經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第5章5

'We are on a mission,' said one of the aliens.

“我們在做任務。”一個外星人說。

'A mission? A mission to do what?'

“做任務？什麼樣的任務？”

'We do not know.'

“我們不知道。”

Still she kept the camera steady.

攝影機仍然沒有絲毫抖動。

'So what are you doing here on Earth, then?'

“那麼，你們來地球做什麼？”

'We have come to fetch you.'

“我們來帶你走。”

Rock steady, rock steady. Could have been on a tripod. She wondered if she should be using a tripod, in fact. She wondered that because it gave her a moment or two to digest what they had just said. No, she thought, hand-held gave her more flexibility. She also thought, help, what am I going to do?

紋絲不動，紋絲不動，就像放在三腳架上一樣。她琢磨着自己是不是真該找個三腳架。而她之所以這麼想，是因爲這能爲她爭取一點點時間，消化消化他們剛纔的那番話。不，她想，拿在手裏更靈活機動。她的另一個想法是，救命，我該怎麼辦？

'Why,' she asked, calmly, 'have you come to fetch me?'

“爲什麼，”她鎮定自若地問，“你們要帶我走？”

'Because we have lost our minds.'

“因爲我們得了失心瘋。”

'Excuse me,' said Tricia, 'I'm going to have to get a tripod.'

“抱歉。”崔茜卡說，“我需要一個三腳架。”

They seemed happy enough to stand there doing nothing while Tricia quickly found a tripod and mounted the camera on it. Her face was completely immobile, but she did not have the faintest idea what was going on or what to think about it.

他們似乎很樂意無所事事地傻站着，於是崔茜卡趕緊找了個三腳架，把攝影機放上去。她的臉上完全沒有波動，心裏卻是一團亂麻，壓根兒不知道眼下是怎麼回事，或者自己究竟該如何看待這個問題。

'OK,' she said, when she was ready. 'Why…'

“好了。”一切準備就緒，“爲什麼……”

'We liked your interview with the astrologer.'

“我們喜歡你對占星術士做的採訪。”

'You saw it?'

“你們看見了？”

'We see everything. We are very interested in astrology. We like it. It is very interesting. Not everything is interesting. Astrology is interesting. What the stars tell us. What the stars foretell. We could do with some information like that.'

“我們什麼都看。我們對占星術很感興趣。我們喜歡占星術。它很有趣。並不是每樣東西都很有趣。占星術就很有趣。星星能告訴我們什麼，星星能預言什麼。這類信息我們用得上。”

'But…'

“可……”