經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》第24章5

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.

這命令他已經執行過一次，不過，由於一系列惱人的客觀情況，他一直沒能把那個小勾畫上去。

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.

其中一個惱人的情況就在於銀河系這邊的復區性質，在這兒，小一點的概率老是不停地干擾大一點的概率。要是你只管清除了事，那就好像是面對一張貼的很爛的牆紙，你卻只顧把其中一個泡泡按下去。在這兒無論你清除了什麼，它都會重新冒出來。但是，這一問題很快就會得到解決。

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.

另一個問題源於那一小撮人，老是不肯在應該待在某個地方的時候待在自己應該待的地方。這個問題，也同樣很快就會得到解決。

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.

這三個問題是個無法無天又讓討人厭的小東西：《銀河系漫遊指南》。這個問題是真真正正，漂漂亮亮地解決乾淨了。事實上，通過對短期反向操控的非凡力量，《指南》自己現在變成了替沃貢人解決其他一切問題的手段。船長只是過來欣賞這出喜劇的最後一幕。他自己連根手指頭都不必動。

‘Show me,’ he said.

“圖像。”他說。