經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第3章16
“Zaphod,” rasped the apparition, “I think the only reason I waste my breath on you is that being dead I don’t have any other use for it.”
“OK,” said Zaphod, “why don’t you tell me what the big secret is. Try me.”
“Zaphod, you knew when you were President of the Galaxy, as did Yooden Vranx before you, that the President is nothing. A cipher. Somewhere in the shadows behind is another man, being, something, with ultimate power. That man, or being, or something, you must find – the man who controls this Galaxy, and – we suspect – others. Possibly the entire Universe.”
“Why?”
“Why?” exclaimed an astonished ghost, “Why? Look around you lad, does it look to you as if it’s in very good hands?”
“It’s alright.”
The old ghost glowered at him.
“I will not argue with you. You will simply take this ship, this Improbability Drive ship to where it is needed. You will do it. Don’t think you can escape your purpose. The Improbability Field controls you, you are in its grip. What’s this?”
He was standing tapping at one of the terminals of Eddie the Shipboard Computer. Zaphod told him.
“What’s it doing?”
“It is trying,” said Zaphod with wonderful restraint, “to make tea.”
“Good,” said his great grandfather, “I approve of that. Now Zaphod, “he said, turning and wagging a finger at him, “I don’t know if you are really capable of succeeding in your job. I think you will not be able to avoid it. However, I am too long dead and too tired to care as much as I did. The principal reason I am helping you now is that I couldn’t bear the thought of you and your modern friends slouching about up here. Understood?”
“Yeah, thanks a bundle.”
“Oh, and Zaphod?”
“Er, yeah?”
“If you ever find you need help again, you know, if you’re in trouble, need a hand out of a tight corner…”
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t hesitate to get lost.”
Within the space of one second, a bolt of light flashed from the wizened old ghost’s hands to the computer, the ghost vanished, the bridge filled with billowing smoke and the Heart of Gold leapt an unknown distance through the dimensions of time and space.
“贊福德，”鬼魂刺耳地說，“在我想來，我之所以在你身上浪費精力，只有一個原因：死後，精力這玩意兒對我來說沒有其他任何用處了。”
“好吧，”贊福德說，“你幹嘛不告訴我，那個大祕密究竟是什麼？說吧。”
“贊福德，你當過銀河系總統，就像域敦·萬克斯在你之前當過一樣。你應該知道，總統什麼都不是。等於零。在你們身後的陰影裏，有另一個人、一個生物、或者別的什麼東西。把持着終極權力的是他。那個人、或者生物、或者別的什麼東西，你必須把他找出來——那個真正控制着銀河系的傢伙。另外，我們懷疑他的勢力範圍還不僅於此。也許是整個宇宙。”
“爲什麼？”
“爲什麼？”鬼魂驚訝地說，“爲什麼？看看你周圍吧，夥計，難道你認爲這一切對你來說很正常嗎？”
“還行吧。”
年邁的鬼魂對他怒目而視。
“我不敢苟同。你將把這艘飛船，這艘非概率驅動飛船，駛到需要它的地方去。你會這麼做的。別指望你能夠擺脫你的使命。非概率的場控制着你，你在它的掌握之中。聽上去如何？”
他站在那兒，敲着艦載電腦艾迪的一臺終端。
“這玩意兒在幹嘛？”
“它在試圖，”贊福德以極大的剋制力說，“弄出一杯茶來。”
“好極了，”他的曾祖父說，“我贊成這麼做。現在，贊福德，”他說，同時朝贊福德晃了晃手指，“我不知道你能不能完成你的使命，我只知道你無法逃避它。不過，我已經死了太久了，考慮這麼多事情也太累了。之所以現在在這裏幫助你，最主要的原因是，我無法忍受你和你的新潮朋友們的思想再這麼懶散下去。懂嗎？”
“是的，非常感謝。”
“喔，還有，贊福德？”
“嗯，怎麼？”
“如果你以後又覺得自己需要幫助了，你知道，如果你遇上了什麼麻煩，在緊要關頭需要人幫一把……”
“怎麼？”
“請千萬記住，別再找我。”
就在這一瞬，一道光從這個枯瘦的鬼魂手上發出來，射在電腦上。然後，鬼魂消失得無影無蹤，艦橋裏濃煙滾滾，黃金之心號在時間和空間的維度中進行了一次無法判斷距離的躍遷。
