經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第24章5
“Yes,” he said, “All those dead telephone sanitizers and account executives, you know, down in the hold.”
The Captain stared at him. Suddenly he threw back his head and laughed.
“Oh they’re not dead,” he said, “Good Lord no, no they’re frozen. They’re going to be revived.”
Ford did something he very rarely did. He blinked.
Arthur seemed to come out of a trance.
“You mean you’ve got a hold full of frozen hairdressers?” he said.
“Oh yes,” said the Captain, “Millions of them. Hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, management consultants, you name them. We’re going to colonize another planet.”
Ford wobbled very slightly.
“Exciting isn’t it?” said the Captain.
“What, with that lot?” said Arthur.
“Ah, now don’t misunderstand me,” said the Captain, “we’re just one of the ships in the Ark Fleet. We’re the ‘B’ Ark you see. Sorry, could I just ask you to run a bit more hot water for me?”
Arthur obliged, and a cascade of pink frothy water swirled around the bath. The Captain let out a sigh of pleasure.
“Thank you so much my dear fellow. Do help yourselves to more drinks of course.”
“是的，”他說，“那些死了的電話消毒員、客戶經理，你知道，就在下面的貨艙裏。”
艦長望着他，突然一仰頭，大笑起來。
“噢，他們沒有死。”他說，“老天啊，不，不是那樣的，他們只是被冷凍了。他們會醒過來的。”
福特做了一件他很少做的事。他眨了眨眼。
阿瑟則好像從恍惚狀態中掙脫出來了。
“你是說你有整整一貨艙的冰凍美髮師？”他說。
“哦，是的，”艦長說，“好幾百萬吧。美髮師、電視製片人、保險推銷員、官員、保鏢、公共關係經理、諮詢顧問，凡是你想得起來的職業。我們要到另一個星球上去殖民。”
福特很輕微地晃了一下。
“令人興奮，不是嗎？”艦長說。
“什麼，用這些人？”阿瑟說。
“嗅，別誤解了我的意思。”艦長說，“我們只是整個方舟艦隊中的一艘飛船。你瞧，我們是‘B’方舟。對不起，能請你給我加點兒熱水嗎，”
阿瑟遵命照辦了。於是，一股粉紅色的帶着泡沫的水開始繞着浴缸打漩兒，艦長則發出一聲愜意的嘆息。
“真是太感謝了，我親愛的夥計。當然，別忘了結體自己多來點兒喝的，”
