經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第10章4

Zaphod peered nervously Inside. The chamber was very small. It was steel-lined and there was hardly space in it for more than one man.
“It… er… it doesn’t look like any kind of Vortex to me,” said Zaphod.
“It isn’t,” said Gargravarr, “it’s just the elevator. Enter.”
With infinite trepidation Zaphod stepped into it. He was aware of Gargravarr being in the elevator with him, though the disembodied man was not for the moment speaking.
The elevator began its descent.
“I must get myself into the right frame of mind for this,” muttered Zaphod.
“There is no right frame of mind,” said Gargravarr sternly.
“You really know how to make a guy feel inadequate.”
“I don’t. The Vortex does.”
At the bottom of the shaft, the rear of the elevator opened up and Zaphod stumbled out into a smallish, functional, steel-lined chamber.
At the far side of it stood a single upright steel box, just large enough for a man to stand in.
It was that simple.
It connected to a small pile of components and instruments via a single thick wire.
“Is that it?” said Zaphod in surprise.
“That is it.”
Didn’t look too bad, thought Zaphod.
“And I get in there do I?” said Zaphod.
“You get in there,” said Gargravarr, “and I’m afraid you must do it now.”
“OK, OK,” said Zaphod. He opened the door of the box and stepped in.
Inside the box he waited.
After five seconds there was a click, and the entire Universe was there in the box with him.

贊福德緊張地盯着裏面。房間很小，四壁是鋼鐵，幾乎容不下第二個人。
“這玩意兒…嗯看上去不太像我心耳中的旋渦。”贊福德說。
“它本來就不是，”伽古拉瓦說，“這只是電梯。進去。”
帶着十二萬分的驚恐，贊福德走了進去。他能感到伽古拉瓦也進了電梯，就在他邊上，雖然這個脫離了肉體的傢伙並沒有說一句話。
電梯開始下降。
“要能應付這個，我得作好恰當的思想準備才行。”贊福德咕噥着。
“根本不存在恰當的思想準備。”伽古拉瓦嚴厲地說。
“你可真是知道怎麼才能讓一個人感到自己不中用啊。”
“我不行。旋渦在這方面倒是一把好手。”
到了升降井的底端，電梯從後面打開了，於是，贊福德又跌跌撞撞地進人了另一個鋼鐵四壁……顯然是爲某種特殊用途而設計的小房間。
房間的遠端孤零零地立着一個豎放着的金屬箱子，大小剛好夠一個人站在裏面：
一切就這麼簡單。
這個箱子通過一根粗電線與一小堆元件和儀器相連。
”就是那玩意兒？”贊福德吃驚地問。
“是的。”
看上去還不算太差，贊福德想。
“我得站進去，是嗎？”贊福德又問。
“當然，”伽古拉瓦說，“而且，恐怕你現在就得這麼做。’
“行啊，行啊。”贊福德說，他打開箱子蓋，站了進去。
他在箱子裏等待着。
五秒鐘過後，伴隨着“咔嚓”一聲，整個宇宙就和他一起在這個箱子裏了。