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

Chapter 10

My mood was anything but sunny as I waited to be discharged from the hospital the morning after we landed. "I ought to sue the airline for every penny they've got," I grumbled to the pastry chef, who was next to me in line.

"The lawyers didn't explain the situation to you, then," he said.

"Explain what?"

"As soon as you satisfy the conditions of your uncle's will, you will *own* the airline," he said in a kindly manner. "You would just be suing yourself. Besides, the engines never really conked out -- that was just sound effects -- and the plane was safely flying on autopilot while the pilots were 'ill.'"

"I suppose that Amy turned off the lights and the heat?" I asked, dismayed at being taken for a sucker.

"The lights, yes," he said with a laugh. "The heat, no. It was just turned way down. Cheer up," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "The 'crew' on the plane will be the crew on the ship that you'll be riding to the island you'll be exploring. All of us have been trained the same way you were. We *had* to motivate you so you would get fit fast. Call it a sort of boot camp." By now he had a wide grin on his face.

"I'm not really as unfit as I seem," he went on with a wink in his eye. "This belly of mine is a fat suit. Same as the head chef. We both run marathons regularly, and will have your back when and if you ever run into danger. Now, relax and enjoy the sights of the Big Island of Hawaii. There's a very special tree that we want you to meet..."

The airline provided a complimentary van which soon arrived to take us to our hotel. No sooner had I checked in, however, than I was paged. Amy and Andrea Doria were waiting for me in the front lobby, whence I was whisked away in another van.

I was full of questions, but Andrea Doria insisted on speaking as we rolled through Hawaiian vistas full of tropical vegetation and large stands of banyan trees. "We're going to a special wildlife preserve where indigenous Hawaiian plants grow," she began. "Your uncle never mentioned this, but he tried numerous times to get past the strong currents and reefs so he could explore Uninhabited Volcanic Island Number 115. He was rebuffed each time..."

"Even with helicopters?" I exclaimed.

"Even with those," she said, nodding. "Savage winds arose to blow them away from the island. Something on the island doesn't want anyone to get too close."

"And how does this pertain to the place where we're going now?"

"There may still be a way," she replied. "Twenty five years ago, your uncle found a pine cone floating in the vortex. He brought it to the place we're going to and planted it. One sapling came up. We think it might be possible to befriend it and use this friendship to ingratiate ourselves with whatever is ruling the island."

[Amy P]

Love to find out what the mysterious being that inhabits the island who does not want anyone to discover it.