You can ask Ford for the towel, even when he doesn't have it

[eriktorbjorn]

There are a few times after you leave the earth where you can ask Ford for the towel. He'll give it to you, even if he doesn't have it. See FORD-F:

	       (<AND <VERB? ASK-FOR>
		     <PRSI? ,TOWEL>
		     <EQUAL? ,FORD-COUNTER 0 1>>
		<PERFORM ,V?TAKE ,TOWEL>
		<RTRUE>)>>

In fact, you can even leave the towel in another room:

>SOUTH
(We were lying about the exit to port.) You emerge from a small doorway...

Entry Bay Number Two
This is an entry bay for the Heart of Gold. A corridor lies aft of here.
There is a sales brochure here.

"This looks like that incredible new Infinite Improbability Drive spaceship, the
Heart of Gold!" says Ford, with growing excitement.

"Announcement, announcement. This is Eddie (the shipboard computer). We have
just picked up two hitchhikers at an improbability factor of 2 to the 21,914th
power to 1 against."

>DROP TOWEL
Dropped.

"Come on, let's look for the Bridge." You follow Ford, and eventually come to
the...

Bridge
This is the bridge of the Heart of Gold. A gangway leads down, and steam comes
from an entrance to port. Next to the control console is Eddie (the shipboard
computer).

At the controls, apparently expecting you and Ford, are a man with more than the
usual number of heads (the name "Zaphod" is stitched on his shirt) and a dark-
haired woman, holding a handbag. Both seem somehow familiar.
There is a molecular hyperwave pincer here.

>ASK FORD FOR TOWEL
Taken.

"Hey, Zaphod, how ya doing?" says Ford. He's cool. "Not bad, Ford. Great to see
you," replies Zaphod. He's cooler. You suddenly realise that the woman is Tricia
MacMillan ("Call me Trillian"), whom you were trying to pick up at a party in
Islington just a few weeks ago, and that Zaphod is the guy she eventually left
the party with! Odd.