经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第14章1

Chapter 14
Four inert bodies sank through spinning blackness. Consciousness had died, Cold oblivion pulled the bodies down and down into the pit of unbeing. The roar of silence echoed dismally around them and they sank at last into a dark and bitter sea of heaving red that slowly engulfed them, seemingly for ever.
After what seemed an eternity the sea receded and left them lying on a cold hard shore, the flotsam and jetsam of the stream of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Cold spasms shook them, lights danced sickeningly around them. The cold hard shore tipped and span and then stood still. It shone darkly – it was a very highly polished cold hard shore.
A green blur watched them disapprovingly.
It coughed.
“Good evening, madam, gentlemen,” it said, “do you have a reservation?”
Ford Prefect’s consciousness snapped back like elastic, making his brain smart. He looked up woozily at the green blur.
“Reservation?” he said weakly. “Yes, sir,” said the green blur.
“Do you need a reservation for the afterlife?”
In so far as it is possible for a green blur to arch its eyebrows disdainfully, this is what the green blur now did.
“Afterlife, sir?” it said.
Arthur Dent was grappling with his consciousness the way one grapples with a lost bar of soap in the bath.
“Is this the afterlife?” he stammered.
“Well I assume so,” said Ford Prefect trying to work out which way was up. He tested the theory that it must lie in the opposite direction from the cold hard shore on which he was lying, and staggered to what he hoped were his feet.
“I mean,” he said, swaying gently, “there’s no way we could have survived that blast is there?”

第十四章
四具毫无生气的躯体穿过不停旋转的一片黑晴往下坠落。意识已经死亡，寒冷的空白将这些躯体一步步拉入非生命的深渊。沉寂的哀号凄凉地回荡在他们周围，他们最终沉入一片黑暗和痛苦的海洋。红潮缓缓涌起，仿佛要将他们永远吞没。
似乎过了很久很久，海水退去，留下他们躺在一片冰冷而坚硬的海岸上，像生命、宇宙以及一切的河流中漂浮的残骸和弃物。
寒冷引起的痉挛袭击着他们，灯光在他们周围舞动，令人眩晕。冰冷而坚硬的海岸开始倾斜、旋转，然后静止下来，昏暗地闪烁着——这是一片打磨得很光滑的冰冷而坚硬的海岸。
一团绿影不以为然地盯着他们。
它咳嗽了一声。
“晚上好，女士们、先生们，”它说，“你们有预约吗？”
福特长官的意识猛然问像橡皮筋一样弹了回来，脑子随即活动起来。他抬起头，晕晕糊棚地看着这团绿影。
“预约？”他虚弱地说。“是的，先生。”绿影说，
“来世也需要预约？”
对方以一即绿影可能做到的最大限度轻蔑地扬起眉毛。
“来世，先生？”它说。
阿瑟·邓特试图牢牢抓住自己的意识，就像在洗澡间里捡起一块滑落的肥皂。
“这就是来世吗？”他结结巴巴地说。
”嗯，我想是的。”福特长官说，他正试图找出哪个方向是上，他开始验证这样一个推断，即这个方向肯定是在与他正躺着的冰冷而坚硬的海岸相反的方向，然后才跌跌撞撞地向他希望是自己双脚的东西挣扎过去，
“我的意思是，”他说，身体微微摇晃，“在那样的爆炸中，我们还能幸存下来吗？”