經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第22章2

Finally he came to the corner, and as his hand rounded the corner it encountered something which gave him such a shock that he nearly fell straight off. It was another hand.
The two hands gripped each other.
He desperately wanted to use his other hand to pull the towel back from his eyes, but it was holding the hold-all with the olive oil, the retsina and the postcards from Santorini, and he very much didn’t want to put it down.
He experienced one of those “self” moments, one of those moments when you suddenly turn around and look at yourself and think “Who am I? What am I up to? What have I achieved? Am I doing well?” He whimpered very slightly.
He tried to free his hand, but he couldn’t. The other hand was holding his tightly. He had no recourse but to edge onwards towards the corner. He leaned around it and shook his head in an attempt to dislodge the towel. This seemed to provoke a sharp cry of some unfashionable emotion from the owner of the other hand.
The towel was whipped from his head and he found his eyes peering into those of Ford Prefect. Beyond him stood Slartibartfast, and beyond them he could clearly see a porchway and a large closed door.
They were both pressed back against the wall, eyes wild with terror as they stared out into the thick blind cloud around them, and tried to resist the lurching and swaying of the building.
Where the zarking photon have you been? hissed Ford, panic stricken.
Er, well, stuttered Arthur, not really knowing how to sum it all up that briefly. Here and there. What are you doing here?
Ford turned his wild eyes on Arthur again.
They won’t let us in without a bottle, he hissed.
The first thing Arthur noticed as they entered into the thick of the party, apart from the noise, the suffocating heat, the wild profusion of colours that protruded dimly through the atmosphere of heavy smoke, the carpets thick with ground glass, ash and avocado droppings, and the small group of pterodactyl-like creatures in lurex who descended on his cherished bottle of retsina, squawking, “A new pleasure, a new pleasure”, was Trillian being chatted up by a Thunder God.
Didn’t I see you at Milliways? he was saying.
Were you the one with the hammer?
Yes. I much prefer it here. So much less reputable, so much more fraught.
Squeals of some hideous pleasure rang around the room, the outer dimensions of which were invisible through the heaving throng of happy, noisy creatures, cheerfully yelling things that nobody could hear at each other and occasionally having crises.
Seems fun, said Trillian. What did you say, Arthur?
I said, how the hell did you get here?
I was a row of dots flowing randomly through the Universe. Have you met Thor? He makes thunder.
Hello, said Arthur. I expect that must be very interesting.
Hi, said Thor. It is. Have you got a drink?
Er, no actually…

終於到達牆角。那隻手轉過牆角，突然碰到一樣東西，嚇得他差點掉下去。那是另一隻手。
兩隻手握在一起。
他很想用另一隻手把毛巾扯下來，可那隻手正抓着旅行包，包裏還有橄欖油、葡萄酒和聖托裏尼的明信片，他絕不肯放下這些東西。
他心中涌起一種“自我意識”——就是當你驀然回首，反觀內心，思考“我是誰？我追求什麼？我得到了什麼？我做得好嗎”的意識。他發出輕輕的嗚咽聲。
他想把手抽出來，可是沒法子，對方的手握得很緊。他別無選擇，只得繼續前進。他倚着牆，用力甩頭，想把毛巾甩下來。這一舉動似乎讓那位陌生人爲之一驚，發出了一聲尖厲的呼喊。
毛巾呼地掉了下來，阿瑟這才發現，自己正與福特·長官四目相對。福特身後是司拉提巴特法斯，兩人身後，便是一條迎賓大道，通向一扇關着的大門。
他倆往牆上一靠，一邊驚魂未定地望着那遮天蔽日的雲層，一邊抵禦着大樓的晃動。
“他贊光的你上哪兒去了？福特嘶啞地問道，心有餘悸。
“呃，嗯……”阿瑟吞吞吐吐。他不知如何用一句話概括，“一些地方。你們在這兒幹嘛？”
福特很不爽地看着阿瑟。
“我們沒有酒，不讓進。”他嘶聲道。
當三人加入派對之後，阿瑟所注意到的東西有：嘈雜，令人窒息的溫度，煙霧沉沉中透出的五顏六色，灑着碎玻璃、菸灰和鱷梨汁的地毯，一羣穿着金銀紗的翼手龍形態的生物——他們爭相豪飲阿瑟帶來的那瓶珍貴的希臘酒，激動萬分地嚷着“新玩意兒！新玩意兒！”而他最最注意的則是崔莉安，雷神正在搭訕她。
“我是不是在‘天盡頭’見過你？”那個人說。
“你是拿錘子的那個人？”
“沒錯。我更喜歡那兒。少一些墮落，多一些悲憫。”
室內充斥着令人眩暈的噪音。歡樂的人羣摩肩擦踵，喧譁的各種生物，多得讓人看不見屋子的另一端。歡笑聲震耳欲聾，人們聽不見彼此說話的聲音，所以常常出現問題。
“挺有趣的。”崔莉安說，“你說什麼，阿瑟？”
“我說，你怎麼在這兒？”
“我在宇宙中做隨機運動。你見過托爾①了嗎？他是管打雷的。”
“你好，”阿瑟說，“我想那一定很有趣。”
“嗨，”托爾說，“的確有趣。你有酒嗎？”
“嗯，沒……”