經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第18章3

Or perhaps you remember me better, said the voice suddenly, and it was a deep, hollow malevolent voice which sounded like molten tar glurping out of a drum with evil on its mind, as the rabbit.
With a sudden ping, there was a rabbit there in the black labyrinth with him, a huge, monstrously, hideously soft and lovable rabbit an image again, but one on which every single soft and lovable hair seemed like a real and single thing growing in its soft and lovable coat. Arthur was startled to see his own reflection in its soft and lovable unblinking and extremely huge brown eyes.
Born in darkness, rumbled the voice, raised in darkness. One morning I poked my head for the first time into the bright new world and got it split open by what felt suspiciously like some primitive instrument made of flint.
Made by you, Arthur Dent, and wielded by you. Rather hard as I recall.
You turned my skin into a bag for keeping interesting stones in. I happen to know that because in my next life I came back as a fly again and you swatted me. Again. Only this time you swatted me with the bag you’d made of my previous skin.
Arthur Dent, you are not merely a cruel and heartless man, you are also staggeringly tactless.
The voice paused whilst Arthur gawped.
I see you have lost the bag, said the voice. Probably got bored with it, did you?
Arthur shook his head helplessly. He wanted to explain that he had been in fact very fond of the bag and had looked after it very well and had taken it with him wherever he went, but that somehow every time he travelled anywhere he seemed inexplicably to end up with the wrong bag and that, curiously enough, even as they stood there he was just noticing for the first time that the bag he had with him at the moment appeared to be made out of rather nasty fake leopard skin, and wasn’t the one he’d had a few moments ago before he arrived in this whatever place it was, and wasn’t one he would have chosen himself and heaven knew what would be in it as it wasn’t his, and he would much rather have his original bag back, except that he was of course terribly sorry for having so peremptorily removed it, or rather its component parts, i.e. the rabbit skin, from its previous owner, viz. the rabbit whom he currently had the honour of attempting vainly to address.
All he actually managed to say was “Erp”.
Meet the newt you trod on, said the voice.
And there was, standing in the corridor with Arthur, a giant green scaly newt. Arthur turned, yelped, leapt backwards, and found himself standing in the middle of the rabbit. He yelped again, but could find nowhere to leap to.
That was me, too, continued the voice in a low menacing rumble, as if you didn’t know…
Know? said Arthur with a start. Know?
The interesting thing about reincarnation, rasped the voice, is that most people, most spirits, are not aware that it is happening to them.
He paused for effect. As far as Arthur was concerned there was already quite enough effect going on.
I was aware, hissed the voice, that is, I became aware. Slowly. Gradually.
He, whoever he was, paused again and gathered breath.
I could hardly help it, could I? he bellowed, when the same thing kept happening, over and over and over again! Every life I ever lived, I got killed by Arthur Dent. Any world, any body, any time, I’m just getting settled down, along comes Arthur Dent pow, he kills me.
Hard not to notice. Bit of a memory jogger. Bit of a pointer. Bit of a bloody giveaway!
“That’s funny,” my spirit would say to itself as it winged its way back to the netherworld after another fruitless Dent-ended venture into the land of the living, “that man who just ran over me as I was hopping across the road to my favourite pond looked a little familiar…” And gradually I got to piece it together, Dent, you multiple-me-murderer!
The echoes of his voice roared up and down the corridors. Arthur stood silent and cold, his head shaking with disbelief.
Here’s the moment, Dent, shrieked the voice, now reaching a feverish pitch of hatred, here’s the moment when at last I knew!
It was indescribably hideous, the thing that suddenly opened up in front of Arthur, making him gasp and gargle with horror, but here’s an attempt at a description of how hideous it was. It was a huge palpitating wet cave with a vast, slimy, rough, whale-like creature rolling around it and sliding over monstrous white tombstones. High above the cave rose a vast promontory in which could be seen the dark recesses of two further fearful caves, which…
Arthur Dent suddenly realized that he was looking at his own mouth, when his attention was meant to be directed at the live oyster that was being tipped helplessly into it.
He staggered back with a cry and averted his eyes. When he looked again the appalling apparition had gone. The corridor was dark and, briefly, silent. He was alone with his thoughts. They were extremely unpleasant thoughts and would rather have had a chaperone.
The next noise, when it came, was the low heavy roll of a large section of wall trundling aside, revealing, for the moment, just dark blackness behind it. Arthur looked into it in much the same way that a mouse looks into a dark dog-kennel.
And the voice spoke to him again.

“又或者，你會記得這樣的我。”對方又道。那聲音低沉、詭異、惡毒，像鐵桶裏黑壓壓溢出來的瀝青液似的，“一隻兔子。”
砰的一聲，漆黑的迷宮出顯現出一隻兔子，一隻碩大的、怪獸般的、柔軟得驚人的、可愛的兔子——同樣，是幅全息圖。不過，從每一絲柔軟可愛的兔毛上看來，都像是一隻柔軟、可愛的真實的兔子。阿瑟看着自己的身影映在那雙柔和可愛、一動不動的巨大褐色眼珠裏，感到無比驚訝。
“我生於黑暗，”那聲音低吼道，“長於黑暗。一天早上，我第一次探出頭去，剛要迎接光明的新一天，就被某種像是燧石製造的史前工具砸開了花。
“是你造的，阿瑟，也是你砸的。很重，我記得。
“你用我的皮做成袋子，用來裝有趣的石頭。我正好知道這件事，因爲我下輩子變成了一隻蒼蠅。你就拍死了我。又一次拍死了我。不過這次，你是用我上輩子的皮做的袋子拍的。
“阿瑟·鄧特，你這個殘酷冷血的人。你還蠢得驚人。”
那聲音停了一下，阿瑟則是呆若木雞。
“我知道你把袋子弄丟了。”那聲音說，“大概是膩煩了吧，是吧？”
阿瑟無所適從地搖着頭，他想解釋說他其實相當喜歡那個袋子，而且把它打理得很好，去哪都帶着。可是無論他走到什麼地方，那個袋子都不知爲何變成了其他袋子。更奇怪的是，就在此刻，他才注意到，它又變成了個難看的假豹紋袋子，天知道里面有什麼，反正肯定不是他的。他還是喜歡最初的那個。當然，對於自己曾如此專橫地把它剝下來，他感到很抱歉。哦，剝下的應該是它的原材料，即兔子皮——從它的前主人，亦即此刻這聲音的主人身上。
他竭盡全力，只擠出了一個字：“呃。”
“跟你踩死的蠑螈見個面吧。”那聲音又說。
於是，阿瑟身邊出現了，一隻龐大的、佈滿一格一格綠色鱗片的蠑螈。阿瑟轉身一看，大叫一聲，往後一跳，發現自己踩在了兔子裏面。他又大叫一聲，卻發現沒有地方可跳了。
“那也是我。”那聲音用低沉的、威脅般的口氣說道，“你似乎不瞭解……”
“瞭解？”阿瑟一驚，“瞭解？”
“……轉世的有趣之處，”那聲音惡狠狠地說，“在於多數人、多數靈魂，根本不知道有這回事。”
他停了一下，看看阿瑟有什麼反應。阿瑟覺得，自己給的反應已經夠強烈了。
“我是知道的。”那聲音嘶啞地說，“我畢竟還是知道了。慢慢地，逐漸地。”
他——不管他是誰——停了一下，深呼吸。
“我根本不可能不注意到，不是嗎？！”他吼道，“同樣的事情，重複發生，一次，一次，又一次！我每一次生命，都是被阿瑟·鄧特害死的！任何星球，任何人，任何時候，我只是呆在那兒，阿瑟·鄧特就來了，砰！他殺了我。
“不可能不注意。哪怕只剩一點點記憶，一點點暗示，一點點蛛絲馬跡！
“‘真可笑！’每一次，在鄧特所殺的又一次毫無意義的生命完結之後，我的靈魂飛回陰間，都會這麼說。‘剛纔穿過馬路、奔向我最愛的池塘時，那個跑過來的人有點面熟……’漸漸地，我把這些都拼起來了。鄧特，你這個連環殺我狂！”
他的回聲在走廊裏振盪着。阿瑟站得一動不動，渾身發冷，拼命地搖着頭，無法相信。
“就在這個時刻，鄧特，”那聲音尖叫着，充滿了瘋狂的恨意，“就在這個時刻，我終於瞭解！”
此時，在阿瑟面前展現的東西，可怕得無法言喻，嚇得他不住地喘着粗氣、嚥着唾沫。不過，必須介紹一下它是怎麼個可怕法：一個巨大、潮溼、顫巍巍的洞窟，裏面有個寬闊、柔軟、粗糙、鯨魚似的東西在翻滾，它滑過一些巨大的白色墓石。洞窟最上方，一塊岬角般的物體擡起來，在那兒能看見兩個更可怕的洞穴入口，就像是……
阿瑟突然意識到，他眼前的東西是自己的嘴巴。他剛纔並沒注意到。其實，重點是那隻正絕望地掉進去的活牡蠣。
他踉蹌着退後幾步，大叫了一聲，不由得轉過頭去。再看過去時，那駭人的影象已經消失了。長廊依然黑暗、寂靜，只有他自己和他腦中的印象。那些印象的確令人難受，絕對應該在監護人陪同下觀看。
接着，傳來一陣低沉的滾動聲，那是一面牆壁徐徐開啓的聲音。它後面露出的，依然是無盡的黑暗。阿瑟望過去，正像一隻老鼠向狗洞望過去一樣。
那個聲音又說話了。