CHAPTER 17
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Zaphod screamed at it to shut up, but his voice was lost in the din of what they quite naturally assumed was approaching destruction.
“And don’t. . . be afraid. . . of the dark! ” Eddie wailed. The ship, in flattening out had in fact flattened out upside down and lying on the ceiling as they were it was now totally impossible for any of the crew to reach the guidance systems.
“At the end of the storm. . . ” crooned Eddie.
The two missiles loomed massively on the screens as they thundered towards the ship.
“. . . is a golden sky. . . ”
But by an extraordinarily lucky chance they had not yet fully corrected their flight paths to that of the erratically weaving ship, and they passed right under it.
“And the sweet silver songs of the lark. . . Revised impact time fifteen seconds fellas. . . Walk on through the wind. . . ”
The missiles banked round in a screeching arc and plunged back into pursuit.
“This is it,” said Arthur watching them. “We are now quite definitely going to die aren’t we?”
“I wish you’d stop saying that,” shouted Ford.
“Well we are aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
“Walk on through the rain. . . ” sang Eddie.
A thought struck Arthur. He struggled to his feet.
“Why doesn’t anyone turn on this Improbability Drive thing?” he said.
“We could probably reach that.”
“What are you crazy?” said Zaphod. “Without proper programming anything could happen.”
“Does that matter at this stage?” shouted Arthur.
“Though your dreams be tossed and blown. . . ” sand Eddie. Arthur scrambled up on to one end of the excitingly chunky pieces of moulded contouring where the curve of the wall met the ceiling.
“Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart. . . ”
“Does anyone know why Arthur can’t turn on the Improbability Drive?”
shouted Trillian.
“And you’ll never walk alone. . . Impact minus five seconds, it’s been great knowing you guys, God bless. . . You’ll ne. . . ver. . . walk. . . alone! ”
“I said,” yelled Trillian, “does anyone know. . . ”
The next thing that happened was a mid-mangling explosion of noise and light.
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