經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第9章1

The air around the second planet of the Frogstar system was stale and unwholesome.
The dank winds that swept continually over its surface swept over salt flats, dried up marshland, tangled and rotting vegetation and the crumbling remains of ruined cities. No life moved across its surface. The ground, like that of many planets in this part of the Galaxy, had long been deserted.
The howl of the wind was desolate enough as it gusted through the old decaying houses of the cities; it was more desolate as it whipped about the bottoms of the tall black towers that swayed uneasily here and there about the surface of this world. At the top of these towers lived colonies of large, scraggy, evil smelling birds, the sole survivors of the civilization that once lived here.
The howl of the wind was at its most desolate, however, when it passed over a pimple of a place set in the middle of a wide grey plain on the outskirts of the largest of the abandoned cities.
This pimple of a place was the thing that had earned this world the reputation of being the most totally evil place in the Galaxy. From without it was simply a steel dome about thirty feet across. From within it was something more monstrous than the mind can comprehend.
About a hundred yards or so away, and separated from it by a pockmarked and blasted stretch of the most barren land imaginable was what would probably have to be described as a landing pad of sorts. That is to say that scattered over a largish area were the ungainly hulks of two or three dozen crash-landed buildings.
Flitting over and around these buildings was a mind, a mind that was waiting for something.
The mind directed its attention into the air, and before very long a distant speck appeared, surrounded by a ring of smaller specks.
The larger speck was the left-hand tower of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy office building, descending through the stratosphere of Frogstar World B.
As it descended, Roosta suddenly broke the long uncomfortable silence that had grown up between the two men.
He stood up and gathered his towel into a bag. He said: “Beeblebrox, I will now do the job I was sent here to do.”
Zaphod looked up at him from where he was sitting in a corner sharing unspoken thoughts with Marvin.
“Yeah?” he said.
“The building will shortly be landing. When you leave the building, do not go out of the door,” said Roosta, “go out of the window.”
“Good luck,” he added, and walked out of the door, disappearing from Zaphod’s life as mysteriously as he had entered it.
Zaphod leapt up and tried the door, but Roosta had already looked it. He shrugged and returned to the corner.
Two minutes later, the building crashlanded amongst the other wreckage. Its escort of Frogstar Fighters deactivated their force beams and soared off into the air again, bound for Frogstar World A, an altogether more congenial spot. They never landed on Frogstar World B. No one did. No one ever walked on its surface other than the intended victims of the Total Perspective Vortex.

圍繞着蛙星星系第二顆行星的，是一層不利於健康的陳腐大氣。
潮溼陰冷的風持續不斷地席捲行星表面，刮過鹽鹼地，吹乾褶澤，侵蝕着植被、以及廢棄城市的零散遺址。整個行星表面沒有任何生物出沒。和位於銀河系這一區域內的其他許多行星一樣，這片土地已被拋棄很久很久了。
刮過那些正在腐爛的舊房子時，風的嚎叫聲顯得格外淒涼；當風鞭打着東一處、西一處散佈在這片荒涼世界的表面、不安地搖晃着的黑色高塔的底座時，它的嚎叫就更加淒涼了。在這些高塔頂端，棲息着一羣羣鳥，巨大、枯瘦，散發出極其難聞的氣味，它們是曾經出現在這片土地上的文明爲數不多的倖存者，
然而，只有當風颳過位於所有那些被遺棄的城市中最大的座的郊區、一塊寬闊的灰暗平原正中的一個圓丘時，它的嚎叫才足最淒涼的。
正是這個圓丘，爲這個世界贏得了“銀河系中最邪惡的地方”這一聲名。從外面看來，它不過是一個直徑大約i十英了的鋼鐵拱頂。但如果從裏面看的話，它大得簡直超出了正常思維所能理解的範嗣，
大約一百碼以外，和它之間隔着坑坑窪窪的一段所能想像到的最貧瘠的土地，是一塊也許應該被定義爲着陸區或者類似東西的區域。也就是說，難看地散佈這一大片區域內的幾十座建築物殘骸，都是緊急降落下來的。
一縷意識在這些建築物的上方和四周遊蕩，等待着什麼。
這縷意識把注意力集中到空中。沒過多久，遠處出現了一個斑點，嗣繞着它的是一罔更小的斑點。
大一點兒的那個斑點就是《銀河系漫遊指南》辦公大樓左邊的塔樓，它正穿越蛙星系B世界的同溫層往下降落。
降落過程中，羅斯塔突然打破了兩人之間長時間讓人不舒服的沉默。
他站起身，把毛巾收進一個袋子裏，說：“畢博布魯克斯，我現在就要做派我來這兒所要做的T作
贊槁德擡起頭看着他：他坐在一個角落裏，和馬文一樣沉默地思考着。
“什麼，”他說。
“這棟大樓馬上就要降落了。當你離開大樓時，別從門走，”羅斯塔說，“從窗戶出去，”
“祝你好運。”他衛補充了一句，然後走出門去，從此在贊福德的生命中消失了——和他進人時同樣神祕。
贊福德跳起來，衝到門邊，但羅斯塔已經把門鎖上了。所以他只好聳了聳肩，回到角落裏，
兩分鐘後，大樓轟然降落在那一堆建築物殘骸中間。接着，它的蛙星戰鬥艦護衛隊關閉了引力光柬，重新飛進太空，飛向蛙星系。世界相對而言，那是一個令人愉快的地方，他們從來不在蛙星系B世界上降落。沒有人會這麼做。沒有人曾經在這顆星球的表面行走過，除了那些註定要成爲絕對透視旋渦的犧牲品的人。