经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第13章

So you see, said Slartibartfast, slowly stirring his artificially constructed coffee, and thereby also stirring the whirlpool interfaces between real and unreal numbers, between the interactive perceptions of mind and Universe, and thus generating the restructured matrices of implicitly enfolded subjectivity which allowed his ship to reshape the very concept of time and space, how it is.
Yes, said Arthur.
Yes, said Ford.
What do I do, said Arthur, with this piece of chicken?
Slartibartfast glanced at him gravely.
Toy with it, he said, toy with it.
He demonstrated with his own piece.
Arthur did so, and felt the slight tingle of a mathematical function thrilling through the chicken leg as it moved four-dimensionally through what Slartibartfast had assured him was five-dimensional space.
Overnight, said Slartibartfast, the whole population of Krikkit was transformed from being charming, delightful, intelligent…
…if whimsical… interpolated Arthur.
…ordinary people, said Slartibartfast, into charming, delightful, intelligent…
…whimsical…
…manic xenophobes. The idea of a Universe didn’t fit into their world picture, so to speak. They simply couldn’t cope with it. And so, charmingly, delightfully, intelligently, whimsically if you like, they decided to destroy it. What’s the matter now?
I don’t like the wine very much, said Arthur sniffing it.
Well, send it back. It’s all part of the mathematics of it.
Arthur did so. He didn’t like the topography of the waiter’s smile, but he’d never liked graphs anyway.
Where are we going? said Ford.
Back to the Room of Informational Illusions, said Slartibartfast, rising and patting his mouth with the mathematical representation of a paper napkin, for the second half.

“看见了吧。” 司拉提巴特法斯说着，一边慢慢搅着一杯模拟咖啡——同时也搅动着真实与非真实数字之间的旋涡界面，从而聚集了重组的内含矩阵、矩阵中包孕着主体性，从而飞船就能重塑时间与空间。“明白是怎么回事了吧。”
“看见了。”阿瑟说。
“看见了。”福特说。
“我要怎么……”阿瑟问道，“……弄这块鸡肉？”
司拉提巴特法斯严肃地看着他。
“拨弄它。”他说，“拨弄它。”
他用自己手上那块进行示范。
阿瑟照做。于是，他感到一丝数学函数颤栗地穿过鸡腿，四维地通过空间——司拉提巴特法斯告诉过他，空间其实其实是五维的。
“一夜之间，”司拉提巴特法斯接着说，“所有的版求人都变了。从可爱、快乐、智慧……”
“……不如说怪异……。”阿瑟插嘴道。
“……的正常人，” 司拉提巴特法斯说，“变成了可爱、快乐、智慧……”
“……怪异……”
“……的躁狂排外分子。宇宙的概念不符合他们的世界观。他们就是受不了。于是，可爱、快乐、智慧——如果你喜欢的话，怪异——的版求人，决定摧毁宇宙。又怎么了？”
“我不太喜欢这酒。”阿瑟闻着酒，说道。
“那么，搁回去吧。它是数学的一部分。”
阿瑟照做了。他不喜欢机器侍者那张笑脸上的图表，他从来都不喜欢图表。
“我们去哪儿？”福特问。
“回到信息幻影室。” 司拉提巴特法斯用一张数学演算出的餐巾纸擦擦嘴，“去看后半段。”