“Listen, forget it,” said Ford, “forget all of it. Nothing matters. Look, it’s a beautiful day, enjoy it. The sun, the green of the hills, the river down in the valley, the burning trees.”
“Even if it’s only a dream, it’s a pretty horrible idea,” said Mella, “destroying a world just to make a bypass.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of worse,” said Ford, “I read of one planet off in the seventh dimension that got used as a ball in a game of intergalactic bar billiards. Got potted straight into a black hole. Killed ten billion people.”
“That’s mad,” said Mella.
“Yes, only scored thirty points too.”
Agda and Mella exchanged glances.
“Look,” said Agda, “there’s a party after the committee meeting tonight. You can come along if you like.”
“Yeah, OK,” said Ford.
“I’d like to,” said Arthur.
Many hours later Arthur and Mella sat and watched the moon rise over the dull red glow of the trees.
“That story about the world being destroyed…” began Mella.
“In two million years, yes.”
“You say it as if you really think it’s true.”
“Yes, I think it is. I think I was there.”
She shook her head in puzzlement.
“You’re very strange,” she said.
“No, I’m very ordinary,” said Arthur, “but some very strange things have happened to me. You could say I’m more differed from than differing.”
“And that other world your friend talked about, the one that got pushed into a black hole.”
“Ah, that I don’t know about. It sounds like something from the book.”
“What book?”
Arthur paused.
“The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” he said at last.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, just something I threw into the river this evening. I don’t think I’ll be wanting it any more,” said Arthur Dent.