So much time, it groaned, oh so much time. And pain as well, so much of that, and so much time to suffer it in too. One or the other on its own I could probably manage. It’s the two together that really get me down. Oh hello, you again.
Marvin? said Arthur sharply, crouching down beside it. Is that you?
You were always one, groaned the aged husk of the robot, for the super-intelligent question, weren’t you?
What is it? whispered Fenchurch in alarm, crouching behind Arthur, and grasping on to his arm.
He’s sort of an old friend, said Arthur. I…
Friend! croaked the robot pathetically. The word died away in a kind of crackle and flakes of rust fell out of its mouth. You’ll have to excuse me while I try and remember what the word means. My memory banks are not what they were you know, and any word which falls into disuse for a few zillion years has to get shifted down into auxiliary memory back-up. Ah, here it comes.
The robot’s battered head snapped up a bit as if in thought.
Hmm, he said, what a curious concept.
He thought a little longer.
No, he said at last, don’t think I ever came across one of those. Sorry, can’t help you there.
He scraped a knee along pathetically in the dust, an then tried to twist himself up on his misshapen elbows.
Is there any last service you would like me to perform for you perhaps? he asked in a kind of hollow rattle. A piece of paper that perhaps you would like me to pick up for you? Or maybe you would like me, he continued, to open a door?
His head scratched round in its rusty neck bearings and seemed to scan the distant horizon.
Don’t seem to be any doors around at present, he said, but I’m sure that if we waited long enough, someone would build one. And then, he said slowly twisting his head around to see Arthur again, I could open it for you. I’m quite used to waiting you know.
Arthur, hissed Fenchurch in his ear sharply, you never told me of this. What have you done to this poor creature?
Nothing, insisted Arthur sadly, he’s always like this…
Ha! snapped Marvin. Ha! he repeated. What do you know of always? You say “always” to me, who, because of the silly little errands your organic lifeforms keep on sending me through time on, am now thirty-seven times older than the Universe itself? Pick your words with a little more care, he coughed, and tact.
He rasped his way through a coughing fit and resumed.