14 Anxiety
第14章 忧心如焚
Poli placed the breakfast on the table, keeping one eye on the table news-recorder which quietly disgorged the bulletins of the day. It could be done easily enough without loss of efficiency, this one-eye-absent business. Since all items of food were sterilely packed in containers which served as discardable cooking units, her duties vis-a-vis breakfast consisted of nothing more than choosing the menu, placing the items on the table, and removing the residue thereafter.
波莉一面准备早餐，一面瞄着餐桌上的新闻记录仪。当天的新闻一桩桩显示在记录仪上，她只需要用一只眼睛便能一览无遗。所有的食物都是现成的，密封在无菌且随用随丢的容器内。因此她的工作其实只是选择菜式、布置餐桌，并于餐后将一切收拾干净。
She clacked her tongue at what she saw and moaned softly in retrospect.
她忍不住对那些新闻咂舌，又感慨万千地叹了一口气。
"Oh, people are so wicked," she said, and Darell merely hemmed in reply.
“喔，真是人心不古。”她有感而发，而达瑞尔只是哼了一声作为回答。
Her voice took on the high-pitched rasp which she automatically assumed when about to bewail the evil of the world. "Now why do these terrible Kalganese"……she accented the second syIlable and gave it a long "a"……"do like that? You'd think they'd give a body peace. But no, it's just trouble, trouble, all the time.
她的声调突然变得尖锐刺耳，每当她悲叹世风日下，都会自然而然转成这种腔调。“唉，这些可怕的卡尔根人，为什么要这样做呢？”她总是把“卡尔根”念走了音，“本以为他们会让人过几天太平日子。根本没有，总是找麻烦，找麻烦，没完没了。
"Now look at that headline: 'Mobs Riot Before Foundation Consulate.?Oh, would I like to give them a piece of my mind, if I could. That's the trouble with people; they just don't remember. They just don't remember, Dr. Darell……got no memory at all. Look at the last war after the Mule died……of course I was just a little girl then……and oh, the fuss and trouble. My own uncle was killed, him being just in his twenties and only two years married, with a baby girl. I remember him even yet……blond hair he had, and a dimple in his chin. I have a trimensional cube of him somewheres?
“你看看那个新闻标题：‘基地领事馆前暴民滋事’。喔，可能的话，我真想好好开导他们一番。这是人类的通病，就是不长记性。达瑞尔博士，世人就是不能记取教训……一点记性也没有。想想骡死后引发的那场战争吧……当然那时候我只是小女孩，可是喔，那种动乱我一辈子忘不了。我的亲叔叔死在那场战争中，当时他才二十几岁，结婚两年而已，还留下一个女娃。我到现在还记得他的模样……一头金发，脸颊上有个酒涡。我还保存着他的三维水晶像……
"And now his baby girl has a son of her own in the navy and most like if anything happens……
“现在，那个女娃早已长大成人，她的独子正在舰队服役。如果发生任何冲突，那就极有可能……
"And we had the bombardment patrols, and all the old men taking turns in the stratospheric defense……I could imagine what they would have been able to do if the Kalganese had come that far. My mother used to tell us children about the food rationing and the prices and taxes. A body could hardly make ends meet……
“当时虽然我们有空袭侦察队，而且由老人轮流守卫平流层……但卡尔根若是真打过来，我很难想象他们能做些什么。母亲常常对我们说起当时的艰苦，粮食配给、物价高涨、税金暴增等等。简直让人活不下去……
"You'd think if they had sense people would just never want to start it again; just have nothing to do with it. And I suppose it's not people that do it, either; I suppose even Kalganese would rather sit at home with their families and not go fooling around in ships and getting killed. It's that awful man, Stettin. It's a wonder people like that are let live. He kills the old man……what's his name……Thallos, and now he's just spoiling to be boss of everything.
“我认为，如果他们那些人还有理智，就绝不该重蹈覆辙，应该避之唯恐不及。我也认为根本不是人民的意思；我想即使是卡尔根人，也宁愿待在家中享受天伦之乐，而不愿意到太空去横冲直撞，然后葬身在星舰中。全都要怪那个可怕的人物，史铁亭。真奇怪，这种人怎么会活到现在。他杀害了那个老家伙……他叫什么名字？对，萨洛斯……现在又准备要征服银河。
"And why he wants to fight us, I don't know. He's bound to lose……like they always do. Maybe it's all in the Plan, but sometimes I'm sure it must be a wicked plan to have so much fighting and killing in it, though to be sure I haven't a word to say about Hari Seldon, who I'm sure knows much more about that than I do and perhaps I'm a fool to question him. And the other Foundation is as much to blame. They could stop Kalgan now and make everything fine. They'll do it anyway in the end, and you'd think they'd do it before there's any damage done."
“他为什么想要攻打我们，我实在搞不懂。他注定会失败……就像以往每次一样。也许这一切都在谢顿算计之中，可是有时我忍不住想，那必定是个邪恶的计划，才会藏有那么多的战争和杀戮。不过我对哈里·谢顿可没有话说，我相信他知道得一定比我多得多，也许是我太笨了，才会质疑他的计划。另外那个基地同样欠骂。他们明明现在就能制止卡尔根，让一切回到正轨。既然他们终将这么做，我认为，就该在战祸发生之前赶紧行动。”
Dr. Darell looked up. "Did you say something, Poli?"
达瑞尔博士终于抬起头来。“波莉，你在说什么吗？”
Poli's eyes opened wide, then narrowed angrily. "Nothing, doctor, nothing at all. I haven't got a word to say. A body could as soon choke to death as say a word in this house. It's jump here, and jump there, but just try to say a word? and she went off simmering.
波莉的一双眼睛睁得老大，随即又气呼呼地眯起来。“没有，博士，我什么都没说，也根本没什么好说的。在这个家里，何止是说句话，就是死了也没人注意到。忙进忙出，忙出忙进，就是没时间开口说话……”她带着一肚子闷气离开了餐厅。
Her leaving made as little impression on Darell as did her speaking.
正如同没有听到她在说什么一样，达瑞尔博士几乎没注意到波莉已经离开。
Kalgan! Nonsense! A merely physical enemy! Those had always been beaten!
卡尔根！真无聊！那只是个有形的敌人！他们将永远是基地的手下败将。
Yet he could not divorce himself of the current foolish crisis. Seven days earlier, the mayor had asked him to be Administrator of Research and Development. He had promised an answer today.
然而，眼前这个可笑的危机，他却无法置身事外。七天前，市长正式邀请他出任“研究发展部”部长，而他答应今天会作出决定。
Well……
可是……
He stirred uneasily. Why, himself! Yet could he refuse? It would seem strange, and he dared not seem strange. After all, what did he care about Kalgan. To him there was only one enemy. Always had been.
他感到坐立不安。市长竟然选上自己！但是他能够拒绝吗？这样一来，就会显得太不合情理，而他不敢冒这种险。毕竟，他并不需要担心卡尔根。对他而言，敌人只有一个，始终只有一个。
While his wife had lived, he was only too glad to shirk the task; to hide. Those long, quiet days on Trantor, with the ruins of the past about them! The silence of a wrecked world and the forgetfulness of it all!
妻子在世的时候，人生幸福美满，他有充分的借口逃避责任、离群索居。在川陀那段漫长而幽静的日子，周遭全是荒芜的废墟！他们在那个残破的世界上遗世独立，浑然忘却世间的一切！
But she had died. Less than five years, all told, it had been; and after that he knew that he could live only by fighting that vague and fearful enemy that deprived him of the dignity of manhood by controlling his destiny; that made life a miserable struggle against a foreordained end; that made all the universe a hateful and deadly chess game.
可是她不久就去世了，前后还不到五年。从那时候起，他就知道，今后唯一能够做的，便是和那些可怕而隐形的敌人奋战一生……那些敌人控制了他的命运，剥夺了他做人的尊严，使他的人生变作绝望的挣扎；甚至连整个宇宙，都掌握在这些既可恶又可怕的敌人手中。
Call it sublimation; he, himself did can it that……but the fight gave meaning to his life.
这可以称作感情的升华，至少他自己这么想……总之，这种奋战为他带来人生的意义。
First to the University of Santanni, where he had joined Dr. Kleise. It had been five years well-spent.
他先来到圣塔尼大学，加入克莱斯博士的研究工作。那是获益匪浅的五个年头。
And yet Kleise was merely a gatherer of data. He could not succeed in the real task……and when Darell had felt that as certainty, he knew it was time to leave.
但克莱斯所做的仅止于搜集数据，无法在真正的问题上有所突破……当达瑞尔肯定这点之后，他知道是该离开的时候了。
Kleise may have worked in secret, yet he had to have men working for him and with him. He had subjects whose brains he probed. He had a University that backed him. All these were weaknesses.
克莱斯的研究虽属秘密性质，但他难免需要助手与合作伙伴。此外，他还需要许多人脑样本来做脑波测定，需要一所大学支持他。这些都是他的弱点。
Kleise could not understand that; and he, Darell, could not explain that. They parted enemies. It was well; they had to. He had to leave in surrender……in case someone watched.
克莱斯不能了解这一点，而达瑞尔也无法向他详加解释。两人终于不欢而散。这样也好，反正他们必须拆伙。他必须表现得放弃了一切……以防有人暗中监视。
Where Kleise worked with charts; Darell worked with mathematical concepts in the recesses of his mind. Kleise worked with many; Darell with none. Kleise in a University; Darell in the quiet of a suburban house.
克莱斯借着图表来分析脑波，达瑞尔则是使用自己心灵深处的数学概念。克莱斯与许多人合作，达瑞尔却单打独斗。克莱斯待在一所大学里，达瑞尔栖身于郊外静谧的住宅中。
And he was almost there.
而他眼看就要成功了。
A Second Foundationer is not human as far as his cerebrum is concerned. The cleverest physiologist, the most subtle neurochemist might detect nothing……yet the difference must be there. And since the difference was one of the mind, it was there that it must be detectable.
就大脑构造而言，第二基地分子根本不能算是人类。即使是最杰出的生理学家、最高明的神经化学家，也可能无法侦测出任何异状……但差异一定存在。由于这种差异藏在心灵中，那里必定存在侦测得到的迹象。
Given a man like the Mule……and there was no doubt that the Second Foundationers had the Mule's powers, whether inborn or acquired……with the power of detecting and controlling human emotions, deduce from that the electronic circuit required, and deduce from that the last details of the encephalograph on which it could not help but be betrayed.
第二基地分子无疑都拥有类似骡的异能，姑且不论这种能力是先天或后天的。既然他们像骡一样，具有侦测与控制人类情感的能力，理论上来说，应该能设计出一种电子电路，来测定他们的特殊脑波；而在脑电图的详细记录中，他们的异能绝对无所遁形。
And now Kleise had returned into his life, in the person of his ardent young pupil, Anthor.
如今，克莱斯的幽灵化身为得意门徒安索，再度闯进他的生命。
Folly! Folly! With his graphs and charts of people who had been tampered with. He had learned to detect that years ago, but of what use was it. He wanted the arm; not the tool. Yet he had to agree to join Anthor, since it was the quieter course.
愚蠢！愚蠢！那些受干扰人士的脑电图能做些什么？自己几年前已经发明出侦测的方法，可是又有什么用？他需要反击的武器，而不是侦测的工具。但他又必须答应与安索合作，因为这样才能掩人耳目。
Just as now he would become Administrator of Research and Development. It was the quieter course! And so he remained a conspiracy within a conspiracy.
现在这个研发部长的职位也一样，同样是个掩人耳目的妙着！他俨然成为一个计中计的主角。
The thought of Arcadia teased him for a moment, and he shuddered away from it. Left to himself, it would never have happened. Left to himself, no one would ever have been endangered but himself. Left to himself……
一时之间，他又担心起艾嘉蒂娅，赶紧狠下心来摆脱这个思绪。假使安索未曾出现，这件事就不会发生。假使安索未曾出现，除了他自己，不会有其他人的生命受到威胁。假使安索未曾出现……
He felt the anger rising-against the dead Kleise, the living Anthor, all the well-meaning fools……
他感到一阵怒火攻心……他气已故的克莱斯，气活着的安索，以及所有好心的笨蛋……
Well, she could take care of herself. She was a very mature little girl.
嗯，她会照顾自己的。她是个非常成熟的小女孩。
She could take care of herself!
她会好好照顾自己的！
It was a whisper in his mind……
他心中悄悄这么想……
Yet could she?
她真能照顾自己吗？
At the moment, that Dr. Darell told himself mournfully that she could, she was sitting in the coldly austere anteroom of the Executive Offices of the First Citizen of the Galaxy. For half an hour she had been sitting there, her eyes sliding slowly about the walls. There had been two armed guards at the door when she had entered with Homir Munn. They hadn't been there the other times.
当达瑞尔博士忧心忡忡地自我安慰之际，她正坐在银河第一公民官邸办公室的简朴会客室中。她已经在这里坐了半个小时，无聊地扫描着四面的墙壁。她随着侯密尔·孟恩进入这间会客室的时候，曾注意到门口站着两名武装警卫。过去，这里是从来没有警卫的。
She was alone, now, yet she sensed the unfriendliness of the very furnishings of the room. And for the first time.
现在她一个人待在会客室里，觉得室内每一件家具、每一项陈设都透着敌意。这是她生平第一次有这种感觉。
Now, why should that be?
可是，为什么会这样呢？
Homir was with Lord Stettin. Well, was that wrong?
侯密尔正在觐见史铁亭统领。嗯，这又有什么不对吗？
It made her furious. In similar situations in the book-films and the videos, the hero foresaw the conclusion, was prepared for it when it came, and she……she just sat there. Anything could happen. Anything! And she just sat there.
想到这里，她突然怒不可遏。在胶卷书或超视的故事里，每次出现类似情节，主角总是料得到下一步的发展，因而能有万全准备。而她……她却坐在那里。任何事都可能发生，任何事！而她却只能坐在那里。
Well, back again. Think it back. Maybe something would come.
好吧，回忆一下。从头想一想，也许能获得一点灵感。
For two weeks, Homir had nearly lived inside the Mule's palace. He had taken her once, with Stettin's permission. It was large and gloomily massive, shrinking from the touch of life to lie sleeping within its ringing memories, answering the footsteps with a hollow boom or a savage clatter. She hadn't liked it.
过去这两周，侯密尔几乎是住在骡殿里面。在史铁亭的许可下，他曾经带她去过一次。骡殿里面宽敞、幽暗而气氛肃穆，一切都毫无生气，仿佛沉睡在昔日的光辉中。偌大的建筑物，只有脚步声激起空洞而萧瑟的回音。总之，她不喜欢那里。
Better the great, gay highways of the capital city; the theaters and spectacles of a world essentially poorer than the Foundation, yet spending more of its wealth on display.
相较之下，还是首都宽阔热闹的街道、美轮美奂的剧院对她更具吸引力。这个世界虽然不如基地那般富有，却舍得花更多的钱妆点门面。
Homir would return in the evening, awed……
侯密尔通常傍晚才回来，带着一种敬畏的心情……
"It's a dream-world for me," he would whisper. "If I could only chip the palace down stone by stone, layer by layer of the aluminum sponge. If I could carry it back to Terminus?What a museum it would make."
“我做梦也想不到有那种地方。假如我能把殿中的石头一块一块敲掉，把发泡铝一层一层拆下。假如我能把它们运回端点星……那会是一座什么样的博物馆。”他常常发出如此的呓语。
He seemed to have lost that early reluctance. He was eager, instead; glowing. Arcadia knew that by the one sure sign; he practically never stuttered throughout that period.
他早先的迟疑似乎完全消失无踪，现在的他既急切又狂热。这点艾嘉蒂娅绝对可以肯定，因为最近这些日子，他一点也不结巴了。
One time, he said, "There are abstracts of the records of General Pritcher?
有一天，他对艾嘉蒂娅说：“我找到了普利吉将军记录的摘要。”
"I know him. He was the Foundation renegade, who combed the Galaxy for the Second Foundation, wasn't he?"
“我知道他。他是基地的叛徒，曾经为了寻找第二基地翻遍了银河，对不对？”
"Not exactly a renegade, Arkady. The Mule had Converted him."
“艾卡蒂，严格说来他并非叛徒。是骡令他‘回转’的。”
"Oh, it's the same thing."
“喔，那还不是一样。”
"Galaxy, that combing you speak of was a hopeless task. The original records of the Seldon Convention that established both Foundations five hundred years ago, make only one reference to the Second Foundation. They say if's located 'at the other end of the Galaxy at Star's End.' That's all the Mule and Pritcher had to go on. They had no method of recognizing the Second Foundation even if they found it. What madness!
“唉，你所谓的翻遍了银河，那是一项毫无希望的任务。四百年前，为了筹设两个基地而召开的谢顿大会，它的原始记录只有一处提到第二基地。说它设立在‘银河的另一端，群星的尽头处’。那就是骡和普利吉唯一的线索。当年他们即使找到第二基地，也根本无法确认。真是疯狂的行动！
"They have records"……he was speaking to himself, but Arcadia listened eagerly……"which must cover nearly a thousand worlds, yet the number of worlds available for study must have been closer to a million. And we are no better off……"
“他们拥有的记录，”他是在自言自语，不过艾嘉蒂娅听得很用心，“一定涵盖了将近一千个世界；但他们需要探索的世界，却势必接近一百万个。我们的情况也好不到哪里去……”
Arcadia broke in anxiously, "Shhh-h" in a tight hiss.
“嘘……”艾嘉蒂娅急忙阻止他再说下去。
Homir froze, and slowly recovered. "Let's not talk," he mumbled.
侯密尔愣住了，好一阵子才恢复正常。“咱们别说了。”他咕哝道。
And now Homir was with Lord Stettin and Arcadia waited outside alone and felt the blood squeezing out of her heart for no reason at all. That was more frightening than anything else. That there seemed no reason.
现在，侯密尔正在觐见史铁亭统领，而艾嘉蒂娅孤零零地等在外面。不知道为什么，她觉得心脏里的血液全被挤了出来。这种莫名其妙的感觉，其实是最恐怖不过的。
On the other side of the door, Homir, too, was living in a sea of gelatin. He was fighting, with furious intensity, to keep from stuttering and, of course, could scarcely speak two consecutive words clearly as a result.
而在隔壁房间，侯密尔也像是全身陷入粘胶之中。他拼命努力想把话说清楚，不过当然徒劳无功；他的口吃再度复发，而且变得比以前更严重。
Lord Stettin was in full uniform, six-feet-six, large-jawed, and hard-mouthed. His balled, arrogant fists kept a powerful time to his sentences.
史铁亭统领全副戎装，他身高六英尺六英寸，下颚宽大，嘴角轮廓分明。他始终双手握拳，还不时用力挥舞，以增强说话的气势。
"Well, you have had two weeks, and you come to me with tales of nothing. Come, sir, tell me the worst. Is my Navy to be cut to ribbons? Am I to fight the ghosts of the Second Foundation as well as the men of the First?"
“好啊，你忙了两个星期，现在却向我交白卷。孟恩先生，没关系，告诉我最坏的情况吧。是不是我的舰队会全军覆没？是不是除了第一基地的人员，我还得和第二基地的幽灵作战？”
"I……I repeat, my lord, I am no p……pre……predictor. I……I am at a complete……loss."
“我、我再强调一次，大统领，我不是预、预言、预言家。我、我完全搞、搞糊涂了。”
"Or do you wish to go back to warn your countrymen? To deep Space with your play-acting. I want the truth or I抣l have it out of you along with half your guts."
“你是不是想回去警告你的同胞？你少在我面前玩这种把戏。我要你说实话，否则我就自己动手，把实话连同你的内脏一块挖出来。”
"I'm t……telling only the truth, and I'll have you re……remember, my l……lord, that I am a citizen of the Foundation. Y……you cannot touch me without harvesting m……mmmmmmmore than you count on."
“我说、说的都是实话，大、大统领，我还想提、提醒您，我是基地的公民。您、您不可以碰我，不然会吃、吃、吃不了兜着走。”
The Lord of Kalgan laughed uproariously. "A threat to frighten children. A horror with which to beat back an idiot. Come, Mr. Munn, I have been patient with you. I have listened to you for twenty minutes while you detailed wearisome nonsense to me which must have cost you sleepless nights to compose. It was wasted effort. I know you are here not merely to rake through the Mule's dead ashes and to warm over the cinders you findyou come here for more than you have admitted. Is that not true?"
卡尔根统领纵声狂笑。“这种话只能吓唬小孩子，这种威胁只能让白痴却步。得了吧，孟恩先生，我对你已经很有耐心。我花了二十分钟听你满口胡说八道，而你一定好几个晚上没睡觉，才能编出这种无聊的故事。你这样做是白费力气。我知道你来这里，绝不只是捡拾骡的骨灰而已……你另有不可告人的目的。难道不是吗？”
Homir Munn could no more have quenched the burning horror that grew in his eyes than, at that moment, he could have breathed. Lord Stettin saw that, and clapped the Foundation man upon his shoulder so that he and the chair he sat on reeled under the impact.
这时，侯密尔·孟恩再也无法浇熄眼中的恐惧炽焰，甚至连呼吸都有困难。史铁亭统领将一切看在眼里，还故意伸手拍拍这个基地人的肩膀，孟恩果然连人带椅子一起摇晃。
"Good. Now let us be frank. You are investigating the Seldon Plan. You know that it no longer holds. You know, perhaps, that I am the inevitable winner now; I and my heirs. Well, man, what matters it who established the Second Empire, so long as it is established. History plays no favorites, eh? Are you afraid to tell me? You see that I know your mission."
“很好，现在让我们开诚布公。你一直在研究谢顿计划，而你知道它已经失效。或许你还知道，如今我成了必然的赢家，我和我的继承人将君临天下。唉，老弟，只要能够建立第二帝国，由谁来建立又有什么关系？历史是铁面无私的，对不对？你不敢告诉我吗？其实我已经知道你的任务了。”
Munn said thickly, "What is it y……you w……want?"
孟恩以嘶哑的声音说：“您、您到底想要、要什么？”
"Your presence. I would not wish the Plan spoiled through overconfidence. You understand more of these things than I do; you can detect small flaws that I might miss. Come, you will be rewarded in the end; you will have your fair glut of the loot. What can you expect at the Foundation? To turn the tide of a perhaps inevitable defeat? To lengthen the war? Or is it merely a patriotic desire to die for your country?"
“我要你留下来。我不希望由于过度自信，破坏了这个新的计划。关于这些事，你懂的比我多，万一我忽略了任何小问题，你一定能察觉。来吧，事成之后我会好好犒赏你；你会获得数不清的战利品。你能指望基地做些什么呢？扭转几乎已成定局的颓势吗？让战事延长吗？或者你只是基于爱国心，一心想要为国捐躯？”
"I……I……"He finally spluttered into silence. Not a word would come.
“我、我……”除此之外，他半个字也没有吐出来，最后只好闭上嘴巴。
"You will stay," said the Lord of Kalgan, confidently. "You have no choice. Wait……"an almost forgotten afterthought, "I have information to the effect that your niece is of the family of Bayta Darell."
“你给我留下来。”卡尔根统领志得意满地说，“你没有选择的余地。等一等……”他突然想到另一件事，“我获得了一项情报，说你的侄女是贝泰·达瑞尔的后人。”
Homir uttered a startled: "Yes." He could not trust himself at this point to be capable of weaving anything but cold truth.
侯密尔吃了一惊，脱口而出：“没错。”到了这个关头，除了坦承事实，他不相信自己有能力编织任何谎言。
"It is a family of note on the Foundation?"
“他们这个家族在基地很有名望？”
Homir nodded, "To whom they would certainly b……brook no harm."
侯密尔点了点头。“基地绝对不会坐、坐视他们受到伤害。”
"Harm! Don't be a fool, man; I am meditating the reverse. How old is she?"
“伤害！老弟，别傻了，我打的主意正好相反。她多大了？”
"Fourteen."
“十四岁。”
"Sol Well, not even the Second Foundation, or Hari Seldon, himself, could stop time from passing or girls from becoming women."
“啊！没关系，即使是第二基地，或者哈里·谢顿本人，也都无法阻止时光流逝，不准小女孩长大成人。”
With that, he turned on his heel and strode to a draped door which he threw open violently.
他突然一转身，奔向一道侧门，将门帘用力一扯。
He thundered, "What in Space have you dragged your shivering carcass here for?"
然后他怒吼道：“太空啊，你死到这里来做什么？”
The Lady Callia blinked at him, and said in a small voice, "I didn't know anyone was with you."
嘉莉贵妇对他眨着眼睛，细声答道：“我不知道还有别人。”
"Well, there is. I'll speak to you later of this, but now I want to see your back, and quickly."
“哼，的确还有别人。我等一下再和你算账，现在我只想看到你的背影，赶快向后转。”
Her footsteps were a fading scurry in the corridor.
她立刻奔向走廊，细碎的脚步声渐行渐远。
Stettin returned, "She is a remnant of an interlude that has lasted too long. It will end soon. Fourteen, you say?"
史铁亭又走回来。“她是我生命中的一个小插曲，已经拖得太久，很快就会结束了。你刚才说，她才十四岁？”
Homir stared at him with a brand-new horror!
侯密尔瞪着他，心底冒出一种崭新的恐惧！
Arcadia started at the noiseless opening of a door……jumping at the jangling sliver of movement it made in the comer of her eye. The finger that crooked frantically at her met no response for long moments, and then, as if in response to the cautions enforced by the very sight of that white, trembling figure, she tiptoed her way across the floor.
此时，艾嘉蒂娅则瞪着一扇悄悄打开的门……她的眼角瞥见一个细碎的动作，令她大吃一惊。原来是门后伸出一根手指头，向她一屈一伸比划着，好像急着把她叫出去，她却久久没有反应。后来，或许是她看清了那个苍白、颤抖、焦急的身形，这才蹑手蹑脚走向门口。
Their footsteps were a taut whisper in the corridor. It was the Lady Callia, of course, who held her hand so tightly that it hurt, and for some reason, she did not mind following her. Of the Lady Callia, at least, she was not afraid.
然后，两人便慌慌张张沿着长廊走下去。带走艾嘉蒂娅的当然是嘉莉贵妇，她现在正紧紧抓着女孩的手。艾嘉蒂娅虽然被她抓疼了，不过仍然安心跟着她走。至少，她对嘉莉贵妇并没有恐惧感。
Now, why was that?
可是，这又是为什么呢？
They were in a boudoir now, all pink fluff and spun sugar. Lady Callia stood with her back against the door.
她们来到贵妇的闺房，整个房间都是粉红色系列，看来像是一家糖果店。嘉莉贵妇站在门口，用背抵住房门。
She said, "This was our private way to me……to my room, you know, from his office. His, you know." And she pointed with a thumb, as though even the thought of him were grinding her soul to death with fear.
她说：“你知道吗，这是从他的办公室，到我……我的房间的一条专用走道。他，你知道是谁吧。”她伸出拇指向背后指了指，仿佛即使只是想到他，都会令她吓得半死。
"It's so lucky……it's so lucky……" Her pupils had blackened out the blue with their size.
“真是侥幸……真是侥幸……”她的瞳孔突然放大，湛蓝眼珠的中央成了黑色。
"Can you tell me……"began Arcadia timidly.
“您能不能告诉我……”艾嘉蒂娅畏畏缩缩地说。
And Callia was in frantic motion. "No, child, no. There is no time. Take off your clothes. Please. Please. I'll get you more, and they won't recognize you."
嘉莉却像是急疯了一样。“不，孩子，没有时间了。把你的衣服脱下来。拜托，求求你。我帮你再找几件衣服，这样他们就认不出你。”
She was in the closet, throwing useless bits of flummery in reckless heaps upon the ground, looking madly for something a girl could wear without becoming a living invitation to dalliance.
她钻进衣橱，把好些乱七八糟的东西丢出来，地板上立刻堆起一座座小山。她急着找一套适合艾嘉蒂娅年龄的衣服，以免她一出去就受到登徒子包围。
"Here, this will do. It will have to. Do you have money? Here, take it all……and this." She was stripping her ears and fingers. "Just go home……go home to your Foundation."
“找到了，这件应该行，不行也得行。你有没有钱？来，拿着这个，还有这个。”她把耳环与戒指都摘下来，“马上回家去……回到基地去。”
"But Homir……my uncle." She protested vainly through the muffling folds of the sweet-smelling and luxurious spun-metal being forced over heeeeead.
“可是侯密尔……我叔叔……”芬芳、名贵、混纺着金属的衣裳向她当头罩下，她的声音从衣料中透出来，显得有气无力。
"He won't leave. Poochie will hold him forever, but you mustn't stay. Oh, dear, don't you understand?"
“他走不了。卜吉永远不会放他走，可是你一定不能留下来。喔，亲爱的孩子，你难道不懂吗？”
"No." Arcadia forced a standstill, "I don't understand."
“不懂。”艾嘉蒂娅硬是不肯挪动脚步，“我真的不懂。”
Lady Callia squeezed her hands tightly together. "You must go back to warn your people there will be war. Isn't that clear?" Absolute terror seemed paradoxically to have lent a lucidity to her thoughts and words that was entirely out of character. "Now come!"
嘉莉贵妇双手使劲绞在一起。“你一定要回去警告你的同胞，战争马上就会爆发。听清楚了吗？”说来也真奇怪，极度的惊恐竟然使她的思路变得特别清晰，以致这几句话完全不像她的口气。“现在赶快走吧。”
Out another way! Past officials who stared after them, but saw no reason to stop one whom only the Lord of Kalgan could stop with impunity. Guards clicked heels and presented arms when they went through doors.
她们从另一条路溜走！一路上遇到好些官员，他们都眼睁睁看着她俩离去，想不到有任何理由应该阻拦……除了卡尔根统领，再也没有人有资格阻拦嘉莉贵妇。她们通过一道又一道的门，卫兵也一律立正举枪敬礼。
Arcadia breathed only on occasion through the years the trip seemed to take……yet from the first crooking of the white finger to the time she stood at the outer gate, with people and noise and traffic in the distance was only twenty-five minutes.
这段路似乎走了好几年，一路上艾嘉蒂娅连大气都不敢喘。事实上，从她看到那根屈伸的苍白手指，到她们来到官邸大门口，面对着人群、噪音与拥挤的交通，前后只有二十五分钟而已。
She looked back, with a sudden frightened pity. "I……I……don't know why you're doing this, my lady, but thanks?What's going to happen to Uncle Homir?"
她向后望了望，顿时心中交杂着忧惧与同情。“夫人，我……我……不知道您为什么要这样做，只能说我很感激……侯密尔叔叔又会有什么遭遇呢？”
"I don't know," wailed the other. "Can't you leave? Go straight to the spaceport. Don't wait. He may be looking for you this very minute."
“我不晓得。”嘉莉发出一声感叹，“你自己不能走吗？直接到太空航站去，千万别犹豫。他可能已经在到处找你。”
And still Arcadia lingered. She would be leaving Homir; and, belatedly, now that she felt the free air about her, she was suspicious. "But what do you care if he does?"
艾嘉蒂娅依然徘徊不去。她这一走，就必须抛下侯密尔；直到这时，呼吸到自由的空气，她才终于起了疑心。“即使他这么做，您又何必管呢？”
Lady Callia bit her lower lip and muttered, "I can't explain to a little girl like you. It would be improper. Well, you'll be growing up and I……I met Poochie when I was sixteen. I can't have you about, you know." There was a half-ashamed hostility in her eyes.
嘉莉贵妇咬了咬下唇，喃喃地说：“我不能对一个像你这样的小女孩解释，有些话我说不出口。反正，你总会长大的，而我……我遇到卜吉的时候才十六岁。你该知道，我不能让你留下。”她眼中露出掺杂着羞愧的妒意。
The implications froze Arcadia. She whispered: "What will he do to you when he finds out?"
这些暗示令艾嘉蒂娅吓呆了，她低声问道：“万一他发现了，他会怎样对付您？”
And she whimpered back: "I don't know," and threw her arm to her head as she left at a half-run, back along the wide way to the mansion of the Lord of Kalgan.
嘉莉也压低声音回答：“我不晓得。”说完，她用手按着头，沿着通往统领官邸的大道小跑步离去。
But for one eternal second, Arcadia still did not move, for in that last moment before Lady Callia left, Arcadia had seen something. Those frightened, frantic eyes had momentarily……flashingly……lit up with a cold amusement.
但一时之间，艾嘉蒂娅依旧站在原地，那一秒钟仿佛永远过不完。因为在嘉莉贵妇离去之前那一瞬间，艾嘉蒂娅发现了一点异状。那双充满惊慌与恐惧的大眼睛，竟然射出一丝一闪即逝的喜悦光芒。
A vast, inhuman amusement.
那是一种无情的、冷酷的狂喜。
It was much to see in such a quick flicker of a pair of eyes, but Arcadia had no doubt of what she saw.
那双眼睛在刹那间透露出太多讯息，但艾嘉蒂娅对自己的发现毫无怀疑。
She was running now……running wildly……searching madly for an unoccupied public booth at which one could press a button for public conveyance.
她开始向前跑……疯狂地奔跑……想要寻找一间空的候车亭，以便招来一辆计程飞车。
She was not running from Lord Stettin; not from him or from all the human hounds he could place at her heels……not from all his twenty-seven worlds rolled into a single gigantic phenomenon, hallooing at her shadow.
她并不是在躲避史铁亭统领，也不是在逃避他手下的鹰犬……甚至并非想要逃离他所统治的二十七个世界，虽然那些世界都已经布下天罗地网。
She was running from a single, frail woman who had helped her escape. From a creature who had loaded her with money and jewels; who had risked her own life to save her. From an entity she knew, certainly and finally, to be a woman of the Second Foundation.
她逃避的对象，其实是那名帮助自己脱逃的弱女子。没错，“弱女子”给了她许多现金与珠宝，并且冒着生命危险拯救她。可是艾嘉蒂娅知道……绝对可以确定……她是第二基地的人。
An air-taxi came to a soft clicking halt in the cradle. The wind of its coming brushed against Arcadia's face and stirred at the hair beneath the softly-furred hood Callia had given her.
一辆计程飞车迅速来到，在候车亭外的起落架上缓缓停妥。飞车带来的一阵风拂到艾嘉蒂娅脸上，虽然她戴着嘉莉送她的毛皮头巾，头发还是被吹乱了。
"Where'll it be, lady?"
“小姐，去哪儿？”
She fought desperately to low-pitch her voice to make it not that of a child. "How many spaceports in the city?"
她拼命降低自己的声调，希望能掩饰稚嫩的童音。“本市有几个太空航站？”
"Two. Which one ya want?"
“两个。去哪个？”
"Which is closer?"
“哪一个最近？”
He stared at her: "Kalgan Central, lady."
司机瞪着她说：“小姐，卡尔根中央站。”
"The other one, please. I抳e got the money." She had a twenty-Kalganid note in her hand. The denomination of the note made little difference to her, but the taxi-man grinned appreciatively.
“请带我去另外那一个航站。别担心，我有钱。”她手中抓着一张面额二十元的卡尔根币。她对这个数目没有什么概念，司机则满意地咧嘴一笑。
"Anything ya say, lady. Sky-line cabs take ya anywhere."
“小姐，去哪儿都成。‘天路’计程飞车能带你去任何地方。”
She cooled her cheek against the slightly musty upholstery. The lights of the city moved leisurely below her.
她将脸颊贴在冰冷而稍带霉味的椅套上，盯着下方缓缓退却的万家灯火。
What should she do? What should she do?
她该怎么办？该、怎、么、办？
It was in that moment that she knew she was a stupid, stupid little girl, away from her father, and frightened. Her eyes were full of tears, and deep down in her throat, there was a small, soundless cry that hurt her insides.
直到那一刻，她才了解自己是个愚蠢……愚蠢至极的小女孩，孤苦无依，充满恐惧。她眼中噙着泪水，喉咙深处发出无声的抽噎，牵动了五脏六腑。
She wasn't afraid that Lord Stettin would catch her. Lady Callia would see to that. Lady Callia! Old, fat, stupid, but she held on to her lord, somehow. Oh, it was clear enough, now. Everything was clear.
她并不怕被史铁亭统领逮捕。嘉莉贵妇不会让这种事发生。嘉莉贵妇！她又老、又肥、又笨，竟然有办法抓住统领的心。喔，现在真相大白了，一切都真相大白了。
That tea with Callia at which she had been so smart. Clever little Arcadia! Something inside Arcadia choked and hated itself. That tea had been maneuvered, and then Stettin had probably been maneuvered so that Homir was allowed to inspect the Palace after all. She, the foolish Callia, has wanted it so, and arranged to have smart little Arcadia supply a foolproof excuse, one which would arouse no suspicions in the minds of the victims, and yet involve a minimum of interference on her part.
那次嘉莉请她喝茶，她自以为曾有精彩的演出。精明的小艾嘉蒂娅！她的内心感到窒息，感到憎恨自己。嘉莉接见她是早有预谋，也许史铁亭也中了她的计，才会在最后关头批准侯密尔进入骡殿。她，大智若愚的嘉莉，早已计划好这一切，可是又另有安排，让聪明的小艾嘉蒂娅提出一个无懈可击的理由。这个理由不会引起任何当事人的怀疑，却能将她自己的介入程度减到最小。
Then why was she free? Homir was a prisoner, of course……
可是为什么自己重获自由呢？侯密尔当然已经成了阶下囚……
Unless……
除非……
Unless she went back to the Foundation as a decoy……a decoy to lead others into the hands of……of them.
除非，她一回到基地就会成为诱饵……引诱其他人自投罗网……
So she couldn't return to the Foundation……
所以她不能回基地去……
"Spaceport, lady." The air-taxi had come to a halt. Strange! She hadn't even noticed.
“小姐，太空航站。”计程飞车早已停妥。奇怪！她竟然根本没有注意到。
What a dream-world it was.
简直像一场迷离的梦境。
"Thanks," she pushed the bill at him without seeing anything and was stumbling out the door, then running across the springy pavement.
“谢谢你。”她看也没看，就把那张钞票塞给司机，然后跌跌撞撞走出车门，奔越过富有弹性的车道。
Lights. Unconcerned men and women. Large gleaming bulletin boards, with the moving figures that followed every single spaceship that arrived and departed.
眼前是一片灯海，以及来来往往的男女老幼。头上是巨大而闪烁的布告板，上面的指针随着太空船的起降而移动。
Where was she going? She didn't care. She only knew that she wasn't going to the Foundation! Anywhere else at all would suit.
她要到哪里去？她根本不在乎。她只知道自己不能回到基地！除此之外，任何地方都可以。
Oh, thank Seldon, for that forgetful moment……that last split-second when Callia wearied of her act because she had to do only with a child and had let her amusement spring through.
喔，多亏谢顿保佑，才出现那意外的一刻……最后的几分之一秒，嘉莉厌倦了继续表演下去，因为对方只是个小孩子，她忍不住提早露出喜色。
And then something else occurred to Arcadia, something that had been stirring and moving at the base of her brain ever since the flight began……something that forever killed the fourteen in her.
此时艾嘉蒂娅突然冒出一个念头……自从开始逃亡，这个念头就一直在她的意识底层窜动……这个念头，使她从此告别天真无邪的童年。
And she knew that she must escape.
她知道自己绝不能被抓到。
That above all. Though they located every conspirator on the Foundation; though they caught her own father; she could not dared not, risk a warning. She could not risk her own life……not in the slightest……for the entire realm of Terminus. She was the most important person in the Galaxy. She was the only important person in the Galaxy.
这是最要紧的一件事。虽然他们找出了基地上每一名同谋；虽然他们盯上了她的父亲，她却不能……也不敢……冒险发出任何警告。即使为了整个端点星，她也不能拿自己的生命冒险，一点点都不可以。她现在是银河中最重要的人物，不，她现在是银河中唯一重要的人物。
She knew that even as she stood before the ticket-machine and wondered where to go.
当她站在售票机前，不知何去何从的时候，她已经明白了这一点。
Because in all the Galaxy, she and she alone, except for they, themselves, knew the location of the Second Foundation.
因为放眼整个银河，除了“他们”那些人，只有她一个人知道第二基地的位置。