(no subject)

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford opens the hatch to the EVA pod -- Apple, as Trillian insists her name is -- and lets Arthur and Truman go in first. He follows them in and seals the door.

"So, whaddya think, Truman? First actual spaceship. How is it?"

Comments

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman gave a whoop of delight, and peered at everything excitedly.

"This is great. Really hoopy, frood," he was beaming so widely that his head looked ready to split in half again. Heck, he was almost bouncing with excitement.

He turned to face them again, "So when can we take off?"

[onehoopyprefect]

"Soon as I get to the controls," Ford replies with a grin.

He sits down in the pilot's chair and straps in. "Hitchhiker offices, Trintranix Five, present day according to my personal timestream.

"Okay, strap in you two, and we're off and running."

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

He smiles at Truman's enthusiasm as he buckles his safety belt.

"You're lucky. My first space flight wasn't nearly this pleasant."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

"It's a space flight, how can it not be great?" Truman exulted cheerfully as he scrambled into a seat, and buckled himself in. He made sure it was one with a good view to watch the flight.

"What happened on your first one, then?" He asked with some curiosity.

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford hits the go-start as soon as everyone's set. Apple lurches forward and falls into the timestream, plummeting backwards through time as it also orients on the spacial coordinates.

Once they're underway, he turns his chair around to listen to Arthur's version of the events with the Vogons.

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman laughed a little at this, and gave a whoop as they took off.

He then leaned over, and listened attentively to the story, oohing and aahing in the right sections.

"Wow, those Vogons sound pretty mean."

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

"...And then we were rescued at the last possible second."

Finishing the story, he leans back in his seat and watches the stars.

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford nods.

"Exactly as I had planned."

Yeah, he's sticking to that story.

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

"Must have been quite an adventure," Truman replied with a wistful smile, his chin leaning on his hand thoughtfully.

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

"Well... that's one way of putting it."

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford grins.

"That's the best way of putting it. Look at life as an adventure, and you'll never be disappointed. He'll make a good researcher, doncha think?"

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

"He's certainly going to have fun trying."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman grinned at them, "I sure will, and well, life is an adventure. That's what so exciting and great about it."

He glanced at the window, and tapped the glass wonderingly, "So how much further?"

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford turns around and has a glance at the controls.

"Looks like we're about... 78,000 years out from the destination. Maybe another 5 minutes."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

"Great!" Truman beamed widely. Well, actually he hadn't stopped beaming entirely since he got on aboard. He was still bouncing in his seat impatiently too. And fiddling with his towel some, twisting it around his hands.

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

"You're going to wear that out if you're not careful."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

"What?" Truman then realized, and tried to still his hands. "Sorry, kind of excited and nervous about this."

[onehoopyprefect]

"You'll do fine," Ford reassures him. "Oh, hang on. I'm so used to Milliways, I almost forgot."

He gets up and walks into the back area of the ship and presses the button on the dispenser, returning with its contents.

"You'll need to have this fish in your ear."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman blinked, and poked very lightly at the fish.

"...ok, no offense, but ewww... why?"

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

The fish wriggles slightly in protest.

"It's called a Babelfish," Arthur explains. "It'll translate alien languages for you."

He pauses and turns to Ford.

"Why don't we need them in Milliways?"

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford shrugs.

"Zarked if I know. Bar probably generates a telepathic field or something. Gets in your brain and scrambles things up so that everything you hear sounds like your natural language, no matter what's bein' actually said."

Then, to Truman, "Here, just tilt your head, and I'll slide this in."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman grimaced, "Do I have to?"

He sighed, and then tilted his head anyway, "Fine, just get it over with. Probably slimy as anything."

[onehoopyprefect]

"'Fraid so. Otherwise, you won't be able to understand a thing. I'm having to remember to speak English now because outside of the bar, if I spoke in my native language, you'd never understand it."

Ford carefully slips the tiny yellow fish into the ear canal and waits for it to wriggle to a halt.

Then he says, in Betelgeusan, "How's that, then? Working okay?"

[thelastearthman.livejournal.com]

Arthur watches this exchange with a sympathetic look.

"It's not so bad, really. After a while, you'll forget it's even there."

[explorertruman.livejournal.com]

Truman just gave him a look of 'OH RLLY? SRSLY?'

He tilted his head from side to side, morbidly curious to see if anything would be sloshing around.

"I guess it's working? That wasn't English just now?"

[onehoopyprefect]

Ford grins. "Nope, that was my native language. You can kind of feel it working, can't you?"

A soft jolt lets them know that they've arrived back in normal space. Ford gets back in the pilot's chair and talks with the portmaster through the docking procedure.

Once they've landed, he pops open the hatch. "Here we are," he tells Truman. "Hitchhiker main offices. Just go straight up those steps and in through the main doors. I've already called ahead and gotten you an appointment. Give them your name at the reception desk, and they'll tell you where to go. There's something on the other side of the planet I want to show Arthur, so we'll swing back round and pick you up in a couple of hours. Good luck! You'll do great, kid."