经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第8章1

Chapter 8
In space travel, you see, said Slartibartfast, as he fiddled with some instruments in the Room of Informational Illusions, in space travel…
He stopped and looked about him.
The Room of Informational Illusions was a welcome relief after the visual monstrosities of the central computational area. There was nothing in it. No information, no illusions, just themselves, white walls and a few small instruments which looked as if they were meant to plug into something which Slartibartfast couldn’t find.
Yes? urged Arthur. He had picked up Slartibartfast’s sense of urgency but didn’t know what to do with it.
Yes what? said the old man.
You were saying?
Slartibartfast looked at him sharply.
The numbers, he said, are awful. He resumed his search.
Arthur nodded wisely to himself. After a while he realized that this wasn’t getting him anywhere and decided that he would say “what?” after all.
In space travel, repeated Slartibartfast, all the numbers are awful.
Arthur nodded again and looked round to Ford for help, but Ford was practising being sullen and getting quite good at it.
I was only, said Slartibartfast with a sigh, trying to save you the trouble of asking me why all the ship’s computations were being done on a waiter’s bill pad.
Arthur frowned.
Why, he said, were all the ship’s computations being done on a wait… –
He stopped.

第八章
“在太空旅行的时候，你瞧……”司拉提巴特法斯一边调整着“信息幻影室”里的设备，一边说，“在空间旅行的时候……”
他停下来，看着他俩。
当你经历过“电脑中枢区”那可怕的视觉冲击后，信息幻影室将是一种愉悦的安慰。这儿什么也没有。没有信息，没有幻影，只有他们三个、白色墙壁以及一点儿小小的设备。看上去，司拉提巴特法斯还没有找到它们应该插在哪儿。
“嗯？”阿瑟紧张地问道。他对司拉提巴特法斯的紧张感同身受，但不知道该怎么办。
“嗯什么？”老人问。
“你刚才说的？”
司拉提巴特法斯严肃地看着他。
“数字，”他说，“很可怕。”他继续寻找插头。
阿瑟点点头，作睿智状。过了一会儿，他意识到这毫无作用，于是还是决定问个“为什么”。
“在太空旅行的时候，”司拉提巴特法斯重复道，“所有的数字都很可怕。”
阿瑟再次点点头，然后转向福特求助。但福特正在练习郁闷，显然他做得挺好。
“我只是，”司拉提巴特法斯叹了一口气，“想避免麻烦。因为你会问我，为什么飞船上的一切运算都是在侍者的帐单上完成的。”
阿瑟皱起了眉头。
“为什么，”他说，“飞船上的一切运算都是在侍……”
他停住了。