经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第14章 Part2

Trillian couldn't sleep. She sat on a couch and stared at a small cage which contained her last and only links with Earth — two white mice that she had insisted Zaphod let her bring. She had expected not to see the planet again, but she was disturbed by her negative reaction to the planet's destruction. It seemed reMote and unreal and she could find no thoughts to think about it. She watched the mice scurrying round the cage and running furiously in their little plastic treadwheels till they occupied her whole attention. Suddenly she shook herself and went back to the bridge to watch over the tiny flashing lights and figures that charted the ship's progress through the void. She wished she knew what it was she was trying not to think about.
Zaphod couldn't sleep. He also wished he knew what it was that he wouldn't let himself think about. For as long as he could remember he'd suffered from a vague nagging feeling of being not all there. Most of the time he was able to put this thought aside and not worry about it, but it had been re-awakened by the sudden inexplicable arrival of Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. Somehow it seemed to conform to a pattern that he couldn't see.
Ford couldn't sleep. He was too excited about being back on the road again. Fifteen years of virtual imprisonment were over, just as he was finally beginning to give up hope. Knocking about with Zaphod for a bit promised to be a lot of fun, though there seemed to be something faintly odd about his semi-cousin that he couldn't put his finger on. The fact that he had become President of the Galaxy was frankly astonishing, as was the manner of his leaving the post. Was there a reason behind it? There would be no point in asking Zaphod, he never appeared to have a reason for anything he did at all: he had turned unfathomably into an art form. He attacked everything in life with a mixture of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence and it was often difficult to tell which was which.
Arthur slept: he was terribly tired.
There was a tap at Zaphod's door. It slid open.
"Zaphod ...?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we just found what you came to look for."
"Hey, yeah?"

崔莉恩失眠了。她坐在沙发上，盯着面前的一个小笼子，里面装着她和地球之间惟一的联系——两只小白鼠。这还是她坚持说服赞福德让自己带上的。虽说她原本已经想好了再也不会回到那颗星球，但它被毁灭的消息还是给她带来了沉重的消极反应——虽然这件事看上去那么遥远，那么不真实，她完全找不到任何理由去想。她凝视着小白鼠在笼子里乱窜，在它们的塑料小踏车上疯狂地奔跑，直到它们占据了她的全部注意力。突然，她站起身，回到控制桥上，去看那些标识出飞船在虚空中行进路线的闪烁的灯光和数字。她希望知道自己正试图不去思考的那个东西究竟是什么。
赞福德失眠了。他也希望知道自己无法让自己思考的那个东西究竟是什么。自从记事以来，他就被一种模模糊糊、断断续续、似是而非的感觉所困扰。大多数时间，他能把这种感觉放到一边，不去担心它。但是现在，这种感觉被福特·普里弗克特和阿瑟。登特突然而又解释不清的到来唤醒了。
福特也失眠了。终于又回到漫游的路上，这让他兴奋不已。15年的煎熬终于结束了，就在他正要放弃最后的希望前的那一刹那。遇见赞福德也很有意思，虽然自己的这位半个堂兄有点儿奇怪。他成为银河系总统这个事实，以及他离开这个职位的方式，说实在的，让人觉得不可思议。这背后有什么原因吗？问赞福德肯定是没有用的，他干所有事情都没什么原因；他简直已经把深不可测变成了一门艺术。他在生活中所做的每一件事都是出于非凡的天才和无能的幼稚的混合物，而且通常很难区分出哪部分是哪部分。
阿瑟睡着了：他实在是太累了。
有人在敲赞福德的门。门开了。
“赞福德……”
“什么事？”
“我想我们刚刚找到你来这儿要寻找的东西了。”
“喔，是吗？”