The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Arthur and Ford have been ejected into space. The narrator interjects an entry from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is’” (53). To this end, the book suggests, the odds of Arthur and Ford getting picked up by a passing ship in the vastness of space are truly astronomical. Further, the numerical odds happen to correspond to a telephone number on Earth where Arthur once met a lovely girl. Then, astoundingly, Arthur and Ford “were rescued” (54).

Arthur and Ford’s rescue coincides with a hole opening up in the universe. Several improbable events happen at once: besides Arthur and Ford’s rescue, celebratory balloons and hats were dropped on the universe; more than two hundred thousand fried eggs were dropped on a starving tribe in a different galaxy; and the pair are gripped by “vicious storms of unreason” (55). They experience a series of unsettling transformations, with Arthur watching his arm drift away while Ford slowly turns into a penguin. Eventually, a soothing voice comes across the intercom: “’Welcome,’ the voice said, ‘to the Starship Heart of Gold’” (58). The voice assures the men that normalcy will soon be restored—but not before a horde of monkeys wants them to review their script of Hamlet.