经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第34章2(END)
“Listen, forget it,” said Ford, “forget all of it. Nothing matters. Look, it’s a beautiful day, enjoy it. The sun, the green of the hills, the river down in the valley, the burning trees.”
“Even if it’s only a dream, it’s a pretty horrible idea,” said Mella, “destroying a world just to make a bypass.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of worse,” said Ford, “I read of one planet off in the seventh dimension that got used as a ball in a game of intergalactic bar billiards. Got potted straight into a black hole. Killed ten billion people.”
“That’s mad,” said Mella.
“Yes, only scored thirty points too.”
Agda and Mella exchanged glances.
“Look,” said Agda, “there’s a party after the committee meeting tonight. You can come along if you like.”
“Yeah, OK,” said Ford.
“I’d like to,” said Arthur.
Many hours later Arthur and Mella sat and watched the moon rise over the dull red glow of the trees.
“That story about the world being destroyed…” began Mella.
“In two million years, yes.”
“You say it as if you really think it’s true.”
“Yes, I think it is. I think I was there.”
She shook her head in puzzlement.
“You’re very strange,” she said.
“No, I’m very ordinary,” said Arthur, “but some very strange things have happened to me. You could say I’m more differed from than differing.”
“And that other world your friend talked about, the one that got pushed into a black hole.”
“Ah, that I don’t know about. It sounds like something from the book.”
“What book?”
Arthur paused.
“The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” he said at last.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, just something I threw into the river this evening. I don’t think I’ll be wanting it any more,” said Arthur Dent.
“听着，忘掉这些吧”福特说，“忘掉所有这些废话。没什么要紧的。瞧，多么美妙的一天，享受它吧。这太阳，这群山的绿色，这山谷中自々河流，还有正在燃烧的树木；”
“就算做梦梦见这种事，都太可怕了：”梅托说，“毁掉一个世界，只为了修建一条通道，”
“噢，我还听说过更糟的呢：”福特说，“我读到过，第十七维度的一颢行星被人当成一盘星系际酒吧台球赛的球，打到一个黑洞里去了，死了一百亿人。”
“简直是疯了。”梅拉说。
“足啊，而且只值30分，”
阿姬达和梅拉交换了一下目光。
“瞧，”阿姬达说，“委员会会议结束之后，今晚有一场派对。如果你们愿意的话，可以和我们一块儿去。”
“太好了。”福特说。
“我愿意。”阿瑟说。
许多个小时以后，阿瑟和梅拉坐在一起，看着月亮从树木燃烧所形成的暗红色光芒之上升起。
“那个关于世界被毁灭的故事”梅拉开始道。
“二百万年以后，是的。”
“听你说起来，简直跟直事一样，”
”是的。我想是的，我想我当时在那儿。”
她迷惑不解地播了摇头。
“你这人真怪。”她说。
“不，我非常普通，”阿瑟说，“只不过，有一些非常奇怪的事发生在了我身上：这么说更恰当，我被选中了，经受这些奇奇怪怪的经所。这些并不是我主动选择的。”
“你的朋友讲的另一个世界呢？被当成台球打进黑洞的那个。”
“噢，我不知道，听起来像那本书里的内容。”
“什么书？”
阿瑟顿了顿
“《银河系漫游指南》”他最后说。
“那是什么书？”
“噢，只不过是今天傍晚我扔进河里的那个东西。我想我不会再需要它了。”阿瑟·邓特说。
