Arthur nodded intelligently. There were times when he wished he understood what on earth Ford was talking about, and other times, like now, when he felt it was probably safer not even to try. He looked over Ford’s shoulder. ‘This isn’t going to take long, is it?’ he said.

阿瑟一脸精明地点着头，有些时候他真的希望能够理解福特到底在说些什么鬼东西，另外一些时候，比如现在，他觉得压根儿别费这脑筋其实更安全些。他从福特的肩膀后头瞄了一眼，“不会写太久吧？”他问。

‘Nah,’ said Ford. ‘Piece of piss. Just mention that the rolls were quite good, the beer good and cold, local wildlife nicely eccentric, the bar singer the best in the known universe, and that’s about it. Doesn’t need much. Just a validation.’

“不会，”福特道，“小菜一碟。只要提提肉卷挺不错，啤酒不错而且是凉的，当地的野生动植物怪异得可爱，酒吧歌手是已知宇宙里最棒的，这就差不多了。用不着多少内容，只不过是为了搞到报销。”

He touched an area on the screen marked ENTER and the message vanished into the Sub-Etha.

他抚过屏幕上的“发送”两个字，刚才的评论立刻消失在亚以太网里。

‘You thought the singer was pretty good then?’

“这么说你觉得那个歌手挺不错？”

‘Yeah,’ said Ford. The barman was returning with a piece of paper, which seemed to be trembling in his hand.

“唔。”福特说，酒保拿着张纸片回来了，他的手似乎微微有些抖。

He pushed it over to Ford with a kind of nervous, reverential twitch.

他把纸片推到福特跟前，动作里带着种紧张又崇敬的抽搐。

‘Funny thing,’ said the barman. ‘The system rejected it first couple times. Can’t say it surprised me.’ Beads of sweat were standing on his brow. ‘Then suddenly it’s, oh yeah, that’s OK, and the system… er, validates it. Just like that. You wanna… sign it’?’

“真有意思。”酒保说，“头两次系统都不肯接受，对这个我倒并没有多吃惊。”他额头上立着大颗大颗的汗珠，“后来它突然变了脸，‘哦是啊没问题’之类的，系统就这么……额，接受了。就那样，你想……签吗？”

Ford scanned the form quickly. He sucked his teeth. ‘This is going to hurt InfiniDim a lot,’ he said, with an appearance of concern. ‘Oh well,’ he added softly, ‘screw ‘em.’

福特快速浏览了一边内容，他舔舔牙，“无限帅可要倒大霉了。”他一脸关切地说，“哦好吧。”他又柔声补充道，“活该。”

He signed with a flourish and handed it back to the barman.

他签了个花里胡哨的名字，把纸片交回给酒保。

‘More money,’ he said, ‘than the Colonel made for him in an entire career of doing crap movies and casino gigs. Just for doing what he does best. Standing up and singing in a bar. And he negotiated it himself. I think this is a good moment for him. Tell him I said thanks and buy him a drink.’ He tossed a few coins on the bar. The barman pushed them away.

“那个人，演了一辈子烂片，外加赌场里走秀，”他说，“也没今天一天挣得多。还只需要干他最拿手的活：站在酒吧里唱唱歌。连谈判都自己搞定了。我觉得这一刻他感觉肯定不错。帮我谢谢他，再请他喝一杯。”他往吧台上扔了几枚硬币。酒保把它们推开。

‘I don’t think that’s necessary,’ he said, slightly hoarsely.

“没这必要。”他的声音稍微有些嘶哑。

‘ ’Tis to me,’ said Ford. ‘OK, we are outa here.’

“对我有必要。”福特说，“好吧，我们这就走。”