經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第17章3

‘OK, so you think that time flows that way, do you? Interesting. Am I still infinite?’ it asked, bAllooning this way and that in space. ‘Am I infinite now? How yellow am I?’

“OK，這麼說你認爲時間是這樣流動的，恩？有意思。我還是無限個嗎？”它在空間裏這樣鼓鼓那樣脹脹，“現在還是無限個嗎？我有多黃？”

Moment by moment the bird was going through mind-mangling transformations of shape and extent.

每一秒鐘，它的形狀和長寬都在經歷着讓人心力交瘁的轉變。

‘I can’t…’ said Random, bewildered.

“我說不上來……”蘭登大惑不解。

‘You don’t have to answer, I can tell from watching you now. So. Am I your mother? Am I a rock? Do I seem huge, squishy and sinuously intertwined? No? How about now? Am I going backwards?’

“你不必回答，現在我只需要看你的表情就明白了。好，我是你母親嗎？是塊石頭嗎？我看起來是大大的，扁扁的，還亂七八糟地攪在一起？不是？現在呢？我是不是在倒退着走？”

For once the bird was perfectly still and steady.

從開始到現在，它第一次穩穩當當地一次沒動。

‘No,’ said Random.

“不是。”蘭登說。

‘Well I was in fact, I was moving backwards in time. Hmmm. Well I think we’ve sorted all that out now. If you’d like to know, I can tell you that in your universe you move freely in three dimensions that you call space. You move in a straight line in a fourth, which you call time, and stay rooted to one place in a fifth, which is the first fundamental of probability. After that it gets a bit complicated, and there’s all sorts of stuff going on in dimensions 13 to 22 that you really wouldn’t want to know about. All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it’s pretty damn complicated in the first place. I can easily not say words like “damn” if it offends you.’

“恩事實上我就是在倒退，我是在時間裏倒退。恩我想我們已經全搞定了。如果你想知道的話，我可以告訴你，在你們的宇宙裏，你們自由地活動於被你們稱作空間的三個維度裏。你們還在第四個維度做線性運動，你們管那叫時間，並且還根植於第五個維度裏，那是可能性的第一條基本原則。那之後就有點複雜了，再說從第十三到第二十二維度裏的那些事情你肯定不想知道。眼下你真正需要的就是，宇宙比你想象的還要複雜的多，哪怕你一開始就覺得這地方已經夠他媽複雜的。我完全可以不說‘他媽’，如果這話冒犯了你的話。”

‘Say what you damn well like.’

“你他媽愛怎麼說就怎麼說。”

‘I will.’

“我會的。”

‘What the hell are you?’ demanded Random.

“你到底是個什麼鬼東西？”蘭登問。

‘I am The Guide. In your universe I am your Guide. In fact I inhabit what is technically known as the Whole Sort of General Mish Mash which means… well, let me show you.’

“我是《銀河系漫遊指南》。在你的宇宙裏我就是你的指南。事實上我住在一個行話裏叫做全體各色總雜燴的地方，意思是……恩，讓我表演給你看好了。”

It turned in mid-air and swooped out of the cave, and then perched on a rock, just beneath an overhang, out of the rain, which was getting heavier again.

它在半空中轉個身，一個猛撲出了山洞，然後它落在一塊石頭上，身體剛好位於突出的岩石底下，躲開了剛剛重整旗鼓的雨點。

‘Come on,’ it said, ‘watch this.’

“來啊，”它說，“來瞧瞧。”