经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第17章8

The bird Guide did not answer at once. It spread its wings and, with an easy grace, ascended into the air and flew out into the rain which, once again, was beginning to lighten.

指南鸟没有立刻回答。它舒展开翅膀飞进了再次减弱的雨里，动作从容而优雅。

It soared ecstatically up into the night sky, lights flashed around it, dimensions dithered in its wake. It swooped and turned and looped and turned again and came at last to rest two feet in front of Random’s face, its wings beating slowly and silently.

它挺陶醉地一飞冲天，光线在它周围闪烁，空间在它的尾巴后边颤抖。它俯冲，转向，翻腾，再转向，最后在兰登跟前停下，缓慢而轻柔地扇动翅膀，离她的面孔只有两尺远。

It spoke to her again.

它再次对她讲话。

‘you. universe is vast to you. Vast in time, vast in space. That’s because of the filters through which you perceive it. But I was built with no filters at all, which means I perceive the mish mash which contains all possible universes but which has, itself, no size at all. For me, anything is possible. I am omniscient and omnipotent, extremely vain, and, what is more, I come in a handy self-carrying package. You have to work out how much of the above is true.’

“对你来说你的宇宙及其广阔，在时间上，在空间上都是如此。原因就在于你用来感知并且过滤信息的知觉。但人家在造我的时候没有加入任何过滤器，这就意味着，我能感知包含所有可能宇宙的全体各色总杂烩，而且还知道它——全体各色总杂烩本身——是没有大小可言的。对于我来说，一切皆有可能。我是全知全能的，极其自负，而且最重要的是，可以自行移动，携带方便。以上言论，你得自己判断到底有多少是真话。”

A slow smile spread over Random’s face.

兰登脸上慢慢露出一个笑容。

‘You bloody little thing. You’ve been winding me up!’

“你这鬼东西，你一直在耍我。”

‘As I said, anything is possible.’

“就像我刚才说的，一切皆有可能。”

Random laughed. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Let’s try and go to Earth. Let’s go to Earth at some point on its, er…

兰登哈哈大笑。“好吧，”她说，“咱们就试试去地球看看。咱们就去那个什么上找它，呃，那个……”

‘Probability axis?’

“概率曲线？”

‘Yes. Where it hasn’t been blown up. OK. So you’re the Guide. How do we get a lift?’

“没错，去它没被炸烂的地方，好吧。这么说你是指路的。我们怎么才能搭到车呢？”

‘Reverse engineering.’

“反向操控。”

‘What?’

“什么？”

‘Reverse engineering. To me the flow of time is irrelevant. You decide what you want. I then merely make sure that it has already happened.’

“反向操控。对于我来说，时间流无关紧要。你来决定你想要什么，然后我只需要确定它已经发生过就行。”

‘You’re joking.’

“你开玩笑吧？”

‘Anything is possible.’

“一切皆有可能。”

Random frowned. ‘You are joking aren’t you?’

兰登皱起眉头，“你是在开玩笑对吧？”