Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture in the visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed in its non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to the predominance of a single bright shining disk, the size of a marble, centered on the viewing-screen.
贾诺德、贾诺汀和贾诺蒂I、贾诺蒂II注视着屏幕中变幻的星空影像。飞船在超越时间的一瞬中穿越了超时空，均匀分布的星群立刻被一个明亮的圆盘取代。它弹珠大小，占据着屏幕的中心。
“That’s X-23,” said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly behind his back and the knuckles whitened.
“那就是X-23，”贾诺德自信地说。他紧握着的瘦削的手背在身后，指节发白。
The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace passage for the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over the momentary sensation of insideoutness. They buried their giggles and chased one another wildly about their mother, screaming, “We’ve reached X-23 — we’ve reached X-23 — we’ve –”
两个小贾诺蒂都是女孩。她们一生中第一次经历超时空飞行，清晰地感到那种片刻的恶心[注]。她们悄声地嘻笑着，疯狂地绕着她们的母亲互相追逐，一边尖叫：“我们到X-23了——我们到X-23了——我们——”
[注] 难以翻译的特有的恶心，大概是一种五脏六腑被翻出来的感觉吧。
“Quiet, children.” said Jerrodine sharply. “Are you sure, Jerrodd?”
“孩子们，别闹了！”贾诺汀严厉地说。“你确定吗，贾诺德？”
“What is there to be but sure?” asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge of featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the room, disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the ship.
“有什么不确定的？”贾诺德瞟了一眼天花板上凸出的那块毫不起眼的金属（佳人微信公众号：jiarenorg）。它从房间的一头延伸到另一头，两端埋入墙壁中。它和整个飞船一样长。
Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that it was called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished; that if one did not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a preordered destination; of feeding on energies from the various Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing the equations for the hyperspatial jumps.
贾诺德对这条厚厚的金属棒几乎一无所知。他只知道它叫做Microvac，你可以问它任何问题，而平时它控制着飞船飞向目的地，从不同的银河系能量分站向飞船输送能量，并完成进行超时空跳跃的计算。
Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable residence quarters of the ship. Someone had once told Jerrodd that the “ac” at the end of “Microvac” stood for ”automatic computer” in ancient English, but he was on the edge of forgetting even that.
贾诺德一家只需要住在飞船舒适的居住区等待。曾经有人告诉贾诺德，“Microvac”词尾的“ac”是古英语中“automatic computer，智能电脑”的缩写。但他差不多连这都忘了。
Jerrodine’s eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. “I can’t help it. I feel funny about leaving Earth.”
贾诺汀看着视屏，眼睛有些湿润。“没办法。想到离开了地球我感觉怪怪的。”
“Why, for Pete’s sake?” demanded Jerrodd. “We had nothing there. We’ll have everything on X-23. You won’t be alone. You won’t be a pioneer. There are over a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our great-grandchildren will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be overcrowded.” Then, after a reflective pause, “I tell you, it’s a lucky thing the computers worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing.”
“天哪，为什么？”贾诺德问。“我们在那儿什么也没有。我们在X-23上会拥有一切。你并不孤单，你又不是那些拓荒者。这个行星上已经有超过一百万人了。天哪，我们的曾孙们会得去找新的星球，因为那时X-23会太挤了。”他想了一会，说：“告诉你，人口增长这么快，幸亏电脑实现了星际旅行。”
“I know, I know,” said Jerrodine miserably.
“我知道，我知道。”贾诺汀难过地回答。
Jerrodette I said promptly, “Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the world.”
贾诺蒂I马上说道：“我们的Microvac是世界上最好的Microvac。”
“I think so, too,” said Jerrodd, tousling her hair.
“我也是这么想的。”贾诺德抚弄着她的头发说。
It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father’s youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors, had come molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship.
能拥有一台自己的Microvac的感觉非常好。贾诺德很高兴他属于他们这一代人。在他父亲年轻的时候，电脑都是占地一百平方英里的巨大机器。一个星球只有一台，被称作行星AC。一千年来它们的体积逐步地增加，然后忽然间缩小了，因为分子阀取代了晶体管，使得最大的行星AC都缩小到了只有一艘飞船的一半体积。
Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own personal Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and primitive Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as complicated as Earth’s Planetarv AC (the largest) that had first solved the problem of hyperspatial travel and had made trips to the stars possible.
每当想到这件事贾诺德总是感到飘飘然：他的Microvac比那台古老原始的首次驯服了太阳的Multivac要精密好几倍，而且和第一台解决了超时空传送问题从而实现了星际航行的地球行星AC（最大的行星AC）一样精密。
“So many stars, so many planets,” sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own thoughts. “I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever, the way we are now.”
“这么多的恒星，这么多的行星。”贾诺汀想着心事，叹息道。“我想人们会永远不断地出发去找新的行星，就像我们现在这样。”
“Not forever,” said Jerrodd, with a smile. “It will all stop someday, but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. Entropy must increase.”
“不是永远，”贾诺德笑了一笑说。“有一天这一切都会停下来（佳人微信公众号：jiarenorg），但那是在几十亿年之后了。好几十亿年。即使是星星也会耗尽，你知道的。熵必须不断增大。”
“What’s entropy, daddy?” shrilled Jerrodette II.
“爸爸，熵是什么？”贾诺蒂II喊道。
“Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of running-down of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your little walkie-talkie robot, remember?”
“小宝贝，熵，就是一个代表着宇宙消耗掉了多少的词。什么东西都会消耗，知道吗，就像你那个会走路会说话的小机器人，记得吧？”
“Can’t you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?”
“你不能给它装一个新的电池吗，就像给我的机器人那样？”
“The stars are the power-units. dear. Once they’re gone, there are no more power-units.”
“星星们就是电池，亲爱的。一旦它们用完了，就没有别的电池了。”
Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. “Don’t let them, daddy. Don’t let the stars run down.”
贾诺蒂I一下子大喊起来：“别让它们用完，爸爸。别让星星们用完吧。”
“Now look what you’ve done,” whispered Jerrodine, exasperated.
“看看你干了什么。”贾诺汀恼火地低声说道。
“How was I to know it would frighten them?” Jerrodd whispered back.
“我怎么知道这会吓到她们？”贾诺德低声反驳。
“Ask the Microvac,” wailed Jerrodette I. “Ask him how to turn the stars on again.”
“问问Microvac，”贾诺蒂I哭叫道。“问它怎么把星星重新点亮。”
“Go ahead,” said Jerrodine. “It will quiet them down.” (Jerrodette II was beginning to cry, also.)
“问吧，”贾诺汀说。“这会让她们安静点的。”（贾诺蒂II也开始哭了。）
Jerrodd shrugged. “Now, now, honeys. I’ll ask Microvac. Don’t worry, he’ll tell us.”
贾诺德耸耸肩。“好了，好了，亲爱的。我去问Microvac。别着急，它会告诉我们的。”
He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, “Print the answer.”
他向Microvac提出问题，并赶紧加上“把答案打印出来。”
Jerrodd cupped the strip of thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, “See now, the Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time comes so don’t worry.”
贾诺德将薄薄的纤维纸带握在手心，高兴地说：“看吧，Microvac说到时候它会料理这一切，所以别担心啦。”
Jerrodine said, “And now, children, it’s time for bed. We’ll be in our new home soon.”
贾诺汀说：“那么现在孩子们，该睡觉了。我们马上就要到我们的新家了。”
Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it: INSUFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
在销毁纸带之前贾诺德又读了一遍上面的文字：数据不足，无法作答。
He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead.
他耸了耸肩，看向视屏。X-23就在前方。