經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第21章2
Zaphod leaped across the cabin and switched frequencies on the sub-ether receiver before the next mind-pulverizing noise hit them. He stood there quivering.
“What,” said Trillian in a small quiet voice, “does sundive mean?”
“It means,” said Marvin, “that the ship is going to dive into the sun. Sun… Dive. It’s very simple to understand. What do you expect if you steal Hotblack Desiato’s stunt ship?”
“How do you know…” said Zaphod in a voice that would make a Vegan snow lizard feel chilly, “that this is Hotblack Desiato’s stuntship?”
“Simple,” said Marvin, “I parked it for him.”
“The why… didn’t… you… tell us!”
“You said you wanted excitement and adventure and really wild things.”
“This is awful,” said Arthur unnecessarily in the pause which followed.
“That’s what I said,” confirmed Marvin.
On a different frequency, the sub-ether receiver had picked up a public broadcast, which now echoed round the cabin.
“… fine weather for the concert here this afternoon. I’m standing here in front of the stage,” the reporter lied, “in the middle of the Rudlit Desert, and with the aid of hyperbinoptic glasses I can just about make out the huge audience cowering there on the horizon all around me. Behind me the speaker stacks rise like a sheer cliff face, and high above me the sun is shining away and doesn’t know what’s going to hit it. The environmentalist lobby do know what’s going to hit it, and they claim that the concert will cause earthquakes, tidal waves, hurricanes, irreparable damage to the atmosphere, and all the usual things that environmentalists usually go on about.
“But I’ve just had a report that a representative of Disaster Area met with the environmentalists at lunchtime, and had them all shot, so nothing now lies in the way of…”
Zaphod switched it off. He turned to Ford.
“You know what I’m thinking?” he said.
“I think so,” said Ford.
“Tell me what you think I’m thinking.”
“I think you’re thinking it’s time we get off this ship.”
“I think you’re right,” said Zaphod.
“I think you’re right,” said Ford.
“How?” said Arthur.
贊福德猛地跳起來穿過船艙，在下一聲巨響襲擊他們之前轉換了亞以太接受器的頻率。他站在那裏，渾身顫抖。
“太陽俯衝，”崔莉恩小聲地問，“是什麼意思？”
“意思是，”馬文說，“這艘飛船即將俯衝進人太陽。太陽…俯衝，這很容易理解。你們偷了霍特布萊克·迪西亞託的特技飛船，還能期望些什麼呢？”
“你怎麼知道，”贊福德說，聲音冷得會讓一隻維甘星雪蜥蠍打擺子，“這是霍特布萊克·迪西亞託的特技飛船？”
“很簡單，”馬文說，“爲他泊船的是我。”
“那麼，爲什麼……你沒告訴我們！”
“你說過你喜歡刺激、冒險，喜歡真正狂野的事。”
“太可怕了；”阿瑟在接下來的停頓中間毫無必要地補了一句。
“我正是這個意思。”馬文表示確定。
在另一個頻率上，亞以太接收器搜索到了一段公共廣播，此時飄蕩在船艙裏。
“…今天下午的音樂會，天氣銀好。我現在正站在舞臺前面，”這個記者顯然在撒謊，“在路德利特大沙漠的中部。藉助超級二進制光學服鏡，我能看到大量的觀衆，他們充滿恐懼地龜縮在我網周各個方向的地平線上。揚聲器組羣在我身後升起，像一面陡峭的懸崖。太陽在我頭頂照耀，它不知道有什麼東西將要撞向它。持環境保護論的議會遊說者倒是知道，他們還宣稱這場音樂會將引發地麓、海嘯、颶風害，諸如此類，全是所有那些環境保護論者通常會掛在嘴邊嘮叨個不停的東西。”
“我剛剛收到一份報告，‘災難地帶’的一位代表在午餐時會晤了這些環境保護論者，把他們通通打死了，所以現在已經沒有任何東西阻止！”
贊福德關掉接收器。他轉向福特。
“你知道我現在在想什麼嗎？”他說。
“我想是的。”福特說。
“告訴我，你想我正在想什麼。”
“我想你正在想我們該離開這艘飛船了。”
“我想你想的是對的。”贊福德說。
“我想你想的也是對的。”福特說。
“日了怎麼離開呢？”阿瑟問。
