經典科幻文學:《銀河系漫遊指南》第3章 Part 6
Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds as if they were iron fillings on a sheet of board and a magnet was moving beneath them. Panic sprouted again, desperate fleeing panic, but there was nowhere to flee to.
Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said:"There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department on Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now."
The PA fell silent again and its echo drifted off across the land. The huge ships turned slowly in the sky with easy power. On the underside of each a hatchway opened, an empty black space.
By this time somebody somewhere must have manned a radio transmitter, located a wavelength and broadcasted a message back to the Vogon ships, to plead on behalf of the planet. Nobody ever heard what they said, they only heard the reply. The PA slammed back into life again. The voice was annoyed. It said:
"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? For heaven's sake mankind, it's only four light years away you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own lookout.
"Energize the demolition beams."
Light poured out into the hatchways.
"I don't know," said the voice on the PA, "apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all." It cut off.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
There was a terrible ghastly noise.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.
The Vogon Constructor fleet coasted away into the inky starry void.
無法理解的恐懼降臨到地球上圍觀的人們中間。這種恐懼開始慢慢在人羣中蔓延開來，就像一張紙板上放着鐵屑，而有一塊磁鐵在紙板下移動。恐慌開始蔓延，這是一種因爲絕望而想逃跑的恐慌，但實際上卻無路可逃。
看到這些場景，沃貢人又一次打開了廣播系統。它說；“沒有必要對此表現出驚慌。所有的計劃表格和清除指令都已經在位於半人馬座主星上的你們這個地區的規劃部門裏展示了50個地球年，所以你們有足夠的時間提出任何正式的投訴意見。現在纔開始慌亂已經太晚了，沒有任何意義。”
廣播系統又一次沉默了，只剩它的回聲還在大地上回蕩。巨大的飛船開始在空中緩慢側轉。每艘飛船的底部都打開了一個艙口，像是一箇中空的黑色正方形。
這時，在這顆星球上的某個地方，有一個人打開無線電發射器，選定了一個頻率，向沃貢飛船發出信息，以地球的名義向他們懇求。沒有人聽到他說了些什麼，人們只聽到了答覆。廣播系統再一次響起，這次的聲音顯得有些惱火。它說：
“你這是什麼意思，難道你從來沒有去過半人馬座主星嗎？看在上帝的份上，只有區區4光年的路程而已，這你是知道的。我很抱歉。”
“啓動毀滅光束。”
光束從艙門中傾瀉下來。
“我真搞不懂，”廣播系統裏一個聲音說，“這個冷漠而血腥的星球，我可一點兒也不同情他們。”說罷就切斷了。
一片令人恐怖的寂靜。
一片令人恐怖的嘈雜。
一片令人恐怖的寂靜。
沃貢建築施工艦隊消失在繁星點綴的漆黑空間中。
