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本帖最后由 sideswipe 于 2011-5-17 18:18 编辑
原文来自TFW2005：
http://www.tfw2005.com/transform ... ovelization-172168/
翻译：Drifty sideswipe
Cybertron— The War Years
塞伯坦——战争年代
We were once a peaceful race of intelligent mechanical beings. But then came the war between the Autobots, who fought for freedom . . . and the Decepticons, who dreamed of tyranny . . .
我们曾经是一个和平的智慧机械种族，但后来却陷入了对立两派的战争之中。一方是为争取自由而奋战的博派，而另一方，则是妄图独霸星球的狂派……
I am Optimus Prime, and I remember my world from ages long gone and mourn for what my planet had been. I wonder whether it could ever be restored to the glory that had once permeated every inch of its glorious surface, and I am saddened to realize that the answer is very likely a resounding “no.”
我是擎天柱，我依然记得母星世界昨日的美好景象，也为她如今的遍体鳞伤而痛心不已。我一直在想，母星能否重现往昔的辉煌，而这辉煌，曾经深深地渗入她的每一寸土地。但现在，我沉痛地意识到，答案很可能是响亮的一个“否”字。
Once . . .
曾几何时……
Once the sky above had been a shimmering, cloudless blue.
曾几何时，头顶上的这片天是那么的明澈湛蓝，万里无云。
Once the surface had been a vast stretch of gleaming silver composed of an array of flat metal continents that were interlocked with each other in perfect geometric shapes. Between the continents were vast valleys that served both as the homes of the population of Cybertron and as a place to take refuge should anyone be foolish enough to try to attack our small but hardy world.
曾几何时，星球表面四处闪耀着绚烂的银光，无数块平坦的金属大陆以完美的几何形状连接在一起。大陆之间是巨大的峡谷，那里既是塞伯坦居民的居住地，也是安全的避难所。只有愚蠢透顶的人，才敢来攻击我们这不大但坚强的世界。
We have lost the gleaming. That is our greatest loss: the loss of the gleaming.
但我们已经失去了光辉。这是我们最大的损失：光辉不再。
The once-silvery world is now burnished and dark and gray, carbon-scored with countless battles that have ranged above the surface, upon it, and below it. The sky is permanently blackened through the haze of smoke that resulted from the constant explosions and battles that had ranged from one pole of Cybertron to the other.
曾经光鲜亮丽的世界如今黯然失色。无数次战斗留下的伤痕遍布星球表面及其内部。到处都是无休止的爆炸与激战，天空终日笼罩在硝烟的阴霾中。
The incessant battles have been destructive to far more than just the exterior of the world. It has suffered on every level. Once Cybertron had been teeming with life, the paragon of scientific research and development in its particular corner of the galaxy. The technological advances were beyond anything that was known for any other race. Nor had its advancements been limited to science. The arts were treasured as well. The residents of Cybertron wrote poetry . . . mostly of the great achievements by their ancestors.
旷日持久的战争远不止破坏了星球的表面，而是深深地波及到了每一个层面。昔日的塞伯坦欣欣向荣，在星系的这片角落里，它是科研与发展的典范。塞伯坦在科技上的优势超越了其他任何种族的认知范围，而这些优势不仅仅局限于科学方面。艺术同样被视为珍宝，塞伯坦的居民们书写了无数诗篇，其中的大多数都是歌颂其祖先的伟大成就。
We scream defiant howls of challenge in combat. We scream through the air, inflicting brutal punishment and damage and death upon each other. We scream in pain, and we scream in death.
我们在战斗中爆发出挑战的怒吼。我们彼此之间不断残杀，喊杀声响彻长空。我们在痛苦中尖叫，在死亡中哀嚎。
Once we were a proud civilization. Now our very world is a victim of war, wounded and dying, and the only thing we have left to be proud of is simply surviving from one day to the next. And how much pride can we take in that when we think of all that we have lost?
曾几何时，我们是一个自豪的文明，而这个世界现在却沦为了战争的牺牲品。满目疮痍，濒临死亡，我们值得自豪的事情只剩下了一样：得以幸存下来，迎接翌日的来临。当我们思索那些失却的东西时，我们还能有多少自豪之情？
I tread across the battlefield. To my immediate right runs the edge of a valley that is steeped in the shadow of death. I step carefully around random pieces of deceased brethren. It seems that every day sees the fall of another brave warrior. Will there ever come an end to it? Well, yes, obviously. It will end when all of one side or the other is dead. What would happen then? Would it be possible to rebuild and perhaps restore Cybertron to its former glory? Those very words have been asked by my devoted followers. I nod in confidence, as a Prime is expected to do, and assure those who believed in me that Cybertron can and will survive—has to survive—and it is upon them to make certain that it does so.
我一步步走过战场。我的右边就是被死亡阴影笼罩的峡谷边缘。我小心地穿行在阵亡战友们的残躯之间。似乎每天都能看到又一个勇猛的战士倒在血泊之中。战争结束之日会来临吗？嗯，很显然，会的。当一方的战士全部阵亡的时候，战争就会结束。之后会发生什么？塞伯坦能够得以重建，复兴昔日的辉煌吗？这些话，我忠实的追随者们早已问过。正像大家期望的那样，作为领袖的我充满信心地点头，好让这些信任我的战士们确信，塞伯坦能够挺过来，也会挺过来——必须挺过来！而这需要他们共同的努力。
What else am I supposed to say? That Cybertron is doomed? Surely they could see that with their own eyes. But they need to believe in something greater than simply endeavoring to survive another round of assaults from their enemies. There has to be more to living than simply not dying. There has to be—and it is my job to make sure that it is provided even though I suspect it may be hopeless. This is no longer a world. It is simply a battlefield with pretensions of something more. Pretensions that will never be realized.
我还能说什么？塞伯坦将走向毁灭？很显然他们已经亲眼看清这个事实。但他们需要相信，他们的战斗并不仅仅是为了在敌人的攻击中幸存下来，而是为了保存那些更伟大的理想。必须有人激励他们，生命的意义不仅仅是活着。而这也正是我的职责，即便连我自己也会怀疑那渺茫的希望。这已经不再是一个文明世界，它已彻底沦为了充斥着空洞理想的战场。而这些空洞的理想或许永远不会实现。
A noise rips through the air above the field, jolting me from my melancholy reverie. I see an aircraft, a large one that is moving far faster than its considerable size would have made seem possible.
一个声音划破了战场的死寂，使我从忧伤的沉思中惊醒过来。我看到了一艘飞船，那庞大的体积让人很难相信它移动的速度居然如此之快。
I know the craft. I know what it contains and its importance to our future.
我认得那飞船。我知道那里面有什么，那东西对我们的未来至关重要。
There are six Decepticon fighters howling after it.
六个狂派战士呼啸着紧随其后。
Out of reflex, I whip my Energon sword into a defensive position. “No,” I say, and then louder, “No!” I wave my sword in a vain attempt to try to draw attention to myself. But the Decepticons are paying me no heed. They have their sights locked on to a far more formidable target.
出于本能，我抽出能量剑，摆出了防御的姿势。“不，”我说道，之后提高了嗓门，“不！”我徒劳地挥舞着能量剑，希望能够把他们的注意力吸引过来。但狂派们根本无视我的存在，他们的目光完全锁定在了那个更加可怕的目标上。
The aircraft being pursued is far larger than the Decepticons that are chasing it, but the attack vessels have the advantage of both number and speed. Apparently aware of that, the aircraft is determined to shake its hunters rather than try to fight it out. It dives into the canyon that is to my immediate right. Without hesitation, the six smaller vessels dive in after it.
被追击的飞船远比追击者们大得多，但后者在人数和速度上更占上风。看来是意识到了这一点，那艘飞船想要甩掉“尾巴”，而不是迎头交战。它一个俯冲，飞进了我右侧的峡谷之中。而六架小得多的飞机也毫不犹豫地俯冲追了进去。
I start running, desperate to keep the larger aircraft in sight and perhaps provide aid if it is remotely possible.
我开始奔跑，极力想让那艘大型飞船保持在视线范围内，即便只有一线可能，我也会尽力提供援助。
This particular valley is a maze of towers and outcroppings. The larger aircraft darts into their depths, threading the needle of obstructions as the smaller ships follow behind, fast and hard.
这个峡谷是由高塔和岩层组成的迷宫。大型飞船一头扎进迷宫深处，在无数障碍物间闪转腾挪。小型战机紧随其后，毫不松口。
The common wisdom would have been for the aircraft to try to gain even more speed. Instead it slows abruptly, twisting sideways to avoid blasts from the pursuing vessels while permitting a couple of them to get closer than they had expected, faster than they were prepared for. The aircraft flips its wings quickly, first in one direction and then in the other, slapping the pursuing vessels broadside and sending them crashing into the canyon walls. They erupt in balls of flame. Flying shrapnel is hurtling in all directions, cutting through yet another vessel, riddling it with holes and destroying its ability to maneuver. It flips end over end and strikes a tower, bending around it with a screech of metal.
对大型飞船来说，常规的逃跑方式应该是继续加大马力。出人意料的是，它突然减速，左右摇摆以躲过后方射来的激光，并成功地使两架战机以过快的速度冲到它的两侧。飞船迅速摆动它的双翼，分别击中两架追击者，把它们扫到峭壁上。两架战机爆炸产生的碎片接着又穿过第三架飞机，使它失去了控制。它旋转着撞向一座高塔，机身擦过高塔发出刺耳的金属摩擦声。
On flies the larger aircraft, picking up speed, diving even lower into the canyon. Two more ships go after it.
飞船提高速度继续前飞，这一次更加贴近谷底，另两架战机紧追不舍。
It should have been impossible for the large aircraft to accomplish what it does next. It fires its reverse thrusters, and the ship flips over 180 degrees. It is suddenly flying backward, staring directly down its barrels at the ships pursuing it. The airship fires off a few quick shots, blasting aside the two ships, sending them colliding into each other. Then it flips back, narrowly avoiding smashing headlong into an outcropping before zipping around it and going faster than ever.
飞船接下来的行动令人瞠目结舌。它首先启动了反转推进器，使得整艘船体翻转了180度。接着突然向后冲出，炮管直指追来的战机。一串炮弹喷涌而出，击中了两架战机，使它们撞到一起。飞船又翻转回来，堪堪避过了迎面而来的一块巨岩，并把速度提升到极限。
It is everything I can do to keep up, to be able to see what is happening. Five of the six pursuers are gone, and I allow, just for a moment, hope to swell within me.
我能做的就是目睹这一切的发生。六个追击者中的五个都失去了战斗力，有那么一刻，我心中充满了希望。
Then I recognize the remaining Decepticon fighter, and dread fills me once more.
下一秒我看清了剩下的那架狂派战机，顷刻之间绝望又一次将我吞没。
It is Starscream, leader of the air command. I know all too well that once Starscream is locked upon his quarry, he will never give up. In fact, he probably could have destroyed the target at any time. To Starscream, this is more of a game than a challenge.
那是红蜘蛛，空战部队的队长。我心里再清楚不过，一旦红蜘蛛锁定了猎物，他就绝不会放过。事实上，他随时都能将目标摧毁。对红蜘蛛而言，这一切根本算不上挑战，不过是一场游戏而已。
But it is a game that he is still going to win, and furthermore, it is a game that he is tiring of.
但这是一场他有赢无输的游戏，而他已经懒得再玩下去了。
“Starscream! Stand and face me!” I shout.
“红蜘蛛！和我单挑！”我大喊。
It is impossible to determine whether Starscream hears me. If he does, he ignores me. He probably even chuckles to himself inwardly at the desperation of my plea, a desperation that I could scarcely keep out of my voice.
无法确认红蜘蛛是否听到了我的呼喊，就算他听到了也是置之不理。绝望令我的声音变得嘶哑，而他也许正为此在心中窃笑。
With the section of the canyon coming to an end, there is nowhere else for the airship to go. Now it is simply going to be a matter of speed. The airship angles straight up a split second before reaching the end of the trench, hurtling vertically toward the outer atmosphere. Starscream does not slow a whit as he goes after it.
随着飞船接近这一段峡谷的末端，它已经别无他法，只剩下拼速度一条路了。飞船在撞上峭壁的前一秒猛然抬头，笔直地冲向外太空。红蜘蛛丝毫没有减速，也追了上去。
I have never felt more helpless. My grip tightens in frustration on the Energon sword. I can only watch as the battle plays out toward what seems an inevitable conclusion.
我从没感到更加无助。我的手紧紧攥住能量剑的剑柄，尽管心中充满不甘，我只能眼看着这场战斗走向不可避免的结局。
Higher and higher speeds the airship, and suddenly it puts on a burst of speed that threatens to leave Starscream behind. There is what sounds like a howl of outrage from the Decepticon, or it might just have been the screech of the air being rent asunder. Either way, for one glorious moment, it seems that a miracle might well occur and the airship will manage to elude its pursuer.
飞船继续提速，突然之间它的速度提高了一个等级，几乎甩掉了红蜘蛛。狂派战士似乎爆发出一声怒吼，但那也可能仅仅是他高速划破空气产生的刺耳尖啸。无论如何，在那一刻奇迹即将出现，飞船或许能够最终逃过追击。
I should have known better.
但这不过是我的一厢情愿罢了。
Starscream locks on and fires. A single pulse from his cannon catches the aft wing of the fleeing ship.
红蜘蛛锁定了目标，一道能量脉冲击中了猎物的尾翼。
The result is instantaneous and catastrophic. The blast tears off a stabilizer. It sends a shudder through the airship, and seconds later the cargo door blows open. Debris spills down from it, tumbling to the dirty gray surface of Cybertron like metal rain. The airship tries to compensate but fails completely. Instead, with no control at all, the airship spirals off into the darkness of space, the distant stars gleaming at it silently.
这次攻击瞬间就造成了灾难性的后果。爆炸撕碎了一个水平尾翼，使飞船不受控制地摇晃起来。仅仅是几秒钟之后，货柜舱门炸开了。碎片纷纷散落，如同一场金属的雨落在塞伯坦肮脏的灰色表面。飞船试图恢复平衡，但却徒劳无功。它旋转着冲向黑暗的宇宙，群星的光芒默默地为它抹上了最后的亮色。
With his job done, Starscream banks sharply away. Again it could well be my imagination, but I think I may have heard mocking laughter as Starscream departs.
大功告成，红蜘蛛扬长而去。或许只是我的想象，但我的确听到他离去之时留下的一串嘲弄的笑声。
The Decepticon wouldn’t even do me the simple courtesy of facing me in battle. Either he is worried that I would destroy him or, more likely, he is arrogantly convinced that he would destroy me.
这个狂派战士甚至都不屑于和我战斗。要么是他怕被我击落，但更可能的是，他很有把握能把我干掉。
Which means he wants me to live. He wants me to be saddled with the awareness of what had just happened and my helplessness at preventing it. He wants it to eat at me, to make me dwell as long as possible upon the catastrophe that had just befallen the Autobots.
也就是说，他还不想杀了我。他要让我充分体会刚刚发生的一切，并承担那无能为力的痛苦。他想让这痛苦吞噬掉我，让博派遭受的这场灾难永远压在我的心里。
Disappointment hangs heavily upon me. I am all too aware of the importance of that ship that had been blasted away into space. It represents a horrific loss not only to the Autobots but to Cybertron itself.
我被失望压得喘不过气来。我比任何人都清楚那艘飞船对我们的重要。失去它不仅是对博派，更是对塞伯坦的重大损失。
I am not one to give up, ever. Yet three words go through my mind, three words that I dare not utter lest one of the other Autobots hear me and fall into despair to hear their Prime speak so.
我不是个轻言放弃的人，从来不是。但现在只有五个字在我的脑中回荡。我不敢让任何一个博派战士听到他的领袖说出这五个字，否则他们会陷入深深的绝望。
And those three words are: we are lost.
而这五个字是：我们失败了。
Earth—1961
地球——1961年
i
Doctor Aaron Brooks had come to a conclusion: He was wasting his life.
阿隆•布鲁克斯博士终于得出了结论：他这是在浪费生命。
How in the world he had wound up in the Mojave Desert, staring at a bunch of screens that were in turn linked to row after row of radio telescopes, looking for . . .
天知道他怎么会跑到莫哈韦沙漠来(*位于美国加州西南部)，整天盯着一大堆射电望远镜的显示屏就为了寻找……
Nothing. He was looking for nothing.
什么都没有。他什么都没找到。
He glanced around the room at others who were just like him. Half a dozen scientists who had gone into various fields, such as astronomy or theoretical physics. All of them had once been young students, looking forward to careers of accomplishment and exploration.
他环视屋中其他五位和他相似的科学家。他们来自天文学或理论物理等不同领域，都曾经是对事业与探索充满激情的青年才俊。
And one by one, they had wound up here.
一个接一个地，他们聚集到这里。
If they were anything like Brooks—and he knew they were—they had joined up with the same ambition to do something remarkable: to be the very first to find a signal from outer space that was a sign of intelligent life elsewhere. There was little doubt that it would be the greatest moment in humankind’s history since the invention of the wheel.
如果他们和布鲁克斯一样——事实也的确如此——那他们抱持的是同一个远大理想：成为最早接收到宇宙中其他智慧生命信号的人类。毫无疑问，那将是人类历史上继发明车轮之后最伟大的时刻。
Yet as year rolled into year, Brooks had monitored magnetic beats from pulsars or the background radiation left over from the big bang itself, searching for one signal out of a billion. He had felt the enthusiasm he initially had for the project slowly, steadily being sucked out of him. The most depressing thing was watching the same realization creeping over the other scientists in the control room.
年复一年地，布鲁克斯监测着数以亿计的脉冲星磁震和宇宙大爆炸残留的背景射线，试图从中找到一点蛛丝马迹。随着时间的推移，他开始感到，自己对这个项目曾经怀有的热情正被一点一滴地榨干。更令人沮丧的是，控制室中的其他同僚对这一点也是感同身受。
Ah, the control room: crammed with the latest technology, lined with screens and instrumentation that could chart everything and anything that came within the considerable range of the telescope array. Once it had seemed vibrant and alive to him. Now it just seemed sterile. It was where dreams of close encounters went to die.
啊，堆满了最尖端科技产品的控制室。星罗棋布的屏幕和测量仪器不会漏过望远镜有效范围内任何有价值的现象。这个房间对他而言曾经是那么生机勃勃，现在却显得索然无趣。它带给他的不过是一个梦想逐渐破灭的经历罢了。
He was going off shift soon. The setting sun was casting its red glow across the desert, and soon Aaron Brooks would witness yet another day of disappointing emptiness come to an end. Just one more, the latest dropped on the stack of—
很快他就要换班了。落日将它最后的余晖洒满了沙漠，很快阿隆•布鲁克斯就将为又一个空虚而失望的日子画上句号。就在阳光即将从最后一座沙丘上褪去的时候——
That was when the center lit up.
研究中心突然灯火通明。
A Klaxon sounded, so deafening that Brooks leaped straight up out of his chair, mashing his knee on the underside of the console. He grabbed his earphones and shoved them hard against the sides of his head. He needed to hear the signals for himself, even as a message scrolled across the lit screens with as much dispassion as if it were listing stock market prices:
蜂鸣器轰然作响，震耳欲聋的尖啸声把布鲁克斯从椅子里抛了起来，连滚带爬地冲到控制台前。他抓起耳机，用力把它戴到脑袋上。他必须亲耳听到那个信号，即使那条信息就显示在屏幕上，如同股价标示牌上漠然滚过的数字：
ufo detected. collision course
“发现不明飞行物，已进入撞击轨道。”
Aaron Brooks was the team leader, his predecessor having dropped dead two months earlier (of boredom, some had morosely joked). Even though everyone knew what to do, even though they all had trained for a situation just like this one, still every eye turned to Brooks. They seemed to be seeking confirmation from him—or perhaps they were hoping that he would shake his head, laugh, punch a button that would shut down the alarms, and inform them that it was a false positive or a test or even just a sick joke to shatter the ennui. They would all yell at him if that last one were the case and then would mutter that they knew the whole time he was just messing around and they hadn’t been fooled, not for one second.
阿隆•布鲁克斯是研究组长，他的前任两个月前去世了（有人不无伤感地戏谑说是无聊致死）。虽然组里的每个人都知道自己该干什么，也受过应对紧急情况的训练，他们还是将目光汇聚到布鲁克斯身上。他们是在他身上寻找肯定——或许是在等他摇头大笑，然后按下一个按钮把一切恢复原状，再告诉他们那只不过是个警报错误，或者干脆就是个恶作剧。要是后者的话，他们肯定会对他大喊大叫，然后再自吹自擂说自己早就知道他是在耍他们玩的。
Every one of these men, wearing the unofficial uniform of black slacks, white short-sleeved shirt, and thin necktie, was a professional. None of them was going to outwardly panic. There would be no throwing of papers into the air, no screaming of, Oh, my God, we’re all going to die! No one was going to soil himself or vomit up the tacos he’d brought in for lunch. Nevertheless, Brooks said firmly, “Stay on task, people. We have a job to do.” Even though it may well be that no one is going to be alive to know whether or not we did it. “Station One, confirm contact.”
这里的每个身穿黑色宽松裤和白色短袖衫制服、打着窄领带的人都是专家。没人会表现出恐慌来，他们不会把纸扔到天上，不会惊叫“上帝啊，我们要死了！”，没人会把碗打翻，或者把午饭吃的墨西哥玉米卷吐自己一身。总之，布鲁克斯平静地说：“各自回到工作岗位，伙计们。我们有活儿干了，”即便每个人都可能死去而无人会知晓发生过的一切，“一号台，确认接触。”
“Confirmed,” Ralph Simmons said from Station One, and rattled off what his sensor apparatus was telling him.
“确认。”一号台的拉尔夫•西蒙回答道，随后重复了一遍传感器提供的信息。
Methodically, Brooks went from one man to the next until all six weighed in with identical readings. Then Brooks turned to Kelly—tall, bookish, the seismologist who knew this stuff cold and could come up with conclusions without having to run numbers through computers—and simply uttered two words: “How bad?”
依照程序，布鲁克斯逐一询问了组里的六个人，每个人都给出了肯定答复。接着，布鲁克斯转向凯利——身材高大，学究气十足的地震学家，他对这个专业了如指掌以至于用不着计算机就能给出结论——只问了三个字：“有多糟？”
“If it hits us? Very. Bad,” Kelly said with his typical understatement, adding the second word as if it were an afterthought.
“如果它撞上我们吗？非常，糟糕。”凯利一如既往地淡定，糟糕两个字就好像是后加上去的一样。
Brooks turned to Newman, the expert when it came to tracking collision courses. “Is it going to?” Brooks had looked at the same numbers as everyone else, but there were still variables: too many plus or minuses within the margin for error to be certain. Newman was the only one who might have a lock on it.
布鲁克斯又转向纽曼，跟踪撞击轨迹的专家：“会撞上我们吗？”虽然每个人都看过数据，但其中依然存在变量：在容错范围内有太多的加加减减。纽曼或许是唯一能做出准确判断的人。
Newman wasn’t looking at him. He was running the numbers. He wasn’t inputting anything or even writing anything down; he was just staring.
纽曼瞧都没瞧布鲁克斯，他正浏览着数据。他既不敲键盘也没在做笔记，仅仅是盯着屏幕。
Then, slowly, he turned and leveled his gaze on Brooks.
然后，他缓缓地转过身，盯着布鲁克斯，
“Too close to call,” he said.
“已经是千钧一发了。”他说。
Dead silence.
死一般的寂静。
“Nobody breathe,” Aaron Brooks said in what he realized might well be the last order he ever gave.
“屏住呼吸。”阿隆•布鲁克斯给出了或许是他生命中最后一个命令。
ii
(The object—or, as half a dozen men would now describe it, the contact—hurtles through space, as it has for uncounted years. It is a dead thing, frozen and dark. All this time, all this way, it has managed to avoid falling into the grip of the gravity field of any astronomical body. Despite the vastness of space, this has not been as easy a feat as one might think. If it had endeavored to accomplish this by design, such a task would have been formidable. Since it has transpired by luck, it is nothing short of miraculous. It seems to be a compelling argument for the notion that there is some unknowable, unseen being who is guiding matters along—although whether it is because of some grand master plan for the betterment of the universe or just perverse personal amusement, it would be impossible to say.)
（那个物体——或者按照六个人的说法，那个“接触”——在无尽的岁月里飞速地掠过宇宙空间。它毫无生气，冰冷而黑暗。在这漫长的旅途中，它躲过了所有天体的引力场。尽管宇宙如此浩瀚，这却不像我们想象的那样容易。如果是人为实现的，这样的成就可以说是惊世骇俗了。而如果仅仅是因为运气，那简直可以说是奇迹了。一个很吸引人的说法是，有某个未知的存在引导着事物的发展——尽管我们不知道它这样做究竟是为了全宇宙的和谐还是仅仅出于自娱自乐的心理。）
(Whatever the reason, though, luck has obviously run out for the object; a collision is imminent. And the target appears to be a blue/green sphere dead ahead, the third sphere in orbit around the Type G2V star hanging a mere 93 million miles away . . . a vast distance under most circumstances but a mere stone’s throw in astronomical terms. Moving at 33,000 miles per hour, when the object hits—depending upon where that should occur—the results will be catastrophic. If it hits the water, tidal waves or an underground seismic event will certainly result. If it strikes land, then the outcome will be a crater the size of several cities and perhaps another seismic event, possibly enough to split or sink a continent. Or it might not even reach ground. It could well superheat in the atmosphere to in excess of 40,000 degrees Fahrenheit and explode with a ferocity two hundred times greater than an atomic bomb. This had happened before, ripping apart eight hundred square miles of Russian forest, leaving 80 million trees flattened in a radial pattern.)
（不管是什么原因，这个物体的好运气是到头了：撞击不可避免。而撞击的目标是眼前的一颗绿蓝相间的球体，9300万英里外一颗G2V级恒星的第三行星——一般意义上说，这个距离太遥远了，但以天文单位来看这不过是一步之遥。这个以33,000英里/小时移动的物体，当它撞上一颗星球——取决于撞击发生的地点——结果将是灾难性的。如果它撞上水面，必将掀起滔天巨浪和海底巨震。如果它撞上地面，会形成有数个城市规模的巨型陨石坑，引发地震，甚至会使整块大陆断裂或沉没。或许它根本到不了地面，它会在大气层升温到40,000华氏度以上，然后以超过200颗原子弹的当量爆炸。这种事曾经在俄罗斯发生过（*通古斯大爆炸，1908），瞬间抹平了800平方公里的森林地带，爆炸直径内的八千万棵树无一幸免。）
(Except this object might well detonate above a major city, leveling hundreds—even thousands—of skyscrapers and snuffing out the lives of millions of people. There are only so many times that a single planet can escape cosmic catastrophe.)
（或许这个物体会在大城市上空爆炸，毁灭成百上千的摩天大厦，并吞噬数以百万计的生命。一颗行星逃过宇宙大灾难的机会其实并不那么多。）
(Closer it comes to the blue/green sphere, and faster, and yes, it is going to be a city, a city that a group of scientists in the Mojave are powerless to warn because it’s going to take too long and an evacuation would require hours, perhaps a full day, and they have only minutes left. All they would have time for is to pray to the deity that has seemingly abandoned them to a random and capricious fate.)
(它离那颗蓝绿相间的星球更近了。看上去它的目标是一座城市，而莫哈韦沙漠中的科学家们对此束手无策。即使他们发出警报，撤离也需要数小时甚至一整天，而他们只剩下几分钟了。他们能做的只剩下向神灵祷告，而这位神灵似乎已经将他们抛弃给了未知的命运。)
(And then a small, silver-gray mass of rock—that doesn’t have anything on its plate except affecting the tides and serving as inspiration for both romantic poets and suckers for werewolf legends—puts itself between the blue/green sphere and the intruder. With no atmosphere in which the intruder can superheat, with no population to die, it has nothing to lose. It is an undead soldier throwing itself upon a grenade to save the troops.)
（接着，一颗银灰色的小石头——那上头什么也没有，本身除了影响潮汐、为浪漫主义诗人和狼人传说提供素材以外毫无价值——挡在了蓝绿色星球和入侵者之间。它上面既没有可供升温的大气层，也没有熙熙攘攘的人群，可以说毫发无损。它是一位为了保护大部队而扑向手榴弹的不死战士。）
(Mission accomplished.)
（任务完成。）
(A journey that began oh so long ago is brought to an abrupt and terminal halt.)
（一段起始于远古时代的旅程就这样突如其来地终结了。）
iii
“Lunar impact!” Aaron Brooks shouted. He didn’t bother to poll the other men but instead simply called out, “Confirmations?”
“月面撞击！”阿隆•布鲁克斯大叫起来，这次他连点名都省掉了，“能确认吗？”
“We have impact!” “Lunar impact, confirmed!” “Way to go, baby!” The shouts were coming quickly, overlapping one another, laced with cries of relieved laughter and all the tension that they had managed to keep bottled up in the face of an impending crisis. They were clapping one another on the back, congratulating one another as if they themselves had somehow managed to move the moon directly into the intruder’s path.
“碰撞发生！”“确认！月面撞击！”“上帝保佑！”欢呼声此起彼伏，夹杂着如释重负的大笑，人们因为危机而一直紧绷的神经终于松弛下来。他们互相拍着后背额手相庆，仿佛是自己把月亮挪到了地球和陨石之间似的。
Brooks sagged into his chair, his chest heaving, putting his hand to his head and realizing that his hair was now drenched in sweat. As he waited for his pulse to return to something approximating normal, Newman walked straight over to him, all business. Brooks wasn’t surprised at Newman’s detachment. The man lived and breathed numbers and had ice water in his veins. To him, the object striking the moon was an interesting outcome to a mathematical exercise in trajectory and nothing more.
布鲁克斯跌坐进椅子里，胸口剧烈起伏。他摸摸脑袋，才发现头发都被冷汗湿透了。在他等待自己的脉搏接近正常的时候，纽曼向他走来，一如既往地镇定。布鲁克斯对纽曼的超然已经见怪不怪了，这家伙活在数字里，他的血液比冰水还要冷。对他来说，月球撞击事件不过是一个轨道测算练习的有趣结果罢了。
“It’s not a meteor,” he said with certainty.
“那并不是陨石。”他肯定地说。
Forcing himself to take a slow breath and then exhale just as slowly, Brooks said, “So when the computer’s saying UFO, it really means . . .”
布鲁克斯强迫自己做了一次深呼吸：“也就是说，电脑说的不明飞行物就是指……”
“Yeah,” Newman said. “The telemetry leaves no question. Whatever that thing is that hit the moon, it’s not a meteor or a fragment from a comet or anything that’s understood by anyone, except maybe those lunatics out at Area 51. We have a genuine unidentified flying object.”
“没错，”纽曼说，“遥感测量的结果毫无疑问。不管撞上月球的是什么，它绝不是陨石或者彗星碎片什么的。除了51区那些疯子，我们都对它毫无了解。我们遇上了一个货真价实的外星飞行物。”
“So you’re saying there may be an alien corpse lying on the far side of the moon right now.”
“你是说现在月球背面就躺着一具外星人尸体？”
“Or several alien corpses. Or maybe . . .” His voice trailed off.
“或者很多具尸体。但也可能是……”他的声音低下去。
“Or maybe what?”
“也可能是什么？”
“Or maybe alien weapons.”
“也可能是外星武器。”
“You,” Brooks said immediately, “read too much of that sci-fi crap.” But even as he said it aloud, the truth of Newman’s speculation burrowed into his imagination and promptly began to eat away at what little peace of mind he had left.
“你这家伙，”布鲁克斯嗤之以鼻，“科幻小说看多了吧。”但即便他说得那么大声，纽曼的猜测中某些真实的东西已经进入了他的脑海，并很快开始蚕食他仅剩的那点平静。
At that moment, Brooks’s aide, an attractive young British woman—Carla Spencer—came running up to him and pointed at a blinking red line. “Mr. Webb’s ready to take your call now,” she said breathlessly. “They kept trying to put me off, and I told them they would bloody well speak to you now if they cared about the future of their bleeding planet.”
就在这时，布鲁克斯的助手卡拉•斯宾塞——一位迷人的英国姑娘——跑过来指给他看一条闪烁的红线：“威布先生可以接您的电话了，”她上气不接下气地说，“他们一直想挂断，我告诉他们，要是不听听你说什么，地球就完蛋了。”
Brooks couldn’t help himself; he laughed. Spencer, normally brimming with British reserve, chuckled in response as she realized how she’d come across. Brooks felt as if he were truly seeing her for the first time. He had always been a single-minded workaholic, and there was nothing that focused someone on matters other than work more than a narrowly averted catastrophe. He reached for his receiver, but just before he pushed the button to connect it, he said, “You wanna go out for a drink after work?”
布鲁克斯抑制不住地大笑起来。意识到自己刚刚的举动和平时审慎的英式风格大相径庭，斯宾塞也笑了起来，这让布鲁克斯觉得就像是和她初次相识。一直以来，他都是个一根筋的工作狂，而没有什么比一次擦肩而过的危机更能让人把心思放到工作之外的事情上。他走向收讯器，但却没有按下通话键：“下班后想去喝一杯吗？”
“Desperately,” she said.
“求之不得。”她说。
He nodded, then put the phone to his ear and, just before he started talking, decided that perhaps boredom was underrated after all.
他点点头，拿起了听筒。就在说出第一个字之前，他突然觉得，无聊的日子也许并不是那么糟糕。 |
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