CHAPTER 35

The two mice, Frankie and Benjy, quietly made their way down the hall, trying to hold in their excitement, because not only will they get the answer to the ultimate question out of a nit wit human, but this could also mean more ways to conduct human experiments, more planning, more ways to sit in a mouse cage office and get paid cheesy money just to find ultimate answers from the cerebellums of apelike "humans" whom, to the surprise of most other life forms in the universe, had just recently discovered fire. Benjy kept repeating to himself "How many roads must a man walk down"? "How many roads must a man walk down?" Frankie chuckled to himself.
"It's a good thing I thought of it. The human's mind wouldn't have the capability to oversee it. Unless..." Frankie was struck over by a new realization, "suppose that the "Improbability drive" from that ship of theirs started dropping hints."
"I've thought of that, too." Benjy said, "and I suppose if we just approach them in a quote-unquote "friendly way" then the human won't run off like a wimpy homosapian, that way they won't suspect a thing."
Frankie shrugged his shoulders, "The only problem with that is even though the human might trust us, the others won't."
"Well then," started Benjy, "we'll just have to make sure he's alone then".
"It's still a good idea, you know." Said Frankie.
"I know, and this human will just be the beginning."
They both started laughing in their cruel attempt to control "humanity." The laughs echoed down all the way to Arthur who had just entered into the Heart of Gold. He turned to the sound of the laughing but all he heard were menacing squeaks.
"Does anybody know what the heck that is?" He stated.
"That" said Zaphod, thinking Arthur was talking about the engines that started humming, "Is the beginning of our departure. Computer, boot up the engines."
Trillian faced him.
"Zaphod, just a word of advice..."
"Don't worry about it," said Zaphod, trying to avoid getting yelled at, if he thought, was going to be at all.
"In case you haven't noticed, I've got a lot of problems taped on my ass, but I always find ways to get rid of them."
" I was about to say that you need to understand that some people's problems can become other's too. But now with the police behind us for real I'd like to see you try."
"I concur," said the Computer suddenly.
"I wasn't talking to you," said Zaphod irritably.
"Well, I'm talking to you. And I think you really should rethink your—"
"Just do what I told you," interrupted Zaphod. "You're lucky I'm not in the mood."
The mice started heading down the hallway where the Heart of Gold was. Both of them were sharing ideas with one another about the future of their business.
"It's nice to know our business will have such an impact on the future earth to come. Maybe even the next couple earths," said Benjy.
" Don't get too excited," said Frankie, "first we have to find the human."
" Don't worry, my dear friend," gestured Benjy, "we'll get the answer out of him in no time."
Just then, they saw the Heart of Gold depart from Magrathea and headed straight into the atmosphere. The mice looked up in the sky.
"Crap." Said Frankie.
Ford was reading his copy of information of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Arthur stepped into the room. Ford glanced at him.
"There you are, kid. I was wondering when you were going to stop all that jumping up and down. I know humans do it all the time, but it's never done a thing for a hitchhiker."
"I thought we weren't hitchhikers anymore," said Arthur.
"We aren't," said Ford, "but you're planet's been destroyed, so every now and then you'll be crossing the pathways of the galaxy to get where you want. And we don't accept hobos on Betelgeuse."
"I wouldn't know anything about the living conditions to think about it," said Arthur, half to Ford and half to himself.
"A nice cup of tea would be nice, though."
"Don't worry," reassured Ford. "Zaphod announced we would be heading to a restaurant across the universe. I don't know what restaurant it is, but I trust Zaphod that it must be decent enough."
"Decent enough," parroted Arthur. He noticed Ford was holding his copy of information.
"You got all your information at least for the book."
"Oh no, Arthur," stated Ford. His eyes moved up at Arthur. "I'm not even close to getting the big stuff yet."
"But of course you do. You can write down that we have seen first-hand that Magrathea can bring Earth back."
"Do you really think that's going to apply to hitchhikers very much?" Asked Ford.
"Well, it should," replied Arthur, "to me anyway."
"Oh, yes, I know what you mean. Don't misunderstand me, Arthur, I hope you get your home back, but you must remember you're just a little guy in an ever expanding universe. And the universe holds secrets that are best not known about sometimes. Huh, I guess that's why it's so big."
Arthur glanced away, looking through the window. Supposedly, he seemed to be uncomfortable talking about it more than thinking about it.
"Relax, kid. We've got a lot of things to do. Off to the other side of the galaxy."
Arthur seemed relaxed, for now. The thought of food made him feel a little peckish after all.

THE END