Chapter 26 I don’t know, said Zaphod, for what seemed to him like the thirty-seventh time, they could have killed me, but they didn’t. Maybe they just thought I was a kind of wonderful guy or something. I could understand that. The others silently registered their opinions of this theory. Zaphod lay on the cold floor of the flight deck. His back seemed to wrestle the floor as pain thudded through him and banged at his heads. I think, he whispered, that there is something wrong with those anodized dudes, something fundamentally weird. They are programmed to kill everybody, SlArtibartfast pointed out. That, wheezed Zaphod between the whacking thuds, could be it. He didn’t seem altogether convinced. Hey, baby, he said to Trillian, hoping this would make up for his previous behaviour. You all right? she said gently. Yeah, he said, I’m fine. Good, she said, and walked away to think. She stared at the huge visiscreen over the flight couches and, twisting a switch, she flipped local images over it. One image was the blankness of the Dust Cloud. One was the sun of Krikkit. One was Krikkit itself. She flipped between them fiercely. Well, that’s goodbye Galaxy, then, said Arthur, slapping his knees and standing up. No, said Slartibartfast, gravely. Our course is clear. He furrowed his brow until you could grow some of the smaller root vegetables in it. He stood up, he paced around. When he spoke again, what he said frightened him so much he had to sit down again. We must go down to Krikkit, he said. A deep sigh shook his old frame and his eyes seemed almost to rattle in their sockets. Once again, he said, we have failed pathetically. Quite pathetically. That, said Ford quietly, is because we don’t care enough. I told you. He swung his feet up on the instrument panel and picked fitfully at something on one of his fingernails. But unless we determine to take action, said the old man querulously, as if struggling against something deeply insouciant in his nature, then we shall all be destroyed, we shall all die. Surely we care about that? Not enough to want to get killed over it, said Ford. He put on a sort of hollow smile and flipped it round the room at anyone who wanted to see it. Slartibartfast clearly found this point of view extremely seductive and he fought against it. He turned again to Zaphod who was gritting his teeth and sweating with the pain. You surely must have some idea, he said, of why they spared your life. It seems most strange and unusual. I kind of think they didn’t even know, shrugged Zaphod. I told you. They hit me with the most feeble blast, just knocked me out, right? They lugged me into their ship, dumped me into a corner and ignored me. Like they were embarrassed about me being there. If I said anything they knocked me out again. We had some great conversations. “Hey… ugh!” “Hi there… ugh!” “I wonder…ugh!” Kept me amused for hours, you know. He winced again. He was toying with something in his fingers. He held it up. It was the Gold Bail the Heart of Gold, the heart of the Infinite Improbability Drive. Only that and the Wooden Pillar had survived the destruction of the Lock intact. I hear your ship can move a bit, he said. So how would you like to zip me back to mine before you… Will you not help us? said Slartibartfast. I’d love to stay and help you save the Galaxy, insisted Zaphod, rising himself up on to his shoulders, but I have the mother and father of a pair of headaches, and I feel a lot of little headaches coming on. But next time it needs saving, I’m your guy. Hey, Trillian baby? She looked round briefly. Yes? You want to come? Heart of Gold? Excitement and adventure and really wild things? I’m going down to Krikkit, she said. 26 “我不知道啊。”贊福德道，“就像這種事，已經發生過幾百次了。他們可以殺了我的，可他們沒有。也許他們就是覺得我人特好。我很理解的。” 其他人都決定不發表意見。 贊福德躺在冷冰冰的船艙地板上。他覺得從頭到腳都在疼。他在地上動來動去。 “我覺得，”他輕聲道，“那些鐵皮小子有點問題。完全是些怪物。” “他們生來就是爲了殺人。”司拉提巴特法斯指出。 “啊，”贊福德一邊喘氣一邊說，“大概就是這個問題吧。”其實他根本沒往心裏去。 “嘿寶貝兒。”他叫着崔莉安，希望能彌補一下之前的所作所爲。 “你還好吧？”她溫柔地問道。 “嗯，”他說，“我很好。” “那就好。”她便走開了。她來到控制面板前，凝視着巨大的顯示屏，又轉了轉某個旋鈕。她在查看圖片資料。一張是漆黑一片的星雲，一張是版求的恆星，還有一張是版求星。她狠狠地翻着這些圖片。 “是不是該向銀河系說再見了？”阿瑟一撐膝蓋，站了起來。 “不。” 司拉提巴特法斯面色嚴峻，“我們的下一步很明確。”他緊鎖眉頭，皺得可以種顆菜了。他站起來，踱來踱去。想說點什麼，可那內容太可怕了，於是他又坐下來。 “咱們得回版求星。”他重重地嘆了口氣，身子晃了晃，臉有點抽搐。 “咱們又失敗了。”他說，“敗得很慘，相當慘。” “那是因爲，”福特小聲說道，“我們不夠堅決。我告訴過你的。” 他把腳往控制面板上一擱，在腳指甲裏摳了摳。 “可是，如果咱們不行動起來的話，”老人埋怨着，彷彿在與自己內心深處進行搏鬥，“咱們就都完了。咱們會死的。這夠堅決了吧？” “至少沒到想爲之送死的地步。”福特回答。他假笑着看着大夥兒。 司拉提巴特法斯覺得，這種觀點具有極強的蠱惑性，自己應該努力抵制。他轉向贊福德，後者正躺在地上，齜牙咧嘴直冒冷汗呢。 “你總該知道吧，”他問道，“他們爲什麼放了你。這可是最奇怪的事了。” “我覺得他們自己都不知道。”贊福德聳聳肩，“我說過的，他們用最小的力氣打我，打暈了就算數。他們把我拖進飛船，丟到一邊，就不管了。好象我在那兒讓他們很尷尬似的。我一說話，他們就又把我打暈。我們之間的談話可有趣了。‘嘿——啊！’‘你好——啊！’‘我想——啊！’我玩了好多次。知道嗎。”他又抽搐了一下。 他手裏拿着什麼東西。舉起來一看，原來是金橫木——黃金之心，無限非概率驅動器的核心。那把鎖炸掉的時候，只有這個和“木柱”保存了下來。 “聽說你的飛船挺好的，”他說，“你能不能送我回我的飛船……” “你不幫我們的忙嗎？” 司拉提巴特法斯問。 “我挺想幫你們拯救銀河系的，”贊福德撐起小半個身子，信誓旦旦地說道，“可我還有母親、父親，還有兩顆頭在痛，我預感到還有別的地方會痛。不過，要是下次銀河系需要拯救了，我隨叫隨到。嘿，崔莉安寶貝兒？” 她茫然地轉過來。 “嗯？” “你也來吧？黃金之心？刺激，冒險，最瘋狂的玩意兒？” “我要去版求星。”她說。
