經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第12章2

Zaphod wandered in frustration among the hulks. There was nothing here that remotely approached the serviceable. Even the mere vibration of his footsteps caused one precarious wreck to collapse further into itself.
Towards the rear of the building lay one old ship, slightly larger than the others, and buried beneath even deeper piles of dust and cobwebs. Its outLine, however, seemed unbroken. Zaphod approached it with interest, and as he did so, he tripped over an old feedline.
He tried to toss the feedline aside, and to his surprise discovered that it was still connected to the ship.
To his utter astonishment he realized that the feedline was also humming slightly.
He stared at the ship in disbelief, and then back down at the feedline in his hands.
He tore off his jacket and threw it aside. Crawling along on his hands and knees he followed the feedline to the point where it connected with the ship. The connection was sound, and the slight humming vibration was more distinct.
His heart was beating fast. He wiped away some grime and laid an ear against the ship’s side. He could only hear a faint, indeterminate noise.
He rummaged feverishly amongst the debris lying on the floor all about him and found a short length of tubing, and a non-biodegradable plastic cup. Out of this he fashioned a crude stethoscope and placed it against the side of the ship.
What he heard made his brains turn somersaults.
The voice said: “Transtellar Cruise Lines would like to apologize to passengers for the continuing delay to this flight. We are currently awaiting the loading of our complement of small lemon-soaked paper napkins for your comfort, refreshment and hygiene during the journey. Meanwhile we thank you for your patience. The cabin crew will shortly be serving coffee and biscuits again.”
Zaphod staggered backwards, staring wildly at the ship.
He walked around for a few moments in a daze. In so doing he suddenly caught sight of a giant departure board still hanging, but by only one support, from the ceiling above him. It was covered with grime, but some of the figures were still discernible.
Zaphod’s eyes searched amongst the figures, then made some brief calculations. His eyes widened.
“Nine hundred years…” he breathed to himself. That was how late the ship was.
Two minutes later he was on board.
As he stepped out of the airlock, the air that greeted him was cool and fresh – the air conditioning was still lights were still on.
He moved out of the small entrance chamber into a short narrow corridor and stepped nervously down it.
Suddenly a door opened and a figure stepped out in front of him.
“Please return to your seat sir,” said the android stewardess and, turning her back on him, she walked on down the corridor in front of him.
When his heart had started beating again he followed her. She opened the door at the end of the corridor and walked through.
He followed her through the door.

懷着受挫的失望感，贊福德走在這些廢棄的飛船中間。這裏沒有任何東西能派上用場。甚至他的腳步所引起的震動，都導致了一架不穩固的殘骸進一步向它的內部坍塌下去：
有一艘飛船面向屋子的後部停着。它比其他的稍微大一點兒，更深地陷進灰塵和蜘蛛網中。然而，它的外部輪廓看上去似乎沒有損壞。贊福德充滿希望地朝它走過去，這麼做時，他被一根供給管鮮了一下。
他想把這根供給管扔到一邊，卻驚訝地發現它仍然和那艘飛船連着。
更讓他驚愕的是，他意識到這根供給管仍然在發出輕微的嗡嗡聲。
他難以置信地瞧着這艘飛船，然後叉重新低頭瞧着自己手裏的供給管。
他脫下夾克，隨手扔到一邊。他用手和膝蓋慢慢地摸索着，順着供給管找到了它和飛船的連接點。連接好後，輕微的嗡嗡震顫聲更加明顯丁。
他的心跳開始加速。他拂去一些污垢，把一隻耳朵貼在飛船的側壁上，但只能聽到一些微弱而模糊的噪音。
他開始在四周地板七散落的碎片中狂熱地翻檢起來，最後找出一小段管子和一個無法生物降解的塑料杯。用這兩樣東西，他組裝出一副簡易聽診器，然後拿它貼在飛船的側壁上。
聽到的內容在他腦海中炸開了鍋。
一個聲音說：“星際巡航公司爲這趟航班的不斷延誤向乘客們道歉。我們目前正在等着補給檸檬香味的小餐巾紙，以便爲您提供舒適、清l樊和衛生的旅程=與此同時，我們感謝您的耐心。乘務組將很快再次爲您提供咖啡和點心。”
贊福德搖晃了幾下，目光灼灼地盯着這艘飛船：
他茫然地來回轉了片刻。這樣做的過程中，他突然看見一架巨大的登機臺仍然還吊在自己頭頂的天花板上，但支撐點只剩下了一個：登機臺上佈滿污垢，不過還是可以辨認出一些數字。
贊幅德的眼睛掃過這些數字，然後做了一些簡單計算。他瞪大了眼睛。
“九百年……”他深吸了一口氣，自言自語地說。這是這艘飛船的年齡。
兩分鐘以後，他到了飛船上。
走進氣密艙，撲面而來的空氣涼爽而清新——顯然空調仍然還在工作。燈也還亮着。
他走出小小的出入間，進入一段短而狹窄的走道，忐忑不安地朝裏面走去。
突然，一扇門打開了，一個東西鑽出來，立在他面前。
“請回到您的座位上去，先生。”這個機器人空姐說，然後轉過身，走在他前面通過走道。
他跟在她身後，心臟劇烈跳動着，她打開走道盡頭的門，穿過去。
他跟着她，也穿了過去。