经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第6章8

“Who in the Galaxy would want to bomb a publishing company?” asked Zaphod, but never heard Marvin’s reply because at that moment the building shook with another bomb attack. He tried to stagger back to the elevator – a pointless manoeuvre he realized, but the only one he could think of.
Suddenly, at the end of the corridor leading at right angles from this one, he caught sight of a figure as it lunged into view, a man. The man saw him.
“Beeblebrox, over here!” he shouted.
Zaphod eyed him with distrust as another bomb blast rocked the building.
“No,” called Zaphod, “Beeblebrox over here! Who are you?”
“A friend!” shouted back the man. He ran towards Zaphod.
“Oh yeah?” said Zaphod, “Anyone’s friend in particular, or just generally well disposed of people?”
The man raced along the corridor, the floor bucking beneath his feet like an excited blanket. He was short, stocky and weatherbeaten and his clothes looked as if they’d been twice round the Galaxy and back with him in them.
“Do you know,” Zaphod shouted in his ear when he arrived, “your building’s being bombed?”
The man indicated his awareness.
It suddenly stopped being light. Glancing round at the window to see why, Zaphod gaped as a huge sluglike, gunmetal-green spacecraft crept through the air past the building. Two more followed it.
“The government you deserted is out to get you, Zaphod,” hissed the man, “they’ve sent a squadron of Frogstar Fighters.”
“Frogstar Fighters!” muttered Zaphod, “Zarquon!”
“You get the picture?”
“What are Frogstar Fighters?” Zaphod was sure he’d heard someone talk about them when he was President, but he never paid much attention to official matters.
The man was pulling him back through a door. He went with him. With a searing whine a small black spider-like object shot through the air and disappeared down the corridor.
“What was that?” hissed Zaphod.
“Frogstar Scout robot class A out looking for you,” said the man.
“Hey yeah?”
“Get down!”

“在这个银河系里，究竟是什么家伙想炸掉一家出版公司呢？”赞福德问。但他听不见马文的回答，因为这时大楼又在另一次炸弹攻击下摇晃起来。他跌跌撞撞地想要回到电梯那儿去——其实他也知道，这个行动毫无意义，但这是他惟一能想到的行动了。
突然，在一条和他所处的这条走廊成直角相交的走廊尽头，一个身影跃入他的视线，一个男人。这个人也看见了他。
“毕博布鲁克斯，这边来！”他喊道。
赞福德不信任地望着他，又一轮爆炸撼动大楼。
“不，”赞福德说。“毕博布鲁克斯就在这边，哪儿都不去！你是谁？”
“一个朋友！”那人喊道。他朝赞福德跑过来。
“噢，是吗？”赞福德说，“到底是谁的朋友？或者是仅仅是一般的助人为乐？”
那人沿着走廊跑过来，地板在他脚下晃动着，活像一张着了魔的地毯。他个子不高，但很结实，一张脸显得饱经风霜，他的衣服同样饱经风霜，看上去似乎穿在他身上周游了两趟银河系。
“你知道吗，”等他来到身旁，赞福德附在他耳朵边叫道，“你的大楼正在挨炸？”
那人表示他已经意识到这一点了。
突然间，四周暗了下来。赞福德打量着窗户，想弄清楚原因。一艘鼻涕虫状的、泛着铁灰绿光泽的巨奇www書17794網com型太空船从空中缓缓掠过大楼，看得他目瞪口呆。它后面还跟着两艘。
“被你从他们手中逃掉的那个政府出动来抓你了，赞福德，”那人嘶嘶地说，“他们派出了一个中队的蛙星战斗舰。”
“蛙星战斗舰！”赞福德咕哝到，“他娘的！”
“你明白了？”
“什么是蛙星战斗舰？”赞福德敢肯定，他当总统时曾听什么人提到过这种玩意儿。可惜他对工作上的事从来不上心。
那人穿过一扇门，把他往后一拽。他顺从了，随即看到一个像蜘蛛一样的黑色小东西，带着灼热的气浪，呼啸着划过他面前的空气，消失在走廊里。
“那是什么东西？”赞福德小声问。
“蛙星侦察机器人A型，出来找你的，”那人回答说。
“啊？什么？”
“趴下！”