to adjust his watch regularly, but Arthur liked it. In Ramla, too, the number of suns and moons was familiar to him--one of each--and it was quite different from some of the planets he had been to before, and in some places there were ridiculously many suns and moons.

Ramla orbits its only sun every three hundred days, which is a good number because it means that a year doesn't drag on forever.The moon orbits Ramla about nine times a year, which means a little over thirty days in a month, which is perfect because it gives you more time to do what you want.Not only did it resemble Earth, reassuring Arthur, it was actually an improved version of Earth. But Langdon found himself caught in a recurring nightmare.She cried as soon as she said, thinking that the moon was going to catch her.The thing was there every night, and then, when it was gone, the sun came out to follow her.Again and again, never ending.

Trillian had warned Arthur that Langdon's life so far had been irregular, and it might be difficult to adjust to life here, but Arthur hadn't expected her to howl at the moon. Of course, in fact, all of this was not within his expectations. His daughter? His daughter?He and Trillian never even—right?He absolutely believed that he should remember.And what about Zaphod? "Not a race, Arthur," was Trillian's answer. "When I decided to have a baby, they gave me all kinds of genetic tests, and there was only one suitable one anywhere. It took me a while to figure it out. I double-checked and it turned out I was right. Usually they don’t want to tell you this, but I insisted on doing it.”

"You mean you went to the DNA bank?" Arthur's eyeballs bulged. "Yes. Her name isn't quite that accurate though, because, apparently, you're the only human donor. I must say, though, that you seem to be a regular visitor." Arthur stared in the direction of the door, where the girl was leaning listlessly on the doorframe and looking at him. "But when...how long..." "Are you asking how old she is?" "right." "Wrong question." "What do you mean?" "It means I don't know." "what?"

"Well, by my own time, she was born about ten years ago, but she is obviously much older than that. You see, I am always running back and forth in time, (,) working. I try to Possibly take her with me, but not always. Then I put her in urban day care, problem is reliable time tracking is just not possible right now. You drop them off in the morning and God knows how old they are at night You're turning green from complaining, and it's no use at all. I left her in that place once, for a few hours, and by the time I got back she was past puberty. I did everything I could, Arthur, it's up to you now. I've got a war to cover."

The ten seconds after Trillian left were the longest ten seconds of Arthur Dent's life.Time, we know, is relative.You go on an interstellar trip, go out for several light years and come back. If you travel at the speed of light, then when you come back, you may only be a few seconds old, and your twin brothers and sisters may be twenty or thirty years old. Forty or I don't know how many years old - it depends on how far you have come. This can be a big shock to you, especially if you didn't even know you had a twin sibling.Just a few seconds of your absence is certainly not enough to prepare you for a family relationship that inexplicably swells up.

Ten seconds wasn't enough time for Arthur to organize a new perspective on himself and his life, to include this new daughter he hadn't even thought of when he woke up this morning.Deep, (,) close family relationships cannot be established in ten seconds, no matter how fast or far you leave them, so Arthur can only feel helpless when he looks at the girl standing in the doorway staring at his floor. help, confuse and numb. There was no point in pretending he wasn't helpless, he thought. He walked over and hugged her. "I don't love you," he said. "I'm sorry. I don't even know who you are. But give me a few minutes."

We live in weird times. It's also a strange place we live in: everyone lives in their own universe.Others' universes intersect with our own, casting shadows, which we move into our own universe as inhabitants.You have to be able to peek into this bewildering, infinitely recursive universe and say something like, "Oh, hey Ed! What a tan. Is Carol okay?"There are a great deal of filtering techniques involved, and any conscious agent must eventually master them, for thinking through the chaos of life, everyone is bound to fall into confusion and turmoil, and have to learn to preserve themselves.So let your kids take a breath too, OK?

——Excerpt from "Practical Parenting in an Unruly and Disordered Universe" "what is this?" Arthur almost gave up.That said, he won't give up.He will never give up.Won't give up now.never give up.But if he's the kind of person who will give up, this is probably the time for him to give up. Rude, sullen and surly, want to play in the Paleozoic Era, don't know why there is always gravity here, yell at the sun and ask why it keeps following me.On top of all this, Langdon had taken Arthur's meat-cutting knives to pry rocks, and used them to throw picas for daring to look at him that way.

Arthur didn't even know if Ramla had lived through the Paleozoic.According to old Sheba, the planet appeared in the navel of a gigantic earwig at 4:30 p.m. He is a galaxy traveler, and when he was in school, he could pass both physics and geography with 0, but he is quite skeptical about this statement.But he knew very well that it was a waste of time arguing with the old Sheba, and besides, he had never felt the need to argue about this matter in the past. He sighed as he nursed the broken, bent knife.He must love her, even if it cost his life or her life or even their lives.Being a father is not easy.He knew it was never said to be easy, but that wasn't the problem, because he hadn't asked anyone for the job in the first place.

He is doing his best.He spent every second he could get out of making a sandwich with her, talking to her, walking with her, sitting with her on the hill watching the sun go down behind the valley they were in, trying to understand her life , trying to explain her life to her.It's a tricky business.What they have in common, aside from almost identical genes, is the size of a pebble.Or it should be said that she is the size of Cui Lien, but they have slightly different views on her. "what is this?" He suddenly realized that she was talking to him, and he didn't even notice.Or maybe he didn't recognize her voice. It's not the hostile, high-pitched voice you usually get when you talk to him, it's just a simple question. He looked around in surprise. She was sitting on a bench in the corner of the hut in her own hunched posture, with her knees together, her feet spread out in a figure-eight shape, her black hair hanging down over her face, and she was holding a cup in her hands. Something is being looked at seriously. Arthur came over to her, a little nervous. Her moods have always been capricious, but so far have shifted between various types of bad moods.Without warning, resentment and sarcasm turn into pathetic self-pity, followed by several long bouts of agonizing desperation, interspersed with gratuitous acts of violence against living objects and an immediate trip to the Electric Club. strong desire. In Ramla there are no clubs, not to mention no electric clubs, and, in fact, no electricity.There was a blacksmith's shop, a bakery, a few carts, and a well in the village, but these were the apex of Ramla's technology, and a large part of Langdon's anger was directed at the completely incomprehensible backwardness of the place. An elastic panel was implanted in her wrist to receive sub-ether television, but it didn't cheer her up, because it was full of all kinds of crazy exciting things happening in every part of the galaxy. Corners, except here.The old mother who left her to report some war frequently appeared on it.Now it seems that the war never happened at all, or at least that the intelligence work was messed up and something went wrong.It also allowed Langdon to watch a number of epic thrillers of expensive, terrifying spaceships colliding head-on. All these magical images floated on her wrist, and the villagers were completely mesmerized.They had only seen a spaceship crash, and the scene was too thrilling and terrifying, and it caused so many terrible disasters, such as fire and death, that they didn't even realize that it was a kind of entertainment. The old Shiba was also stunned, and immediately regarded Langdon as an emissary sent by Bob; but he soon changed his mind and decided that Bob sent her to test his faith. Test your patience.He was also alarmed by the number of wrecked spaceships. If he wanted to continue to grab the attention of the villagers and keep them from looking at Langdon's wrists all day long, he had no choice but to include all the spaceships in his sacred history. It wasn't his own wrist that Langdon was looking at right now.Her wrists are closed.Arthur crouched quietly beside her, to see what caught her attention.That's his watch.Langdon had spotted it and was trying to play with it when he had taken the watch off to bathe in a nearby waterfall. "Just a watch," he said, "to tell the time." "I know that," she said, "but you keep fiddling with this thing and it still doesn't tell the right time. It doesn't even touch the edges." She clicked on the panel on her wrist, and the panel automatically read the local time immediately.It had already quietly measured gravity and orbital impulse here, determined the position of the sun, and tracked its movements.All of this was accomplished within minutes of Langdon's arrival.Next, it quickly finds out various clues from the surrounding environment and finds out the timing habits of the local people, so as to make appropriate settings for itself.This set it will keep dry and dry.This is especially valuable if you travel not only through space but also through time a lot. Langdon frowned at her father's watch, which couldn't do any of the tasks just now. Arthur loved it.He himself would never be able to afford such a watch.It was Arthur's twenty-second birthday present from his guilty godfather--a gentleman who had forgotten all his previous birthdays, and his name, by the way.It can display what month and day of the week it is today, as well as the waxing and waning of the moon.On the badly scuffed, scratched back case, the original inscription was barely legible: "To Albert, happy twenty-first birthday." This was followed by a wrong date. The watch has seen its fair share of ups and downs in recent years, most of which are out of warranty.Of course, he also knew that the warranty terms definitely did not indicate such things as: it can only be used under the unique gravity and magnetic field of the earth, the place of use must be 24 hours a day, and the store will not be responsible if the earth explodes.Some of the premises are so basic that not even lawyers can think of them. Luckily the watch was wound, or at least self-winding, with a battery of Earth's size and voltage, which at the moment is nowhere to be found across the galaxy. "And what do those numbers mean?" Langdon asked. Arthur took the watch. "These numbers around it are used to show the time. On the small window on the right is a 'four', indicating that today is Thursday, '14' and the 'May' over there means today is May 14th. On the top This crescent-shaped window tells you the waxing and waning of the moon. That is, how much of the moon is illuminated by the sun at night, which is related to their relative positions, the sun, the moon, and, uh... the earth." "Earth," Langdon said. "yes." "It's where you were born, and where your mother was born." "yes." Langdon took the watch and looked at it for a moment, obviously confused by something.Then she stuck it to her ear with a puzzled look on her face. "what sound." "It's going. That's the mechanism that drives the watch. It's called the clockwork. All kinds of gears and springs that allow the hands to measure hours, minutes, days, and so on at precise speeds." Langdon continued to stare at it. "Is there something that confuses you," said Arthur, "what is it?" "Right," Langdon said finally. "Why is the material all metal?" Arthur suggested that they go for a walk.He felt there was something the two of them should discuss, and this time Langdon, if not willingly and responsively, at least wasn't complaining.It seemed equally odd to Langdon himself.It's not that she has been finding fault on purpose, she just doesn't know what else she can do, or what else she can put on. Who is this guy?What is going on with the life that people want her to live?What is going on in this world that people want her to live in?Also, what happened to this universe that kept killing through her eyes and ears?What is it for?what does it want She was born on a spaceship, en route from one place to another.When the spaceship arrives at that other place, that place just becomes another certain place, a certain starting point to go to another place again, and it keeps going like this. According to past experience, people always want her to go to another place, so she always feels that she has appeared in the wrong place. The constant time travel compounded the problem, with the result that Langdon felt that not only was he always in the wrong place, but he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn't notice that she felt it because it was the only feeling she'd ever had, as if she was going almost always in a weight suit or counterweight suit, and often with a breather instrument, but she never thought it was weird.In her experience, the only places you feel at home are the ones you design for yourself — virtual reality in electronic bars.It never occurred to her that the real universe could give people a sense of belonging. The real universe, which includes Ramla, the planet her mother left her behind, and the man who happens to give her the precious and magical gift of life, even though he's really only doing it for an upgrade.Fortunately, I finally found out that this person is actually very kind and friendly, otherwise I would be in big trouble.real.She has a specially polished stone in her pocket that can be used to cause a lot of trouble. Seeing things through someone else's eyes can be extremely dangerous if you lack formal training. They sat down at Arthur's favorite place, a little slope overlooking the valley.Right now, I could see the sun sinking slowly over the village. There was only one thing Arthur didn't like about the place: from here he could see something of the valley below - a deep black indent in the forest where his ship had landed.But then again, maybe that was the real reason he kept coming here.There were many places where you could get a glimpse of the lush greenery of Ramla, but it was here that he was attracted, a haunting dark corner of fear and pain looming just beyond the edge of his vision. He hasn't been back since being dragged out of the spaceship wreckage. Not in the future. Can't bear it. In fact, the very next day, when he hadn't recovered from the shock and his mind was still spinning, he was clamoring to go back.He had a broken leg and two ribs, some bad burns, and he couldn't think coherently, but he insisted that the villagers take him there, and they obliged, reluctantly.But in the end, he didn't make it to the place where the earth bubbled and melted the day before, and he has been avoiding it ever since. Word soon came out that the whole area was haunted, and no one else dared to go there.There are beautiful and pleasant verdant valleys everywhere, and there is no need to run to the one that makes people dread.Let the past be left to fend for itself, and the present should move on and become the future. Langdon turned slowly with the watch in both hands, letting the warm evening sunlight slant on the thick glass, illuminating the scratches and scuffs on the case.She watched the slender second hand go round and round, fascinated.Every time it completes a circle, the longer of the two large pointers will move to the next sixtieth division.After it completes its lap, the shorter one goes to the next major mark. "You've been watching for over an hour," Arthur said softly. "I know," she said, "that's one hour to go around the big one, right?" "That's right." "Then I watched it for an hour and seventeen minutes." She smiled mysteriously with deep contentment, and she moved a little, leaning lightly on Arthur's arm, just a little.Arthur felt the sigh that had been pent up in his chest for weeks finally fly away.He wanted to throw his arms around his daughter's shoulders, but felt that she would cower before the time came.But some things did change.She felt a little relieved.The watch seemed to have a special meaning to her, more than anything else in her life so far, and Arthur wasn't sure if he really understood, but he was also happy to see something that moved Langdon. and comfort. "Explain to me later," Langdon said. "There's really nothing to tell," said Arthur. "The clockwork is hundreds of years old..." "Year of the Earth." "Yes. It's getting more sophisticated and more complex. It's a very technical thing. You have to make it small, and whether you shake it and shake it or drop it on the ground, it has to be can continue to work.” "But only on one planet?" "Well, that's where it was built. They never thought it'd go somewhere else, with different suns, moons, magnetic fields, whatever. I mean the thing hasn't broken at all, but it doesn't really work What's the use, after all, it's far from Switzerland." "Where?" "Switzerland. That's where these things are made. A small hilly country, tiring. The people who make these watches, they don't know that there are other worlds in the universe." "It's too big to not know." "Well, that's right." "Then where did they come from?" "They, I mean we... we were born and raised there. We evolved on Earth. From, I don't know, from the mud or something." "Like this watch." "Well, I don't know if watches can grow out of mud." "You don't understand at all!" Langdon jumped up suddenly and started yelling, "You don't understand! You don't understand how to understand me, you don't understand anything! I hate you! How stupid you are!" She clenched her watch tightly and ran down the hill like crazy, shouting that she hated him. Startled, Arthur jumped up in a daze.He wanted to catch up, but the ground was covered with dense long grass, and it was too difficult and painful for him to run on it.The leg that was broken when the spaceship fell, the wound was not neat, and it did not heal well afterwards.He stumbled and ran, grinning his teeth in pain. Suddenly she turned to face him, black with rage. She waved the watch at him. "Don't you get it? This thing has a home too! It's there to use it! It belongs there!" She turned and ran away again.She was healthy and fast, and Arthur had no hope of keeping up with her. It's not that he didn't expect being a father to be so difficult, the problem is that he didn't expect to be a father at all, especially in an alien world, and so suddenly, without warning. Langdon turned and yelled at him again.I don't know why, but he stops every time. "Who do you think I am?" she asked angrily. "Your upgraded version? Who do you think my mother thinks I am? A bus ticket? Help her live the life she lost?" "I don't know what you mean by that?" Arthur gasped in pain. "You don't know what anyone says about anything!" "What do you mean?" "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" "Tell me! Please tell me! What does she mean by her lost life?" "She regrets not staying on Earth! She regrets going with that cerebral palsy idiot Zaphod! She thought she could have had another life!" "But," said Arthur, "then she will die! She will die when the earth is destroyed!" "It's another life, isn't it?" "This……" "That way she wouldn't have to have me! She hates me!" "How can you think like that, how can someone, uh, I mean..." "She made me to make things right for her. That's my job. But I'm a worse mess than she is! So she shuts me out and goes on with her stupid life." "What's so stupid about her life? She's successful, isn't she? She's everywhere in time and space, all over the Sub-Ethernet..." "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Langdon turned and continued running.Arthur couldn't keep up with her, and finally he had to sit and rest for a while, letting the feeling in his leg wear off.As for the turmoil in his head, he had absolutely no idea what to do with it. An hour later, he limped back to the village.It was getting late, and the villagers he met all greeted him, but there was a tense and slightly bewildered atmosphere in the air.It's not a good sign for old Shiba to look at the moon and pull his beard. Arthur went into his hut. Langdon sat quietly at the edge of the table, hunched over. "I'm sorry," she said, "I'm really sorry." "It's nothing." Arthur said in the gentlest tone he could. "It's nice, you know, to talk like this. We all have a lot to get to know about each other, and life's not just, uh, more than tea and sandwiches ..." "I'm sorry." She began to sob. Arthur came over and put an arm around her.She didn't resist or break away.Then Arthur saw the reason for her apology. In the circle of light cast by a Ramla lantern lay Arthur's watch.Langdon took his butter knife and pried the case open with the back of the knife, all the tiny gears, springs, and levers twisted together in a haphazard way. "I just wanted to see how it went," Langdon said, "to see how it fit together. I'm so sorry! I couldn't put it back together. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I don't know What to do. I'll fix it! Really! I'll fix it!" The next day, Brush Shiba came to chatter about Bob for a long time.He wanted to exert some calming influence on Langdon, inviting her to let her mind be nourished by the unspeakable mystery of giant earwigs, and Langdon replied that there were no giant earwigs at all, so Shiba calmed down and said she will be cast into the abyss of darkness.Langdon said it was all well and good that she was born there.Then the package arrived the next day. Life has been too colorful recently. In fact, when the buzzing robot that delivered the package fell from the sky with a robotic buzz, it brought a feeling that was gradually permeating the entire village-this life is too rich. up. It's certainly not the robot's fault.All it needs is Arthur Dent's autograph or handprint and a few skin cells from the back of his neck, and he's on his way.It hung in the air and waited, unaware of the indignation of those around it.At the same time, Colp caught another fish with a head on each end, but after careful inspection, everyone found that it was actually the result of two fish cut in half and clumsily sewn together, so Colp Not only did it fail to rekindle interest in the double-headed fish, it even cast a shadow over the authenticity of the previous discovery.Only Picca seemed to think everything was normal. The robot took Arthur's signature and escaped.Arthur took the package back to the hut and sat down to stare at it. "Let's take it apart!" Langdon felt much better now that everything around him was getting super weird.But Arthur said no. "why?" "It wasn't sent to me." "Of course it was sent to you." "No, really not. It was addressed to...well, to Mr. Ford, and I kept it." "Sir Ford? Is that...?" "That's right." Arthur's tone was bitter. "I've heard of him." "I guess so." "Whatever, let's dismantle it. Otherwise, what should we do?" "I don't know," said Arthur.He really wasn't sure. Early this morning, he took the damaged knife to the smithy, and Slinder took a look at it and said he did his best. They were swinging the knife in the air as usual, feeling balance and toughness and things like that, but the joy of the past was gone.Arthur was sad that his days of making his own sandwiches were numbered. He hangs his head. Absolutely normal beasts will appear again soon, but Arthur has a premonition that the atmosphere of hunting and banquets this year may be a little dull and uneasy.Something had happened in Ramla, and he had a terrible feeling that it was himself. "What do you think it is?" Langdon fiddled with the package. "Don't know," said Arthur. "Anyway, some annoying bad stuff." "How do you know?" Langdon refused to believe it. "Because anything to do with Mr. Ford is definitely worse and more troublesome than normal," said Arthur. "Trust me." "You have something on your mind, don't you?" Langdon asked. Arthur sighed. "Just restless and nervous, I suppose," said Arthur. "Sorry." Langdon put the package down.She saw that it would really upset Arthur if she opened the parcel herself.So she had to wait until he wasn't paying attention.