經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第21章3

‘But how does it work?’ she had demanded excitedly. She was still quite excited at the beginning of the trip.

“可它是怎麼運作的？”她興奮地問。那是在旅程的開始階段，當時她整個人都還挺興奮的。

She found that part of the tape and played it through to herself. The Grebulons, which is what they called themselves, were politely showing her which buttons they pressed to make the ship go.

她找到那一段，把它重複播放。那些格里布隆人——他們就管自己叫這個——正禮貌得向她演示自己要按哪個鈕才能讓飛船起飛。

‘Yes, but what principle does it work on?’ she heard herself demand, from behind the camera.

“沒錯，但它依據的是什麼原理？”她聽見自己的聲音從攝像機背後傳來。

‘Oh, you mean is it something like a warp drive or something like that?’ they said.

“哦，你是指比方說偏差驅動器之類的？”他們問。

‘Yes,’ persisted Tricia. ‘What is it?’

“對，”崔茜卡堅持不懈，“到底是什麼？”

‘It probably is something of the kind,’ they said.

“跟那東西差不遠。”他們說。

‘Like what?’

“比方說。”

‘Warp drive, photon drive, something like that. You’d have to ask the Flight Engineer.’

“偏差驅動器，光子驅動器，諸如此類的。你得問飛行工程師才知道。”

‘Which one is he?’

“誰是飛船工程師？”

‘We don’t know. We have all lost our minds, you see.’

“我們不知道，我們全都得了失憶症，你看到的。”

‘Oh yes,’ said Tricia, a little faintly. ‘So you said. Um, how did you lose your minds, exactly, then?’

“哦，對了。”崔茜卡的聲音有些虛弱，“你們的確提到過。呃，那麼，你們究竟是怎麼得上失憶症的？”

‘We don’t know,’ they said, patiently.

“我們不知道。”他們耐心地說。

‘Because you’ve lost your minds,’ echoed Tricia, glumly.

“因爲你們得了失憶症。”崔茜卡陰沉的附和道。