Chapter 9 Chapter nine

Another world, another day, another dawn. The first ray of dawn in the morning quietly casts on the earth. The ultra-high-temperature explosive hydrogen nuclei, as many as several trillion and hundreds of millions of tons, slowly rise from the horizon, but they look small, very cool, and very humid. At this moment, it was a bright morning, as if a miracle could happen.All creation held its breath. As usual, the morning on Z Scochelles passed without any surprises. Fog lingers over the swamp.The wetland trees were gray in the fog, and the tall reeds were indistinct. They stood there silently, as if they were holding their breath.

Everything stands still. There is only silence. The sun struggled to climb up from the thick fog, trying to transmit some heat down and spread a little light.It's a pity that today I can only wander around in the sky. Everything stands still. Still, silent. Everything stands still. silence. On Skochelus Z, the days usually passed like this.Today will be one of them. Fourteen hours later, the sun sank hopelessly below the other horizon, and it knew that the day was all in vain again. It reappeared a few hours later, straightened its shoulders, and began its new day in the air. This time, however, there is a situation.A mattress meets a robot.

"Hello, Robot," Mattress said. "Ow," said the robot, continuing to do what it was doing - turning very small circles very slowly. "Are you happy?" Mattress said. The robot stopped and looked at the mattress mockingly.Obviously it's a stupid mattress.It was looking innocently at the robot. After waiting long enough (this time is calculated by the robot to be just enough to make everything mattress-like feel despised, accurate to ten decimal places), the robot starts to make its small circle again. "Maybe we can talk," Mattress said. "What do you think?"

It's a big mattress, probably a fancy one.These days, very few people actually make anything.In an infinite universe (say, the one we live in), everything you can imagine, and everything you can't, can grow by itself somewhere.Recently, someone discovered a forest with ratchet screwdriver fruit on the trees.The life of ratchet screwdriver fruit is very interesting.When it is picked off, it needs a dark, dusty drawer to store itself for several years.Then, one night, it would suddenly hatch, shed its shattered skin, and become a completely unrecognizable metal object, with protrusions at both ends, ribs, and grooves for screws. .A ratchet screwdriver fruit that has reached this form is immediately thrown away if discovered.No one knew what the point of all this was.Nature, probably with her infinite wisdom, is considering this question.

Likewise, no one knows what the life of a mattress is all about.They are big, friendly, spring-pocketed creatures who live a hermit life in the marshes of Z Z Scochelles.Many of them are caught, butchered, dried, transported away and eventually laid on.Yet none of them seemed to care.Also, their names are Zam. "No." Marvin said. "My name," said Mattress, "is Zam. We can talk about the weather." Marvin stopped again from his circle. "Dew..." he commented, "the sound of falling this morning is disgusting," He continued in circles, seemingly buoyed by the new level of melancholy and depression that had erupted from that conversation just now.He trudged along.If he had teeth, he would be gnashing them now.He didn't.He didn't bite.But that pace says it all.

The mattress was beating on one side.This movement is only performed by living mattresses in the swamp, so the word is not common.It flapped sympathetically, swinging its watery and beautiful body.It blows a lovely string of bubbles in the water.Those blue and white stripes on its body happened to be illuminated by a ray of faint sunlight that suddenly passed through the thick fog, and the light shone for a moment.The creature feels all well and good. Marvin still dragged his feet. "You must be thinking of something, I think." Mattress said softly. "Much more than you can imagine," said Marvin darkly. "My brain is as powerful in every way as the vastness of space. Except, of course, my ability to be happy."

Boom, boom.He shuffled. "My capacity for pleasure," he went on, "is small enough to fit in a matchbox. And you don't have to take the matches out." The mattress smacked.It was a special sound, the sound of a living mattress living in a swamp, deeply moved by a harrowing personal experience.This word is also found in the "Super Quanji Giant Invincible Dictionary of All Languages ​​in History", and it is also interpreted as a special sound. sound when.Since there has been only one King of Kuoluopu Xing so far, Emperor Gosenvalvög the Great, and he was never married, this word is only used in a negative or speculative sense.At the same time, more and more people feel that the book "Super Universal and Invincible Dictionary of All Languages ​​in History" is not worth using such a huge transport fleet to bring its pocket version into the door.The strangest thing is that this dictionary does not include the word "Songruandi", which means "to act softly".

The mattress smacked again. "I feel the depression in the depths of your diode," it said flatly (to understand the meaning of the word, you can buy a copy of Scochelles Z Star Swamp Talk at any discount bookstore, or you can choose Buy the All-Languages ​​Dictionary of All Languages ​​- the University will be happy to sell it so they can get back a lot of parking spaces), "This makes me sad. You should be more mattressed. We live a quiet retirement in the swamp, we can beat, we can flow, we can face the humidity with a soft heart. Some mattresses will kill, but we are all called Zam, so we never know Who's dead so you can try not to touch too much. Why do you keep going in circles?"

"Because my leg is stuck," said Marvin curtly. "I think," Mattress cast him a pitiful look, "that's a poor leg." "You're right," said Marvin. "It is." "What about Wu?" said the mattress. "I knew it," said Marvin, "and I knew you'd think a robot with prosthetic legs would be hilarious. Next time you see your friends Zam and Zam, you should tell them that too. They'll laugh Of course I don't if I know them. The laughing response is pretty good for any organic life I've known so far. Ha, my life is nothing more than a box of worm gears."

He thumped again in small circles, centered on his tiny steel prosthetic leg—it looked like a circle, but it was actually stuck. "But why do you keep spinning around?" said Mattress. "Just to emphasize the point." Marvin said, and continued to spin around. "Just let it be stressed, my dear friend," said Mattress, "just let it be stressed." "It's just another million years," Marvin said. "Another million years in a flash. Then I'll go in a different direction. Create variety. You know." The mattress felt strongly from the depths of its spring pockets how much the robot wished he had been asked how long he had been engaged in this pointless motion.The mattress moved gently and asked.

"Oh, exactly 1.5 million years, just right," Marvin said lightly. "Ask me questions if I'm bored. Go ahead. Ask." The mattress complied. Marvin ignored it.Marvin strode on in order to emphasize the point. "I gave a speech." He said suddenly, his words didn't match up. "You'll soon see why I say this. It's because my brain works too fast. Roughly speaking, I'm at least 30 billion times smarter than you. Give me an example. Think of a number, whatever. " "Well, five," Mattress said. "Wrong," Marvin said, "Got it?" The mattress was deeply rocked.It realized that the person in front of it was definitely not an ordinary person.It pulled its whole body up, causing the algae-covered pond in which it was sitting to ripple with excitement. It's working together. "Tell me," it said eagerly, "that speech you gave, I'd love to hear it." "The response has been bad," said Marvin, "for quite a number of reasons. Where the speeches were made," he paused, making an odd flexing gesture with his not-so-good hand.Unfortunately, his better hand was welded to the left. "Over there, it looks like a mile." He pointed there as best he could.Evidently he wanted to point more clearly, through the fog, over the reeds, to the swamp, which was exactly like all swamps. "There," he repeated, "I was sort of a celebrity then." Excitement filled the heart of the mattress.It had never heard of the speeches delivered at Scorchellas Z, let alone the nominees.It trembled for a while, and water droplets fell from it. It does one thing mattresses rarely do.It mustered all the strength in its body, erected its rectangular body, held it high in the air, and stood tremblingly for a few seconds, trying its best to look at the swamp that passed through the thick fog, crossed the reeds, and reached the swamp that Marvin pointed to.He glanced over there, and was not disappointed, though that swamp was like all swamps.It could only stand for so long, so it fell into the small pool, and Marvin was covered in overflowing moss, weeds, and foul-smelling mud. "I was a celebrity," hummed the robot dejectedly, "the first time due to my miraculous, hateful escape. Nearly crashing into the middle of a burning star was almost as pleasant as dying. You You can imagine," he added, "how difficult my escape was. I was rescued by a scrap metal dealer, come to think of it. My brain is as big as... Forget it." He took a few steps fiercely. "He's the one who put this leg on me. Hateful, isn't he? He sold me to Brain Zoo. I was the star exhibit there. I got to sit on a box and tell my story to others Listen. People would tell me to be happy and positive. 'Smile, little robot.' They would yell at me. 'Just smile.' I explained to them that to put a smile on my face, I had to Hours of work in the workshop with wrenches. They were all satisfied." "And the speech?" Mattress said anxiously. "I'm looking forward to hearing your speech in the swamp." "A bridge was built over the swamp. A supernew bridge of digital structures. Hundreds of miles long, allowing ion cars and large trucks to pass over the swamp." "A bridge?" Mattress sighed, "In this swamp?" "A bridge." Marvin confirmed, "in this swamp. It was built to revitalize the economic system of Scochelus Z. They used all the economic power of Scochelus Z to build it. They asked me to start it. Poor fool." It started to rain lightly.Thin raindrops slipped in the fog. "I'm standing on the platform. There is a bridge hundreds of miles ahead, and a bridge hundreds of miles behind." "Is it shiny?" Mattress asked enthusiastically. "It's very shiny." "Is it dominating the sky?" "It is the sky." "Is it like a silver ribbon, extending into the depths of the endless mist?" "Yes. Would you like a story?" "I want to hear your speech," Mattress said. "That's what I said. I said, 'I want to say that I'm extremely honored and happy and proud to be here to start this bridge. But I can't say that because all my lying circuits are down. I hate And despise you all. Now I declare this unfortunate digital bridge open to the unbearable abuse of all who only want to pass her.'" And I flipped the switch. Marvin paused, recalling the moment. The mattress is both Mili and Geli.It beats, pushes, pulls, and finally becomes very soft. "Where is it?" It finally said together, "It must be an exciting moment?" "It's quite exciting. The entire bridge, which is thousands of miles long, closed its shiny bridge automatically, and sank into the quagmire with tears, bringing everyone together." The conversation had reached this grisly place when, with a loud bang that seemed like hundreds of people suddenly saying "Oh!", a swarm of white robots, like dandelions, floated down from the sky in a procession.Here they create a violent event - in the swamp, wring off Marvin's prosthetic leg, and float back to their ship.The ship said a "whoosh" as it departed. "Did you see that? I have to endure something," Marvin said to the sobbing mattress. After a while, the robots suddenly returned with another act of violence.After they left this time, the mattress found itself in the swamp alone.He was shocked, and beat around in a panic.He was almost terrified.He stood up and looked over the reeds, but saw nothing but more reeds.He listened, but there was no other sound on the wind, only the distant voice of half-crazed etymologists calling to each other across the disgusting quagmire that the mattresses had taken for granted.