經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第2章4

“And Zaphod Beeblebrox.”
For an instant Halfrunt’s smile flickered.
“Ah yes,” he said, “I had been expecting this. It is most regrettable.”
“A personal friend?” inquired the Vogon, who had heard the expression somewhere once and decided to try it out.
“Ah, no,” said Halfrunt, “in my profession you know, we do not make personal friends.”
“Ah,” grunted the Vogon, “professional detachment.”
“No,” said Halfrunt cheerfully, “we just don’t have the knack.”
He paused. His mouth continued to smile, but his eyes frowned slightly.
“But Beeblebrox, you know,” he said, “he is one of my most profitable clients. He had personality problems beyond the dreams of analysts.”
He toyed with this thought a little before reluctantly dismissing it.
“Still,” he said, “you are ready for your task?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Destroy the ship immediately.”
“What about Beeblebrox?”
“Well,” said Halfrunt brightly, “Zaphod’s just this guy, you know?”
He vanished from the screen.
The Vogon Captain pressed a communicator button which connected him with the remains of his crew.
“Attack,” he said.

“以及贊福德·畢博布魯克斯。”
這一瞬間，哈爾佛蘭特的笑容閃爍了一下。
“哦，是的，”他說，“我猜到會是這樣。真是令人遺憾啊。”
“是你的朋友？”沃貢人問，他以前在某個地方聽到過“朋友”這種表述方法，所以決定自己也來試試。
“噢，不是，”哈爾佛蘭特說，“在我這個行當裏，你知道的，我們是不交私人朋友的。”
“喔，”沃貢人咕噥着，“職業性冷漠。”
“不，”哈爾佛蘭特愉快地說，“我們只是沒有交朋友的概念。”
他頓了一下，嘴上仍然掛着笑容，但眉頭已經輕輕皺起。
“不過，畢博布魯克斯，你知道，”他說，“他是我最有利可圖的主顧之一。他身上的人格病症簡直是精神分析醫生們夢寐以求的。”
他玩味了一會兒這個念頭，最後不得不很不情願地丟開了。
“那麼，”他問，“你準備好了嗎？”
“是的。”
“好。立即摧毀這艘飛船。”
“畢博布魯克斯怎麼辦？”
“噢，”哈爾佛蘭特輕快地說，“贊福德不過是贊福德罷了，懂嗎？”
說着，他從屏幕上消失了。
沃貢艦長按下一個通話器按鈕，把他和他剩下的船員們聯繫起來。
“攻擊，”他說。