經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第22章3

“That noise. That stomping throb. Pounding feet. Listen!”
Arthur listened. The noise echoed round the corridor at them from an indeterminate distance. It was the muffled sound of pounding footsteps, and it was noticeably louder.
“Let’s move,” said Ford sharply. They both moved – in opposite directions.
“Not that way,” said Ford, “that’s where they’re coming from.”
“No it’s not,” said Arthur, “They’re coming from that way.”
“They’re not, they’re…”
They both stopped. They both turned. They both listened intently. They both agreed with each other. They both set off into opposite directions again.
Fear gripped them.
From both directions the noise was getting louder.
A few yards to their left another corridor ran at right angles to the inner wall. They ran to it and hurried along it. It was dark, immensely long and, as they passed down it, gave them the impression that it was getting colder and colder. Other corridors gave off it to the left and right, each very dark and each subjecting them to sharp blasts of icy air as they passed.
They stopped for a moment in alarm. The further down the corridor they went, the louder became the sound of pounding feet.
They pressed themselves back against the cold wall and listened furiously. The cold, the dark and the drumming of disembodied feet was getting to them badly. Ford shivered, partly with the cold, but partly with the memory of stories his favourite mother used to tell him when he was a mere slip of a Betelgeusian, ankle high to an Arcturan Megagrasshopper: stories of dead ships, haunted hulks that roamed restlessly round the obscurer regions of deep space infested with demons or the ghosts of forgotten crews; stories too of incautious travellers who found and entered such ships; stories of… – then Ford remembered the brown hessian wall weave in the first corridor and pulled himself together. However ghosts and demons may choose to decorate their death hulks, he thought to himself, he would lay any money you liked it wasn’t with hessian wall weave. He grasped Arthur by the arm.
“Back the way we came,” he said firmly and they started to retrace their steps.

“就是那個聲音，那個砰砰亂蹦的聲音，是在跺腳。聽！”
阿瑟尖起耳朵聽。那聲音從一個不太確定的距離傳來，迴盪在整個走廊裏。那是一種被壓低了的跺腳走步聲，並且越來越響。
“咱們走：”福特斷然説。他們同時邁出步子—但卻朝着相反的方向。
“不是那邊，”福特説，“那邊是他們來的方向。”
“不，不是的，”阿瑟説，“他們是從你那邊來的。”
“不是，他們－－”
兩人都停了下來，兩人都轉過身，兩人都專心地聽，兩人都同意對方的意見，兩人再次朝着相反的方向出發。
恐懼牢牢地抓住了他們倆。
從兩個方向，那聲音都越來越響。
他們左手邊幾碼以外的地方，另一條走廊和內牆呈直角方向延伸開去。他們跑進去，順着它匆匆前進。這條走廊很暗，非常長。隨着他們的深入，給他們的感覺是變得越來越冷。另一些走廊從它的左邊和右邊岔開，每一條都很暗，他們經過時，只覺得從裏面襲來一陣陣刺骨的寒氣。
他們停了一會兒，凝神細聽。他們進人這條走廊越深，腳步聲就變得越響。
他們靠在冰冷的牆上，專注地傾聽着。寒冷、黑暗，加上這種不斷敲擊的空洞的腳步聲，讓他們感到非常難受。福特在顫抖，部分是因為冷，還有一部分是因為他想起了親愛的媽媽曾經講給他聽的那些故事。那時，他還只是參宿四上的一個小屁孩兒，站起來只有大角星微型偵察機那麼高。那些故事講的是死船和神出鬼沒的幽靈船，它們永不停止地飄蕩在外太空的幽暗區域，上面出沒着邪惡的魔鬼和被遺忘了的船員的鬼魂。還有關於那些莽撞的旅行者的故事。他們發現了這樣的飛船，進去了：還有其他故事——但就在這時，福特想起了第一條走廊上的褐色粗麻布牆紙，這才振作起來，就算鬼魂和魔鬼有興致裝飾自己的死船，他想，也絕不可能用這種褐色粗麻布牆紙。他敢打這個賭，賭多少錢都願意。他一把抓住阿瑟的胳膊。
“咱們退回去。”他堅定地説，於是他們開始沿着原來的路線返回。