經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第10章1

At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and twenty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
Ford Prefect suppressed a little giggle of evil satisfaction, realized that he had no reason to suppress it, and laughed out loud, a wicked laugh.
He switched the incoming signal through from the Sub-Etha Net to the ship’s hi-fi system, and the odd, rather stilted, sing-song voice spoke out with remarkable clarity round the cabin.
At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and thirty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
He tweaked the volume up just a little while keeping a careful eye on a rapidly changing table of figures on the ship’s computer display. For the length of time he had in mind, the question of power consumption became significant. He didn’t want a murder on his conscience.
At the third stroke it will be one… thirty-two… and forty seconds.
Beep… beep… beep.
He checked around the small ship. He walked down the short corridor. At the third stroke…
He stuck his head into the small, functional, gleaming steel bathroom.
it will be…
It sounded fine in there.
He looked into the tiny sleeping quarters.
…one… thirty-two…
It sounded a bit muffled. There was a towel hanging over one of the speakers. He took down the towel.
…and fifty seconds.
Fine.
He checked out the packed cargo hold, and wasn’t at all satisfied with the sound. There was altogether too much crated junk in the way. He stepped back out and waited for the door to seal. He broke open a closed control panel and pushed the jettison button. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of that before. A whooshing rumbling noise died away quickly into silence. After a pause a slight hiss could be heard again.
It stopped.
He waited for the green light to show and then opened the door again on the now empty cargo hold.
…one… thirty-three… and fifty seconds.
Very nice.

“報時第三響，時間將是一點……三十二分……二十秒。”
“嗶……嗶……嗶。”
福特.普里弗克特壓抑住由於邪惡的滿足感而想要傻笑的慾望，又發現自己沒理由要壓抑它，於是又開始狂笑，邪惡地狂笑。
他把傳入的信號從亞以泰網轉到了飛船上的hi-fi（高保真）音響系統，那個怪異的、生硬的、帶點旋律的聲音在船艙內清楚地縈繞着。
“報時第三響，時間將是一點……三十二分……三十秒。”
“嗶……嗶……嗶。”
他一邊小心地盯着飛船電腦屏幕上飛速變化的數據表格，一邊把音量擰大。他考慮了一會，能量消耗的問題變得緊要了。他還不希望謀殺掉自己的良心。
“報時第三響，時間將是一點……三十二分……四十秒。”
“嗶……嗶……嗶。”
他檢查了一圈這艘小飛船，走進短廊。“報時第三響……”
他把頭伸進小小的，實用的，閃着鋼鐵光澤的浴室。
“時間將是……”
這聲音在那兒聽起來很好。
他又瞅着那小小的臥室。
“……一點……三十二分……”
聲音聽起來有些模糊。有條毛巾搭在了一個揚聲器上。他把毛巾拿了下來。
“五十秒。”
很好。
他檢查了貨艙，對那裏的聲音完全不滿意。那裏堆了太多的箱子垃圾。他退出來，等着門重新封上。他把鎖閉的控制面板撬開並摁下了“投棄貨物”的按鈕。福特不明白自己爲何剛纔沒想到這個。一陣“嗖隆”的噪音過後一切很快又歸於了沉寂。一段停頓後，又可以聽到輕微的“嘶嘶”聲。
然後嘶嘶聲停止了。
他等着綠燈亮起，隨後再一次打開已經空蕩蕩的貨艙。
“……一點……三十三分……五十秒。”
非常好。