Yes, he said at last in rather a strained drawl. I did have a question. Or rather, what I actually have is an Answer. I wanted to know what the Question was.
Prak nodded sympathetically, and Arthur relaxed a little.
It’s… well, it’s a long story, he said, but the Question I would like to know is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know is that the Answer is Forty-Two, which is a little aggravating.
Prak nodded again.
Forty-Two, he said. Yes, that’s right.
He paused. Shadows of thought and memory crossed his face like the shadows of clouds crossing the land.
I’m afraid, he said at last, that the Question and the Answer are mutually exclusive. Knowledge of one logically precludes knowledge of the other. It is impossible that both can ever be known about the same universe.
He paused again. Disappointment crept into Arthur’s face and snuggled down into its accustomed place.
Except, said Prak, struggling to sort a thought out, if it happened, it seems that the Question and the Answer would just cancel each other out and take the Universe with them, which would then be replaced by something even more bizarrely inexplicable. It is possible that this has already happened, he added with a weak smile, but there is a certain amount of Uncertainty about it. A little giggle brushed through him.
Arthur sat down on a stool.
Oh well, he said with resignation, I was just hoping there would be some sort of reason.
Do you know, said Prak, the story of the Reason?
Arthur said that he didn’t, and Prak said that he knew that he didn’t.
He told it.