经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章5

Zarniwoop ticked off a note on the paper. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Ah,” said the man, “this is a question about the past is it?”
Zarniwoop looked at him in puzzlement. This wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting.
“Yes,” he said.
“How can I tell,” said the man, “that the past isn’t a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?”
Zarniwoop stared at him. The steam began to rise from his sodden clothes.
“So you answer all questions like this?” he said.
The man answered quickly. “I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More I cannot say.”
Zaphod laughed happily.
“I’ll drink to that,” he said and pulled out the bottle of Janx spirit. He leaped up and handed the bottle to the ruler of the Universe, who took it with pleasure.
“Good on you, great ruler,” he said, “tell it like it is.”
“No, listen to me,” said Zarniwoop, “people come to you do they? In ships…”
“I think so,” said the man. He handed the bottle to Trillian.
“And they ask you,” said Zarniwoop, “to take decisions for them? About people’s lives, about worlds, about economies, about wars, about everything going on out there in the Universe?”
“Out there?” said the man, “out where?”
“Out there!” said Zarniwoop pointing at the door.
“How can you tell there’s anything out there,” said the man politely, “the door’s closed.”
The rain continued to pound the roof. Inside the shack it was warm.
“But you know there’s a whole Universe out there!” cried Zarniwoop. “You can’t dodge your responsibilities by saying they don’t exist!”
The ruler of the Universe thought for a long while whilst Zarniwoop quivered with anger.
“You’re very sure of your facts,” he said at last, “I couldn’t trust the thinking of a man who takes the Universe – if there is one – for granted.”
Zarniwoop still quivered, but was silent.
“I only decide about my Universe,” continued the man quietly. “My Universe is my eyes and my ears. Anything else is hearsay.”
“But don’t you believe in anything?”
The man shrugged and picked up his cat.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” he said.
“You don’t understand that what you decide in this shack of yours affects the lives and fates of millions of people? This is all monstrously wrong!”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met all these people you speak of. And neither, I suspect, have you. They only exist in words we hear. It is folly to say you know what is happening to other people. Only they know, if they exist. They have their own Universes of their own eyes and ears.”

扎尼鸟普在纸上做了一个记号：“你这么做有多长时间了？”
“哦，”这人说，“这是一个关于过去的问是吗？”
扎尼乌普疑惑地看着他。这可不是他所期待的场面。
“是的。”他说。
“我怎么知道，”这人说，“过去不是为了解释我当前的身体感知和我的思想状态之间的矛盾而虚构出来的呢‘”
扎尼乌普盯着他。水汽开始从他湿透的衣服上升起来。
“你回答所有问题时都这样吗？”他说。
这人很快地回答：“当我觉得别人在对我说话时，我就会说出我觉得应该说的话。其他的我就不好说了。”
赞福德开心地笑了。
“为这句话，我得喝一口。”他说，然后掏出那瓶杰克斯酒。他跳起来，把酒瓶递给宇宙的统治者，这人愉快地喝了一口。
“好样的，伟大的统治者，”他说，“有话直说，不藏着掖着。”
“不，听我说，”扎尼乌普说，“人们常常来找你，是吗，那些飞船……”
“我想是的。”这人说。他把酒瓶递给崔莉恩。
“他们是不是要求你，”扎尼乌普继续问道，“为他们做出种种决定？关于人们的生活，关于各个世界，关于经济，关于战争，关于在这外面的宇宙中所发生的一切事情。”
”这外面？”这人问，“哪个外面？”
“这外面！”扎尼乌普指着门说。
“你怎么知道在这外面存在任何事物呢，”这人礼貌地反问道，“门是关着的。”
雨继续打在屋顶上。屋子里面倒是很暖和。
“可是你知道的，这外面有整个宇宙！”扎尼乌普叫道，“你不能用说他们不存在来逃避你的责任！”
宇宙的统治者考虑了很长时间，而扎尼乌普则在一边气得发抖，
“你对你所认为的事实非常确定，”他最终说道，“但我不能相信一个将宇宙——如果那儿确实存在着一个宇宙的话——视为理所当然的人的想法，”
扎尼乌普仍然颤抖着，但却保持了沉默。
“我只能决定我的宇宙。”这人静静地继续说道，“我的宇宙是我的眼睛和我的耳朵其他任何东西都只是道听途说。”
“可体难道不信仰任何东西吗，”
这人耸了耸肩，抱起他的猫。
“我不明白你是什么意思。”他说。
“你难道不明白吗？你在你过问小屋中决定的事，将会影响到亿万人的生活和命运！”
“我不知道。我从来没有遇见过你说的这些人。并且，我猜想，你也没有。他们只存在于我们所听到的词句中。说你知道在别人身上正在发生些什么，这实在太荒唐了。只有他们自己知道，如果他们真的存在的话。他们有他们自己的宇宙，来自他们自己的眼睛和耳朵。”