h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Matina and the bots arrive on the beach. The food is carried to a small hut set back among the trees that border the sand, and from the building are taken some trestle tables, canvas chairs, umbrellas, an a marquee*

*the furniture is set up by several bots, while the others carry in rocks to create a circular pit for a fire*

*more bots arrive with ice, beer, and soft drinks, which are stored in the hut*

*having completed the logistical part of the preparation, the bots move off a little distance, and sit on some driftwood logs to watch the sunset and electronically discuss things. They await the guests*

*arrives and hands her fireworks to one of the bots* You are now a firework wrangler. Guard all fireworks given to you until it's time for the display. Thank you.

Matina, thank you for doing the setup work. You can go back to the salon now -- there are non-American salonistas needing the usual maintenance.


Guys, the new separate matina is me, ok? It suited me to have a distinct voice for her behaviour at this point, especially as, over time, Garius has been setting up a liaison between her and Ampton. I didn't expect y'all to react so suspiciously!

Oh, and she doesn't speak. That we know of. She does all her communicating by radio with the other bots, and merely gestures or nods to us.


*Lil finds a wide-brimmed straw hat, a big towel and a bottle of sun lotion, and sits down to administer to her skin*

I assumed as much, Lil.


/* Does not hand his fireworks over to the bots, and instead impetuously sets them off a little early */



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<-- barks at the noise, then plunges into the water

*sees the fireworks in the distance and speeds up, thinking she's late*

*lands next to Lil* Have we started already?

*hurriedly unpacks the infinite capacity storage of the DFB*

*Sets up her beach chair next to the water line so she can dip her toes in the lake.*

Ahhhhhhhhh! Bliss.

*realises that d'E is a bit ahead of himself* takes her bag of fireworks to the fireworks bot* hides the DFB safely in amongst Lil's belongings and heads off into the surf to catch up with Zeppo*

*demonstrates her one handed deckchair placement technique next to Witty*

Oh, before I forget, I made these 5-grain bread rolls to contribute to the picnic and I've got 10 of those huge fireworks that explode into sky filling chrysanthemums then a second one explodes through the first

I'm sure we are too far away from any neighbours to upset them and all pets will be safely shielded from fireworks as in usual Hootoo fashion.

*hands the rolls and fireworks to the appropiate bots*

/* Distracted by Caer's brilliant one-handed deck chair technique, accidentally lights a firework and sends it sideways. */



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Uh oh. I wonder where that will end up?

<-- swimming around Amy to create a little wave that she can ride

*rides up onto Zeppo's back and grabs his collar* points out to sea*

Swim out a bit, Zep. Let's find some proper waves.

*Witty's PDA beeps an alarm. She flips it open.*

Oops.

*Digs around in her beach tote.*

I brought some shells and some shells. I wonder how they get they fireworks to make those fancy shapes.

*Summons a bot over to collect the shells for safekeeping.*

Today's the 4th, Amy! Go look at google's logo! *watches the bots firing up the grill and unpacking the foodstuffs*

I wonder where Wolfgang is? He'll probably have some kind of incredible banquet to add to the picnic!

*goes down to the water. After a few moments of trying to be dignified, she gives up and starts to play in the breakers*

*shouts from the sea*

I know today is the 4th, Lil. i just thought we'd wait until everyone was here before setting off the fireworks. Waiting until dark might be a good idea too.

Did anyone see where that last one of d'E's landed?

*shouting back* Oh, right! Yes, fireworks at dark, with only a campfire to light the beah! The moon is still new, so the fireworks won't have to compete.

*moves further out to where the swells pick her up and set her down repeatedly*

The sea does look very inviting, I think I shall take a dip.

*removes her shirt and walks into the water*

It is lovely and warm!

*swims gently along*

*appears, dressed in a zebra-striped black and white swimsuit with matching scarf tied around her hips and flip-flop sandals*

*carrying a big tray covered with a clean towel*

These are Swedish hors d'oeuvres:
shrimps, coldsmoked salmon, crème fraiche, mayonnaise, finely chopped red onion and whitefish roe rolled into 'tunnbröd' (soft thin flat unleavened bread) cut into thick slices, making it look rather like Swiss roll(?)

*hands the tray to one of the bots, kicks of the flip-flops, dons a wide-brimmed straw hat and starts walking along the water's edge*

Oh yes - d'E's firework landed right inside Irv's café - and the Google logo looks like it usually does to me - is this another one of those 'Amurrican' thingies?

Howdy, folks. Hope everyone is hungry.

Houndstooth will be along in just a minute with a couple of bots I won last night playing poker. They'll set up a spit over that nice fire pit Matina had built and will start roasting a suckling pig or two.

To tell you the truth, I think Houndstooth is a little sweet on Matina.

Since it's a picnic, I thought I'd keep the fixins simple. So I brought yellow wax beans, new potatoes, and lots of salad veggies fresh from the garden behind the diner, and ice cold watermelon.

*Takes a very large bag of fireworks and adds them to the pile.*

Now, I'm just going to take a dip in the lake.

*Removes his shirt and trousers to reveal incredible chartreause satin swim trunks and heads for the water.*

*extracts sunglasses from somewhere inside bathing costume, at the vision of approaching Wolfgang*

*Reclines her seat back to 45 degrees and closes her eyes.*

Ah, too full as usual. But everything is so good.

It's nearly dark. When do the fireworks start?

Someone should wake up the Unaus so they can watch.