经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章6

Trillian said: “I think I’m just popping outside for a moment.”
She left and walked into the rain.
“Do you believe other people exist?” insisted Zarniwoop.
“I have no opinion. How can I say?”
“I’d better see what’s up with Trillian,” said Zaphod and slipped out.
Outside, he said to her: “I think the Universe is in pretty good hands, yeah?”
“Very good,” said Trillian. They walked off into the rain.
Inside, Zarniwoop continued.
“But don’t you understand that people live or die on your word?”
The ruler of the Universe waited for as long as he could. When he heard the faint sound of the ship’s engines starting he spoke to cover it.
“It’s nothing to do with me,” he said, “I am not involved with people. The Lord knows I am not a cruel man.”
“Ah!” barked Zarniwoop, “you say ‘The Lord’. You believe in something!”
“My cat,” said the man benignly, picking it up and stroking it, “I call him The Lord. I am kind to him.”
“Alright,” said Zarniwoop, pressing home his point, “How do you know he exists? How do you know he knows you to be kind, or enjoys what he thinks of as your kindness?”
“I don’t,” said the man with a smile, “I have no idea. It merely pleases me to behave in a certain way to what appears to be a cat. Do you behave any differently? Please, I think I am tired.”
Zarniwoop heaved a thoroughly dissatisfied sigh and looked about.
“Where are the other two?” he said suddenly.
“What other two?” said the ruler of the Universe, settling back into his chair and refilling his whisky glass.
“Beeblebrox and the girl! The two who were here!”
“I remember no one. The past is a fiction to account for…”
“Stuff it,” snapped Zarniwoop and ran out into the rain. There was no ship. The rain continued to churn the mud. There was no sign to show where the ship had been. He hollered into the rain. He turned and ran back to the shack and found it locked.
The ruler of the Universe dozed lightly in his chair. After a while he played with the pencil and the paper again and was delighted when he discovered how to make a mark with the one on the other. Various noises continued outside, but he didn’t know whether they were real or not. He then talked to his table for a week to see how it would react.

这时崔莉思说：“我想我得出去一会儿。”
她离开屋子，走在雨中。
“你相信别人存在吗？”扎尼乌普坚持问道，
“我不知道。让我怎么说呢7”
“我最好去瞧瞧崔莉恩怎么了。”赞福德说，然后也漓丁出去。
在外面，他对她说：“我看，宇宙掌握在一双相当出色的手里面，对吗？”
“很出色。”崔莉恩说。他们一起走进雨中。
屋里，扎尼乌普还在继续着。
“难道你就不明白吗，人们的生死全凭你的一句话？”
宇宙的统治者等待了尽可能长的时间。听见飞船引擎发动的微弱声响后，他这才开始说话，以掩盖这个声音。
“这和我没有丝毫关系，”他说，“其他人和我无关。上帝知道我并不是一个残忍的人。”
“哈！”扎尼乌普叫道，“你提到了‘上帝’。归总还是信仰某些东西的！”
“我的猫，”这人亲切地说，一边把它抱起来抚摸着，“我叫它‘上帝’。我对它很好。”
“那好吧。”扎尼乌普说，叉回到了他的观点，”你又是怎么知道它是存在的呢，你怎么知道它知道你对他很好，并且因此沾沾自喜呢7”
“我不知道，”这人笑着说，“我并不知道。令我感到快乐的只是以一种特定的方式去对待一个看上去像是一只猫的东西。你的行为方式和这有什么不同吗？拜托，我觉得我累了。”
扎尼乌普发出一声完全不甘心的叹息，然后看了看周围。
“另外两个人呢，”他突然问道。
“什么另外两个人？”宇宙的统治者说，他正坐回自己的椅子，重新斟满威士忌酒杯。
“毕博布鲁克斯和那个女孩！那两个刚才还在这里的人！”
“我谁也不记得了！过去是一种虚构，为了解释……”
‘够了！”扎尼乌普猛地说，然后冲进外面的雨中。没有飞船，大雨继续搅拌着稀泥，没有任何能显示出飞船曾经在什么地方停过的标记。他在雨中大喊大叫。他转身跑回那间小屋，发现门已经锁了。
宇宙的统治者在他的椅子里打了个小盹儿，过了一会儿，他叉开始摆弄铅笔和纸，当他发现如何用一个在另一个上留下印记时，他感到很高兴。各种噪音继续在门外作响，但他不知道它们是否是真实的。然后，他对着他的桌子说了一个星期的话，想看看它会有什么反应。