經典科幻文學:《 基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》 第5章2

They looked at her for a while, their large eyes moving up and down her very slowly.

他們盯着她看了一會兒，大眼睛慢吞吞地從頭看到腳。

'You look smAller in real life,' one said at last.

“現實生活中的你看起來似乎要小些。”其中一個終於說。

'What?' said Tricia.

“什麼？”崔茜卡問。

'Yes.'

“是的。”

'I… I don't understand,' said Tricia. She hadn't expected any of this, of course, but even for something she hadn't expected to begin with it wasn't going the way she expected. At last she said, 'Are you… are you from… Zaphod?'

“我……我不明白。”當然了，眼下的一切完全出乎她的預料，但即便是作爲一種完全出乎預料的情況，它也沒有按照她所沒有預料到的那個方向發展。最後她問：“你們是不是……是不是……從贊福德那兒來的？”

This question seemed to cause a little consternation among the three figures. They conferred with each other in some skittering language of their own and then turned back to her.

她的問題似乎在這三位中引起了一絲恐慌。他們用自己輕快滑稽的語言交流半晌，然後轉身重新面對她。

'We don't think so. Not as far as we know,' said one.

“我們認爲不是。據我們所知不是。”其中一個說。

'Where is Zaphod?' said another, looking up into the night sky. 'I… I don't know,' said Tricia, helplessly.

“贊福德在哪兒？”另一個望着夜空問。“我……我不知道。”崔茜卡無助地說。

'Is it far from here? Which direction? We don't know.'

“離這兒遠嗎？在哪個方向？我們不知道。”

Tricia realised with a sinking heart that they had no idea who she was talking about. Or even what she was talking about. And she had no idea what they were talking about. She put her hopes tightly away again and snapped her brain back into gear. There was no point in being disappointed. She had to wake up to the fact that she had here the journalistic scoop of the century. What should she do? Go back into the house for a video camera? Wouldn't they just be gone when she got back? She was thoroughly confused as to strategy. Keep 'em talking, she thought. Figure it out later.

崔茜卡的心沉了下去，她意識到對方根本不明白自己說的是誰，或者甚至她是什麼意思。而她也不明白他們在說些什麼。她再一次堅定地把希望推開，腦袋重新開始運轉。沒什麼可失望的。她必須清醒過來，眼前正擺着本世紀的獨家頭條，她該怎麼辦？回屋去拿攝像機嗎？等她回來的時候他們會不會已經走了？對於此刻到底應該採用何種戰略戰術，崔茜卡滿腦子稀裏糊塗。還是讓他們接着說，她暗想。待會兒再想辦法。

'You've been monitoring… me?'

“你們一直在監控……我？”

'All of you. Everything on your planet. TV. Radio. Telecommunications. Computers. Video circuitry. Warehouses.'

“你們大家。你們星球上的一切。電視，收音機，無線電，電腦，視頻信號，商店。”

'What?'

“什麼？”

'Car parks. Everything. We monitor everything.'

“停車場。一切。我們監控一切。”

Tricia stared at them.

崔茜卡瞪着他們。