经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第18章3

Or perhaps you remember me better, said the voice suddenly, and it was a deep, hollow malevolent voice which sounded like molten tar glurping out of a drum with evil on its mind, as the rabbit.
With a sudden ping, there was a rabbit there in the black labyrinth with him, a huge, monstrously, hideously soft and lovable rabbit an image again, but one on which every single soft and lovable hair seemed like a real and single thing growing in its soft and lovable coat. Arthur was startled to see his own reflection in its soft and lovable unblinking and extremely huge brown eyes.
Born in darkness, rumbled the voice, raised in darkness. One morning I poked my head for the first time into the bright new world and got it split open by what felt suspiciously like some primitive instrument made of flint.
Made by you, Arthur Dent, and wielded by you. Rather hard as I recall.
You turned my skin into a bag for keeping interesting stones in. I happen to know that because in my next life I came back as a fly again and you swatted me. Again. Only this time you swatted me with the bag you’d made of my previous skin.
Arthur Dent, you are not merely a cruel and heartless man, you are also staggeringly tactless.
The voice paused whilst Arthur gawped.
I see you have lost the bag, said the voice. Probably got bored with it, did you?
Arthur shook his head helplessly. He wanted to explain that he had been in fact very fond of the bag and had looked after it very well and had taken it with him wherever he went, but that somehow every time he travelled anywhere he seemed inexplicably to end up with the wrong bag and that, curiously enough, even as they stood there he was just noticing for the first time that the bag he had with him at the moment appeared to be made out of rather nasty fake leopard skin, and wasn’t the one he’d had a few moments ago before he arrived in this whatever place it was, and wasn’t one he would have chosen himself and heaven knew what would be in it as it wasn’t his, and he would much rather have his original bag back, except that he was of course terribly sorry for having so peremptorily removed it, or rather its component parts, i.e. the rabbit skin, from its previous owner, viz. the rabbit whom he currently had the honour of attempting vainly to address.
All he actually managed to say was “Erp”.
Meet the newt you trod on, said the voice.
And there was, standing in the corridor with Arthur, a giant green scaly newt. Arthur turned, yelped, leapt backwards, and found himself standing in the middle of the rabbit. He yelped again, but could find nowhere to leap to.
That was me, too, continued the voice in a low menacing rumble, as if you didn’t know…
Know? said Arthur with a start. Know?
The interesting thing about reincarnation, rasped the voice, is that most people, most spirits, are not aware that it is happening to them.
He paused for effect. As far as Arthur was concerned there was already quite enough effect going on.
I was aware, hissed the voice, that is, I became aware. Slowly. Gradually.
He, whoever he was, paused again and gathered breath.
I could hardly help it, could I? he bellowed, when the same thing kept happening, over and over and over again! Every life I ever lived, I got killed by Arthur Dent. Any world, any body, any time, I’m just getting settled down, along comes Arthur Dent pow, he kills me.
Hard not to notice. Bit of a memory jogger. Bit of a pointer. Bit of a bloody giveaway!
“That’s funny,” my spirit would say to itself as it winged its way back to the netherworld after another fruitless Dent-ended venture into the land of the living, “that man who just ran over me as I was hopping across the road to my favourite pond looked a little familiar…” And gradually I got to piece it together, Dent, you multiple-me-murderer!
The echoes of his voice roared up and down the corridors. Arthur stood silent and cold, his head shaking with disbelief.
Here’s the moment, Dent, shrieked the voice, now reaching a feverish pitch of hatred, here’s the moment when at last I knew!
It was indescribably hideous, the thing that suddenly opened up in front of Arthur, making him gasp and gargle with horror, but here’s an attempt at a description of how hideous it was. It was a huge palpitating wet cave with a vast, slimy, rough, whale-like creature rolling around it and sliding over monstrous white tombstones. High above the cave rose a vast promontory in which could be seen the dark recesses of two further fearful caves, which…
Arthur Dent suddenly realized that he was looking at his own mouth, when his attention was meant to be directed at the live oyster that was being tipped helplessly into it.
He staggered back with a cry and averted his eyes. When he looked again the appalling apparition had gone. The corridor was dark and, briefly, silent. He was alone with his thoughts. They were extremely unpleasant thoughts and would rather have had a chaperone.
The next noise, when it came, was the low heavy roll of a large section of wall trundling aside, revealing, for the moment, just dark blackness behind it. Arthur looked into it in much the same way that a mouse looks into a dark dog-kennel.
And the voice spoke to him again.

“又或者，你会记得这样的我。”对方又道。那声音低沉、诡异、恶毒，像铁桶里黑压压溢出来的沥青液似的，“一只兔子。”
砰的一声，漆黑的迷宫出显现出一只兔子，一只硕大的、怪兽般的、柔软得惊人的、可爱的兔子——同样，是幅全息图。不过，从每一丝柔软可爱的兔毛上看来，都像是一只柔软、可爱的真实的兔子。阿瑟看着自己的身影映在那双柔和可爱、一动不动的巨大褐色眼珠里，感到无比惊讶。
“我生于黑暗，”那声音低吼道，“长于黑暗。一天早上，我第一次探出头去，刚要迎接光明的新一天，就被某种像是燧石制造的史前工具砸开了花。
“是你造的，阿瑟，也是你砸的。很重，我记得。
“你用我的皮做成袋子，用来装有趣的石头。我正好知道这件事，因为我下辈子变成了一只苍蝇。你就拍死了我。又一次拍死了我。不过这次，你是用我上辈子的皮做的袋子拍的。
“阿瑟·邓特，你这个残酷冷血的人。你还蠢得惊人。”
那声音停了一下，阿瑟则是呆若木鸡。
“我知道你把袋子弄丢了。”那声音说，“大概是腻烦了吧，是吧？”
阿瑟无所适从地摇着头，他想解释说他其实相当喜欢那个袋子，而且把它打理得很好，去哪都带着。可是无论他走到什么地方，那个袋子都不知为何变成了其他袋子。更奇怪的是，就在此刻，他才注意到，它又变成了个难看的假豹纹袋子，天知道里面有什么，反正肯定不是他的。他还是喜欢最初的那个。当然，对于自己曾如此专横地把它剥下来，他感到很抱歉。哦，剥下的应该是它的原材料，即兔子皮——从它的前主人，亦即此刻这声音的主人身上。
他竭尽全力，只挤出了一个字：“呃。”
“跟你踩死的蝾螈见个面吧。”那声音又说。
于是，阿瑟身边出现了，一只庞大的、布满一格一格绿色鳞片的蝾螈。阿瑟转身一看，大叫一声，往后一跳，发现自己踩在了兔子里面。他又大叫一声，却发现没有地方可跳了。
“那也是我。”那声音用低沉的、威胁般的口气说道，“你似乎不了解……”
“了解？”阿瑟一惊，“了解？”
“……转世的有趣之处，”那声音恶狠狠地说，“在于多数人、多数灵魂，根本不知道有这回事。”
他停了一下，看看阿瑟有什么反应。阿瑟觉得，自己给的反应已经够强烈了。
“我是知道的。”那声音嘶哑地说，“我毕竟还是知道了。慢慢地，逐渐地。”
他——不管他是谁——停了一下，深呼吸。
“我根本不可能不注意到，不是吗？！”他吼道，“同样的事情，重复发生，一次，一次，又一次！我每一次生命，都是被阿瑟·邓特害死的！任何星球，任何人，任何时候，我只是呆在那儿，阿瑟·邓特就来了，砰！他杀了我。
“不可能不注意。哪怕只剩一点点记忆，一点点暗示，一点点蛛丝马迹！
“‘真可笑！’每一次，在邓特所杀的又一次毫无意义的生命完结之后，我的灵魂飞回阴间，都会这么说。‘刚才穿过马路、奔向我最爱的池塘时，那个跑过来的人有点面熟……’渐渐地，我把这些都拼起来了。邓特，你这个连环杀我狂！”
他的回声在走廊里振荡着。阿瑟站得一动不动，浑身发冷，拼命地摇着头，无法相信。
“就在这个时刻，邓特，”那声音尖叫着，充满了疯狂的恨意，“就在这个时刻，我终于了解！”
此时，在阿瑟面前展现的东西，可怕得无法言喻，吓得他不住地喘着粗气、咽着唾沫。不过，必须介绍一下它是怎么个可怕法：一个巨大、潮湿、颤巍巍的洞窟，里面有个宽阔、柔软、粗糙、鲸鱼似的东西在翻滚，它滑过一些巨大的白色墓石。洞窟最上方，一块岬角般的物体抬起来，在那儿能看见两个更可怕的洞穴入口，就像是……
阿瑟突然意识到，他眼前的东西是自己的嘴巴。他刚才并没注意到。其实，重点是那只正绝望地掉进去的活牡蛎。
他踉跄着退后几步，大叫了一声，不由得转过头去。再看过去时，那骇人的影象已经消失了。长廊依然黑暗、寂静，只有他自己和他脑中的印象。那些印象的确令人难受，绝对应该在监护人陪同下观看。
接着，传来一阵低沉的滚动声，那是一面墙壁徐徐开启的声音。它后面露出的，依然是无尽的黑暗。阿瑟望过去，正像一只老鼠向狗洞望过去一样。
那个声音又说话了。