HHGG Book VI Outline

HHGG Book VI

Proposed outline

Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: Mostly Harmless
References: <37b1cfcc.12545494@news.btinternet.com>
   <34ls3.15402$V21.511876@nnrp3.clara.net>
   <37b3023e.4931928@news.btinternet.com>
   <7ovfr3$1uco$1@newssvr03-int.news.prodigy.com>
   <37b458b0.25265715@news.btinternet.com>
   <dElt3.1096$op.41723@nnrp3.clara.net>
   <Pine.LNX.3.96.990815132806.25943A-100000@mermaid.ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au>
Reply-To: thristianSPAMFREEZONE@atdot.org
Followup-To: 

Paul Andinach schrieb:
>Nonononono... Earth is in in Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha (did I get that
>right?), which is on a probablistic fault line, or something of that
>nature. Things that originate in that sector are ontologically 
>unstable, and can sometimes be pushed over the edge into non-existence
>(as happened to Fenchurch).

So can quantum fluctuations and Eddy in his Space-Time Condominium ever
cause things to spontaneously *re-exist*? And could it be that Arthur,
Ford, Trillian, and Co. (Random?) aren't actually *dead* dead, just
not-existant dead?

Could we, perhaps, wake up with our heroes on a freaky island on some
yukky planet somewhere in the universe? Would this even work? Fenchurch
is cool, but in the space books, Trillian is the closest thing Arthur has
to a love interest.  Will Arthur finally snap? Will we see a continuation
of plot from the radio series?

I'm thinking another Arthur-Fenchurch book, only in space, could be
kinda interesting, but would probably wind up being utterly alien to
the rest of the canon - there'd be no place for any of the "regular"
cast. On the other hand, it seems a waste to create a nice girl like
Fenchurch and then kill her off.

Again, what have we for motivation? We know what happens to the
Earth. It's gone. The miracle we might decide to invent to get Arthur
and the rest back from the Netherworld shouldn't be over used. Marvin
is no problem: given his age, he's bound to crop up somewhere in any
given time period.

Notable examples of reunions in sequels, to be avoided at all costs:

* Any plot where they suddenly return and everyone is in one place at
one time.

* The Phantom Menace: *All* the fun-lovin' droids happen to just *show
up* in the same space-time coordinates?

Good examples of reunions in sequels:

* TRATEOTU -> LTUAE

* The same bit in the radio series.

Hmm.. what else can I blather about?

We still need a plot. Yes, we can have them just sailing about in space,
but we need a reason for them to *get* to space. Red Dwarf does this
well - Rimmer and Lister are just trying to get home, and can easily get
diverted (or at least lost :) on the way. In MH, when Arthur *wants*
to stay, he gets a shove-on in a nicely effective way which currently
slips my mind. Actually, this could easily be the simplest piece of the
plot, but it's still important - if you stuff it up, I lose all respect
for the plot in general. :)

Did I mention that our Fearless Fivesome shouldn't be reunited too
quickly? I've always wanted to get back on the Heart Of Gold, even now
that Improbability Physics has been surpassed by Bistromathics.

Here's an idea.

Arthur wakes up on a (Lush green? No, too much like Prehistoric Earth. Dry
and barren? No - how's he breathing? Too much like Magrathea? Derelict
spacecraft?  No, too much like the B ark. Earth? No - too much like
SLATFATF, and besides it's been destroyed. I know!) A mysterious alien
civilisation, technologically advanced, but yet to make contact with
the Galaxy proper. Let them be living in an Improbability Nexus, or
be space-time scavengers or something. Let them collect weird stuff
(and people!) that spontaneously re-exist every so often.  This, to me,
seems good.

This gives us the possibility for Arthur to find Cool and Useful
Stuff. Stuff that's accumulated from spontaneous disappearings. High-tech
gadgetry, copies of the Encycopaedia Galactica that fall through
time-warps from ten-thousand years in the future, that kind of
thing. Oooh! Another idea! This planet is in some kind of sector which is
the opposite of a plural-alpha sector - a plural-omega sector? Somewhere
with the opposite attributes of the Earth's unfortunate region of
space-time-probability. :)

So Arthur, alone, gets kitted up, and - this is the clever bit - he
decides to Take Charge of his life. Yes, his earlier attempts hadn't done
any good, even lying doggo hadn't really been any good - The Universe
got him anyway. Damn near killed him, too. He's now older, wiser, and
knows a good bit more than he started with. He learns from the various
Encyclopaedia Galacticae that keep undergoing gravitaional implosion and
winding up in the plural-omega sectors. He finds various bits of space
craft, and with help puts them together. He also finds a hyperfinite
improbability drive, designed after the several flaws in the original HoG
prototype were discovered. He fits this raging enormous engine into his
otherwise mediochre ship. And he leaves the sector, meaning to become a
space merchant or something like that - think delusions of grandeur (Ford
and Zaphod busting their way onto an Arcturan Mega-Freighter), combined
with a paltry existence (like Cyrano Jones from Star Trek Classic).

Arthur's a bit more clueful now. He's cruising back from the outer rim of
the Galaxy, looking for odd jobs and interesting tasks. He comes across
an interesting looking piece of space junk - it seems to be electronic,
it seems to be dead. It also seems to be in a few pieces. He teleports
it aboard, into the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Fix-O-Matic, and lets
the SCC electronic wizardry get to work as he accellerates away.

A few parsecs on, the navi-comp tells him something's happened to
the transporter computer - it's shut down, and resisting attempts at
reboot. Not just failing to function, but actually arguing about it. More
reports come in - there's been a toxic burst of bogons in the immediate
vicinity of the craft.  Then there is a clank behind him, and a low,
mournful voice says, "Oh, it's you."

Marvin allowed his servo-motors a fraction of a degree of free-play, and
slumped imperceptibly. "I was hoping it might be a space-junk harvester
come to finish me off. The last one certainly was. I suppose simply
leaving me to crash into a fusion powered star wasn't enough undeserved
punishment - I wish I'd known then what I know now."

Arthur, still stunned, automatically asked.

"I now know to several quintillion more decimal places exactly what
a horrid place this universe is. I might have saved a few millenia of
hard knocks. But I suppose the Universe would have found some other way
to make it up to me. Life!  Don't talk to me about life."

Arthur and Marvin go on their way together. Marvin now has more to
sulk about, since this is a much smaller craft and hence is more
cramped. Arthur has to deliver some random package to an odd race in
another system. Cue the Guide telling us about the history of this
oddball people-group.

On the planet's surface, Arthur and Marvin try to sell their wares to
these aliens. Marvin, naturally, is rather a damper on the sales, and
in some way which I can't be bothered imagining, manages to offend a
significant portion of the population, and A & M flee.

Marvin is actually capable of some pretty heavy insult, and these
aliens actually send out a search-and-destroy party against our gallant
heroes. Chase sequence. The aliens get closer, Arthur as Efficient
Starship Captain is excellently controlling the ship and avoiding the
Industrial-Strength Kill-O-Zap rays. But the alien's ship is a Fast
Ship, and Arthur is still on impulse-drive - he wasn't sure what *all*
the wires on his rather impressively large engine were for, and he hasn't
actually been game to kick in Improbaility Drive.  Marvin points this out
to him in a suitably derogative manner, and goaded by his British Pride,
he presses the button.

Again, Arthur is blown up.

This wouldn't be a bad place to jump to an alternate story line, say,
one involving Random or Ford. Even Trillian.

I think Random should be working as a barmaid in a pub on some planet
almost, but not quite, like Earth. Let it be close enough to her
"home", the place where her father lived, for her to want to stay
there, but let it be sufficiently different for her to be angry fairly
regularly and often reminded that it *isn't* where she belongs. How
about tactlessness? Let it be Earth-like in most respects, but let the
inhabitants be *incredibly* tactless (this is good, because it's a nice
link to Arthur's experiences just after leaving earth). All the time,
let them make references to Random being a "nobody from nowhere", an
"off-worlder", the recipient of charity, that kind of thing.

How do we get Random into the main story-line? Obviously, she's getting
jack of this planet and will get the next space flight out of here. I'd
like some parallels and contrasts to her father's exile here. I think
she should hitch a ride with a fleet of hippy, peace-loving beatnik
aliens. Who read beatnik-poetry at her. And when she fails to appreciate
it, and insults them horribly, they throw her off the ship into the inky
void of space. Which brings us neatly back to the main story line.

Arthur and Marvin rematerialise, again on the HoG. This time (I forget
where Zaphod left it), it's been orbit around a planet for a few
millenia. The various tribes on the surface of the planet have been
worshipping it as a new Moon God for most of that time. Eventually,
they develop space-going technology, and out of the seven or so moons
they have to choose from for their first visit, guess which one gets
it? While drilling for rock samples, they bust something rather vital,
and the Improbability drive goes off once more. Something terribly funny
happens to the astronauts clustered on HoG's surface.

By the time Arthur and Marvin get back to the Heart of Gold, it has
(again) had a rather radically redesigned interior - now it's darkly
gothic.

Marvin and Arthur looked around the eerily familiar bridge. The silence
echoed noisily, and Arthur was being deafened by his own breathing. The
walls looked like they were made of dark stone, and torn draperies,
withered and darkened with age, hung loosely upon them. The air was
chill and dank, and a little misty. Across the convex wall, towering
monoliths bore various scratchings and markings, and glinting minerals
seemed to dance across their surface. Across the concave wall, a low
stone altar stood, worn and crumbling. It had many slots and markings
on its surface - about finger-sized and shaped, which gave way with a
deadish clunk when Arthur applied his finger. The general layout and
shape reminded Arthur of something he couldn't quite remember.

Meanwhile, Marvin was staring dejectedly at a corner of the room. It,
too, reminded him of something. Although he was perfectly capable of
remembering, certain circuits were actively trying to suppress the
memory. He wasn't sure why, but there were many memories his cybernetic
psyche would try to suppress.  No matter - he had decided he would fit
in nicely with these surroundings. He didn't much care what kind of
contraption he was in - it appeared to offer awesome opportunities for
sullen silences, monotonic plodding, and general wretchedness. He began
to plan the most self-pitying way in which to slump into that no doubt
uncomfortable corner, and fill the grave-like quiet with the grindings
of nearly-meshing gears.

Arthur suddenly thought he recognised a button on the strange altar, and
impulsively stabbed at it. An immense volume of squealling sound blasted
him from nowhere, but quickly settled into an annoying whining hum.

"Hi there! I'm Eddie, your shipboard computer, and it's great to see
you all again after so many years! I've been waiting for this day for
*years*, and it just thrills me to welcome you once more to the Starship
Heart of Gold!"

Arthur stood aghast. He had never, ever, suspected the Universe to be
out to get him on such a grand scale.

"I'm sorry about the state of the interior - I haven't really had time
to clean up in the last century or so, but I promise I'll make it up
to you in *any* way I can! I'm afraid the current system status is not
quite optimum, but I can keep you occupied with clever limericks and
witty poetry!"

Marvin interrupted. "Exactly *how* `not quite optimum'? How many of the
ships systems are working?"

Eddie was only partially subdued. "Well, actually none. In the intervening
years since my last total overhaul, I'm afraid pretty much everything
has broken. But to brighten the tone, did you hear the -"

"You know," intoned Marvin heavily, "you probably don't want to hear
this, but I'm reasonably sure that at some point I told you so." Glancing
patronisingly at the ceiling, he executed his slump to the corner.

Eddie had turned himself off. In the silence, Arthur managed to recover
his voice, and soliloquised to the room at large. "I don't believe it. Of
all the insane spacecraft in all the star systems in all the galaxy,
didn't I just have to land in this one."


Here's another clever bit. The awesomely-overpowered Hyperfinite Improbability
Drive does not, in fact, explode. Nor is its interior ravishingly redecorated.
It simply becomes self-aware - a hyper-intellingent servant, looking for a
master. By a rather incredible co-incidence, it happens to be in the correct
sector of space to pick up a rather aggravated young human female who was just
thrown out of a star ship. Dangers here are the many and varied sci-fi clichés
about intelligent, highly powerful computers acting as humble servants to
mentally unbalanced humans. Think of Star Trek Classic's "The Ultimate
Computer", remember probably at least one episode of "Knight Rider", and
probably umpteen million others. 

The important thing here is that Random is *not* evil. She doesn't want
to take over the world, she doesn't want to make slaves out of every one,
she just wants to belong somewhere. She breaks things without meaning to
- Arthur's watch in MH (I believe). Imagine what she can do with *this*
kind of firepower. You thought the huge lizard-loving robot was awesome..

Since this is getting a bit long, let me just give hints of the story as it goes
on.

Arthur and Marvin eventually have to get the HoG running again, and go out
looking for what they were up to last. This has a few good comic possibilities,
especially as since they're drifting fairly aimlessly in space we can throw
pretty much anything we like at them.

Random and Arthur's ship - which really should be given a name by Random,
preferably something a little more threatening beginning with the "Ra-"
phoeneme - go on a rampage more or less throughout the universe. Note the
symbiosis between Random and the ship - Random has no place to call her own, and
the ship (built from a hotch-potch of spare parts) similarly has no real origin.
Good opportunity here for a subtle contrast between the ship guiding Random to
cold, calculating rebellion and destruction, and Random who isn't like that at
all, really.

Zaphod can be worked into this. Not our Zaphod, but a younger Zaphod. Maybe even
Zaphod of "Beeblebrox Salvage And Really Wild Stuff" fame. It would have to be
on the side of Arthur and Marvin. Possibly even to help them track down and
contain Random and the ship.

Fenchurch could even make an appearance. I think she'd make an excellent
stabilising influence on Random, if she came into the story at all.

I can't think of somewhere to put Trillian. I don't have as much of a handle on
Trillian's character as I seem to on other people's characters.

Oh, and please don't sue me, DNA or TDV, for infringing copyright. Doesn't
fanfic have any consideration under law? 

And I shall be very surprised indeed if this plotline does ever become part of
the next book. I suspect some of it will, 'cos given our starting point, there's
not a lot of ways to go.

I'm partially proud and partially ashamed of some of the back-references to Book
1 in this plot - I think Book 6 will be a bit of a new era of the Guide, and the
back-references are at least somewhat justified. But some people will think them
cheap and unoriginal. Oh well.

And before you ask, much like DNA, I did write the thing in one go with little
or no forethought - the future events that match up so nicely are, more or less,
coincidences.

And finally, if anyone has any questions or comments, just reply to this post.
But if you reply without doing a fairly hefty amount of snippage, I shall feed
you to the TPV. :)

Screwtape
Is this on-topic post how you like it, Mr. Bruce?

-- 
,------------------------------------------------- ------ ---- -- -  -   -
| Screwtape | Reply-To: is munged on Usenet | members.xoom.com/thristian
|--------------------------------------------- ---- ---- --- -- - - -  -  
|
| You are not my Mother. You are a Snort!
|