"Well didn't you think of anything? I thought you said you were going to think of something. Perhaps you thought of something and didn't notice."
"Oh yes, I thought of something," panted Ford. Arthur looked up expectantly.
"But unfortunately," continued Ford, "it rather involved being on the other side of this airtight hatchway." He kicked the hatch they'd just been through.
"But it was a good idea was it?"
"Oh yes, very neat."
"What was it?"
"Well I hadn't worked out the details yet. Not much point now is there?"
"So ... er, what happens next?"
"Oh, er, well the hatchway in front of us will open automatically in a few Moments and we will shoot out into deep space I expect and asphyxicate. If you take a lungful of air with you you can last for up to thirty seconds of course ..." said Ford. He stuck his hands behind his back, raised his eyebrows and started to hum an old Betelgeusian battle hymn. To Arthur's eyes he suddenly looked very alien.
"So this is it," said Arthur, "we're going to die."
"Yes," said Ford, "except ... no! Wait a minute!" he suddenly lunged across the chamber at something behind Arthur's line of vision. "What's this switch?" he cried.
"What? Where?" cried Arthur twisting round.
"No, I was only fooling," said Ford, "we are going to die after all."
He slumped against the wall again and carried on the tune from where he left off.
"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxication in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen."
"Oh." Ford carried on humming.
"This is terrific," Arthur thought to himself, "Nelson's Column has gone, McDonald's have gone, all that's left is me and the words Mostly Harmless. Any second now all that will be left is Mostly Harmless. And yesterday the planet seemed to be going so well."
“那好吧，你想到什么法子了吗？我记得你好像说过你会想到的。当然，也许你已经想到了些什么，只不过我没有注意而已。”
“哦，是的，我确实想到了一个主意。”福特喘息着说。阿瑟顿时满脸期待地抬起头。
“但不幸的是，”福特继续道，“这个主意和密闭舱门另一侧的那个家伙有关。”说着他踢了舱门一脚。
“但那确实是个好主意，是吗？”
“哦，当然，相当巧妙。”
“是什么呢？”
“嗯，我还没有把细节想清楚。我们剩下的时间不多了吧，是吗？”
“那么……嗯，接下来会发生什么事呢？”阿瑟问。
“哦，嗯，奸吧，我们面前的舱门很快会自动打开，我们会被弹射进深邃的外太空，然后渐渐窒息。如果事先深深吸入一口气，那么你最多可以坚持30秒钟，当然……”福特说。他把双手背在背后，皱起眉头，开始哼一首古老的参宿四的战斗赞美诗。在阿瑟看来，他突然间变得很陌生。
“看来事情是这样的，”阿瑟说，“我们快死了。”
“足的，”福特说，“除非……不！等等！”他突然穿过房间朝着阿瑟背后的某个东两冲过去，“这是什么的开关？”他叫道。
“什么？在哪儿？”阿瑟也跟着叫起来，迅速转过身。
“没什么，我只是开个玩笑而已，”福特说，“无论如何我们都得死。”
他又瘫软地靠在墙上，从刚才断掉的地方接着哼起来。
“你知道吗，”阿瑟说，“在这样的时刻，当我被困在沃贡人的气闸里，和一个从参宿四来的人在—起，即将被扔进外太空窒息而死时，我真希望自己年轻时听我母亲的话。”
“为什么，她告诉了你些什么？”
“我不知道，我不是没有听嘛。”
“哦。”福特继续哼哼。
“真是太可怕了，”阿瑟自言自语地说，“尼尔森的专栏没有了，麦当劳没有了，剩下的只有我，以及这个词条，‘基本上无害’。再过几秒钟，惟一剩下的就只有‘基本上无害’了。而仅仅就在昨天，这颗星球看上去还一切正常。”
这时，传来了—阵机械的声音。
随着气流涌动渐渐由微弱的嘶嘶声变为震耳欲聋的轰鸣，外壁舱门打开了，显出一片空虚的黑暗，点缀着一些遥远的微小亮点。福特和阿瑟就像从玩具枪里射出的软木塞一样被抛入外太空。