科幻文学作品网 经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第24章1

经典科幻文学:《银河系漫游指南》第24章1  

Chapter 24
Silently the aircar coasted through the cold darkness
a single soft glow of light that was utterly alone in the deep Magrathean night. It sped swiftly. Arthur's panion seemed sunk in his own thoughts
and when Arthur tried on a couple of occasions to engage him in conversation again he would simply reply by asking if he was fortable enough
and then left it at that.
Arthur tried to gauge the speed at which they were travelling
but the blackness outside was absolute and he was denied any reference points. The sense of motion was so soft and slight he could almost believe they were hardly moving at all.
Then a tiny glow of light appeared in the far distance and within seconds had grown so much in size that Arthur realized it was travelling towards them at a colossal speed
and he tried to make out what sort of craft it might be. He peered at it
but was unable to discern any clear shape
and suddenly gasped in alarm as the aircraft dipped sharply and headed downwards in what seemed certain to be a collision course. Their relative velocity seemed unbelievable
and Arthur had hardly time to draw breath before it was all over. The next thing he was aware of was an insane silver blur that seemed to surround him. He isted his head sharply round and saw a small black point dwindling rapidly in the distance behind them
and it took him several seconds to realize what had happened.
They had plunged into a tunnel in the ground. The colossal speed had been their own relative to the glow of light which was a stationary hole in the ground
the mouth of the tunnel. The insane blur of silver was the circular wall of the tunnel down which they were shooting
apparently at several hundred miles an hour.
He closed his eyes in terror.
After a length of time which he made no attempt to judge
he sensed a slight subsidence in their speed and some while later became aware that they were gradually gliding to a gentle halt.
He opened his eyes again. They were still in the silver tunnel
threading and weaving their way through what appeared to be a crisscross warren of converging tunnels. When they finally stopped it was in a small chamber of curved steel. Several tunnels also had their terminus here
and at the farther end of the chamber Arthur could see a large circle of dim irritating light. It was irritating because it played tricks with the eyes
it was impossible to focus on it properly or tell how near or far it was. Arthur guessed (quite wrongly) that it might be ultra violet.
"Earthman
" he said
"we are now deep in the heart of Magrathea."
"How did you know I was an Earthman?" demanded Arthur.
"These things will bee clear to you
" said the old man gently
"at least
" he added with slight doubt in his voice
"clearer than they are at the moment."
He continued: "I should warn you that the chamber we are about to pass into does not literally exist within our pla. It is a little too ... large. We are about to pass through a gateway into a vast tract of hyperspace. It may disturb you."
Arthur made nervous noises.