This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“”You’re one hundred percent positive
that the ship which is crashed on the bottom of this ocean is the ship which
you said you were one hundred percent positive could one hundred percent
positively never crash?” said the owner of the two remaining heads. “Hey,” he put up two of his hands, “I’m only
asking”” – Douglas Adams, Page 616
“”So safe that you have to build a zarking fortress ship to
take the by-products to the nearest black hole and tip them in! Only it doesn’t get there because the pilot
takes a detour – is this right? – to pick up some lobster…? OK, so the guy is cool, but… I mean own up,
this is barking time, this is major lunch, this is stool approaching critical
mass, this is… this is… total vocabulary failure!”” – Douglas Adams,
Page 617
“The first shrugged again. He said, “It doesn’t matter. He can say what he likes. No one would believe him. It’s why we chose to use him rather than do anything official, isn’t it? The more wild the story he tells, the more it’ll sound like he’s some hippy adventurer making it up. He can even say that we said this and it’ll make him sound like a paranoid.” He smiled pleasantly at Zaphod who was seething in his nasty suit. “You may accompany us,” he told him, “if you wish.”” – Douglas Adams, Page 622
Is This An Overview?
Before Zaphod became President of the Galaxy, Zaphod was
part of a salvage operation. Apparently
a spaceship that could not crash, crashed in an ocean trying to obtain the best
lobster. Everything is perfectly secure,
perfectly safe aboard the crashed ship that contains various hazards that could
harm a planet. What the group was trying
to salvage was something more dangerous.
A by-product, of some sort. The
officials who know the safety procedures, do not care if Zaphod knows what the
crashed ship contained, because nobody would believe Zaphod.
Caveats?
This is a very short story, which adds context to the
different improbable events which effected a planet somewhere in the galaxy.
