“Er, yes. With milk.”
“Squirted out of a cow?”
“Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose…”
“I’m going to need some help with this one,” said the machine tersely. All the cheerful burbling had dropped out of its voice and it now meant business.
“Well, anything I can do,” said Arthur.
“You’ve done quite enough,” the Nutri-Matic informed him.
It summoned up the ship’s computer.
“Hi there!” said the ship’s computer.
The Nutri-Matic explained about tea to the ship’s computer. The computer boggled, linked logic circuits with the Nutri-Matic and together they lapsed into a grim silence.
Arthur watched and waited for a while, but nothing further happened.
He thumped it, but still nothing happened.
Eventually he gave up and wandered up to the bridge. In the empty wastes of space, the Heart of Gold hung still. Around it blazed the billion pinpricks of the Galaxy. Towards it crept the ugly yellow lump of the Vogon ship.