經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第8章1

Chapter 8
In space travel, you see, said SlArtibartfast, as he fiddled with some instruments in the Room of Informational Illusions, in space travel…
He stopped and looked about him.
The Room of Informational Illusions was a welcome relief after the visual monstrosities of the central computational area. There was nothing in it. No information, no illusions, just themselves, white walls and a few small instruments which looked as if they were meant to plug into something which Slartibartfast couldn’t find.
Yes? urged Arthur. He had picked up Slartibartfast’s sense of urgency but didn’t know what to do with it.
Yes what? said the old man.
You were saying?
Slartibartfast looked at him sharply.
The numbers, he said, are awful. He resumed his search.
Arthur nodded wisely to himself. After a while he realized that this wasn’t getting him anywhere and decided that he would say “what?” after all.
In space travel, repeated Slartibartfast, all the numbers are awful.
Arthur nodded again and looked round to Ford for help, but Ford was practising being sullen and getting quite good at it.
I was only, said Slartibartfast with a sigh, trying to save you the trouble of asking me why all the ship’s computations were being done on a waiter’s bill pad.
Arthur frowned.
Why, he said, were all the ship’s computations being done on a wait… –
He stopped.

第八章
“在太空旅行的時候，你瞧……”司拉提巴特法斯一邊調整着“信息幻影室”裏的設備，一邊說，“在空間旅行的時候……”
他停下來，看着他倆。
當你經歷過“電腦中樞區”那可怕的視覺衝擊後，信息幻影室將是一種愉悅的安慰。這兒什麼也沒有。沒有信息，沒有幻影，只有他們三個、白色牆壁以及一點兒小小的設備。看上去，司拉提巴特法斯還沒有找到它們應該插在哪兒。
“嗯？”阿瑟緊張地問道。他對司拉提巴特法斯的緊張感同身受，但不知道該怎麼辦。
“嗯什麼？”老人問。
“你剛纔說的？”
司拉提巴特法斯嚴肅地看着他。
“數字，”他說，“很可怕。”他繼續尋找插頭。
阿瑟點點頭，作睿智狀。過了一會兒，他意識到這毫無作用，於是還是決定問個“爲什麼”。
“在太空旅行的時候，”司拉提巴特法斯重複道，“所有的數字都很可怕。”
阿瑟再次點點頭，然後轉向福特求助。但福特正在練習鬱悶，顯然他做得挺好。
“我只是，”司拉提巴特法斯嘆了一口氣，“想避免麻煩。因爲你會問我，爲什麼飛船上的一切運算都是在侍者的帳單上完成的。”
阿瑟皺起了眉頭。
“爲什麼，”他說，“飛船上的一切運算都是在侍……”
他停住了。