Original Cover Blurb
Story Summary
Set 8 years after the events of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur, who has apparently hitched a ride all the way to the spot where the Earth once was, is shocked to find the Earth, perfectly intact. After hitching a ride with a man named Russell, he finds Russell's sister, Fenchurch, or "Fenny", unconscious in the backseat, and immediately falls in love with her. As he learns from Russell, the Vogon fleet was actually only a hallucination, brought on by drugs released into the air as part of an experiment by the government. Only three months had passed since the incident. Arthur also learns that Fenchurch is mentally unstable, having gone mad at a cafe in Rickmansworth at the exact moment when the Vogons were about to destroy the Earth. Arthur finally makes it back to his house, finding a mysterious fishbowl in it. He makes up a story about going on vacation to southern California as an alibi for his three-month-long disappearance. Arthur then runs into Fenchurch again, and, desperate to spend more time with her, drives her to the local train station. He learns that she, too, suspects that the Vogons were not a hallucination. He receives her phone number, but he ends up losing it (having been written on a winning raffle ticket), and Arthur sinks into depression.
Determined to take his mind off Fenchurch, he buys a computer to try to locate the place his cave in prehistoric Earth is currently, and by a stroke of luck the location turns out to be Fenchurch's house. Arthur and Fenchurch start a romantic relationship. Eventually, they hear about dolphins that have disappeared, and, thinking that it may be linked to the hallucinations or Arthur's eight years in space, they fly to Florida to see a scientist named Wonko the Sane. Wonko shows them a bowl similiar to Arthur's, and through the bowl they learn that the dolphins took an alternate reality version of Earth and placed it where their Earth previously was.'
While these events were taking place, Ford Prefect, while in Han Dold City, discovers that the entry he wrote about Earth (for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) before it was destroyed, which was edited to the point where all it said was "Mostly Harmless", has suddenly reappeared in his copy of the Guide. Intrigued, he flies to Earth on a plane, though he has to hitch on a ship commanded by a giant robot. Once seeing that Earth again exists, Ford runs into Arthur and Fenchurch, who have decided to go to the location of God's Final Message to His Creation, as revealed to Arthur by Prak at the end of Life, The Universe, and Everything. They board the ship and go to the spot, where it has become a major tourist attraction. Arthur comes across Marvin, who, because of the various time travel he's been through, is now extremely old. Marvin reads the far-away message to Arthur and Fenchurch ("We apologize for the inconvenience") and promptly dies in Arthur's arms.
Characters
- Arthur Dent
- Ford Prefect
- Fenchurch
Notes
Devices, Ships, People and Places encountered
Other Published Versions
Variations between audio adaption and book
External Links