So Zaphod got even crazier. The giant ship, Heart of Gold, well, he stole it. He threw a bomb into the crowd and made a run for the ship. Funny stuff! I don’t know what happened, though, because they jump around to the different characters situations. These twenty pages jumped back to Ford and Arthur. The two have now begun to hitchhike around the galaxy, and who did they get a ride from? The Vogons, rather frightening aliens who destroyed earth, and according to the guide, hate hitchhikers. The only reason they got on the ship was because of the Vogons’ cooks, the Dentrassis. These creatures love to annoy the Vogons, and what better way than to pick up a few hitchhikers??

Now the Vogons are the poor species who got beat really hard with the ugly stick. They had this really funny story about how their new sun just didn’t even bother to evolve them any farther because it was a hopeless cause, they’re the bullies. After they finished with abusing their planet, the moved on to bully and destroy other planets. They are also extremely terrible at writing poetry because, according to Ford, he would rather be thrown into space than listen to them read a poem.

There’s also this really cool thing Ford had called the Babel fish, and I just learned about Babel in CCD =). All you have to do is stick it in your ear (ewww) and it translates every language for you. I would love one of those. It would certainly make Spanish class easier.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide started to pick up a little bit, although I’m still not entirely sure where it’s going. The large yellow spaceships came into the sky, confusing everyone. It was the Vogons, who came to get rid of Earth for the intergalactic bypass. I love the irony of the fact that these huge things making a horendous noise are about to destroy Earth, and Arthur is freaking out about the fact that they are destroying his house. Ford, knowing of this attack, is prepared for travel. He has his towel, which The Guide says is the most important thing a galactic hitchhiker can have because you can use it for a lot of different things and it lets other hitchhikers know he is not one to be messed with. If someone has a towel, then it’s assumed they have everything else necessary for proper hygiene and survival, and he/she will lend that hitchhiker anything that was “lost.”

I also met the president of the galaxy, Zaphod Beetlebrox. He isn’t the real source of power, he’s only someone used to take attention away from where the power actually is, and it’s said he’s very good at his job. Only six people know that. Zaphod is a two headed, three armed “man” who is completely crazy and I love it!! Just at the end of my reading he hijacked a huge spaceship, the Heart of Gold. It makes me giggle at how the Galactic government may be similar to ours and is similar to just about everything else: you never know who really has the power.