Hitchhiking Through This Dimension

Douglas Adams was priceless. In the third book of the Hitchhiker's trilogy, Life, the Universe, and Everything, a robot called Marvin the Paranoid Android with the "planet-sized brain" demonstrates his immeasurable mental superiority over Zem the Mattress, who is a talking mattress (why not) from the marshy planet of Squornshellous Zeta.

"I gave a speech once," he said suddenly and apparently unconnectedly. "You may not instantly see why I bring the subject up, but that is because my mind works so phenomenally fast, and I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number."
"Er, five," said the mattress.
"Wrong," said Marvin. "You see?"

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Douglas Adams died four years ago. Fans all over the world, saddened by the loss of this comic-philosopher with the biting wit, are left wondering. Is he at peace? Is he in a better place? Is he still with us in spirit?

The answer, of course, is forty-two.