經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第11章2大綱

There had been soulful music playing on the ship’s sound system of course.
And he had, of course, been slightly drunk.
In other words, all the usual conditions which bring on a bout of soul-searching had applied, but it had, nevertheless, clearly been an error.
Standing now, silent and alone in the dark corridor he remembered the moment and shivered. His one head looked one way and his other the other and each decided that the other was the way to go.
He listened but could hear nothing.
All there had been was the “wop”.
It seemed an awfully long way to bring an awfully large number of people just to say one word.
He started nervously to edge his way in the direction of the bridge. There at least he would feel in control. He stopped again. The way he was feeling he didn’t think he was an awfully good person to be in control.
The first shock of that moment, thinking back, had been discovering that he actually had a soul.
In fact he’d always more or less assumed that he had one as he had a full complement of everything else, and indeed two of somethings, but suddenly actually to encounter the thing lurking there deep within him had giving him a severe jolt.
And then to discover (this was the second shock) that it wasn’t the totally wonderful object which he felt a man in his position had a natural right to expect had jolted him again.
Then he had thought about what his position actually was and the renewed shock had nearly made him spill his drink. He drained it quickly before anything serious happened to it. He then had another quick one to follow the first one down and check that it was all right.
Freedom, he said aloud.
Trillian came on to the bridge at that point and said several enthusiastic things on the subject of freedom.
I can’t cope with it, he said darkly, and sent a third drink down to see why the second hadn’t yet reported on the condition of the first. He looked uncertainly at both of her and preferred the one on the right.
He poured a drink down his other throat with the plan that it would head the previous one off at the pass, join forces with it, and together they would get the second to pull itself together. Then all three would go off in search of the first, give it a good talking to and maybe a bit of a sing as well.
He felt uncertain as to whether the fourth drink had understood all that, so he sent down a fifth to explain the plan more fully and a sixth for moral support.
You’re drinking too much, said Trillian.
His heads collided trying to sort out the four of her he could now see into a whole position. He gave up and looked at the navigation screen and was astonished to see a quite phenomenal number of stars.
Excitement and adventure and really wild things, he muttered.
Look, she said in a sympathetic tone of voice, and sat down near him, it’s quite understandable that you’re going to feel a little aimless for a bit.
He boggled at her. He had never seen anyone sit on their own lap before.
Wow, he said. He had another drink.
You’ve finished the mission you’ve been on for years.
I haven’t been on it. I’ve tried to avoid being on it.
You’ve still finished it.
He grunted. There seemed to be a terrific party going on in his stomach.
I think it finished me, he said. Here I am, Zaphod Beeblebrox, I can go anywhere, do anything. I have the greatest ship in the known sky, a girl with whom things seem to be working out pretty well…
Are they?

飛船音響系統里正放着靈魂樂——理所當然。
而他，理所當然地，有點醉了。
換句話說，會讓人想要探求一下靈魂深處的一切因素都備齊了。可惜，那顯然絕對是個錯誤。
如今，靜靜地獨自站在漆黑的走廊上，他記起當時的狀況，於是一陣戰慄。他的一個頭是這種表情，另一個頭是那種表情，兩個都覺得，對方的可能比自己稍稍好點兒。
他側耳傾聽，但什麼也沒有。
只有“喔”。
把如此數量龐大的人弄到如此遙遠的地方，竟然只是爲了說一個字。
他緊張地慢慢挪動自己，想靠近控制檯。在哪兒他至少覺得自己處於控制地位。他又停下了。原因是他覺得自己真不是個適合處於控制地位的傢伙。
回想起來，當時，他心頭一震，發現自己的確有個靈魂。
其實，從前他一直假設自己是有個靈魂，正如他擁有一切那樣——有的東西還有倆呢——直到此時此刻，發現潛藏在黑暗中的自己，他卻極大地震驚了。
隨後，他又發覺（這是第二次心頭一震），處在他這樣地位的人，靈魂真不是特別值得期待的東西，於是再次感到震驚。
接着他就想，到底自己是個什麼地位呢？這次的震驚讓他幾乎把酒全給灑了出來。於是他趕快喝了一大口，以免有更嚴重的事發生。緊接着他又喝了一大口，看看第一口是否還好。
“自由噢！”他高聲嚷道。
崔莉安來到控制檯，對他說了一些關於自由的比較積極的話。
“我真受不了。”他陰鬱地說着，仰頭喝了第三口，以便看看第二口爲什麼還沒報告第一口的情況。他從兩邊分別看着崔莉安，覺得右邊看的更漂亮。
他又往另一個喉嚨裏灌了一口酒，計劃着要它追上前一口，它們倆齊心合力，去把第二口也拉上，然後三個一起去找第一口，跟它好好聊聊，還可以一起唱唱歌啥的。
他不知第四口酒是否明白了，於是讓第五口酒去解釋解釋，第六口去表示一下精神支持。
“你喝得太多了。”崔莉安說。
他把兩個頭碰在一起，努力想看清楚此時眼中的四個她。他放棄了，轉而去看導航屏幕，驚訝地發現有如此巨大數量的星星。
“刺激和冒險，都特別爽。”他喃喃地說。
“你瞧，”她在他身邊坐下，同情地說，“你覺得有點迷茫，這是可以理解的。”
他吃驚地看着她，他還沒見過有誰坐在自己的大腿上呢。
“哇。”他說，又喝了一口酒。
“你已經完成了多年以來爲之努力的任務。”
“我沒有爲之努力。我在努力不爲之努力。”
“你還是完成了啊。”
他嘟噥了一下，胃裏像在舉行一個瘋狂的派對。
“我想是他完成了我。”他說，“我，贊福德·畢博布魯克斯，我哪都能去，什麼都能做，我有太空中最棒的飛船，有個什麼都會的姑娘……”
“是嗎？”