经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第9章4

Zaphod nodded. He took out his Peril Sensitive Sunglasses again. They were completely black, and by now quite badly scratched by the unexpected metAl object in his pocket. He put them on. He would find his way down the building more comfortably if he didn’t actually have to look at what he was doing. Minutes later he clambered over the ripped and mangled foundations of the building and, once more removing his sunglasses, he dropped to the ground.
Marvin joined him a moment or so later and lay face down in the dust and rubble, from which position he seemed too disinclined to move.
“Ah, there you are,” said the voice suddenly in Zaphod’s ear, “excuse me leaving you like that, it’s just that I have a terrible head for heights. At least,” it added wistfully, “I did have a terrible head for heights.”
Zaphod looked around slowly and carefully, just to see if he had missed something which might be the source of the voice. All he saw, however, was the dust, the rubble and the towering hulks of the encircling buildings.
“Hey, er, why can’t I see you?” he said, “why aren’t you here?”
“I am here,” said the voice slowly, “my body wanted to come but it’s a bit busy at the moment. Things to do, people to see.” After what seemed like a sort of ethereal sigh it added, “You know how it is with bodies.”
Zaphod wasn’t sure about this.
“I thought I did,” he said.
“I only hope it’s gone for a rest cure,” continued the voice, “the way it’s been living recently it must be on its last elbows.”
“Elbows?” said Zaphod, “don’t you mean last legs?”
The voice said nothing for a while. Zaphod looked around uneasily. He didn’t know if it was gone or was still there or what it was doing. Then the voice spoke again.
“So, you are to be put into the Vortex, yes?”
“Er, well,” said Zaphod with a very poor attempt at nonchalance, “this cat’s in no hurry, you know. I can just slouch about and take in a look at the local scenery, you know?”
“Have you seen the local scenery?” asked the voice of Gargravarr.
“Er, no.”
Zaphod clambered over the rubble, and rounded the corner of one of the wrecked buildings that was obscuring his view.
He looked out at the landscape of Frogstar World B.
“Ah, OK,” he said, “I’ll just sort of slouch about then.”
“No,” said Gargravarr, “the Vortex is ready for you now. You must come. Follow me.”
“Er, yeah?” said Zaphod, “and how am I meant to do that?”
“I’ll hum for you,” said Gargravarr, “follow the humming.”
A soft keening sound drifted through the air, a pale, sad sound that seemed to be without any kind of focus. It was only by listening very carefully that Zaphod was able to detect the direction from which it was coming. Slowly, dazedly, he stumbled off in its wake. What else was there to do?

赞福德点了点头，他掏出自己的危险感应太阳镜，镜片已经完全变黑，并且被口袋里的那块不明金属刮花了一大片。他戴上太阳镜，如果看不见自己在做什么的话，他会感到自己爬下大楼的路程要更舒适点儿，几分钟过后，他翻过跳到地面上然后摘下太阳镜。
马文紧跟着他，稍微慢—拍，也跳了下来，面朝下栽倒在灰尘和瓦砾中，看样于是再也不愿从这个位置上挪开了。
“噢，你下来了。”那个声音突然出现在赞福德的耳朵里，“请原谅我刚才把你像那样扔在那儿，因为我这颗脑袋患了严重的恐高症；至少，”它发愁地又加上一句，“过去，我的脑袋患了严重的恐高症。”
赞福德缓慢而仔细地环顾四周，想看看自己是否遗漏了什么有可能是这声音的来源的东西。但他见到的只有尘埃、瓦砾、以及难看地立在四周的建筑物废墟。
“呃，嗯，为什么我看不见你呢？”他说，“你为什么不在这里？”
”我在这里，”这声音缓慢地说，“我的身体其实也想来的，但它此刻有点儿忙。它有事儿要做，有人要见。”听上去似乎是一声缥缈的叹息之后，它又补充了一句，“这些身体是怎么回事，不说你也知道。”
赞福德不太确定这一点。
“我想我知道。”他说。
“我只希望它已经进入静养状态了，”这声音继续说道：“最近这殴时间，它过的是什么日子啊！肯定瘫了，只能靠它的后肘勉强支撑。”
“后肘？”赞福德说，“你是说后腿吗？”
这声音沉默了一阵一赞福德心神不定地东张西望。他不知道它是否已经离开了，或者还在这儿，又或者正在干些什么。然后，这声音又出现了。
“那么，你将被投进旋涡。是这样吗？”
“呃，哦，”赞福德尽量装出一副漠不关心的腔调（但却收效甚徽），“这件事倒是不急，你知道。我可以先在这附近随便逛逛，你知道，看看当地的风景。”
“你看过这里的风景了吗？”伽古拙瓦的声音问道。
“嗯，没有。”
赞福德翻过瓦砾堆，绕过挡住他视线的一座建筑物废墟的一角。
他向外望去，看到了蛙星系B世界的景观。
“好的，”他说，“接下来，我就要四处逛逛了。”
“不行，”伽古拉瓦说：“旋涡现在已经为你准备好了。你必须去。跟我来。”
“嗯，什么？”赞桶德说：“可我怎么跟你来？”
“我会‘哼哼’，”伽古拉瓦说：“跟着我的哼哼声就行。”
一个略微有些悲哀的声音飘荡在空气中，朦胧而又伤感，仿佛没有任何焦点。赞榍德只有凝神细听，才能够察觉出它传来的方向。就这样，缓慢地，茫然地，他跌跌撞撞地跟随着这个声音。除此之外，他又能做什么呢？