Arthur read this, and put the book down.
The robot still sat there, completely inert.
Arthur got up and walked to the top of the crater. He walked around the crater. He watched two suns set magnificently over Magrathea.
He went back down into the crater. He woke the robot up because even a manically depressed robot is better to talk to than nobody.
"Night's falling," he said. "Look, robot, the stars are coming out."
From the heart of a dark nebula it is possible to see very few stars, and only very faintly, but they were there to be seen.
The robot obediently looked at them, then looked back.
"I know," he said. "Wretched, isn't it?"
"But that sunset! I've never seen anything like it in my wildest dreams . . . the two suns! It was like mountains of fire boiling into space."
"I've seen it," said Marvin. "It's rubbish."
"We only ever had the one sun at home," persevered Arthur. "I came from a planet called Earth, you know."
"I know," said Marvin, "you keep going on about it. It sounds awful."
"Ah, no, it was a beautiful place."
"Did it have oceans?"
"Oh yes," said Arthur with a sigh, "great wide rolling blue oceans . . ."
"Can't bear oceans," said Marvin.
"Tell me," inquired Arthur, "do you get on well with other robots?"
"Hate them," said Marvin. "Where are you going?"
Arthur couldn't bear any more. He had got up again.
"I think I'll just take another walk," he said.
"Don't blame you," said Marvin and counted five hundred and ninety-seven billion sheep before falling asleep again a second later.
Arthur slapped his arms about himself to try and get his circulation a little more enthusiastic about its job. He trudged back up the wall of the crater.
Because the atmosphere was so thin and because there was no moon, nightfall was very rapid and it was by now very dark. Because of this, Arthur practically walked into the old man before he noticed him.
A good portion of this passage is simply Arthur's thoughts and observations. I thought that, today, I'd do the same thing. I've been taking pictures during my day, and I thought I'd share them.
First, the sunrise, which I see every day in the summer since I drive to work so early. It's not double suns, but it's still beautiful:
Then there's my station at work in the cardiology office. Here's what I stare at for most of eight hours:
And a couple of my coworkers/friends who make my days go by a lot faster:
At the end of the day, I prepare the assignment board for the following day. I always add an artistic flair to it:
At the end of the day, I come home to the people I love most. The reason I do what I do every day. Here are two of them. My beautiful wife and my hilarious son:
Then, I usually write my daily blog post(s), depending on what I have going on in the evening:
This evening, I'm getting together with some poet friends to do a little impromptu Walt Whitman poetry workshop. Two of my favorite people in the world.
And that is my day in pictures. I am full of blessings.
Saint Marty is a work in progress.
:-)
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