日本科幻文学 经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章5

经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第29章5  

Zarniwoop ticked off a note on the paper. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Ah
” said the man
“this is a question about the past is it?”
Zarniwoop looked at him in puzzlement. This wasn’t exactly what he had been expecting.
“Yes
” he said.
“How can I tell
” said the man
“that the past isn’t a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy beeen my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?”
Zarniwoop stared at him. The steam began to rise from his sodden clothes.
“So you answer all questions like this?” he said.
The man answered quickly. “I say what it occurs to me to say when I think I hear people say things. More I cannot say.”
Zaphod laughed happily.
“I’ll drink to that
” he said and pulled out the bottle of Janx spirit. He leaped up and handed the bottle to the ruler of the Universe
who took it with pleasure.
“Good on you
great ruler
” he said
“tell it like it is.”
“No
listen to me
” said Zarniwoop
“people e to you do they? In ships…”
“I think so
” said the man. He handed the bottle to Trillian.
“And they ask you
” said Zarniwoop
“to take decisions for them? About people’s lives
about worlds
about economies
about wars
about everything going on out there in the Universe?”
“Out there?” said the man
“out where?”
“Out there!” said Zarniwoop pointing at the door.
“How can you tell there’s anything out there
” said the man politely
“the door’s closed.”
The rain continued to pound the roof. Inside the shack it was warm.
“But you know there’s a whole Universe out there!” cried Zarniwoop. “You can’t dodge your responsibilities by saying they don’t exist!”
The ruler of the Universe thought for a long while whilst Zarniwoop quivered with anger.
“You’re very sure of your facts
” he said at last
“I couldn’t trust the thinking of a man who takes the Universe – if there is one – for granted.”
Zarniwoop still quivered
but was silent.
“I only decide about my Universe
” continued the man quietly. “My Universe is my eyes and my ears. Anything else is hearsay.”
“But don’t you believe in anything?”
The man shrugged and picked up his cat.
“I don’t understand what you mean
” he said.
“You don’t understand that what you decide in this shack of yours affects the lives and fates of millions of people? This is all monstrously wrong!”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met all these people you speak of. And neither
I suspect
have you. They only exist in words we hear. It is folly to say you know what is happening to other people. Only they know
if they exist. They have their own Universes of their own eyes and ears.”