經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第29章5

Zarniwoop ticked off a note on the paper. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Ah,” said the man, “this is a question about the past is it?”
Zarniwoop looked at him in puzzlement. This wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting.
“Yes,” he said.
“How can I tell,” said the man, “that the past isn’t a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?”
Zarniwoop stared at him. The steam began to rise from his sodden clothes.
“So you answer all questions like this?” he said.
The man answered quickly. “I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More I cannot say.”
Zaphod laughed happily.
“I’ll drink to that,” he said and pulled out the bottle of Janx spirit. He leaped up and handed the bottle to the ruler of the Universe, who took it with pleasure.
“Good on you, great ruler,” he said, “tell it like it is.”
“No, listen to me,” said Zarniwoop, “people come to you do they? In ships…”
“I think so,” said the man. He handed the bottle to Trillian.
“And they ask you,” said Zarniwoop, “to take decisions for them? About people’s lives, about worlds, about economies, about wars, about everything going on out there in the Universe?”
“Out there?” said the man, “out where?”
“Out there!” said Zarniwoop pointing at the door.
“How can you tell there’s anything out there,” said the man politely, “the door’s closed.”
The rain continued to pound the roof. Inside the shack it was warm.
“But you know there’s a whole Universe out there!” cried Zarniwoop. “You can’t dodge your responsibilities by saying they don’t exist!”
The ruler of the Universe thought for a long while whilst Zarniwoop quivered with anger.
“You’re very sure of your facts,” he said at last, “I couldn’t trust the thinking of a man who takes the Universe – if there is one – for granted.”
Zarniwoop still quivered, but was silent.
“I only decide about my Universe,” continued the man quietly. “My Universe is my eyes and my ears. Anything else is hearsay.”
“But don’t you believe in anything?”
The man shrugged and picked up his cat.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” he said.
“You don’t understand that what you decide in this shack of yours affects the lives and fates of millions of people? This is all monstrously wrong!”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met all these people you speak of. And neither, I suspect, have you. They only exist in words we hear. It is folly to say you know what is happening to other people. Only they know, if they exist. They have their own Universes of their own eyes and ears.”

扎尼鳥普在紙上做了一個記號：“你這麼做有多長時間了？”
“哦，”這人說，“這是一個關於過去的問是嗎？”
扎尼烏普疑惑地看着他。這可不是他所期待的場面。
“是的。”他說。
“我怎麼知道，”這人說，“過去不是爲了解釋我當前的身體感知和我的思想狀態之間的矛盾而虛構出來的呢‘”
扎尼烏普盯着他。水汽開始從他溼透的衣服上升起來。
“你回答所有問題時都這樣嗎？”他說。
這人很快地回答：“當我覺得別人在對我說話時，我就會說出我覺得應該說的話。其他的我就不好說了。”
贊福德開心地笑了。
“爲這句話，我得喝一口。”他說，然後掏出那瓶傑克斯酒。他跳起來，把酒瓶遞給宇宙的統治者，這人愉快地喝了一口。
“好樣的，偉大的統治者，”他說，“有話直說，不藏着掖着。”
“不，聽我說，”扎尼烏普說，“人們常常來找你，是嗎，那些飛船……”
“我想是的。”這人說。他把酒瓶遞給崔莉恩。
“他們是不是要求你，”扎尼烏普繼續問道，“爲他們做出種種決定？關於人們的生活，關於各個世界，關於經濟，關於戰爭，關於在這外面的宇宙中所發生的一切事情。”
”這外面？”這人問，“哪個外面？”
“這外面！”扎尼烏普指着門說。
“你怎麼知道在這外面存在任何事物呢，”這人禮貌地反問道，“門是關着的。”
雨繼續打在屋頂上。屋子裏面倒是很暖和。
“可是你知道的，這外面有整個宇宙！”扎尼烏普叫道，“你不能用說他們不存在來逃避你的責任！”
宇宙的統治者考慮了很長時間，而扎尼烏普則在一邊氣得發抖，
“你對你所認爲的事實非常確定，”他最終說道，“但我不能相信一個將宇宙——如果那兒確實存在着一個宇宙的話——視爲理所當然的人的想法，”
扎尼烏普仍然顫抖着，但卻保持了沉默。
“我只能決定我的宇宙。”這人靜靜地繼續說道，“我的宇宙是我的眼睛和我的耳朵其他任何東西都只是道聽途說。”
“可體難道不信仰任何東西嗎，”
這人聳了聳肩，抱起他的貓。
“我不明白你是什麼意思。”他說。
“你難道不明白嗎？你在你過問小屋中決定的事，將會影響到億萬人的生活和命運！”
“我不知道。我從來沒有遇見過你說的這些人。並且，我猜想，你也沒有。他們只存在於我們所聽到的詞句中。說你知道在別人身上正在發生些什麼，這實在太荒唐了。只有他們自己知道，如果他們真的存在的話。他們有他們自己的宇宙，來自他們自己的眼睛和耳朵。”