經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第14章1

Chapter 14
Four inert bodies sank through spinning blackness. Consciousness had died, Cold oblivion pulled the bodies down and down into the pit of unbeing. The roar of silence echoed dismally around them and they sank at last into a dark and bitter sea of heaving red that slowly engulfed them, seemingly for ever.
After what seemed an eternity the sea receded and left them lying on a cold hard shore, the flotsam and jetsam of the stream of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Cold spasms shook them, lights danced sickeningly around them. The cold hard shore tipped and span and then stood still. It shone darkly – it was a very highly polished cold hard shore.
A green blur watched them disapprovingly.
It coughed.
“Good evening, madam, gentlemen,” it said, “do you have a reservation?”
Ford Prefect’s consciousness snapped back like elastic, making his brain smart. He looked up woozily at the green blur.
“Reservation?” he said weakly. “Yes, sir,” said the green blur.
“Do you need a reservation for the afterlife?”
In so far as it is possible for a green blur to arch its eyebrows disdainfully, this is what the green blur now did.
“Afterlife, sir?” it said.
Arthur Dent was grappling with his consciousness the way one grapples with a lost bar of soap in the bath.
“Is this the afterlife?” he stammered.
“Well I assume so,” said Ford Prefect trying to work out which way was up. He tested the theory that it must lie in the opposite direction from the cold hard shore on which he was lying, and staggered to what he hoped were his feet.
“I mean,” he said, swaying gently, “there’s no way we could have survived that blast is there?”

第十四章
四具毫無生氣的軀體穿過不停旋轉的一片黑晴往下墜落。意識已經死亡，寒冷的空白將這些軀體一步步拉入非生命的深淵。沉寂的哀號淒涼地迴盪在他們周圍，他們最終沉入一片黑暗和痛苦的海洋。紅潮緩緩涌起，彷彿要將他們永遠吞沒。
似乎過了很久很久，海水退去，留下他們躺在一片冰冷而堅硬的海岸上，像生命、宇宙以及一切的河流中漂浮的殘骸和棄物。
寒冷引起的痙攣襲擊着他們，燈光在他們周圍舞動，令人眩暈。冰冷而堅硬的海岸開始傾斜、旋轉，然後靜止下來，昏暗地閃爍着——這是一片打磨得很光滑的冰冷而堅硬的海岸。
一團綠影不以爲然地盯着他們。
它咳嗽了一聲。
“晚上好，女士們、先生們，”它說，“你們有預約嗎？”
福特長官的意識猛然問像橡皮筋一樣彈了回來，腦子隨即活動起來。他擡起頭，暈暈糊棚地看着這團綠影。
“預約？”他虛弱地說。“是的，先生。”綠影說，
“來世也需要預約？”
對方以一即綠影可能做到的最大限度輕蔑地揚起眉毛。
“來世，先生？”它說。
阿瑟·鄧特試圖牢牢抓住自己的意識，就像在洗澡間裏撿起一塊滑落的肥皂。
“這就是來世嗎？”他結結巴巴地說。
”嗯，我想是的。”福特長官說，他正試圖找出哪個方向是上，他開始驗證這樣一個推斷，即這個方向肯定是在與他正躺着的冰冷而堅硬的海岸相反的方向，然後才跌跌撞撞地向他希望是自己雙腳的東西掙扎過去，
“我的意思是，”他說，身體微微搖晃，“在那樣的爆炸中，我們還能倖存下來嗎？”