Trillian? shouted Arthur in a shocked and weakened voice. In the smoking mess he could see nothing. Earthman, we must go, said Slartibartfast nervously. Trillian? shouted Arthur again. A moment or two later, Trillian staggered, shaking, into view, supported by her new friend the Thunder God. The girl stays with me, said Thor. There’s a great party going on in Valhalla, we’ll be flying off… Where were you when all this was going on? said Arthur. Upstairs, said Thor, I was weighing her. Flying’s a tricky business you see, you have to calculate wind… She comes with us, said Arthur. Hey, said Trillian, don’t I… No, said Arthur, you come with us. Thor looked at him with slowly smouldering eyes. He was making some point about godliness and it had nothing to do with being clean. She comes with me, he said quietly. Come on, Earthman, said Slartibartfast nervously, picking at Arthur’s sleeve. Come on, Slartibartfast, said Ford, picking at the old man’s sleeve. Slartibartfast had the teleport device. The party lurched and swayed, sending everyone reeling, except for Thor and except for Arthur, who stared, shaking, into the Thunder God’s black eyes. Slowly, incredibly, Arthur put up what appeared to be his tiny little fists. Want to make something of it? he said. I beg your minuscule pardon? roared Thor. I said, repeated Arthur, and he could not keep the quavering out of his voice, do you want to make something of it? He waggled his fists ridiculously. Thor looked at him with incredulity. Then a little wisp of smoke curled upwards from his nostril. There was a tiny little flame in it too. He gripped his belt. He expanded his chest to make it totally clear that here was the sort of man you only dared to cross if you had a team of Sherpas with you. He unhooked the shaft of his hammer from his belt. He held it up in his hands to reveal the massive iron head. He thus cleared up any possible misunderstanding that he might merely have been carrying a telegraph pole around with him. Do I want, he said, with a hiss like a river flowing through a steel mill, to make something of it? Yes, said Arthur, his voice suddenly and extraordinarily strong and belligerent. He waggled his fists again, this time as if he meant it. You want to step outside? he snarled at Thor. All right! bellowed Thor, like an enraged bull (or in fact like an enraged Thunder God, which is a great deal more impressive), and did so. Good, said Arthur, that’s got rid of him. Slarty, get us out of here. “崔莉安？”阿瑟惶惶不安地喊道。煙霧中伸手不見五指。 “地球人，該走了。” 司拉提巴特法斯不安地催道。 “崔莉安？”阿瑟又喊道。 一會兒，崔莉安東倒西歪地出現了，雷神——她的新朋友，扶着她。 “這個女孩要跟我走。”托爾說，“在瓦哈拉有個盛大的派對，我們要飛過去……” “剛纔你們在哪兒？”阿瑟問。 “樓上，”托爾說，“我在給她稱重。飛行可是個技術活，得計算風力……” “她要跟我們走。”阿瑟說。 “嘿……”崔莉安說，“我不是……” “不，”阿瑟說，“你跟我們走。” 托爾灼灼的目光投向阿瑟，神威逼人——卻令人摸不着頭腦。 “她跟我走。”他平靜地說。 “快點，地球人。” 司拉提巴特法斯不安地扯扯阿瑟的袖子。 “快點，司拉提巴特法斯特。”福特扯扯老人的袖子。司拉提巴特法斯的手已經放在了傳輸器上。 大樓晃晃悠悠，晃得人們暈頭轉向。可是托爾和阿瑟沒有。阿瑟正微微顫慄着，死死盯着雷神的雙眼。 慢慢地——不可思議地，阿瑟舉起了他那瘦小的拳頭。 “你想怎麼樣？”他說。 “不好意思，你小子再說一遍？”托爾粗聲問道。 “我說，”阿瑟的聲音中難掩恐懼，“你想怎麼樣？”他很滑稽地揮了揮拳頭。 托爾頗爲驚訝地看着他。而後，他鼻孔中冒出一絲絲輕煙，還帶着火星。 他叉起腰。 他挺起胸膛，彷彿要宣告大家：除非你有一羣夏爾巴人②幫忙，否則別想打贏我。 他從腰上取下那柄神錘。他舉起那大錘，錘頭巨大而堅硬。現在，相信任何人都該摸得着頭腦了。 “你問，”他的氣息如同磨房中的水流聲一樣粗重，“我想幹什麼？” “沒錯。”阿瑟回答。奇怪的是，他的聲音突然強硬起來。他又揮了揮拳頭，居然像是認真的。 “你想到外面去嗎？”他大聲對托爾吼道。 “行啊！”托爾厲聲喝道。他像一頭髮怒的公牛一樣衝出大門（其實，說他“像一位發怒的雷神一樣”更加貼切）。 “好啦，”阿瑟說，“甩掉他了。小司，咱們走吧。”
