第三章
The motion to leave Earth irradiated rather than leave it to the Invid Regis was carried by a narrow margin. Balloting was kept secret, and there has yet to be discovered a person-by-person breakdown of the vote. Of the ten members of the [Plenipotentiary] Council, there are believed to have been two abstentions from Stinson and Longchamps. Obstat, Huxley, and others have elsewhere indicated the basis of their individual decisions. Of the participating members of the REF command staff, seven voted in favor of using the Neutron-S missiles, five against. It is altogether ironic that the decision to irradiate Earth was arrived at in Tiresia, where, centuries before, the Robotech Masters had sentenced Optera to suffer a similar fate.
Ahmed Rashona, That Pass in the Night: The SDF-3 and the Mission to Tirol
毁 灭地球，而不让因维人雷吉斯占有地球，这一项动议只获得了极其微弱的支持。投票是在完全保密的情况下进行的，每一个人的态度外界都不知道。10人委员会中 的两位，斯汀森和朗钱普斯投了弃权票。奥伯斯塔特，赫胥黎和其他人都表明了自己的立场。而参加表决的远征军指挥官中，有7人赞成使用中子S导弹，5人反 对。相当具有讽刺意味的是：毁灭地球的决定是在泰雷西亚达成的，而在正是这里，几个世纪以前，洛波特统治者们宣判了奥普特拉类似的命运。
艾姆德•拉索纳，《穿越黑夜：SDF-3和前往泰洛的任务》
Lisa dreamed a tunnel in the sky, a radiant corridor stretching timeless across the heavens. Warm to her hands and bare feet, secure and enfolding, redolent with aromas of spring and summer. At one end her father waved good-bye, a smashing figure in his United Earth Government tunic with its breast salad of ribbons and braid; at the other end was a patch of scudded sky that could have belonged only to once-upon-a-time Earth.
丽莎梦见天空出现了一个隧道，仿佛一条光芒四射的走廊在天上无限制的绵延。她的手脚能感觉到温 暖，安全和可靠，也想起了春天和夏天弥漫的芬芳。在另外一边，她的父亲在挥手道别，身上穿着布满绶带和镶边的联合地球政府的制服；而在另外一边是一小片飘 着蒙蒙小雨的天空，那是曾经属于以前的地球的一种美景。
It occurred to her that she could not have been more than seventeen, returning to Macross Island after her first real leave. Was this carpeting below her, then? The warm glow the lights of some airport concourse or jetway?
她仿佛回到了17岁以前，仿佛再次回到了麦克罗斯岛。毯子的温暖使机场的人群和跑道都变成了红色的光晕。
But where were the flight attendants, then; where were her guides? And how could she hope to find her seat without a boarding pass?
但是飞行随从去哪儿了？她的向导去哪儿了呢？没有登机牌，她怎么才能找到自己的座位呢？
She slapped the pockets of her long coat as she walked, panic gaining on her. The light ahead was almost too intense to behold, like the sun itself on a cloudless south Pacific afternoon when there was not a breeze in the world.
她就这么走着，不停的拍打着自己长衫的口袋，恐惧感越来越强烈。前面的光线强烈得无法直视，如同在没有风没有云的某个下午照射到太平洋上的阳光一样。
The hot sand was making her hurry along, but it was the voice she was responding to now. The panic evaporated, trailing behind her ghostly and diffuse, and the warmth returned. Her mother's voice, her arthritic hand waving in the light at the end of the corridor. Her guide, to be sure, a smile broadening as Lisa outran the years; the deaths and disappearances that ruined her garden. A child as she approached the light, Earth too remote to touch ...
炙热的沙子迫使她显得匆忙，但是那种声音她现在能感觉到了。惊慌消失 了，她身后的足迹也朦胧的散开来，她又能感到温暖了。母亲的声音和不太灵活的手在走廊另一端的光线中挥舞……她这些年以来的向导向她微笑……她那毁坏的花 园……她像一个孩子般靠近那些光线，却发现地球是如此遥不可及……
I'm dead! she thought?
我已经死了！她想？
-as noise filled her up and air swelled her lungs, bringing renewed life to her pounding heart. A dream, she told herself, the recurrent one her mind reserved for hyperspace folds.
此时噪声惊醒了她，使她重新回到这个世界中来。她告诉自己是一个梦，一个不断重复的关于超空间折叠的梦。
Everyone had them, those nightmares and visions, brief excursions to private heavens or hells. Space lace, some of the crew called it. With an ever-present out-of-body component, an after-life accompaniment.
每一个人都会有这样的噩梦和幻像，如同在自己的天堂或者地狱进行的一次旅行。一些乘务员把它叫做空间缎带，一种身外之物或者殉葬品。
Only this time she had died, and that had never happened before. Grief coursed through her, a profound sense of loss, a kind of terminal nostalgia. Had it been stirred by the dream? Or did it emanate from the nurturing other she had discovered within herself?
这一次她似乎已经死了。一种失去的悲伤深深的困扰着她。这是梦导致的吗？还是由于她对自己心灵深处的新的发现引起的？
Roy was suddenly on her mind, her bright center in the universe, her barely five-year-old hero. The thought of having to open her eyes filled her with fear. But open them she would.
她突然想到了罗伊，她那五岁的儿子和她生活的希望与中心。必须睁开眼睛的想法是她感到恐惧，但是她必须这么做。
And the grief propagated.
悲伤的情绪传播开来。
The SDF-3 bridge was as dark and silent as a tomb. Sweat burst from her palms like splinters of ice.
SDF-3的舰桥如同坟墓般黑寂。汗水就像破裂的冰一样从她的手掌中冲出来。
"Lieutenant Toler," she said. "Mister Hakawa?"
“托勒中尉，”她叫到，“羽川先生？”
"Here, sir," someone answered from a duty station behind the command chair. She called to the rest-Williamson, Price, Martino-and one by one they responded, reborn from dreams. Lisa flathanded the com-line stud built into the arm of the chair and called for Dr. Lang in engineering.
“我在这里，长官。”一个声音从指挥座椅后面的值班台回答到。她继续点名，威廉森，普莱斯，马蒂诺。他们一一从恶梦中醒来，一一作了回答。然后，丽莎按下座椅扶手上的通信钮，呼叫工程舱的朗博士。
"All systems are down, Sir," said a voice in the darkness-Price, Lisa ventured correctly. "No response from any of the backups: It's like we're unplugged."
“所有系统都不工作了，长官”黑暗中，一个声音说到，丽莎猜想是普莱斯。“任何备用装置都没有响应。我们没有动力了。”
"Nonsense," Lisa returned. "We're obviously not weightless, Mister Price. And unless we've somehow defolded on Earth's surface, I'd hazard a guess some systems are operational."
“荒唐，”丽莎回答道，“显然我们还没有失重，普莱斯先生。除非我们反折叠到地球表面，否则我打赌还有一些系统是能工作的。”
"Yes, sir."
“是，长官。”
"Doesn't anyone keep a damn flashlight up here?" she said, cautiously feeling her way out of the chair. Off to her right she heard a pneumatic hiss, a tear of Velcro. "Everyone stay put," she called toward the sound. "We're still on full alert, gentlemen. Besides, I don't want anyone walking into a bulkhead. "She directed her voice starboard, toward Toler's station beneath the threat board. "Mister Toler, you're the youngest among us. How's your vision?"
“谁有手电筒？”她说到，小心的走出椅子。她听到右边有密封圈漏气的声音。“大家小心，”她大声说，“我们仍然需要保持全力警惕，先生们。此外，我不希望有人撞倒墙壁。”她对着右舷托勒的方位说道，“托勒先生，你最小，看到什么了吗？”
"Better than perfect, sir," Toler told her, a crack in his voice on the last word.
“好得不能再好了，长官。”托勒的回答中带着一丝撕裂的尾声。
"Do you think you can make your way to the hatch and engage the override?"
“你能走到手动装置并启动它么？”
"With my eyes closed, sir."
“我能闭着眼睛走过去，长官。”
Everyone laughed, and the tension eased somewhat. "Yes, well, you can keep your eyes open, Lieutenant. This isn't a test of your agility. I just want to know if the whole ship's in this fix."
大家都放松的笑了。“是的，当然你可以睁开眼，中尉。这不是要测试你的灵活性。我只是想知道整个飞船都不能动了。”
"I understand, sir."
“我知道了，长官。”
Lisa heard Toler's chair swivel. A few moments later came the low thud of retracting bolts. The air stirred as the hatch slid open and the sound of half a dozen voices drifted in from the operations room. Toler and someone else made startled sounds. "What happened?" Lisa asked.
丽莎听到托勒转动他的椅子。过了一会儿又传出了收起门拴的抨击声。舱内滑梯打开了，空气中传来操作间内十几个人的声音。托勒和另外一个人发出吃惊的声音。“发生了什么事情？”丽莎问道。
A man's voice growled: "Who is that?"
这时一个男子的声音问到：“你是谁？”
"Lieutenant Toler. Who's that?"
“托勒中尉。你是谁？”
"Commander Forsythe, Lieutenant. Stand aside."
“福尔赛提指挥官，中尉。请让让。”
"Sir!" Toler snapped.
“长官！”托勒惊讶道。
Lisa heard a hollow meeting of flesh and bone and a follow up wince of pain. "Damn, boy," her bald-headed exec said, "you don't have to salute me!"
丽莎听到了骨肉相碰的声音，然后是一个由于疼痛而退缩的声音。“该死的，小伙子”她那谢顶的副官说，“你不需要向我敬礼！”
Just then the emergency lights came up, banks at a time, red and somber throughout the bridge. A slight shudder swept through the ship, and Klaxons wailed midnote, signaling battle stations.
就在此时红色的应急灯亮了，照着昏暗的舰桥内部。飞船抖动了一下，如同克拉克森悲伤的曲谱，指示着各个战位。
"That's more like it," Lisa enthused. "Showing up crippled would send one hell of a message to the Regis."
“这就更像了”丽莎激动道：“可以给雷吉斯一个信息了。”
Forsythe stepped through the hatch, throwing Toler a hard look before joining Price at one of the forward heads-up display screens.
福尔赛提走过舱口，狠狠地蹬了托勒一眼，然后与普莱斯一起走到前方的显示屏。
"We're still dead in space, sir," Hakawa updated. "Auxiliary power forward and to all priority stations, but all scanning, ECM, and defense systems are non-op."
“我们仍然困在这里，长官。”羽川更新着。“辅助能量已经提供给了所有的优先岗位，但是所有的扫描，ECM和防御系统都不能工作。”
"Can we determine our position?" Forsythe asked. "Negative, sir Guidance, telemetry, and astrogation are still down."
“能确认我们目前的位置吗？”福尔赛提问，“看来不能，长官。导向装置，遥测装置和空间航行装置仍旧不能工作。”
Lisa traded frowns with Forsythe and glanced over her shoulder at the watch officer. "Well, we can at least take a look outside, can't we?"
丽莎皱着眉与福尔赛提交换了一下眼神，然后向身旁的观测军官问道：“好吧，至少我们还能看看外面的东西，不是吗？”
"Yes, sir."
“是，长官。”
"Raise the forward cowl, Mister Hakawa," Forsythe said impatiently.
“升起前向通风口，羽川先生。”福尔赛提不耐烦地说到。
Lisa could barely contain herself. It was almost as though she could dismiss this latest snafu the way a cyclist might shrug off a punctured tire after a thousand-mile journey. Earth, after close to fifteen years. With nothing unforeseen in store for them this time: no accidental jumps to Pluto, no fold hitchhikers to rescue, no surprise attacks by alien cruisers. The REF knew who and what they had come for: the Regis and the world they had lost to her. They knew, too, the Shock Troopers and Pincers they would be facing, and they knew how to engage them.
丽 莎几乎不能容忍自己了。她真想摆脱这种混乱的局面，就像一个自行车手经过长途旅行后扔掉千疮百孔的轮胎。离开地球15年了。这次他们却看不到任何希望：不 是意外的跳跃到冥王星，没有需要营救的折叠旅行者，没有外星舰队的进攻。远征军明白自己的角色和目标：雷吉斯和被她占领的世界。他们也知道会面对震爆机甲 和蟹型机甲，并如何战胜它们。
And best of all, they knew they would succeed.
而且最重要的是，他们知道自己会成功。
Six years of effort had gone into this one day, and the fleet that was the result of that labor would be spread out before them, weapons arrays and combat mecha targeted for Reflex Point. Earth, Lisa said to herself again as the forward view port shields retracted. Earth!
6年的努力变成了这一天，辛勤建立起来的舰队、武器和战斗机甲都瞄准了反射点。当前向观察口关闭后，“地球”丽莎又一次的对自己说到。地球！
Light of a sort began to filter onto the bridge, only it was neither the welcome warmth of Sol nor the reflected brilliance of their blue-white homeworld.
某种光线经过过滤照射到舰桥，但这不是太阳（Sol）欢迎的热情，也不是地球蓝白色的光辉。
It was the alien light at the end of Lisa's tunnel in the sky. It was death light.
这是丽莎梦境中通道末端外星的光线。代表死亡的光线。
On the command balcony of the fortress's cavernous Tactical Information Center, Rick Hunter stared uncomprehendingly at the monitors affixed to the portside bulkhead.
SDF-3巨大的战术信息中心的指挥室里，瑞克•亨特迷惘的看着墙壁上的显示器。
"I'm sorry, sir," an enlisted-rating tech stationed at a nearby console repeated, "but the opticals are on-line. This is the external view. Sir."
“对不起，长官。”附近一个控制台边的一位应征入伍的技术员重复道，“但是可以直接用肉眼观察。这里是外面的情况，长官。”
In the phasing, satanic illumination of the emergency lights the room could have been a corner of hell. Rick would have taken odds that it was just that: the hell of his space lace given shape during the fold. But unlike Lisa's recurrent tunnel, Rick's nightmare vision did not require a jump to ignite it. The set, the setting, the thousand separate elements that composed it could all be traced back to the Genesis Pits on Optera. Walk away from it you might, but turn around and the fear would be there, waiting for you, beckoning you back into its sinister embrace.
这个时候应急灯那显得恶魔似的灯光使得整个房间如同地狱的一个角落。瑞克可能是这么想的：这该死的空 间缎带是由于折叠形成的。但是不同于丽莎梦境中不断出现的通道，瑞克的噩梦不需要用跳跃来引起幻像。构成目前这个现实的所有这些成千上万的独立事件都可以 被追溯到奥普特拉上的进化坑。你可以避开它，但是你一旦回过头就会感到恐惧在那儿召唤你回到它凶险的怀抱。
An intercom buzzed insistently at Rick's back. "Command One," he heard his adjutant say at last. "Doctor Lang, Admiral," the colonel continued, conveying the mobile over to him.
对讲机在瑞克的后面不断的发出嗡嗡的声音。“1号命令，”最后他听到他的副手在说，“将军，是朗博士。”这位上校一边说，一边把对讲机地给了他。
"What the hell's going on?" Rick shouted into the mouth piece. "Where are we?" He glanced at the monitors once more before proceeding. "It looks like fog out there, Lang. Is that possible?"
“到底发生了什么事情？”瑞克对着话筒咆哮。“我们这是在哪儿？”他又看了一眼所有的显示器，继续道：“这里好像冒出了很多烟，朗。这可能吗？”
"I would like to humor you, Admiral," Lang said, "but, unfortunately, there is little humor in the situation. And if it is indeed a fog, as you suggest, it is of the quantum sort. We have life support, but little else, as I'm sure you're aware. "
“我可以跟你开玩笑，将军，”朗说到，“但是不幸的是，现在的情况不允许开什么玩笑。如果像你所判断的那样，这真是烟的话，这种烟是属于量子级别的。我们目前还有生命维持系统，但是其他的几乎没有，我相信你明白这一点。”
Rick's boot continued to tap the floor long after Lang had finished. The two men had grown distant from each other on Tirol, Lang like some Prometheus with his facsimile Protoculture matrix, and Rick busy with Roy more often than not. The wizard of Robotechnology kept getting stranger while Rick just kept getting grayer.
与朗的对话结束后，瑞克用靴子不停的踢着地板。自从来到了泰洛以后，他们两个就疏远了，朗就像普罗米修斯般沉迷于他的复制史前文化矩阵，而瑞克则忙于照顾罗伊。这位洛波特技术的巫师变得越来越奇怪，而与此同时瑞克则变得越来越苍老。
"How long before you can return power to the drives?" Rick demanded.
“你需要多久才能恢复动力？”瑞克问道。
It was to be the REF's final battle, he thought, the one that was to decide their fate, return to them their homeworld or send them back to Tirol, an irradiated Earth in their wake.
这将是远征军最后的战役，他想，这场战役将会决定他们的命运，是还给他们即将毁灭的地球还是退回到泰洛去。
Lang launched his patented maniacal laugh through the earpiece. "Perhaps you should abandon your post for a moment and come below, Admiral. There's something I'd like you to see."
耳机里面传来朗那标志性的狂笑声；“将军，你也许应该暂时离开你的岗位到下面来一下。我相信这里的东西会使你感兴趣的。”
"I don't have time for this, Lang," Rick told him. "Just tell me where we are." He heard the urgency in his voice and noted that his adjutant was fixing him with a concerned look.
“我没有时间下来，朗，”瑞克回答道，“快告诉我，我们现在在哪儿。”他听出自己的声音中带有的紧迫感，也注意到他的副官正关注的看着他。
Lang's laugh trailed off as he cleared his throat. "You may not like the answer, Admiral. "
朗停止了笑，并清了清喉咙，说道：“你可能不会喜欢答案，将军。”
Rick's hold on the phone became viselike. "You let me lie the judge of that."
瑞克紧紧地握着话筒：“你让我来自己判断。”
Lang was quiet a moment, then said: "Nowhere."
朗沉默了一会儿后说：“不在任何（我们已知的）地方。”
In whispered voices behind cupped hands it was often suggested that Dr. Emil Lang ran the ship. Not that he had much to do with command decisions or actual hands-on astrogation, but that he ran the ship in the sense of driving the ship, fueling it. Word was passed in those same engineering huddles that the Reflex furnaces and Protoculture drives were nothing but pretense-mock-ups constructed to put the uninitiated at ease-when in fact Lang himself was the drives. Lang folded space; Lang jumped the fortress from realm to realm.
一直以来都有一种传 言，认为是艾米尔•朗博士操控飞船的。并不是说他亲自动手或者发布命令进行宇宙航行，而是因为他用意识操纵飞船，并为它提供动力。那些混乱的工程师们认为 反射炉和史前文化动力不过是对不知内情的人的一种可笑掩饰，而真正的动力来自于朗自己。朗进行空间折叠；朗使堡垒在不同的空域中进行跳跃。
Lang was aware of all the rumors but did little to discourage them. Myths concerning his powers and prowess had been in the making since the first day he had set foot inside the grounded SDF-1. No one had seen him take the Protoculture mindboost that had altered the direction of his life, but they had read the change in his reshaped eyes. And had his eyes not betrayed him, even had he not taken the boost, they would have invented it for the myth, witnessed that he alone among Earthers was destined to see deeper and clearer than the rest, that the Protoculture had a natural affinity for him.
朗知道这所有的传言，但是他并没有去揭穿它们。关于 他非凡的力量和技术的神话从他第一次踏入SDF-1那天就开始了。没有人看到他利用史前文化来提升自己的智力从而改变了自己的一生，但是人们却从他变形的 眼睛中看到了变化。如果不是他的眼睛表明了变化，甚至他也没有提胜过自己的智力，当看到它比其他任何地球人都能更加深层和清楚的了解史前文化，并为其着 迷，人们只能把这一切归结为神话。
But that was just the sort of thinking that pointed out how great a distance he had yet to travel. The ship's drive, he sniggered to himself. Hardly. The ship's driven, perhaps; the SDF-3's preconscious libidinal urge ...
但是那种想法只能表明他曾经经过了非常远的探索。飞船的驱动器，他暗笑着。勉强这么认为吧。飞船的驱动器，也许吧；SDF-3的预知本能的动力……
Lang lifted his eyes to regard the displays once more. On screen were remote views into the heart of the fortress's power plant; safely rendered for a mortal's eyes, for one did not look long into the naked eye of God and live to describe it. But there was a burning bush now, no ten thousand stars or golden heavens, simply the absence of those things. What Lang saw instead was a reflection of his own pride, the hubris that had dominated him for the past five years. He and Cabell and the Zor-clone, Rem, harvesting the Flower of Life from Optera's regrown fields, coaxing the secret of the Shapings from its trifoliate core, creating a matrix of their own design. And now this.
朗抬起头再次看着显示器。屏幕上显 示着堡垒动力矩阵的心脏部分：对凡人的眼睛（这样的眼睛无需长时间的看着上帝的眼睛，也不是用来形容这些德）而言是安全的。但是现在一切都没有了，没有星 星没有天空，什么都没有。朗看到的实际上是自己五年以来傲慢情结的一种反射。他，卡贝尔，以及佐尔的克隆体， 雷，共同在奥普特拉上面重新播种生命之花，试图从造物者那儿破解这种三叶植物核心的秘密，从而创造出自己设计的矩阵。现在就是这个东西（指动力矩阵）了。
Lang saw his face in the display screen and laughed out loud. The Shapings were teaching him a lesson.
朗看着显示屏中自己的脸，突然大声地笑出声来。造物者一直在给他一个教训。
He was still laughing when Rick Hunter rushed in, threading his way through the chaos, techs and their bewildered assistants moving frantically from station to station.
直到瑞克•亨特冲进来后他还在笑着，笑声穿过了混乱的人群，技术人员以及忙忙碌碌地在不同岗位之间穿梭的不知所措的助手们。
"What'd you get me down here for, Lang?" Rick barked, pacing behind Lang's chair and glaring down at him.
“你让我到下面来干什么，朗？”瑞克走到朗的身后瞪着他吼道。
Lang's upturned look was unreadable as he indicated the displays. His humanity as well as his age seemed to have been arrested by continual contact with the Protoculture.
朗的目光盯着显示屏，显得僵化而且无法理解。他的人性和年纪似乎随着他与史前文化不断的接触而停止了。
"See for yourself, Admiral."
“你自己看吧，将军。”
Rick spread his hands atop the console and leaned toward an on-screen computer-enhanced translation of the engines' subatomic fire. He held the pose for a moment, then glanced at Lang in annoyance. "I don't see anything wrong, Doctor."
瑞克把头伸向控制台上方并尽量靠近屏幕，屏幕上面强化的显示着引擎原子内着火的景象。他保持了一会儿这样的姿势，然后看着朗厌烦的说：“我看不出有什么一样，博士。”
Lang snorted. "No, of course you wouldn't, Admiral." Rick was used to the condescending tone.
朗哼着说：“不，你当然看不出，将军。”瑞克已经一贯了这种故意屈尊的语气。
"Explain." The Roboscientist sighed and blanked the monitor with a tap of a crooked forefinger. "It has vanished, Admiral-the Protoculture. Disappeared. "
“这样说吧。”洛波特科学家叹息着用他那弯曲的食指关掉了显示器，“它消失了，将军，史前文化消失了。不见了。”
Rick's dark brows beetled. He reached out to reactivate the screen, but Lang's powerful hand restrained him.
瑞克阴沉的脸庞茫然了。他靠近前去试图重新打开显示屏，但是被朗那有力的手阻止了。
"Take my word for it, Admiral, the Protoculture has vanished." It would have been senseless to talk about the shadowy presence of the black-robed wraiths Rem had taught him to recognize. "Yes, exactly as it disappeared from the SDF-1," he added, discerning Rick's thoughts.
“相信我的话吧，将军，史前文化已经消失了。”现在谈及雷曾经教他辨识的黑袍幽灵鬼魅般的出现已经没有意义了。“是的，就如同它从SDF-1上面消失一样。”他察觉出瑞克的想法，补充道，
"But how?" Rick began. "Why?"
“但是如何消失的呢？”瑞克发问，“为什么会消失呢？”
"To teach us a lesson, I think."
“给我们一个教训，我这么认为。”
Rick shook his head. "A lesson?" He swept his arm through an all-encompassing gesture. "Listen to me, Lang. Rheinhardt and the rest of the fleet are out there waiting for us. Do you understand what that means?"
瑞克摇着头。“教训？”他作出一种围绕的手势。“听我说，朗。莱茵哈特和舰队的其他人都在那儿等着我们。你知道那意味着什么吗？”
The scientist gave him a pitying look. "I assure you, Admiral, the fleet is not out there."
这个科学家同情的看着他：“我想你担保，将军，舰队已经不在那儿了。”
"Then where the hell are we?" Rick said, at the end of his rope. "And don't tell me nowhere."
“那么我们究竟在什么该死的地方？”瑞克问，“不要告诉我不在任何地方。”
Lang folded his arms and met the intensity of Rick's gaze. "All right. It's possible that we're still in hyperspace, although there is no evidence to support the hypothesis. It's also possible that we have died, as some of the ship's personnel are suggesting. Or that we have somehow jumped to a void in intergalactic space, perhaps jumped beyond the expansion wave of the big bang itself."
朗交叉起双手，看着瑞克紧张的凝视。“好吧。可能我们还在超空间里面，虽然现在没有证据来支持这种假设。也有可能的是，我们已经死了，就象一些船员所说得那样。或者也许我们跳跃到了星系之间的某个真空，也许跳出了膨胀波以外。”
Rick went wide-eyed. "You mean we've jumped outside the galaxy?"
瑞克张大了眼睛说：“你是指我们跳出了星系以外？”
Lang shrugged. "It's simply one theory among many. A jump beyond time could perhaps explain how and why the Protoculture vanished, although our own continued existence would seem to contraindicate it."
朗耸耸肩说：“这只是众多假设中的一种。超越时间的跳跃能够解释史前文化的消失，虽然我们自己的继续存在似乎与此矛盾。”
Rick staggered backward into a chair adjacent to Lang's. "But-but there has to be something out there."
瑞克吃惊的坐回到朗旁边的一张椅子上，“但-但是那里的外面应该还有一些别的东西。”
Lang shook his head. "Not according to our instruments. We are nowhere, Admiral. Not even a when that I can determine. I'm sorry, but there's no other way to put it."
朗摇摇头，“根据我们的仪器显示，没有。我们不在任何（我们已知的）地方，将军。甚至我也不能确信现在的时间。很抱歉，但是也没有其他的方法来确认。”
Rick turned to face him. "Then get us somewhere, Doctor."
瑞克转过身对着他，“那么让我们到某个（能确定的）地方吧，博士”
Lang rubbed his chin. "What would you have me do fashion a world for you out of nothingness?"
朗摸着下巴说：“我怎么能无中生有的为你创造出一个世界呢？”
Rick forced out his breath. "Yes, damn it. Fashion us a world if you have to."
瑞克摒住呼吸说道：“该死。如果必要，给我们创造出一个世界。”
《沙丘》六部曲合集
《波西杰克逊》系列合集
《猎魔人》合集
Ahmed Rashona, That Pass in the Night: The SDF-3 and the Mission to Tirol
毁 灭地球，而不让因维人雷吉斯占有地球，这一项动议只获得了极其微弱的支持。投票是在完全保密的情况下进行的，每一个人的态度外界都不知道。10人委员会中 的两位，斯汀森和朗钱普斯投了弃权票。奥伯斯塔特，赫胥黎和其他人都表明了自己的立场。而参加表决的远征军指挥官中，有7人赞成使用中子S导弹，5人反 对。相当具有讽刺意味的是：毁灭地球的决定是在泰雷西亚达成的，而在正是这里，几个世纪以前，洛波特统治者们宣判了奥普特拉类似的命运。
艾姆德•拉索纳，《穿越黑夜：SDF-3和前往泰洛的任务》
Lisa dreamed a tunnel in the sky, a radiant corridor stretching timeless across the heavens. Warm to her hands and bare feet, secure and enfolding, redolent with aromas of spring and summer. At one end her father waved good-bye, a smashing figure in his United Earth Government tunic with its breast salad of ribbons and braid; at the other end was a patch of scudded sky that could have belonged only to once-upon-a-time Earth.
丽莎梦见天空出现了一个隧道，仿佛一条光芒四射的走廊在天上无限制的绵延。她的手脚能感觉到温 暖，安全和可靠，也想起了春天和夏天弥漫的芬芳。在另外一边，她的父亲在挥手道别，身上穿着布满绶带和镶边的联合地球政府的制服；而在另外一边是一小片飘 着蒙蒙小雨的天空，那是曾经属于以前的地球的一种美景。
It occurred to her that she could not have been more than seventeen, returning to Macross Island after her first real leave. Was this carpeting below her, then? The warm glow the lights of some airport concourse or jetway?
她仿佛回到了17岁以前，仿佛再次回到了麦克罗斯岛。毯子的温暖使机场的人群和跑道都变成了红色的光晕。
But where were the flight attendants, then; where were her guides? And how could she hope to find her seat without a boarding pass?
但是飞行随从去哪儿了？她的向导去哪儿了呢？没有登机牌，她怎么才能找到自己的座位呢？
She slapped the pockets of her long coat as she walked, panic gaining on her. The light ahead was almost too intense to behold, like the sun itself on a cloudless south Pacific afternoon when there was not a breeze in the world.
她就这么走着，不停的拍打着自己长衫的口袋，恐惧感越来越强烈。前面的光线强烈得无法直视，如同在没有风没有云的某个下午照射到太平洋上的阳光一样。
The hot sand was making her hurry along, but it was the voice she was responding to now. The panic evaporated, trailing behind her ghostly and diffuse, and the warmth returned. Her mother's voice, her arthritic hand waving in the light at the end of the corridor. Her guide, to be sure, a smile broadening as Lisa outran the years; the deaths and disappearances that ruined her garden. A child as she approached the light, Earth too remote to touch ...
炙热的沙子迫使她显得匆忙，但是那种声音她现在能感觉到了。惊慌消失 了，她身后的足迹也朦胧的散开来，她又能感到温暖了。母亲的声音和不太灵活的手在走廊另一端的光线中挥舞……她这些年以来的向导向她微笑……她那毁坏的花 园……她像一个孩子般靠近那些光线，却发现地球是如此遥不可及……
I'm dead! she thought?
我已经死了！她想？
-as noise filled her up and air swelled her lungs, bringing renewed life to her pounding heart. A dream, she told herself, the recurrent one her mind reserved for hyperspace folds.
此时噪声惊醒了她，使她重新回到这个世界中来。她告诉自己是一个梦，一个不断重复的关于超空间折叠的梦。
Everyone had them, those nightmares and visions, brief excursions to private heavens or hells. Space lace, some of the crew called it. With an ever-present out-of-body component, an after-life accompaniment.
每一个人都会有这样的噩梦和幻像，如同在自己的天堂或者地狱进行的一次旅行。一些乘务员把它叫做空间缎带，一种身外之物或者殉葬品。
Only this time she had died, and that had never happened before. Grief coursed through her, a profound sense of loss, a kind of terminal nostalgia. Had it been stirred by the dream? Or did it emanate from the nurturing other she had discovered within herself?
这一次她似乎已经死了。一种失去的悲伤深深的困扰着她。这是梦导致的吗？还是由于她对自己心灵深处的新的发现引起的？
Roy was suddenly on her mind, her bright center in the universe, her barely five-year-old hero. The thought of having to open her eyes filled her with fear. But open them she would.
她突然想到了罗伊，她那五岁的儿子和她生活的希望与中心。必须睁开眼睛的想法是她感到恐惧，但是她必须这么做。
And the grief propagated.
悲伤的情绪传播开来。
The SDF-3 bridge was as dark and silent as a tomb. Sweat burst from her palms like splinters of ice.
SDF-3的舰桥如同坟墓般黑寂。汗水就像破裂的冰一样从她的手掌中冲出来。
"Lieutenant Toler," she said. "Mister Hakawa?"
“托勒中尉，”她叫到，“羽川先生？”
"Here, sir," someone answered from a duty station behind the command chair. She called to the rest-Williamson, Price, Martino-and one by one they responded, reborn from dreams. Lisa flathanded the com-line stud built into the arm of the chair and called for Dr. Lang in engineering.
“我在这里，长官。”一个声音从指挥座椅后面的值班台回答到。她继续点名，威廉森，普莱斯，马蒂诺。他们一一从恶梦中醒来，一一作了回答。然后，丽莎按下座椅扶手上的通信钮，呼叫工程舱的朗博士。
"All systems are down, Sir," said a voice in the darkness-Price, Lisa ventured correctly. "No response from any of the backups: It's like we're unplugged."
“所有系统都不工作了，长官”黑暗中，一个声音说到，丽莎猜想是普莱斯。“任何备用装置都没有响应。我们没有动力了。”
"Nonsense," Lisa returned. "We're obviously not weightless, Mister Price. And unless we've somehow defolded on Earth's surface, I'd hazard a guess some systems are operational."
“荒唐，”丽莎回答道，“显然我们还没有失重，普莱斯先生。除非我们反折叠到地球表面，否则我打赌还有一些系统是能工作的。”
"Yes, sir."
“是，长官。”
"Doesn't anyone keep a damn flashlight up here?" she said, cautiously feeling her way out of the chair. Off to her right she heard a pneumatic hiss, a tear of Velcro. "Everyone stay put," she called toward the sound. "We're still on full alert, gentlemen. Besides, I don't want anyone walking into a bulkhead. "She directed her voice starboard, toward Toler's station beneath the threat board. "Mister Toler, you're the youngest among us. How's your vision?"
“谁有手电筒？”她说到，小心的走出椅子。她听到右边有密封圈漏气的声音。“大家小心，”她大声说，“我们仍然需要保持全力警惕，先生们。此外，我不希望有人撞倒墙壁。”她对着右舷托勒的方位说道，“托勒先生，你最小，看到什么了吗？”
"Better than perfect, sir," Toler told her, a crack in his voice on the last word.
“好得不能再好了，长官。”托勒的回答中带着一丝撕裂的尾声。
"Do you think you can make your way to the hatch and engage the override?"
“你能走到手动装置并启动它么？”
"With my eyes closed, sir."
“我能闭着眼睛走过去，长官。”
Everyone laughed, and the tension eased somewhat. "Yes, well, you can keep your eyes open, Lieutenant. This isn't a test of your agility. I just want to know if the whole ship's in this fix."
大家都放松的笑了。“是的，当然你可以睁开眼，中尉。这不是要测试你的灵活性。我只是想知道整个飞船都不能动了。”
"I understand, sir."
“我知道了，长官。”
Lisa heard Toler's chair swivel. A few moments later came the low thud of retracting bolts. The air stirred as the hatch slid open and the sound of half a dozen voices drifted in from the operations room. Toler and someone else made startled sounds. "What happened?" Lisa asked.
丽莎听到托勒转动他的椅子。过了一会儿又传出了收起门拴的抨击声。舱内滑梯打开了，空气中传来操作间内十几个人的声音。托勒和另外一个人发出吃惊的声音。“发生了什么事情？”丽莎问道。
A man's voice growled: "Who is that?"
这时一个男子的声音问到：“你是谁？”
"Lieutenant Toler. Who's that?"
“托勒中尉。你是谁？”
"Commander Forsythe, Lieutenant. Stand aside."
“福尔赛提指挥官，中尉。请让让。”
"Sir!" Toler snapped.
“长官！”托勒惊讶道。
Lisa heard a hollow meeting of flesh and bone and a follow up wince of pain. "Damn, boy," her bald-headed exec said, "you don't have to salute me!"
丽莎听到了骨肉相碰的声音，然后是一个由于疼痛而退缩的声音。“该死的，小伙子”她那谢顶的副官说，“你不需要向我敬礼！”
Just then the emergency lights came up, banks at a time, red and somber throughout the bridge. A slight shudder swept through the ship, and Klaxons wailed midnote, signaling battle stations.
就在此时红色的应急灯亮了，照着昏暗的舰桥内部。飞船抖动了一下，如同克拉克森悲伤的曲谱，指示着各个战位。
"That's more like it," Lisa enthused. "Showing up crippled would send one hell of a message to the Regis."
“这就更像了”丽莎激动道：“可以给雷吉斯一个信息了。”
Forsythe stepped through the hatch, throwing Toler a hard look before joining Price at one of the forward heads-up display screens.
福尔赛提走过舱口，狠狠地蹬了托勒一眼，然后与普莱斯一起走到前方的显示屏。
"We're still dead in space, sir," Hakawa updated. "Auxiliary power forward and to all priority stations, but all scanning, ECM, and defense systems are non-op."
“我们仍然困在这里，长官。”羽川更新着。“辅助能量已经提供给了所有的优先岗位，但是所有的扫描，ECM和防御系统都不能工作。”
"Can we determine our position?" Forsythe asked. "Negative, sir Guidance, telemetry, and astrogation are still down."
“能确认我们目前的位置吗？”福尔赛提问，“看来不能，长官。导向装置，遥测装置和空间航行装置仍旧不能工作。”
Lisa traded frowns with Forsythe and glanced over her shoulder at the watch officer. "Well, we can at least take a look outside, can't we?"
丽莎皱着眉与福尔赛提交换了一下眼神，然后向身旁的观测军官问道：“好吧，至少我们还能看看外面的东西，不是吗？”
"Yes, sir."
“是，长官。”
"Raise the forward cowl, Mister Hakawa," Forsythe said impatiently.
“升起前向通风口，羽川先生。”福尔赛提不耐烦地说到。
Lisa could barely contain herself. It was almost as though she could dismiss this latest snafu the way a cyclist might shrug off a punctured tire after a thousand-mile journey. Earth, after close to fifteen years. With nothing unforeseen in store for them this time: no accidental jumps to Pluto, no fold hitchhikers to rescue, no surprise attacks by alien cruisers. The REF knew who and what they had come for: the Regis and the world they had lost to her. They knew, too, the Shock Troopers and Pincers they would be facing, and they knew how to engage them.
丽 莎几乎不能容忍自己了。她真想摆脱这种混乱的局面，就像一个自行车手经过长途旅行后扔掉千疮百孔的轮胎。离开地球15年了。这次他们却看不到任何希望：不 是意外的跳跃到冥王星，没有需要营救的折叠旅行者，没有外星舰队的进攻。远征军明白自己的角色和目标：雷吉斯和被她占领的世界。他们也知道会面对震爆机甲 和蟹型机甲，并如何战胜它们。
And best of all, they knew they would succeed.
而且最重要的是，他们知道自己会成功。
Six years of effort had gone into this one day, and the fleet that was the result of that labor would be spread out before them, weapons arrays and combat mecha targeted for Reflex Point. Earth, Lisa said to herself again as the forward view port shields retracted. Earth!
6年的努力变成了这一天，辛勤建立起来的舰队、武器和战斗机甲都瞄准了反射点。当前向观察口关闭后，“地球”丽莎又一次的对自己说到。地球！
Light of a sort began to filter onto the bridge, only it was neither the welcome warmth of Sol nor the reflected brilliance of their blue-white homeworld.
某种光线经过过滤照射到舰桥，但这不是太阳（Sol）欢迎的热情，也不是地球蓝白色的光辉。
It was the alien light at the end of Lisa's tunnel in the sky. It was death light.
这是丽莎梦境中通道末端外星的光线。代表死亡的光线。
On the command balcony of the fortress's cavernous Tactical Information Center, Rick Hunter stared uncomprehendingly at the monitors affixed to the portside bulkhead.
SDF-3巨大的战术信息中心的指挥室里，瑞克•亨特迷惘的看着墙壁上的显示器。
"I'm sorry, sir," an enlisted-rating tech stationed at a nearby console repeated, "but the opticals are on-line. This is the external view. Sir."
“对不起，长官。”附近一个控制台边的一位应征入伍的技术员重复道，“但是可以直接用肉眼观察。这里是外面的情况，长官。”
In the phasing, satanic illumination of the emergency lights the room could have been a corner of hell. Rick would have taken odds that it was just that: the hell of his space lace given shape during the fold. But unlike Lisa's recurrent tunnel, Rick's nightmare vision did not require a jump to ignite it. The set, the setting, the thousand separate elements that composed it could all be traced back to the Genesis Pits on Optera. Walk away from it you might, but turn around and the fear would be there, waiting for you, beckoning you back into its sinister embrace.
这个时候应急灯那显得恶魔似的灯光使得整个房间如同地狱的一个角落。瑞克可能是这么想的：这该死的空 间缎带是由于折叠形成的。但是不同于丽莎梦境中不断出现的通道，瑞克的噩梦不需要用跳跃来引起幻像。构成目前这个现实的所有这些成千上万的独立事件都可以 被追溯到奥普特拉上的进化坑。你可以避开它，但是你一旦回过头就会感到恐惧在那儿召唤你回到它凶险的怀抱。
An intercom buzzed insistently at Rick's back. "Command One," he heard his adjutant say at last. "Doctor Lang, Admiral," the colonel continued, conveying the mobile over to him.
对讲机在瑞克的后面不断的发出嗡嗡的声音。“1号命令，”最后他听到他的副手在说，“将军，是朗博士。”这位上校一边说，一边把对讲机地给了他。
"What the hell's going on?" Rick shouted into the mouth piece. "Where are we?" He glanced at the monitors once more before proceeding. "It looks like fog out there, Lang. Is that possible?"
“到底发生了什么事情？”瑞克对着话筒咆哮。“我们这是在哪儿？”他又看了一眼所有的显示器，继续道：“这里好像冒出了很多烟，朗。这可能吗？”
"I would like to humor you, Admiral," Lang said, "but, unfortunately, there is little humor in the situation. And if it is indeed a fog, as you suggest, it is of the quantum sort. We have life support, but little else, as I'm sure you're aware. "
“我可以跟你开玩笑，将军，”朗说到，“但是不幸的是，现在的情况不允许开什么玩笑。如果像你所判断的那样，这真是烟的话，这种烟是属于量子级别的。我们目前还有生命维持系统，但是其他的几乎没有，我相信你明白这一点。”
Rick's boot continued to tap the floor long after Lang had finished. The two men had grown distant from each other on Tirol, Lang like some Prometheus with his facsimile Protoculture matrix, and Rick busy with Roy more often than not. The wizard of Robotechnology kept getting stranger while Rick just kept getting grayer.
与朗的对话结束后，瑞克用靴子不停的踢着地板。自从来到了泰洛以后，他们两个就疏远了，朗就像普罗米修斯般沉迷于他的复制史前文化矩阵，而瑞克则忙于照顾罗伊。这位洛波特技术的巫师变得越来越奇怪，而与此同时瑞克则变得越来越苍老。
"How long before you can return power to the drives?" Rick demanded.
“你需要多久才能恢复动力？”瑞克问道。
It was to be the REF's final battle, he thought, the one that was to decide their fate, return to them their homeworld or send them back to Tirol, an irradiated Earth in their wake.
这将是远征军最后的战役，他想，这场战役将会决定他们的命运，是还给他们即将毁灭的地球还是退回到泰洛去。
Lang launched his patented maniacal laugh through the earpiece. "Perhaps you should abandon your post for a moment and come below, Admiral. There's something I'd like you to see."
耳机里面传来朗那标志性的狂笑声；“将军，你也许应该暂时离开你的岗位到下面来一下。我相信这里的东西会使你感兴趣的。”
"I don't have time for this, Lang," Rick told him. "Just tell me where we are." He heard the urgency in his voice and noted that his adjutant was fixing him with a concerned look.
“我没有时间下来，朗，”瑞克回答道，“快告诉我，我们现在在哪儿。”他听出自己的声音中带有的紧迫感，也注意到他的副官正关注的看着他。
Lang's laugh trailed off as he cleared his throat. "You may not like the answer, Admiral. "
朗停止了笑，并清了清喉咙，说道：“你可能不会喜欢答案，将军。”
Rick's hold on the phone became viselike. "You let me lie the judge of that."
瑞克紧紧地握着话筒：“你让我来自己判断。”
Lang was quiet a moment, then said: "Nowhere."
朗沉默了一会儿后说：“不在任何（我们已知的）地方。”
In whispered voices behind cupped hands it was often suggested that Dr. Emil Lang ran the ship. Not that he had much to do with command decisions or actual hands-on astrogation, but that he ran the ship in the sense of driving the ship, fueling it. Word was passed in those same engineering huddles that the Reflex furnaces and Protoculture drives were nothing but pretense-mock-ups constructed to put the uninitiated at ease-when in fact Lang himself was the drives. Lang folded space; Lang jumped the fortress from realm to realm.
一直以来都有一种传 言，认为是艾米尔•朗博士操控飞船的。并不是说他亲自动手或者发布命令进行宇宙航行，而是因为他用意识操纵飞船，并为它提供动力。那些混乱的工程师们认为 反射炉和史前文化动力不过是对不知内情的人的一种可笑掩饰，而真正的动力来自于朗自己。朗进行空间折叠；朗使堡垒在不同的空域中进行跳跃。
Lang was aware of all the rumors but did little to discourage them. Myths concerning his powers and prowess had been in the making since the first day he had set foot inside the grounded SDF-1. No one had seen him take the Protoculture mindboost that had altered the direction of his life, but they had read the change in his reshaped eyes. And had his eyes not betrayed him, even had he not taken the boost, they would have invented it for the myth, witnessed that he alone among Earthers was destined to see deeper and clearer than the rest, that the Protoculture had a natural affinity for him.
朗知道这所有的传言，但是他并没有去揭穿它们。关于 他非凡的力量和技术的神话从他第一次踏入SDF-1那天就开始了。没有人看到他利用史前文化来提升自己的智力从而改变了自己的一生，但是人们却从他变形的 眼睛中看到了变化。如果不是他的眼睛表明了变化，甚至他也没有提胜过自己的智力，当看到它比其他任何地球人都能更加深层和清楚的了解史前文化，并为其着 迷，人们只能把这一切归结为神话。
But that was just the sort of thinking that pointed out how great a distance he had yet to travel. The ship's drive, he sniggered to himself. Hardly. The ship's driven, perhaps; the SDF-3's preconscious libidinal urge ...
但是那种想法只能表明他曾经经过了非常远的探索。飞船的驱动器，他暗笑着。勉强这么认为吧。飞船的驱动器，也许吧；SDF-3的预知本能的动力……
Lang lifted his eyes to regard the displays once more. On screen were remote views into the heart of the fortress's power plant; safely rendered for a mortal's eyes, for one did not look long into the naked eye of God and live to describe it. But there was a burning bush now, no ten thousand stars or golden heavens, simply the absence of those things. What Lang saw instead was a reflection of his own pride, the hubris that had dominated him for the past five years. He and Cabell and the Zor-clone, Rem, harvesting the Flower of Life from Optera's regrown fields, coaxing the secret of the Shapings from its trifoliate core, creating a matrix of their own design. And now this.
朗抬起头再次看着显示器。屏幕上显 示着堡垒动力矩阵的心脏部分：对凡人的眼睛（这样的眼睛无需长时间的看着上帝的眼睛，也不是用来形容这些德）而言是安全的。但是现在一切都没有了，没有星 星没有天空，什么都没有。朗看到的实际上是自己五年以来傲慢情结的一种反射。他，卡贝尔，以及佐尔的克隆体， 雷，共同在奥普特拉上面重新播种生命之花，试图从造物者那儿破解这种三叶植物核心的秘密，从而创造出自己设计的矩阵。现在就是这个东西（指动力矩阵）了。
Lang saw his face in the display screen and laughed out loud. The Shapings were teaching him a lesson.
朗看着显示屏中自己的脸，突然大声地笑出声来。造物者一直在给他一个教训。
He was still laughing when Rick Hunter rushed in, threading his way through the chaos, techs and their bewildered assistants moving frantically from station to station.
直到瑞克•亨特冲进来后他还在笑着，笑声穿过了混乱的人群，技术人员以及忙忙碌碌地在不同岗位之间穿梭的不知所措的助手们。
"What'd you get me down here for, Lang?" Rick barked, pacing behind Lang's chair and glaring down at him.
“你让我到下面来干什么，朗？”瑞克走到朗的身后瞪着他吼道。
Lang's upturned look was unreadable as he indicated the displays. His humanity as well as his age seemed to have been arrested by continual contact with the Protoculture.
朗的目光盯着显示屏，显得僵化而且无法理解。他的人性和年纪似乎随着他与史前文化不断的接触而停止了。
"See for yourself, Admiral."
“你自己看吧，将军。”
Rick spread his hands atop the console and leaned toward an on-screen computer-enhanced translation of the engines' subatomic fire. He held the pose for a moment, then glanced at Lang in annoyance. "I don't see anything wrong, Doctor."
瑞克把头伸向控制台上方并尽量靠近屏幕，屏幕上面强化的显示着引擎原子内着火的景象。他保持了一会儿这样的姿势，然后看着朗厌烦的说：“我看不出有什么一样，博士。”
Lang snorted. "No, of course you wouldn't, Admiral." Rick was used to the condescending tone.
朗哼着说：“不，你当然看不出，将军。”瑞克已经一贯了这种故意屈尊的语气。
"Explain." The Roboscientist sighed and blanked the monitor with a tap of a crooked forefinger. "It has vanished, Admiral-the Protoculture. Disappeared. "
“这样说吧。”洛波特科学家叹息着用他那弯曲的食指关掉了显示器，“它消失了，将军，史前文化消失了。不见了。”
Rick's dark brows beetled. He reached out to reactivate the screen, but Lang's powerful hand restrained him.
瑞克阴沉的脸庞茫然了。他靠近前去试图重新打开显示屏，但是被朗那有力的手阻止了。
"Take my word for it, Admiral, the Protoculture has vanished." It would have been senseless to talk about the shadowy presence of the black-robed wraiths Rem had taught him to recognize. "Yes, exactly as it disappeared from the SDF-1," he added, discerning Rick's thoughts.
“相信我的话吧，将军，史前文化已经消失了。”现在谈及雷曾经教他辨识的黑袍幽灵鬼魅般的出现已经没有意义了。“是的，就如同它从SDF-1上面消失一样。”他察觉出瑞克的想法，补充道，
"But how?" Rick began. "Why?"
“但是如何消失的呢？”瑞克发问，“为什么会消失呢？”
"To teach us a lesson, I think."
“给我们一个教训，我这么认为。”
Rick shook his head. "A lesson?" He swept his arm through an all-encompassing gesture. "Listen to me, Lang. Rheinhardt and the rest of the fleet are out there waiting for us. Do you understand what that means?"
瑞克摇着头。“教训？”他作出一种围绕的手势。“听我说，朗。莱茵哈特和舰队的其他人都在那儿等着我们。你知道那意味着什么吗？”
The scientist gave him a pitying look. "I assure you, Admiral, the fleet is not out there."
这个科学家同情的看着他：“我想你担保，将军，舰队已经不在那儿了。”
"Then where the hell are we?" Rick said, at the end of his rope. "And don't tell me nowhere."
“那么我们究竟在什么该死的地方？”瑞克问，“不要告诉我不在任何地方。”
Lang folded his arms and met the intensity of Rick's gaze. "All right. It's possible that we're still in hyperspace, although there is no evidence to support the hypothesis. It's also possible that we have died, as some of the ship's personnel are suggesting. Or that we have somehow jumped to a void in intergalactic space, perhaps jumped beyond the expansion wave of the big bang itself."
朗交叉起双手，看着瑞克紧张的凝视。“好吧。可能我们还在超空间里面，虽然现在没有证据来支持这种假设。也有可能的是，我们已经死了，就象一些船员所说得那样。或者也许我们跳跃到了星系之间的某个真空，也许跳出了膨胀波以外。”
Rick went wide-eyed. "You mean we've jumped outside the galaxy?"
瑞克张大了眼睛说：“你是指我们跳出了星系以外？”
Lang shrugged. "It's simply one theory among many. A jump beyond time could perhaps explain how and why the Protoculture vanished, although our own continued existence would seem to contraindicate it."
朗耸耸肩说：“这只是众多假设中的一种。超越时间的跳跃能够解释史前文化的消失，虽然我们自己的继续存在似乎与此矛盾。”
Rick staggered backward into a chair adjacent to Lang's. "But-but there has to be something out there."
瑞克吃惊的坐回到朗旁边的一张椅子上，“但-但是那里的外面应该还有一些别的东西。”
Lang shook his head. "Not according to our instruments. We are nowhere, Admiral. Not even a when that I can determine. I'm sorry, but there's no other way to put it."
朗摇摇头，“根据我们的仪器显示，没有。我们不在任何（我们已知的）地方，将军。甚至我也不能确信现在的时间。很抱歉，但是也没有其他的方法来确认。”
Rick turned to face him. "Then get us somewhere, Doctor."
瑞克转过身对着他，“那么让我们到某个（能确定的）地方吧，博士”
Lang rubbed his chin. "What would you have me do fashion a world for you out of nothingness?"
朗摸着下巴说：“我怎么能无中生有的为你创造出一个世界呢？”
Rick forced out his breath. "Yes, damn it. Fashion us a world if you have to."
瑞克摒住呼吸说道：“该死。如果必要，给我们创造出一个世界。”