Chapter 33
The sun was shining calmly on a scene of complete havoc.
Smoke was still billowing across the burnt grass in the wake of the theft of the Ashes by the Krikkit robots. Through the smoke, people were running panicstricken, colliding with each other, tripping over stretchers, being arrested.
One policeman was attempting to arrest Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged for insulting behaviour, but was unable to prevent the tall grey-green alien from returning to his ship and arrogantly flying away, thus causing even more panic and pandemonium.
In the middle of this, for the second time that afternoon, the figures of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect suddenly materialized, they had teleported down out of the Heart of Gold which was now in parking orbit round the planet.
I can explain, shouted Arthur. I have the Ashes! They’re in this bag.
I don’t think you have their attention, said Ford.
I have also helped save the Universe, called Arthur to anyone who was prepared to listen, in other words no one.
That should have been a crowd-stopper, said Arthur to Ford.
It wasn’t, said Ford.
Arthur accosted a policeman who was running past.
Excuse me, he said. The Ashes. I’ve got them. They were stolen by those white robots a moment ago. I’ve got them in this bag. They were part of the Key to the Slo-Time envelope, you see, and, well, anyway you can guess the rest, the point is I’ve got them and what should I do with them?
The policeman told him, but Arthur could only assume that he was speaking metaphorically.
He wandered about disconsolately.
Is no one interested? he shouted out. A man rushed past him and jogged his elbow, he dropped the paper bag and it spilt its contents all over the ground. Arthur stared down at it with a tight-set mouth.
Ford looked at him.
Wanna go now? he said.
Arthur heaved a heavy sigh. He looked around at the planet Earth, for what he was now certain would be the last time.
OK, he said.
At that moment, through the clearing smoke, he caught sight of one of the wickets, still standing in spite of everything.
Hold on a moment, he said to Ford. When I was a boy…
Can you tell me later?
I had a passion for cricket, you know, but I wasn’t very good at it.
Or not at all, if you prefer.
33
阳光静静地投在一片混乱的草坪上。
版求机器人抢走灰烬杯时起火的草坪，此时仍冒着滚滚浓烟。浓烟之中，人们惊慌失措地跑着、撞着、被担架绊着、被警察抓着。
有位警察试图逮捕无极长命哇布格，罪名是侮辱他人。但那个瘦高的灰绿色外星人毫不理会地走回飞船，傲慢地飞走了，警察也无能为力。现场乱成了一锅粥。
而此时，在球场正中间，阿瑟·邓特和福特·长官又凭空冒了出来——这是今天下午的第二次了。他们是从黄金之星上穿越时空过来的。飞船就停在地球外面的轨道上。
“我要解释一下！”阿瑟叫道，“灰烬杯在我这儿！在我包里！”
“我不认为有人注意到你。”福特说。
“我还帮着拯救了宇宙！”阿瑟大声喊着，希望有人听到，但显然没有。
“真该有个指挥员！”阿瑟对福特说。
“可惜没有。”福特说。
阿瑟拦住一个跑过的警察。
“抱歉，”他说，“灰烬杯。在我这儿。刚才被那些白色机器人偷走的。我把它拿回来了。它是缓时封皮钥匙的一部分。你懂吧？嗯，剩下的你可以自己想象。总之我把它拿来了，我该怎么办？”
警察回答了他的话，可是那回答太奇怪，阿瑟只好猜想他是不是在打比方。
他走过来又走过去，失望至极。
“就没人在乎吗？”他大声喊道。
一个人从他身边跑过，撞到了他的胳膊肘，他手一松，纸袋掉到地下，里面的东西洒了一地。阿瑟看着地上目瞪口呆。
福特看着他。
“可以走了？”他问。
阿瑟重重地叹了口气。他看了看地球，现在他确定这是最后一次见面了。
“OK。”他说。
就在此时，透过逐渐飘散的烟雾，他瞥见一个完好的三柱门，兀自矗立在前方。
“等一下，”他对福特说，“在我小的时候……”
“一会儿再说行吗？”
“……我极其迷恋板球，知道吗，不过不太擅长。”
“或者说一点也不擅长，如果你乐意的话。”