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

Entry: Last Meal - A30118402
Author: dmitrigheorgheni - U1590784

This story obviously takes place in a parallel universe.

But even in a parallel universe, I believe that the British would still be most likely to have come up with such an enlightened solution to an age-old problem...

Devilishly clever!

Am I right in thinking that, at the beginning, this is just an illusion of an illusion? Hobson's in prison, awaiting
execution. But the scientists are still working on the computer generated illusion that'll make him die happy.

And the names? Turing, father of computing; Babbage, inventor of the original calculating machine. And Dodgson? the only Dodgson I know of is better known as Lewis Carroll.

Actually, I remember an episode of Red Dwarf in which our heroes encounter a computer generated perfect world, but Arnold Rimmer's version goes bad.

Well spotted. Rev Dodgson was, of course, also a great mathematician and logician, besides being not entirely unfamiliar with imaginary worlds.

Doesn't Arnold Rimmer's version *always* go bad?

I always feel sorry for Rimmer. I suppose he's the archetypal failure.

Blimey . I didn't know where this was going until it had nearly got there!

I like. Nice one. The nice way to execute.

I didn't get this bit "And Hobson WON'T be here ...". I took it to mean 'here' in their office/organisation which doesn't fit. Or does it?

I mean 'Hobson won't be here', in the scenario, in the execution, until they get it right.

Any idea on how to make that clearer?

Glad you liked it, though.

The hairy eyeball?

A beaut! I really wanted this to turn into tales of seafaring gigolodom, so the turn it actually took caught me greatly by surprise.

I am glad it hit the spot.

'Hairy eyeball' is an expression that generation used...Elektra taught it to me, from her family.

Sorry dmitri, never got back on this. Christmas got in the way, I think.

And now I can't see why I had a problem - it reread perfectly clearly .

I've never come across hairy eyeball before. Sounds...

Well, it sounds pretty disgusting actually

But I shall be dropping it into conversation at the earliest suitable moment. Should that arise.

Hi Dmitri - you know the form very well by now, so I'll simply say many thanks for your contributions here, many thanks for this one, and post the QA's appreciation and nitpicks.

"A typically clever piece by an author skilled in both plot and execution. The moral ambiguity is effective too.

The one thing I don’t much like is the trite use of significant names. Apart from anything else, it’s a distraction. It led me to assume that the monitors were machines of some kind. In fact maybe they should have been: do we really want a Turing to be pushing switches ‘savagely’? "

Congratulations on another Miners' pick, !
UGeds

I missed that one

What a good idea and a good story