Electronic Thumb
A short squat black rod, smooth and matt with a couple of flat switches and dials at one end. Emits sub-etha pulses that flag down passing interstellar vessels for hitchhikers.
Item Specification: Electronic Thumb
The Electronic Thumb is an indispensable piece of hardware for any traveling hitchhiker who wishes to roam the cosmos on less than thirty Altairian dollars a day without buying a spacecraft.
"Besides the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic and the scripts he had an Electronic Thumb — a short squat black rod, smooth and matt with a couple of flat switches and dials at one end..."
— The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 3
Functionality & Signaling Matrix
- Electronic Sub-Etha Signalling Device: As Ford Prefect explained to Arthur Dent after rescuing him from the demolition of Earth, the Thumb is an electronic sub-etha signalling device used to flag down passing spaceships and trigger short-range matter transference beams—allowing hitchhikers near Sol to catch a lift toward the nearest interstellar roundabout at Barnard's Star, six light-years away.
- The Dentrassi Loophole: While Vogons despise hitchhikers and never willingly grant lifts, activating an Electronic Thumb near a Vogon Constructor Ship alerts the ship's Dentrassi catering staff, who gladly beam hitchhikers into their galley sleeping quarters just to annoy the Vogons.
- Companion Device: Works in tandem with the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic, which detects the approach of starships before the Thumb is activated.
Pretty Neat Digital Watch
A wrist-worn temporal chronometer constructed from vibrating quartz and liquid crystal. Regarded by ape-descended bipeds as an extraordinarily neat idea, and by the rest of the Galaxy as bafflingly primitive.
Infinite Improbability Drive
A small golden generator capable of crossing vast interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace.