Ford Prefect, said Ford Prefect with a shrug.
Prak jiggled his head.
And I, said Zaphod, when he judged that the silence was once again deep enough to allow an announcement of such gravity to be tossed in lightly, am Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Prak jiggled his head.
Who’s this guy? said Prak jiggling his shoulder at Arthur, who was standing silent for a moment, lost in disappointed thoughts.
Me? said Arthur. Oh, my name’s Arthur Dent.
Prak’s eyes popped out of his head.
No kidding? he yelped. You are Arthur Dent? The Arthur Dent?
He staggered backwards, clutching his stomach and convulsed with fresh paroxysms of laughter.
Hey, just think of meeting you! he gasped. Boy, he shouted, you are the most… wow, you just leave the frogs standing! he howled and screamed with laughter. He fell over backwards on to the bench. He hollered and yelled in hysterics. He cried with laughter, he kicked his legs in the air, he beat his chest. Gradually he subsided, panting. He looked at them. He looked at Arthur. He fell back again howling with laughter. Eventually he fell asleep.
Arthur stood there with his lips twitching whilst the others carried Prak comatose on to the ship.
Before we picked up Prak, said Arthur, I was going to leave. I still want to, and I think I should do so as soon as possible.
The others nodded in silence, a silence which was only slightly undermined by the heavily muffled and distant sound of hysterical laughter which came drifting from Prak’s cabin at the farthest end of the ship.
We have questioned him, continued Arthur, or at least, you have questioned him I, as you know, can’t go near him on everything, and he doesn’t really seem to have anything to contribute. Just the occasional snippet, and things I don’t want to hear about frogs.
The others tried not to smirk.
“福特·长官。”福特耸了下肩膀。
普啦刻抖着脑袋。
“而我，”赞福德开口道。等了一会，等到他觉得足够久、足够宣布一个重大消息时，他才轻描淡写地说：“是赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯。”
普啦刻抖着脑袋。
“这家伙呢？”普啦刻朝阿瑟抖着肩膀。后者正在发呆，一脸的失落。
“我？”阿瑟说，“哦，我叫阿瑟·邓特。”
普啦刻惊得眼珠都快掉出来了。
“开玩笑？！”他大叫道，“你是阿瑟·邓特？就是那个阿瑟·邓特？”
他踉跄着后退几步，捂住了肚子，爆发出又一阵狂笑。
“嘿！我正想见你呢！”他一边喘气一边说，“伙计，”他叫道，“你是最……噢，你可是连青蛙也望尘莫及啊！”他仰天长笑。他笑倒在了椅子上。他歇斯底里地笑着嚷着。他大笑不止，他双腿乱蹬，他捶着胸口。渐渐地，他平静下来，气喘吁吁。他看着他们，看着阿瑟。他往后一倒，又大笑起来。最后，他睡着了。
阿瑟站在那儿，嘴唇嗫嚅了几下。其他人则把昏睡的普啦刻抬回了飞船。
“来找普啦刻之前，”阿瑟说，“我说我要离开。现在也这么想。而且走得越快越好”
其他人无言地点点头。一片沉默。然而，飞船最远的船舱传来的、普啦刻的一阵隐约而歇斯底里的笑声，终于打破了沉默。
“我们已经问过他了，”阿瑟接着说，“至少，你们问过他了。我，你们知道——不能靠近他，所以什么也干不了。而且，他似乎也说不出什么有用的话来。除了那些我没兴趣的关于青蛙的片断。”
其他人强忍着笑。