經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第9章4

Zaphod nodded. He took out his Peril Sensitive Sunglasses again. They were completely black, and by now quite badly scratched by the unexpected metal object in his pocket. He put them on. He would find his way down the building more comfortably if he didn’t actually have to look at what he was doing. Minutes later he clambered over the ripped and mangled foundations of the building and, once more removing his sunglasses, he dropped to the ground.
Marvin joined him a moment or so later and lay face down in the dust and rubble, from which position he seemed too disinclined to move.
“Ah, there you are,” said the voice suddenly in Zaphod’s ear, “excuse me leaving you like that, it’s just that I have a terrible head for heights. At least,” it added wistfully, “I did have a terrible head for heights.”
Zaphod looked around slowly and carefully, just to see if he had missed something which might be the source of the voice. All he saw, however, was the dust, the rubble and the towering hulks of the encircling buildings.
“Hey, er, why can’t I see you?” he said, “why aren’t you here?”
“I am here,” said the voice slowly, “my body wanted to come but it’s a bit busy at the moment. Things to do, people to see.” After what seemed like a sort of ethereal sigh it added, “You know how it is with bodies.”
Zaphod wasn’t sure about this.
“I thought I did,” he said.
“I only hope it’s gone for a rest cure,” continued the voice, “the way it’s been living recently it must be on its last elbows.”
“Elbows?” said Zaphod, “don’t you mean last legs?”
The voice said nothing for a while. Zaphod looked around uneasily. He didn’t know if it was gone or was still there or what it was doing. Then the voice spoke again.
“So, you are to be put into the Vortex, yes?”
“Er, well,” said Zaphod with a very poor attempt at nonchalance, “this cat’s in no hurry, you know. I can just slouch about and take in a look at the local scenery, you know?”
“Have you seen the local scenery?” asked the voice of Gargravarr.
“Er, no.”
Zaphod clambered over the rubble, and rounded the corner of one of the wrecked buildings that was obscuring his view.
He looked out at the landscape of Frogstar World B.
“Ah, OK,” he said, “I’ll just sort of slouch about then.”
“No,” said Gargravarr, “the Vortex is ready for you now. You must come. Follow me.”
“Er, yeah?” said Zaphod, “and how am I meant to do that?”
“I’ll hum for you,” said Gargravarr, “follow the humming.”
A soft keening sound drifted through the air, a pale, sad sound that seemed to be without any kind of focus. It was only by listening very carefully that Zaphod was able to detect the direction from which it was coming. Slowly, dazedly, he stumbled off in its wake. What else was there to do?

贊福德點了點頭，他掏出自己的危險感應太陽鏡，鏡片已經完全變黑，並且被口袋裏的那塊不明金屬刮花了一大片。他戴上太陽鏡，如果看不見自己在做什麼的話，他會感到自己爬下大樓的路程要更舒適點兒，幾分鐘過後，他翻過跳到地面上然後摘下太陽鏡。
馬文緊跟着他，稍微慢—拍，也跳了下來，面朝下栽倒在灰塵和瓦礫中，看樣於是再也不願從這個位置上挪開了。
“噢，你下來了。”那個聲音突然出現在贊福德的耳朵裏，“請原諒我剛纔把你像那樣扔在那兒，因爲我這顆腦袋患了嚴重的恐高症；至少，”它發愁地又加上一句，“過去，我的腦袋患了嚴重的恐高症。”
贊福德緩慢而仔細地環顧四周，想看看自己是否遺漏了什麼有可能是這聲音的來源的東西。但他見到的只有塵埃、瓦礫、以及難看地立在四周的建築物廢墟。
“呃，嗯，爲什麼我看不見你呢？”他說，“你爲什麼不在這裏？”
”我在這裏，”這聲音緩慢地說，“我的身體其實也想來的，但它此刻有點兒忙。它有事兒要做，有人要見。”聽上去似乎是一聲縹緲的嘆息之後，它又補充了一句，“這些身體是怎麼回事，不說你也知道。”
贊福德不太確定這一點。
“我想我知道。”他說。
“我只希望它已經進入靜養狀態了，”這聲音繼續說道：“最近這毆時間，它過的是什麼日子啊！肯定癱了，只能靠它的後肘勉強支撐。”
“後肘？”贊福德說，“你是說後腿嗎？”
這聲音沉默了一陣一讚福德心神不定地東張西望。他不知道它是否已經離開了，或者還在這兒，又或者正在幹些什麼。然後，這聲音又出現了。
“那麼，你將被投進旋渦。是這樣嗎？”
“呃，哦，”贊福德儘量裝出一副漠不關心的腔調（但卻收效甚徽），“這件事倒是不急，你知道。我可以先在這附近隨便逛逛，你知道，看看當地的風景。”
“你看過這裏的風景了嗎？”伽古拙瓦的聲音問道。
“嗯，沒有。”
贊福德翻過瓦礫堆，繞過擋住他視線的一座建築物廢墟的一角。
他向外望去，看到了蛙星系B世界的景觀。
“好的，”他說，“接下來，我就要四處逛逛了。”
“不行，”伽古拉瓦說：“旋渦現在已經爲你準備好了。你必須去。跟我來。”
“嗯，什麼？”贊桶德說：“可我怎麼跟你來？”
“我會‘哼哼’，”伽古拉瓦說：“跟着我的哼哼聲就行。”
一個略微有些悲哀的聲音飄蕩在空氣中，朦朧而又傷感，彷彿沒有任何焦點。贊榍德只有凝神細聽，才能夠察覺出它傳來的方向。就這樣，緩慢地，茫然地，他跌跌撞撞地跟隨着這個聲音。除此之外，他又能做什麼呢？