經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第13章

So you see, said SlArtibartfast, slowly stirring his artificially constructed coffee, and thereby also stirring the whirlpool interfaces between real and unreal numbers, between the interactive perceptions of mind and Universe, and thus generating the restructured matrices of implicitly enfolded subjectivity which allowed his ship to reshape the very concept of time and space, how it is.
Yes, said Arthur.
Yes, said Ford.
What do I do, said Arthur, with this piece of chicken?
Slartibartfast glanced at him gravely.
Toy with it, he said, toy with it.
He demonstrated with his own piece.
Arthur did so, and felt the slight tingle of a mathematical function thrilling through the chicken leg as it moved four-dimensionally through what Slartibartfast had assured him was five-dimensional space.
Overnight, said Slartibartfast, the whole population of Krikkit was transformed from being charming, delightful, intelligent…
…if whimsical… interpolated Arthur.
…ordinary people, said Slartibartfast, into charming, delightful, intelligent…
…whimsical…
…manic xenophobes. The idea of a Universe didn’t fit into their world picture, so to speak. They simply couldn’t cope with it. And so, charmingly, delightfully, intelligently, whimsically if you like, they decided to destroy it. What’s the matter now?
I don’t like the wine very much, said Arthur sniffing it.
Well, send it back. It’s all part of the mathematics of it.
Arthur did so. He didn’t like the topography of the waiter’s smile, but he’d never liked graphs anyway.
Where are we going? said Ford.
Back to the Room of Informational Illusions, said Slartibartfast, rising and patting his mouth with the mathematical representation of a paper napkin, for the second half.

“看見了吧。” 司拉提巴特法斯說着，一邊慢慢攪着一杯模擬咖啡——同時也攪動着真實與非真實數字之間的旋渦界面，從而聚集了重組的內含矩陣、矩陣中包孕着主體性，從而飛船就能重塑時間與空間。“明白是怎麼回事了吧。”
“看見了。”阿瑟說。
“看見了。”福特說。
“我要怎麼……”阿瑟問道，“……弄這塊雞肉？”
司拉提巴特法斯嚴肅地看着他。
“撥弄它。”他說，“撥弄它。”
他用自己手上那塊進行示範。
阿瑟照做。於是，他感到一絲數學函數顫慄地穿過雞腿，四維地通過空間——司拉提巴特法斯告訴過他，空間其實其實是五維的。
“一夜之間，”司拉提巴特法斯接着說，“所有的版求人都變了。從可愛、快樂、智慧……”
“……不如說怪異……。”阿瑟插嘴道。
“……的正常人，” 司拉提巴特法斯說，“變成了可愛、快樂、智慧……”
“……怪異……”
“……的躁狂排外分子。宇宙的概念不符合他們的世界觀。他們就是受不了。於是，可愛、快樂、智慧——如果你喜歡的話，怪異——的版求人，決定摧毀宇宙。又怎麼了？”
“我不太喜歡這酒。”阿瑟聞着酒，說道。
“那麼，擱回去吧。它是數學的一部分。”
阿瑟照做了。他不喜歡機器侍者那張笑臉上的圖表，他從來都不喜歡圖表。
“我們去哪兒？”福特問。
“回到信息幻影室。” 司拉提巴特法斯用一張數學演算出的餐巾紙擦擦嘴，“去看後半段。”