經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》第21章12

How could she prove any of this? It wasn’t even worth thinking about. The whole thing was a nightmare from virtually any angle she cared to look at it from. Her head was beginning to throb.

她怎麼可能證明裏面的任何東西？這連考慮的價值都沒有，無論從哪個見鬼的角度看，這整件事都是場噩夢。她的腦袋開始突突直跳。

She had some aspirin in her bag. She went out of the little editing suite to the water dispenser down the corridor. She took the aspirin and drank several cups of water.

她包裏帶了些阿司匹林，於是走出編輯工作室，到走廊盡頭找飲水機。她吞下阿司匹林，又喝了好幾杯水。

The place seemed to be very quiet. Usually there were more people bustling about the place, or at least some people bustling around the place. She popped her head round the door of the editing suite next to hers but there was no one there.

這地方似乎相當安靜。通常都有不少人在這兒忙忙碌碌的，連個人影都瞧不見實在有點不合情理。她把頭探進自己隔壁的工作室，裏頭也是空空如也。

She had gone rather overboard keeping people out of her own suite. ‘DO NOT DISTURB,’ the notice read. ‘DO NOT EVEN THINK OF ENTERING. I DON’T CARE WHAT IT IS. GO AWAY. I’M BUSY!’

沒準是他在阻止人家打擾上太過極端了。“請勿打擾。”告示上寫着，“連想都別想，我纔不管是什麼事情，走開。我忙着呢！”

When she went back in she noticed that the message light on her phone extension was winking, and wondered how long it had been on.

她回到自己的工作室，發現電話分機的信號燈正閃着，不知道這東西已經亮了多久。

‘Hello?’ she said to the receptionist.

“哈羅？”她對前臺說。

‘Oh, Miss McMillan, I’m so glad you called. Everybody’s been trying to reach you. Your TV company. They’re desperate to reach you. Can you call them?’

“哦，麥克米倫小姐，真高興你終於打來了，每個人都在找你，你的電視公司。他們都快絕望了。你能給他們打個電話嗎？”

‘Why didn’t you put them through’?’ said Tricia. ‘You said I wasn’t to put anybody through for anything. You said I was to deny that you were even here. I didn’t know what to do. I came up to give you a message, but…’

“你爲什麼沒把他們轉過來？”崔茜卡問。 “你說過任何人的電話都不聽，你說我甚至不能承認你在這裏。我不知道該怎麼辦。我剛纔上來給你帶個信，可……”

‘OK,’ said Tricia, cursing herself. She phoned her office.

“好吧。”崔茜卡暗暗詛咒自己。她給自己的辦公室打了個電話。

‘Tricia! Where the haemorrhaging fuck are you?’

“崔茜卡！真他媽要命你他媽到底在哪兒？”

‘At the editing…

“在編輯……”

‘They said…’

“可他們說……”

‘I know. What’s up?’

“我知道。怎麼了？”

‘What’s up? Only a bloody alien spaceship!’

“怎麼了？只不過是艘該死的外星飛船！”

‘What? Where?’

“什麼？在哪兒？”

‘Regent’s Park. Big silver job. Some girl with a bird. She speaks English and throws rocks at people and wants someone to repair her watch. Just get there.’

“攝政王公園。銀色的大傢伙。帶了只鳥的姑娘，她說英語還朝人丟石頭而且想要人修她的表，快去快去。”

Tricia stared at it.

崔茜卡瞪着它。