Chapter 8 Chapter Six

Howl, howl, grunt, howl, howl, howl, howl, howl; howl, howl, grunt, howl, howl, grunt, howl, howl Howl... repeat.This is your captain speaking, stop whatever you're doing and listen.First, our instruments told me that there were two hitchhiking rovers aboard.Hello, wherever you are now.I must make our position very clear: you are not welcome.I got where I am today because of my hard work, not because I would turn the ship into a taxi for passengers for free.I have sent a search party, and once I find you, I will throw you off the ship.Of course, if you're lucky enough, maybe I'll read you a few lines of my poem first.

"Second, we're about to make a hyperspace jump to Barnard's Star. After arriving, we will conduct a 72-hour inspection in the space dock, and no one is allowed to leave the spacecraft during this period.I repeat again, any act of leaving the spaceship to go to the planet is not allowed.I just had a pretty nasty pick-up experience myself, so I don't want the rest of you to have the possibility of a good sex.The speech is over. " Then the sound disappeared. Arthur was embarrassed to find himself curled up on the floor with his head still in his arms.He could only force a smile.

"A very attractive man," he said. "I wish I had a daughter, so that I could not allow her to marry such a..." "You don't have to," said Ford, "these guys are having sex like a traffic accident on the road. No, don't move." Seeing Arthur begin to stretch, he added, "You'd better get ready for the hyperspace jump. It's not very pleasant, like being drunk." "What's so uncomfortable about being drunk?" "You're going to need a glass of water." Arthur thought about it. "Ford," he said.

"What's up?" "What did this fish do in my ear?" "It translates for you. It's a Babel fish. You can look it up in a guide if you like." As he said that, he threw it to Arthur, and then curled up his body like a fetus, preparing for the jump. At this moment, Arthur's heart began to overwhelm. His eyes popped out, and his feet began to thrust upwards. The whole room folded and spun around him, as if he was the only one in the universe skating. They are passing through hyperspace. "Babel fish," read softly, "is small, yellow, leech-like, and quite possibly the strangest thing in the universe. It lives by receiving brainwave energy, and not from its bearer. , but from those around it. It absorbs all undetected mental frequencies from these brain wave energies, transforming them into nourishment. Then it excretes a mental frequency and brain A telepathic matrix of mixed neural signals fed by the language center. The net effect of all this process is that if you put a Babel fish in your ear, you instantly understand anything that is said to you in any form of language. The decoded signal you hear is the brainwave matrix that the Babel fish provides to your mind.

"This bizarre coincidence, which seems impossible, has been taken by some thinkers as the final and definitive proof that God does not exist:" The debate on the matter goes like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,' said God, 'Because evidence means denying belief, and denying belief I am nothing.'" 'But,' said the mortal, 'the Babel fish has given away the secret, has it not?It couldn't have evolved by chance.It just proves your existence.Therefore, according to your own logic, you do not exist, proof completed. '" 'Oh my God,' said God, 'I didn't think of that,' and disappeared in a puff of logic.

"'Oh, that's easy,' said the mortal, and proceeded to prove that black is white again, and was killed at the next crosswalk. "Most of the most senior theologians declare that such a proof is worthless, but this does not prevent Oron. Caluffe used it as the subject of his best-selling book "The Hidden Secret of God" and made a small profit. made a fortune. "Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, though so successful in clearing the barriers of communication between different races and cultures, has caused more bloody wars than anything else in the history of creation,"

Arthur let out a low sigh.He was still apprehensive about the impact through hyperspace.Now, he is 6 light-years away from where Earth once existed. Yes, Earth. Visions of Earth flashed through his mind, and he felt a sickening dizziness.His imagination couldn't face the impact of the fact that the earth was destroyed, after all, it was too shocking.He wished to prick his nerves by remembering that his parents and sister were dead, but there was no response.He thought about all the people he had been close to, but there was still no response.Then he remembered a complete stranger he had been behind in line at the supermarket two days earlier, and he felt a sudden sting—the supermarket was gone, everyone in it was gone.Nelson's column is gone!The Nelson column is gone, and so is the outcry and public protest, because no one does it anymore.From now on, Nelson's column existed only in his mind, Arthur's.England also existed only in his mind—his mind, which was currently imprisoned in this cold, dank steel space on the spaceship.A tidal wave of claustrophobia began to hit him.

England no longer exists.He's got to get used to it—he's got to get used to it anyway.He tried again.America, he thought, doesn't exist either.But he couldn't understand it all at once.So he decided to start with a smaller one.New York no longer exists.Still no response.After all, he never really believed in the existence of this city.The dollar, he thought again, has been permanently devalued.This time, it finally trembled a little.All Humphrey.Bogart's movies are ruined, he told himself.It gave him another unpleasant shock.McDonald's, he thought.There's nothing quite like a McDonald's hamburger.

He passed out all of a sudden.When he awoke seconds later, he found himself sobbing for his mother. He jumped up. "Ford!" Ford looked up. He was sitting in a corner humming to himself.He has always found the part of the space travel process that actually travels through space to be very uncomfortable and quite exhausting. "What's the matter?" he asked. "If you are a researcher of the content contained in this book and you are on Earth, then you must have collected data on Earth for it." "Oh yes, I could indeed help expand the original entry a bit."

"Let me see what's been said about the Earth, I've got to see it." "Well, whatever you want," Ford agreed again this time. Arthur held the book, trying not to shake his hands.He presses the entry for the corresponding page number.The screen flickers, swirls, and finally displays a printed page.Arthur stared at it for a long time. "This entry is empty!" he exclaimed. Ford looked over his shoulder. "Impossible, there's content," he said, "Look down, look at the bottom of the screen, just above the 'Fantastic Gallumbits,' those whores with three breasts."

Arthur followed Ford's finger and found the location.He still didn't react for a while, and then suddenly broke out. "What! 'Harmless'? Is that all there is to it? 'Harmless'! Just one word!" Ford shrugged. "Well, there are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and the microprocessor capacity of this book is limited," he said, "so of course it's impossible to say much about Earth." "Well, but for God's sake, can't you adjust it a little bit?" "Oh yes, of course I adjusted. I sent the editor a new entry. He may have edited it out a bit, but it's already an improvement." "So what's the latest explanation now?" Arthur asked. "'Essentially harmless,'" Ford said after coughing awkwardly. "'Basically harmless'!" exclaimed Arthur. "Where's the noise?" Ford hissed. "It's me," continued Arthur. "No! Shut up!" said Ford. "I think we're in trouble." "You think we're in trouble!" There were clear footsteps outside the door. "Is it from Danteras?" Arthur asked in a low voice. "No, it's a boot with an iron shoe," said Ford. There was a sharp knock on the door. "Who is it?" Arthur asked. "Oh," said Ford, "if we're lucky, it's just the Vogons coming and taking us and throwing us into space." "What if you're unlucky?" "With bad luck," said Ford grimly, "the captain will make good on his threat to read us a few lines of his poem first..."