經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第29章6
Trillian said: “I think I’m just popping outside for a moment.”
She left and walked into the rain.
“Do you believe other people exist?” insisted Zarniwoop.
“I have no opinion. How can I say?”
“I’d better see what’s up with Trillian,” said Zaphod and slipped out.
Outside, he said to her: “I think the Universe is in pretty good hands, yeah?”
“Very good,” said Trillian. They walked off into the rain.
Inside, Zarniwoop continued.
“But don’t you understand that people live or die on your word?”
The ruler of the Universe waited for as long as he could. When he heard the faint sound of the ship’s engines starting he spoke to cover it.
“It’s nothing to do with me,” he said, “I am not involved with people. The Lord knows I am not a cruel man.”
“Ah!” barked Zarniwoop, “you say ‘The Lord’. You believe in something!”
“My cat,” said the man benignly, picking it up and stroking it, “I call him The Lord. I am kind to him.”
“Alright,” said Zarniwoop, pressing home his point, “How do you know he exists? How do you know he knows you to be kind, or enjoys what he thinks of as your kindness?”
“I don’t,” said the man with a smile, “I have no idea. It merely pleases me to behave in a certain way to what appears to be a cat. Do you behave any differently? Please, I think I am tired.”
Zarniwoop heaved a thoroughly dissatisfied sigh and looked about.
“Where are the other two?” he said suddenly.
“What other two?” said the ruler of the Universe, settling back into his chair and refilling his whisky glass.
“Beeblebrox and the girl! The two who were here!”
“I remember no one. The past is a fiction to account for…”
“Stuff it,” snapped Zarniwoop and ran out into the rain. There was no ship. The rain continued to churn the mud. There was no sign to show where the ship had been. He hollered into the rain. He turned and ran back to the shack and found it locked.
The ruler of the Universe dozed lightly in his chair. After a while he played with the pencil and the paper again and was delighted when he discovered how to make a mark with the one on the other. Various noises continued outside, but he didn’t know whether they were real or not. He then talked to his table for a week to see how it would react.
這時崔莉思說：“我想我得出去一會兒。”
她離開屋子，走在雨中。
“你相信別人存在嗎？”扎尼烏普堅持問道，
“我不知道。讓我怎麼說呢7”
“我最好去瞧瞧崔莉恩怎麼了。”贊福德說，然後也漓丁出去。
在外面，他對她說：“我看，宇宙掌握在一雙相當出色的手裏面，對嗎？”
“很出色。”崔莉恩說。他們一起走進雨中。
屋裏，扎尼烏普還在繼續着。
“難道你就不明白嗎，人們的生死全憑你的一句話？”
宇宙的統治者等待了儘可能長的時間。聽見飛船引擎發動的微弱聲響後，他這纔開始說話，以掩蓋這個聲音。
“這和我沒有絲毫關係，”他說，“其他人和我無關。上帝知道我並不是一個殘忍的人。”
“哈！”扎尼烏普叫道，“你提到了‘上帝’。歸總還是信仰某些東西的！”
“我的貓，”這人親切地說，一邊把它抱起來撫摸着，“我叫它‘上帝’。我對它很好。”
“那好吧。”扎尼烏普說，叉回到了他的觀點，”你又是怎麼知道它是存在的呢，你怎麼知道它知道你對他很好，並且因此沾沾自喜呢7”
“我不知道，”這人笑着說，“我並不知道。令我感到快樂的只是以一種特定的方式去對待一個看上去像是一隻貓的東西。你的行爲方式和這有什麼不同嗎？拜託，我覺得我累了。”
扎尼烏普發出一聲完全不甘心的嘆息，然後看了看周圍。
“另外兩個人呢，”他突然問道。
“什麼另外兩個人？”宇宙的統治者說，他正坐回自己的椅子，重新斟滿威士忌酒杯。
“畢博布魯克斯和那個女孩！那兩個剛纔還在這裏的人！”
“我誰也不記得了！過去是一種虛構，爲了解釋……”
‘夠了！”扎尼烏普猛地說，然後衝進外面的雨中。沒有飛船，大雨繼續攪拌着稀泥，沒有任何能顯示出飛船曾經在什麼地方停過的標記。他在雨中大喊大叫。他轉身跑回那間小屋，發現門已經鎖了。
宇宙的統治者在他的椅子裏打了個小盹兒，過了一會兒，他叉開始擺弄鉛筆和紙，當他發現如何用一個在另一個上留下印記時，他感到很高興。各種噪音繼續在門外作響，但他不知道它們是否是真實的。然後，他對着他的桌子說了一個星期的話，想看看它會有什麼反應。
