經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第15章6

‘These numbers round the edge mark the hours. In the little window on the right it says THU, which means Thursday, and the number is 14, which means it’s the fourteenth day of the month of MAY which is what it says in this window over here.

“圍在四周的這些數字用來顯示時間。右邊的小窗口上是個‘四’字，說明今天是星期四，‘14’和那邊的‘五月’代表今天是五月十四日。

‘And this sort of crescent-shaped window at the top tells you about the phases of the moon. In other words it tells you how much of the moon is lit up at night by the sun, which depends on the relative positions of the Sun and the Moon and, well… the EArth.’

頂上這個月牙形的窗戶能告訴你月亮的圓缺。也就是晚上月亮有多少能被太陽照亮，這跟它們的相對位置有關，太陽，月亮還有，唔……地球。”

‘The Earth,’ said Random.

“地球。”蘭登說。

‘Yes.’

“是的。”

‘And that’s where you came from, and where Mum came from.’

“就是你出生的地方，也是媽媽出生的地方。”

‘Yes.’

“是的。”

Random took the watch back from him and looked at it again, clearly baffled by something. Then she held it up to her ear and listened in puzzlement.

蘭登拿過手錶又看了一會，顯然被什麼東西搞糊塗了。然後她把它貼在耳朵上，臉上露出迷惑的神情。

‘What’s that noise?’

“什麼聲音。”

‘It’s ticking. That’s the mechanism that drives the watch. It’s called clockwork. It’s all kind of interlocking cogs and springs that work to turn the hands round at exactly the right speed to mark the hours and minutes and days and so on.’

“它在走。那是驅動手錶的機械，叫發條裝置。各種各樣的齒輪和彈簧，讓指針以精確的速度測出小時，分鐘，天數之類的。”

Random carried on peering at it.

蘭登繼續瞅着它。

‘There’s something puzzling you,’ said Arthur. ‘What is it?’

“有什麼事讓你鬧不明白，”阿瑟問，“是什麼？”

‘Yes,’ said Random, at last. ‘Why’s it all in hardware?’

“對。”蘭登最後說，“爲什麼材料全是金屬？”

Arthur suggested they went for a walk. He felt there were things they should discuss, and for once Random seemed, if not precisely amenable and willing, then at least not growling. From Random’s point of view this was also all very weird. It wasn’t that she wanted to be difficult, as such, it was just that she didn’t know how or what else to be.

阿瑟建議他們去散個步。他覺得有些東西他倆該討論討論，而這一次蘭登儘管說不上心甘情願、積極響應，至少並沒有滿腹牢騷。在蘭登自己看來這也一樣古怪的很。倒不是說她一直故意找茬，她只是不曉得自己還能怎麼做，或者還能擺出什麼樣子。

Who was this guy? What was this life she was supposed to lead? What was this world she was supposed to lead it in? And what was this universe that kept coming at her through her eyes and ears? What was it for? What did it want?

這傢伙是誰？人家要她過的這種日子是怎麼回事？人家要她待的這個世界是怎麼回事？還有，這個不停透過她的眼睛耳朵殺過來的宇宙又是怎麼回事？它是幹嗎用的？它想要什麼？

She’d been born in a spaceship that had been going from somewhere to somewhere else, and when it had got to somewhere else, somewhere else had only turned out to be another somewhere that you had to get to somewhere else again from, and so on.

她出生在一艘飛船上，在從某個地方到另一個地方的路上。等飛船到了那另一個地方，那地方卻只是變成了另一個某個地方，某個再次出發去另一個地方的起點，就這樣不停走下去。

It was her normal expectation that she was supposed to be somewhere else. It was normal for her to feel that she was in the wrong place.

根據過去的經驗，人家總要她去另一個地方，於是她總覺得自己出現在了錯誤的地方。