“Are you going to the office today?” She asked without turning.
“Nah, too nice a day.”
“Every day here is the same.”
“I know, great isn’t it?” Mellowed Zaphod. “Besides, Heart of Gold is in for 12,000 omp service.”
“How long will that take?” Trillian actually turned her head.
“I don’t know. The bastards have it overnight, so they can do the galaxy, try and impress some chicks with it, recover, give it a couple of kicks, leave greasy fingerprints all over it and work out an extortionate bill. It could take days.’
“Why not take it somewhere else?”
“You kind of know where you stand with these guys. They’re hoopy.”
“But they’ll rip you off!”
“Not this time. I pulled a couple of wires. If they miss them, it’s curtains. I told them who I am and what would happen if they didn’t do a proper job.”
“Blackmail?”
“It’s called good business. If they do a good job, they’ll come out of it alright.”
A small monitor flew from the house and hovered in front of Zaphod. He squinted and shaded his eyes.
“Hey, we’ve got visitors,” beamed Zaphod. “Ford and the monkey man are here with some chicks. Freeooww!”
“You mean Arthur,” said Trillian firmly. She waited. “Aren’t you going to let them in?”
“Not yet, I want to see them ogle a little while longer,” chuckled Zaphod. “I can almost hear them saying this can’t be my place.”
“This can’t be Zaphod’s place!” Arthur said, disgusted by the fact that he knew it was.
“He must have done pretty well for himself since the Krikkit business,” said Ford.
“What was….”
“Don’t ask, Fenchurch,” snapped Arthur. “It’s not something I want to be reminded of.”
The door swung silently open. No ‘happy service’ or ‘ glad to be of service’. Zaphod had made it big. He stood in the doorway, arms open.
“Hi hi hi guys, good to see me, isn’t it. No seriously, hi Ford, Arthur. Who are the chicks?”
“These ladies are Fenchurch and Bolo,” said Arthur.
“Hi Bolo, nice to see you again.”
“You, you’ve met?” Spluttered Ford.
“Yes, Zaphod’s the guy with the grey limo from Han Dold City,” explained Bolo.
“But don’t mention it, the soon to be wife’s inside,” whispered Zaphod. “Come through to the patio.”
Trillian got off the sun bed to greet them. After the formal introductions of Fenchurch and Bolo, she put her arms around Ford and Arthur.
“It’s great to see you guys again, it’s been too long,” she said. She had been explained to Fenchurch and Bolo to avoid any embarrassment a gesture like this would have caused.
“And we got here just in time,” said Ford, rubbing his hands together. “When’s the big night, I mean day?”
“Two days time, we hoped you would make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the planet.” Ford winked at Arthur.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” admired Arthur. It was meant to be admired. The house sprawled lazily like a basking octopus over the entire beach, which curved into a tropical bay. Beautiful snowy mountains rose majestically behind the house.
“It’s not bad,” said Trillian, looking at Zaphod. “It’s the only place we could find to accommodate Zaphod’s ego!”
“What, the house or the planet?” Asked Arthur.
“Hey, guys! What is this, get at Zaphod day or something?” Exclaimed Zaphod.
“So, what have you been up to, Zaphod, to get all of this?” Asked Ford. Trillian sighed and took the women away to show them around the house.
“I’m glad you asked. Pull up a sun bed.”
“Is it going to take that long?” Asked Arthur.
“No monkey man, you’re just looking a little peaky, the suns will do you the world of good.” Arthur ignored the insult and climbed on the sun bed. He was immediately turned upside down.
“Turn the dial,” said Ford, climbing onto his sun bed.
Arthur fiddled with the dial and eventually got himself into a position where the two suns beat down on either side of his face, casting no shadows.
“This is paradise,” he sighed.
“No, it’s Beebles, it’s got a much better ring to it,” said Zaphod. “Anyway, after the Krikkit lark, the galactic police caught up with me, but they just wanted to escort me to the galactic council. They were still angry over the Heart of Gold, but once I explained to them how I saved the Universe from the Krikkits, they were fine.”