长宇宙系列文顺序 经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第9章5

经典科幻文学:《生命 宇宙及一切》第9章5  

Did it span the miles majestically?
It spanned the miles majestically.
Did it stretch like a silver thread far out into the invisible mist?
Yes
said Marvin. Do you want to hear this story?
I want to hear your speech
said the mattress.
This is what I said. I said
“I would like to say that it is a very great pleasure
honour and privilege for me to open this bridge
but I can’t because my lying circuits are all out of mission. I hate and despise you all. I now declare this hapless cyberstructure open to the unthinkable abuse of all who wantonly cross her.” And I plugged myself into the opening circuits.
Marvin paused
remembering the moment.
The mattress flurred and glurried. It flolloped
gupped and willomied
doing this last in a particularly floopy way.
Voon
it wurfed at last. And it was a magnificent occasion?
Reasonably magnificent. The entire thousand-mile-long bridge spontaneously folded up its glittering spans and sank weeping into the mire
taking everybody with it.
There was a sad and terrible pause at this point in the conversation during which a hundred thousand people seemed unexpectedly to say “wop” and a team of white robots descended from the sky like dandelion seeds drifting on the wind in tight military formation. For a sudden violent moment they were all there
in the swamp
wrenching Marvin’s false leg off
and then they were gone again in their ship
which said “foop”.
You see the sort of thing I have to contend with? said Marvin to the gobbering mattress.
Suddenly
a moment later
the robots were back again for another violent incident
and this time when they left
the mattress was alone in the swamp. He flolloped around in astonishment and alarm. He almost lurgled in fear. He reared himself to see over the reeds
but there was nothing to see
just more reeds. He listened
but there was no sound on the wind beyond the now familiar sound of half-crazed etymologists calling distantly to each other across the sullen mire.