1. Shock Blankets

"Ford?"

"Yes, Arthur?" the Betelgeusian responded as he led his human through the cold swamps of Meladoon, a planet that was entirely unremarkable except for the fact that it had cold swamps, which are rather rare in the galaxy. They sloshed through a murky river whose knee-deep water clawed at their feet, ankles, and legs. Arthur held tighter to Ford's hand as a Rancorous Murkbeast let out an unearthly cry from far off in the trees. Arthur needn't have worried; Rancorous Murkbeasts are entirely harmless and it's only the sound they make that is at all frightening, but Arthur had no way of knowing this, and pretty much everything about this swamp was making his sanity teeter precariously.

"Could you explain to me, in clear, rational terms, if possible – why are we here again?"

"Well…" Ford searched for clear, rational terms. Unfortunately, clear, rational terms were not his metaphorical division. "We're in the cold swamps of Meladoon, and cold swamps are rather rare in the galaxy." The hitchhiker dragged Arthur along with him as though trying to drag him away from the fact that he didn't know why they were there.

"But does this mean they're at all worth going to?" Arthur said. "Are you certain you're not mistaking rarity for worthiness? Ford Prefect, dragging me out into this bloody cold swamp is low, even for you!"

At that, Ford stopped and whirled around violently, almost hitting Arthur with his satchel (which had somehow mostly avoided getting soaked in the rancid muck they ventured through). Fortunately, before he hit Arthur, he freed his hand from the human's and pulled out a towel, draping it firmly around Arthur's shoulders.

"Arthur," said Ford. "I think you need a shock blanket."

"A what?" Arthur looked down at the towel, weirdly mystified by what was going on.

"Yes," said the alien. "Didn't you have shock blankets on Earth? When someone was in shock, you gave them a blanket?"

"Ah, yes," said Arthur. "Though those tended to be ugly orange things and this is admittedly more of an ugly stained and…whatever color it used to be…thing."

"But it works, doesn't it?"

"For your current purposes, I think it does."

Ford tried to muster up a grin. "Good." Adjusting the blanket on Arthur's shoulders once more, he took the Earthman by the hand and continued on. "Let's try to work through your shock as we try to get out of here."

Arthur nodded dumbly as his friend led him on through the swamp. The cold bit at his skin and the Rancorous Murkbeast sounded again, but he was a little less afraid of it now. He had a shock blanket. Well, it wasn't a blanket. It was a towel. It was a shock towel. But nevertheless, he had a shock towel, and, somehow, this genuinely made the situation okay.