经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第12章2

Zaphod wandered in frustration among the hulks. There was nothing here that remotely approached the serviceable. Even the mere vibration of his footsteps caused one precarious wreck to collapse further into itself.
Towards the rear of the building lay one old ship, slightly larger than the others, and buried beneath even deeper piles of dust and cobwebs. Its outline, however, seemed unbroken. Zaphod approached it with interest, and as he did so, he tripped over an old feedline.
He tried to toss the feedline aside, and to his surprise discovered that it was still connected to the ship.
To his utter astonishment he realized that the feedline was also humming slightly.
He stared at the ship in disbelief, and then back down at the feedline in his hands.
He tore off his jacket and threw it aside. Crawling along on his hands and knees he followed the feedline to the point where it connected with the ship. The connection was sound, and the slight humming vibration was more distinct.
His heart was beating fast. He wiped away some grime and laid an ear against the ship’s side. He could only hear a faint, indeterminate noise.
He rummaged feverishly amongst the debris lying on the floor all about him and found a short length of tubing, and a non-biodegradable plastic cup. Out of this he fashioned a crude stethoscope and placed it against the side of the ship.
What he heard made his brains turn somersaults.
The voice said: “Transtellar Cruise Lines would like to apologize to passengers for the continuing delay to this flight. We are currently awaiting the loading of our complement of small lemon-soaked paper napkins for your comfort, refreshment and hygiene during the journey. Meanwhile we thank you for your patience. The cabin crew will shortly be serving coffee and biscuits again.”
Zaphod staggered backwards, staring wildly at the ship.
He walked around for a few moments in a daze. In so doing he suddenly caught sight of a giant departure board still hanging, but by only one support, from the ceiling above him. It was covered with grime, but some of the figures were still discernible.
Zaphod’s eyes searched amongst the figures, then made some brief calculations. His eyes widened.
“Nine hundred years…” he breathed to himself. That was how late the ship was.
Two minutes later he was on board.
As he stepped out of the airlock, the air that greeted him was cool and fresh – the air conditioning was still lights were still on.
He moved out of the small entrance chamber into a short narrow corridor and stepped nervously down it.
Suddenly a door opened and a figure stepped out in front of him.
“Please return to your seat sir,” said the android stewardess and, turning her back on him, she walked on down the corridor in front of him.
When his heart had started beating again he followed her. She opened the door at the end of the corridor and walked through.
He followed her through the door.

怀着受挫的失望感，赞福德走在这些废弃的飞船中间。这里没有任何东西能派上用场。甚至他的脚步所引起的震动，都导致了一架不稳固的残骸进一步向它的内部坍塌下去：
有一艘飞船面向屋子的后部停着。它比其他的稍微大一点儿，更深地陷进灰尘和蜘蛛网中。然而，它的外部轮廓看上去似乎没有损坏。赞福德充满希望地朝它走过去，这么做时，他被一根供给管鲜了一下。
他想把这根供给管扔到一边，却惊讶地发现它仍然和那艘飞船连着。
更让他惊愕的是，他意识到这根供给管仍然在发出轻微的嗡嗡声。
他难以置信地瞧着这艘飞船，然后叉重新低头瞧着自己手里的供给管。
他脱下夹克，随手扔到一边。他用手和膝盖慢慢地摸索着，顺着供给管找到了它和飞船的连接点。连接好后，轻微的嗡嗡震颤声更加明显丁。
他的心跳开始加速。他拂去一些污垢，把一只耳朵贴在飞船的侧壁上，但只能听到一些微弱而模糊的噪音。
他开始在四周地板七散落的碎片中狂热地翻检起来，最后找出一小段管子和一个无法生物降解的塑料杯。用这两样东西，他组装出一副简易听诊器，然后拿它贴在飞船的侧壁上。
听到的内容在他脑海中炸开了锅。
一个声音说：“星际巡航公司为这趟航班的不断延误向乘客们道歉。我们目前正在等着补给柠檬香味的小餐巾纸，以便为您提供舒适、清l樊和卫生的旅程=与此同时，我们感谢您的耐心。乘务组将很快再次为您提供咖啡和点心。”
赞福德摇晃了几下，目光灼灼地盯着这艘飞船：
他茫然地来回转了片刻。这样做的过程中，他突然看见一架巨大的登机台仍然还吊在自己头顶的天花板上，但支撑点只剩下了一个：登机台上布满污垢，不过还是可以辨认出一些数字。
赞幅德的眼睛扫过这些数字，然后做了一些简单计算。他瞪大了眼睛。
“九百年……”他深吸了一口气，自言自语地说。这是这艘飞船的年龄。
两分钟以后，他到了飞船上。
走进气密舱，扑面而来的空气凉爽而清新——显然空调仍然还在工作。灯也还亮着。
他走出小小的出入间，进入一段短而狭窄的走道，忐忑不安地朝里面走去。
突然，一扇门打开了，一个东西钻出来，立在他面前。
“请回到您的座位上去，先生。”这个机器人空姐说，然后转过身，走在他前面通过走道。
他跟在她身后，心脏剧烈跳动着，她打开走道尽头的门，穿过去。
他跟着她，也穿了过去。