經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》尾章3

Then, as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they spotted a dull red glow in a corner, and behind the glow a live shadow. They swung a torch round on to it.
Prak was lounging on a bench, smoking a listless cigarette.
Hi, he said, with a little half-wave. His voice echoed through the chamber. He was a little man with scraggy hair. He sat with his shoulders hunched forward and his head and knees kept jiggling. He took a drag of his cigarette.
They stared at him.
What’s going on? said Trillian.
Nothing, said the man and jiggled his shoulders.
Arthur shone his torch full on Prak’s face.
We thought, he said, that you were meant to be telling the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth.
Oh, that, said Prak. Yeah. I was. I finished. There’s not nearly as much of it as people imagine. Some of it’s pretty funny, though.
He suddenly exploded in about three seconds of manical laughter and stopped again. he sat there, jiggling his head and knees. He dragged on his cigarette with a strange half-smile.
Ford and Zaphod came forward out of the shadows.
Tell us about it, said Ford.
Oh, I can’t remember any of it now, said Prak. I thought of writing some of it down, but first I couldn’t find a pencil, and then I thought, why bother?
There was a long silence, during which they thought they could feel the Universe age a little. Prak stared into the torchlight.
None of it? said Arthur at last. You can remember none of it?
No. Except most of the good bits were about frogs, I remember enly he was hooting with laughter again and stamping his feet on the would not believe some of the things about frogs, he gasped.
Come on let’s go and find ourselves a frog. Boy, will I ever see them in a new light! He leapt to his feet and did a tiny little dance. Then he stopped and took a long drag at his cigarette.
Let’s find a frog I can laugh at, he said simply. Anyway, who are you guys?
We came to find you, said Trillian, deliberately not keeping the disappointment out of her voice. My name is Trillian.
Prak jiggled his head.

隨後，當他們的眼睛終於適應黑暗，纔看見角落裏有暗暗的一點紅光。紅光背後，有個人影。他們將火把舉近了一點看。
普啦刻大大咧咧地坐在長椅上，抽着一支半燃半熄的煙。
“嗨。”他說着，懶懶地擡了下手。他的聲音在大廳中迴響。他是個小個子，頭髮稀疏。他駝着背坐在那兒，把腦袋和膝蓋抖着玩。
衆人盯着他。
“怎麼了？”崔莉安問。
“沒什麼。”那人說着，抖了抖肩膀。
阿瑟把火把向前伸，照亮了普啦刻的臉。
“我們聽說……”他說，“你在這兒講真話。”
“噢，那個啊。”普啦刻說，“對啊，我是說過。已經說完了。大部分都是無法想象的東西。不過，有的也很好玩。”
他突然爆笑了大約三秒鐘，像瘋了似的，然後停了下來。他坐在那兒，抖着腦袋，抖着膝蓋。他似笑非笑，又吸了一口煙。
福特和贊福德從暗處湊上前來。
“跟我們說說吧。”福特說。
“噢，我已經不記得了。”普啦刻說，“我想過用筆記下來，但是，首先，我沒鉛筆。其次我又想，何必呢？”
長久的沉默。他們幾乎能感覺到宇宙變老了一點點。普啦刻凝視着火把的光輝。
“一點都不行？”阿瑟開口問道，“你一點都不記得了？”
“不記得。對了，有些關於青蛙的還不錯。我記得那個。”突然，他又狂笑起來，在地上跺着腳，“你們絕對不會相信那些關於青蛙的事。”他笑得直喘氣。
“走，咱們找青蛙去。夥計，我得用新的眼光去看它們嘍！”他一躍而起，跳了幾步舞，停下來，狠狠地吸了口煙。
“走找青蛙去，去笑它。”他說，“對了，你們是誰啊？”
“我們是來找你的。”崔莉安毫不掩飾她聲音中的失望情緒，“我叫崔莉安。”
普啦刻抖着腦袋。