They rounded the foot of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains, and there was the Message written in blazing letters along the crest of the Mountain. There was a little observation vantage point with a rail built along the top of a large rock facing it, from which you could get a good view. It had a little pay-telescope for looking at the letters in detail, but no one would ever use it because the letters burned with the divine brilliance of the heavens and would, if seen through a telescope, have severely damaged the retina and optic nerve.

They gazed at God’s Final Message in wonderment, and were slowly and ineffably filled with a great sense of peace, and of final and complete understanding.

Fenchurch sighed.

Yes, she said, that was it.

They had been staring at it for fully ten minutes before they became aware that Marvin, hanging between their shoulders, was in difficulties. The robot could no longer lift his head, had not read the message. They lifted his head, but he complained that his vision circuits had almost gone.

They found a coin and helped him to the telescope. He complained and insulted them, but they helped him look at each individual letter in turn, The first letter was a “w”, the second an “e”. Then there was a gap. An “a” followed, then a “p”, an “o” and an “l”.

Marvin paused for a rest.

After a few moments they resumed and let him see the “o”, the “g”, the “i”, the “s” and the “e”.

The next two words were “for” and “the”. The last one was a long one, and Marvin needed another rest before he could tackle it.

It started with an “i”, then “n” then a “c”. Next came an “o” and an “n”, followed by a “v”, an “e”, another “n” and an “i”.

After a final pause, Marvin gathered his strength for the last stretch.

He read the “e”, the “n”, the “c” and at last the final “e”, and staggered back into their arms.

I think, he murmured at last, from deep within his corroding rattling thorax, I feel good about it.

The lights went out in his eyes for absolutely the very last time ever.

Luckily, there was a stall nearby where you could rent scooters from guys with green wings.

他们绕过昆图鲁斯·垮兹噶尔的山脚，就到了山顶上火焰字母写着的讯息。在一块面对讯息的大石头上用护栏围出了一个很小的观景台，那儿的视野非常好。那里还有一个付费的小望远镜用来仔细观察每个字母，不过从来没人用，因为那些字母是来自天堂的神圣光辉烧成的，如果通过望远镜去看，就会严重损害视网膜和视觉神经。

他们惊叹着看着上帝最后的讯息，心中慢慢充满了难以言喻的巨大的平静，以及终极的、彻底的理解。

芬切琪叹了口气。

“是的，”她说，“就是这个。”

他们盯着讯息看了足足十分钟，这才注意到耷拉在他们肩膀上的马文正面临困境。这个机器人的头再也抬不起来了，没法看见那讯息。他们把他的头抬起来，但是他抱怨说他的视觉线路几乎完全坏了。

他们找到一枚硬币，帮他来到望远镜前面。他又是抱怨，又侮辱他们，可他们还是帮他依次看清每一个字母，第一个字母是“w”，第二个是“e”。然后是一截空白（这是第一个单词we，即“我们”）。接着是个“a”，再接着是一个“p”，一个“o”，一个“l”。

马文停下来休息了一会。

过了一会他们接着来，让他看到了“o”，“g”，“i”和“e”（这是第二个单词apologise，即“抱歉”）。

跟着的两个单词是“for”，和“the”。最后一个单词比较长，马文又休息了一会才能接着看。

这个单词以“i”开头，然后是一个“n”和一个“c”。接着是个“o”和一个“n”，后面是一个“v”，一个“e”，又是一个“n”，一个“i”。

休息了最后一次，马文聚集了最后的力量来完成。

他看到了“e”，“n”，“c”，并终于看到了最后一个字母“e（这个词是inconvenience，“不便”。整个的讯息是We apologise for the inconvenience，“我们对造成的不便感到抱歉。”），然后摇晃着倒向他们的胳膊。

“我想，”他终于透过那锈蚀的发出咔哒咔哒声音的胸腔低声说，“我对这个感觉很好。”

他眼中的光最后一次，永远地熄灭了。

幸运的是，附近有一个售货亭，你可以从长着绿色翅膀的家伙哪里租到电动车。