page21 (1/2)

"Desolate hole if you ask me," said Ford "I could haveirritation Of all the planets in all the star systems of all the Galaxy--didn't he just have to turn up at a du a castaway? Not even a hot dog stand in evidence He stooped down and picked up a cold clot of earth, but there was nothing underneath it worth crossing thousands of light years to look at

"No," insisted Arthur, "don't you understand, this is the first time I've actually stood on the surface of another planeta whole alien world! Pity it's such a duh"

Trillian hugged herself, shivered and frowned She could have sworn she saw a slight and unexpected lanced in that direction all she could see was the ship, still and silent, a hundred yards or so behind them

She was relieved when a second or so later they caught sight of Zaphod standing on top of the ridge of ground and waving to them to come and join him

He seemed to be excited, but they couldn't clearly hear what he was saying because of the thinnish atmosphere and the wind

As they approached the ridge of higher ground they became aware that it seemed to be circular--a crater about a hundred and fifty yards wide Round the outside of the crater the sloping ground was spattered with black and red lumps They stopped and looked at a piece It et It was rubbery

With horror they suddenly realized that it was fresh whalemeat

At the top of the crater's lip they met Zaphod

"Look," he said, pointing into the crater

In the centre lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperh to be disappointed with its lot The silence was only disturbed by the slight involuntary spasms of Trillian's throat

"I suppose there's no point in trying to bury it?" murmured Arthur, and then wished he hadn't

"Come," said Zaphod and started back down into the crater

"What, down there?" said Trillian with severe distaste

"Yeah," said Zaphod, "co to show you"

"We can see it," said Trillian

"Not that," said Zaphod, "so else Come on"

They all hesitated

"Come on," insisted Zaphod, "I've found a way in"

"In?" said Arthur in horror

"Into the interior of the planet! An underground passage The force of the whale's io Where no man has trod these five million years, into the very depths of time itself"

Marvin started his ironical huain

Zaphod hit him and he shut up

With little shudders of disgust they all followed Zaphod down the incline into the crater, trying very hard not to look at its unfortunate creator

"Life," said Marvin dolefully, "loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it"

The ground had caved in where the whale had hit it revealing a network of galleries and passages, now largely obstructed by collapsed rubble and entrails Zaphod hada way into one of them, but Marvin was able to do it rather faster Dank air wafted out of its dark recesses, and as Zaphod shone a torch into it, little was visible in the dusty gloom

"According to the legends," he said, "the Magratheans lived round"

"Why's that?" said Arthur "Did the surface become too polluted or overpopulated?"

"No, I don't think so," said Zaphod "I think they just didn't like it very much"

"Are you sure you knohat you're doing?" said Trillian peering nervously into the darkness "We've been attacked once already, you know"

"Look, kid, I promise you the live population of this planet is nil plus the four of us, so coet on in there Er, hey Earthman"

"Arthur," said Arthur

"Yeah, could you just sort of keep this robot with you and guard this end of the passageway OK?"

"Guard?" said Arthur "What from? You just said there's no one here"

"Yeah, well, just for safety, OK?" said Zaphod

"Whose? Yours or mine?"

"Good lad OK, here we go"