Starship Titanic: Terry Jones

The Starship Titanic receives a brief mention in Adams's famous Hitchhikers Guide trilogy as the wonderful ship that, upon launching, underwent an immediate and total Existence Failure. Here, Python Terry Jones tells the whole story...At the centre of the galaxy, a vast civilisation is preparing for an event of epic proportions - the launch of the greatest, most gorgeous, most technologically advanced spaceship ever built - the Starship Titanic. Before the launch, Leovinus, the designer, is having one last look a around and finds that things just aren't right: poor workmanship; cybersystems out of control; robots walking into doors...How can this happen? The Starship Titanic is the ship that cannot possibly go wrong! The following morning, the galaxy's media looks on as the fabulous ship eases magnificently away from the construction dock, picks up speed, wobbles a bit, sways a little and just before it can do untold damage to everything around it, appears to undergo a SMEF (Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure). And this is where the story begins...Cover art by Oscar Chiconi.