经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第21章2

Zaphod leaped across the cabin and switched frequencies on the sub-ether receiver before the next mind-pulverizing noise hit them. He stood there quivering.
“What,” said Trillian in a small quiet voice, “does sundive mean?”
“It means,” said Marvin, “that the ship is going to dive into the sun. Sun… Dive. It’s very simple to understand. What do you expect if you steal Hotblack Desiato’s stunt ship?”
“How do you know…” said Zaphod in a voice that would make a Vegan snow lizard feel chilly, “that this is Hotblack Desiato’s stuntship?”
“Simple,” said Marvin, “I parked it for him.”
“The why… didn’t… you… tell us!”
“You said you wanted excitement and adventure and really wild things.”
“This is awful,” said Arthur unnecessarily in the pause which followed.
“That’s what I said,” confirmed Marvin.
On a different frequency, the sub-ether receiver had picked up a public broadcast, which now echoed round the cabin.
“… fine weather for the concert here this afternoon. I’m standing here in front of the stage,” the reporter lied, “in the middle of the Rudlit Desert, and with the aid of hyperbinoptic glasses I can just about make out the huge audience cowering there on the horizon all around me. Behind me the speaker stacks rise like a sheer cliff face, and high above me the sun is shining away and doesn’t know what’s going to hit it. The environmentalist lobby do know what’s going to hit it, and they claim that the concert will cause earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes, irreparable damage to the atmosphere, and all the usual things that environmentalists usually go on about.
“But I’ve just had a report that a representative of Disaster Area met with the environmentalists at lunchtime, and had them all shot, so nothing now lies in the way of…”
Zaphod switched it off. He turned to Ford.
“You know what I’m thinking?” he said.
“I think so,” said Ford.
“Tell me what you think I’m thinking.”
“I think you’re thinking it’s time we get off this ship.”
“I think you’re right,” said Zaphod.
“I think you’re right,” said Ford.
“How?” said Arthur.

赞福德猛地跳起来穿过船舱，在下一声巨响袭击他们之前转换了亚以太接受器的频率。他站在那里，浑身颤抖。
“太阳俯冲，”崔莉恩小声地问，“是什么意思？”
“意思是，”马文说，“这艘飞船即将俯冲进人太阳。太阳…俯冲，这很容易理解。你们偷了霍特布莱克·迪西亚托的特技飞船，还能期望些什么呢？”
“你怎么知道，”赞福德说，声音冷得会让一只维甘星雪蜥蝎打摆子，“这是霍特布莱克·迪西亚托的特技飞船？”
“很简单，”马文说，“为他泊船的是我。”
“那么，为什么……你没告诉我们！”
“你说过你喜欢刺激、冒险，喜欢真正狂野的事。”
“太可怕了；”阿瑟在接下来的停顿中间毫无必要地补了一句。
“我正是这个意思。”马文表示确定。
在另一个频率上，亚以太接收器搜索到了一段公共广播，此时飘荡在船舱里。
“…今天下午的音乐会，天气银好。我现在正站在舞台前面，”这个记者显然在撒谎，“在路德利特大沙漠的中部。借助超级二进制光学服镜，我能看到大量的观众，他们充满恐惧地龟缩在我网周各个方向的地平线上。扬声器组群在我身后升起，像一面陡峭的悬崖。太阳在我头顶照耀，它不知道有什么东西将要撞向它。持环境保护论的议会游说者倒是知道，他们还宣称这场音乐会将引发地麓、海啸、飓风害，诸如此类，全是所有那些环境保护论者通常会挂在嘴边唠叨个不停的东西。”
“我刚刚收到一份报告，‘灾难地带’的一位代表在午餐时会晤了这些环境保护论者，把他们通通打死了，所以现在已经没有任何东西阻止！”
赞福德关掉接收器。他转向福特。
“你知道我现在在想什么吗？”他说。
“我想是的。”福特说。
“告诉我，你想我正在想什么。”
“我想你正在想我们该离开这艘飞船了。”
“我想你想的是对的。”赞福德说。
“我想你想的也是对的。”福特说。
“日了怎么离开呢？”阿瑟问。