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只为认真做自己

阿西莫夫短篇小说:绿斑

The captain closed his eyes wearily and shook his head.

船长疲惫地闭上眼,摇了摇头。

“Headache, Captain?”

“头疼吗,船长?”

“No. Just thinking of poor Saybrook.”

“不是,只是想起了可怜的塞布鲁克。”

He was weary of the ship. A while back there had been a queer, momentary sensation, as though he had been turned inside out. It was alarming and he had searched the minds of the keen-thinkers for an explanation. Apparently the ship had leaped across vast stretches of empty space by cutting across something they knew as “hyper-space.” The keen-thinkers were ingenious.

他对飞船感到十分厌倦。不久之前他有短暂的一阵奇异感觉,就好像他的五脏六腑被翻出来了似的。他很惊恐,于是在那些“有头脑生物”的脑海里搜寻原因。原来飞船刚从他们所谓的“超空间”中抄了近路,跃过了一段浩瀚无垠的空间。这些有头脑生物真是聪明。

But-he was weary of the ship. It was such a futile phenomenon. These life fragments were skillful in their constructions, yet it was only a measure of their unhappiness, after all. They strove to find in the control of inanimate matter what they could not find in themselves. In their unconscious yearning for completeness, they built machines and scoured space, seeking, seeking . . .

但是,他对飞船真是厌倦了。这真是个没用的庞然大物。那些碎片生命体的建造技巧非常高超,但是终究却体现了他们有多悲惨。他们自身做不到的,就努力地想要通过控制这些没有生命的物体做到(佳人微信公众号:jiarenorg)。他们潜意识里渴望着完整,于是造了这些机器,四处扫荡,不断地搜寻……

These creatures, he knew, could never, in the very nature of things, find that for which they were seeking. At least not until such time as he gave it to them. He quivered a little at the thought.

他知道,这些生物的本性决定了他们永远也无法找到他们要找的东西,直到他将这样东西交给他们的那一刻。想到此处他不禁有些颤抖。

Completeness!

完整!

These fragments had no concept of it, even. “Completeness” was a poor word.

这些碎片们对它毫无概念。“完整”这个词真是差劲。

In their ignorance they would even fight it. There had been the ship that had come before. The first ship had contained many of the keen-thinking fragments. There had been two varieties, life producers and the sterile ones. (How different this second ship was. The keen-thinkers were all sterile, while the other fragments, the fuzzy-thinkers and the no-thinkers, were all producers of life. It was strange.)

他们因为无知,甚至想要抗拒它。曾经有一艘飞船来过,那艘船上有很多有头脑的碎片生命体。他们有两种类型,一种能产生后代一种不能。(第二艘船太不一样了。有头脑生物都是不育的,但是其他那些缺心眼生物或者没头脑生物却都是可育的。太奇怪了。)

How gladly that first ship had been welcomed by all the planet! He could remember the first intense shock at the realization that the visitors were fragments and not complete. The shock had give way to pity, and the pity to action. It was not certain how they would fit into the community, but there had been no hesitation. All life was sacred and somehow room would have been made for them-for all of them, from the large keen-thinkers to the little multipliers in the darkness.

第一艘飞船受到了整个星球多么热烈的欢迎啊!他记得当意识到这些访客都是不完整的碎片时他们有多么震惊。然后震惊变成了怜悯,怜悯又变成了行动。虽然不确定要把客人们安放到集体的哪个位置,但是他们毫不犹豫。一切生命都是神圣的,总会有办法给他们腾出位置——给他们中的每一个,不管是大型的有头脑生物,还是暗处不断繁殖的小生灵。

But there had been a miscalculation. They had not correctly analyzed the course of the fragments’ ways of thinking. The keen-thinkers became aware of what had been done and resented it. They were frightened, of course; they did not understand.

但是他们犯了一个错误,他们没有正确地考察这些碎片们的思维方式。那些有头脑生物察觉了正在发生的事而感到愤恨。当然,他们很害怕,因为他们不懂。

They had developed the barrier first, and then, later, had destroyed themselves, exploding their ships to atoms.

他们先是建起了一道能障,然后,他们自我毁灭了。他们把飞船炸得粉碎。

Poor, foolish fragments.

可怜而又愚昧的碎片们。

This time, at least, it would be different. They would be saved, despite themselves.

但是这一次不一样了。他们一定要得到拯救,由不得他们了。

John Drake would not have admitted it in so many words, but he was very proud of his skill on the photo-typer. He had a travel-kit model, which was a six-by-eight, featureless dark plastic slab, with cylindrical bulges on either end to hold the roll of thin paper. It fitted into a brown leather case, equipped with a beltlike contraption that held it closely about the waist and at one hip. The whole thing weighed less than a pound.

约翰·德雷克非常自豪于自己操作图形输入仪的技术,虽然他不会自夸。他的输入仪是便捷式的,六乘八英寸的不起眼的深色塑胶平板,两端各有一个柱形突起用来固定纸张(佳人微信公众号:jiarenorg)。可以装进一个棕色的皮包,用一个腰带似的装置紧贴在腰部和一边的臂部。整个仪器不到一磅。

Drake could operate it with either hand. His fingers would flick quickly and easily, placing their light pressure at exact spots on the blank surface, and, soundlessly, words would be written.

德雷克两只手都可以操作它。他的手指轻松飞快地轻击在空白界面上准确的位置,文字便悄无声息地显现出来。

He looked thoughtfully at the beginning of his story, then up at Dr. Weiss. “What do you think, Doc?”

他若有所思地看了看他文章的开头,然后抬头问韦斯博士:“博士,你觉得怎么样?”

“It starts well.”

“不错的开头。”

Drake nodded. “I thought I might as well start with Saybrook himself. They haven’t released his story back home yet. I wish I could have seen Saybrook’s original report. How did he ever get it through, by the way?”

德雷克点点头:“我就觉得不如从塞布鲁克自己写起。他们还没有公开他的事情。我真希望能看到塞布鲁克的原始报告。不过他是怎么把报告发出来的呢?”

“As near as I could tell, he spent one last night sending it through the sub-ether. When he was finished, he shorted the motors, and converted the entire ship into a thin cloud of vapor a millionth of a second later. The crew and himself along with it.”

“据我所知,他是在最后一个晚上把报告通过次以太发过来的。发完之后他就关闭了引擎,把整个飞船,包括他自己和他的船员,在百万分之一秒中炸成了一团薄雾。”

“What a man! You were in this from the beginning, Doc?”

“这个人啊!你从一开始就参与进来了是吗,博士?”

“Not from the beginning,” corrected Weiss gently. “Only since the receipt of Saybrook’s report.”

“不是从一开始,”韦斯温和地纠正道,“是从收到塞布鲁克的报告以后。”

He could not help thinking back. He had read that report, realizing even then how wonderful the planet must have seemed when Saybrook’s colonizing expedition first reached it. It was practically a duplicate of Earth, with an abounding plant life and a purely vegetarian animal life.

他不由得回想当初。他看报告的时候就能想象,当塞布鲁克的远征队刚刚到达的时候,这颗星球在他们眼中一定妙不可言。它几乎就是地球的复制品,有着丰富的植被以及完全植食性的动物。

There had been only the little patches of green fur (how often had he used that phrase in his speaking and thinking!) which seemed strange. No living individual on the planet had eyes. Instead, there was this fur. Even the plants, each blade or leaf or blossom, possessed the two patches of richer green.

只是那种小块的绿毛(说话和思考的时候他老爱用这个词!)看起来有点奇怪。这个星球上没有任何生物有眼睛,却在该长眼睛的地方长了这种毛。连植物也有,每片草叶、树叶、每朵花都长了两块深绿的斑点。

Then Saybrook had noticed, startled and bewildered, that there was no conflict for food on the planet. All plants grew pulpy appendages which were eaten by the animals. These were regrown in a matter of hours. No other parts of the plants were touched. It was as though the plants fed the animals as part of the order of nature. And the plants themselves did not grow in overpowering profusion. They might almost have been cultivated, they were spread across the available soil so discriminately.

之后令塞布鲁克十分惊讶和困惑的是他发现这个星球上不存在食物竞争。所有的植物都会结出饱满多汁的附属器官供动物食用,并能在几个钟头内再生。而动物们不会损伤植物的其余部分。这些植物养育着动物,仿佛遵循着某种自然的规律。而且植物自身也不会过度生长。它们因地制宜地覆盖了每一寸土地,就好像是人工栽培的一样。

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