From: fong_jh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Julian H Fong)
Subject: Re: Thoughts on MOSTLY HARMLESS (spoilers)
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 08:00:22 GMT

In article <c9219517.19.721193255@cc.newcastle.edu.au> c9219517@cc.newcastle.edu.au (Scott Howard) writes:
>In article <1992Nov5.053124.21067@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> I wrote:

[several citations lost]

>>>>>|> *** WARNING. POSSIBLE SPOILERS! *** READ MOSTLY HARMLESS FIRST ***



>>with Tricia and later to Stavro Mueller BETA -- but the Vogon Captain must
>>have had another "copy" of the Guide.  That is to say, only one Guide Mk
>>II was ever manufactured, but it could replicate itself through time travel.)
>
>But according to the new head of the HHG, the Guide Mk II would only ever 
>belong to one person, so how could it make another copy of itself for the 
>vogon???

"`The reason we don't sell billions and billions of <Guide>s,' continued
Harl, after wiping his mouth, `is the expense.  What we do is sell one
<Guide> billions and billions of times.  We exploit the multidimensional
nature of the Universe to cut down on manufacturing costs."
		-- MOSTLY HARMLESS, Chapter 6 (p. 70, American edition).

	There is only one Guide Mk II.  If it traveled, say, one minute back
in time and met itself, there would be two "copies" of the Guide.  It can
distribute itself by doing this indefinitely.  In any case, it certainly
wouldn't be unreasonable for Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz to have a copy of the
Guide since a) the Vogons created InfiniDim Enterprises and bought out the
Guide specifically to engineer the nonexistence of the Earth, and b)
Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz seems to be in charge of the project, as the
demolition orders were issued to him.

>Also, any ideas as to what the other memory block in the computer that 
>Zaphod found was???  It was obviously something to do with the Guide Mk II 
 ^^^^^^
  Ford
>as it refered to "in this building" and "13" (the floor the guide was on), 
>but what exactly was it???

	Probably the computer was concealing the very existence of the 13th
floor.  (Its existence is officially secret since it doesn't appear on the
elevator's floor display.)  This is, after all, the R&D lab where the Guide
is being manufactured, through the use of revolutionary dimensional travel
techniques.  Plus, it's where this (apparenty) prototype model of the Guide
is stored, so it's understandable that security in the area would be really
tight.

	Perhaps the copy of the Guide II that Ford found there was the first
to go through the temporal loop?  I'm not sure any copies of the Guide II
were ever sold -- or, indeed, if the Guide II was ever meant to be sold.
(Vann Harl obviously thought it was, but the Vogons would no doubt have kept
him in the dark as to the Guide's true intentions.)  However, there are
copies of the Guide II floating around: we've seen the copy from Floor 13
(which later became Random's copy), the Vogon Captain's copy, the bird
watching Tricia in Central Park, and the bird watching Arthur on NowWhat.

	One other thought: Didn't anyone think that the whole idea of a
secret research lab on the 13th floor of a building, which is not shown on
any plans or on the elevator's floor display, was taken directly from Max
Headroom?  Perhaps the British version doesn't emphasize it as much, but the
concept of the 13th floor was of great significance in the American version
of the Max Headroom pilot.


-- 
           ____  "Okay, the situation is totally under control as of
     |____|____   this moment in time." -- Zaphod Beeblebrox
 ____|    |
                  Julian Fong: fong_jh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu