Book Name : So
Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
Author
: Adams, Douglas
No. of Pages
: 207
Summary : (Taken from
Wikipedia)
Arthur Dent has hitch-hiked through the galaxy and
is dropped off on a planet in a rainstorm. He realises that he appears to be in
England on Earth, even though he saw it destroyed by the Vogons. While he has been gone for
several years, it appears only a few months have passed on Earth. He manages to
hitch a ride with a man named Russell, who is driving home his sister Fenchurch (Fenny for short). Russell explains
that she had become delusional after worldwide mass hysteria over the "hallucinations with the
big yellow spaceships" (Vogon Ships). Arthur also learns that all the dolphins disappeared shortly after that event.
Arthur becomes curious about Fenchurch, but they reach his home before he can
ask more questions. Inside his still-standing home, Arthur finds a gift-wrapped
bowl inscribed with the words "So Long and Thanks..." which he then
uses for his Babel Fish. Arthur
considers that Fenchurch is somehow connected to him and to the Earth's
destruction, and finds that he still has the ability to fly whenever he lets
his thoughts wander.
After
putting his life in order, Arthur tries to find out more about Fenchurch. He
catches her hitchhiking and he learns more about her. He obtains her phone
number but loses it. He finds her home when he locates the cave he had lived in
after crashing onto prehistoric Earth with the Golgafrinchans: her flat is
built on the same spot. As they talk they find more circumstances connecting
them. Fenchurch reveals that, moments before her hallucinations, she had an epiphanywhile sitting in a café about
how to make everything right, but then blacked out. Ever since, she has not been
able to recall it. After noticing that Fenchurch's feet do not touch the
ground, Arthur teaches her how to fly and together they make love in the skies
over London.
The two
travel to California to see John Watson, an enigmatic
scientist who purports to know the cause of the dolphins' disappearance and who
eschewed his original name in favour of "Wonko the Sane" due to
harbouring the belief that the entire world's population save himself has gone
mad. Watson shows the couple a bowl with the words "So long and thanks for
all the fish" inscribed on it that they all own and encourages them to
listen to it. They learn from the bowl's audio message that the dolphins, aware
of the Vogons, left Earth for an alternate dimension but not before replacing
the destroyed Earth with a new version and transporting everything to it as a
way of saving humans. Arthur explains to Fenchurch about hitchhiking across the
galaxy, after which she insists that she wants to see it as well. They plan to
hitchhike on the next passing spaceship.
Concurrent
to these events, Ford Prefect discovers that during an update of the
"Hitchhiker's Guide", his previous entry for Earth, "Mostly
harmless", has been replaced with the volumes of text he wrote during his
research. Recognising that something is strange, Ford begins to hitchhike
across the galaxy to reach Earth, eventually using the ship of a giant robot to
land in the centre of London and causing a panic. In the chaos, Ford meets up
with Arthur and Fenchurch and together they commandeer the robot's ship. Arthur
takes Fenchurch to the planet where God's
Final Message to His Creation is written, and they happen across Marvin, who, because of previous
events, is now approximately 37 times older than the known age of the universe
and is barely able to continue. Marvin, with Arthur and Fenchurch's help, reads
the Message ("We apologise for the inconvenience"), smiles, utters
the final words "I think... I feel good about it," and dies happily.
No comments: