經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第15章11

‘She had me because I was meant to make things not for her. That was my job. But I fitted even worse than she did! So she just shut me off and carried on with her stupid life.’

“她生我就是讓我幫她使事情順當起來。那是我的任務。可我比她還一團糟！所以她就把我關在外頭，繼續過她那愚蠢的生活。”

‘What’s stupid about her life? She’s fantastically successful, isn’t she? She’s all over time and space, all over the Sub-Etha TV networks…

“她的生活有什麼愚蠢的？她很成功不是嗎？時間和空間裏哪兒都有她，亞以太電視網上全是她……”

‘Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!’

“愚蠢！愚蠢！愚蠢！愚蠢！”

Random turned and ran off again. Arthur couldn’t keep up with her and at last he had to sit down for a bit and let the pain in his leg subside. The turmoil in his head he didn’t know what to do with at all.

蘭登轉身繼續跑。阿瑟跟不上她的腳步，最後他只好坐下來休息會，讓腿上的感覺慢慢消退。至於腦子裏的騷動嘛，他完全不知道拿它怎麼辦纔好。

He hobbled into the village an hour later. It was getting dark. The villagers he passed said hello, but there was a sense of nervousness and of not quite knowing what was going on or what to do about it in the air. Old Thrashbarg had been seen pulling on his beard a fair bit and looking at the moon, and that was not a good sign either.

一個小時後，他一瘸一拐地回了村子。天色漸晚，遇上的村民都跟他打招呼，但空氣裏懸着種緊張兮兮，略微不知所措的氣氛。老刷希巴老望着月亮扯鬍子，這也不是個好跡象。

Arthur went into his hut.

阿瑟走進自己的茅房。

Random was sitting hunched quietly over the table.

蘭登弓着背，靜靜地坐在桌子邊上。

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry.’

“對不起。”她說，“真的很抱歉。”

‘That’s all right,’ said Arthur as gently as he knew how. ‘It’s good to, well, to have a little chat. There’s so much we have to learn and understand about each other, and life isn’t, well it isn’t all just tea and sandwiches…’

“這沒什麼。”阿瑟儘量拿出最溫柔的語氣，“這樣很好，你知道，這樣聊聊。我們都有好多需要彼此瞭解的地方，而且生活也不止是，呃，不止是茶和三明治……”

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said again, sobbing.

“對不起。”她開始抽泣。

Arthur went up to her and put his arm round her shoulder. She didn’t resist or pull away. Then Arthur saw what it was she was so sorry about.

阿瑟走過去，伸出一隻胳膊摟住她。她沒有抗拒也沒有掙開。然後阿瑟看見了她道歉的原因。

In the pool of light thrown by a Lamuellan lantern lay Arthur’s watch. Random had forced the back off it with the back edge of the butter spreading knife, and all of the minute cogs and springs and levers were lying in a tiny cock-eyed mess where she’d been fiddling with them.

在一盞拉姆拉提燈投下的光圈裏躺着阿瑟的手錶。蘭登拿了他抹黃油的小刀，用刀背把錶殼撬開了，所有細小的齒輪，彈簧和槓桿全都亂七八糟地扭在一起。

‘I just wanted to see how it worked,’ said Random, ‘how it all fitted together. I’m so sorry! I can’t get it back together. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. I’ll get it repaired! Really! I’ll get it repaired!’

“我只是想看看它是怎麼回事，”蘭登說，“看看它怎麼能合在一起。我真的很抱歉！我沒法把它裝回去。對不起，對不起，對不起。我不知道該怎麼辦。我會把它修好的！真的！我會把它修好的！”

The following day Thrashbarg came round and said all sorts of Bob stuff. He tried to exert a calming influence by inviting Random to let her mind dwell on the ineffable mystery of the giant earwig, and Random said there was no giant earwig and Thrashbarg went very cold and silent and said she would be cast into outer darkness. Random said good, she’d been born there, and the next day the parcel arrived.

第二天，刷希巴跑來嘮叨了老半天鮑伯的事情。他想對蘭登施展一些沉靜的影響，邀請她讓心靈在巨蠼螋不可言說的奧祕中薰陶，而蘭登回答說根本就沒有巨蠼螋，於是刷希巴一下子就冷靜下來，說她會被打入黑暗的深淵。蘭登說好得很她就是在那兒生的。然後第二天包裹就到了。