In all the known universe there are millions of hitchhikers and Tanias Rictamer was the very worst. She just was not meant for hitchhiking. To her it was a rich girl's hobby. And she was rich. Her father was Caltashmer Rictamer, one of the richest people in the entire universe. So Tanis did whatever she wanted, which wouldn't have bothered anybody (except maybe her father, if he wasn't into the whole daughter being dead thing) but, in the only sensible decision ever made by Tanias, she hired a companion to travel with her and she was driving him insane. He had never seen anyone else with her natural talent for loosing towels. It was a wonder that she was still alive. Even with a companion she probably wouldn't have survived this long but she had just happened to hire the best hitchhiker to ever raise an electronic sub-etha signaling device towards the sky, Ford Prefect.
Ford Prefect wasn't his real name; his real name was only pronounceable in a now-extinct Betelgeusian dialect that had been lost to the universe after the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster on Betelgeuse Seven. Nobody knew much about this event or even what a Hrung was or why it would choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven. Ford's father was the only one to survive this disaster and he named Ford in honor of his race. Ford never figured out how to pronounce his real name and his father eventually died of shame, which is still a terminal disease in some parts of the galaxy. He was called Ix at his school which means 'boy who cannot explain what a Hrung is or why it would choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven in particular'. He picked up the name Ford Prefect after spending fifteen years stranded on a small blue green planet in the backwaters of the universe, which he had seen be destroyed twice now. Although it was a lousy place to be stranded it was a nice place to visit and he missed it sometimes.
Ford used to write for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, one of the greatest commodities a hitchhiker could own. At least it used to be before the building was destroyed last year. After the building had exploded he had tried getting a real job but somehow it simply didn't work for him. When he had gotten the offer to be paid to hitchhike again he had accepted without a second thought but that was before he had gotten to know Tanias.
Tanias was from the planet Helibene. She was extremely short for a Helibenian, a mere six feet and five inches. She was a humanoid and, like all Helibenians, she had a small pair of wings that evolution had given the Helibenians as some odd sort of joke because they could not fly and never had been able to. Tanias had had her wings dyed a ridiculous shade of pink and she always spread them out behind her and fluttered her eyelashes whenever she had to explain to Ford that she had lost her towel once again.
And she had lost her towel twice already. Ford had taken up carrying three or four towels because of her. He had given one to her a few minutes ago and he ushered her towards the clearing. Then he ducked behind a bush, pulling her with him.
"Okay, we are soon going to get to a field filled with hanging laundry. When we get there I want you to hold your towel out to your side and run as fast as you can, alright?"
"Oh. Umm… Ford? I kind of… don't know where my towel is," she said stretching out her wings and fluttering her eyelashes innocently. Ford nearly screamed. He stared up at her angrily.
"Here. I have one more towel for you. After this you are on your own," he said handing her a green towel with a bunch of large purple flowers embroidered on it. She had lost her towel in five minutes. He wished he could be surprised.
"Um, Ford. The towel you gave me just disappeared into thin air," she told him.
He nearly killed her.