日本科幻文学 经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第10章1

经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第10章1  

The Universe
as has been observed before
is an unsettlingly big place
a fact which for the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore.
Many would happily move to somewhere rather smaller of their own devising
and this is what most beings in fact do.
For instance
in one corner of the Eastern Galactic Arm lies the large forest pla Oglaroon
the entire “intelligent” population of which lives permanently in one fairly small and crowded nut tree. In which tree they are born
live
fall in love
carve tiny speculative articles in the bark on the meaning of life
the futility of death and the importance of birth control
fight a few extremely minor wars
and eventually die strapped to the underside of some of the less accessible outer branches.
In fact the only Oglaroonians who ever leave their tree are those who are hurled out of it for the heinous crime of wondering whether any of the other trees might be capable of supporting life at all
or indeed whether the other trees are anything other than illusions brought on by eating too many Oglanuts.
Exotic though this behaviour may seem
there is no life form in the Galaxy which is not in some way guilty of the same thing
which is why the Total Perspective Vortex is as horrific as it is.
For when you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation
and somewhere in it a tiny little marker
a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot
which says “You are here.”
The grey plain stretched before Zaphod
a ruined
shattered plain. The wind whipped wildly over it.
Visible in the middle was the steel pimple of the dome. This
gathered Zaphod
was where he was going. This was the Total Perspective Vortex.
As he stood and gazed bleakly at it
a sudden inhuman wail of terror emanated from it as of a man having his soul burnt from his body. It screamed above the wind and died away.
Zaphod started with fear and his blood seemed to turn to liquid helium.
“Hey
what was that?” he muttered voicelessly.
实际上，离犯下了不可饶恕的滔天罪行的，原因是他能够支持生命的树，或者，其他树木真的是由于吃多了奥格拉果而产生的幻觉吗？
奥格拉文人的行为看似有些异乎寻常，但实际上，银河系内找不出哪种生命形式没有曾经以这样或那样的方式犯过性质相同的错误，这也正是绝对透视旋涡之所以如此恐怖的原因。
因为，一旦你被投进这个旋涡，你将会获得瞬间的一瞥，看到完全难以想像的天地万物的无限，以及在其中某个地方的一处细微的标记，一个极其微小的点上的一个撅其微小的点，写着“你在这里”
灰暗的平原展现在赞福德面前，这是一片被遗弃的，毁灭了的平原。风狂野地鞭打着地面。
目力所及的一半之处，是那个钢铁拱顶所形成的圆丘，那儿，根据赞福德的推测，就是他要去的地方了：那就是绝对透视旋涡。
他停住脚步，阴郁地看着那个地方。突然问，里面传出一声非人的恐怖哀号，仿佛是一个人的灵魂在烈焰灼烧下脱离了肉体；这声音穿透了风，渐渐消失了。
赞福德怀着恐惧继续朝前走，他的血液冰凉，仿佛已经快变成液氮了。
“嘿，那是什么？”他用几乎听不见的声音喃喃地说。