第一部 宇宙中的盘旋 第一章
"Beware the skies, for the cerulean raiments of that sweetscented realm mask a darkness and evil that know no bounds. And do not look to heaven for peace, for there resides hell. And beware all who descend from those skies, for they are the harbingers of death and destruction."
Dogma of the Church of Recurrent Tragedy as quoted in Weverka T'su's Aftermath: Geopolitical and Religious Movements in the Southlands
“当心天空，因为那片芬芳领域的天蓝色服饰下面伪装着无边的黑暗和罪恶。不要希望在天空能找到和平，因为那里属于地狱。同时要提防从那些天空下来的所有东西，因为那是死亡和毁灭的先兆。”
韦弗卡曲（Weverka T'su）后果的关于周期性悲剧的教堂教义，《南大陆的地缘政治学和宗教发展》
The starship Ark Angel hung in geosynch, 36,000 kilometers above Brazilas in the Southlands. Recently returned from a distant campaign, it alone had been spared the wrath of the Invid's transubstantiating departure, one ship among scores in that moment of victorious defeat.
大天使号飞船停留在南大陆巴西比上空3万6千公里的地球同步轨道。由于刚刚从远太空的战场返回，它避免了被因维人离开的精神火焰消灭的命运，成为唯一一艘在那一刻从失败中逃生的飞船。
Scott Bernard had yet to decide whether its survival constituted a curse or a blessing.
斯科特•伯纳德还不能确认它的幸存究竟是代表诅咒还是祝福。
He could just make out the warship's underbelly through a small oblong viewport set high' up in the curved hull of the chemical shuttle's passenger cabin. A soft-soled boot, freefloating, drew his attention forward, and he watched it for a moment, thinking: Weightless. Hugged to the padded contours of an acceleration couch by web belts and Velcro straps, as if on some nostalgia-steeped theme park ride.
他只能通过一小块安装在曲线型化学乘客舱壳上面的椭圆形观察窗辨别出飞船底部。一只自由悬浮的软底靴状物吸引了他的注意，他看了一会儿，想：无重力悬浮着，就像在怀旧主题的公园漫步，脚印不断扩大并挤在一起。
Although restrained might have been a better word to describe his present circumstance, as in temporarily prevented from doing harm to himself or others. Not that he would. But there were half a dozen G2 analysts planetside who thought differently.
虽然受限制也许能更好的描述他现在的处境，就暂时而言能保护他自己和其他人。不是说他会被伤害，而是有数十个G2分析人员不这么认为。
Scott sniggered aloud, unperturbed by the curious glances his self-amusement had elicited. He returned the looks with interest until one by one each of his fellow passengers in the cramped cabinspace turned away.
斯科特大声地窃笑，也没有被由于他的自我消遣引起的好奇目光而被扰乱。他用感兴趣的目光回敬着，直到那些人一个个转身周开。
Oh, he had it, all right: what Rand had once called the look of the lost.
哦，他也完全做到了兰德曾经叫做迷惑的目光。
Scott inclined his head to one side to get a better angle on the ship, her dark symmetry obscuring a narrow sweep of stars. Built and christened on the other side of the Quadrant, she was the very ship Colonel Wolff had pirated from Tirol orbit years before. The ship that had become the Sentinels' own.
斯科特将头倾斜到一侧以便能有一个更好的角度观察飞船，她那黑色对称形状使一线的星光更加模糊。她正是伍尔夫上校多年前从泰洛轨道上掠夺的那艘飞船，完全在星区的另一边建造和命名，现在是哨兵自己的了。
Running lights illuminated an array of weapons and sensor ports dimpling her underside-retrofitted sometime during the three years since Scott had last seen her-along with a swath of heavily blistered alloy, where angry tendrils loosed from the Invid's mindstuff phoenix had brushed her just three months before. She rested alone in gravity anchor, save for the countless metal fragments that drifted above and below her: the lingering debris clouds of Dolza's fleet; of Little Luna, the Zentraedi factory satellite; of the hapless, goosenecked ships of Mars, Venus, and Jupiter Divisions; of the Robotech Expeditionary Force's tri-thrusters and Karbarran manufactured boilerlike monstrosities.
流动 的光线照亮了窝在她底部的一排武器和探测器舱口 – 这是斯科特最后一次看到她以来的三年中某时进行的翻新 – 旁边是一排由于三个月以前因维人精神凤凰刷过而起泡的合金。她依靠重力锚孤独的停留在那儿，除了无数的金属碎片在她周围漂浮着：有多扎舰队的残骸云；有天 顶星人的卫星工厂（小月亮）；有火星师、金星师和木星师不幸的俄颈状战舰；还有太空堡垒远征军的三维推进器，以及卡巴拉人生产的锅炉状巨人。
Earth was in fact haloed by death and destruction. But liberated-or so it seemed.
地球笼罩在死亡与毁灭的光晕中，但是被解放了，即便看上去是这样的。
A Tiresian-accented voice cautiously interrupted Scott's painful reverie.
一个泰雷西亚口音小心的打断了斯科特痛苦的沉思。
"Colonel Bernard," the woman repeated as Scott turned from the view. She stood wavering in the narrow aisle, Velcroed in place, strands of auburn hair wafting out from under a pearl-gray shuttle bonnet. The smile, too, seemed fastened there, detachable with the slightest tug.
“伯纳德上校，”那个女人重复道，这是斯科特转过身来。她站在那狭小的通道挥手，似乎粘在那儿，一股褐色头发从珍珠灰色的穿梭机引擎盖下飘出来。她的笑容也似乎凝固在那儿，需要轻微的来出来。
"What is it?" Scott asked, masking his thoughts.
“怎么啦？”斯科特隐藏了自己刚才的想法，然后问到。
"Sir, General Grant wishes you to be informed that he'll be on hand to meet the shuttle. Mrs. Grant and Senators Huxley and Penn are with him, sir."
“阁下，格兰特将军希望你知道他将会迎接穿梭机。格兰特女士,赫胥黎和潘参议员也与他在一起，阁下。”
Scott nodded and put on a pleasant face, certain it read as a twisted malicious grin. But the woman only broadened her smile in response and asked if there was anything he needed before docking. He told her he was fine and leaned over to watch her space-step down the aisle, a child learning to walk. So much to relearn, he told himself. So much to forget.
斯科特点点头，换上一副愉快的面孔，当然看起来是一种古怪的怀着恶意的龇牙咧嘴的表情。但是那个女人只是以笑容作为回答，并询问在 降落前他还需要什么。他告诉她一切很好，然后斜靠着看着她的步伐从通道下去，如同小孩学步。有太多的东西需要重新学会，他告诉自己，有太多的需要忘记。
The chemical shuttle itself was symbolic of the change. Launched from a twenty-five-year-old reconstructed base in Venezuela Nueva, the ferry and a handful of others like it were humankind's only existing links with near space. There was the Angel, of course, but she had remained in geosynch ever since the disastrous finale to the assault on Reflex Point, the Invid queen's hivelike stronghold on the North American continent. Word had it that a small portion of the REF's mecha-Alphas and Shadow fighters, principally-was still functioning, but most of the older generation Cyclones and Veritechs had simply given up the ghost.
这 辆化学穿梭机本身就是改变的象征。从有着25年历史的委内瑞拉鲁伊瓦重建基地发射后，这艘穿梭机和少数类似物品是人类唯一现存的与近地空间的联系。当然大 天使号就在那儿，但是自从对反射点，位于北美大陆的因维女王的蜂房据点，的灾难性进攻之后，她就一直位于地球同步轨道。有传言说太空堡垒远征军的一小部分 机甲 – 主要是阿尔法和幻影战机 – 仍然能够使用，但是大多数老式的旋风车和变形车都失效了。
No one knew what to make of the events that had occurred at Reflex Point. In the wake of the Invid departure all sorts of reports had reached Scott and his team of freedom fighters. The REF fleet had been destroyed; it had survived. The Invid had exited the solar system; the Regis had relocated her horde in the Southlands. The SDF-3 had been destroyed; it had manifested from fold and been swallowed up by the Invid phoenix; it had failed to appear at all . . . Eventually, Scott learned that the fleet had indeed been vaporized and that the flagship had failed to emerge from hyperspace. He had not bothered to wait around for verification. With an assist from Lunk and Rand, he had managed to commandeer and make serviceable an anni-disc-ravaged Beta, only to find that the VT was not much good outside the envelope and that the Ark Angel had removed herself to stationary orbit over the Southlands.
没有人知道在反射点究竟发 生了什么事情。在因维人离开后，所有的报告都涉及到斯科特和他的自由战士小组。远征军的舰队被毁灭了，而他们幸存了。因维人退出了太阳系；雷吉斯将她的部 族重新安定在了南大陆。SDF-3被摧毁了，很显然它在折叠时消失在了因维人的凤凰中，然后再也没有出现……最终，斯科特知道了舰队被蒸发了，而他们的旗 舰消失在了超空间中。他没有四处去确认此事。通过伦克和兰德的协助，他找到并修复起用了一架贝塔战机，却只发现变形战机实际上不怎样，而且大天使号已经移 动到南大陆上空的固定轨道了。
It had begun to make sense after the initial anger and disappointment had washed through him. Much of the northern hemisphere was devastated, and where else would reconstruction commence but in the south, where several cities had actually flourished during the occupation. Norristown, once the site of a Protoculture storage facility, was fast emerging as the leader of the pack, and it was there that Scott had ultimately set down. Like a fly on lacquered paper. Mired in red tape for close to two months before Provisional Command had okayed his request to be among those shuttled up to the starship.
当 愤怒和失望过后，他开始慢慢想通了。北半球的多数地方已经毁坏了，除了南大陆没有地方可以重建和修复，在南大陆一些城市在被占领时期实际上繁荣起来了。诺 瑞斯镇，作为曾经的史前文化存储设备的所在地，快速获得了这些城市中的领导地位，而且这里也曾经是斯科特最后住下的地方。如同热过上的蚂蚁般，他在这里煎 熬了快两个月才得到临时司令部的同意获准乘坐穿梭机来到飞船。
The question he had heard most often those two months had been: "Scott who?"
这两个月以来，他听到的最多的问题是：“谁是斯科特？”
It seemed that Mars and Jupiter Divisions were filed away in Command's mainframe as having gone down with all hands, and so the person claiming to be Lieutenant Scott Bernard of the 21st Squadron, Mars Division, had to be a ghost, a zone loonie, or an ambulatory case of what the neurometrics were calling Post-Engagement Synaptic Trauma PEST, for short.
看上去火星师和木星师的档案已经从司令部的主机中消失了，所以一个人说自己是火星师21先遣队的斯科特•伯纳德中尉时，那他就必须是个鬼魂，或者动态脑电图称作的PEST（机甲驾驶员战斗性大脑损伤）。
Ask Dr. Lang about Scott Bernard, he had pressed. I'm his godson, for chrissake!
去问问朗博士谁是斯科特•伯纳德，他催促道。我是他的教子，看在上帝的份上！
Only to hear: "We're sorry, er, Lieutenant Bernard, but Doctor Lang is not available at this time."
他得到的回答只是：“我们感到抱歉，伯纳德中尉，但是朗博士现在不在。”
Later, Scott would learn that his godfather and mentor had been aboard the ill-fated SDF-3 when it had jumped from Tirol. But in the meantime he suggested that Captain Harrington might be able to vouch for him. Harrington had commanded the first wave of Cyclone ground teams the REF had directed against Reflex Point.
以后斯科特将知道当SDF3从泰洛进行跳跃时，他的教父正好在不幸的SDF3上面。同时他说哈林顿上校能够担保他。在远征军进攻反射点时，哈林顿负责指挥地面旋风车的第一波进攻。
After all, it wasn't like he was asking for medals, Scott had assured the analysts. But the least Command could do was acknowledge what he had achieved on the yearlong road to Reflex Point or applaud his one-on-one with the Invid Corg in the seasonally shifting skies above the hive cluster. Why, some of Harrington's team had even seen the Invid simulagent's flame cloud, had even seen Scott go into the central dome!
无论怎样，他并不是在申领勋章，斯科特说服分析师。至少必须承认他在一年多的向反射点进发过程中完成的使命，以及与因维王子考克在蜂房外一对一的决斗。为什么，哈林顿的部分手下看到了因维模拟替代人的火焰，也看到斯科特进入了蜂房内部。
He was sorry he said it even before the words had left his lips.
当他开口之前，他就感到难过。
"Now, uh, what was that you were saying about talking to the Regis, Lieutenant?" the boys from G2 had asked. "You did say something about her being, let me see here, 'a baldheaded column of light twenty feet high.'"
“现在，嗯，请说说看与雷吉斯之间的对话，中尉？”G2的那些男孩问到。“你确实描述过她的形体，在这里‘光头，有20英尺高，由光柱组成’”
And so he had played the PEST for them, steering clear of any mention of Marlene or Sera or any of the mind-boggling time-space displacements he'd experienced inside the hive chambers.
由此他在他们面前进行PEST测试，清楚地描述了关于玛琳，希拉，以及他在蜂房内部经历的令人困惑的时空转移。
In retrospect, he had to ask himself whether pulling out all the stops would have brought the med teams' debriefing reports to Jean Grant's attention any sooner, but they had reached her on their own momentum in any case, and Scott had finally been granted permission to come aboard.
回想一下，他问自己把所有的都说出来是否有助于让医疗小组给吉因•格兰特的报告能尽快得到她的关注，但是他们只为他提供了他们认为重要的东西。终于，斯科特被允许进入飞船。
And issued a battlefield commission to full bird, to boot.
全体人员接受战斗任务，启航。
For Scott it was something else to snigger at: a promotion, in an armed force without ships or soldiers, defenders and liberators of a world that wanted little part of them even now.
对于斯科特来说，另外有一些东西是可笑的：在军队中没有战舰，没有士兵，不需要防卫者与解放者，这时的晋升没有任何意义。
The shuttle docked in one of Ark Angel's starboard bays just as Sol was flooding the eastern coast of the Southlands with morning light. Scott drank in the view that had been denied him when Mars Division had approached a year earlier: Earth's characteristic clouds and swirling weather fronts, its deep-blue water oceans and healing landscape. And for the first time in years he found himself thinking about Base Gloval, his father's forefinger thrust upward into the Martian night, pinpointing a homeworld. Huddled afterward in the prewarmed comfort of his sleep compartment, he would grapple with the notion-that faint light, a home. But even after his family had been transferred to the factory satellite to work on the SDF-3, Scott could not regard Earth as such. And he had so few memories of those years that he called Tirol home now and perhaps always would.
穿梭机停靠在大天使号的右舷的一个港口，就如同Sol用清晨的光束洒在南 大陆的东海岸一样。斯科特醉心的看着一年前火星师抵达时没有仔细观看的这些景色：地球特有的云朵和涡旋状气象锋面（气象术语：指冷暖空气的交汇处），深蓝 色的海洋以及正在复原的大陆。而且这么多年来他第一次发现自己想到了在格罗弗基地，他父亲的食指伸向火星的天空，指着远方微小的故乡星球。蜷缩在自己舒服 的卧室中，他能知道那微弱的光是自己的故乡。但是，即便是他全家都被派到卫星工厂参与SDF-3的工程后，斯科特仍然不能把地球当作自己的故乡。地球在他 的记忆中几乎没有什么印象，因此他把泰洛叫做家乡，而且或许一辈子都会这样了。
Only a week ago he had learned that his parents were still there.
仅仅一周之前他还知道他的父母还在泰洛。
The memories surrendered to more recent recollections as Scott and the rest of the shuttle's privileged boarded a transfer vehicle that ferried them into the ship proper, Ark Angel's artificial gravity settling on him like oppression itself. Nearly every component of the ship was different from what he remembered, from the illumination grids that checkered the holds to the persistent foot-tingling basso of the dreadnought's internal systemry.
当降落到大天使号的人工重力平台后，这些记忆随着斯科特和其他被或许进入大天使号的人员不断的发现而改变。飞船内的每一个部件都与他记忆中的完全不同，不管是棋盘状的照明网格，还是这艘巨型飞船内部系统发出的持续的低音脚步声。
He soon caught sight of Vince Grant, towering walnuthrown and square-shouldered over a small gathering of civilians and military personnel bottlenecked at the arrival hold's security gate. There were hands in the air, salutes, a welter of voices that brought to mind vid-scenes of turn-of-the-entury airport arrivals, and it was obvious to Scott all at once that the REF was as altered as the Angel herself. He sensed something cool but determined in the ship's slightly sour air, a single-mindedness at work he had not experienced since Tiresia.
抵 达坞狭窄的安全门处聚集着一群文职人员和军官，他很快就从中看到了文斯•格兰特那显眼的大个头和宽肩膀。空中全是挥手和敬礼以及混乱的声音，仿佛回到了实 际之初的机场到达厅，这样使斯科特明显感到远征军也发生了变化。从飞船内部稍稍混浊的空气中，他察觉到某种冷静而坚定的东西，一种坚定工作的意志，一种自 从离开泰雷西亚以后就没有经历的意志。
A male aide appeared out of the crowd to escort him through security, and a moment later he stood facing the Grants and the two Plenipotentiary Council senators. "Colonel Bernard, reporting as ordered," Scott said with a crisp salute. "Permission to come aboard, sir?"
一名男副官从人群中走出来护送他通过安全检测，片刻后他就见到了格兰特夫妇和两名议会参议员。“伯纳德上校前来报道，”斯科特行了一个干脆的军礼，“请允许登陆，长官？”
"Granted," Vince returned, working the muscles of his massive jaw into a tight-kipped smile. "Welcome home, Scott. "
“同意，”文斯回答道，他那宽大的下巴露出一丝微笑，“欢迎归队，斯科特。”
"Oh, Scott," Jean said, rushing forward to embrace him. "God, let me look at you."
“噢，斯科特，”吉因冲过来抱着他，“上帝，让我看看。”
He took a step back to allow for just that, extending a hand at the same time to Justine Huxley, then Dr. Penn. Vince and Jean were outfitted in modified REF uniforms, collarless now but with flared shoulders and simleather torso harnesses retained. The senators wore loose-fitting jumpsuits of a design that had originated on Garuda.
他后退了一步让她能看清楚，同时跟贾斯汀•赫胥黎以及潘博士一一握手。文斯和吉因穿着远征军的制服（没有领子，宽大的肩部以及传统的皮制胸甲）。参议员则穿着宽松的跳伞服，一种来源于揭路荼(印度神话中鹰头人身的金翅鸟)的设计。
"Good to see you, my boy," Penn said with paternal sincerity. "I only wish Emil and Karen could be here with us." There was no mention of Karen's lover, Jack Baker; certainly there was no love lost between Dr. Penn and Baker, in any case. Karen, like Bowie Grant, had elected to ship out aboard the SDF-3. Let them all have better luck than Marlene and I had, Scott thought. Even if that means dying together. The scientist's words had thrown a curtain of silence around the five of them, a spot of stasis amid the bustling activity in the hold. "Is there any word?" Scott asked, hoping to break the spell.
“真高兴见到你，我的孩子，”潘以父亲的真挚说道，“我真希望 埃米尔和凯伦能在这儿。”他没有提凯伦的爱人，杰克•贝克；当然无论怎样，潘博士与贝克之间是没有爱意的。如同鲍伊•格兰特，凯伦选择加入了SDF-3。 希望他们比我和玛琳更幸运，斯科特想到，即便是指死在一起。潘的话使刚才活跃的气氛出现了一丝的寂静。“其他呢？”斯科特问到，希望能打破这种沉默。
Jean shook her head, her dark honey complexion paled by the exchange. Her hair was pulled back into a tight chignon, imparting a touch of severity to what was normally the warmest of faces. "We've received some garbled subtrans from Tirol. The ship folded soon after Rheinhardt and the others were away. There's been no word from the SDF-3 since. "
吉因摇了摇头，她深色的皮肤有些苍白。她的头发向后挽进一个发髻，在热情的面容中加入了一些严肃。“我们接收到一些来自泰洛的信息。当莱茵哈特和其他人离开后，SDF-3就进行了折叠，但在那之后就再也没有SDF-3的信息了。”
"I think we should have this discussion elsewhere," Vince said with a hint of suggestion in his voice. "We all have a lot of catching up to do. "
“我想我们可以另外再谈这件事，”文斯建议到，“我们还有许多更重要的事情要做。”
"Colonel," Huxley said before everyone set off, "I do want to apologize for this somewhat subdued welcome." She gestured around the hold with a quivering, aged-hand. "As you can well imagine, we've all been trying to adjust to the loss of our friends and compatriots."
“上校，” 赫胥黎首先说到，“我想为这种有些压抑的迎接方式道歉。”她用她有些颤抖的手指着支点，“正如你想的那样，我们想尽了办法去适应失去朋友和同胞的生活。”
Scott could see that she was referring to the destruction of the fleet rather than the presumed loss of the SDF-3. "I understand, Senator," he told her. "No need for apologies."
斯科特知道她是指舰队的毁灭，而不是SDF-3的消失。“我了解，参议员”，他告诉她，“这不需要道歉。”
"Besides, Colonel," Huxley continued after a deep breath, "what with the Council trying to set up summits with our planetside counterparts and Jean's medical teams doing what they can . . . Well, I'm certain you do understand, Colonel Bernard."
“另外，上校，” 赫胥黎深呼吸了一下，接着说，“委员会正努力举行峰会来建设我们的星球，同时吉因的医疗小组也在竭尽全力……好了，我相信你能明白，伯纳德上校。”
Scott did not envy either group but thought it might be particularly rough going for the Council itself. To the last they had been respected members of the United Earth Government. But that was before the ascendancy of the Army of the Southern Cross, the arrival of the Robotech Masters and the Invid, and the factionalism and isolationalism that had thrived during the occupation. Those would-be leaders below barely trusted their neighbors, let alone a council of lawmakers and theoreticians absent for fifteen years. Scott was not sure whether Huxley, Penn, and the rest had grasped the fact that Earth was a changed world.
斯科特并不羡慕这些小组，只是觉得这特别是为议会服务的。他们毕竟是增经备受尊重的地球联合政府的成员。但这是在南 十字军崛起之前，在罗伯特统治者和因维人到来之前，也是在因维人占领期间各种党派和分离主义者发迹之前。这些潜在的领导人只信任他们的邻居，不相信什么立 法议会。在地球上法律和理论已经缺失了15年了。斯科特布确信赫胥黎，潘以及其他人是否意识到地球已经完全改变了。
Scott found Vince Grant studying him when he looked up. "I know the promotion might not seem like much, Scott, but we haven't gotten around to honoring individual effort just yet."
斯科特抬起头来，发现文斯在观察自己。“我知道升职不代表什么，斯科特，但是到目前为止我们并没有为了个人的努力而表彰。”
Scott was taken aback. "Excuse me, sir, but if you're talking about medals or citations-"
斯科特退了退，“对不起，长官，您是指勋章或者奖状吗？”
"You've certainly earned them, Scott," Jean said hurriedly, glancing up at Vince before showing Scott an uncomfortable look. "We just want you to know-"
“你已经获得了，斯科特。”吉音赶紧说，暗示文斯不要表现出不正常，“我们只是希望你知道……”
Scott held up his hands to stop her from saying anything further. It was a sham, and everyone knew it-or at least they should have. There were no heroes this go-round, Scott said to himself, as he had so often the past three months. No matter who had done what at Reflex Point or anywhere on either side of the envelope.
斯科特举举手阻止她继续说下去。每个人都知道这是个骗局。斯科特告诉自己，正如过去的三个月来的情形一样，无论谁在反射点作了什么，也无论在任何地方做了什么，这里是没有英雄的。
There were only survivors.
这里只有幸存者。
《沙丘》六部曲合集
《波西杰克逊》系列合集
《猎魔人》合集
Dogma of the Church of Recurrent Tragedy as quoted in Weverka T'su's Aftermath: Geopolitical and Religious Movements in the Southlands
“当心天空，因为那片芬芳领域的天蓝色服饰下面伪装着无边的黑暗和罪恶。不要希望在天空能找到和平，因为那里属于地狱。同时要提防从那些天空下来的所有东西，因为那是死亡和毁灭的先兆。”
韦弗卡曲（Weverka T'su）后果的关于周期性悲剧的教堂教义，《南大陆的地缘政治学和宗教发展》
The starship Ark Angel hung in geosynch, 36,000 kilometers above Brazilas in the Southlands. Recently returned from a distant campaign, it alone had been spared the wrath of the Invid's transubstantiating departure, one ship among scores in that moment of victorious defeat.
大天使号飞船停留在南大陆巴西比上空3万6千公里的地球同步轨道。由于刚刚从远太空的战场返回，它避免了被因维人离开的精神火焰消灭的命运，成为唯一一艘在那一刻从失败中逃生的飞船。
Scott Bernard had yet to decide whether its survival constituted a curse or a blessing.
斯科特•伯纳德还不能确认它的幸存究竟是代表诅咒还是祝福。
He could just make out the warship's underbelly through a small oblong viewport set high' up in the curved hull of the chemical shuttle's passenger cabin. A soft-soled boot, freefloating, drew his attention forward, and he watched it for a moment, thinking: Weightless. Hugged to the padded contours of an acceleration couch by web belts and Velcro straps, as if on some nostalgia-steeped theme park ride.
他只能通过一小块安装在曲线型化学乘客舱壳上面的椭圆形观察窗辨别出飞船底部。一只自由悬浮的软底靴状物吸引了他的注意，他看了一会儿，想：无重力悬浮着，就像在怀旧主题的公园漫步，脚印不断扩大并挤在一起。
Although restrained might have been a better word to describe his present circumstance, as in temporarily prevented from doing harm to himself or others. Not that he would. But there were half a dozen G2 analysts planetside who thought differently.
虽然受限制也许能更好的描述他现在的处境，就暂时而言能保护他自己和其他人。不是说他会被伤害，而是有数十个G2分析人员不这么认为。
Scott sniggered aloud, unperturbed by the curious glances his self-amusement had elicited. He returned the looks with interest until one by one each of his fellow passengers in the cramped cabinspace turned away.
斯科特大声地窃笑，也没有被由于他的自我消遣引起的好奇目光而被扰乱。他用感兴趣的目光回敬着，直到那些人一个个转身周开。
Oh, he had it, all right: what Rand had once called the look of the lost.
哦，他也完全做到了兰德曾经叫做迷惑的目光。
Scott inclined his head to one side to get a better angle on the ship, her dark symmetry obscuring a narrow sweep of stars. Built and christened on the other side of the Quadrant, she was the very ship Colonel Wolff had pirated from Tirol orbit years before. The ship that had become the Sentinels' own.
斯科特将头倾斜到一侧以便能有一个更好的角度观察飞船，她那黑色对称形状使一线的星光更加模糊。她正是伍尔夫上校多年前从泰洛轨道上掠夺的那艘飞船，完全在星区的另一边建造和命名，现在是哨兵自己的了。
Running lights illuminated an array of weapons and sensor ports dimpling her underside-retrofitted sometime during the three years since Scott had last seen her-along with a swath of heavily blistered alloy, where angry tendrils loosed from the Invid's mindstuff phoenix had brushed her just three months before. She rested alone in gravity anchor, save for the countless metal fragments that drifted above and below her: the lingering debris clouds of Dolza's fleet; of Little Luna, the Zentraedi factory satellite; of the hapless, goosenecked ships of Mars, Venus, and Jupiter Divisions; of the Robotech Expeditionary Force's tri-thrusters and Karbarran manufactured boilerlike monstrosities.
流动 的光线照亮了窝在她底部的一排武器和探测器舱口 – 这是斯科特最后一次看到她以来的三年中某时进行的翻新 – 旁边是一排由于三个月以前因维人精神凤凰刷过而起泡的合金。她依靠重力锚孤独的停留在那儿，除了无数的金属碎片在她周围漂浮着：有多扎舰队的残骸云；有天 顶星人的卫星工厂（小月亮）；有火星师、金星师和木星师不幸的俄颈状战舰；还有太空堡垒远征军的三维推进器，以及卡巴拉人生产的锅炉状巨人。
Earth was in fact haloed by death and destruction. But liberated-or so it seemed.
地球笼罩在死亡与毁灭的光晕中，但是被解放了，即便看上去是这样的。
A Tiresian-accented voice cautiously interrupted Scott's painful reverie.
一个泰雷西亚口音小心的打断了斯科特痛苦的沉思。
"Colonel Bernard," the woman repeated as Scott turned from the view. She stood wavering in the narrow aisle, Velcroed in place, strands of auburn hair wafting out from under a pearl-gray shuttle bonnet. The smile, too, seemed fastened there, detachable with the slightest tug.
“伯纳德上校，”那个女人重复道，这是斯科特转过身来。她站在那狭小的通道挥手，似乎粘在那儿，一股褐色头发从珍珠灰色的穿梭机引擎盖下飘出来。她的笑容也似乎凝固在那儿，需要轻微的来出来。
"What is it?" Scott asked, masking his thoughts.
“怎么啦？”斯科特隐藏了自己刚才的想法，然后问到。
"Sir, General Grant wishes you to be informed that he'll be on hand to meet the shuttle. Mrs. Grant and Senators Huxley and Penn are with him, sir."
“阁下，格兰特将军希望你知道他将会迎接穿梭机。格兰特女士,赫胥黎和潘参议员也与他在一起，阁下。”
Scott nodded and put on a pleasant face, certain it read as a twisted malicious grin. But the woman only broadened her smile in response and asked if there was anything he needed before docking. He told her he was fine and leaned over to watch her space-step down the aisle, a child learning to walk. So much to relearn, he told himself. So much to forget.
斯科特点点头，换上一副愉快的面孔，当然看起来是一种古怪的怀着恶意的龇牙咧嘴的表情。但是那个女人只是以笑容作为回答，并询问在 降落前他还需要什么。他告诉她一切很好，然后斜靠着看着她的步伐从通道下去，如同小孩学步。有太多的东西需要重新学会，他告诉自己，有太多的需要忘记。
The chemical shuttle itself was symbolic of the change. Launched from a twenty-five-year-old reconstructed base in Venezuela Nueva, the ferry and a handful of others like it were humankind's only existing links with near space. There was the Angel, of course, but she had remained in geosynch ever since the disastrous finale to the assault on Reflex Point, the Invid queen's hivelike stronghold on the North American continent. Word had it that a small portion of the REF's mecha-Alphas and Shadow fighters, principally-was still functioning, but most of the older generation Cyclones and Veritechs had simply given up the ghost.
这 辆化学穿梭机本身就是改变的象征。从有着25年历史的委内瑞拉鲁伊瓦重建基地发射后，这艘穿梭机和少数类似物品是人类唯一现存的与近地空间的联系。当然大 天使号就在那儿，但是自从对反射点，位于北美大陆的因维女王的蜂房据点，的灾难性进攻之后，她就一直位于地球同步轨道。有传言说太空堡垒远征军的一小部分 机甲 – 主要是阿尔法和幻影战机 – 仍然能够使用，但是大多数老式的旋风车和变形车都失效了。
No one knew what to make of the events that had occurred at Reflex Point. In the wake of the Invid departure all sorts of reports had reached Scott and his team of freedom fighters. The REF fleet had been destroyed; it had survived. The Invid had exited the solar system; the Regis had relocated her horde in the Southlands. The SDF-3 had been destroyed; it had manifested from fold and been swallowed up by the Invid phoenix; it had failed to appear at all . . . Eventually, Scott learned that the fleet had indeed been vaporized and that the flagship had failed to emerge from hyperspace. He had not bothered to wait around for verification. With an assist from Lunk and Rand, he had managed to commandeer and make serviceable an anni-disc-ravaged Beta, only to find that the VT was not much good outside the envelope and that the Ark Angel had removed herself to stationary orbit over the Southlands.
没有人知道在反射点究竟发 生了什么事情。在因维人离开后，所有的报告都涉及到斯科特和他的自由战士小组。远征军的舰队被毁灭了，而他们幸存了。因维人退出了太阳系；雷吉斯将她的部 族重新安定在了南大陆。SDF-3被摧毁了，很显然它在折叠时消失在了因维人的凤凰中，然后再也没有出现……最终，斯科特知道了舰队被蒸发了，而他们的旗 舰消失在了超空间中。他没有四处去确认此事。通过伦克和兰德的协助，他找到并修复起用了一架贝塔战机，却只发现变形战机实际上不怎样，而且大天使号已经移 动到南大陆上空的固定轨道了。
It had begun to make sense after the initial anger and disappointment had washed through him. Much of the northern hemisphere was devastated, and where else would reconstruction commence but in the south, where several cities had actually flourished during the occupation. Norristown, once the site of a Protoculture storage facility, was fast emerging as the leader of the pack, and it was there that Scott had ultimately set down. Like a fly on lacquered paper. Mired in red tape for close to two months before Provisional Command had okayed his request to be among those shuttled up to the starship.
当 愤怒和失望过后，他开始慢慢想通了。北半球的多数地方已经毁坏了，除了南大陆没有地方可以重建和修复，在南大陆一些城市在被占领时期实际上繁荣起来了。诺 瑞斯镇，作为曾经的史前文化存储设备的所在地，快速获得了这些城市中的领导地位，而且这里也曾经是斯科特最后住下的地方。如同热过上的蚂蚁般，他在这里煎 熬了快两个月才得到临时司令部的同意获准乘坐穿梭机来到飞船。
The question he had heard most often those two months had been: "Scott who?"
这两个月以来，他听到的最多的问题是：“谁是斯科特？”
It seemed that Mars and Jupiter Divisions were filed away in Command's mainframe as having gone down with all hands, and so the person claiming to be Lieutenant Scott Bernard of the 21st Squadron, Mars Division, had to be a ghost, a zone loonie, or an ambulatory case of what the neurometrics were calling Post-Engagement Synaptic Trauma PEST, for short.
看上去火星师和木星师的档案已经从司令部的主机中消失了，所以一个人说自己是火星师21先遣队的斯科特•伯纳德中尉时，那他就必须是个鬼魂，或者动态脑电图称作的PEST（机甲驾驶员战斗性大脑损伤）。
Ask Dr. Lang about Scott Bernard, he had pressed. I'm his godson, for chrissake!
去问问朗博士谁是斯科特•伯纳德，他催促道。我是他的教子，看在上帝的份上！
Only to hear: "We're sorry, er, Lieutenant Bernard, but Doctor Lang is not available at this time."
他得到的回答只是：“我们感到抱歉，伯纳德中尉，但是朗博士现在不在。”
Later, Scott would learn that his godfather and mentor had been aboard the ill-fated SDF-3 when it had jumped from Tirol. But in the meantime he suggested that Captain Harrington might be able to vouch for him. Harrington had commanded the first wave of Cyclone ground teams the REF had directed against Reflex Point.
以后斯科特将知道当SDF3从泰洛进行跳跃时，他的教父正好在不幸的SDF3上面。同时他说哈林顿上校能够担保他。在远征军进攻反射点时，哈林顿负责指挥地面旋风车的第一波进攻。
After all, it wasn't like he was asking for medals, Scott had assured the analysts. But the least Command could do was acknowledge what he had achieved on the yearlong road to Reflex Point or applaud his one-on-one with the Invid Corg in the seasonally shifting skies above the hive cluster. Why, some of Harrington's team had even seen the Invid simulagent's flame cloud, had even seen Scott go into the central dome!
无论怎样，他并不是在申领勋章，斯科特说服分析师。至少必须承认他在一年多的向反射点进发过程中完成的使命，以及与因维王子考克在蜂房外一对一的决斗。为什么，哈林顿的部分手下看到了因维模拟替代人的火焰，也看到斯科特进入了蜂房内部。
He was sorry he said it even before the words had left his lips.
当他开口之前，他就感到难过。
"Now, uh, what was that you were saying about talking to the Regis, Lieutenant?" the boys from G2 had asked. "You did say something about her being, let me see here, 'a baldheaded column of light twenty feet high.'"
“现在，嗯，请说说看与雷吉斯之间的对话，中尉？”G2的那些男孩问到。“你确实描述过她的形体，在这里‘光头，有20英尺高，由光柱组成’”
And so he had played the PEST for them, steering clear of any mention of Marlene or Sera or any of the mind-boggling time-space displacements he'd experienced inside the hive chambers.
由此他在他们面前进行PEST测试，清楚地描述了关于玛琳，希拉，以及他在蜂房内部经历的令人困惑的时空转移。
In retrospect, he had to ask himself whether pulling out all the stops would have brought the med teams' debriefing reports to Jean Grant's attention any sooner, but they had reached her on their own momentum in any case, and Scott had finally been granted permission to come aboard.
回想一下，他问自己把所有的都说出来是否有助于让医疗小组给吉因•格兰特的报告能尽快得到她的关注，但是他们只为他提供了他们认为重要的东西。终于，斯科特被允许进入飞船。
And issued a battlefield commission to full bird, to boot.
全体人员接受战斗任务，启航。
For Scott it was something else to snigger at: a promotion, in an armed force without ships or soldiers, defenders and liberators of a world that wanted little part of them even now.
对于斯科特来说，另外有一些东西是可笑的：在军队中没有战舰，没有士兵，不需要防卫者与解放者，这时的晋升没有任何意义。
The shuttle docked in one of Ark Angel's starboard bays just as Sol was flooding the eastern coast of the Southlands with morning light. Scott drank in the view that had been denied him when Mars Division had approached a year earlier: Earth's characteristic clouds and swirling weather fronts, its deep-blue water oceans and healing landscape. And for the first time in years he found himself thinking about Base Gloval, his father's forefinger thrust upward into the Martian night, pinpointing a homeworld. Huddled afterward in the prewarmed comfort of his sleep compartment, he would grapple with the notion-that faint light, a home. But even after his family had been transferred to the factory satellite to work on the SDF-3, Scott could not regard Earth as such. And he had so few memories of those years that he called Tirol home now and perhaps always would.
穿梭机停靠在大天使号的右舷的一个港口，就如同Sol用清晨的光束洒在南 大陆的东海岸一样。斯科特醉心的看着一年前火星师抵达时没有仔细观看的这些景色：地球特有的云朵和涡旋状气象锋面（气象术语：指冷暖空气的交汇处），深蓝 色的海洋以及正在复原的大陆。而且这么多年来他第一次发现自己想到了在格罗弗基地，他父亲的食指伸向火星的天空，指着远方微小的故乡星球。蜷缩在自己舒服 的卧室中，他能知道那微弱的光是自己的故乡。但是，即便是他全家都被派到卫星工厂参与SDF-3的工程后，斯科特仍然不能把地球当作自己的故乡。地球在他 的记忆中几乎没有什么印象，因此他把泰洛叫做家乡，而且或许一辈子都会这样了。
Only a week ago he had learned that his parents were still there.
仅仅一周之前他还知道他的父母还在泰洛。
The memories surrendered to more recent recollections as Scott and the rest of the shuttle's privileged boarded a transfer vehicle that ferried them into the ship proper, Ark Angel's artificial gravity settling on him like oppression itself. Nearly every component of the ship was different from what he remembered, from the illumination grids that checkered the holds to the persistent foot-tingling basso of the dreadnought's internal systemry.
当降落到大天使号的人工重力平台后，这些记忆随着斯科特和其他被或许进入大天使号的人员不断的发现而改变。飞船内的每一个部件都与他记忆中的完全不同，不管是棋盘状的照明网格，还是这艘巨型飞船内部系统发出的持续的低音脚步声。
He soon caught sight of Vince Grant, towering walnuthrown and square-shouldered over a small gathering of civilians and military personnel bottlenecked at the arrival hold's security gate. There were hands in the air, salutes, a welter of voices that brought to mind vid-scenes of turn-of-the-entury airport arrivals, and it was obvious to Scott all at once that the REF was as altered as the Angel herself. He sensed something cool but determined in the ship's slightly sour air, a single-mindedness at work he had not experienced since Tiresia.
抵 达坞狭窄的安全门处聚集着一群文职人员和军官，他很快就从中看到了文斯•格兰特那显眼的大个头和宽肩膀。空中全是挥手和敬礼以及混乱的声音，仿佛回到了实 际之初的机场到达厅，这样使斯科特明显感到远征军也发生了变化。从飞船内部稍稍混浊的空气中，他察觉到某种冷静而坚定的东西，一种坚定工作的意志，一种自 从离开泰雷西亚以后就没有经历的意志。
A male aide appeared out of the crowd to escort him through security, and a moment later he stood facing the Grants and the two Plenipotentiary Council senators. "Colonel Bernard, reporting as ordered," Scott said with a crisp salute. "Permission to come aboard, sir?"
一名男副官从人群中走出来护送他通过安全检测，片刻后他就见到了格兰特夫妇和两名议会参议员。“伯纳德上校前来报道，”斯科特行了一个干脆的军礼，“请允许登陆，长官？”
"Granted," Vince returned, working the muscles of his massive jaw into a tight-kipped smile. "Welcome home, Scott. "
“同意，”文斯回答道，他那宽大的下巴露出一丝微笑，“欢迎归队，斯科特。”
"Oh, Scott," Jean said, rushing forward to embrace him. "God, let me look at you."
“噢，斯科特，”吉因冲过来抱着他，“上帝，让我看看。”
He took a step back to allow for just that, extending a hand at the same time to Justine Huxley, then Dr. Penn. Vince and Jean were outfitted in modified REF uniforms, collarless now but with flared shoulders and simleather torso harnesses retained. The senators wore loose-fitting jumpsuits of a design that had originated on Garuda.
他后退了一步让她能看清楚，同时跟贾斯汀•赫胥黎以及潘博士一一握手。文斯和吉因穿着远征军的制服（没有领子，宽大的肩部以及传统的皮制胸甲）。参议员则穿着宽松的跳伞服，一种来源于揭路荼(印度神话中鹰头人身的金翅鸟)的设计。
"Good to see you, my boy," Penn said with paternal sincerity. "I only wish Emil and Karen could be here with us." There was no mention of Karen's lover, Jack Baker; certainly there was no love lost between Dr. Penn and Baker, in any case. Karen, like Bowie Grant, had elected to ship out aboard the SDF-3. Let them all have better luck than Marlene and I had, Scott thought. Even if that means dying together. The scientist's words had thrown a curtain of silence around the five of them, a spot of stasis amid the bustling activity in the hold. "Is there any word?" Scott asked, hoping to break the spell.
“真高兴见到你，我的孩子，”潘以父亲的真挚说道，“我真希望 埃米尔和凯伦能在这儿。”他没有提凯伦的爱人，杰克•贝克；当然无论怎样，潘博士与贝克之间是没有爱意的。如同鲍伊•格兰特，凯伦选择加入了SDF-3。 希望他们比我和玛琳更幸运，斯科特想到，即便是指死在一起。潘的话使刚才活跃的气氛出现了一丝的寂静。“其他呢？”斯科特问到，希望能打破这种沉默。
Jean shook her head, her dark honey complexion paled by the exchange. Her hair was pulled back into a tight chignon, imparting a touch of severity to what was normally the warmest of faces. "We've received some garbled subtrans from Tirol. The ship folded soon after Rheinhardt and the others were away. There's been no word from the SDF-3 since. "
吉因摇了摇头，她深色的皮肤有些苍白。她的头发向后挽进一个发髻，在热情的面容中加入了一些严肃。“我们接收到一些来自泰洛的信息。当莱茵哈特和其他人离开后，SDF-3就进行了折叠，但在那之后就再也没有SDF-3的信息了。”
"I think we should have this discussion elsewhere," Vince said with a hint of suggestion in his voice. "We all have a lot of catching up to do. "
“我想我们可以另外再谈这件事，”文斯建议到，“我们还有许多更重要的事情要做。”
"Colonel," Huxley said before everyone set off, "I do want to apologize for this somewhat subdued welcome." She gestured around the hold with a quivering, aged-hand. "As you can well imagine, we've all been trying to adjust to the loss of our friends and compatriots."
“上校，” 赫胥黎首先说到，“我想为这种有些压抑的迎接方式道歉。”她用她有些颤抖的手指着支点，“正如你想的那样，我们想尽了办法去适应失去朋友和同胞的生活。”
Scott could see that she was referring to the destruction of the fleet rather than the presumed loss of the SDF-3. "I understand, Senator," he told her. "No need for apologies."
斯科特知道她是指舰队的毁灭，而不是SDF-3的消失。“我了解，参议员”，他告诉她，“这不需要道歉。”
"Besides, Colonel," Huxley continued after a deep breath, "what with the Council trying to set up summits with our planetside counterparts and Jean's medical teams doing what they can . . . Well, I'm certain you do understand, Colonel Bernard."
“另外，上校，” 赫胥黎深呼吸了一下，接着说，“委员会正努力举行峰会来建设我们的星球，同时吉因的医疗小组也在竭尽全力……好了，我相信你能明白，伯纳德上校。”
Scott did not envy either group but thought it might be particularly rough going for the Council itself. To the last they had been respected members of the United Earth Government. But that was before the ascendancy of the Army of the Southern Cross, the arrival of the Robotech Masters and the Invid, and the factionalism and isolationalism that had thrived during the occupation. Those would-be leaders below barely trusted their neighbors, let alone a council of lawmakers and theoreticians absent for fifteen years. Scott was not sure whether Huxley, Penn, and the rest had grasped the fact that Earth was a changed world.
斯科特并不羡慕这些小组，只是觉得这特别是为议会服务的。他们毕竟是增经备受尊重的地球联合政府的成员。但这是在南 十字军崛起之前，在罗伯特统治者和因维人到来之前，也是在因维人占领期间各种党派和分离主义者发迹之前。这些潜在的领导人只信任他们的邻居，不相信什么立 法议会。在地球上法律和理论已经缺失了15年了。斯科特布确信赫胥黎，潘以及其他人是否意识到地球已经完全改变了。
Scott found Vince Grant studying him when he looked up. "I know the promotion might not seem like much, Scott, but we haven't gotten around to honoring individual effort just yet."
斯科特抬起头来，发现文斯在观察自己。“我知道升职不代表什么，斯科特，但是到目前为止我们并没有为了个人的努力而表彰。”
Scott was taken aback. "Excuse me, sir, but if you're talking about medals or citations-"
斯科特退了退，“对不起，长官，您是指勋章或者奖状吗？”
"You've certainly earned them, Scott," Jean said hurriedly, glancing up at Vince before showing Scott an uncomfortable look. "We just want you to know-"
“你已经获得了，斯科特。”吉音赶紧说，暗示文斯不要表现出不正常，“我们只是希望你知道……”
Scott held up his hands to stop her from saying anything further. It was a sham, and everyone knew it-or at least they should have. There were no heroes this go-round, Scott said to himself, as he had so often the past three months. No matter who had done what at Reflex Point or anywhere on either side of the envelope.
斯科特举举手阻止她继续说下去。每个人都知道这是个骗局。斯科特告诉自己，正如过去的三个月来的情形一样，无论谁在反射点作了什么，也无论在任何地方做了什么，这里是没有英雄的。
There were only survivors.
这里只有幸存者。