經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第4章(3)

I’m home, said Arthur hoarsely. He closed his eyes and greedily inhaled the steam from his tea as if it was well, as far as Arthur was concerned, as if it was tea, which it was.
I’m home, he repeated, home. It’s England, it’s today, the nightmare is over. He opened his eyes again and smiled serenely. I’m where I belong, he said in an emotional whisper.
There are two things I fell which I should tell you, said Ford, tossing a copy of the Guardian over the table at him.
I’m home, said Arthur.
Yes, said Ford. One is, he said pointing at the date at the top of the paper, that the Earth will be demolished in two days’ time.
I’m home, said Arthur. Tea, he said, cricket, he added with pleasure, mown grass, wooden benches, white linen jackets, beer cans…
Slowly he began to focus on the newspaper. He cocked his head on one side with a slight frown.
I’ve seen that one before, he said. His eyes wandered slowly up to the date, which Ford was idly tapping at. His face froze for a second or two and then began to do that terribly slow crashing trick which Arctic ice-floes do so spectacularly in the spring.
And the other thing, said Ford, is that you appear to have a bone in your beard. He tossed back his tea.
Outside the refreshment tent, the sun was shining on a happy crowd. It shone on white hats and red faces. It shone on ice lollies and melted them. It shone on the tears of small children whose ice lollies had just melted and fallen off the stick. It shone on the trees, it flashed off whirling cricket bats, it gleamed off the utterly extraordinary object which was parked behind the sight-screens and which nobody appeared to have noticed. It beamed on Ford and Arthur as they emerged blinking from the refreshment tent and surveyed the scene around them.
Arthur was shaking.
Perhaps, he said, I should…
No, said Ford sharply.
What? said Arthur.
Don’t try and phone yourself up at home.
How did you know?…
Ford shrugged.
But why not? said Arthur.
People who talk to themselves on the phone, said Ford, never learn anything to their advantage.
But…

“我到家了。”阿瑟沙啞地說，他閉上眼睛，貪婪地吸着茶的水汽，就好象……嗯，正如阿瑟所想，就好象它真的是一杯茶。而它的確也是。
“我到家了。”他重複着，“家。這裏是英格蘭。這是今天。噩夢結束了。”他再次睜開眼，發自肺腑地笑了，“我在我自己的地方了。”他深情地低語道。
“有兩件事我覺得應該告訴你。”福特隔着桌子扔給他一份《衛報》。
“我到家了。”阿瑟說。
“是的。”福特說，“一件是，”他指着報頭的日期，“地球將在兩天之後被毀滅。”
“我到家了。”阿瑟說，“茶，”他說，“板球，”他開心地接着說，“割過的草坪，木頭長椅，白色亞麻夾克，罐裝啤酒……”
慢慢地，他注意到了報紙。他輕輕皺着眉頭，歪了歪腦袋。
“我見過那個。”他的目光遊移到日期上，福特正懶洋洋地敲着這個日期。阿瑟的臉僵住了幾秒鐘，然後他的面部表情開始扭曲，就像春天到來，北極地區大片的浮冰之間那種壯觀的碰撞和碎裂一樣。
“另一件，”福特說，“就是你鬍子上好象有塊骨頭。”他把茶端了回去。
在護理帳篷之外，陽光正照射在快樂的人羣身上，照射在白色的帽子和紅色的臉龐上，照射在冰棍上，烤化了它們。它還照射在因爲冰棍融化、從棍子上掉了下來而大哭的孩子的淚珠上。它照射在樹上，它使揮來揮去的板球拍閃閃發光。它照耀着那個超級不同尋常的、停泊在助視屏後面的物體，而且似乎沒人注意到這個物體。它照耀在從帳篷裏向外探頭探腦的福特和阿瑟，兩人正查看周圍的情況。
阿瑟在發抖。
“也許，”他說，“我應該……”
“不行。”福特犀利地說。
“什麼？”阿瑟問。
“不要試着給在家的自己打電話。”
“你怎麼知道……？”
福特聳聳肩。
“可是爲什麼？”阿瑟說。
“那些給自己打電話的人，”福特說，“都沒得到什麼好處。”
“可是……”