Arthur looked down at Marvin, who now made an equally big show of turning round laboriously and trudging off down into the crater again muttering sour nothings to himself.
Come, called the old man, come now or you will be late.
Late? said Arthur. What for?
What is your name, human?
Dent. Arthur Dent, said Arthur.
Late, as in the late Dentarthurdent, said the old man, sternly. Its a sort of threat you see. Another wistful look came into his tired old eyes. Ive never been very good at them myself, but Im told they can be very effective.
Arthur blinked at him.
What an extraordinary person, he muttered to himself.
I beg your pardon? said the old man.
Oh nothing, Im sorry, said Arthur in embarrassment. Alright, where do we go?
In my aircar, said the old man motioning Arthur to get into the craft which had settled silently next to them. We are going deep into the bowels of the planet where even now our race is being revived from its five-million-year slumber. Magrathea awakes.
Arthur shivered involuntarily as he seated himself next to the old man. The strangeness of it, the silent bobbing movement of the craft as it soared into the night sky quite unsettled him.
He looked at the old man, his face illuminated by the dull glow of tiny lights on the instrument panel.
Excuse me, he said to him, what is your name by the way?
My name? said the old man, and the same distant sadness came into his face again. He paused. My name, he said, is Slartibartfast.
Arthur practically choked.
I beg your pardon? he spluttered.
Slartibartfast, repeated the old man quietly.
Slartibartfast?
The old man looked at him gravely.
I said it wasnt important, he said.
The aircar sailed through the night.
Chapter 23
Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert mankind of the danger; but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for tidbits, so they eventually gave up and left the Earth by their own means shortly before the Vogons arrived.
The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the Star Sprangled Banner, but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish.
In fact there was only one species on the planet more intelligent than dolphins, and they spent a lot of their time in behavioural research laboratories running round inside wheels and conducting frighteningly elegant and subtle experiments on man. The fact that once again man completely misinterpreted this relationship was entirely according to these creatures plans.
Chapter 24
Arthur tried to gauge the speed at which they were travelling, but the blackness outside was absolute and he was denied any reference points. The sense of motion was so soft and slight he could almost believe they were hardly moving at all.
Then a tiny glow of light appeared in the far distance and within seconds had grown so much in size that Arthur realized it was travelling towards them at a colossal speed, and he tried to make out what sort of craft it might be.
He peered at it, but was unable to discern any clear shape, and suddenly gasped in alarm as the aircraft dipped sharply and headed downwards in what seemed certain to be a collision course. Their relative velocity seemed unbelievable, and Arthur had hardly time to draw breath before it was all over. The next thing he was aware of was an insane silver blur that seemed to surround him. He twisted his head sharply round and saw a small black point dwindling rapidly in the distance behind them, and it took him several seconds to realize what had happened.
They had plunged into a tunnel in the ground. The colossal speed had been their own relative to the glow of light which was a stationary hole in the ground, the mouth of the tunnel. The insane blur of silver was the circular wall of the tunnel down which they were shooting, apparently at several hundred miles an hour.
He closed his eyes in terror.
After a length of time which he made no attempt to judge, he sensed a slight subsidence in their speed and some while later became aware that they were gradually gliding to a gentle halt.
He opened his eyes again. They were still in the silver tunnel, threading and weaving their way through what appeared to be a crisscross warren of converging tunnels. When they finally stopped it was in a small chamber of curved steel. Several tunnels also had their terminus here, and at the farther end of the chamber Arthur could see a large circle of dim irritating light. It was irritating because it played tricks with the eyes, it was impossible to focus on it properly or tell how near or far it was. Arthur guessed (quite wrongly) that it might be ultra violet.
Slartibartfast turned and regarded Arthur with his solemn old eyes.
Earthman, he said, we are now deep in the heart of Magrathea.
How did you know I was an Earthman? demanded Arthur.