经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第22章2

Finally he came to the corner, and as his hand rounded the corner it encountered something which gave him such a shock that he nearly fell straight off. It was another hand.
The two hands gripped each other.
He desperately wanted to use his other hand to pull the towel back from his eyes, but it was holding the hold-all with the olive oil, the retsina and the postcards from Santorini, and he very much didn’t want to put it down.
He experienced one of those “self” moments, one of those moments when you suddenly turn around and look at yourself and think “Who am I? What am I up to? What have I achieved? Am I doing well?” He whimpered very slightly.
He tried to free his hand, but he couldn’t. The other hand was holding his tightly. He had no recourse but to edge onwards towards the corner. He leaned around it and shook his head in an attempt to dislodge the towel. This seemed to provoke a sharp cry of some unfashionable emotion from the owner of the other hand.
The towel was whipped from his head and he found his eyes peering into those of Ford Prefect. Beyond him stood Slartibartfast, and beyond them he could clearly see a porchway and a large closed door.
They were both pressed back against the wall, eyes wild with terror as they stared out into the thick blind cloud around them, and tried to resist the lurching and swaying of the building.
Where the zarking photon have you been? hissed Ford, panic stricken.
Er, well, stuttered Arthur, not really knowing how to sum it all up that briefly. Here and there. What are you doing here?
Ford turned his wild eyes on Arthur again.
They won’t let us in without a bottle, he hissed.
The first thing Arthur noticed as they entered into the thick of the party, apart from the noise, the suffocating heat, the wild profusion of colours that protruded dimly through the atmosphere of heavy smoke, the carpets thick with ground glass, ash and avocado droppings, and the small group of pterodactyl-like creatures in lurex who descended on his cherished bottle of retsina, squawking, “A new pleasure, a new pleasure”, was Trillian being chatted up by a Thunder God.
Didn’t I see you at Milliways? he was saying.
Were you the one with the hammer?
Yes. I much prefer it here. So much less reputable, so much more fraught.
Squeals of some hideous pleasure rang around the room, the outer dimensions of which were invisible through the heaving throng of happy, noisy creatures, cheerfully yelling things that nobody could hear at each other and occasionally having crises.
Seems fun, said Trillian. What did you say, Arthur?
I said, how the hell did you get here?
I was a row of dots flowing randomly through the Universe. Have you met Thor? He makes thunder.
Hello, said Arthur. I expect that must be very interesting.
Hi, said Thor. It is. Have you got a drink?
Er, no actually…

终于到达墙角。那只手转过墙角，突然碰到一样东西，吓得他差点掉下去。那是另一只手。
两只手握在一起。
他很想用另一只手把毛巾扯下来，可那只手正抓着旅行包，包里还有橄榄油、葡萄酒和圣托里尼的明信片，他绝不肯放下这些东西。
他心中涌起一种“自我意识”——就是当你蓦然回首，反观内心，思考“我是谁？我追求什么？我得到了什么？我做得好吗”的意识。他发出轻轻的呜咽声。
他想把手抽出来，可是没法子，对方的手握得很紧。他别无选择，只得继续前进。他倚着墙，用力甩头，想把毛巾甩下来。这一举动似乎让那位陌生人为之一惊，发出了一声尖厉的呼喊。
毛巾呼地掉了下来，阿瑟这才发现，自己正与福特·长官四目相对。福特身后是司拉提巴特法斯，两人身后，便是一条迎宾大道，通向一扇关着的大门。
他俩往墙上一靠，一边惊魂未定地望着那遮天蔽日的云层，一边抵御着大楼的晃动。
“他赞光的你上哪儿去了？福特嘶哑地问道，心有余悸。
“呃，嗯……”阿瑟吞吞吐吐。他不知如何用一句话概括，“一些地方。你们在这儿干嘛？”
福特很不爽地看着阿瑟。
“我们没有酒，不让进。”他嘶声道。
当三人加入派对之后，阿瑟所注意到的东西有：嘈杂，令人窒息的温度，烟雾沉沉中透出的五颜六色，洒着碎玻璃、烟灰和鳄梨汁的地毯，一群穿着金银纱的翼手龙形态的生物——他们争相豪饮阿瑟带来的那瓶珍贵的希腊酒，激动万分地嚷着“新玩意儿！新玩意儿！”而他最最注意的则是崔莉安，雷神正在搭讪她。
“我是不是在‘天尽头’见过你？”那个人说。
“你是拿锤子的那个人？”
“没错。我更喜欢那儿。少一些堕落，多一些悲悯。”
室内充斥着令人眩晕的噪音。欢乐的人群摩肩擦踵，喧哗的各种生物，多得让人看不见屋子的另一端。欢笑声震耳欲聋，人们听不见彼此说话的声音，所以常常出现问题。
“挺有趣的。”崔莉安说，“你说什么，阿瑟？”
“我说，你怎么在这儿？”
“我在宇宙中做随机运动。你见过托尔①了吗？他是管打雷的。”
“你好，”阿瑟说，“我想那一定很有趣。”
“嗨，”托尔说，“的确有趣。你有酒吗？”
“嗯，没……”