經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》尾章2

The group gathered round his bedside glanced at each other. There were goose pimples on backs.
What happened? said Zaphod at last.
Oh, he told it all right, said the man savagely, for all I know he’s still telling it now. Strange, terrible things… terrible, terrible! he screamed.
They tried to calm him, but he struggled to his elbows again.
Terrible things, incomprehensible things, he shouted, things that would drive a man mad!
He stared wildly at them.
Or in my case, he said, half-mad. I’m a journalist.
You mean, said Arthur quietly, that you are used to confronting the truth?
No, said the man with a puzzled frown. I mean that I made an excuse and left early.
He collapsed into a coma from which he recovered only once and briefly.
On that one occasion, they discovered from him the following:
When it became clear that Prak could not be stopped, that here was truth in its absolute and final form, the court was cleared.
Not only cleared, it was sealed up, with Prak still in it. Steel walls were erected around it, and, just to be on the safe side, barbed wire, electric fences, crocodile swamps and three major armies were installed, so that no one would ever have to hear Prak speak.
That’s a pity, said Arthur. I’d like to hear what he had to say. Presumably he would know what the Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer is. It’s always bothered me that we never found out.
Think of a number, said the computer, any number.
Arthur told the computer the telephone number of King’s Cross railway station passenger inquiries, on the grounds that it must have some function, and this might turn out to be it.
The computer injected the number into the ship’s reconstituted Improbability Drive.
In Relativity, Matter tells Space how to curve, and Space tells Matter how to move. The Heart of Gold told space to get knotted, and parked itself neatly within the inner steel perimeter of the Argabuthon Chamber of Law.
The courtroom was an austere place, a large dark chamber, clearly designed for Justice rather than, for instance, for Pleasure. You wouldn’t hold a dinner party here at least, not a successful one. The decor would get your guests down.
The ceilings were high, vaulted and very dark. Shadows lurked there with grim determination. The panelling for the walls and benches, the cladding of the heavy pillars, all were carved from the darkest and most severe trees in the fearsome Forest of Arglebard. The massive black Podium of Justice which dominated the centre of the chamber was a monster of gravity. If a sunbeam had ever managed to slink this far into the Justice complex of Argabuthon it would have turned around and slunk straight back out again.
Arthur and Trillian were the first in, whilst Ford and Zaphod bravely kept a watch on their rear.
At first it seemed totally dark and deserted. their footsteps echoed hollowly round the chamber. This seemed curious. All the defences were still in position and operative around the outside of the building, they had run scan checks. Therefore, they had assumed, the truth-telling must still be going on.
But there was nothing.

衆人圍在牀邊，你看看我，我看看你，一身都起了雞皮疙瘩。
“怎麼了？”贊福德終於問道。
“噢，他的確說了。”那人惡狠狠地答道，“就我所知，現在還在說呢。說的全是怪事……恐怖的事……太恐怖……太恐怖的事！”他尖叫道。
他們想安慰他，但他又用雙肘撐了起來。
“恐怖的事，無法理解的事。”他叫道，“能讓人瘋掉的事！”
他神情激動地望着衆人。
“或者，就我而言……”他說，“半瘋。我是個記者。”
“你是說，”阿瑟輕聲問道，“你已經習慣了面對真相？”
“不是，”對方迷惑地皺起眉頭，“我是說我找了個藉口先走了。”
他又倒了下去，昏迷了。後來他只醒了一次，而且時間很短。
在那唯一一次清醒的時候，衆人問出瞭如下情況：
既然普啦刻已經不能停下來，而且真相也終於、完全大白了，所以大家就退庭清場了。
不只是清場，法庭還被封了起來——連帶着普啦刻一起。法庭四周立起了鐵牆。而且，出於安全考慮，周圍又加上了倒鉤鋼絲，電網，鱷魚池，以及三支陸軍部隊。這樣就沒人聽得見普啦刻說話了。
“真可惜，”阿瑟說，“我挺想聽聽他說的，或許他知道終極答案的終極問題呢。咱們一直沒找出來，我一直想知道。”
“想一個數字，”電腦說，“隨便一個。”
阿瑟就說出了國王十字路地鐵站的乘客諮詢電話號碼。這個號碼總該有點用處，也許這時候就是用到它的時候吧。
電腦將電話號碼輸入重新組裝的非概率驅動器。
根據相對論，物質令空間彎曲，空間則令物質運動。黃金之心卻可以令空間打結，然後，它便可以恰好出現在阿加布鬆審判大廳那鋼鐵內牆的正中心了。
這間大廳非常樸實。它是一間空曠、黑暗的大廳，顯然是爲正義而設，而不是爲了……舉個例子，爲快樂而造。沒人願意在這兒舉行晚宴派對——至少，一定不會成功舉行。這兒的裝修會讓客人失去興致的。
天花板高聳如穹，非常陰暗。上面不知藏着多少不懷好意的陰影。牆壁和長椅的嵌板，笨重的柱子的包層，這些地方所使用的木料，都是來自阿戈巴德那可怕的森林中、最黑最冷峻的樹木。大廳正中那巨大的黑色的正義的講臺，簡直莊嚴得嚇人。要是哪天，一束陽光竟然得以潛入這間阿加布鬆正義的建築裏，它一定會扭頭便走，一路潛出的。
阿瑟和崔莉安先進去。福特和贊福德英勇地爲其斷後。
剛進去時，只見一片黑暗與寂寥。他們的腳步聲鬼魅一般迴盪在大廳之中。這很奇怪。外面那些防護設施都處於正常狀態，他們都檢查過了。這麼說，他們猜，那個人應該還在說真話纔對。
可是什麼也沒有。