經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第18章5

All eyes were fixed on the dome, other than those of Hotblack Desiato’s bodyguard, which were looking intently at Hotblack Desiato, and those of Hotblack Desiato himself which the bodyguard had closed out of respect.
The bodyguard leaned forward over the table. Had Hotblack Desiato been alive, he probably would have deemed this a good moment to lean back, or even go for a short walk. His bodyguard was not a man which improved with proximity. On account of his unfortunate condition, however, Hotblack Desiato remained totally inert.
“Mr. Desiato, sir?” whispered the bodyguard. Whenever he spoke, it looked as if the muscles on either side of his mouth were clambering over each other to get out of the way.
“Mr. Desiato? Can you hear me?”
Hotblack Desiato, quit naturally, said nothing.
“Hotblack?” hissed the bodyguard.
Again, quite naturally, Hotblack Desiato did not reply. Supernaturally, however, he did.
On the table in front of him a wine glass rattled, and a fork rose an inch or so and tapped against the glass. It settled on the table again.
The bodyguard gave a satisfied grunt.
“It’s time we get going, Mr. Desiato,” muttered the bodyguard, “don’t want to get caught in the rush, not in your condition. You want to get to the next gig nice and relaxed. There was a really big audience for it. One of the best. Kakrafoon. Five-hundred seventy-six thousand and two million years ago. Had you will have been looking forward to it?”
The fork rose again, waggled in a non-committal sort of way and dropped again.
“Ah, come on,” said the bodyguard, “it’s going to have been great. You knocked ‘em cold.” The bodyguard would have given Dr. Dan Streetmentioner an apoplectic attack.
“The black ship going into the sun always gets ‘em, and the new one’s a beauty. Be real sorry to see it go. If we get on down there, I’ll set the black ship autopilot and we’ll cruise off in the limo. OK?”
The fork tapped once in agreement, and the glass of wine mysteriously emptied itself.
The bodyguard wheeled Hotblack Desiato’s chair out of the Restaurant.

所有目光都集中在穹預上，除了霍特布萊克·迪西亞託的保鏢的兩隻眼睛，它們正專注地盯着霍特布萊克·迪西亞託，還有就是霍特布萊克，迪西亞託自己的眼睛，它們已經被保鏢不禮貌地給合了起來。
保鏢的身體向前靠了靠。如果霍特布萊克·迪西亞託還活着的話，他也許會往後靠靠，甚至站起來走兩步，以避開保鏢。因爲靠近之後，他的保鏢顯得更加兇惡。然而，由於他所處的不幸狀況，霍特布萊克·迪西亞託仍然一動不動。
“迪西亞託先生，先生？”保鏢低聲說無論什麼時候，只要他說話，他左邊嘴角的肌肉就會向右擰，右邊的則向左擰。看上去，彷彿嘴角兩邊的肌肉都急於逃走似的。
“迪西亞託先生’你能聽到我嗎？”
很自然地，霍特布萊克·迪西啞託一言不發。
“霍特布萊克？”保鏢繼續小聲喊道：
很自然地，霍特布萊克·迪西弧託還是沒有回答。然而，以某種超自然的方式，他這麼做了。
在他面前的餐桌上，一個酒杯咔咔作響，一把叉子升起來差不多有一英寸，敲打了幾下酒杯，然後義落到桌面上。
保鏢滿意地“哼”了一聲。
“我們該走了，迪西亞託先生。”保鏢咕噥着說，“你目前的狀況不適於和別人擠成一團。你肯定想舒適鬆弛地去參一場表演吧。肯定會有大量的觀衆。那是最棒的演出之一，在卡庫拉馮，五十七萬六千零二個百萬年之前。難道你就一點兒也不期待嗎？”
那把叉子叉升了起來，停在空中，含混不明地來回擺動了幾下，然後落下來
“噢，走吧，”保鏢說，“那將會曾經很精彩的。你太冷漠了。”聽了這個保鏢所用的時態，唐·史崔特門肯定會氣得中風。
“黑色飛船，直直撞向太陽。這種場面總能抓住觀衆，新的這艘相當漂亮，看着它撞過去真的很遺憾。下到停車場後，我把這艘黑色飛船設定爲自動導航，我們自己乘那艘豪華飛船。怎麼樣，”
那把叉子贊同地敲了敲，杯子裏的酒則莫名其妙地消失了了。
保鏢推着霍特布萊克·迪西亞託的輪椅出了餐館。