Douglas Adams: Mostly Trisha

 

London, England

While Douglas Adams' first four novels in the Hitchhiker's Guide series appeared roughly a year apart, eight years elapsed before the fifth appeared. I'm not sure when I purchased Mostly Harmless, but I'm guessing it was several years following publication. Sadly, the first time I read it, I never really got into the novel. One thing I remembered as I reread it was my initial reaction that the novel was overwritten, featuring scenes that just seem to go on and on...and on.

Mostly Harmless is longer than any of the previous installments in the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and seems concerned that the changes and paradoxes created by people traveling through time. As an interstellar reporter, Trillian zips back and forth through time. If the events she covers get altered by herself or other travelers, and cause history to be rewritten so that the events she covers never actually happened...well, you can see how all of spacetime could become muddled.

Arthur and his girlfriend Fenchurch leave Earth and travel through space together. One day she just...disappears. Arthur never learns why she simply ceased to exist. Apparently, it's a remote--but very real--danger of hyperspace travel. Forlorn, Arthur continues traveling--not as a hitchhiker, but a paid passenger--and sells his genetic material to upgrade to First Class. 

 

London, England

 

Meanwhile, Ford Prefect notices that his original expansive entry on Earth is now included in his copy of the electronic travel book at the heart of this series: the Hitchhiker's Guide. After traveling to the guidebook's headquarters, he discovers that the Vogons, who destroyed Earth in the first novel to create a hyperspace bypass, are now in charge. 

In some ways, the change in management has proven beneficial. Under the previous management, secretaries often edited travel correspondents' reports. Thus, his entry covering Earth history, culture, and cuisine was reduced to "Mostly Harmless."*

Sadly, not all change is beneficial. Ford learns this firsthand, when the Vogon management attempts to kill him. Still, at least they merely shoot their weapons at him, rather than subjecting him to their poetry.

 

Buckingham Palace, London, England

 

We also met a woman called Trisha, a TV news reporter on Earth (which, remember, isn't supposed to be around, after the Vogons destroyed it in the first book). Trisha once met Zaphod at a party, but turned down his invitation to explore the universe. She has always regretted not going off with him in his spaceship. So when another spaceship lands in London, she makes sure that she is the one to interview the aliens. 

I enjoyed Trisha's journey in Mostly Harmless. We can all relate to regret over paths not taken. Her experiences in the novel are the kind that First Contact chasers dream about. She may have missed out on her first opportunity to travel and experience new things. Still, when that next opportunity came her way, she was ready!

Dragon Dave

*Even after all these decades, I'm still interested in reading the intergalactic guidebook. Perhaps now that the Vogons are in charge, it will soon become available for Earthlings to purchase. Just please, Vogon managers: no poetry!