Chapter 39

Arthur Dent was irritated to be continually wakened by the sound of gunfire.

Being careful not to wake Fenchurch, who was still managing to sleep fitfully, he slid his way out of the maintenance hatchway which they had fashioned into a kind of bunk for themselves, slung himself down the access ladder and prowled the corridors moodily.

They were claustrophobic and ill-lit. The lighting circuits buzzed annoyingly.

This wasn’t it, though.

He paused and leaned backwards as a flying power drill flew past him down the dim corridor with a nasty screech, occasionally clanging against the walls like a confused bee as it did so.

That wasn’t it either.

He clambered through a bulkhead door and found himself in a larger corridor. Acrid smoke was drifting up from one end so he walked towards the other.

He came to an observation monitor let into the wall behind a plate of toughened but still badly scratched perspex.

Would you turn it down please? he said to Ford Prefect who was crouching in front of it in the middle of a pile of bits of video equipment he’d taken from a shop window in Tottenham Court Road, having first hurled a small brick through it, and also a nasty heap of empty beer cans.

Shhhh! hissed Ford, and peered with manic concentration at the screen. He was watching The Magnificent Seven.

Just a bit, said Arthur.

No! shouted Ford. We’re just getting to the good bit! Listen, I finally got it all sorted out, voltage levels, line conversion, everything, and this is the good bit!

With a sigh and a headache, Arthur sat down beside him and watched the good bit. He listened to Ford’s whoops and yells and “yeehay!”s as placidly as he could.

Ford, he said eventually, when it was all over, and Ford was hunting through a stack of cassettes for the tape of Casablanca, how come, if…

This is the big one, said Ford. This is the one I came back for. Do you realize I never saw it all through? Always I missed the end. I saw half of it again the night before the Vogons came. When they blew the place up I thought I’d never get to see it. Hey, what happened with all that anyway?

Just life, said Arthur, and plucked a beer from a six-pack.

Oh, that again, said Ford. I thought it might be something like that. I prefer this stuff, he said as Rick’s Bar flickered on to the screen. How come if what?

What?

You started to say, “how come if…”

How come if you’re so rude about the Earth, that you… oh never mind, let’s just watch the movie.

Exactly, said Ford.

第39章

阿瑟·邓特不断地被枪炮声吵醒，对此他非常恼火。

芬切琪还是成功地断断续续睡着，阿瑟很小心不把她吵醒。他从维修舱口滑出来，他已经把这个地方改造成一个临时的铺位。他顺着入口的梯子爬下去，闷闷不乐地在走廊里面徘徊。

走廊狭窄昏暗，灯光不断的闪烁。灯光的电路嗡嗡响得让人烦躁。

但这不是那个声音。

他停了下来，向后靠到墙上，一个银色电钻从他身边飞过，带着一阵令人恶心的尖叫进入了昏暗的走廊，并且像无头苍蝇一样不时撞在墙上。

这个也不是。

他地穿过一道隔墙的门，发现自己进入了一个巨大的走廊。刺鼻的气味从走廊的尽头飘来，于是他顺着走廊走向相反的方向。

他看到了一个镶在墙里面的显示器，显示器前都罩有机玻璃，玻璃很厚，但是面上磨损很严重。

“请你把声音关小点行吗？”他对福特·长官说，后者正蹲在显示器前面的一堆视频设备中间。这些设备都是他从托特哈姆法院路一个商店的橱窗里拿来的，为此他先往橱窗里扔了一小块砖头，以及一大堆空啤酒罐。

“嘘！”福特嘘了一声，目光狂热地盯屏幕上。他正在看《豪勇七蛟龙》（美国好莱坞1960年拍摄的经典西部电影）。

“只小一点点。”阿瑟说。

“不行！”福特嚷着，“我们刚到精彩的地方！你听，我把一切都弄好了，电压，线路转换，所有的东西，而且这是精彩部分！”

阿瑟叹了口气，头也很疼，只好在他身边坐下看精彩部分。他尽可能镇定地听着福特的感叹和叫喊和“呀哈！”等声音。

“福特，”电影放完了，福特在一对录像带中翻找《卡萨布兰卡》（美国经典电影，拍摄于1942年）的带子的时候，阿瑟终于说，“你怎么能……”

“这可是好东西。”福特说，“我回来就是要找这个的。你知不知道我从来没把它看完过？我总是没看着结尾。沃贡人来之前的晚上我又只看了半头。他们把哪地方炸了之后我以为我再也看不到了，后来到底怎么样了？”

“生活而已。”阿瑟说着拿过一听啤酒。

“哦，又是这样。”福特说，“我想就会是这类的事。我喜欢这些东西。”里克酒吧（电影中的场景）在屏幕上闪现的时候他说，“你怎么能什么？”

“什么？”

“你刚才说：‘你怎么能……’”

“你怎么能对地球有那么无礼的看法，却又……算了，看你的电影吧。”

“太对了。”福特说。