经典科幻文学:《基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第17章6

He was almost completely lost, convinced he was going to die of cold and wet and exhaustion and beginning to wish he could just get on with it. He had just been brought an entire golfing magazine by a squirrel, as well, and his brain was beginning to howl and gibber.

他已经完全找不着路，确信自己将死于寒冷，潮湿和疲惫，并且开始希望自己干脆接受这个事实算了。而且刚才还有只松鼠给他拿来了一本《高尔夫》杂志，他的脑袋已经开始叽里呱啦又笑又哭。

Seeing a huge bright image of himself light up in the sky told him that, on balance, he was probably right to howl and gibber but probably wrong as far as the direction he was heading was concerned.

在天空中看见一幅自己的巨型图像，这告诉他一个事实，总的来说，叽里呱啦又笑又哭大概是正确的选择；但如果单论前进的方向，他应该是走错了才对。

Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed off towards the inexplicable light show.

他深吸一口气，转身朝那个不知所谓的灯光表演走去。

‘OK, so what’s that supposed to prove?’ demanded Random. It was the fact that the image was her father that had startled her rather than the appearance of the image itself. She had seen her first hologram when she was two months old and had been put in it to play. She had seen her most recent one about half an hour ago playing the March of the AnjaQantine Star Guard.

“好吧，那这又能说明什么？”兰登问。她之所以吓了一跳其实是因为看到了她父亲，而不是因为图像的出现。她两个月大的时候就开始看全息图了，而且大人也常把她放里头玩。再说，不过是半个钟头前她不是才看过全息图吗，它还正演奏《安加-狂泰星际守卫进行曲》呢。

‘Only that it’s no more there or not there than the sheet was,’ said the bird. ‘It’s just the interaction of water from the sky moving in one direction, with light at frequencies your senses can detect moving in another. It makes an apparently solid image in your mind. But it’s all just images in the Mish Mash. Here’s another one for you.’

“只想说明它并不比刚才的光更存在或者更不存在。”指南鸟说，“那只是天上的水在往一个方向移动，你能觉察的光线频率关系在往另一个方向移动，两者刚好发生互动。它在你心里造成了一幅仿佛很真实的图像。但这些其实只不过是全体各色总杂烩里的画面而已。来，再给你一幅。”

‘My mother!’ said Random.

“我母亲！”兰登道。

‘No,’ said the bird.

“不是。”鸟说。

‘I know my mother when I see her!’

“我自己的母亲我还认得出来！”

The image was of a woman emerging from a spacecraft inside a large, grey hangar-like building. She was being escorted by a group of tall, thin purplish-green creatures. It was definitely Random’s mother. Well, almost definitely. Trillian wouldn’t have been walking quite so uncertainly in low gravity, or looking around her at a boring old life-support environment with quite such a disbelieving look on her face, or carrying such a quaint old camera.

画面上是一个机库模样的大灰色建筑，里头停了艘飞船，一个女人正从飞船上出来，护送她的那一队瘦高个的皮肤是种紫兮兮的绿色。毫无疑问那就是兰登的母亲。唔，几个毫无疑问。只不过，崔莉恩在低重力环境下走路，动作不会那么缺乏自信，她也不会用那么不敢置信的神情打量一个无聊的老式生命维系环境，又或者拿着那么个奇怪的老相机四处晃悠。

‘So who is it?’ demanded Random.

“这到底是谁？”兰登问。

‘She is part of the extent of your mother on the probability axis,’ said the bird Guide.

“她是你母亲在概率轴线上外延的一部分。”指南鸟说。

‘I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.’

“我半点也不明白你在讲些什么。”

‘Space, time and probability all have axes along which it is possible to move.’

“空间，时间和概率都有轴线，它们可以沿着这些轴线移动。”

‘Still dunno. Though I think… No. Explain.’

“还是不明白。不过我想……不。解释给我听。”

‘I thought you wanted to go home.’

“我还以为你想回家。”