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Half a mile away, four figures pounded up a corridor looking for |
a way out. They emerged into a wide open-plan computer bay. They |
glanced about wildly. |
"Which way do you reckon Zaphod?" said Ford. |
"At a wild guess, I'd say down here," said Zaphod, running off |
down to the right between a computer bank and the wall. As the |
others started after him he was brought up short by a Kill-O-Zap |
energy bolt that cracked through the air inches in front of him |
and fried a small section of adjacent wall. |
A voice on a loud hailer said, "OK Beeblebrox, hold it right |
there. We've got you covered." |
"Cops!" hissed Zaphod, and span around in a crouch. "You want to |
try a guess at all, Ford?" |
"OK, this way," said Ford, and the four of them ran down a |
gangway between two computer banks. |
At the end of the gangway appeared a heavily armoured and space- |
suited figure waving a vicious Kill-O-Zap gun. |
"We don't want to shoot you, Beeblebrox!" shouted the figure. |
"Suits me fine!" shouted Zaphod back and dived down a wide gap |
between two data process units. |
The others swerved in behind him. |
"There are two of them," said Trillian. "We're cornered." |
They squeezed themselves down in an angle between a large |
computer data bank and the wall. |
They held their breath and waited. |
Suddenly the air exploded with energy bolts as both the cops |
opened fire on them simultaneously. |
"Hey, they're shooting at us," said Arthur, crouching in a tight |
ball, "I thought they said they didn't want to do that." |
"Yeah, I thought they said that," agreed Ford. |
Zaphod stuck a head up for a dangerous moment. |
"Hey," he said, "I thought you said you didn't want to shoot us!" |
and ducked again. |
They waited. |
After a moment a voice replied, "It isn't easy being a cop!" |
"What did he say?" whispered Ford in astonishment. |
"He said it isn't easy being a cop." |
"Well surely that's his problem isn't it?" |
"I'd have thought so." |
Ford shouted out, "Hey listen! I think we've got enough problems |
on our own having you shooting at us, so if you could avoid |
laying your problems on us as well, I think we'd all find it |
easier to cope!" |
Another pause, and then the loud hailer again. |
"Now see here, guy," said the voice on the loud hailer, "you're |
not dealing with any dumb two-bit trigger-pumping morons with low |
hairlines, little piggy eyes and no conversation, we're a couple |
of intelligent caring guys that you'd probably quite like if you |
met us socially! I don't go around gratuitously shooting people |
and then bragging about it afterwards in seedy space-rangers |
bars, like some cops I could mention! I go around shooting people |
gratuitously and then I agonize about it afterwards for hours to |
my girlfriend!" |
"And I write novels!" chimed in the other cop. "Though I haven't |
had any of them published yet, so I better warn you, I'm in a |
meeeean mood!" |
Ford's eyes popped halfway out of their sockets. "Who are these |
guys?" he said. |
"Dunno," said Zaphod, "I think I preferred it when they were |
shooting." |
"So are you going to come quietly," shouted one of the cops |
again, "or are you going to let us blast you out?" |
"Which would you prefer?" shouted Ford. |
A millisecond later the air about them started to fry again, as |
bolt after bolt of Kill-O-Zap hurled itself into the computer |
bank in front of them. |