經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第20章2
In fact, though they weren’t to know it, the decor had been chosen in honour of its owner’s sad, lamented, and tax-deductible condition.
The ship gave a particularly sickening lurch.
“Take it easy,” pleaded Arthur, “you’re making me space sick.”
“Time sick,” said Ford, “we’re plummeting backwards through time.”
“Thank you,” said Arthur, “now I think I really am going to be ill.”
“Go ahead,” said Zaphod, “we could do with a little colour about this place.”
“This is meant to be a polite after-dinner conversation is it?” snapped Arthur.
Zaphod left the controls for Ford to figure out, and lurched over to Arthur.
“Look, Earthman,” he said angrily, “you’ve got a job to do, right? The Question to the Ultimate Answer, right?”
“What, that thing?” said Arthur, “I thought we’d forgotten about that.”
“Not me, baby. Like the mice said, it’s worth a lot of money in the right quarters. And it’s all locked up in that head thing of yours.”
“Yes but…”
“But nothing! Think about it. The Meaning of Life! We get our fingers on that we can hold every shrink in the Galaxy up to ransom, and that’s worth a bundle. I owe mine a mint.”
Arthur took a deep breath without much enthusiasm.
“Alright,” he said, “but where do we start? How should I know? They say the Ultimate Answer or whatever is Forty-two, how am I supposed to know what the question is? It could be anything. I mean, what’s six times seven?”
Zaphod looked at him hard for a moment. Then his eyes blazed with excitement.
“Forty-two!” he cried.
Arthur wiped his palm across his forehead.
“Yes,” he said patiently,” I know that.”
Zaphod’s faces fell.
他們當然不會知道，事實上，之所以選擇這種裝飾風格，完全是爲了紀念這艘飛船的主人目前所處的可悲、口f嘆、可以獲得減免稅的處境。
猛然問，飛船往下一沉。
“動作別太猛，”阿瑟懇求道，“這樣會弄得我太空暈船的。”
“你是暈時間，”福特說，“我們正在通過時間往回驟降。”
“謝謝你。”阿瑟說，“我覺得我真的快吐了。”
“那就吐吧，”贊福德說，“咱們可以在這個地方搞出點兒顏色來。”
“這算禮貌的餐後交談嗎？”阿瑟生氣地說。
贊福德離開控制檯，來到福特身邊，和他商量丁一下，然後轉向阿瑟。
“瞧，地球人，”他生氣地說對嗎’終極答案的問題，對嗎，”
“什麼，那件事？”阿瑟說。“你以前有一項工作要完成“我還以爲咱們已經把它拋到腦後去了！”
“我可沒有，夥計。那些老鼠說過，找到了地方的話，它值一大筆錢呢。而它就被鎖在你那個叫腦袋的玩意兒裏。”
“是的，可……”
“沒什麼可不可的！想想吧，生命的意義！只要咱們掌握了了一點，銀河系的每個心理醫生就成了任憑咱們擺佈的人質，我們想讓他們拿多少贖金出來，他們就得拿多少贖金出來。這可是一大筆錢吶。簡直是一座造幣廠。”
阿瑟吸了一口氣，並沒有表現出多大的熱情。
“好吧，”他說，“可我們從哪兒開始呢？我怎麼會知道呢？他們說那個終極答案，或者隨便什麼玩意兒，是42，我憑什麼該知道針對這個答案的問題是什麼，可能是任何東西。我的意思是，6乘以7等於多少？”
贊福德嚴肅地盯着他，看了一會兒。然後，他的眼睛裏冒出了興奮的光彩。
“421”他叫道。
阿瑟用手掌擦了擦前額。
“對，”他耐心地說，“我知道。”
贊福德的臉沉了下來。
