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第十四章

As the Guide folded itself back into a smooth, dark disk, Ford realised some pretty hectic stuff. Or at least he tried to realise it, but it was too hectic to take in all in one go. His head was hammering, his ankle was hurting, and though he didn’t like to be a wimp about his ankle, he always found that intense multi-dimensional logic was something he understood best in the bath. He needed time to think about this. Time, a tall drink, and some kind of rich, foamy oil.

《指南》被重新折叠成一张光洁的黑色碟片。福特意识到这里头很有些挺激动人心的东西。或者说，他努力想要意识到这一点，只不过它实在太激动人心了，没法一下子全部吸收，他脑袋里敲得砰砰响，他的脚踝痛的很——尽管他不喜欢老师唠叨自己的脚踝——他其实从来都认为，深刻的多元逻辑只有在浴缸里才最容易理解。他需要时间思考。时间，还有一大杯酒，以及某种浓烈多泡的按摩油。

He had to get out of here. He had to get the Guide out of here. He didn’t think they’d make it together.

他得出去。他得把《指南》带出去。他不认为他俩一起能逃得出去。

He glanced wildly round the room.

他狂乱地扫视着整个房间。

Think, think, think. It had to be something simple and obvious. If he was right in his nasty lurking suspicion that he was dealing with nasty, lurking Vogons, then the more simple and obvious the better.

想，想，想。肯定有什么简简单单又显而易见的法子。因为他那恶心的，可疑的猜测是正确的，也就是说他要对付的果然是那些恶心的，可疑的沃贡人，所以说越简单越明显就越好。

Suddenly he saw what he needed.

突然间，他看见了自己需要的东西。

He wouldn’t try to beat the system, he would just use it. The frightening thing about the Vogons was their absolute mindless determination to do whatever mindless thing it was they were determined to do. There was never any point in trying to appeal to their reason because they didn’t have any. However, if you kept your nerve you could sometimes exploit their blinkered, bludgeoning insistence on being bludgeoning and blinkered. It wasn’t merely that their left hand didn’t always know what their right hand was doing, so to speak; quite often their right hand had a pretty hazy notion as well.

他不会妄想自己能高明得超过系统，他只需要利用系统。沃贡人最吓人的一点就是，只要他们决定了要干一件事，无论那件事有多傻多盲目，他们都拥有完全盲目的决心把它进行到底。要想诉诸他们的理性那是没有用处的，因为他们压根就没有理性。不过，如果你够胆量，有时候却可以利用他们对简单粗暴，（、）目光短浅的那种简单粗暴，（、）目光短浅的坚持。借个我们常用的比方，他们的左手并不总知道他们的右手在干嘛，而且不仅如此，通常他们的右手自己也是懵懵懂懂的。

Did he dare just post the thing to himself?

他敢不敢直接把这东西寄给他自己？

Did he dare just put it in the system and let the Vogons work out how to get the thing to him while at the same time they were busy, as they probably would be, tearing the building apart to find out where he’d hidden it?

他敢不敢把它放进系统里，让沃贡人自己想法子把它交到他手上，尽管与此同时他们很可能在挖地三尺地找他？

Yes.

他敢。

Feverishly, he packed it. He wrapped it. He labelled it. With a moment’s pause to wonder if he was really doing the right thing, he committed the package to the building’s internal mail chute.

他兴奋得把它包起来。他把它裹好，贴上标签。他迟疑了片刻，怀疑自己是不是做了正确的选择，然后就把包裹扔进了公司内部的邮件通道。

‘Colin,’ he said, turning to the little, hovering ball. ‘I am going to abandon you to your fate.’

“科林，”他转向那个飘在空中的小球，“我要把你丢给你自己的命运了。”

‘I’m so happy,’ said Colin.

“我很高兴。”科林说。