經典科幻文學:《 再見 多謝你們的魚》第40章4

They rounded the foot of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains, and there was the Message written in blazing letters along the crest of the Mountain. There was a little observation vantage point with a rail built along the top of a large rock facing it, from which you could get a good view. It had a little pay-telescope for looking at the letters in detail, but no one would ever use it because the letters burned with the divine brilliance of the heavens and would, if seen through a telescope, have severely damaged the retina and optic nerve.

They gazed at God’s Final Message in wonderment, and were slowly and ineffably filled with a great sense of peace, and of final and complete understanding.

Fenchurch sighed.

Yes, she said, that was it.

They had been staring at it for fully ten minutes before they became aware that Marvin, hanging between their shoulders, was in difficulties. The robot could no longer lift his head, had not read the message. They lifted his head, but he complained that his vision circuits had almost gone.

They found a coin and helped him to the telescope. He complained and insulted them, but they helped him look at each individual letter in turn, The first letter was a “w”, the second an “e”. Then there was a gap. An “a” followed, then a “p”, an “o” and an “l”.

Marvin paused for a rest.

After a few moments they resumed and let him see the “o”, the “g”, the “i”, the “s” and the “e”.

The next two words were “for” and “the”. The last one was a long one, and Marvin needed another rest before he could tackle it.

It started with an “i”, then “n” then a “c”. Next came an “o” and an “n”, followed by a “v”, an “e”, another “n” and an “i”.

After a final pause, Marvin gathered his strength for the last stretch.

He read the “e”, the “n”, the “c” and at last the final “e”, and staggered back into their arms.

I think, he murmured at last, from deep within his corroding rattling thorax, I feel good about it.

The lights went out in his eyes for absolutely the very last time ever.

Luckily, there was a stall nearby where you could rent scooters from guys with green wings.

他們繞過昆圖魯斯·垮茲噶爾的山腳，就到了山頂上火焰字母寫着的訊息。在一塊麪對訊息的大石頭上用護欄圍出了一個很小的觀景臺，那兒的視野非常好。那裏還有一個付費的小望遠鏡用來仔細觀察每個字母，不過從來沒人用，因爲那些字母是來自天堂的神聖光輝燒成的，如果通過望遠鏡去看，就會嚴重損害視網膜和視覺神經。

他們驚歎着看着上帝最後的訊息，心中慢慢充滿了難以言喻的巨大的平靜，以及終極的、徹底的理解。

芬切琪嘆了口氣。

“是的，”她說，“就是這個。”

他們盯着訊息看了足足十分鐘，這才注意到耷拉在他們肩膀上的馬文正面臨困境。這個機器人的頭再也擡不起來了，沒法看見那訊息。他們把他的頭擡起來，但是他抱怨說他的視覺線路幾乎完全壞了。

他們找到一枚硬幣，幫他來到望遠鏡前面。他又是抱怨，又侮辱他們，可他們還是幫他依次看清每一個字母，第一個字母是“w”，第二個是“e”。然後是一截空白（這是第一個單詞we，即“我們”）。接着是個“a”，再接着是一個“p”，一個“o”，一個“l”。

馬文停下來休息了一會。

過了一會他們接着來，讓他看到了“o”，“g”，“i”和“e”（這是第二個單詞apologise，即“抱歉”）。

跟着的兩個單詞是“for”，和“the”。最後一個單詞比較長，馬文又休息了一會才能接着看。

這個單詞以“i”開頭，然後是一個“n”和一個“c”。接着是個“o”和一個“n”，後面是一個“v”，一個“e”，又是一個“n”，一個“i”。

休息了最後一次，馬文聚集了最後的力量來完成。

他看到了“e”，“n”，“c”，並終於看到了最後一個字母“e（這個詞是inconvenience，“不便”。整個的訊息是We apologise for the inconvenience，“我們對造成的不便感到抱歉。”），然後搖晃着倒向他們的胳膊。

“我想，”他終於透過那鏽蝕的發出咔噠咔噠聲音的胸腔低聲說，“我對這個感覺很好。”

他眼中的光最後一次，永遠地熄滅了。

幸運的是，附近有一個售貨亭，你可以從長着綠色翅膀的傢伙哪裏租到電動車。