經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第14章1
14
第十四章
As the Guide folded itself back into a smooth, dark disk, Ford realised some pretty hectic stuff. Or at least he tried to realise it, but it was too hectic to take in all in one go. His head was hammering, his ankle was hurting, and though he didn’t like to be a wimp about his ankle, he always found that intense multi-dimensional logic was something he understood best in the bath. He needed time to think about this. Time, a tall drink, and some kind of rich, foamy oil.
《指南》被重新摺疊成一張光潔的黑色碟片。福特意識到這裏頭很有些挺激動人心的東西。或者說，他努力想要意識到這一點，只不過它實在太激動人心了，沒法一下子全部吸收，他腦袋裏敲得砰砰響，他的腳踝痛的很——儘管他不喜歡老師嘮叨自己的腳踝——他其實從來都認爲，深刻的多元邏輯只有在浴缸裏才最容易理解。他需要時間思考。時間，還有一大杯酒，以及某種濃烈多泡的按摩油。
He had to get out of here. He had to get the Guide out of here. He didn’t think they’d make it together.
他得出去。他得把《指南》帶出去。他不認爲他倆一起能逃得出去。
He glanced wildly round the room.
他狂亂地掃視着整個房間。
Think, think, think. It had to be something simple and obvious. If he was right in his nasty lurking suspicion that he was dealing with nasty, lurking Vogons, then the more simple and obvious the better.
想，想，想。肯定有什麼簡簡單單又顯而易見的法子。因爲他那噁心的，可疑的猜測是正確的，也就是說他要對付的果然是那些噁心的，可疑的沃貢人，所以說越簡單越明顯就越好。
Suddenly he saw what he needed.
突然間，他看見了自己需要的東西。
He wouldn’t try to beat the system, he would just use it. The frightening thing about the Vogons was their absolute mindless determination to do whatever mindless thing it was they were determined to do. There was never any point in trying to appeal to their reason because they didn’t have any. However, if you kept your nerve you could sometimes exploit their blinkered, bludgeoning insistence on being bludgeoning and blinkered. It wasn’t merely that their left hand didn’t always know what their right hand was doing, so to speak; quite often their right hand had a pretty hazy notion as well.
他不會妄想自己能高明得超過系統，他只需要利用系統。沃貢人最嚇人的一點就是，只要他們決定了要幹一件事，無論那件事有多傻多盲目，他們都擁有完全盲目的決心把它進行到底。要想訴諸他們的理性那是沒有用處的，因爲他們壓根就沒有理性。不過，如果你夠膽量，有時候卻可以利用他們對簡單粗暴，（、）目光短淺的那種簡單粗暴，（、）目光短淺的堅持。借個我們常用的比方，他們的左手並不總知道他們的右手在幹嘛，而且不僅如此，通常他們的右手自己也是懵懵懂懂的。
Did he dare just post the thing to himself?
他敢不敢直接把這東西寄給他自己？
Did he dare just put it in the system and let the Vogons work out how to get the thing to him while at the same time they were busy, as they probably would be, tearing the building apart to find out where he’d hidden it?
他敢不敢把它放進系統裏，讓沃貢人自己想法子把它交到他手上，儘管與此同時他們很可能在挖地三尺地找他？
Yes.
他敢。
Feverishly, he packed it. He wrapped it. He labelled it. With a moment’s pause to wonder if he was really doing the right thing, he committed the package to the building’s internal mail chute.
他興奮得把它包起來。他把它裹好，貼上標籤。他遲疑了片刻，懷疑自己是不是做了正確的選擇，然後就把包裹扔進了公司內部的郵件通道。
‘Colin,’ he said, turning to the little, hovering ball. ‘I am going to abandon you to your fate.’
“科林，”他轉向那個飄在空中的小球，“我要把你丟給你自己的命運了。”
‘I’m so happy,’ said Colin.
“我很高興。”科林說。
