經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第26章2

He said with a malicious grin, “No, doesn’t work. Never mind.”
Arthur looked at him as if he’d gone mad and, seeing nothing to indicate the contrary, realized that it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that this had in fact happened.
“What do you think will happen to them all?” he said after a while.
“In an infinite Universe anything can happen,” said Ford, “Even survival. Strange but true.”
A curious look came into his eyes as they passed over the landscape and then settles again on the scene of misery below them.
“I think they’ll manage for a while,” he said.
Arthur looked up sharply.
“Why do you say that?” he said.
Ford shrugged.
“Just a hunch,” he said, and refused to be drawn to any further questions.
“Look,” he said suddenly.

Arthur followed his pointing finger. Down amongst the sprawling masses a figure was moving – or perhaps lurching would be a more accurate description. He appeared to be carrying something on his shoulder. As he lurched from prostrate form to prostrate form he seemed to wave whatever the something was at them in a drunken fashion. After a while he gave up the struggle and collapsed in a heap.
Arthur had no idea what this was meant to mean to him.

“不，耶種辦法行不通。算了，不說這個了。”他說，臉上帶着惡毒的笑容。
阿瑟看着他，彷彿他已經瘋掉了，當看不出任何能夠表明對方的頭腦仍然清醒的徵兆時，他意識到自己確實有理由認爲，對方確實已經瘋掉了。
“你覺得他們這些人會出什麼事？”過丁一會兒，他問道。
“在一個無限的宇宙裏，任何事情都有可能發生，”福特說，“他們甚至有可能倖存下來。這種事很奇怪，但卻是真的。”
他把目光從周圍的景緻收回來，再次落到他們下方的悲慘場面。一種奇怪的眼神出現在他的眼睛裏。
“我想，過一會兒他們就能應付了。”他說。
阿瑟猛地擡起頭。
“爲什麼這麼說，”他問。
福特又聳了聳肩。
“只不過是種預感。”他說，然後不再回答阿瑟的任何問題。
“看，”他突然說。

阿瑟順着他手指的方向看過去：下面散漫的人羣中，有一個身影正在移動——更準確地說，正在徘徊。他的肩上似乎扛着什麼東西：他從一具疲憊的身軀徘徊到另一具疲憊的身軀，似乎在用肩上的那個什麼東西對着他們揮舞，樣子像喝酢了。過了一陣子，他放棄了努力，癱倒仵地。
阿瑟不知道這是在幹什麼。