“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.”