經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第11章2

“Beeblebrox…” gasped Gargravarr’s mind in amazement.
“Could I have a drink please?” said Zaphod.
“You… you… have been in the Vortex?” stammered Gargravarr.
“You saw me, kid.”
“And it was working?”
“Sure was.”
“And you saw the whole infinity of creation?”
“Sure. Really neat place, you know that?”
Gargravarr’s mind was reeling in astonishment. Had his body been with him it would have sat down heavily with its mouth hanging open.
“And you saw yourself,” said Gargravarr, “in relation to it all?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah.”
“But… what did you experience?”
Zaphod shrugged smugly.
“It just told me what I knew all the time. I’m a really terrific and great guy. Didn’t I tell you, baby, I’m Zaphod Beeblebrox!”
His gaze passed over the machinery which powered the vortex and suddenly stopped, startled.
He breathed heavily.
“Hey,” he said, “is that really a piece of fairy cake?”
He ripped the small piece of confectionery from the sensors with which it was surrounded.
“If I told you how much I needed this,” he said ravenously, “I wouldn’t have time to eat it.”
He ate it.

“畢博布魯克斯……”伽古拉瓦的意識喘息着說，震驚不巳。
“我能喝點兒什麼嗎，”贊福德說。
“你……你……剛纔是在旋渦裏嗎，”伽古拉瓦結結巴巴地問。
“你不也看見了嗎，夥計！”
“它正常運行了嗎？”
“當然。”
“你看到整個無跟的宇宙萬物了！”
“當然。真是個不錯的地方，對吧？”
伽古拉瓦的意識由於震驚而感到一陣眩暈。如果他的身體此刻和他在一起的話，它肯定會張大嘴巴，重重地一屁股跌坐在地。
“你也看到你自己，”伽古拉瓦繼續追問，“和它的全部關係了。”
“哦，是的，是的。”
“可是，究竟經歷了什麼？”
贊福德揚揚得意地聳了聳肩。
“它只不過告訴了我一些我早就知道的事情。我的確是一個了不起的偉大人物。我不是告訴過體嗎？夥計，我可是贊福德·畢博布魯克斯！”
他的目光越過爲旋渦提供動力的機器，突然間停下來，似乎吃了一驚。
他的呼吸開始加重。
“嘿，”他說，“那真是塊小仙人鬆糕嗎？”
他把這一小塊甜點從環繞着它的一堆傳感器上扯下來。
“如果我告訴你我是多麼需要這東西的話，”他貪婪地說，“我就沒時間吃它了。”
然後他就吃掉了它。