經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第29章3
“Do you think they came today?” he said, “I do. There’s mud on the floor, cigarettes and whisky on the table, fish on a plate for you and a memory of them in my mind. Hardly conclusive evidence I know, but then all evidence is circumstantial. And look what else they’ve left me.”
He reached over to the table and pulled some things off it.
“Crosswords, dictionaries, and a calculator.”
He played with the calculator for an hour, whilst the cat went to sleep and the rain outside continued to pour. Eventually he put the calculator aside.
“I think I must be right in thinking they ask me questions,” he said, “To come all that way and leave all these things for the privilege of singing songs to you would be very strange behaviour. Or so it seems to me. Who can tell, who can tell.”
From the table he picked up a cigarette and lit it with a spill from the stove. He inhaled deeply and sat back.
“I think I saw another ship in the sky today,” he said at last. “A big white one. I’ve never seen a big white one, just the six black ones. And the six green ones. And the others who say they come from so far away. Never a big white one. Perhaps six small black ones can look like one big white one at certain times. Perhaps I would like a glass of whisky. Yes, that seems more likely.”
He stood up and found a glass that was lying on the floor by the mattress. He poured in a measure from his whisky bottle. He sat again.
“Perhaps some other people are coming to see me,” he said.
A hundred yards away, pelted by the torrential rain, lay the Heart of Gold.
Its hatchway opened, and three figures emerged, huddling into themselves to keep the rain off their faces.
“In there?” shouted Trillian above the noise of the rain.
“Yes,” said Zarniwoop.
“That shack?”
“Yes.”
“你想他們今天會來嗎，”他說，“我想是的：地板上有泥巴，香菸和威士忌在桌子上，盤子裏的魚——那是給你的·還有就是我的腦海裏關於他們的記憶了。我知道，這些算不上什麼確切證據，但話又說回來，一切證據都算不上確切證據。咱們來瞧瞧·看他們還給我留下了些什麼。”
他走到桌子旁邊，從上面拿起一些東西。
“縱橫字謎、字典，還有一個計算器。”
他玩了一個小時的計算器。那隻貓睡了，外面的瓢潑大雨繼續下着。最後，他終於把計算器放到一邊。
“我想，我認爲他們是來問我問題的想法一定是對的。”他說。“跑這麼遠來到這裏，又留下這麼多東西，如果僅僅是爲了對你唱歌，這種舉動未免太奇怪了，至少我覺得是這樣。誰知道呢？誰知道呢？”
他從桌上拿起一枝香炳，在火爐冒出的火苗上點燃。他深吸了一口，然後重新坐下來。
“我想今天我在天空中看見了另一艘飛船，”他最後說，“一艘巨大的白色飛船。我從來投有見過巨大的白色飛船，只見過那六艘黑色的，還有六艘綠色的，另外還有一些，聲稱他們來自非常遙遠的地方。從來沒有過白色的。也許在某些特定的時刻，六艘黑色的小飛船看上去會像一艘白色的大飛船吧。也許我應該倒上一杯威士忌。是的，威士忌似乎比較可靠一點兒。”
他站起身，從牀墊旁邊的地板上找了一個玻璃杯，然後從威士忌灑瓶裏倒了一小格。他又坐下來。
“也許義有別的什麼人要來見我。”他說。
一百碼以外，在傾盆大雨沖刷下，停着”黃金之心號”。
艙門打開了，從裏面鑽出來一個人，他們縮成一團，免得雨淋到他們的臉上。
”在那兒嗎？”崔莉恩大叫着說，這樣才能蓋過雨聲。
“是的。”扎尼烏普說。
“那間小屋？”
“是的。”
