經典科幻文學:《生命 宇宙及一切》第9章4

Tell me, it urged, of the speech you once made, I long to hear it.
It was received very badly, said Marvin, for a variety of reasons. I delivered it, he added, pausing to make an awkward humping sort of gesture with his not-exactly-good arm, but his arm which was better than the other one which was dishearteningly welded to his left side, over there, about a mile distance.
He was pointing as well as he could manage, and he obviously wanted to make it totally clear that this was as well as he could manage, through the mist, over the reeds, to a part of the marsh which looked exactly the same as every other part of the marsh.
There, he repeated. I was somewhat of a celebrity at the time.
Excitement gripped the mattress. It had never heard of speeches being delivered on Squornshellous Zeta, and certainly not by celebrities. Water spattered off it as a thrill glurried across its back.
It did something which mattresses very rarely bother to do. Summoning every bit of its strength, it reared its oblong body, heaved it up into the air and held it quivering there for a few seconds whilst it peered through the mist over the reeds at the part of the marsh which Marvin had indicated, observing, without disappointment, that it was exactly the same as every other part of the marsh. The effort was too much, and it flodged back into its pool, deluging Marvin with smelly mud, moss and weeds.
I was a celebrity, droned the robot sadly, for a short while on account of my miraculous and bitterly resented escape from a fate almost as good as death in the heart of a blazing sun. You can guess from my condition, he added, how narrow my escape was. I was rescued by a scrap-metal merchant, imagine that. Here I am, brain the size of… never mind.
He trudged savagely for a few seconds.
He it was who fixed me up with this leg. Hateful, isn’t it? He sold me to a Mind Zoo. I was the star exhibit. I had to sit on a box and tell my story whilst people told me to cheer up and think positive. “Give us a grin, little robot,” they would shout at me, “give us a little chuckle.” I would explain to them that to get my face to grin wold take a good couple of hours in a workshop with a wrench, and that went down very well.
The speech, urged the mattress. I long to hear of the speech you gave in the marshes.
There was a bridge built across the marshes. A cyberstructured hyperbridge, hundreds of miles in length, to carry ion-buggies and freighters over the swamp.
A bridge? quirruled the mattress. Here in the swamp?
A bridge, confirmed Marvin, here in the swamp. It was going to revitalize the economy of the Squornshellous System. They spent the entire economy of the Squornshellous System building it. They asked me to open it. Poor fools.
It began to rain a little, a fine spray slid through the mist.
I stood on the platform. For hundreds of miles in front of me, and hundreds of miles behind me, the bridge stretched.
Did it glitter? enthused the mattress.
It glittered.

“告訴我，”它急切地說，“你曾做過的那次演講，我太想聽了。”
“反響很不好。”馬文說，“原因相當複雜。發表演講的地方，”他停了一下，用他不太好的一隻手做了個古怪的彎曲手勢。很不幸，他好點兒的那隻手是焊在左邊的。“在那邊，一里地的樣子。”
他盡力地指着那邊。很明顯他還想指得更清楚一點，穿過濃霧，越過葦叢，指到那片和所有沼澤完全一樣的沼澤上。
“在那兒。”他重複道，“當時我算是個名人。”
激動充溢着牀墊的心。它從沒聽過在斯科謝勒斯Z星上發表的演講，更別提名人發表的了。它顫抖地一陣格溧，水珠從它身上灑了下來。
它做了一件牀墊們難得一做的事。它鼓起全身所有力氣，豎起它長方形的身軀，高舉在半空裏，顫巍巍地立了幾秒鐘，極力眺望那穿過濃霧、越過葦叢、到達馬文指的那片沼澤。它看了一眼那邊，並無失望，雖然那片沼澤跟所有沼澤完全一樣。它只能立這麼點久，於是，它跌洛到小池子裏，溢出的苔蘚、野草、難聞的泥漿淹了馬文一身。
“我曾是個名人，”機器人消沉地嗡嗡着，“第一次是由於我奇蹟般的、令人痛恨的脫險經歷。差點衝進一顆燃燒的恆星中央，幾乎跟死掉一樣愉快。你可以想象，”他補充道，“我的脫險有多難。我被一個廢舊金屬商給救了，想想看。我，大腦容量抵得上……算了。”
他惡狠狠地踏了幾步。
“他就是給我裝上這條腿的人。可惡之極，不是嗎？他把我賣到腦動物園。我是那兒的明星展品。我得坐在一個箱子上，把我的故事講給別人聽。別人就會叫我開心點，思想積極點。‘笑一個，小機器人。’他們會對我喊叫。‘笑一笑嘛。’我就跟他們解釋說，要讓我的臉笑起來，得用扳手在車間裏忙活好幾個小時。他們聽了都很滿意。”
“演講呢？”牀墊焦急地說，“我盼着聽你在沼澤裏做的演講呢。”
“沼澤上曾修過一座橋。一座數碼結構超新橋。長達幾百英里，能讓離子小汽車和大貨車從沼澤上通過。”
“一座橋？”牀墊涼嘆道，“在這沼澤裏？”
“一座橋。”馬文表示確定，“在這沼澤裏。它是爲了振興斯科謝勒斯Ζ星的經濟系統而建。他們用盡所有斯科謝勒斯Ζ星的經濟力量修建的。他們讓我來啓動它。可憐的傻瓜。”
開始下小雨了。細細的雨絲在霧裏滑落。
“我站在平臺上。前面是幾百裏的橋，後面也是幾百裏的橋。”
“它是不是很閃？”牀墊熱情高漲地問。
“它是很閃。”