經典科幻文學:《宇宙盡頭的餐館》第6章8

“Who in the Galaxy would want to bomb a publishing company?” asked Zaphod, but never heard Marvin’s reply because at that moment the building shook with another bomb attack. He tried to stagger back to the elevator – a pointless manoeuvre he realized, but the only one he could think of.
Suddenly, at the end of the corridor leading at right angles from this one, he caught sight of a figure as it lunged into view, a man. The man saw him.
“Beeblebrox, over here!” he shouted.
Zaphod eyed him with distrust as another bomb blast rocked the building.
“No,” called Zaphod, “Beeblebrox over here! Who are you?”
“A friend!” shouted back the man. He ran towards Zaphod.
“Oh yeah?” said Zaphod, “Anyone’s friend in particular, or just generally well disposed of people?”
The man raced along the corridor, the floor bucking beneath his feet like an excited blanket. He was short, stocky and weatherbeaten and his clothes looked as if they’d been twice round the Galaxy and back with him in them.
“Do you know,” Zaphod shouted in his ear when he arrived, “your building’s being bombed?”
The man indicated his awareness.
It suddenly stopped being light. Glancing round at the window to see why, Zaphod gaped as a huge sluglike, gunmetal-green spacecraft crept through the air past the building. Two more followed it.
“The government you deserted is out to get you, Zaphod,” hissed the man, “they’ve sent a squadron of Frogstar Fighters.”
“Frogstar Fighters!” muttered Zaphod, “Zarquon!”
“You get the picture?”
“What are Frogstar Fighters?” Zaphod was sure he’d heard someone talk about them when he was President, but he never paid much attention to official matters.
The man was pulling him back through a door. He went with him. With a searing whine a small black spider-like object shot through the air and disappeared down the corridor.
“What was that?” hissed Zaphod.
“Frogstar Scout robot class A out looking for you,” said the man.
“Hey yeah?”
“Get down!”

“在這個銀河系裏，究竟是什麼傢伙想炸掉一家出版公司呢？”贊福德問。但他聽不見馬文的回答，因爲這時大樓又在另一次炸彈攻擊下搖晃起來。他跌跌撞撞地想要回到電梯那兒去——其實他也知道，這個行動毫無意義，但這是他惟一能想到的行動了。
突然，在一條和他所處的這條走廊成直角相交的走廊盡頭，一個身影躍入他的視線，一個男人。這個人也看見了他。
“畢博布魯克斯，這邊來！”他喊道。
贊福德不信任地望着他，又一輪爆炸撼動大樓。
“不，”贊福德說。“畢博布魯克斯就在這邊，哪兒都不去！你是誰？”
“一個朋友！”那人喊道。他朝贊福德跑過來。
“噢，是嗎？”贊福德說，“到底是誰的朋友？或者是僅僅是一般的助人爲樂？”
那人沿着走廊跑過來，地板在他腳下晃動着，活像一張着了魔的地毯。他個子不高，但很結實，一張臉顯得飽經風霜，他的衣服同樣飽經風霜，看上去似乎穿在他身上週遊了兩趟銀河系。
“你知道嗎，”等他來到身旁，贊福德附在他耳朵邊叫道，“你的大樓正在挨炸？”
那人表示他已經意識到這一點了。
突然間，四周暗了下來。贊福德打量着窗戶，想弄清楚原因。一艘鼻涕蟲狀的、泛着鐵灰綠光澤的巨奇www書17794網com型太空船從空中緩緩掠過大樓，看得他目瞪口呆。它後面還跟着兩艘。
“被你從他們手中逃掉的那個政府出動來抓你了，贊福德，”那人嘶嘶地說，“他們派出了一箇中隊的蛙星戰鬥艦。”
“蛙星戰鬥艦！”贊福德咕噥到，“他孃的！”
“你明白了？”
“什麼是蛙星戰鬥艦？”贊福德敢肯定，他當總統時曾聽什麼人提到過這種玩意兒。可惜他對工作上的事從來不上心。
那人穿過一扇門，把他往後一拽。他順從了，隨即看到一個像蜘蛛一樣的黑色小東西，帶着灼熱的氣浪，呼嘯着劃過他面前的空氣，消失在走廊裏。
“那是什麼東西？”贊福德小聲問。
“蛙星偵察機器人A型，出來找你的，”那人回答說。
“啊？什麼？”
“趴下！”