編者按：在Google中搜索 “What is the answer to life， the universe， and everything?” Google計算器會告訴你答案——42！這是出自于著名英國科幻小說作家道格拉斯·亞當(dāng)斯 (Douglas Adams) 《銀河系搭車客指南》 (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) 中的情節(jié)。

這本書曾對計算機和黑客文化產(chǎn)生了深遠影響，比如，打敗卡斯帕羅夫（國際象棋特級大師）的“深藍” (Deep Blue) 計算機的前身叫“深思” (Deep Thought)，也就是書中運算了七百五十萬年后得出“42”這個終極答案的計算機；Yahoo用“Babel Fish”——放在耳朵里就可以聽懂任何星球生物語言的小魚——命名自己的在線翻譯網(wǎng)站；Google總部的名字Googleplex是書中那臺能夠計算出丹格拉班德貝塔星上一場持續(xù)5個星期的沙塵暴中每一顆單獨的沙塵的運行軌跡的電腦……

書中的主人公亞瑟·鄧特 (Arthur Dent) 是地球被沃貢人 (Vogon) 摧毀后（是的，在此書中地球就是如此微不足道，簡單點說，銀河系要修高速公路，地球很礙事，就被炸毀讓道；在《指南》中，關(guān)于地球的解釋就只有簡單的“無害”及后來的“基本無害”）存活下來的唯一來自這顆星球的生物，搭救他的是他的朋友、宇宙漫游員福特 (Ford Prefect)。這兩個“搭車客”混入沃貢人的艦船從而獲救，被發(fā)現(xiàn)之后，又被拋入太空，在寶貴三十秒內(nèi)，又幸運地被銀河帝國政府總統(tǒng)贊法德 (Zaphod) 和女朋友翠莉安 (Trillian) 救起。

選文是他們駕駛“黃金之心”號降落在瑪格莉西亞行星——“奢侈品星球定制建造”產(chǎn)業(yè)總部，這是亞瑟第一次踏上地球之外的星球……

Chapter 20

Douglas Adams

[1] Five figures wandered slowly over the blighted land. Bits of it were dullish grey， bits of it dullish brown， the rest of it rather less interesting to look at. It was like a dried-out marsh， now barren of all vegetation and covered with a layer of dust about an inch thick. It was very cold.

[2] Zaphod was clearly rather depressed about it. He stalked off by himself and was soon lost to sight behind a slight rise in the ground.

The wind stung Arthur’s eyes and ears， and the stale thin air clasped his throat. However， the thing stung most was his mind.

“It’s fantastic ...” he said， and his own voice rattled his ears. Sound carried badly in this thin atmosphere.

“Desolate hole if you ask me，” said Ford. “I could have more fun in a cat litter.” He felt a mounting irritation. Of all the planets in all the star systems of all the Galaxy – didn’t he just have to turn up at a dump like this after fifteen years of being a castaway? Not even a hot dog stand in evidence. He stooped down and picked up a cold clot of earth， but there was nothing underneath it worth crossing thousands of light years to look at.

“No，” insisted Arthur， “don’t you understand， this is the first time I’ve actually stood on the surface of another planet ... a whole alien world ...! Pity it’s such a dump though.”

Trillian hugged herself， shivered and frowned. She could have sworn she saw a slight and unexpected movement out of the corner of her eye， but when she glanced in that direction all she could see was the ship， still and silent， a hundred yards or so behind them.

[3] She was relieved when a second or so later they caught sight of Zaphod standing on top of the ridge of ground and waving to them to come and join him.

He seemed to be excited， but they couldn’t clearly hear what he was saying because of the thinnish atmosphere and the wind.

As they approached the ridge of higher ground they became aware that it seemed to be circular–a crater about a hundred and fifty yards wide. Round the outside of the crater the sloping ground was spattered with black and red lumps. They stopped and looked at a piece. It was wet. It was rubbery.

With horror they suddenly realized that it was fresh whale meat.

At the top of the crater’s lip they met Zaphod.

“Look，” he said， pointing into the crater.

In the centre lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperm whale that hadn’t lived long enough to be disappointed with its lot. The silence was only disturbed by the slight involuntary spasms of Trillian’s throat.

“I suppose there’s no point in trying to bury it?” murmured Arthur， and then wished he hadn’t.

“Come，\" said Zaphod and started back down into the crater.

“What， down there?\" said Trillian with severe distaste.

“Yeah，” said Zaphod， “come on， I’ve got something to show you.”

“We can see it，” said Trillian.

“Not that，” said Zaphod， “something else. Come on.”

They all hesitated.

“Come on，” insisted Zaphod， “I’ve found a way in.”

“In?” said Arthur in horror.

“Into the interior of the planet! An underground passage. The force of the whale’s impact cracked it open， and that’s where we have to go. Where no man has trod these five million years， into the very depths of time itself ...”

Marvin started his ironical humming again.

Zaphod hit him and he shut up.

[4] With little shudders of disgust they all followed Zaphod down the incline into the crater， trying very hard not to look at its unfortunate creator.

“Life，” said Marvin dolefully， “l(fā)oathe it or ignore it， you can’t like it.”

The ground had caved in where the whale had hit it revealing a network of galleries and passages， now largely obstructed by collapsed rubble and entrails. Zaphod had made a start clearing a way into one of them， but Marvin was able to do it rather faster. Dank air wafted out of its dark recesses， and as Zaphod shone a torch into it， little was visible in the dusty gloom.

“According to the legends，” he said， “the Magratheans lived most of their lives underground.”

“Why’s that?” said Arthur. “Did the surface become too polluted or overpopulated?”

“No， I don’t think so，” said Zaphod. “I think they just didn’t like it very much.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” said Trillian peering nervously into the darkness. “We’ve been attacked once already you know.”

“Look kid， I promise you the live population of this planet is nil plus the four of us， so come on， let’s get on in there. Er， hey Earthman ...”

“Arthur，” said Arthur.

“Yeah could you just sort of keep this robot with you and guard this end of the passageway. OK?”

“Guard?” said Arthur. “What from? You just said there’s no one here.”

\"Yeah， well， just for safety， OK?\" said Zaphod.

“Whose? Yours or mine?”

“Good lad. OK， here we go.”

Zaphod scrambled down into the passage， followed by Trillian and Ford.

“Well I hope you all have a really miserable time，” complained Arthur.

“Don’t worry，\" Marvin assured him， \"they will.\"

In a few seconds they had disappeared from view.

Arthur stamped around in a huff， and then decided that a whale’s graveyard is not on the whole a good place to stamp around in.

Marvin eyed him balefully for a moment， and then turned himself off.

第20章

姚向輝 譯

[1] 五個人影緩步走在荒涼的土地上。這里有幾小塊是沉悶的灰色，有幾小塊是沉悶的棕色，剩下的連讓人看一眼的興趣都無法引起。這里仿佛一片干涸了的沼澤地，植被消失得無影無蹤，取而代之的是大約一英寸厚的塵埃覆層。這里很冷。

[2] 贊法德顯然被這塊土地弄得很抑郁。他一個人怒氣沖沖地走開，很快消失在了微微抬高的一片地形背后。

風(fēng)刺痛了亞瑟的眼睛和耳朵，腐臭的稀薄空氣糊住了喉嚨。然而，最刺痛的卻還是他的意識。

“真是妙極了……”他說，聲音噼噼啪啪地在耳朵里炸響。空氣太稀薄，聲音傳送得不怎么好。

“要我說的話，這就是個鳥不拉屎的破地方?！备Ｌ卣f，“拱貓砂都比這兒有樂趣?！彼械綒鈵赖那榫w正在累積。全銀河系有那么多恒星系統(tǒng)，又有那么多顆行星，其中有許多既狂野又富有異域情調(diào)，生機盎然。在流放了十五年之后，他到頭來為什么要出現(xiàn)在這么個鬼地方？視線所及范圍內(nèi)，連個熱狗攤都沒有。他蹲下身，抓起一團冰冷的塵土，但底下實在沒有值得跨越數(shù)千光年來看的東西。

“不對，”亞瑟堅持道，“你還不明白嗎？這是我第一次真正站在另一顆星球的表面上……一個完全陌生的世界啊……！只可惜是這么個鬼地方?！?/p>

翠莉安抱住自己的身子，打著寒戰(zhàn)，皺著眉頭。她敢發(fā)誓剛才在眼角余光中瞥見了什么細微而出乎意料的動靜，但當(dāng)她朝那個方向望過去的時候，看見的卻只有那艘飛船一動不動地默默停在背后一百碼左右的地方。

[3] 過了一秒左右，瞅見贊法德站在地面上拿出隆起的最高處，揮手叫他們趕緊過來，翠莉安不由松了口氣。

贊法德看起來很興奮，但由于空氣稀薄，又刮著大風(fēng)，他們聽不清他在說什么。

走近那片地勢較高之處的隆脊，他們意識到這道隆脊其實是環(huán)形的——這是一個直徑約有一百五十碼的環(huán)形山。環(huán)形山的外側(cè)緩坡上灑滿了黑色和紅色的團塊。他們停下來仔細端詳其中一塊。這塊東西濕漉漉的。這塊東西挺有彈性。

他們忽然驚恐地意識到，這是新鮮鯨肉。

他們在環(huán)形山的邊緣和贊法德會合。

“看！”他指著環(huán)形山的內(nèi)部說。

環(huán)形山的中央孤零零地躺著一條抹香鯨摔爛了的身軀，它的生命太短，甚至沒有活到度對其命運感到失望的時候。沉默中只聽得到翠莉安喉頭不由自主地輕微痙攣聲。

“我想沒必要安葬它吧？”亞瑟喃喃說道，隨即希望自己沒說這句話。

“跟我來，”贊法德說著又走進了環(huán)形山內(nèi)部。

“什么？跟你下去？”翠莉安帶著極大的厭惡說。

“是啊，”贊法德說?！翱靵?，我有東西給你們看。”

“我們看得見，”翠莉安說。

“不是那個，”贊法德說，“是別的東西?？靵怼！?/p>

幾個人都躊躇不前。

“快來啊，”贊法德不肯放過他們，“我找到進去的路了?！?/p>

“進去？”亞瑟驚恐地說。

“進入這顆星球的內(nèi)部！一條地下通道。鯨魚落地的沖擊力震出了一條裂縫，那就是咱們應(yīng)該去的地方。五百萬年以來從未有誰涉足過的地方，走向時間本身的極幽深處……”

馬文又開始憤世嫉俗地哼唱歌謠。

贊法德給他來了一拳，他閉上了嘴巴。

[4] 反胃弄得他們的身體不時微微顫抖，他們隨著贊法德走下斜坡，走進環(huán)形山內(nèi)部，費盡心思不去看那只引起反胃的不幸生物。

“人生啊，”馬文悲涼地感慨道，“要么厭惡，要么忽視，但不可能喜歡它?！?/p>

鯨魚撞擊地面的地方凹陷了下去，露出走廊和通道構(gòu)成的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，坍塌下來的碎石和鯨魚的內(nèi)臟遮蓋住了他們中的絕大部分。贊法德已經(jīng)開始著手清理出一條進去的道路，不過馬文動起手來就快得多了。黑暗的幽深之處吹出陰冷潮濕的氣流，贊法德點亮手電筒照進去，里頭暗沉沉的滿是塵土，幾乎什么也看不清。

“根據(jù)傳說記載，”他說，“瑪格莉西亞人生活中的大部分時間都在地下度過。”

“那是為啥？”亞瑟說，“地表受了污染還是人口過多？”

“不，我想不是這樣的，”贊法德說，“我覺得他們就是喜歡住在地下?！?/p>

“你確定你知道自己正在干什么嗎？”翠莉安緊張地望著那片黑暗說，“我們已經(jīng)被攻擊過一次，你還記得吧？”

“聽我說，小姑娘，我向你保證，這顆星球上的人是零外加咱們四個，所以，走吧，咱們這就進去看看吧。呃，喂，地球人……”

“我叫亞瑟。”亞瑟說。

“你能跟機器人呆在一起，守住通道的這一段嗎？”

“守住？”亞瑟說，“防備什么？你才說過，這兒沒有別人了?！?/p>

“是的。呃，安全第一嘛，行不行？”贊法德說。

“誰的安全，你的還是我的？”

“小伙子人真不錯。好了，咱們出發(fā)?！?/p>

贊法德往下爬進通道，翠莉安和福特緊隨其后。

“好吧，希望你們享受一段非常倒霉的時間?！眮喩г沟馈?/p>

“別擔(dān)心，”馬文安慰他，“他們會的。”

幾秒鐘后，他們消失在了亞瑟的視線之外。

亞瑟氣沖沖地跺著腳走了一圈，轉(zhuǎn)念一想，覺得鯨魚的墳?zāi)箤嵲诓皇呛线m跺著腳走來走去的好地方。

馬文對他投來帶毒的目光，片刻后干脆關(guān)閉了自己的電源。