經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第39章
Chapter 39
Arthur Dent was irritated to be continually wakened by the sound of gunfire.
Being careful not to wake Fenchurch, who was still managing to sleep fitfully, he slid his way out of the maintenance hatchway which they had fashioned into a kind of bunk for themselves, slung himself down the access ladder and prowled the corridors moodily.
They were claustrophobic and ill-lit. The lighting circuits buzzed annoyingly.
This wasn’t it, though.
He paused and leaned backwards as a flying power drill flew past him down the dim corridor with a nasty screech, occasionally clanging against the walls like a confused bee as it did so.
That wasn’t it either.
He clambered through a bulkhead door and found himself in a larger corridor. Acrid smoke was drifting up from one end so he walked towards the other.
He came to an observation monitor let into the wall behind a plate of toughened but still badly scratched perspex.
Would you turn it down please? he said to Ford Prefect who was crouching in front of it in the middle of a pile of bits of video equipment he’d taken from a shop window in Tottenham Court Road, having first hurled a small brick through it, and also a nasty heap of empty beer cans.
Shhhh! hissed Ford, and peered with manic concentration at the screen. He was watching The Magnificent Seven.
Just a bit, said Arthur.
No! shouted Ford. We’re just getting to the good bit! Listen, I finally got it all sorted out, voltage levels, line conversion, everything, and this is the good bit!
With a sigh and a headache, Arthur sat down beside him and watched the good bit. He listened to Ford’s whoops and yells and “yeehay!”s as placidly as he could.
Ford, he said eventually, when it was all over, and Ford was hunting through a stack of cassettes for the tape of Casablanca, how come, if…
This is the big one, said Ford. This is the one I came back for. Do you realize I never saw it all through? Always I missed the end. I saw half of it again the night before the Vogons came. When they blew the place up I thought I’d never get to see it. Hey, what happened with all that anyway?
Just life, said Arthur, and plucked a beer from a six-pack.
Oh, that again, said Ford. I thought it might be something like that. I prefer this stuff, he said as Rick’s Bar flickered on to the screen. How come if what?
What?
You started to say, “how come if…”
How come if you’re so rude about the Earth, that you… oh never mind, let’s just watch the movie.
Exactly, said Ford.
第39章
阿瑟·鄧特不斷地被槍炮聲吵醒，對此他非常惱火。
芬切琪還是成功地斷斷續續睡着，阿瑟很小心不把她吵醒。他從維修艙口滑出來，他已經把這個地方改造成一個臨時的鋪位。他順着入口的梯子爬下去，悶悶不樂地在走廊裏面徘徊。
走廊狹窄昏暗，燈光不斷的閃爍。燈光的電路嗡嗡響得讓人煩躁。
但這不是那個聲音。
他停了下來，向後靠到牆上，一個銀色電鑽從他身邊飛過，帶着一陣令人噁心的尖叫進入了昏暗的走廊，並且像無頭蒼蠅一樣不時撞在牆上。
這個也不是。
他地穿過一道隔牆的門，發現自己進入了一個巨大的走廊。刺鼻的氣味從走廊的盡頭飄來，於是他順着走廊走向相反的方向。
他看到了一個鑲在牆裏面的顯示器，顯示器前都罩有機玻璃，玻璃很厚，但是面上磨損很嚴重。
“請你把聲音關小點行嗎？”他對福特·長官說，後者正蹲在顯示器前面的一堆視頻設備中間。這些設備都是他從托特哈姆法院路一個商店的櫥窗裏拿來的，爲此他先往櫥窗裏扔了一小塊磚頭，以及一大堆空啤酒罐。
“噓！”福特噓了一聲，目光狂熱地盯屏幕上。他正在看《豪勇七蛟龍》（美國好萊塢1960年拍攝的經典西部電影）。
“只小一點點。”阿瑟說。
“不行！”福特嚷着，“我們剛到精彩的地方！你聽，我把一切都弄好了，電壓，線路轉換，所有的東西，而且這是精彩部分！”
阿瑟嘆了口氣，頭也很疼，只好在他身邊坐下看精彩部分。他儘可能鎮定地聽着福特的感嘆和叫喊和“呀哈！”等聲音。
“福特，”電影放完了，福特在一對錄像帶中翻找《卡薩布蘭卡》（美國經典電影，拍攝於1942年）的帶子的時候，阿瑟終於說，“你怎麼能……”
“這可是好東西。”福特說，“我回來就是要找這個的。你知不知道我從來沒把它看完過？我總是沒看着結尾。沃貢人來之前的晚上我又只看了半頭。他們把哪地方炸了之後我以爲我再也看不到了，後來到底怎麼樣了？”
“生活而已。”阿瑟說着拿過一聽啤酒。
“哦，又是這樣。”福特說，“我想就會是這類的事。我喜歡這些東西。”裏克酒吧（電影中的場景）在屏幕上閃現的時候他說，“你怎麼能什麼？”
“什麼？”
“你剛纔說：‘你怎麼能……’”
“你怎麼能對地球有那麼無禮的看法，卻又……算了，看你的電影吧。”
“太對了。”福特說。
