"So, are you along for the ride or am I just dropping you off somewhere?" Francis asked Fiat, as he poured a blue liquid into 2 glasses.
"Ve, that depends. Where are you going~?" The 'Italian' looked down at the glass, before picking it up to smell the contents.
"Where am I going?" Francis smirked, as he looked over at his cousin in front of him. He eyed him up and down, and he picked up his own glass to stir it.
"Hey, are you okay?" Alfred asked to Arthur, who still remained on the floor while rubbing hsi temples.
"I'm just fine. I don't suppose there's any tea on this ship, is there?" He asked, as he looked up at the American. He got himself up, before straightening out his clothes with his hands.
"Yes, there is." Alfred gave a small smile, before putting one of his hands on his hips. "Come on, I'll show you to the kitchen."
"When you see what I'm about to show you, you'll beg me to take you with us." Francis chuckled, before taking a sip of his glass of Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.
"The best drink in existence is the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, the effect of which is like having half of your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick."
Both Francis and Fiats' heads twitched as they swallowed the blue contents, as their minds were crushed by a metaphorical lemon, somehow wrapped around a large golden brick. "One second~" Francis chuckled, before leaving Fiat on his own to disturb Arthur; who had been busy exploring the ship.
The heart of Gold was a large, circular white ship; with a colour scheme completely different to the Austrians. Instead of having old, square furniture this ship was filled with curved, modern styled ones that could suite most people's taste.
"Terrien!" The President shouted to him, as he ran up to him and pulled him into a tight embrace. Arthur did his best to push the taller blonde away, although he refused to let him go. "Sorry, but what was your name again?"
"Arthur." He replied sternly, as kept a straight face at the alien.
"Yeah, right. No hard feelings, oui? So sorry to hear about your planet..."
"Earth."
"Yeah, I liked Earth. I got these boots there. But don't mention it to Tony, because if you do-"
His head shot back, revealing the second one once again. He was smirking, with his red eyes on the Englishman. "I'll pull your spleen out through your throat." He pulled his head back down, and tried to recover his balance.
"All right? Thanks buddy." Arthur nodded slightly, as Francis let go of the embrace and winked at him. "Yeah, I like those jammies." He returned to his cousin, leaving Arthur in a confused state.
"Ve, what's up with the two head thing?" Fiat asked curiously. He was sure that the last time he saw his cousin, he only had 1 head. And he knew that his species didn't just grow a new one.
"You see, apparently you can't be president with a whole brain. It's crazy."
"Oh, so you carved it up~?"
"Yes, they said that parts of my personality weren't exactly presidential. You know what I'm talking about, oui?"
Arthur sat as he watched the machine on the wall of the kitchen pour blue liquid into a small glass. He was sure that Alfred said it would be tea, although it didn't resemble it in the slightest. Foam started to appear at the top of the glass, as the liquid slowly turned into a light brown. He picked up the glass, examined the contents before taking a small sip. He coughed at the taste, and put the glass back down on the counter. "You call that tea?"
"I suppose I should've mentioned that it resembles tea," The American laughed, as he wondered around the kitchen. It was the same style as the rest of the ship, which several stools next to a counter.
"So, two heads it what it takes to please you? I mean, if I had two heads or three..." The Englishman blushed as he looked down at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with the other.
"Or your own spaceship?" He scratched the back of his head, a habit he had, as he couldn't help but grin.
"What else does he have two of?"
"I don't know, and believe me I don't want to know. But don't be like that,"
"What am I supposed to be like? Green? Bleeping? I could try folding my eyelids inside it if you like." He had already gained a grudge against the aliens, and he didn't have trouble showing it. He missed the Earth, his home. He missed being able to sit at home with a good book, to be able to work on his embroidery. Although he couldn't do that now, it was all gone.
"Fine, look. You see this?" He pointed to a device placed on the wall. It had a circle shape engraved in it, with lights surrounding. He put his head in the engraved circle, and after a short while he took it back out. "It detects what you're craving and makes it for you." A plate next to the device, soon had a burger appear on it with a small puff of smoke. He grinned down at the burger, only to notice in the corner of his eye that his friend still wasn't impressed.
"How about this?" He reached for a small piece of plastic, and pressed a small button on it that let out a small laser. He pushed the small laser down into a loaf of bread, as it cut down the bread turned a dark colour. "This toasts bread while you slice it. We're on a spaceship, Arthur! In space! I told you I wanted to get away." He put the small 'knife' away, and looked back to Arthur grinning.
"Yeah, to Madagascar. So, that was a test? And I failed." Arthur arched his eyebrows, as he continued to look down at the ground. He could tell that the American was moving closer to him, but he decided to ignore it.
"How badly does it hurt?" Alfred wiped Arthur chin slightly, causing his pink blush to turn crimson.
"I-It doesn't feel great..." He looked up to see the younger mans' face quite close to his, as he looked up and down at his face. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"
"I meant your chin; I think we might have some aspirin." He smiled, and let go off his friends face to bend down towards a bag. As he opened it, a small chick and a bird ran out of the top of it into the next room. Alfred ignored the 2 as he searched through the bag.
"Alfred- I mean, Tony, there's something I have to tell you." Arthur bent down next to the American, as he looked back at him concerned.
"Please, don't."
"Showtime, Tony!" They could hear Francis call, back from the main room.
"When I saw what I'm about to show you, that's when I realised why I had to do what I did to my brain. Well, I think." Francis explained, as he stood in front of the large screen holding a small, cube shape. He placed it into a small hole, and the television screen burst to life.
"I've seen it, it's rubbish." Merlin commented, as he shook his head while sat in the corner. The text 'Magrathean public archive' appeared on the screen, with a small logo; until it changed to show a dark forest.
"Many millions of years ago, a race of hyperintelligent, pan-dimensional beings got so fed up with the constant bickering about the meaning of life, that they commissioned three of their brightest and best to design and build a stupendous super-computer to calculate the answer to life, the universe and everything." A crowd were gathered in the forest, as three small men were climbing up old, dark stairs. They had masks covering up their faces, and two of them were shaking with fear. As they reached the top of the stairs, they found a large computer in front of them. It was shown as the top half of a human body, with hands holding up the head. Blonde hair rested on the top, with a tired expression.
"O Deep Thought," said one of the three, who was standing in the centre of the other two. Bits of brown hair were sticking out from a mask he wore, and he was easily the bravest of the three. "we want you to tell us the answer."
"Like, the answer to what?" The computer replied, with no visible reaction.
"T-The answer to life, the universe, everything." The smallest of the 3 stuttered, as he took a step back from the others.
"We really need an answer, something simple." The other stated, his hands trembling by his sides.
"I'd totally have to think about that. So like, return to this place in exactly seven-and-a-half million years." The screen paused, as Francis turned to the others.
"Ve, is it finished?" Fiat asked, as he let his legs dangle off a chair he was sat on.
"Non, there's more. They go back."
"Seven-and-a-half million years later?" Arthur coughed; he found it pointless to know the point in existence. Wouldn't it be better to just live life as you please?
"Oui, they do." He clicked on the remote again, as the clip continued. It showed the same area again, although in the place of the forest, there was a huge crowd. Everyone in the crowd had red and white flags, as they cheered for the large robot.
"Deep Thought, do you have-?" Replacing the three from before, now stood 2 young teenagers; one in a long, green dress and the other in a suit. The male was stood slightly in front of the younger female, and had asked this.
"An answer for you? Totally! But like, you're not gonna' like it." The robot had interrupted.
"It doesn't matter, just tell us."
"All right; so like, the answer to the ultimate question, of life, the universe and like, all that other stuff," The crowd began to cheer louder, as they threw their flags in the air. "is 52." The crowd fell silent, as their expressions fell.
"52?" Someone from the crowd shouted, as others began to whisper to each other.
"Yeah, I like, thought it over totally thoroughly. It's 52. It would've totally been simpler of course to have like, known what the question was."
"But it was the question! The ultimate question, of everything!" The young man slammed his fist on the counter in front of him, making the female next to him jump slightly.
"That's totally not a question. Only when you know the question will you like, know what the answer means."
"Then give us the ultimate question!"
"I like, can't. But there is one who can. A computer that will totally calculate the ultimate question. Like, a computer of such infinite complexity, that life itself will form part of its operational matrix. And you yourselves shall totally take on new, more primitive forms, and go down into the computer to navigate its 10-million-year-program. I shall design this computer for you, and it shall be called-"
The screen went blank, as the small cube ejected itself out of the hole. "That's it?" Arthur asked, clearly not amused from the scene he just watched.
"Oui, that's it." Francis replied, as he picked up the small cube to put it in his pocket and walked towards the large computer.
"Ve, you're looking for the ultimate question~? Why~?" The 'Italian' jumped up, as he followed his cousin towards the computer.
"52? It doesn't work for moi, I need a real answer."
"Isn't there another reason for you to know~?"
"Partly for the curiosity, partly for the sense of adventure, but mainly for the fame, money and sex."
"You're President of the galaxy, aren't you?" Arthur asked; he's already got fame, money (but probably not sex), so why would he need the answer?
"Presidential fame is but temporary," He wrapped an arm around the smaller blonde, and gave him a wink. "I find the question, that's permanent. Plus everyone thinks your deep, win-win." He let go of the small Englishman, and pointed towards a large, blue button on the computer. "We click that button, and bam, we're at Magrathea, Je pense ue. We've only hit it twice and we're still not there, but are you guys in?"
"Of course~!" Fiat replied loudly, barely controlling his excitement.
"I want to get off." Morgen complained, shaking his head at everyone.
"Wait, what exactly are we doing?" Arthur asked, he still had no idea as to where they were going or why; or how he got on that ship in the first place.
"This!" Francis' second head appeared, as well as his third arm as it hit the big blue button.
N/A: Ahahahaha... ;; I hate how this came out. It's basically a chapter to explain things, although I didn't do that very well. And I know, my whole idea for replacing '42' sucked. Dx But it was all I could think of, and I doubt it makes sense as to why I choce that number. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter~