CHAPTER NINE HYPERSPACE

第9章 超空间

TREVIZE SAID, "ARE YOU READY, JANOV?"

崔维兹说：“你准备好了吗，詹诺夫？”

Pelorat looked up from the book he was viewing and said, "You mean, for the jump, old fellow?"

正在读书的裴洛拉特抬起头来。“你是指跃迁吗，老伙伴？”

"For the hyperspatial jump. Yes."

“对，超空间跃迁。”

Pelorat swallowed. "Now, you're sure that it will be in no way uncomfortable. I know it is a silly thing to fear, but the thought of having myself reduced to incorporeal tachyons, which no one has ever seen or detected……"

裴洛拉特咽了一下口水。“这个，你确定不会有任何不舒服的感觉？我知道害怕是件蠢事，可是每当想到，自己将被转换成无质无形的‘迅子’，谁也没有见过或侦测过那东西……”

"Come, Janov, it's a perfected thing. Upon my honor! The jump has been in use for twenty-two thousand years, as you explained, and I've never beard of a single fatality in hyperspace. We might come out of hyperspace in an uncomfortable place, but then the accident would happen in space-not while we are composed of tachyons."

“得了吧，詹诺夫，这是完全成熟的科技，我以名誉担保！你曾经说过，跃迁的应用已经有两万两千年的历史，而我从未听说在超空间里出过人命。当我们脱离超空间时，也许会出现在不妙的地方，但意外仍是发生在普通空间，而不是我们化作迅子的阶段。”

"Small consolation, it seems to me."

“这似乎不算什么安慰。”

"We won't come out in error, either. To tell you the truth, I was thinking of carrying it through without telling you, so that you would never know it had happened. On the whole, though, I felt it would be better if you experienced it consciously, saw that it was no problem of any kind, and could forget it totally henceforward."

“我们脱离时也不会出任何差错。老实告诉你，我本来打算瞒着你进行，这样你就不会知道已经做过跃迁。不过为了以后着想，我认为应该让你亲身体会一下，让你明白并不会有任何问题，今后你就再也不会担心了。”

"Well " said Pelorat dubiously. "I suppose you're right, but honestly I'm in no hurry."

“这……”裴洛拉特迟疑道，“我想你说得对，不过说老实话，我并不着急。”

"I assure you……"

“我向你保证……”

"No no, old fellow, I accept your assurances unequivocally. It's just that - Did you ever read Sanertestil Matt?"

“不，不，老伙伴，我衷心接受你的保证。只不过……你读过《圣特瑞斯提·玛特》这本书吗？”

"Of course. I'm not illiterate."

“当然读过，我又不是文盲。”

"Certainly. Certainly. I should not have asked. Do you remember it?"

“没错，没错，我不该多此一问。你记得它的内容吗？”

"Neither am I an amnesiac."

“我也没有健忘症。”

"I seem to have a talent for offending. All I mean is that I keep thinking of the scenes where Santerestil and his friend, Ban, have gotten away from Planet 17 and are lost in space. I think of those perfectly hypnotic scenes among the stars, lazily moving along in deep silence, in changelessness, in- Never believed it, you know. I loved it and I was moved by it, but I never really believed it. But now-after I got used to just the notion of being in space, I'm experiencing it and-it's silly, I know-but I don't want to give it up. It's as though I'm Santerestil……"

“我似乎有得罪人的天分。我要说的是，我一直在想其中一个片段：圣特瑞斯提和他的朋友班恩，从十七号行星出发，然后迷失在太空里。我想到那些具有催眠魔力的场景，身处于群星之间，在深邃幽静、一成不变的太空中缓缓运动……你知道吗，我从不相信那些描述。我很喜欢那个故事，也深深受到感动，但我从来没有当真。可是现在，当我习惯了置身太空这个事实之后，我真的体会到那种感觉——我也知道，这是个傻念头——可是我不想放弃。好像我就是圣特瑞斯提……”

"And I'm Ban," said Trevize with just an edge of impatience.

“而我就是班恩。”崔维兹话中带着一丝不耐烦。

"In a way. The small scattering of dim stars out there are motionless, except our sun, of course, which must be shrinking but which we don't see. The Galaxy retains its dim majesty, unchanging. Space is silent and I have no distractions……"

“可以这么说。外面那些稀落迷蒙的星辰，全部静止不动，当然我们的太阳例外，虽然我们没看见，但它一定不断缩小。银河也维持着朦胧的雄伟壮丽，仿佛亘古不变。寂静的太空令我没有任何纷扰……”

"Except me."

“除了我。”

"Except you. -But then, Golan, dear chap, talking to you about Earth and trying to teach you a bit of prehistory has its pleasures, too. I don't want that to come to an end, either."

“除了你。不过，葛兰，亲爱的兄弟，跟你谈谈地球，试着教你一点史前史，其中自有乐趣。所以，我不希望一切这么快结束。”

"It won't. Not immediately, at any rate. You don't suppose we'll take the jump and come through on the surface of a planet, do you? We'll still be in space and the jump will have taken no measurable time at ail. It may well be a week before we make surface of any kind, so do relax."

“不会的，反正不会立刻结束。你总不至于认为，我们经过一次跃迁，就功德圆满地出现在某颗行星表面吧？跃迁几乎会在瞬间完成，而我们依旧会在太空中。至少要再过一个星期，我们才有可能着陆，所以请你放心吧。”

"By surface, you surely don't mean Gaia. We may be nowhere near Gaia when we come out of the jump."

“你所谓的着陆，当然不是指盖娅。我们结束跃迁后，不太可能就出现在盖娅附近。”

"I know that, Janov, but we'll be in the right sector, if your information is correct. If it isn't-well……"

“这点我知道，詹诺夫，但我们会抵达正确的星区，只要你的资料正确。万一资料有误，那就……”

Pelorat shook his head glumly. "How will being in the right sector help if we don't know Gaia's co-ordinates?"

裴洛拉特板着脸猛摇头。“如果我们不知道盖娅的坐标，即使抵达正确的星区，又有什么帮助呢？”

Trevize said, "Janov, suppose you were on Terminus, heading for the town of Argyropol, and you didn't know where that town was except that it was somewhere on the isthmus. Once you were on the isthmus, what would you do?"

崔维兹答道：“詹诺夫，假设你在端点星上，想要前往阿基若普镇，可是你只知道那个小镇在地峡中。当你抵达地峡之后，你会怎么办？”

Pelorat waited cautiously, as though feeling there must be a terribly sophisticated answer expected of him. Finally giving up, he said, "I suppose I'd ask somebody."

裴洛拉特谨慎地思考了半天，仿佛认为正确答案必定微妙无比。最后他却不得不放弃，回答说：“我想我会找个人问问。”

"Exactly! What else is there to do? -Now, are you ready?"

“完全正确！除此之外还有什么办法？现在，你准备好了吗？”

"You mean, now?" Pelorat scrambled to his feet, his pleasantly unemotional face coming as near as it might to a look of concern. "What am I supposed to do? Sit? Stand? What?"

“你是说，现在？”裴洛拉特连忙站起来，原本欠缺表情的脸孔，此时现出几许忧虑的神情。“我该怎么做？坐着？站着？还是做些什么？”

"Time and Space, Pelorat, you don't do anything. Just come with me to my room so I can use the computer, then sit or stand or turn cartwheels-whatever will make you most comfortable. My suggestion is that you sit before the viewscreen and watch it. It's sure to be interesting. Come!"

“时空啊，裴洛拉特，你什么也不必做，只要跟我到我的舱房去，好让我能操作电脑。然后你爱坐、爱站、爱翻筋斗都行，反正怎么舒服怎么做。我的建议是，你最好坐到显像屏幕前，仔细盯着看，一定会很有趣。来吧！”

They stepped along the short corridor to Trevize's room and he seated himself at the computer. "Would you like to do this, Janov?" he asked suddenly. "I'll give you the figures and all you do is think them. The computer will do the rest."

他们沿着短廊走到崔维兹的舱房，崔维兹立刻坐到电脑前面。“要不要由你来操作，詹诺夫？”他突然问道，“我把数据告诉你，你只需要默想一遍，电脑就会处理其他的工作。”

Pelorat said, "No thank you. The computer doesn't work well with me, somehow. I know you say I just need practice, but I don't believe that. There's something about your mind, Golan……"

裴洛拉特说：“敬谢不敏，这台电脑似乎跟我不怎么投缘。我知道你会说只需要多加练习，但是我可不相信。你的心灵一定有什么过人之处，葛兰……”

"Don't be foolish."

“别傻了。”

"No no. That computer just seems to fit you. You and it seem to be a single organism when you're hooked up. When I'm hooked up, there are two objects involved-Janov Pelorat and a computer. It's just not the same."

“不，真的。电脑好像只跟你合得来，当你搭上线之后，你和电脑好像融为一体。可是我搭上的时候，却还是两个独立的个体——一个詹诺夫·裴洛拉特和一台电脑，反正不是那么回事。”

"Ridiculous," said Trevize, but he was vaguely pleased at the thought and stroked the hand-rests of the computer with loving fingertips.

“胡说。”崔维兹虽然这么讲，心里却有一种模糊的成就感。他轻抚着电脑感应板，好像抚摸一件心爱的玩具。

"So I'd rather watch," said Pelorat. "I mean, I'd rather it didn't happen at all, but as long as it will, I'd rather watch." He fixed . his eyes anxiously on the viewscreen and on the foggy Galaxy with the thin powdering of dim stars in the foreground. "Let me know when it's about to happen." Slowly he backed against the wall and braced himself.

“我宁可袖手旁观。”裴洛拉特说，“我的意思是，这一切能免则免，但既然势在必行，我就宁可袖手旁观。”他显得有些焦虑，两眼紧盯着显像屏幕。画面的主体是朦胧的银河，前景则是薄粉状的幽暗星辰。“快开始的时候告诉我一声。”他慢慢退到舱壁旁，绷紧神经做好准备。

Trevize smiled. He placed his hands on the rests and felt the mental union. It came more easily day by day, and more intimately, too, and however he might scoff at what Pelorat said-he actually felt it. It seemed to him he scarcely needed to think of the co-ordinates in any conscious way. It almost seemed the computer knew what he wanted, without the conscious process of "telling." It lifted the information out of his brain for itself.

崔维兹微微一笑，将双手放到感应板上，随即感到精神与电脑合而为一。这种接触一天比一天容易，感受也日益亲切。不论他对裴洛拉特的说法如何嗤之以鼻，他的确有这种感觉。他发现几乎不再需要刻意想那些坐标；电脑好像知道他要做些什么，他根本不必驱动意识“告诉”电脑，电脑就会自动从他脑中“读取”那些资料。

But Trevize "told" it and then asked for a two-minute interval before the jump.

但崔维兹仍将跃迁指令“告诉”电脑一遍，然后要它在两分钟后开始进行。

"All right, Janov. We have two minutes: 120 - 115 - 110 Just watch the viewscreen."

“好啦，詹诺夫。我们还有两分钟：120……115……110……注意看显像屏幕。”

Pelorat did, with a slight tightness about the corners of his mouth and with a holding of his breath.

裴洛拉特依言行事，他的嘴角绷紧了些，还不知不觉屏住呼吸。

Trevize said softly, "15 - 10 - 5 - 4 - 3 - Z - 1 - o "

崔维兹轻声倒数：“15……10……5、4、3、2、1、0。”

With no perceptible motion, no perceptible sensation, the view on the screen changed. There was a distinct thickening of the starfield and the Galaxy vanished.

他们没有察觉丝毫的运动，也没有丝毫其他感觉，显像屏幕的画面却陡然起了变化。星像场明显地变得稠密，银河则消失无踪。

Pelorat started and said, "Was that it?"

裴洛拉特吓了一跳，问道：“怎么回事？”

"Was what it? You flinched. But that was your fault. You felt nothing. Admit it."

“什么怎么回事？你穷紧张，但那是你自己吓自己。你根本没有任何感觉，承认吧。”

"I admit it."

“我承认。”

"Then that's it. Way back when hyperspatial travel was relatively new - according to the books, anyway-there would be a queer internal sensation and some people felt dizziness or nausea. It was perhaps psychogenic, perhaps not. In any case, with more and more experience with hyperspatiality and with better equipment, that decreased. With a computer like the one on board this vessel, any effect is well below the threshold of sensation. At least, I find it so."

“这就对了。在遥远的过去，当超空间旅行相当新颖的时候——总之是根据书上的记载——在跃迁过程中，乘客体内会出现一种古怪的感觉，有些人还会感到头晕或想吐。这也许是心理作用，但也可能不是。不管怎么说，随着超空间经验持续累积，以及设备不断改良，那种效应就逐渐降低了。借着像我们这台电脑的帮助，任何效应都会远低于感觉的阈值。至少，我自己这么认为。”

"And I do, too, I must admit. Where are we, Golan?"

“我必须承认，我也一样。现在我们在哪里，葛兰？”

"Just a step forward. In the Kalganian region. There's a long way to go yet and before we make another move, we'll have to check the accuracy of the jump."

“只不过才跨出一步，来到卡尔根星域而已，前面还有一段漫长的路程。在我们进行另一次跃迁之前，得先检查一下这次跃迁的准确性。”

"What bothers me is-where's the Galaxy?"

“我担心的是，银河到哪里去了？”

"All around us, Janov. We're weal inside it, now. If we focus the viewscreen properly, we can see the more distant parts of it as a luminous band across the sky."

“在我们四面八方，詹诺夫，如今我们已经身在其中。我们只要调整显像屏幕的焦距，就能看到银河更遥远的部分，它看来好像一条横跨天空的亮带。”

"The Milky Way!" Pelorat cried out joyfully. "Almost every world describes it in their sky, but it's something we don't see on Terminus. Show it to me, old fellow!"

“所谓的‘星桥’！”裴洛拉特兴高采烈地叫道，“几乎在每个住人世界上，都有人如此描述夜空的银河，但在端点星上就是见不到。让我看看吧，老伙伴！”

The viewscreen tilted, giving the effect of a swimming of the starfield across it, and then there was a thick, pearly luminosity nearly filling the field. The screen followed it around, as it thinned, then swelled again.

显像屏幕突然向一方倾斜，星像场随之倾泻而下，不久之后，一个发出珍珠般光芒的天体几乎占满整个画面。那个天体逐渐变得狭窄，接着再度膨胀，画面则始终锁定它。

Trevize said, "It's thicker in the direction of the center of the Galaxy. Not as thick or as bright as it might be, however, because of the dark clouds in the spiral arms. You see something like this from most inhabited worlds."

崔维兹说：“靠近银河中心的星像场较密。然而，如果旋臂中没有那些暗云，它看起来还会更稠密、更明亮。在大多数的住人世界上，都能看到类似的夜空景象。”

"And from Earth, too."

“在地球上也是一样。”

"That's no distinction. That would not be an identifying characteristic."

“没有什么特别，不能用来作为辨识地球的一种特征。”

"Of course not. But you know- You haven't studied the history of science, have you?"

“当然不能。但你可知道——你没研究过科学史吧？”

"Not really, though I've picked up some of it, naturally. Still, if you have questions to ask, don't expect me to be an expert."

“没有真正研究过，不过自然还略知一二。话说回来，如果你真想问任何问题，可别指望我是专家。”

"It's just that making this jump has put me in mind of something that has always puzzled me. It's possible to work out a description of the Universe in which hyperspatial travel is impossible and in which the speed of light traveling through a vacuum is the absolute maximum where speed is concerned."

“由于进行这次跃迁，使我又想到那个一直困扰着我的问题。我们可以建立一个宇宙模型，在这个宇宙中不可能有超空间旅行，而真空中的光速就是速度的绝对极限。”

"Certainly."

“的确如此。”

"Under those conditions, the geometry of the Universe is such that it is impossible to make the trip we have just undertaken in less time than a ray of light would make it. And if we did it at the speed of light, our experience of duration would not match that of the Universe generally. If this spot is, say, forty parsecs from Terminus, then if we had gotten here at the speed of light, we would have felt no time lapse-but on Terminus and in the entire Galaxy, about a hundred and thirty years would have passed. Now we have made a trip, not at the speed of light but at thousands of times the speed of light actually, and there has been no time advance anywhere. At least, I hope not."

“这种宇宙的几何结构，使得任何物体的速度都小于光速，也就是说，我们刚才那个位移所需要的时间，不可能比光线行进相同距离的时间更短。假如我们真是以光速运动，我们所体验到的时间，将和宇宙中一般的时间不同。比方说，假设此地距离端点星四十秒差距，那么我们若以光速飞来这里，就完全不会感到时光的流逝，但是在端点星以及银河其他各处，已经过了大约一百三十年。而我们刚才完成的跃迁，速度还不只是光速，实际上等于光速的千倍万倍，但其他各处的时间几乎没有变化，至少我希望没有。”

Trevize said, "Don't expect me to give you the mathematics of the Olanjen Hyperspatial Theory to you. All I can say is that if you had traveled at the speed of light within normal space, time would indeed have advanced at the rate of 3.26 years per parsec, as you described. The so-called relativistic Universe, which humanity has understood as far back as we can probe inter prehistory-though that's your department, I think-remains, and its laws have not been repealed. In our hyperspatial jumps, however, we do something out side the conditions under which relativity operates and the rules are different. Hyperspatially the Galaxy is a tiny object-ideally a nondimensional dot-and there are no relativistic effects at all.

崔维兹说：“别期望我能告诉你‘欧朗京超空间理论’的数学架构。我只能这么说，如果你在普通空间中以光速运动，那么每走一秒差距，外界的时间就会流逝3.26年，正如你刚才所说的。这就是所谓的‘相对论性宇宙’，人类很早就有所了解，甚至能回溯到史前史的时代——我想，那是你的学术领域——这些物理定律至今未被推翻。然而，当我们进行超空间跃迁时，并未受到那些条件的限制，也就是说狭义相对论并不适用，物理法则也因此有所不同。就超空间的观点而言，银河只是一个微小的物体——理想状况是一个零维度的点——根本不会产生任何相对论性效应。

"In fact, in the mathematical formulations of cosmology, there are two symbols for the Galaxy: Gr for the "relativistic Galaxy," where the speed of light is a maximum, and Gh for the "hyperspatial Galaxy," where speed does not really have a meaning. Hyperspatially the value of all speed is zero and we do not move with reference to space itself, speed is infinite. I can't explain things a bit more than that.

“事实上，在宇宙学的数学表述中，有两种不同的银河符号：gr代表‘相对论性银河’，其中光速是速度的极限；而gh代表‘超空间银河’，其中速度并没有真正的意义。就超空间的观点而言，所有的速度都等同于零，因此我们并未运动；而相对于普通空间，运动速度则是无限大。除了这些，我无法再作更多的解释。

"Oh, except that one of the beautiful catches in theoretical physics is to place a symbol or a value that has meaning in Gr into an equation dealing with G11-or vice versa-and leave it there for a student to deal with. The chances are enormous that the student falls into the trap and generally remains there, sweating and panting, with nothing seeming to work, till some kindly elder helps him out. I was neatly caught that way, once."

“喔，我还可以告诉你一点，在理论物理学中，有个捉弄人的精彩把戏，就是把只有在gr才有意义的符号或数值，代进处理gh的方程式中——反过来也行——然后叫学生去解出答案。学生极有可能坠入陷阱，而且通常无法察觉，因此算得汗流浃背，气喘如牛，就是算不出结果，直到哪位好心的学长一语道破，他才能脱离苦海。我就曾经着实被这样捉弄了一番。”

Pelorat considered that gravely for a while, then said in a perplexed sort of way, "But which is the true Galaxy?"

裴洛拉特严肃地考虑了一阵子，然后一头雾水地问道：“可是究竟哪个才是真正的银河？”

"Either, depending on what you're doing. If you're back on Terminus, you can use a car to cover distance on land and a ship to cover distance across the sea. Conditions are different in every way, so which is the true Terminus, the land or the sea?"

“都是，端视你的行为而定。假设你想从端点星的甲地到乙地，你可以坐车走陆路，也可以坐船走海路。不同的路途有不同的情况，那么到底哪个才是真正的端点星，陆地还是海洋？”

Pelorat nodded. "Analogies are always risky," he said, "but I'd rather accept that one than risk my sanity by thinking about hyperspace any further. I'll concentrate on what we're doing now."

裴洛拉特点了点头。“类比总是有危险的，”他说，“但我宁可接受这个类比，也不要再去钻研超空间的意义，否则会有精神错乱的危险。从现在起，我要把注意力集中在目前的工作上。”

"Look upon what we just did," said Trevize, "as our first stop toward Earth."

“我们刚才的跃迁，”崔维兹说，“可以视为前往地球的第一步。”

And, he thought to himself, toward what else, I wonder.

但他暗自想道：我怀疑，终点可能并不是地球。

2

2

"Well," said Trevize. "I've wasted a day."

“嗯，”崔维兹说，“我浪费了一天的时间。”

"Oh?" Pelorat looked up from his careful indexing. "In what way?"

“哦？”裴洛拉特正在为藏书编索引，“此话怎讲？”

Trevize spread his arms. "I didn't trust the computer. I didn't dare to, so I checked our present position with the position we had aimed at in the jump. The difference was not measurable. There was no detectable error."

崔维兹两手一摊。“我并不相信电脑，因为我不敢，所以我作了一次比对，比较我们目前的位置和跃迁的预定位置。结果差异在测量误差之下，也就是说侦测不到任何误差。”

"That's good, isn't it?"

“那太好了，不是吗？”

"It's more than good. It's unbelievable. I've never heard of such a thing. I've gone through jumps and I've directed them, in all kinds of ways and with all kinds of devices. In school, I had to work one out with a hand computer and then I sent off a hyper-relay to check results. Naturally I couldn't send a real ship, since-aside from the expense-I could easily have placed it in the middle of a star at the other end.

“不只是太好了，简直是不可思议，我这辈子还没听过这种事。我经历过许多次跃迁，也曾经用各种方法和各式设备亲自操作过。在学校的时候，我只能用掌上型电脑进行计算，然后送出一个超波中继器来检验结果。我自然无法用太空船做实验，因为除了经费不允许，我也很可能会让它在跃迁后，出现在一颗恒星的肚子里。

"I never did anything that bad, of course," Trevize went on, "but there would always be a sizable error. There's always some error, even with experts. There's got to be, since there are so many variables. Put it this way-the geometry of space is too complicated to handle and hyperspace compounds all those complications with a complexity of its own that we can't even pretend to understand. That's why we have to go by steps, instead of making one big jump from here to Sayshell. The errors would grow worse with distance."

“当然，我从来没有那么差劲，”崔维兹继续说，“可是每次都会有相当大的误差。即使由专家来操作，误差也在所难免。这是无法避免的，因为变量实在太多。这样讲吧，空间的几何已经复杂得难以处理，再加上超空间，两者的复杂度相加相乘，使我们想要装懂也做不到。这就是为什么我们必须一步一步走，而不能凭借一个大跃迁，从这里直接跳到赛协尔去。因为距离愈远，误差就会愈大。”

Pelorat said, "But you said this computer didn't make an error."

裴洛拉特道：“可是你刚才说，这台电脑没有造成任何误差。”

"It said it didn't make an error. I directed it to check our actual position with our precalculated position-`what is' against `what was asked for.' It said that the two were identical within its limits of measurement and I thought: What if it's lying?"

“是它自己说的。我命令它比对目前‘真正的位置’和当初‘预定的位置’，结果它说在测量误差范围之内，两者完全一致。于是我想：万一它在说谎呢？”

Until that moment, Pelorat had held his printer in his hand. He now put it down and looked shaken. "Are you joking? A computer can't lie. Unless you mean you thought it might be out of order."

原本一直捧着打印机的裴洛拉特，直到这时才将它放下来，并露出震惊的表情。“你在开玩笑吧？电脑是不会说谎的。除非你的意思是，你认为它可能故障了。”

"No, that's not what I thought. Space! I thought it was lying. This computer is so advanced I can't think of it as anything but human - superhuman, maybe. Human enough to have pride-and to lie, perhaps. I gave it directions-to work out a course through hyperspace to a position near Sayshell Planet, the capital of the Sayshell union. It did, and charted a course in twenty-nine steps, which is arrogance of the worst sort."

“不，我不是那个意思。太空啊！我真的认为它在撒谎。这台电脑实在太先进了，我认为它简直就是个活人，也许还是超人。它像人一样拥有自尊，因此就可能说谎。我当初给它的指令，是要它算出一条航线，经由超空间抵达赛协尔行星，也就是赛协尔联盟的首府。它照做了，画出一个包含二十九个跃迁的航线，这种高傲自大是最要不得的。”

"Why arrogance?"

“为什么说它高傲自大？”

"The error in the first jump makes the second jump that much less certain, and the added error then makes the third jump pretty wobbly and untrustworthy, and so on. How do you calculate twenty-nine steps all at once? The twenty-ninth could end up anywhere in the Galaxy, anywhere at all. So I directed it to make the first step only. Then we could check that before proceeding."

“第一次跃迁所产生的误差，会令第二次跃迁的准确性大幅下降，而两者的误差加在一起，就使得第三次的跃迁更不稳定，更不可靠。依此类推，谁能一下子算出二十九次跃迁？最后一次跃迁之后，我们可能出现在银河任何一处，任何一处都有可能。所以我命令它只做第一个跃迁，这样我们就能先来检查一下结果，然后再作打算。”

"The cautious approach," said Pelorat warmly. "I approve!"

“步步为营，”裴洛拉特赞赏道，“我完全赞成！”

"Yes, but having made the first step, might the computer not feel wounded at my having mistrusted it? Would it then be forced to salve its pride by telling me there was no error at all when I asked it? Would it find it impossible to admit a mistake, to own up to imperfection? If that were so, we might as well not have a computer."

“没错，但我只让电脑做一次跃迁，它会不会由于我不信任它，而觉得伤心呢？在我要它进行比对时，它会不会为了保住面子，被迫告诉我根本没有误差？它会不会感到无法承认错误，无法坦承自己并不完美？果真如此，我们还不如没有电脑呢。”

Pelorat's long and gentle face saddened. "What can we do in that case, Golan?"

裴洛拉特沉静的长脸罩上愁云惨雾。“这样的话，我们能做些什么呢，葛兰？”

"We can do what I did-waste a day. I checked the position of several of the surrounding stars by the most primitive possible methods: telescopic observation, photography, and manual measurement. I compared each actual position with the position expected if there had been no error. The work of it took me all day and wore me down to nothing."

“我们能做的，就是我所做的——浪费掉一天的时间。我使用几种最原始的方法，包括望远镜观测、照相测量以及人工测量，检查了附近几颗恒星的位置。我将这些测量出来的位置，跟毫无误差的理论值一一比较。这个工作花了我一整天的时间，累得我筋疲力尽。”

"Yes, but what happened?"

“好，但结果如何？”

"I found two whopping errors and checked them over and found them in my calculations. I had made the mistakes myself. I corrected the calculations, then ran them through the computer from scratch-just to see if it would come up with the same answers independently. Except that it worked them out to several more decimal places, it turned out that my figures were right and they showed that the computer had made no errors. The computer may be an arrogant son-of-the-Mule, but it's got something to be arrogant about."

“我找出两个天大的误差，但仔细检查之后，发现问题出在我的计算，是我自己犯的错误。于是我改正了那些计算，然后让电脑从头自行跑一遍，想看看它会不会自行得出一致的答案。结果它除了多算出几位小数，跟我的答案没有其他出入，这也就证明了跃迁没有任何误差。这台电脑也许是个骡娘养的自大狂，但它的确拥有自大的本钱。”

Pelorat exhaled a long breath. "Well, that's good."

裴洛拉特这才嘘了一口大气。“嗯，好极了。”

"Yes indeed! So I'm going to let it take the other twenty-eight steps."

“的确如此！所以我准备让它进行另外二十八个跃迁。”

"All at once? But……"

“一次做完？可是……”

"Not all at once. Don't worry. I haven't become a daredevil just yet. It will do them one after the other-but after each step it will check the surroundings and, if that is where it is supposed to be within tolerable limits, it can take the next one. Any time it finds the error too great-and, believe me, I didn't set the limits generously at all-it will have to stop and recalculate the remaining steps."

“不是一次做完，别担心，我还没有变得那么视死如归。电脑会让跃迁一个接一个进行，但每次的跃迁完成后，它会自动检查周围的星空，如果太空艇位于误差范围之内，它就可以进行下一个跃迁。不论哪一次，只要它发现误差过大——相信我，我设定的限度都很严苛——它就必须停下来，重新计算后面的每一步。”

"When are you going to do this?"

“你打算何时进行？”

"When? Right now. -Look, you're working on indexing your Library……"

“何时进行？说做就做。听我说，你不是正在编你的藏书索引……”

"Oh, but this is the chance to do it, Golan. I've been meaning to do it for years, but something always seemed to get in the way."

“喔，葛兰，现在可是做这件事最好的时机。过去许多年来，我一直打算做，但总是有一些事挡在前面。”

"I have no objections. You go on and do it and don't worry. Concentrate on the indexing. I'll take care of everything else."

“我绝不反对。你继续做你的，根本不用操心，专心去编你的索引，其他事情都交给我吧。”

Pelorat shook his head. "Don't be foolish. I can't relax till this is over. I'm scared stiff."

裴洛拉特摇了摇头。“别傻了，在这件事结束之前，我不可能放松心情。我吓得全身都僵硬了。”

"I shouldn't have told you, then-but I had to tell someone and you're the only one here. Let me explain frankly. There's always the chance that we'll come to rest in a perfect position in interstellar space and that that will happen to be the precise position which a speeding meteoroid is occupying, or a mini-black hole, and the ship is wrecked, and ;we're dead. Such things could-in theory - happen.

“那么，我实在不应该告诉你，但我又非得找个人讲一讲不可，而这里除了你就没有别人。让我坦白地解释一番，我们在跃迁过程中，总有可能刚巧来到星际间某一处，那里正好有个高速流星体，或者微黑洞，于是太空艇便遇难了，而我们则一命呜呼。理论上，这种事是有机会发生的。

"The chances are very small, however. After all, you could be at home, Janov - in your study and working on your films or in your bed sleeping-and a meteroid could be streaking toward you through Terminus's atmosphere and hit you right in the head and you'd be dead. But the chances are small.

“然而，这种机会非常之小。毕竟，当你待在家里的时候，詹诺夫——当你在书房整理微缩胶卷，或者在卧室呼呼大睡之际——也可能有个流星体穿过端点星的大气层，一路风驰电掣，不偏不倚正中你的脑袋，你就绝对活不成了。不过这种可能性也实在很小。

"In fact, the chance of intersecting the path of something fatal, but too small for the computer to know about, in the course of a hyperspatial jump is far, far smaller than that of berg hit by a meteor in your home. I've never heard of a ship being lost that way in all the history of hyperspatial travel. Any other type of risk-like ending in the middle of a star-is even smaller."

“事实上，我们在重返普通空间时，想要刚好撞上一个足以要命却小到电脑侦测不到的天体，这种事情发生的机会，比你在家中被流星打中还要小得太多太多倍。在超空间旅行的历史上，我从未听说过任何船舰是这样失事的。而其他的风险，例如出现在恒星的正中央，几率就更微小了。”

Pelorat said, "Then why do you tell me all this, Golan?"

裴洛拉特问道：“那你为何还要跟我说这么多，葛兰？”

Trevize paused, then bent his head in thought, and finally said, "I don't know. -Yes, I do. What I suppose it is, is that however small the chance of catastrophe might be, i€ enough people take enough chances, the catastrophe must happen eventually. No matter how sure I am that nothing will go wrong, there's a small nagging voice inside me that says, `Maybe it will happen this time.' And it makes me feel guilty. -I guess that's it. Janov, if something goes wrong, forgive me!"

崔维兹顿了一下，又低头沉思了一会儿，才终于回答：“我不知道——不，我知道。我所想到的是，不论发生灾祸的机会多么小，只要有许多人尝试许多次，灾祸早晚也会发生一回。不论我多么有把握，确定不会有任何差池，我心里总有个微弱的声音在嘀咕：‘也许这次就会出事了。’这使我有罪恶感，我想就是这个道理。詹诺夫，万一发生什么差错，请原谅我！”

"But Golan, my dear chap, if something goes wrong, we will both be dead instantly. I will not be able to forgive, nor you to receive forgiveness."

“可是，葛兰，我亲爱的兄弟，如果真有什么差错，我俩都会在瞬间报销。我不可能有机会原谅你，你也没有机会接受我的谅解。”

"I understand that, so forgive me now, will you?"

“这点我了解，所以请你现在就原谅我，好不好？”

Pelorat smiled. "I don't know why, but this cheers me up. There's something pleasantly humorous about it. Of course, Golan, I'll forgive you. There are plenty of myths about some form of afterlife in world literature and if there should happen to be such a place - about the same chance as landing on a mini-black hole, I suppose, or less-and we both turn up in the same one, then I will bear witness that you did your honest best and that my death should not be laid at your door."

裴洛拉特微微一笑。“不晓得怎么回事，可是我感到快活多了，这里头一定有些有趣之处。葛兰，我当然会原谅你。在各个世界的文学中，有许多关于死后世界的神话传说，万一真有那种地方——我想，机会跟我们落在一个微黑洞差不多，也许还更小——而我们刚好又在同一个阴间，那么我一定会为你作证，你真的已经全力以赴，我的死不该算到你的账上。”

"Thank you! Now I'm relieved. I'm willing to take my chance, but I did not enjoy the thought of you taking my chance as well."

“谢谢你！现在我终于轻松了。我自己愿意冒这个险，可是一想到你要陪我冒险，我心里就不大好受。”

Pelorat wrung the other's hand. "You know, Golan, I've only known you less than a week and I suppose I shouldn't make hasty judgments in these matters, but I think you're an excellent chap. -And now let's do it and get it over with."

裴洛拉特紧紧抓住对方的手。“你知道吗，葛兰，我认识你还不到一个星期，有些事不应该忙着下定论，但我的确认为你是个杰出的兄弟。我们现在就开始吧，把这件事早点了结。”

"Absolutely! All I have to do is touch that little contact. The computer has its instructions and it's just waiting for me to say: `Starts' Would you like to……"

“正是如此！现在，我只要轻轻碰一下那个感应板就行了。电脑早已接到指令，就等着我说：‘出发！’你想不想……”

"Never! It's all yours? It's your computer."

“不想！它只属于你！它是你的电脑。”

"Very well. And it's my responsibility. I'm still trying to duck it, you see. Keep your eye on the screen!"

“很好，这是我的职责。你瞧，我还在试图推诿呢。你好好盯着屏幕！”

With a remarkably steady hand and with his smile looking utterly genuine, Trevize made contact.

崔维兹伸出沉稳无比的手掌，带着全然诚挚的笑容，开始与电脑进行接触。

There was a momentary pause and then the starfield changed-and again-and again. The stars spread steadily thicker and brighter over the viewscreen.

短暂静止之后，星像场便开始发生变化，一而再、再而三变个不停。在显像屏幕上，四散的星辰变得愈来愈浓密，愈来愈明亮。

Pelorat was counting under his breath. At "15" there was a halt, as though some piece of apparatus had jammed.

裴洛拉特默数着跃迁的次数。当他数到“十五”的时候，显像屏幕的变化忽然中止，仿佛某个机件卡住了。

Pelorat whispered, clearly afraid that any noise might jar the mechanism fatally. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

裴洛拉特悄声问道：“出了什么问题？发生了什么事？”他显然是担心声音如果太大，机件便会永远卡死。

Trevize shrugged. "I imagine it's recalculating. Some object in space is adding a perceptible bump to the general shape of the overall gravitational field-some object not taken into account-some uncharted dwarf star or rogue planet……"

崔维兹耸了耸肩。“我猜它正在重新计算，一定是附近太空中的某个天体，使整体重力场产生了不可忽略的形变。电脑原先未将那个天体考虑在内，可能是星图上所没有的矮星，或是独立的行星……”

"Dangerous?"

“有危险吗？”

"Since we're still alive, it's almost certainly not dangerous. A planet could be a hundred million kilometers away and still introduce a large enough gravitational modification to require recalculation. A dwarf star could be ten billion kilometers away and……"

“既然我们还活着，就几乎能确定没有危险。一颗行星即使位于一亿公里之外，仍然能产生足够大的重力微扰，使电脑必须重新算一遍。而一颗远在百亿公里外的矮星，也可以……”

The screen shifted again and Trevize fell silent. It shifted again-and again- Finally, when Pelorat said, "a8," there was no further motion.

显像屏幕的画面又开始变化，崔维兹立即住口。画面一变再变，直到裴洛拉特数到“二十八”的时候，运动才陡然终止。

Trevize consulted the computer. "We're here," he said.

崔维兹向电脑查询了一下。“我们到了。”他说。

"I counted the first jump as `r.' and in this series I started with `z: That's twenty-eight jumps altogether. You said twenty-nine."

“我把首次的跃迁当做‘一’，而在刚才的连续跃迁中，我是由‘二’开始数的。我们总共只做了二十八个跃迁，可是你说过应该有二十九个。”

"The recalculation at jump i5 probably saved us one jump. I can check with the computer if you wish, but there's really no need. We're in the vicinity of Sayshell Planet. The computer says so and I don't doubt it. If I were to orient the screen properly, we'd see a nice, bright sun, but there's no point in placing a needless strain on its screening capacity. SaysheIl Planet is the fourth one out and it's about 3.2 million kilometers away from our present position, which is about as close as we want to be at a jump conclusion. We can get there in three days-two, if we hurry."

“第十五次之后，电脑重新算了一遍，也许因此替我们省掉一次跃迁。如果你想弄清楚，我可以跟电脑查一下，不过实在没有必要。我们已经到了赛协尔行星附近，这是电脑告诉我的，而我毫不怀疑。我们若将显像屏幕正确定向，就能看到一个又大又亮的太阳，但我认为不该无谓增加显像屏幕的负担。赛协尔行星是该行星系的第四颗，目前和我们的距离大约是3.2百万公里，差不多是跃迁后剩余的最短距离了。我们能在三天之内抵达，快一点的话，两天也可以。”

Trevize drew a deep breath and tried to let the tension drain.

崔维兹做了一下深呼吸，让紧绷的神经松弛下来。

"Do you realize what this means, Janov?" he said. "Every ship I've ever been in-or heard of-would have made those jumps with at least a day in between for painstaking calculation and re-checking, even with a computer. The trip would have taken nearly a month. Or perhaps two or three weeks, if they were willing to be reckless about it. We did it in half an hour. When every ship is equipped with a computer like this one……"

“你了解这代表什么意义吗，詹诺夫？”他说，“我生平搭乘过的，或者听说过的任何船舰，若想完成这一连串的跃迁，那么每次跃迁之后，至少都得花上一天的时间，费尽心力进行计算和复查，即使有电脑帮忙也不例外。整趟行程得花上近一个月，就算他们愿意鲁莽行事，最快也要两三个星期，我们却在半小时内就完成了。等到每艘船舰都装设了这样的电脑……”

Pelorat said, "I wonder why the Mayor' let us have a ship this advanced. It must be incredibly expensive."

裴洛拉特说：“我想不通市长为何会让我们用这么先进的太空艇，它的造价一定高得难以想象。”

"It's experimental," said Trevize dryly. "Maybe fine good woman was perfectly willing to have us try it out and see what deficiencies might develop."

“它只不过是个实验品。”崔维兹冷冰冰地说，“也许那位好心的婆婆，十分乐意让我们试飞，以确定有没有什么毛病。”

"Are you serious?"

“你这话当真吗？”

"Don't get nervous. After all, there's nothing to worry about. We haven't found any deficiencies. I wouldn't put it past her, though. Such a thing would put no great strain on her sense of humanity. Besides, she hasn't trusted us with offensive weapons and that cuts the expense considerably."

“你别紧张，总之，没什么好担心的。目前为止，我们没有发现任何毛病。不过，我对她不会有任何奢望，这种事不需要她花费多少菩萨心肠。何况她不敢提供我们攻击性武器，这就节省了一笔可观的经费。”

Pelorat said thoughtfully, "It's the computer I'm thinking about. It seems to be adjusted so well for you-and it can't be adjusted that well for everyone. It just barely works with me."

裴洛拉特意味深长地说：“我只是在想这台电脑。它似乎被调整得十分适合你——它不可能和每个人都那么有默契，我跟它就几乎无法合作。”

"So much the better for us, that it works so well with one of us."

“我们已经够好运了，至少它跟我们其中之一很合得来。”

"Yes, but is that merely chance?"

“没错，但这只是一种巧合吗？”

"What else, Janov?"

“还有什么可能呢，詹诺夫？”

"Surely the Mayor knows you pretty well."

“显然市长对你相当了解。”

"I think she does, the old battlecraft."

“那艘高龄母舰，我想她的确如此。”

"Might she not have had a computer designed particularly for you?"

“她会不会专门设计一台电脑给你？”

“为什么？”

"I just wonder if we're not going where the computer wants to take us."

“我只是怀疑，电脑不想带我们去的地方，不知道我们是否也能去。”

Trevize stared. "You mean that while I'm connected to the computer, it is the computer-and not me-who is in real charge?"

崔维兹两眼圆睁。“你的意思是，当我跟电脑联系的时候，真正控制一切的是电脑，而不是我？”

"I just wonder."

“我只是怀疑而已。”

"That is ridiculous. Paranoid. Come on, Janov."

“这种想法实在荒谬，简直就是妄想。得了吧，詹诺夫。”

Trevize turned back to the computer to focus Sayshell Planet on the screen and to plot a normal-space course to it.

崔维兹转身操作电脑，将赛协尔行星显示在屏幕上，并画出一条飞往该处的普通空间航线。

Ridiculous!

实在荒谬！

But why had Pelorat put the notion into his head?

可是，裴洛拉特的观念怎么会钻进他脑子里了呢？