“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Wingman.”

By: Anthony Hummerston.

STARRING:

STARRING
'Mama',   Rojic,   Jimmi,   Karnov,   Niall,   Kory,  
And introducing:
Joe-90 and Hen3ry
as the droids.

AND
Storm Cutter
their ship.

There are concerned faces all around the bridge of Storm Cutter. Karnov is taking a rest, and trying to commune with the force….Or something.

Rojic is weak, but otherwise back to his old self. He is soon tinkering with the Bacta tank. Jimmi is still feeling the sting of Tetha’s death. The others are keen to get going and get back into the action. Now Karnov is thinking, and studying a holographic map of the city.

Rojic buzzes around. “How long should we leave Karnov?”

Kory asks. “How long until what?”

Jimmi looks over. “I’d say about three hours at the current rate, before….”

“Before what?”

“I’m not so sure….Er….Before he bites the big green banana of death?”

Karnov opens his eyes. He looks around. “All hale and hearty? All fit and ready to go?” He asks.

“I was born ready!” Niall tells him.

Rojic stops him right there. “I’m never ready for a fight. A scramble for cover maybe….”

Karnov says. “Good. Let’s go!”

Niall looks at Karnov, who is still in his bath robe. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Karnov looks down. “Nope. All ready to go.”

“Okay. Let’s hit the streets in our bath robes then!”

“Maybe you have a point….”

“Oh I don’t know.” Niall is warming to the idea. “There is a whole airflow thing…. I must speak to my tailor!”

Karnov: "Hmmmmm...."

Jimmi sums up. “We have three force-using and as-yet un-named enemy agents. –And here we are standing alive in this desolate….Five-star…”

“Actually it’s just desolate.”

“Okay. Desolate. Five-star dog’s-ass of a world, and we’re wearing our bath robes….”

“I think what you’re trying to say is that it's three hundred thousand years and over fifty-six tera-parsecs to Chicago, we’ve got nearly a full tank of hypermatter gas, half a pack of death sticks, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.”

“Hit it!”

Niall.

Niall is still wondering who the enemy agents are. “I can’t quite get a handle on who they are and who they’re working for.”

Rojic points out. “With enough wire and solder, I’m sure they can be made to be compatible with our way of thinking.”

“Are you saying that using wire and solder will fix them electronically, or be used to torture them?”

“Er……Both!”

Niall is thinking aloud. “We could stop them here. Deal with the problem and steal their ship…..Or we can follow them into space and deal with them there.”

“Define ‘deal’”

“Six concussion missiles usually do the trick!”

“But they’re evil! They’re superior in every way. They’re bound to have countermeasures!”

Karnov chips in. “Yes, they’ll have superior firepower and manpower, but still won’t be able to shoot straight!”

Niall agrees. “They're no match for a good blaster at your side....Or a whole legion of soldiers....Like me!”

Rojic is thinking. “Missiles might not work, but nuking them from orbit will certainly do the job!”

“We don’t have that kind of fire-power, Rojic.”

“Nor would it be ethical. There’s a million people and aliens in the city. You can’t nuke them all to kill three enemies.” Karnov reminds him.

Rojic takes on a darker tone. “But a bug-zapper kills flies in their hundreds even though only a few land on your food.”

“That’s different. Anything with wings and an annoying drone is fair game!”

Jimmi suggests that they send Karnov in alone. “We could send him to fight, or be at his diplomatic best. –Either way it’ll all end in violence!”

Karnov asks. “What about Count Ducky?”

“I think you mean ‘Dooku.’”

“Ducky I says!”

Count Ducky!

Kory says she’s heard of him. “Dooku… He’s a dark Jedi, yes?”

“Well, more like a fallen Jedi. Fallen as in ‘turned to the dark side.’”

Niall adds. “Or to put it another way, he’s a Sith wannabe.”

Kory says. “I guess that makes him a ‘Jedi don’t-wannabe!’”

Karnov shoots a pointed glance at Niall. Niall ignores him. He’s heard enough jibes about his position in the service corps to last a lifetime. –And he’s only been working Karnov a month or so already.

Karnov suggests that they might get into the secure compound and put the dark crystal delivery system aboard Rose Wanderer beyond use or repair.

“How are you going to do that?”

Karnov shows rare insight. “Well, the delivery system is slung beneath the ship, so a quick sprint along it’s axis with a lightsabre held aloft will cut a great wavy gash along it. -Not many things survive that, I can tell you!”

Kory points out that the Corellian shuttles have large cargo bays, and are not often used for bulk containment.

“So what’s your point, Kory?”

“Well, the usual draft is about ten feet. Which is more than you can reach with your five-foot shoulder, eighteen inch reach, and three foot lightsabre. You’re short by six inches!”

The others all snigger. Karnov retorts. “Simple then! I cut a foot off all the landing struts.”

Jimmi points out the wisdom of this, being especially dangerous if Karnov intends to stand underneath.

“But it’d still be three feet above my head.”

“So long as it doesn’t list to one side as you cut. It could easily come down on top of you. -Do you think you can support sixteen thousand tons of shuttle?”

“Not without the force.” Karnov says, smiling.

“You are strong in the force, -but not that strong!” Niall reminds him.

They are still no closer to a plan. As Niall points out, no plan survives contact with the enemy anyway. “Especially our plans!”

Rojic says. “Maybe you could come up with a completely ludicrous plan, then when it goes wrong, it’ll end up as a good plan.”

“Nice thought. A ludicrous plan like charging into an energised lightsabre with your head?”

“Ah….Yes…. I see your point.”

“Just like you didn’t see that lightsabre.”

“It was all bright and buzzy! I couldn’t help myself!”

“Maybe you’re right.” Karnov sighs. “So it’s three dark Jedi against one Jedi.”

“Three dark Jedi against one Padawan. –Soon to be force ghost.”

Jimmi takes a deep breath. “But it is your destiny!”

Karnov and Niall echo. “Destiny!”

Niall continues. “Of course, we could always give up.”

Kory can’t help saying. “Evacuate? At our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances!”

Niall holds up three fingers in one hand. “Paper!”

Jimmi says. “Eh?”

With the other hand Niall holds up one finger. “-Beats scissors. Three-to-one.”

Jimmi says. “But scissors usually beat paper.”

“These scissors only have one blade. Use your eyes!”

“I am using my eyes. All I see are ripples in the force!”

“Exactly! –Three big ripples versus one little ripple! –We’re doomed!”

Jimmi says “I still don't understand that analogy.”

“Maybe it’s a purely visual thing!”

Rojic suggests that they could consider stealing Rose Wanderer.

“And if you’ve not killed all the enemy agents, they’ll let their team-mates know, and then when we drop out of hyperspace, there’ll be a reception committee waiting for us!”

“We’ll fight them too! Free them from the bonds of the dark side of the force. Break their brotherhood. And maybe use a hut-load of explosives!”

“Sort of ‘liberty, fraternity, thermal-detonate-ey!’”

“Yeah! Now that sounds like a plan!”

Niall says. “Also, did you know that Tibanna gas is highly explosive? We could adjust the force shield around their ship, pump in some gas….-And wait until someone lights up a death-stick!”

“-And what about the crystals aboard? The chain reaction could blow a crater the size of a small ocean out of the side of this planet.”

“Well, we could weld a few plates over and construct a planet destroying death-ray in the dimple.” Niall offers.

“Wherever did you get that idea?”

“Oh, I’ve had it for a while. My own space station the size of a small moon, with a death ray. – And wall-to-wall Twi’lek girls of course.”

“Of course. No wonder you failed Jedi training.”

“What? Because of the girls or the death ray?”

“Actually both.”

“Oh!”

Kory points out that they’d need a considerable amount of money to blow up Rose Wanderer in a controlled way. “And anyway,” she says, “I’ve got the looks, Rojic’s got the brains. -Let’s make lots of money!”

“What are you gonna do? Kiss the guys and make them cry….As you steal their wallets?”

Kory is offended. “I never, never, never would kiss a guy, and rob him.”

Rojic can see that she’s got her fingers crosses behind her back. “Lets go!” He says.

“-And all this is getting us nowhere.” Kory tells them. “Time for some direct action!”

“What are you proposing?”

“Well, I was thinking that I’d stay here and work on the security-cordon codes, while you lot risk your lives in tackling the enemy.”

“Sounds good to us!”

The others get ready. Karnov thinks. Finally as the others return from their preparations, he says. “Kory, how long will it take for you to break the code?”

“Its two-thousand and forty-eight bit, double-encrypted, so with a brute-force attack that’s about umm… A sixty-thousand-yotta-number combination…..Say….Er….Twenty hours?”

“That’s a lotta-yotta-combinations!”

The others are stunned. “Wow Kory! We didn’t know you were so clever!”

“Nah! I programme Hen3ry, and put my feet up with a nice cup of Mama’s famous Java. -He’ll work it out eventually.”

“I see. Clever! -But not so fast, young Kory! -We ran out of coffee a week ago.”

“Then what are those coffee beans in the jar?”

“That’s the little brown pellets of spent Bacta. You get them when you clear out the filters.”

“No wonder it’s been having a rejuvenating effect!”

“Not really. Spent Bacta is basically a placebo. They’re a lot of broken down organic compounds that the bacteria cannot easily digest. Actually bits of dead skin and scab, to be brutally technical!”

“Eeew!”

Rojic is feeling a bit fragile. “This mission, it’s dangerous, right? So how about some backup?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well that brush with the assassin droids earlier, put me in mind to bringing Joe-90 along.”

“Did you turn him on recently? He’s a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac!”

“Just the kind of droid I like watching my back!” Niall says.

Rojic blips a blipper. Joe-90 powers up. “Joe-90 reporting.” He says. “Prejudice set to maximum. -All the way up to eleven. Let me kill some puny aliens!”

Rojic is very proud. “My very own little assassin droid bodyguard.”

Jimmi cries. “But he’s a racist assassin droid!”

“Best kind!”

Karnov stops him right there. “No assassin droids. They’re unethical. They’re unhealthy, and besides, he’s still got no legs.”

“I could put him on a tea trolley.” Rojic offers.

“We’re trying to defeat our enemies with the force of righteousness, not the force of comedy!”

They get ready. Kory decides that they should drop her off at the compound by Rose Wanderer for an information gathering exercise. Jimmi and Niall oblige. Rojic and Karnov decide to raise some capital at the gaming tables. Rojic is extremely confident. “After all,” He says. “My luck’s gotta change sometime!”

“If it wasn’t for bad luck, you’d have no luck at all, Rojic!”

Jimmi and Niall speed off. After a little while Kory has all the data she needs. She decides to think about it and walk back. The other two decide to try and locate the enemy agents by sweeping the streets for clues. They decide that they won’t be staying in the best quarters in the city, the palaces of the Hutts. Nor will they slum it in the capsule hotels that line the slums. They figure that a good candidate is the ‘Grand Gothic,’ a hotel of epic proportions, and neo-retro-gothic architecture. Jimmi tries to see the enemy in the force. There are feint ripples in the dark side. “This might just be it!”

The Grand Gothic.

Niall is worried. “But what if they detect you as you detect them?”

“I shouldn’t have come! I’m endangering the mission!”

“You say that every time.”

“I endanger the mission every time!”

“It’ll be okay. After all, we can go to the lounge and er….Lounge.”

“Will there be a bar there?” Jimmi asks.

“I expect so. We can nurse our drinks and watch the Twi’lek girls dancing.”

“I’d rather watch the drinks and nurse the Twi’lek girls.”

“You’ll do neither standing out here. Let’s go!”

As they enter the hotel, nobody looks up. Nobody challenges them to a fight or even regards them much. Jimmi can feel their presence though. Jimmi makes some sartorial adjustments, and soon Niall appears to be sitting with a pretty girl instead of Jimmi. “I see. -Are we a couple?” Niall asks, nervously.

“For the purposes of disguise, yes.” Jimmi warns him. “Don’t go getting any ideas! Don’t even think about me!”

“My mind and my eyes are completely elsewhere.”

“Good. So we’re a married couple?”

“Yup. The perfect kind!”

They sit and nurse drinks. They keep watching the lounge and the lobby. They wait and watch. They watch and wait. Then one waits while the other watches. Then while one is watching the other waits to watch, while the other watches the waiter. The waiter droid comes over. They shoo it away. Finally, a couple of Duros spot them, and look over. They don’t appear to be too happy at being watched.

“It’s alright.” Niall reassures Jimmi. “Duros are naturally friendly. They can’t help helping.” One of the Duros looks over. “What are you staring at?” He demands, his hand straying toward a blaster at his hip. Jimmi turns to Niall. “You were saying?….Er….Sweetie?”

Meanwhile Rojic has settled down to a hard evening’s gambling. He’s studied the odds, and the punters. He knows when to stick and when to draw. He has counted his chips, and made sure that he doesn’t bet with someone else’s. Nothing can go wrong. He even knows the house edge, which is eye-watering. He decides that the best thing to do is to take side-bets on the main action. He lures a few punters in with small payouts. He’s set for the big time. Karnov is wondering what this is all about, and whether it’s ethical to use the force to influence the turn of the cards and the rolls of the dice. He decides that it is unethical. But then, he doesn’t know that much about gambling. Finally after all the study, the preparation and the effort, Rojic is poised to clean up. The odds of him losing are only one in ten. He’ll make a handsome profit. The dice are rolled…..

Back in the hotel, Niall is pouring oil on troubled waters. He carefully prepares his answer. Finally he says lamely. “I dunno. It hasn’t got a label…..” A scowl passes on the face of the Duros. Niall starts inching his hand towards his blaster. The bar quietens somewhat. The clock ticks ominously. The antagonists stare at one another. Niall’s brown eyes narrow. The Duros’ large red eyes narrow too. Then they screw up a little. The Duros guffaws. It’s a good laugh, though somewhat feeble. The mood lightens, and the Duros chuckle. –They obviously haven’t heard this one before. Finally they say. “What are you drinking?”

Before Niall can say ‘red eye’ Jimmi interrupts. “Egg nog?”

Niall adds. “Made with Fambaa egg, and pine-needle whiskey.”

The Duros says. “Too many of them will make you go blind.”

Jimmi shows them an eyeless face. “Too late!”

Back at the casino, Karnov refuses to use the force to influence the die roll. After all anything better that a two will allow Rojic to break even, over a five to make a profit. The die dances on the table, does a little pirouette, and wriggles. Rojic closes his eyes, imagining all the money coming his way. “Two. Even, low. Sun high and Alderran permanent. Return stake only.” The croupier announces. Rojic is horrified! How could he have such bad luck? All that effort only to return with his stake money after four hours. He says something in his most offensive Huttese and buzzes off. Some time later, he and Karnov are wandering along the street cursing their luck. “The force was not with you tonight, Rojic.”

“Pfft! The force! If there were any force in the world, we’d be hiring a cart to ship all or winnings home. Talking of which, when I get back to the ship, I’m going to construct my own dice that never rolls less than a twenty.”

Back at the hotel, Niall, his faux fiancée and the Duros are chatting. The Duros are a couple too. They’ve come here for the games. – The coliseum games that is. They hotly tip an assassin droid. Jimmi wants to stay longer, but they’ve run out of money. The Duros ask Jimmi about how ‘she’ and Niall met. “Back on Druckenwell, under the light of an exploding supernova, to the sounds of crushing battle droids.”

The Duros look confused. Niall looks confused. “I don’t remember any of thi….” Jimmi’s foot catches Niall in the shin. He corrects himself. “Any of that…. I was so in love with Jim….Er….Jimma….Jemima here….” There is an awkward silence. Neither Niall or Jimmi particularly want to hold hands and gaze into one another’s eyes. In a flash of inspiration Jimmi stands and starts to sing…..

“I talk to the trees….That’s why they put me away….!”

Someone in the crowd yells. “Shut up!”

Jimmi changes tack. “La...La….Lala….La…..Aaah!”

The heckler yells back. “Can you sing ‘far away?’”

“La….La….La….How does it go?”

“Stand up. Open door. Walk until sunrise.”

“La…La……La…Lala…Laaalaaa...La.La..Lala.La.La...La.Lala!...Haha!”^{[ 48 ]}

Finally Jimmi finds a song. Part tale of woe, part rap, part improvised sing-along. “All together now!…..I was born under a wandering rose….Six tons of black crystals stuffed up my nose! How they got there, nobody knows! Now available for downloads!” In the background, four musicians rip up their sheet music and head for the door.

Karnov and Rojic are still arguing about the nature of the force, when they become aware of a faint fluttering sound behind them. Not wishing to stop, Rojic indicates as much to his companion. “I think we might be being followed. I don’t know whether to be discreet or wet myself, Karnov.”

“You must do what you feel is right, of course…..”

Rojic pulls a steep climb into a dark part of the street. He finds some chimney pots and tries to hide. -In plain sight! The fluttering noise changes course, and then becomes slowly approaching footfalls. Karnov is left below the building wondering what is going on.

Rojic can see an indistinct outline across the roof. It looks like some kind of big bug. He searches his memory, and decides that it might be a Geonosian. – A big- and bug-like alien race, that look like…Well…..Big bugs! Rojic can see his follower approaching. He manages to slip from plain sight into a deep dark shadow. The shape changes course, and draws a hold-out blaster. It creeps closer. Soon, it and Rojic are on opposite sides of a chimney. Karnov decides to sneak up a drain-pipe and up onto the roof.

The Geonosian levels the blaster. In one swift movement, it leaps to Rojic and hisses. “Where’s that money, Toydarian!” Rojic slips out from behind a different chimney, as Karnov strikes out with his lightsabre. It ignites mere miliseconds before cutting through one of the Geonosian’s wings. Karnov and Rojc now have the advantage. They walk over to their stalker, and start talking. The Geonosian yelps. “Don’t hurt me! It’s not you I want!” Karnov and Rojic press home their intimidating manner. Rojic says. “You winged him!” Karnov replies. “Actually, I think I de-winged him!” The Geonosian starts clicking and flapping in fear. They can’t understand any more.

Jimmi has put on a great show. The audience are begging for more. – Well, they’re begging for something, -mercy, perhaps? Anyway, the Duros have taken pity on them, and bought more drinks. Niall asks them if there are any famous people here in the hotel. “Not famous. Sometimes a Hutt stops by. It’s a pleasant enough place. Though security is quite tight. There are over eight hundred rooms here….” Jimmi grimaces. Eight hundred rooms! That’s going to take some time to search them all. Niall dismisses that thought. He closes his eyes. He stretches out with his feelings. Searching….Searching…. Despite their best efforts to block him, he sees a ripple in the dark side, located at the top of the hotel. He’s on to them….But are they on to him? The Duros tell Jimmi that they like the singing. They also think Niall is a brave fellow for putting up with it. They suggest that Jimmi kiss him for his patience and stamina.

“Oh….I’m not kissing him! He’s not my type!”

The Duros are puzzled. “You should’ve thought of that before you got married!”

Niall counters. “Well, they do say love is blind!”

The Duros female can’t help herself. “-And tone-deaf as well!”

Karnov and Rojic are attempting to communicate with the Geonosian. It buzzes and clicks at them, and throws in the occasional mangled Basic word. They try to find out what he wanted of them. Finally, Rojic pulls out a flexible page and a stylus, and gets the hapless creature to sketch what he was after. After a lot of humming, and sticking out of tongues, the creature draws a rectangular box, and some money signs over the top. A lot of money signs. Rojic and Karnov put their collective wisdom together to ponder on what it might mean. After a while….Actually after a very long while, they remember that Niall’s package is both long and rectangular, and possibly valuable. Karnov had it in mind that it was small and portable, hence the confusion –despite nearly tripping over it several times a day. This starts a fresh wave of non-interest in the contents. Rojic and Karnov let the Geonosian go. It flutters heavily down to the floor with a disgusting ‘crump’ sound. Karnov, who knows nothing of flying, asks. “Is it possible to fly on one wing?” Rojic replies. “Yes….All the way to the crash site!” After a moment, they helpfully throw the severed wing after it.

Niall can detect the ripples in the force. His insight has served him well! His patience has served him well. The force is strong in him! He can almost imagine them hastily packing to leave. He tracks their ripples in the force down from the top of the hotel. Hoping that they’ll come straight to him, he unclips his holster and warns Jimmi. “I think they might be coming for us….”

“What am I supposed to do? I’m not that good in a firefight.”

“I dunno, think of something to distract them, while I shoot.”

Jimmi thinks. “I could start singing again.”

“I wouldn’t. It’s bad enough that three dark Jedi are trying to kill you, without a bar full of aliens keen to lend a hand as well!”

They keep a lookout. Niall keeps his eyes peeled. Jimmi keeps his/her ears skinned. Seeing the two of them alert and ready for a fight, someone at the bar says. “I see that the honeymoon is over. -Now for some pre-divorce antagonism!”

Despite Niall’s best efforts, he’s lost track of the enemy. Jimmi is doing no better. After several minutes, they think that something must have happened. Either the enemy have given them the slip, or are masking their movements. They hover at the doors of the bar. Just then their communicator crackles into life, and Kory’s voice comes over the airwaves. “Better hurry! The astromech with the tracker is on the move….” Niall and Jimmi decide to leave by the back door. They hear a noise that sounds faintly like a light sabre igniting. Jimmi pulls Niall behind a stack of bins.

Niall hisses at Jimmi. “Why are we hiding?”

“I thought you wanted to.” Jimmi whispers back.

Niall thinks about it for a moment. “Okay! -I’m easy!”

Coyly Jimmi whispers. “That’s why I ‘married’ you!”

Jimmi peers out to see what’s going on. There doesn’t appear to be anything. Jimmi steps out into the alley. At that precise point, a speeder whips out of a parking bay, fades left, and whizzes by, missing by inches. Niall hauls Jimmi back.

“They’ve stolen a speeder!” Jimmi says. “Ooooh! They’re so evil!”

Niall is wasting no time getting a speeder hotwired in order to follow the enemy agents. He scoops up Jimmi and soon they are in hot pursuit. Soon they are hurtling in and out of alleys and backstreets, and onto the main roadway. Jimmi tries to gauge how many perps there are in the lead speeder. “I feel two of them ahead!”

“Great, now get your head in!”

Jimmi does so, but a moment later his/her arm emerges with a blaster in it. The lead speeder is firing back at them, trying to shake of pursuit. Streaks of blaster fire cross the gap between them. Niall flips the communicator – centre switch – and raises Karnov and Rojic. As luck would have it they are not far away. Rojic ascends to a few hundred feet to try to get a location. Soon two sets of lights can be seen tearing through the city. When he spies the blaster bolts fizzing between them, he knows they are closing fast…. He indicates their rapid approach to Karnov, who sprints to intercept. However Karnov inadvertently heads down a dead-end street, and has to backtrack. The speeder whips by on a parallel street. Karnov has got there too late!

Niall is cursing his bad luck. “Where’s the concussion missiles on this piece of karking junk? Damn civvy speeders, no refinements!”

Jimmi offers. “Would you like me to drive?”

“I wouldn’t let my wife drive this rusty crate!”

Jimmi thinks. “You can leave off the married couple act now you know.”

“I thought you wanted to….Sweetheart!”

Jimmi reconsiders, and shrugs. “Okay! -I’m easy!”

Before they can argue more, the lead speeder banks sharply and pulls a swift turn, doubling back on itself. Niall does the same, bringing them a foot closer to his quarry. Jimmi and the enemy shooter trade shots. Niall and the enemy trade places for a second. Then reverse the order. Niall’s windshield takes most of a blaster bolt.

Sparks of energy spray in all directions. By this time, Karnov -under Rojic’s guidance- is in position. He readies his lightsabre. The two speeders come barrelling along the street right for him. Suddenly a thought hits him. He doesn’t actually know who is in which speeder! Are his team-mates in the lead or are they following? There isn’t any time to speculate further. He raises the lightsabre just as the lead speeder is on him. In a deft slash, he slices a large chunk off the speeder, and sprawls in the dirt. The speeder zooms over him with but an inch to spare! It coughs audibly as power couplings redirect control circuits. Along the street a sizeable greeble rolls by a man and his pet, and four unemployed musicians. The lead speeder slams to a halt. The following one narrowly avoids crashing into it. The lead speeder banks around for another pass. Rojic readies his blaster. Niall starts counting out....

“Tinker, tailor, soldier, Jedi. -My blaster punishes all without distinction!”

Drawing on opposite sides of the force, the combatants are set for an epic battle….!

TO BE CONTINUED...... NEXT EPISODE.

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Footnotes:

[ 48 ]   If you sing this aloud, you should get the Star Wars theme!


Here is the the 'thinking' quote in full....
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Ford Prefect: I think so.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: Tell me what you think I'm thinking.
Ford Prefect: I think you're thinking it's time we got off this ship.
Zaphod Beeblebrox: I think you're right.
Ford Prefect: I think you're right.
Arthur Dent: How?
Zaphod Beeblebrox's second head: Quiet. We're thinking!