He had carried out the instruction once before, but a number of troublesome circumstances had prevented him from being able to put the tick in the little box.

这命令他已经执行过一次，不过，由于一系列恼人的客观情况，他一直没能把那个小勾画上去。

One of the troublesome circumstances was the Plural nature of this Galactic sector, where the possible continually interfered with the probable. Simple demolition didn’t get you any further than pushing down a bubble under a badly hung strip of wallpaper. Anything you demolished kept on popping up again. That would soon be taken care of.

其中一个恼人的情况就在于银河系这边的复区性质，在这儿，小一点的概率老是不停地干扰大一点的概率。要是你只管清除了事，那就好像是面对一张贴的很烂的墙纸，你却只顾把其中一个泡泡按下去。在这儿无论你清除了什么，它都会重新冒出来。但是，这一问题很快就会得到解决。

Another was a small bunch of people who continually refused to be where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there. That, also, would soon be taken care of.

另一个问题源于那一小撮人，老是不肯在应该待在某个地方的时候待在自己应该待的地方。这个问题，也同样很快就会得到解决。

The third was an irritating and anarchic little device called The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That was now well and truly taken care of and, in fact, through the phenomenal power of temporal reverse engineering, it was now itself the agency through which everything else would be taken care of. The Captain had merely come to watch the final act of this drama. He himself did not have to lift a finger.

这三个问题是个无法无天又让讨人厌的小东西：《银河系漫游指南》。这个问题是真真正正，漂漂亮亮地解决干净了。事实上，通过对短期反向操控的非凡力量，《指南》自己现在变成了替沃贡人解决其他一切问题的手段。船长只是过来欣赏这出喜剧的最后一幕。他自己连根手指头都不必动。

‘Show me,’ he said.

“图像。”他说。