Oh yes, he said, no, he corrected himself, they have. He rounded on the doubting part of his audience, which was all of it, and so it took a little while to round on it completely. Have you.been to California? he demanded. Do you know the sort of stuff they do there? Three members of his audience said they had and that he was talking nonsense. You haven’t seen anything, insisted Arthur. Oh yes, he added, because someone was offering to buy another round. The evidence, he said, pointing at himself, and not missing by more than a couple of inches, is before your eyes. Fourteen hours in a trance, he said, in a tank. In a trance. I was in a tank. I think, he added after a thoughtful pause, I already said that. He waited patiently while the next round was duly distributed. He composed the next bit of his story in his mind, which was going to be something about the tank needing to be orientated along a line dropped perpendicularly from the Pole Star to a baseline drawn between Mars and Venus, and was about to start trying to say it when he decided to give it a miss. Long time, he said instead, in a tank. In a trance. He looked round severely at his audience, to make sure it was all following attentively. He resumed. Where was I? he said. In a trance, said one. In a tank, said another. Oh yes, said Arthur. Thank you. And slowly, he said pressing onwards, slowly, slowly slowly, all your excess body fat… turns… to… he paused for effect, subcoo… subyoo… subtoocay… he paused for breath subcutaneous gold, which you can have surgically removed. Getting out of the tank is hell. What did you say? I was just clearing my throat. I think you doubt me. “哦，是的，”他說，“哦，不是，”他更正一下，“他們確實發現了那種方法。” 他環視着四周持懷疑觀點的聽衆，其實就是全部聽衆，所以他花了點時間才把他們環視完。 “你去過加州麼？”他問道。“你知道他們在那兒做甚麼嗎？” 三位聽衆表示他們去過加州，而且根本搞不清他在說什麼。 “你們啥都沒看到，”阿瑟堅持着。“哦，好的，”他補充道，因爲有個人要再請一輪酒。 “證據，”他一邊說着一邊不偏不倚地指着自己，“遠在天邊，近在眼前。十四個小時的昏迷，”他說，“在一個大箱子中。在昏迷中。我在一個大箱子中。我認爲，”他在一個意味深長的停頓後補充道，“我已經講過了。” 下一輪酒正好上來了，他耐心地等待着酒被分配下去。他在腦中沉澱着下一段的故事，這段故事應該講述着箱子的朝向，應當從火星到金星之間的基線上再引一條垂直到北極星的連線，箱子應當順着那條連線擺放。當他剛打算講述這段時，他決定先跳過這些。 “好長時間，”他轉而說，“都在箱子中。在昏迷中。”他嚴格地盯着他的聽衆，確保他們都在跟着他的思路。 他重新回到了話題上。 “我剛纔說到哪兒了？”他說。 “在昏迷中，”一個人說。 “在箱子中，”另一個人說。 “哦，好的，”阿瑟說。“謝謝你。而且慢慢地，”他加重了語氣，“，慢慢地，慢慢地慢慢地，你所有的多餘脂肪……轉化……成了……”——他停了一下製造效果，“披……疲……鈹……”——他停了一下緩口氣兒——“皮下組織黃金，你可以通過外科手術取出來。從那箱子裏出來真是受罪。您說啥？” “我只是在清嗓子。” “我認爲你在質疑我。”
