Štoparski vodnik po Galaksiji ve o brisačah povedati kar dosti stvari:
Brisača, pravi, je takole približno naj – naj najkoristnejša stvar, ki si jo medzvezdni popotnik lahko omisli. Po eni plati ima veliko praktično vrednost – lahko jo ovije okrog sebe, da ga greje, ko prečka mrzle lune Bete Jaglana; na lesketajočih se plažah iz marmornega peska na Santraginusu V. se lahko uleže nanjo in vdihava opojne morske hlape; na njej lahko spi pod zvezdarni, ki sijejo tako žareče rdeče na puščavskem Kakrafoonu; lahko jo razpne kot jadro na majhnem splavu in se odpelje po počasni težki reki Moth; mokro lahko uporabi kot orožje v boju z golimi rokami; lahko si jo ovije okrog glave, da se zaščiti pred škodljivimi izparinami ali da se obrani pogleda traalskega hroščatega krvoloka (neznansko neumna žival: če ga ne morete videti, sklepa, da tudi on ne vidi vas – zabit ko štor, ampak zelo zelo krvoločen); z njo lahko maha v stiski, da prikliče pomoč, in seveda se z njo lahko tudi obriše, če je še vedno dovolj snažna.
Še mnogo pomembnejša je psihološka vrednost brisače. Je že tako, da vsak strag (strag: ne-popotnik), brž ko pri štoparju opazi brisačo, samodejno privzame, da poseduje štopar tudi zobno krtačko, flanelasto otiračo za obraz, milo, pločevinko keksov, čutarico, kompas, zemljevid, klobčič vrvice, razpršilec proti obadom, opremo za dež, vesoljski skafander itd itd. Še več, taisti strag bo tudi z veseljem posodil štoparju katerokoli od teh ali nadaljnjega ducata drugih stvari, ki jih je štopar po nesreči “izgubil”.
Strag si namreč misli, da je vsakdo, ki je prepotoval Galaksijo podolgem in počez, se prebil skozi njene temačne kotičke, vzdržal v strahotno neenaki borbi s sovražnimi silami in jih končno tudi premagal, pri vsem tem pa še vedno ve, kje ima brisačo, očitno človek, s katerim je treba računati. Odtod tudi izraz, ki se je ustalil v štoparskem žargonu, kot na primer v zvezi “Hej, ti gnaš tega hupi Forda Prefecta? Tapravi frud, ve, kje ima brisačo.” (Gnaš, gnajti: poznati, vedeti za, srečati, spati z; hupi: kul tip; frud: res blazno kul tip.)
(Douglas Adams ... poklon!)
Torej je vse, kar potrebujemo, brisača? Super. A kako bomo do nje prišli? Enostavno. Dvignimo palec in počakajmo, da nas prva mimoleteča intergalaktična pošast posrka na svoj krov. Če imamo srečo in bo odletela proti danim koordinatam, bomo prav tam izskočili. In če imamo še večjo srečo in planeta, na katerem smo pristali, ne izbrišejo prav v tistem trenutku zaradi gradnje galaktične obvoznice, bomo mogoče v vsej vesoljski zmedi uspeli najti prave koordinate, ki nas bodo pripeljale naravnost do brisače. Če ne, pa se bo treba stvari lotiti na stari dobri način. S sekstantom, kompasom in ugotavljanjem, kam piha vesoljski veter. Kakorkoli. Naj velja edino resno pravilo v vesolju. BREZ PANIKE!
__________ . __________
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value { you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, in- haling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-tohand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward o noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you { daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself o with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face annel, soap, tin of biscuits, ask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Hence a phrase which has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)
Therefore – is a simple towel everything we need? Great. But how do we get one? Quite simply. Just stick out your thumb and wait until the first passing monstrous intergalactic spaceship sucks you aboard. If you're lucky and it flies towards the given coordinates, just jump out right there. And if you are even luckier and the planet on which you have just landed is not demolished in that very moment due to building a hyperspatial express route, you will maybe – in the total mess – find the right coordinates which will lead you directly to the towel. If not, you will have to handle it the good old way. Using a sextant and a compass while trying to find out where the wind of the Universe is blowing. Anyway. The only serious rule in the Universe applies: DON'T PANIC!