经典科幻文学:《宇宙尽头的餐馆》第3章7

“Zaphod Beeblebrox the Fourth. Concentrate!”
“The Fourth?”
“Yeah. Listen, I’m Zaphod Beeblebrox, my father was Zaphod Beeblebrox the Second, my grandfather Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third…”
“What?”
“There was an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine. Now concentrate!”
“Three minutes,” said Ford Prefect.
“Why,” said Arthur Dent, “are we doing this?”
“Shut up,” suggested Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Trillian said nothing. What, she thought, was there to say?
The only light on the bridge came from two dim red triangles in a far corner where Marvin the Paranoid Android sat slumped, ignoring all and ignored by all, in a private and rather unpleasant world of his own.
Round the central console four figures hunched in tight concentration trying to blot from their minds the terrifying shuddering of the ship and the fearful roar that echoed through it.
They concentrated.
Still they concentrated.
And still they concentrated.
The seconds ticked by.

“赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯四世。集中意念！”
“四世？”
“是的。你给我听着，我叫赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯，我父亲反过来叫赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯二世，我祖父叫赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯三世……”
“什么？”
“避孕工具和时间机器出了故障。现在，集中意念！”
“三分钟。”福特长官说。
“可这是为什么？”阿瑟·邓特说，“我们要这么做呢？”
“闭嘴，”赞福德·毕博布鲁克斯说。
崔莉恩没有开腔。她想的是，自己还能说什么呢？
舰桥上惟一的光线来自远处一个角落里两个黯淡的红色三角形。马文，那个偏执狂机器人，颓丧地坐在那儿，对周围的一切视而不见，同时也被周围的一切所忽略，独自沉浸在他自己那个私人的、并不令人愉快的世界里。
四个人围在中控台四周，紧张地集中自己的意念，极力不去理会飞船的剧烈震荡和回响在舱内的可怕的呼啸声。
他们在集中意念。
他们仍然在集中意念。
他们仍然在继续集中意念。
时间一秒一秒地流逝。