‘Temporal reverse engineering.’

“短期反向操控。”

‘Oh,’ said Arthur. ‘Oh yes.’

“哦。”阿瑟说，“哦是的。”

‘The question is, who is it really doing it for?’

“问题在于，它到底是为谁干？”

‘I’ve actually got a sandwich in my pocket,’ said Arthur, delving. ‘Would you like a bit?’

“嘿，我兜里还真有块三明治。”阿瑟在包里挖了半天，“想来点吗？”

‘Yeah, OK.’

“恩，好啊。”

‘It’s a bit squished and sodden, I’m afraid.’

“有点湿，还给压扁了恐怕。”

‘Never mind.’

“别介意。”

They munched for a bit.

他们大嚼了一会儿。

‘It’s quite good in fact,’ said Ford. ‘What’s the meat in it?’

“说实话味道还真棒。”福特说，“里头是什么肉？”

‘Perfectly Normal Beast.’

“绝对正常兽。”

‘Not come across that one. So, the question is,’ Ford continued, ‘who is the bird really doing it for? What’s the real game here?’

“从没见过。所以，问题就是，”福特继续刚才的话题，“那只鸟到底在为谁干？它究竟在玩什么把戏？”

‘Mmm,’ ate Arthur.

“呃。”阿瑟吃着三明治。

‘When I found the bird,’ continued Ford, ‘which I did by a series of coincidences that are interesting in themselves, it put on the most fantastic multi-dimensional display of pyrotechnics I’ve ever seen. It then said that it would put its services at my disposal in my universe. I said, thanks but no thanks. It said that it would anyway, whether I liked it or not. I said just try it, and it said it would and, indeed, already had done. I said we’d see about that and it said that we would. That’s when I decided pack the thing up and get it out of there. So I sent it to you for safety.’

“我知道那只鸟的时候，”福特接着说，“经历了一连串非常有趣的偶然事件，它搞了场热成像大汇演，我还真没见过那么稀奇的。然后它说它会在我的宇宙里为我服务。我说，谢了不过不必。它说它还是要为我服务，不管我喜欢不喜欢。我说你倒是试试看，它说它会的而且，事实上，已经在干了。我说我们走着瞧它说好啊。这时候我决定把那东西打包带回去。所以我把它寄给了你，为了安全的缘故。”

‘Oh yes? Whose?’

“哦当真？为了谁的安全？”

‘Never you mind. Then, what with one thing and another, I thought it prudent to jump out of the window again, being fresh out of other options at the time. Luckily for me the jetcar was there otherwise I would have had to fall back on ingenious quick-thinking, agility, maybe another shoe or, failing all else, the ground. But it meant that, whether I liked it or not, the Guide was, well, working for me, and that was deeply worrying.’

“别管这个了。然后，因为这样那样的缘故，我觉得再从窗户跳出去一回比较谨慎，再说那时候我也没啥选择的余地了。幸运的是那辆喷射车刚好在那底下，否则我就只好再回到天才的机智和行动力上头去，没准儿还要赔上另外那只鞋；又或者——如果其他都不行——回到地上。可它是认真的，不管我喜欢不喜欢，《指南》他都要，恩，为我服务。这真是太让人担心了。”

‘Why?’

“为什么。”