经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第8章2

Slartibartfast said:
Because in space travel all the numbers are awful.
He could tell that he wasn’t getting his point across.
Listen, he said. On a waiter’s bill pad numbers dance. You must have encountered the phenomenon.
Well…
On a waiter’s bill pad, said Slartibartfast, reality and unreality collide on such a fundamental level that each becomes the other and anything is possible, within certain parameters.
What parameters?
It’s impossible to say, said Slartibartfast. That’s one of them. Strange but true. At least, I think it’s strange, he added, and I’m assured that it’s true.
At that moment he located the slot in the wall for which he had been searching, and clicked the instrument he was holding into it.
Do not be alarmed, he said, and then suddenly darted an alarmed look at himself, and lunged back, it’s…
They didn’t hear what he said, because at that moment the ship winked out of existence around them and a star-battle-ship the size of a small Midlands industrial city plunged out of the sundered night towards them, star lasers ablaze.
They gaped, pop-eyed, and were unable to scream.

司拉提巴特法斯说：
“因为在太空旅行中，所有的数字都是可怕的。”
老人知道，他终究还是免不了麻烦。
“听着，”他说，“侍者帐单上的数字是会跳舞的。你一定遭遇过这种情形……”
“嗯……”
“在侍者的帐单上，”司拉提巴特法斯道，“真实与不真实，发生着极其深层的冲突。二者相互转化，一切都有可能，只要有特定的参数。”
“什么参数？”
“难以说清。”司拉提巴特法斯说，“它自己也是其中之一。很奇怪，但是事实。至少，我认为它很奇怪，我也确信它是事实。”
此时他终于找准了墙上的插孔，把他手上拿着的装置按了进去。
“别慌张。”他说着，自己的神情却突然有些慌张。他深吸一口气：“它是……”
另外两人没有听见他说的话，因为飞船瞬间变得无影无踪，一艘有内陆工业城市那么大的星际战斗飞船，凭空出现在他们面前那分成一块块的夜空中，激光武器正在猛力开火。
他俩张大了嘴，瞪圆了眼，叫也叫不出来。