经典科幻文学:《 基本上无害 Mostly Harmless》 第3章3

Tricia began to feel that the world was conspiring against her. She knew that this was a perfectly normAl way to feel after an overnight flight going east, when you suddenly have a whole other mysteriously threatening day to deal with for which you are not the least bit prepared. But still.

崔茜卡开始觉得全世界都在合伙跟自己作对。她知道这种感觉其实很正常，毕竟她刚刚才往东边飞了一个通宵，突然之间兜里就神神秘秘地多了整整一个白天咄咄逼人地杀你个措手不及。可知道归知道，唉。

There were marks on her lawn.

她的草坪上有印子。

She didn't really care about marks on her lawn very much. Marks on her lawn could go and take a running jump as far as she was concerned. It was Saturday morning. She had just got home from New York feeling tired, crabby and paranoid, and all she wanted to do was go to bed with the radio on quietly and gradually fall asleep to the sound of Ned Sherrin being terribly clever about something.

她其实不怎么介意草坪上有印子。草坪上的印子大可以爱干嘛干嘛去，她才不在乎，活像个偏执狂。她只想躺在床上，把收音机音量调低，然后一边听着内德.谢林说些机灵的俏皮话，一边慢慢睡死过去。

But Eric Bartlett was not going to let her get away with not making a thorough inspection of the marks. Eric was the old gardener who came in from the village on Saturday mornings to poke around at her garden with a stick. He didn't believe in people coming in from New York first thing in the morning. Didn't hold with it. Went against nature. He believed in virtually everything else, though.

可埃里克巴特.利特并不准备让她蒙混过关，他非要先彻彻底底地检查那些印子。埃里克是镇上的老花匠，每个星期六早上都来她的花园，拿根棍子东戳西戳。他不相信一大早从纽约来的人，有些反感他们，觉得这些人有违自然规律。不过除此之外的一切他基本上都相信。

'Probably them space aliens,' he said, bending over and prodding at the edges of the small indentations with his stick. 'Hear a lot about space aliens these days. I expect it's them.'

“多半是那些个外星人。”他弯下腰，拿棍子戳戳锯齿状的凹痕边缘，“最近老听说外星人的事儿。我猜就是他们。”

'Do you?' said Tricia, looking furtively at her watch. Ten minutes, she reckoned. Ten minutes she'd be able to stay standing up. Then she would simply keel over, whether she was in her bedroom or still out here in the garden. That was if she just had to stand. If she also had to nod intelligently and say 'Do you?' from time to time, it might cut it down to five.

“当真？”崔茜卡偷偷瞄了眼手表。十分钟，她估计。她还能站上个十分钟，然后她就只好跪下来，无论是在自己的卧室里还是在花园里。这还是假定她只需要站着不动。如果再要求她不时一脸机智地点点头，说几句“当真？”之类，时间没准儿还得缩短一半。

'Oh yes,' said Eric. 'They come down here, land on your lawn, and then buzz off again, sometimes with your cat. Mrs. Williams at the Post Office, her cat – you know the ginger one? – it got abducted by space aliens. Course, they brought it back the next day but it were in a very odd mood. Kept prowling around all morning, and then falling asleep in the afternoon. Used to be the other way round, is the point. Sleep in the morning, prowl in the afternoon. Jet lag, you see, from being in an interplanetary craft.'

“哦，没错。”埃里克道，“他们跑这儿来，降落到你的草坪上，然后又嗡嗡嗡地飞个没影，有时候还顺手牵了你的猫。邮局的威廉姆斯夫人，她的猫——姜黄色的那只你知道吧？——就被外星人劫持过。当然，他们第二天就把它送回来了，可从那以后它的情绪就特别反常。每天上午都鬼鬼祟祟地到处溜达，然后下午又呼呼大睡。问题在于过去它的习惯跟这刚好相反，早上睡觉，下午鬼鬼祟祟。时差的缘故。你瞧，因为坐了星际飞船嘛。”

'I see,' said Tricia.

“恩。”崔茜卡回答道。

'They dyed it tabby, too, she says. These marks are exactly the sort of marks that their landing pods would probably make.'

“他们还给它染上了条纹，她说的。这些印子，跟他们的分离舱可能搞出来的痕迹简直一模一样。”

'You don't think it's the lawn mower?' asked Tricia.

“你不认为这或许是割草机吗？”崔茜卡问。

'If the marks were more round, I'd say, but these are just off-round, you see. Altogether more alien in shape.'

“如果它们再圆些，倒是没准儿，可这些根本就不怎么圆，你瞧。总的来说形状就是比较外星。”

'It's just that you mentioned the lawn mower was playing up and needed fixing or it might start gouging holes in the lawn.'

“只不过我记得你提到过，割草机有点毛病，得修修，否则不定会在草坪上刨出洞来。”

'I did say that, Miss Tricia, and I stand by what I said. I'm not saying it's not the lawn mower for definite, I'm just saying what seems to me more likely given the shapes of the holes. They come in over these trees, you see, in their landing pods…'

“这话我是说过，崔茜卡小姐，而且我这人说话一向靠得住。我没说肯定不是割草机干的，我只是告诉你，从洞的形状上判断哪种可能性更大。他们是从那些树上下来的，你瞧，坐着他们的分离舱……”

'Eric…,' said Tricia, patiently.

“埃里克……”崔茜卡非常耐心。