第七章
Miriya Parino Sterling's rescue of the Spherisian crystallite [sic] was an act of derring-do worthy to stand beside the infamous "costume change" that had earned her husband such plaudits during the early stages of the First Robotech War.
LeRoy La Paz, The Sentinels
米莉娅·帕丽诺救出史菲利思雏晶岩［原文如此］的壮举，足以与第一次宇宙大战早期令她丈夫声名显赫的“化装营救”行动（注：应指麦克斯驾驶着身穿天顶星军服的VF-1战斗员，化装营救被俘的丽莎、瑞克和本一事）相提并论。
——勒华·拉巴斯，《哨兵同盟》
"I want someone to sweep the caves," Rick said into his helmet pickup."Then we're out of here!"
“谁去清扫洞穴，”瑞克对头盔上的话筒发令。“随后我们都从这儿撤离！”
Bela volunteered. Rick looked around and spied her down below, waving to him from the area the GMU had occupied before Cabell's desperate plan had been set in motion. Rick chinned the helmet stud again and told Bela to make it quick. He saw her, Kami, and Learna scurry off toward the mouth of the cave and disappear inside. Rick called up a display on the helmet's faceshield; then, satisfied that he had sufficient oxygen remaining, he scrambled up the steep slope toward the relocated vehicle.
贝拉自告奋勇。瑞克扫视人群，看见她在下面朝他挥手。那里正是卡贝尔孤注一掷的计划启动前GMU基地的位置。瑞克连通头盔话筒，告诉贝拉动作要快。他望着她、卡米和莱亚娜的身影快步朝洞口走去，迅速消失在洞里。瑞克调出头盔面罩上的显示数据，对氧气存量充足的情况感到满意。他开始攀登峭壁，朝GMU的新位置爬去。
Praxis's atmosphere had grown superheated and unbreathable, forcing everyone but Veidt and Teal into helmets and environment suits. From the high ground above the caverns, where the GMU was maintaining its precariously angled position, Rick glanced back at the wrinkled terrain. Eruptions of volcanic light could be seen through the dense shroud that stretched from the hills all the way to the base of a distant escarpment. And out of this storm came two lone Veritechs, returned from a final reconnaissance flight. Rick tuned into the command freak, only to have his worst fears confirmed: there wasn't a safe region to be found anywhere on the planet.
普拉西斯的大气变得异常灼热，无法呼吸。除了维特和缇尔，每个人都不得不戴上了头盔，穿上了防护服。GMU停在洞穴上方的高地上，保持着不稳固的倾角。在那儿，瑞克朝身后起皱的大地回望：从这里的山丘一直到遥远的绝壁山崖脚下都浓烟密布，其间不时穿透出火山喷发的光芒。两驾势单力薄的变形战机从风暴里飞出，它们刚刚完成最后一次侦查飞行，正在返航。瑞克调到指挥频道，而结果只是证实了自己最担心的事情：整个星球找不到一处安全地带。
The Alphas whooshed in overhead, reconfigured, and maneuvered into the open maw of the GMU's ordnance bay. The Hovertanks and the Skull's VTs were already aboard; only two mecha remained outside-the VTs Rick and Max would pilot up once Vince Grant gave the go signal.
阿尔法从头顶上呼啸而过，调整飞行动作后驶入了洞开的GMU军械舱。气垫坦克和骷髅中队变形战机已经入舱，只剩两驾还在外面——一旦文斯·格兰特下令出发，瑞克和麦克斯就会开动它们。
Rick dug his toes into the ground and completed the climb, out of breath when he reached the rim of the chute the Sentinels had blown open in the roof of the cave. The front end of the GMU overhung the rim, elevated now by the hundreds of orbs that had streamed from the cave after the chute had been opened. It was Cabell's idea, and Veidt's peculiar talents, that made the plan workable.
瑞克试探脚尖，在地上踩稳，攀爬完最后一步。当他来到竖槽边缘时，几乎喘不上气来。这是哨兵们从洞中朝头顶轰开的一条通道。GMU的前端悬在竖槽边，几百个圆球正在下面抬升。它们都是自竖槽打开后从洞里涌出的。这是卡贝尔的主意，而维特特殊的才能让这计划变得可行。
As a last resort the Sentinels had decided to enlarge the diameter of the cave's internal passageways to accommodate the huge creatures stuck for want of an egress suited to their size. That way, Cabell reasoned, they could at least raise a few more Alphas before the planet blew itself to smithereens-providing of course that the orbs could be made to understand that the Sentinels weren't trying to destroy them, as they had those spiderlike monstrosities. And assuming for the time being that Wolff and Janice, or someone, would be coming to their rescue.
作为最后的手段，哨兵决定扩大洞穴内部通道的直径，好让巨型生物能够安然逃出。这样的话，卡贝尔推测，在这个星球粉身碎骨之前，它们至少能多升起几架阿尔法——前提是圆球们能够理解哨兵们并不是要摧毁它们，就像之前那些蛛形怪物的命运那样。还要假设沃尔夫和贾妮斯，或者别的什么人，在此期间能够来救援他们。
Rick couldn't recall just who had pointed out that some of the larger orbs were still going to face difficulties reaching the entrance; but it was Veidt who proposed boring an artificial chimney through the roof of the cave. Additionally, the Haydonite maintained, the Sentinels were wasting their time airlifting individual mecha, when the increased supply of globe-beings would allow them to raise the entire GMU-if the mobile base could be positioned in such a way that the orbs could get underneath.(Even with its one-hundred-foot tires, the thing was still too low to accommodate the largest of the orbs.) Vince, Rick, Lisa, and some of the others had determined that the GMU could sustain itself in orbit for a limited time, thanks to the modifications the landcrawler had undergone during its stint with the Farrago. It would mean a dangerously uncomfortable existence for as long as Praxis held together; but even weightlessness and privation were preferable to the death they were bound to suffer on the surface.
瑞克记不清是谁指出一些较大的圆球还是很难抵达洞口；不过提议从洞顶开一个人造烟囱的人是维特。此外，海顿人坚持，在圆球越来越多，足以升起整个GMU的情况下，哨兵们只让几架飞机升空是浪费时间——如果机动基地能摆好位置，让圆球们钻到底下去的话。（即使它的轮子有一百英尺高，这点空间对于安置最大的圆球来说仍然太低矮。）文斯、瑞克、丽莎等人认为，由于GMU和法拉戈号结合时所做的改造工作，这个原本只能在陆地上逞强的大家伙可以在轨道上独自坚持一阵子。这将意味着普拉西斯星苟延残喘的这段时间里会让大家在空中极度不适；但即使是无重力和物资匮乏也好过他们在地表上必将面临的死亡。
So after Veidt had relayed the details of the scheme to the orbs (who were in his words "thankful" and more than willing to reciprocate), and firepower had opened the chute, the GMU was repositioned at the rim of the opening to catch the creatures as they levitated from the cave.
维特已将方案的细节传达给圆球们（按他的话说，他们非常感激，十分乐意报答），炮火也已轰开了一条竖槽通道。于是GMU移位到槽口边缘，迎接那些从洞中升起的生物。
As Rick regarded the all-but-floating vehicle now, he decided it was the most bizarre sight he had ever seen: the GMU looked as though it were sitting atop a mountain of unburstable bubbles. Veidt was hovering nearby directing the flow. And in spite of the scale and the incredible size of some of the orbs, the end result of the Sentinels' partnership with the creatures had rendered the GMU almost toy-like in appearance.
此刻，瑞克正打量着这辆空中漂浮的大车，感到这是他所见过的最奇异的场面：GMU仿佛端坐在一大团压不爆的肥皂泡小山上，而维特在一旁飘着，指挥整个流程。尽管圆球数量众多，有些还体积庞大，这次它们同哨兵们的合作给GMU增添了玩具般的外观。
Rick continued to watch in amazement as more and more orbs attached themselves to the cluster. The GMU's massive wheels were fully off the ground now, and Rick was anticipating Vince Grant's words even before they issued through the helmet speakers.
越来越多的圆球聚在一起，瑞克一直目不转睛。GMU的巨轮此刻已经全部离地，瑞克正想着文斯该发令了，就听到他的声音从头盔扬声器里传出。
"The ride's starting, Rick. You better get the Alphas up." Grant's tone was one of excited disbelief.
“这就出发了，瑞克。你最好把阿尔法机开上来。”格兰特的语调中充满了不可思议的兴奋。
Rick turned in time to see Veidt give him a knowing nod, signaling that he had "heard" Grant's message. When the Haydonite began to move off in the direction of Max's Alpha, elevating some as he hovered along the rim of the chute, Rick chinned Bela's frequency.
瑞克转身，刚好看到维特朝他会意地点头，表明他已经“听到了”格兰特的消息。这位海顿人开始沿着竖槽边缘逐渐上升，朝麦克斯的阿尔法机飘去，瑞克这时连通了贝拉的频道。
"A moment more," the Praxian told him."Teal is with us."
“再等一会儿，”普拉西斯人告诉他：“缇尔和我们在一起。”
"What's she doing down there·" Rick asked, surprised."Everyone was supposed to be aboard by now."
“她在那下面干什么？”瑞克惊讶地问道：“到现在，每个人都应该上船了。”
"You will hear it from her own mouth," Bela told him shortly.
“你听她自己说吧，”片刻后，贝拉告诉他。
Rick understood that it had something to do with Baldan's death, and thought better than to press for details."All right," he said."Tell Kami and Learna they'll be riding with Max and Veidt. You and Teal will go up with me."
瑞克明白这和鲍丹之死有关，再三考虑下还是没有追问细节。“好吧，”他说：“告诉卡米和莱亚娜，让他们同麦克斯和维特一起走。你和缇尔跟我一起上去。”
Bela acknowledged, and Rick hurried off to the Guardian-mode Alpha, which was sitting at the edge of the GMU's bubble mountain like some diminutive bird-of-prey. He threw himself up into the cockpit and brought the mecha's engines to life. Beside him the mountain was lifting off, while Praxis continued to rumble its ominous farewells.
贝拉回了话，瑞克便匆匆奔向阿尔法守护神，它踞在GMU下面那座泡泡小山的边上，活像一个小型猛禽。他跳进机舱，打开引擎。他边上的山脉正在离地升空，普拉西斯继续隆隆作响，发出恶兆般的道别声。
In Fantomaspace, meanwhile, the pirated shuttle carrying Wolff and company from the SDF-3 was closing fast on the anchored dreadnought Lang had been instrumental in procuring.
此时，凡托玛空间里，沃尔夫和SDF-3上的随行人员驾驶着盗来的穿梭艇，依照朗博士先前的协助，迅速接近那艘停锚中的无畏舰。
"They're warning us to come about and return to the fortress," Janice told Wolff from the command seat."Scanners show two gunships on our tail."
“他们在警告，要我们改变方向返回堡垒,”贾妮斯坐在指挥席上告诉沃尔夫：“扫描器显示两艘炮艇跟在我们身后。”
Wolff leaned forward to study a monitor, straining against the chair's harness. Elsewhere in the small command cabin, Sarna and Burak were similarly strapped in. Too large for any two of the shuttle's acceleration couches, Tesla was in the cargo hold, shackled but free-floating.
沃尔夫身体前压，仔细看着一台显示器，座椅上的安全带被拉得紧紧的。小指挥舱的另一边，莎娜和伯拉克也被绑在座椅上。泰斯拉身体太大，即使是两张加速座椅也容不下他，于是就给他上了镣铐，任他在货舱自由飘浮。
"Any word from the cruiser·" Wolff asked in a determined voice.
“巡洋舰发话了吗？”沃尔夫语调坚定地问道。
"Negative. They're not even responding to the SDF-3 bridge."
“没有。他们甚至没有给SDF-3舰桥回话。”
"Good. Now if we can just get there in time..."
“好的，只要我们能及时抵达那儿……”
A blaring sound began to wail from the control station's external speakers, and Janice swung to an adjacent console."We're being targeted."
控制台的外部扬声器响起一阵警笛声，贾妮斯转向邻近的一台控制器看去。“我们被锁定了。”
"Ignore it," Wolff snapped."The first one will be a warning shot. With a little luck we'll be too close to the cruiser for them to risk a second."
“别理它，”沃尔夫大喝：“第一发是警告。我们运气好的话，就能离巡洋舰很近了，这样他们就不敢发第二发。”
"Steady..." Janice cautioned, and a split second later a bolt of angry light strobed into the cabinspace through the forward viewports. A second burst followed, singeing the shuttle's radome. Displays and monitors winked out, then revived.
“准备……”贾妮斯提醒道。她话音未落，一道光芒怒闪而来，刺入前向观察窗，照亮了舱内。第二束脉冲紧跟而来，烤焦了雷达整流罩。一张张显示屏幕先是熄灭，随后又恢复正常。
Wolff showed the others a roguish grin."Now we couldn't answer them if we wanted to."
沃尔夫对其他人狡黠一笑：“现在就算想回答他们也不行咯。”
"Cruiser's docking bay is opening. The bridge is patching into our guidance system. The SDF-3 thinks they're assisting in our capture."
“巡洋舰的停机区开放。舰桥正在接入我们的导航系统。SDF-3会认为他们在协助捕获我们。”
"Let them take us in," Wolff ordered. He turned his head to take a final look at the SDF-3, suppressing a wish to see the fortress holed and derelict.
“让他们把我们弄进去。”沃尔夫下令。他扭过头想最后看一眼SDF-3，压制了自己那份渴望看到堡垒被洞穿废弃船的心情。
Janice straightened in her chair to obstruct his view."The fortress is repeating the warning. Admiral Forsythe-"
贾妮斯在座椅上挺直身体，挡住了他的视线。“堡垒在重复警告。福尔塞提将军——”
"To hell with them," Wolff barked.
“让他们都去死吧，”沃尔夫咆哮着。
Four crewmembers were on hand to meet the shuttle in the docking bay."We were attached to Major Carpenter's command," one of the young officers explained as Wolff stepped out."Welcome aboard, sir."
在停机区，有四名船员前来迎接穿梭艇。“我们是卡朋特少校的部下。”其中一位年轻军官对正步出船舱的沃尔夫说，“欢迎上船，长官。”
Sarna hovered alongside Wolff; Janice was last out, keeping a watchful eye on Burak and Tesla.
莎娜随着沃尔夫一道飘下；贾妮斯押后，警觉地盯着伯拉克和泰斯拉。
Wolff accepted the proffered hands."Carpenter, huh· Good man. Sorry he can't be with us."
沃尔夫握了握他们早已伸出的手。“卡朋特，啊？人不错。遗憾的是他没能和我们在一起。”
"Dr. Lang has other plans for him, sir," an ensign supplied.
“朗博士给他安排了别的计划，长官。”一位少尉回答。
"So I understand," Wolff said. Then, as if remembering:"Listen, we've got to do something about those gun-"
“那我明白了，”沃尔夫说。接着，仿佛又想起了什么：“听着，我们得对付那几艘炮——”
"All taken care of, sir. We put a few shots across their bow and they showed their bellies."
“都对付了，长官。我们朝着他们的船首发了几炮，他们就翻肚皮了。”
Wolff returned a weak smile."You know what that means, Captain-you're committed."
沃尔夫以微弱的笑容作答：“你们知道这意味着什么吗，队长——你们做了抉择。”
"We were all along. Now we can act on it."
“我们早就抉择了。而现在则是我们的实际行动。”
"All right," Wolff said, nodding, his smile broadening."Let's get under way."
“好的，”沃尔夫的微笑明显了些，点头说：“我们这就出发。”
As they left the bay, the ensign added,"Course is set for Praxis."
离开停机区的路上，那名少尉又补充道：“航线设定到普拉西斯星。”
"What's our ETA·" Janice wanted to know.
“我们的预计到达时间呢？”贾妮斯关心这点。
"Two days relative." The captain saw their surprise."We've made some improvements since you left."
“相对时间两天。”队长看出了他们的惊奇。“你们走之后，我们已经做了些改进。”
"I guess you have," Wolff enthused. And he began to think about those improvements as the captain hurried him to the bridge. Carpenter was one lucky soul, getting a shot at returning to Earth. Wolff never would have believed he could be envious of such an opportunity, but the events of the past thirty-six hours had punched a lot of holes in his former thinking. Things have changed, he seemed to hear both Lang and Minmei say; and indeed they had. He would be the next to return Earthside, he decided. One way or another. And for the first time in a year he thought about the family he had left behind, and the love he would try to reawaken.
“想必你们已经这么做了。”沃尔夫充满热情地说。队长催促着他们尽快去舰桥的时候，他开始考虑那些“改进”的事情。卡朋特是个幸运鬼，把握住了回地球的机会。沃尔夫从未想到自己会对这种机会心生妒意，但过去36小时发生的事情已将他之前的思想戳得千疮百孔。事态改变了，他仿佛听到朗和明美都在这么说；他们的确也这么说过。他暗自决定，自己将是下一个回地球的人。不管以什么形式。而且这一年来他第一次想起了被他抛在身后的家庭，以及那份他想要尽力再次唤醒的爱。
The orbs had lifted the GMU to an altitude of almost twenty miles by the time Rick and Max brought their Alphas aboard. Below, hidden beneath a swirling, agitated pall of cloud cover, Praxis was fractured beyond recognition, the molten stuff of its core geysering to the surface and boiling away the planet's oceans and fragile atmosphere. Microclimates and cyclonic storms added to the fury, unleashing blinding bolts of lightning and torrents of black rain, while volcanoes answered the skies with thunderous volleys of their own making. Praxis bellowed and roared like some tortured animal, rattling the GMU with its clamorous cries.
当瑞克和麦克斯驾驶的阿尔法机登上GMU时，圆球们已经将基地升到接近二十英里的高度。下方的普拉西斯星隐藏在一片纷乱漩涡般的云幕下，逐渐变得支离破碎，越发陌生。从熔融地核深处不停喷发出的炽热岩浆，煮沸了这颗星球的海洋，摧毁了它稀薄的大气层。刺目的闪电、湍急的黑雨肆意暴虐，其间还有龙卷风在局部小气候里夹杂；地面的火山则对天空以雷鸣般的喷发来应答。普拉西斯像只垂死挣扎的野兽，咆哮着，怒吼着，GMU在它震耳欲聋的呼号里喀喀作响。
In the base's pressurized ordnance bay, Rick and the others began to wonder whether they would make it after all. Veidt had told them that the orbs could only remain clustered for a short time once they reached the outer edge of the planet's envelope; but with Praxis seemingly entering its final phase, the base would need to be hundreds of thousands of miles out-at least as far as the planet's primary satellite. The way Cabell saw it, the Sentinels had one recourse: to use the most fully fueled VTs and Logans I to reach the far side of the moon. A preliminary count of the available mecha, however, had already pointed up the cruel truth half the Sentinels would have to face; and even so, what would the rest have accomplished outside of prolonging the inevitable· Were they to throw together a bivouac on the moon's frozen surface, or simply wander the wastes like some misguided flock until the mechas' power and life-support systems failed·
基地的加压军械舱内，瑞克等人开始考虑起他们究竟能否坚持下来的问题。维特之前告诉他们，一旦到达星球的大气层外缘，圆球只能保持短时间的聚集；但普拉西斯星显然已经进入了生命的最后阶段，基地需要距离它数十万英里——至少是这颗行星第一卫星的距离，才算安全。按卡贝尔地观点，哨兵可利用加满燃料的变形战机和摇石机飞往卫星的背面，以此作为屏障。然而，初步统计可用战机的数量，已经摆明了残酷的现实：半数哨兵将不得不难逃厄运。此外，剩下的那一半延迟了无法避免的命运之后，又能有什么结果？他们是在卫星冰冷的地面上集体露营，还是如同迷途的羊群一般在荒野漫步，直到飞机动力耗尽、生命支持系统失效呢？
In another part of the bay, Gnea and Bela were asking Teal why she had gone back to the cave. Neither of the Praxians knew much about Spheris or the ways of its crystalline life-forms, but the women guessed that Teal would have been just as happy to have remained on Praxis with her dead comrade.
船舱的另一边，妮雅和贝拉询问缇尔究竟为何回到洞中。她俩对史菲利思以及水晶生命体本身都知之甚少，但她俩猜测缇尔甘愿留在普拉西斯，想必是为了能陪在她死去的战友身边。
"But we've all endured losses and hardships," Bela was telling her, trying to be helpful."Recall how Lron and Crysta suffered when the Farrago met its end, and how Gnea and I grieved for our Sisterhood. Now our very world..."
“但我们都经历过失去亲友的痛苦，”贝拉想开导她。“想想法拉戈号走到尽头时勒荣和克里斯塔遭受的打击，还有妮雅和我为姐妹会而悲痛。如今我们自己的这个世界又……”
Lron, who was standing within earshot, made a kind of mournful growl."Death is the way of the world," he muttered in the usual Karbarran fashion."We do not mourn the loss of our friends; we are resigned to such things."
勒荣站的不远，听到了她的话语，发出了一声哀嗥：“死亡是这世界的方向，”他的咕哝带着卡巴拉人惯有的风格。“我们并不哀悼失去的亲友，我们甘心接受这些。”
"I'm not mourning for Baldan," Teal said, looking up at him and Crysta."I'm upset about the child."
“我不为鲍丹哀悼，”缇尔望着他和克里斯塔说；“我是为了那孩子而不开心。”
"The dead child," Gnea started to say.
“那个死掉的孩子，”妮雅正要说下去，却被打断。
"It's not dead," Teal said harshly, standing up and walking away from them.
“他没死，”缇尔语气强硬，站起身来走开了。
"It lives·" Bela said, catching up and spinning her around by the arm."And you would knowingly abandon it·"
“他还活着？”贝拉说，追上她，一把抓住她的手臂，拉她转回身。“你明知这样还抛弃了他？”
"Let her be, Bela," Lron cut in."You know nothing of their ways."
“让她去，贝拉，”勒荣插话：“你不懂他们的方式。”
"I know what it means to leave a being to die," she answered him."Why, Teal·" she asked.
“可我知道见死不救反而走开是什么意思，”她回答。“为什么，缇尔？”她又问。
The Spherisian gazed at her coldly."Because I will have to care for the infant. That is our way."
这个史菲利思女人冷冷地盯着她，说：“因为我将不得不照料这个婴儿。这就是我们的方式。”
Teal snatched her arm away and Bela threw back her broad shoulders."I will return for the child. I will raise it, if you won't."
缇尔用力抽回胳膊，而贝拉则挺起自己宽阔的肩膀：“我要为了这孩子回去。我来抚养他，要是你不承担的话。”
Teal whirled on her, pointing a hand accusingly."What do Praxians know of motherhood· I forbid you!"
缇尔转到她面前，伸手指着她，责骂道：“普拉西斯人对当母亲的事情懂些什么？我不允许你这么做！”
Even Gnea had misgivings about the idea, and risked a step into Bela's path."Think twice, Sister. Besides, it is too late-Halidarre rests and our Praxis is out of reach."
即使是妮雅对这个主意也很不安，她冒险上前，挡住贝拉，说：“再考虑考虑吧，姐姐。太晚了——哈丽达尔已经休息了，我们的普拉西斯也没法靠近了。”
"I'll take you," a female voice rose up from the group of mecha pilots that had gathered round. Miriya Sterling eased her way her way through the group, until she was toe-to-toe with the amazon."I'll take you," she repeated.
“我带你去。”她们周围已经聚集了一圈飞行员，一个女声从中响起。米莉娅·斯特林从人群中挤出，一直走到贝拉面前。“我带你去。”她又重复一遍。
"A Praxian and a Zentraedi sharing the same small space·" Gnea scoffed."Even such a mission of mercy-"
“在这么狭小的地方让普拉西斯人和天顶星人一起呆着？”妮雅冷笑着，“就算这任务是个仁慈的善举——”
"No matter what you may think of me," the former Quadrono ace responded,"I know as much about the sanctity of life as any of you do. Give it a try, Bela-for the infant's sake." She thrust a helmet into Bela's hands.
“不管你们怎么看我，”这位前昆德诺王牌回答：“对于生命的神圣，我理解的和你们都一样。让我们试试，贝拉——为了这个婴儿。”她往贝拉的手里塞了个头盔。
Bela held on to the thing for a moment, then donned it, and raced with Miriya for one of the Skull's red VTs.
贝拉拿着头盔想了片刻，戴上了它。她同米莉娅你追我赶，向骷髅中队的一架红色变形机跑去。
Rick didn't even consider trying to stop them-not that Bela or Miriya would have listened to him in any case. He had noticed a kind of latent xenophobia surfacing among the Sentinels-something stress had brought out-and reasoned that a rescue mission could provide just the rallying point everyone needed.
瑞克甚至没有考虑要去阻止她们——倒不是说贝拉和米莉娅有可能会听他的。他之前已发现哨兵同盟中浮现出一股种族间排斥的情绪，是压力带来的后果。他推测这样一个救援任务能提供每个人都需要的凝聚力。
Bela and Miriya were suited up by the time Rick came over to wish them luck; and minutes later the bay had been cleared for the VT's launch. Miriya entered course headings as the mecha dropped down along the GMU's substantially reduced orb cluster and into the dark night of the planet's soul.
贝拉和米莉娅整理着飞行服，瑞克过来祝她们好运。几分钟后，军械舱已经为变形机出发做好准备。米莉娅输入航向后，GMU将飞机从已经明显减少的圆球群当中投出。战机向这颗星球黑夜般的灵魂深处驶入。
Once through the shroud, the two women witnessed for themselves the final, tormented moments of Praxis's tectonic death. Great, furious rivers of molten stuff coursed across the planet's surface now, burying forests and villages in liquid fire. Here and there, where the rivers were abruptly dammed by ground swells, were crater-sized lakes of lava, flailing white-hot tendrils into an equally hellish sky. Praxis seemed to be expanding while they watched, bursting its geological seams.
穿过云幕，二人亲眼见证了普拉西斯星生命中受尽折磨的最终时刻。此刻，熔岩在行星表面上流淌，汇成愤怒的巨河，流淌的火焰埋葬了树林和村庄。远近各处，河流被地表凸起突然拦截阻断的地方，形成了陨石坑状的岩浆湖，朝着同样地狱般的天空挥舞着白热的卷须。她们看到，普拉西斯似乎正不断膨胀，快要将星球上一条条地质裂痕撑爆。
Miraculously, the region around the caves was practically unchanged, except for an expanding flow of lava that had sealed the entrance to the central cavern. The artificial chute, however, remained open and accessible.
洞穴周边的地区却奇迹般地基本维持原样，只有一条正在扩张的岩浆流封住了中央洞穴的入口。人工竖槽依然开放，可以进入。
"We'll have to go in through the top," Miriya shouted, struggling to keep the VT stabilized in the face of intense updrafts from the liquified valley floor.
“我们必须得从顶上进去。”米莉娅大喊着。从液化谷底吹出的上升气流里，她正费力地稳住变形机。
Miriya imaged the VT over to Guardian mode and dropped the mecha into a controlled fall through the wide chimney the Sentinels had blasted through fifty feet of porous rock. With external temperatures registering in the red, there was no leaving the Veritech for a personal rescue; but years of experience in handling the mecha allowed Miriya to accomplish something even more extraordinary: foot thrusters holding the mecha motionless only inches above a pool of lava that had seeped in through the mouth of the cave, she utilized the radome to rake the throbbing crystal away from the wall where Teal had dropped it. Then, when the Spherisian infant was within reach, she took it gingerly into the VT's metal-shod hand, brought up the thrusters, and took the Guardian up the chimney, in a kind of stork reversal.
米莉娅用思感控制将变形机转为保护神模式，沿着那条哨兵轰开了五十多英尺深的多孔岩石而造就的大烟囱，控制战机下落。外部温度已经达到红色警戒，无法实施机外个人援救；但多年操纵变形机的经验能让米莉娅做得更加令人叫绝：下方岩浆从洞口不停流入，而战机则依靠足部推进器在熔岩池上方几英寸的地方纹丝不动。她用雷达天线罩将扑扑跳动的水晶从缇尔扔下的墙边扒开，随后，当史菲利思婴儿触手可及时，她小心翼翼地用变形机的一只金属手握住它，升起推进器，保护神钻上烟囱，像只逆飞的巨鹳（注：英语世界中认为鹳是带来婴儿的吉鸟）。
All the while, Bela was offering words of encouragement, and free of the chute now, she reached forward to give Miriya an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder.
自始至终贝拉都在给她鼓劲打气，现在她们飞离了竖槽，她朝前探身，热情地紧紧抱住米莉娅的肩膀。
Praxis did all it could to ground the tiny craft, hurling plumes of fire at its tail and chasing it to the edge of space with savage stabs of lightning; but there was no stopping Miriya, no way she would permit the planet to reclaim the child they had rescued from its unharnessed evil.
普拉西斯星竭尽所能要把这渺小的飞行器拉下地面。它挥舞着火鞭，用狂暴的闪电刺去，直追她们到空间外层；但这都阻止不了米莉娅，她们刚从这颗星球肆虐的邪恶中救出这个孩子，她绝不允许它再次将孩子夺走。
Once more through the pall, the VT reached the deceptive safety of the planet's stratosphere. Locked on to the GMU's frequency now, Miriya and Bela began to relax some; but as they approached the ten-wheeled battlewagon and its support cluster, they saw something that delivered them to the edge of panic: both the vehicle's launch doors were wide open, and local space was littered with VTs and Logans, even half-a-dozen reconfigured Hovertanks. Miriya and Bela thought for a moment that things had reached the hopeless level, and someone had given the abandon-ship order, a reckless last gasp for the moon...
变形机又一次穿过云幕，到达了普拉西斯平流层。这里看似安全，其实不然。米莉娅和贝拉现在已经锁定了GMU的通讯频率，她俩刚刚松了口气；但当她们接近这驾十轮战车以及车下的支撑圆球群时，眼前的景象将她们推向惊恐的边缘：战车的发射门全都洞开，周围空间散布着变形机和摇石机，还有五六个改装后的气垫坦克。米莉娅和贝拉片刻后便想到，事态已经到了毫无希望的地步，有人下了弃船令——不顾一切，将那颗卫星当成最后的依靠。
Then they spotted the dreadnought, Wolff's bright spot in the galaxy-the SDF-7 rescue vessel.
后来，她们看到了那艘无畏舰。银河中的一颗亮点——沃尔夫的SDF-7救援船。
One day Rick and Lisa would compare the rescue of the Sentinels to the SDF-l's rescue of Macross from the Solar System's outer circle of frozen hell; there was the same sense of urgency, the same logistical problems and sacrifices-and chief among these would be the GMU itself. With the orbs beating a fast path for the safety of interstellar space, the Sentinels had no way to maneuver the base aboard, and there was no docking bay in the SDF-7 large enough to contain it even if they could. But just now, to everyone but Vince Grant, the GMU was of secondary concern. Distance was the crucial matter at hand-how much could be put between the cruiser and Praxis, and just how quickly.
有朝一日，瑞克和丽莎会将驰援哨兵的行动与SDF-1将麦克罗斯从太阳系外缘的冰雪地狱中拯救相提并论；二者具有同样紧急的意义，同样的补给问题和物资牺牲——其中首位的牺牲便是GMU自身。圆球们已为自己开辟出一条安全道路，前往星际太空，而哨兵同盟无法在内部操纵GMU。即使他们能操控，SDF-7的停机舱也不够大，容纳不下GMU。不过这时，除了文斯·格兰特之外，每个人都认为GMU是个次要问题，而距离才是当务之急——巡洋舰能离开普拉西斯星多远，能航行得多快。
They were close to a million miles out when the planet came apart, when enough force to obliterate the moon-the place Rick had recently seen as their possible salvation. Bela and Gnea were on the bridge to witness the brief fireball that flared where a world had once turned.
当行星分裂之时，他们已经航行了近一百万英里。巨大的冲击力彻底摧毁了那颗卫星——而瑞克不久前还将它当成一根可能的救命稻草。贝拉和妮雅在舰桥上见证了那一刻：曾经的普拉西斯世界，终于化作短暂而耀眼的火球。
"We are homeless," Bela cried.
“我们没有家了，”贝拉哭泣着。
But from what Rick and the others were beginning to understand, the Praxians weren't the only ones. Again a comparison with the SDF-1 would present itself, the memory of a council's edict that forbade the fortress to remain the Earthspace, an edict that effectively betrayed the Robotech Defense Force. And such betrayals, Rick reminded himself, had a cruel way of balancing out...
但是，瑞克和其他人渐渐也开始明白，并不是只有普拉西斯人无家可归。SDF-1当年的情形可以再次拿来参照：议会下了驱逐令拒绝堡垒留在地球，实际上出卖了太空堡垒远征军。而这样的背叛行径，瑞克提醒自己，要用残忍的方式来获取平衡……
Superluminal Reflex drives kept the fortress well ahead of Praxian debris, and during that brief run to the outer limits of the planetary system, Wolff related to his dazed comrades the sobering tale of his short stay aboard the SDF-3. Wolff knew nothing of the simulagent's assassination, and Tesla certainly wasn't talking; but even without that subplot, there was more than enough to leave the Humans dumbfounded.
超光速反射炉让堡垒安然航行在普拉西斯废墟的前方，就在这驶向行星系外缘的简短旅程中，沃尔夫向这些茫然的战友们叙述了他在SDF-3上短暂停留期间的沉重故事。沃尔夫对刺杀替身的事情一无所知，泰斯拉自然也不会说；但即使没有那段插曲，这故事也足够令人类听众们目瞪口呆了。
As they continued to rehash the details, a curious understanding of the council's decision began to undermine their initial outrage. But that Wolff should have to steal a ship, and that the Sentinels would as a consequence be viewed as outlaws...these things were not so easily embraced. For the XT Sentinels, the revelations only meant that they had gained a second enemy instead of a much-needed ally. Among the group, however, there was the beginning of a renewed cohesiveness.
就在他们拼凑细节的同时，这些人对委员会的决定产生了一种奇怪的理解之情，这种情绪逐渐削弱了起初那份愤慨。不过除了沃尔夫被迫偷船，还有因此哨兵们被当成了逃犯之外，这些事情没那么轻易就能接受。对哨兵的外星成员来说，这个新发现只意味着他们努力争取来的是又一个敌人，而不是急切需要的盟友。然而，在这个团队中间，又重新产生了凝聚力。
Rick thought he detected something unsettling in Wolff, but he dismissed it, speculating that he would probably have returned in even worse shape.
瑞克认为自己察觉出沃尔夫心里有事不安，但没有深究，毕竟沃尔夫返回后的状况已经算不错了。
"Do we return to Tirol, or continue on as planned·" Rick asked everyone."If we opt for going back, it could mean prison for most of us, death for some," he added, glancing over at Wolff."On the other hand, it might give us a chance to explain ourselves to the council and keep Edwards from gaining any further influence."
“我们回泰洛，还是按原计划继续？”瑞克向每个人发问：“如果我们选择回去，那对我们绝大多数人而言，面临的将是监狱，有些人则是死罪，”他朝沃尔夫瞥了一眼，补充道。“但另一方面，这条路给了我们一个机会向委员会解释，并能阻止爱德华兹获得更多影响力。”
"What do we care about your General Edwards·" Lron shouted, looking for support from the other XTs."The Invid are our enemy. And if your forces decide to side with them against us, so be it."
“我们对你们的爱德华兹将军有什么好在意的？”勒荣高喊，寻求其他外星人的支持。“因维人才是我们的敌人。如果你们的军队决定站在他们那边对抗我们，那就随他们去吧。”
Kami, Learna, Crysta, Bela, and Gnea voiced their support for Lron's position. Cabell, Rem, Janice, Sarna, and Veidt were curiously quiet.
卡米、莱亚娜、克里斯塔、贝拉和妮雅附和他，支持他的立场。卡贝尔、雷、贾妮斯、莎娜和维特则奇怪地沉默着。
Rick silenced them and directed the question to the RDF contingent. Lisa stood up to answer him.
瑞克让他们安静，又面对防卫军分队的成员发问。丽莎站起身回答他。
"I understand the need for countering Edwards's influence," she said in a way that was aimed at Rick,"but we have to consider the broader picture. Our return could place the council in an awkward position with regard to further negotiations."
“我理解反击爱德华兹影响力的必要性，”她说的话仿佛是针对瑞克，“但我们也必须考虑更远大的图景。我们回去的话，会让委员会进一步议和时处在十分尴尬的位置。”
"We'll accomplish the same thing with continued acts of aggression directed against Invid-held planets," someone from the Wolff Pack pointed out."What happens when Edwards comes gunning for us-do we fight our own forces·"
“我们继续对因维人控制的星球进攻的话，也会达到同样的效果，”沃尔夫战队的某人指出：“当爱德华兹来用枪口对着我们的时候，该怎么办——我们要和自己的军队作战吗？”
Vince Grant shot to his feet and turned on the pilot, even as Jean was trying to calm him down."The council would never bow to the Regent's demands that we be hunted down! They'd break the truce before they'd do that-"
文斯·格兰特猛地站起，矛头对准那位飞行员，即使是吉英也尽力让他镇静些。“委员会绝不会屈从于瑞金特的要求来追杀我们！早在屈从之前，他们就会撕毁和约了——”
"Not if Edwards is running the council!"
“如果爱德华兹控制着委员会，就不是这样！”
"Waste 'em!" said a Skull pilot."They were ready to let us die on Praxis! I say we're free agents!"
“干掉他们！”一个骷髅中队飞行员说：“他们乐意让我们死在普拉西斯！要我说，我们现在是自由战士！”
XTs and Humans cheered. Rick found himself thinking about pirates, and happened to notice Jack Baker slapping Lron on the back, while Karen raised her eyes in an imploring gesture.
外星人和人类都欢呼着。瑞克不由得想起了海盗们，又无意中看到杰克·贝克拍击着勒荣的后背，而凯伦抬头用恳求的神态望着他。
"Put it to a vote," Max suggested.
“投票表决吧，”麦克斯建议。
Rick scanned the crowd and received nods of agreement from Lisa, Wolff, Miriya, Vince, and Cabell."Will it be Garuda, then, or back to Tirol·" he asked loud enough to be heard above the tumult.
瑞克扫视人群，看到丽莎、沃尔夫、米莉娅、文斯和卡贝尔都点头同意。“下一步是嘎鲁达，还是回泰洛？”他声音宏亮，盖过了人群的喧哗。
"Garuda!" came the overwhelming response.
“嘎鲁达！”回答声势不可挡。
"Then it's settled," he said, aware once more of how he had taken charge without being asked. And from across the room, Lisa's eyes burned into his own.
“那就这么定了，”他说道，又一次意识到自己未经请求便掌管了大局。这时，他看到在房间另一头的丽莎，炯炯灼热的目光正注视着他。
《沙丘》六部曲合集
《波西杰克逊》系列合集
《猎魔人》合集
LeRoy La Paz, The Sentinels
米莉娅·帕丽诺救出史菲利思雏晶岩［原文如此］的壮举，足以与第一次宇宙大战早期令她丈夫声名显赫的“化装营救”行动（注：应指麦克斯驾驶着身穿天顶星军服的VF-1战斗员，化装营救被俘的丽莎、瑞克和本一事）相提并论。
——勒华·拉巴斯，《哨兵同盟》
"I want someone to sweep the caves," Rick said into his helmet pickup."Then we're out of here!"
“谁去清扫洞穴，”瑞克对头盔上的话筒发令。“随后我们都从这儿撤离！”
Bela volunteered. Rick looked around and spied her down below, waving to him from the area the GMU had occupied before Cabell's desperate plan had been set in motion. Rick chinned the helmet stud again and told Bela to make it quick. He saw her, Kami, and Learna scurry off toward the mouth of the cave and disappear inside. Rick called up a display on the helmet's faceshield; then, satisfied that he had sufficient oxygen remaining, he scrambled up the steep slope toward the relocated vehicle.
贝拉自告奋勇。瑞克扫视人群，看见她在下面朝他挥手。那里正是卡贝尔孤注一掷的计划启动前GMU基地的位置。瑞克连通头盔话筒，告诉贝拉动作要快。他望着她、卡米和莱亚娜的身影快步朝洞口走去，迅速消失在洞里。瑞克调出头盔面罩上的显示数据，对氧气存量充足的情况感到满意。他开始攀登峭壁，朝GMU的新位置爬去。
Praxis's atmosphere had grown superheated and unbreathable, forcing everyone but Veidt and Teal into helmets and environment suits. From the high ground above the caverns, where the GMU was maintaining its precariously angled position, Rick glanced back at the wrinkled terrain. Eruptions of volcanic light could be seen through the dense shroud that stretched from the hills all the way to the base of a distant escarpment. And out of this storm came two lone Veritechs, returned from a final reconnaissance flight. Rick tuned into the command freak, only to have his worst fears confirmed: there wasn't a safe region to be found anywhere on the planet.
普拉西斯的大气变得异常灼热，无法呼吸。除了维特和缇尔，每个人都不得不戴上了头盔，穿上了防护服。GMU停在洞穴上方的高地上，保持着不稳固的倾角。在那儿，瑞克朝身后起皱的大地回望：从这里的山丘一直到遥远的绝壁山崖脚下都浓烟密布，其间不时穿透出火山喷发的光芒。两驾势单力薄的变形战机从风暴里飞出，它们刚刚完成最后一次侦查飞行，正在返航。瑞克调到指挥频道，而结果只是证实了自己最担心的事情：整个星球找不到一处安全地带。
The Alphas whooshed in overhead, reconfigured, and maneuvered into the open maw of the GMU's ordnance bay. The Hovertanks and the Skull's VTs were already aboard; only two mecha remained outside-the VTs Rick and Max would pilot up once Vince Grant gave the go signal.
阿尔法从头顶上呼啸而过，调整飞行动作后驶入了洞开的GMU军械舱。气垫坦克和骷髅中队变形战机已经入舱，只剩两驾还在外面——一旦文斯·格兰特下令出发，瑞克和麦克斯就会开动它们。
Rick dug his toes into the ground and completed the climb, out of breath when he reached the rim of the chute the Sentinels had blown open in the roof of the cave. The front end of the GMU overhung the rim, elevated now by the hundreds of orbs that had streamed from the cave after the chute had been opened. It was Cabell's idea, and Veidt's peculiar talents, that made the plan workable.
瑞克试探脚尖，在地上踩稳，攀爬完最后一步。当他来到竖槽边缘时，几乎喘不上气来。这是哨兵们从洞中朝头顶轰开的一条通道。GMU的前端悬在竖槽边，几百个圆球正在下面抬升。它们都是自竖槽打开后从洞里涌出的。这是卡贝尔的主意，而维特特殊的才能让这计划变得可行。
As a last resort the Sentinels had decided to enlarge the diameter of the cave's internal passageways to accommodate the huge creatures stuck for want of an egress suited to their size. That way, Cabell reasoned, they could at least raise a few more Alphas before the planet blew itself to smithereens-providing of course that the orbs could be made to understand that the Sentinels weren't trying to destroy them, as they had those spiderlike monstrosities. And assuming for the time being that Wolff and Janice, or someone, would be coming to their rescue.
作为最后的手段，哨兵决定扩大洞穴内部通道的直径，好让巨型生物能够安然逃出。这样的话，卡贝尔推测，在这个星球粉身碎骨之前，它们至少能多升起几架阿尔法——前提是圆球们能够理解哨兵们并不是要摧毁它们，就像之前那些蛛形怪物的命运那样。还要假设沃尔夫和贾妮斯，或者别的什么人，在此期间能够来救援他们。
Rick couldn't recall just who had pointed out that some of the larger orbs were still going to face difficulties reaching the entrance; but it was Veidt who proposed boring an artificial chimney through the roof of the cave. Additionally, the Haydonite maintained, the Sentinels were wasting their time airlifting individual mecha, when the increased supply of globe-beings would allow them to raise the entire GMU-if the mobile base could be positioned in such a way that the orbs could get underneath.(Even with its one-hundred-foot tires, the thing was still too low to accommodate the largest of the orbs.) Vince, Rick, Lisa, and some of the others had determined that the GMU could sustain itself in orbit for a limited time, thanks to the modifications the landcrawler had undergone during its stint with the Farrago. It would mean a dangerously uncomfortable existence for as long as Praxis held together; but even weightlessness and privation were preferable to the death they were bound to suffer on the surface.
瑞克记不清是谁指出一些较大的圆球还是很难抵达洞口；不过提议从洞顶开一个人造烟囱的人是维特。此外，海顿人坚持，在圆球越来越多，足以升起整个GMU的情况下，哨兵们只让几架飞机升空是浪费时间——如果机动基地能摆好位置，让圆球们钻到底下去的话。（即使它的轮子有一百英尺高，这点空间对于安置最大的圆球来说仍然太低矮。）文斯、瑞克、丽莎等人认为，由于GMU和法拉戈号结合时所做的改造工作，这个原本只能在陆地上逞强的大家伙可以在轨道上独自坚持一阵子。这将意味着普拉西斯星苟延残喘的这段时间里会让大家在空中极度不适；但即使是无重力和物资匮乏也好过他们在地表上必将面临的死亡。
So after Veidt had relayed the details of the scheme to the orbs (who were in his words "thankful" and more than willing to reciprocate), and firepower had opened the chute, the GMU was repositioned at the rim of the opening to catch the creatures as they levitated from the cave.
维特已将方案的细节传达给圆球们（按他的话说，他们非常感激，十分乐意报答），炮火也已轰开了一条竖槽通道。于是GMU移位到槽口边缘，迎接那些从洞中升起的生物。
As Rick regarded the all-but-floating vehicle now, he decided it was the most bizarre sight he had ever seen: the GMU looked as though it were sitting atop a mountain of unburstable bubbles. Veidt was hovering nearby directing the flow. And in spite of the scale and the incredible size of some of the orbs, the end result of the Sentinels' partnership with the creatures had rendered the GMU almost toy-like in appearance.
此刻，瑞克正打量着这辆空中漂浮的大车，感到这是他所见过的最奇异的场面：GMU仿佛端坐在一大团压不爆的肥皂泡小山上，而维特在一旁飘着，指挥整个流程。尽管圆球数量众多，有些还体积庞大，这次它们同哨兵们的合作给GMU增添了玩具般的外观。
Rick continued to watch in amazement as more and more orbs attached themselves to the cluster. The GMU's massive wheels were fully off the ground now, and Rick was anticipating Vince Grant's words even before they issued through the helmet speakers.
越来越多的圆球聚在一起，瑞克一直目不转睛。GMU的巨轮此刻已经全部离地，瑞克正想着文斯该发令了，就听到他的声音从头盔扬声器里传出。
"The ride's starting, Rick. You better get the Alphas up." Grant's tone was one of excited disbelief.
“这就出发了，瑞克。你最好把阿尔法机开上来。”格兰特的语调中充满了不可思议的兴奋。
Rick turned in time to see Veidt give him a knowing nod, signaling that he had "heard" Grant's message. When the Haydonite began to move off in the direction of Max's Alpha, elevating some as he hovered along the rim of the chute, Rick chinned Bela's frequency.
瑞克转身，刚好看到维特朝他会意地点头，表明他已经“听到了”格兰特的消息。这位海顿人开始沿着竖槽边缘逐渐上升，朝麦克斯的阿尔法机飘去，瑞克这时连通了贝拉的频道。
"A moment more," the Praxian told him."Teal is with us."
“再等一会儿，”普拉西斯人告诉他：“缇尔和我们在一起。”
"What's she doing down there·" Rick asked, surprised."Everyone was supposed to be aboard by now."
“她在那下面干什么？”瑞克惊讶地问道：“到现在，每个人都应该上船了。”
"You will hear it from her own mouth," Bela told him shortly.
“你听她自己说吧，”片刻后，贝拉告诉他。
Rick understood that it had something to do with Baldan's death, and thought better than to press for details."All right," he said."Tell Kami and Learna they'll be riding with Max and Veidt. You and Teal will go up with me."
瑞克明白这和鲍丹之死有关，再三考虑下还是没有追问细节。“好吧，”他说：“告诉卡米和莱亚娜，让他们同麦克斯和维特一起走。你和缇尔跟我一起上去。”
Bela acknowledged, and Rick hurried off to the Guardian-mode Alpha, which was sitting at the edge of the GMU's bubble mountain like some diminutive bird-of-prey. He threw himself up into the cockpit and brought the mecha's engines to life. Beside him the mountain was lifting off, while Praxis continued to rumble its ominous farewells.
贝拉回了话，瑞克便匆匆奔向阿尔法守护神，它踞在GMU下面那座泡泡小山的边上，活像一个小型猛禽。他跳进机舱，打开引擎。他边上的山脉正在离地升空，普拉西斯继续隆隆作响，发出恶兆般的道别声。
In Fantomaspace, meanwhile, the pirated shuttle carrying Wolff and company from the SDF-3 was closing fast on the anchored dreadnought Lang had been instrumental in procuring.
此时，凡托玛空间里，沃尔夫和SDF-3上的随行人员驾驶着盗来的穿梭艇，依照朗博士先前的协助，迅速接近那艘停锚中的无畏舰。
"They're warning us to come about and return to the fortress," Janice told Wolff from the command seat."Scanners show two gunships on our tail."
“他们在警告，要我们改变方向返回堡垒,”贾妮斯坐在指挥席上告诉沃尔夫：“扫描器显示两艘炮艇跟在我们身后。”
Wolff leaned forward to study a monitor, straining against the chair's harness. Elsewhere in the small command cabin, Sarna and Burak were similarly strapped in. Too large for any two of the shuttle's acceleration couches, Tesla was in the cargo hold, shackled but free-floating.
沃尔夫身体前压，仔细看着一台显示器，座椅上的安全带被拉得紧紧的。小指挥舱的另一边，莎娜和伯拉克也被绑在座椅上。泰斯拉身体太大，即使是两张加速座椅也容不下他，于是就给他上了镣铐，任他在货舱自由飘浮。
"Any word from the cruiser·" Wolff asked in a determined voice.
“巡洋舰发话了吗？”沃尔夫语调坚定地问道。
"Negative. They're not even responding to the SDF-3 bridge."
“没有。他们甚至没有给SDF-3舰桥回话。”
"Good. Now if we can just get there in time..."
“好的，只要我们能及时抵达那儿……”
A blaring sound began to wail from the control station's external speakers, and Janice swung to an adjacent console."We're being targeted."
控制台的外部扬声器响起一阵警笛声，贾妮斯转向邻近的一台控制器看去。“我们被锁定了。”
"Ignore it," Wolff snapped."The first one will be a warning shot. With a little luck we'll be too close to the cruiser for them to risk a second."
“别理它，”沃尔夫大喝：“第一发是警告。我们运气好的话，就能离巡洋舰很近了，这样他们就不敢发第二发。”
"Steady..." Janice cautioned, and a split second later a bolt of angry light strobed into the cabinspace through the forward viewports. A second burst followed, singeing the shuttle's radome. Displays and monitors winked out, then revived.
“准备……”贾妮斯提醒道。她话音未落，一道光芒怒闪而来，刺入前向观察窗，照亮了舱内。第二束脉冲紧跟而来，烤焦了雷达整流罩。一张张显示屏幕先是熄灭，随后又恢复正常。
Wolff showed the others a roguish grin."Now we couldn't answer them if we wanted to."
沃尔夫对其他人狡黠一笑：“现在就算想回答他们也不行咯。”
"Cruiser's docking bay is opening. The bridge is patching into our guidance system. The SDF-3 thinks they're assisting in our capture."
“巡洋舰的停机区开放。舰桥正在接入我们的导航系统。SDF-3会认为他们在协助捕获我们。”
"Let them take us in," Wolff ordered. He turned his head to take a final look at the SDF-3, suppressing a wish to see the fortress holed and derelict.
“让他们把我们弄进去。”沃尔夫下令。他扭过头想最后看一眼SDF-3，压制了自己那份渴望看到堡垒被洞穿废弃船的心情。
Janice straightened in her chair to obstruct his view."The fortress is repeating the warning. Admiral Forsythe-"
贾妮斯在座椅上挺直身体，挡住了他的视线。“堡垒在重复警告。福尔塞提将军——”
"To hell with them," Wolff barked.
“让他们都去死吧，”沃尔夫咆哮着。
Four crewmembers were on hand to meet the shuttle in the docking bay."We were attached to Major Carpenter's command," one of the young officers explained as Wolff stepped out."Welcome aboard, sir."
在停机区，有四名船员前来迎接穿梭艇。“我们是卡朋特少校的部下。”其中一位年轻军官对正步出船舱的沃尔夫说，“欢迎上船，长官。”
Sarna hovered alongside Wolff; Janice was last out, keeping a watchful eye on Burak and Tesla.
莎娜随着沃尔夫一道飘下；贾妮斯押后，警觉地盯着伯拉克和泰斯拉。
Wolff accepted the proffered hands."Carpenter, huh· Good man. Sorry he can't be with us."
沃尔夫握了握他们早已伸出的手。“卡朋特，啊？人不错。遗憾的是他没能和我们在一起。”
"Dr. Lang has other plans for him, sir," an ensign supplied.
“朗博士给他安排了别的计划，长官。”一位少尉回答。
"So I understand," Wolff said. Then, as if remembering:"Listen, we've got to do something about those gun-"
“那我明白了，”沃尔夫说。接着，仿佛又想起了什么：“听着，我们得对付那几艘炮——”
"All taken care of, sir. We put a few shots across their bow and they showed their bellies."
“都对付了，长官。我们朝着他们的船首发了几炮，他们就翻肚皮了。”
Wolff returned a weak smile."You know what that means, Captain-you're committed."
沃尔夫以微弱的笑容作答：“你们知道这意味着什么吗，队长——你们做了抉择。”
"We were all along. Now we can act on it."
“我们早就抉择了。而现在则是我们的实际行动。”
"All right," Wolff said, nodding, his smile broadening."Let's get under way."
“好的，”沃尔夫的微笑明显了些，点头说：“我们这就出发。”
As they left the bay, the ensign added,"Course is set for Praxis."
离开停机区的路上，那名少尉又补充道：“航线设定到普拉西斯星。”
"What's our ETA·" Janice wanted to know.
“我们的预计到达时间呢？”贾妮斯关心这点。
"Two days relative." The captain saw their surprise."We've made some improvements since you left."
“相对时间两天。”队长看出了他们的惊奇。“你们走之后，我们已经做了些改进。”
"I guess you have," Wolff enthused. And he began to think about those improvements as the captain hurried him to the bridge. Carpenter was one lucky soul, getting a shot at returning to Earth. Wolff never would have believed he could be envious of such an opportunity, but the events of the past thirty-six hours had punched a lot of holes in his former thinking. Things have changed, he seemed to hear both Lang and Minmei say; and indeed they had. He would be the next to return Earthside, he decided. One way or another. And for the first time in a year he thought about the family he had left behind, and the love he would try to reawaken.
“想必你们已经这么做了。”沃尔夫充满热情地说。队长催促着他们尽快去舰桥的时候，他开始考虑那些“改进”的事情。卡朋特是个幸运鬼，把握住了回地球的机会。沃尔夫从未想到自己会对这种机会心生妒意，但过去36小时发生的事情已将他之前的思想戳得千疮百孔。事态改变了，他仿佛听到朗和明美都在这么说；他们的确也这么说过。他暗自决定，自己将是下一个回地球的人。不管以什么形式。而且这一年来他第一次想起了被他抛在身后的家庭，以及那份他想要尽力再次唤醒的爱。
The orbs had lifted the GMU to an altitude of almost twenty miles by the time Rick and Max brought their Alphas aboard. Below, hidden beneath a swirling, agitated pall of cloud cover, Praxis was fractured beyond recognition, the molten stuff of its core geysering to the surface and boiling away the planet's oceans and fragile atmosphere. Microclimates and cyclonic storms added to the fury, unleashing blinding bolts of lightning and torrents of black rain, while volcanoes answered the skies with thunderous volleys of their own making. Praxis bellowed and roared like some tortured animal, rattling the GMU with its clamorous cries.
当瑞克和麦克斯驾驶的阿尔法机登上GMU时，圆球们已经将基地升到接近二十英里的高度。下方的普拉西斯星隐藏在一片纷乱漩涡般的云幕下，逐渐变得支离破碎，越发陌生。从熔融地核深处不停喷发出的炽热岩浆，煮沸了这颗星球的海洋，摧毁了它稀薄的大气层。刺目的闪电、湍急的黑雨肆意暴虐，其间还有龙卷风在局部小气候里夹杂；地面的火山则对天空以雷鸣般的喷发来应答。普拉西斯像只垂死挣扎的野兽，咆哮着，怒吼着，GMU在它震耳欲聋的呼号里喀喀作响。
In the base's pressurized ordnance bay, Rick and the others began to wonder whether they would make it after all. Veidt had told them that the orbs could only remain clustered for a short time once they reached the outer edge of the planet's envelope; but with Praxis seemingly entering its final phase, the base would need to be hundreds of thousands of miles out-at least as far as the planet's primary satellite. The way Cabell saw it, the Sentinels had one recourse: to use the most fully fueled VTs and Logans I to reach the far side of the moon. A preliminary count of the available mecha, however, had already pointed up the cruel truth half the Sentinels would have to face; and even so, what would the rest have accomplished outside of prolonging the inevitable· Were they to throw together a bivouac on the moon's frozen surface, or simply wander the wastes like some misguided flock until the mechas' power and life-support systems failed·
基地的加压军械舱内，瑞克等人开始考虑起他们究竟能否坚持下来的问题。维特之前告诉他们，一旦到达星球的大气层外缘，圆球只能保持短时间的聚集；但普拉西斯星显然已经进入了生命的最后阶段，基地需要距离它数十万英里——至少是这颗行星第一卫星的距离，才算安全。按卡贝尔地观点，哨兵可利用加满燃料的变形战机和摇石机飞往卫星的背面，以此作为屏障。然而，初步统计可用战机的数量，已经摆明了残酷的现实：半数哨兵将不得不难逃厄运。此外，剩下的那一半延迟了无法避免的命运之后，又能有什么结果？他们是在卫星冰冷的地面上集体露营，还是如同迷途的羊群一般在荒野漫步，直到飞机动力耗尽、生命支持系统失效呢？
In another part of the bay, Gnea and Bela were asking Teal why she had gone back to the cave. Neither of the Praxians knew much about Spheris or the ways of its crystalline life-forms, but the women guessed that Teal would have been just as happy to have remained on Praxis with her dead comrade.
船舱的另一边，妮雅和贝拉询问缇尔究竟为何回到洞中。她俩对史菲利思以及水晶生命体本身都知之甚少，但她俩猜测缇尔甘愿留在普拉西斯，想必是为了能陪在她死去的战友身边。
"But we've all endured losses and hardships," Bela was telling her, trying to be helpful."Recall how Lron and Crysta suffered when the Farrago met its end, and how Gnea and I grieved for our Sisterhood. Now our very world..."
“但我们都经历过失去亲友的痛苦，”贝拉想开导她。“想想法拉戈号走到尽头时勒荣和克里斯塔遭受的打击，还有妮雅和我为姐妹会而悲痛。如今我们自己的这个世界又……”
Lron, who was standing within earshot, made a kind of mournful growl."Death is the way of the world," he muttered in the usual Karbarran fashion."We do not mourn the loss of our friends; we are resigned to such things."
勒荣站的不远，听到了她的话语，发出了一声哀嗥：“死亡是这世界的方向，”他的咕哝带着卡巴拉人惯有的风格。“我们并不哀悼失去的亲友，我们甘心接受这些。”
"I'm not mourning for Baldan," Teal said, looking up at him and Crysta."I'm upset about the child."
“我不为鲍丹哀悼，”缇尔望着他和克里斯塔说；“我是为了那孩子而不开心。”
"The dead child," Gnea started to say.
“那个死掉的孩子，”妮雅正要说下去，却被打断。
"It's not dead," Teal said harshly, standing up and walking away from them.
“他没死，”缇尔语气强硬，站起身来走开了。
"It lives·" Bela said, catching up and spinning her around by the arm."And you would knowingly abandon it·"
“他还活着？”贝拉说，追上她，一把抓住她的手臂，拉她转回身。“你明知这样还抛弃了他？”
"Let her be, Bela," Lron cut in."You know nothing of their ways."
“让她去，贝拉，”勒荣插话：“你不懂他们的方式。”
"I know what it means to leave a being to die," she answered him."Why, Teal·" she asked.
“可我知道见死不救反而走开是什么意思，”她回答。“为什么，缇尔？”她又问。
The Spherisian gazed at her coldly."Because I will have to care for the infant. That is our way."
这个史菲利思女人冷冷地盯着她，说：“因为我将不得不照料这个婴儿。这就是我们的方式。”
Teal snatched her arm away and Bela threw back her broad shoulders."I will return for the child. I will raise it, if you won't."
缇尔用力抽回胳膊，而贝拉则挺起自己宽阔的肩膀：“我要为了这孩子回去。我来抚养他，要是你不承担的话。”
Teal whirled on her, pointing a hand accusingly."What do Praxians know of motherhood· I forbid you!"
缇尔转到她面前，伸手指着她，责骂道：“普拉西斯人对当母亲的事情懂些什么？我不允许你这么做！”
Even Gnea had misgivings about the idea, and risked a step into Bela's path."Think twice, Sister. Besides, it is too late-Halidarre rests and our Praxis is out of reach."
即使是妮雅对这个主意也很不安，她冒险上前，挡住贝拉，说：“再考虑考虑吧，姐姐。太晚了——哈丽达尔已经休息了，我们的普拉西斯也没法靠近了。”
"I'll take you," a female voice rose up from the group of mecha pilots that had gathered round. Miriya Sterling eased her way her way through the group, until she was toe-to-toe with the amazon."I'll take you," she repeated.
“我带你去。”她们周围已经聚集了一圈飞行员，一个女声从中响起。米莉娅·斯特林从人群中挤出，一直走到贝拉面前。“我带你去。”她又重复一遍。
"A Praxian and a Zentraedi sharing the same small space·" Gnea scoffed."Even such a mission of mercy-"
“在这么狭小的地方让普拉西斯人和天顶星人一起呆着？”妮雅冷笑着，“就算这任务是个仁慈的善举——”
"No matter what you may think of me," the former Quadrono ace responded,"I know as much about the sanctity of life as any of you do. Give it a try, Bela-for the infant's sake." She thrust a helmet into Bela's hands.
“不管你们怎么看我，”这位前昆德诺王牌回答：“对于生命的神圣，我理解的和你们都一样。让我们试试，贝拉——为了这个婴儿。”她往贝拉的手里塞了个头盔。
Bela held on to the thing for a moment, then donned it, and raced with Miriya for one of the Skull's red VTs.
贝拉拿着头盔想了片刻，戴上了它。她同米莉娅你追我赶，向骷髅中队的一架红色变形机跑去。
Rick didn't even consider trying to stop them-not that Bela or Miriya would have listened to him in any case. He had noticed a kind of latent xenophobia surfacing among the Sentinels-something stress had brought out-and reasoned that a rescue mission could provide just the rallying point everyone needed.
瑞克甚至没有考虑要去阻止她们——倒不是说贝拉和米莉娅有可能会听他的。他之前已发现哨兵同盟中浮现出一股种族间排斥的情绪，是压力带来的后果。他推测这样一个救援任务能提供每个人都需要的凝聚力。
Bela and Miriya were suited up by the time Rick came over to wish them luck; and minutes later the bay had been cleared for the VT's launch. Miriya entered course headings as the mecha dropped down along the GMU's substantially reduced orb cluster and into the dark night of the planet's soul.
贝拉和米莉娅整理着飞行服，瑞克过来祝她们好运。几分钟后，军械舱已经为变形机出发做好准备。米莉娅输入航向后，GMU将飞机从已经明显减少的圆球群当中投出。战机向这颗星球黑夜般的灵魂深处驶入。
Once through the shroud, the two women witnessed for themselves the final, tormented moments of Praxis's tectonic death. Great, furious rivers of molten stuff coursed across the planet's surface now, burying forests and villages in liquid fire. Here and there, where the rivers were abruptly dammed by ground swells, were crater-sized lakes of lava, flailing white-hot tendrils into an equally hellish sky. Praxis seemed to be expanding while they watched, bursting its geological seams.
穿过云幕，二人亲眼见证了普拉西斯星生命中受尽折磨的最终时刻。此刻，熔岩在行星表面上流淌，汇成愤怒的巨河，流淌的火焰埋葬了树林和村庄。远近各处，河流被地表凸起突然拦截阻断的地方，形成了陨石坑状的岩浆湖，朝着同样地狱般的天空挥舞着白热的卷须。她们看到，普拉西斯似乎正不断膨胀，快要将星球上一条条地质裂痕撑爆。
Miraculously, the region around the caves was practically unchanged, except for an expanding flow of lava that had sealed the entrance to the central cavern. The artificial chute, however, remained open and accessible.
洞穴周边的地区却奇迹般地基本维持原样，只有一条正在扩张的岩浆流封住了中央洞穴的入口。人工竖槽依然开放，可以进入。
"We'll have to go in through the top," Miriya shouted, struggling to keep the VT stabilized in the face of intense updrafts from the liquified valley floor.
“我们必须得从顶上进去。”米莉娅大喊着。从液化谷底吹出的上升气流里，她正费力地稳住变形机。
Miriya imaged the VT over to Guardian mode and dropped the mecha into a controlled fall through the wide chimney the Sentinels had blasted through fifty feet of porous rock. With external temperatures registering in the red, there was no leaving the Veritech for a personal rescue; but years of experience in handling the mecha allowed Miriya to accomplish something even more extraordinary: foot thrusters holding the mecha motionless only inches above a pool of lava that had seeped in through the mouth of the cave, she utilized the radome to rake the throbbing crystal away from the wall where Teal had dropped it. Then, when the Spherisian infant was within reach, she took it gingerly into the VT's metal-shod hand, brought up the thrusters, and took the Guardian up the chimney, in a kind of stork reversal.
米莉娅用思感控制将变形机转为保护神模式，沿着那条哨兵轰开了五十多英尺深的多孔岩石而造就的大烟囱，控制战机下落。外部温度已经达到红色警戒，无法实施机外个人援救；但多年操纵变形机的经验能让米莉娅做得更加令人叫绝：下方岩浆从洞口不停流入，而战机则依靠足部推进器在熔岩池上方几英寸的地方纹丝不动。她用雷达天线罩将扑扑跳动的水晶从缇尔扔下的墙边扒开，随后，当史菲利思婴儿触手可及时，她小心翼翼地用变形机的一只金属手握住它，升起推进器，保护神钻上烟囱，像只逆飞的巨鹳（注：英语世界中认为鹳是带来婴儿的吉鸟）。
All the while, Bela was offering words of encouragement, and free of the chute now, she reached forward to give Miriya an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder.
自始至终贝拉都在给她鼓劲打气，现在她们飞离了竖槽，她朝前探身，热情地紧紧抱住米莉娅的肩膀。
Praxis did all it could to ground the tiny craft, hurling plumes of fire at its tail and chasing it to the edge of space with savage stabs of lightning; but there was no stopping Miriya, no way she would permit the planet to reclaim the child they had rescued from its unharnessed evil.
普拉西斯星竭尽所能要把这渺小的飞行器拉下地面。它挥舞着火鞭，用狂暴的闪电刺去，直追她们到空间外层；但这都阻止不了米莉娅，她们刚从这颗星球肆虐的邪恶中救出这个孩子，她绝不允许它再次将孩子夺走。
Once more through the pall, the VT reached the deceptive safety of the planet's stratosphere. Locked on to the GMU's frequency now, Miriya and Bela began to relax some; but as they approached the ten-wheeled battlewagon and its support cluster, they saw something that delivered them to the edge of panic: both the vehicle's launch doors were wide open, and local space was littered with VTs and Logans, even half-a-dozen reconfigured Hovertanks. Miriya and Bela thought for a moment that things had reached the hopeless level, and someone had given the abandon-ship order, a reckless last gasp for the moon...
变形机又一次穿过云幕，到达了普拉西斯平流层。这里看似安全，其实不然。米莉娅和贝拉现在已经锁定了GMU的通讯频率，她俩刚刚松了口气；但当她们接近这驾十轮战车以及车下的支撑圆球群时，眼前的景象将她们推向惊恐的边缘：战车的发射门全都洞开，周围空间散布着变形机和摇石机，还有五六个改装后的气垫坦克。米莉娅和贝拉片刻后便想到，事态已经到了毫无希望的地步，有人下了弃船令——不顾一切，将那颗卫星当成最后的依靠。
Then they spotted the dreadnought, Wolff's bright spot in the galaxy-the SDF-7 rescue vessel.
后来，她们看到了那艘无畏舰。银河中的一颗亮点——沃尔夫的SDF-7救援船。
One day Rick and Lisa would compare the rescue of the Sentinels to the SDF-l's rescue of Macross from the Solar System's outer circle of frozen hell; there was the same sense of urgency, the same logistical problems and sacrifices-and chief among these would be the GMU itself. With the orbs beating a fast path for the safety of interstellar space, the Sentinels had no way to maneuver the base aboard, and there was no docking bay in the SDF-7 large enough to contain it even if they could. But just now, to everyone but Vince Grant, the GMU was of secondary concern. Distance was the crucial matter at hand-how much could be put between the cruiser and Praxis, and just how quickly.
有朝一日，瑞克和丽莎会将驰援哨兵的行动与SDF-1将麦克罗斯从太阳系外缘的冰雪地狱中拯救相提并论；二者具有同样紧急的意义，同样的补给问题和物资牺牲——其中首位的牺牲便是GMU自身。圆球们已为自己开辟出一条安全道路，前往星际太空，而哨兵同盟无法在内部操纵GMU。即使他们能操控，SDF-7的停机舱也不够大，容纳不下GMU。不过这时，除了文斯·格兰特之外，每个人都认为GMU是个次要问题，而距离才是当务之急——巡洋舰能离开普拉西斯星多远，能航行得多快。
They were close to a million miles out when the planet came apart, when enough force to obliterate the moon-the place Rick had recently seen as their possible salvation. Bela and Gnea were on the bridge to witness the brief fireball that flared where a world had once turned.
当行星分裂之时，他们已经航行了近一百万英里。巨大的冲击力彻底摧毁了那颗卫星——而瑞克不久前还将它当成一根可能的救命稻草。贝拉和妮雅在舰桥上见证了那一刻：曾经的普拉西斯世界，终于化作短暂而耀眼的火球。
"We are homeless," Bela cried.
“我们没有家了，”贝拉哭泣着。
But from what Rick and the others were beginning to understand, the Praxians weren't the only ones. Again a comparison with the SDF-1 would present itself, the memory of a council's edict that forbade the fortress to remain the Earthspace, an edict that effectively betrayed the Robotech Defense Force. And such betrayals, Rick reminded himself, had a cruel way of balancing out...
但是，瑞克和其他人渐渐也开始明白，并不是只有普拉西斯人无家可归。SDF-1当年的情形可以再次拿来参照：议会下了驱逐令拒绝堡垒留在地球，实际上出卖了太空堡垒远征军。而这样的背叛行径，瑞克提醒自己，要用残忍的方式来获取平衡……
Superluminal Reflex drives kept the fortress well ahead of Praxian debris, and during that brief run to the outer limits of the planetary system, Wolff related to his dazed comrades the sobering tale of his short stay aboard the SDF-3. Wolff knew nothing of the simulagent's assassination, and Tesla certainly wasn't talking; but even without that subplot, there was more than enough to leave the Humans dumbfounded.
超光速反射炉让堡垒安然航行在普拉西斯废墟的前方，就在这驶向行星系外缘的简短旅程中，沃尔夫向这些茫然的战友们叙述了他在SDF-3上短暂停留期间的沉重故事。沃尔夫对刺杀替身的事情一无所知，泰斯拉自然也不会说；但即使没有那段插曲，这故事也足够令人类听众们目瞪口呆了。
As they continued to rehash the details, a curious understanding of the council's decision began to undermine their initial outrage. But that Wolff should have to steal a ship, and that the Sentinels would as a consequence be viewed as outlaws...these things were not so easily embraced. For the XT Sentinels, the revelations only meant that they had gained a second enemy instead of a much-needed ally. Among the group, however, there was the beginning of a renewed cohesiveness.
就在他们拼凑细节的同时，这些人对委员会的决定产生了一种奇怪的理解之情，这种情绪逐渐削弱了起初那份愤慨。不过除了沃尔夫被迫偷船，还有因此哨兵们被当成了逃犯之外，这些事情没那么轻易就能接受。对哨兵的外星成员来说，这个新发现只意味着他们努力争取来的是又一个敌人，而不是急切需要的盟友。然而，在这个团队中间，又重新产生了凝聚力。
Rick thought he detected something unsettling in Wolff, but he dismissed it, speculating that he would probably have returned in even worse shape.
瑞克认为自己察觉出沃尔夫心里有事不安，但没有深究，毕竟沃尔夫返回后的状况已经算不错了。
"Do we return to Tirol, or continue on as planned·" Rick asked everyone."If we opt for going back, it could mean prison for most of us, death for some," he added, glancing over at Wolff."On the other hand, it might give us a chance to explain ourselves to the council and keep Edwards from gaining any further influence."
“我们回泰洛，还是按原计划继续？”瑞克向每个人发问：“如果我们选择回去，那对我们绝大多数人而言，面临的将是监狱，有些人则是死罪，”他朝沃尔夫瞥了一眼，补充道。“但另一方面，这条路给了我们一个机会向委员会解释，并能阻止爱德华兹获得更多影响力。”
"What do we care about your General Edwards·" Lron shouted, looking for support from the other XTs."The Invid are our enemy. And if your forces decide to side with them against us, so be it."
“我们对你们的爱德华兹将军有什么好在意的？”勒荣高喊，寻求其他外星人的支持。“因维人才是我们的敌人。如果你们的军队决定站在他们那边对抗我们，那就随他们去吧。”
Kami, Learna, Crysta, Bela, and Gnea voiced their support for Lron's position. Cabell, Rem, Janice, Sarna, and Veidt were curiously quiet.
卡米、莱亚娜、克里斯塔、贝拉和妮雅附和他，支持他的立场。卡贝尔、雷、贾妮斯、莎娜和维特则奇怪地沉默着。
Rick silenced them and directed the question to the RDF contingent. Lisa stood up to answer him.
瑞克让他们安静，又面对防卫军分队的成员发问。丽莎站起身回答他。
"I understand the need for countering Edwards's influence," she said in a way that was aimed at Rick,"but we have to consider the broader picture. Our return could place the council in an awkward position with regard to further negotiations."
“我理解反击爱德华兹影响力的必要性，”她说的话仿佛是针对瑞克，“但我们也必须考虑更远大的图景。我们回去的话，会让委员会进一步议和时处在十分尴尬的位置。”
"We'll accomplish the same thing with continued acts of aggression directed against Invid-held planets," someone from the Wolff Pack pointed out."What happens when Edwards comes gunning for us-do we fight our own forces·"
“我们继续对因维人控制的星球进攻的话，也会达到同样的效果，”沃尔夫战队的某人指出：“当爱德华兹来用枪口对着我们的时候，该怎么办——我们要和自己的军队作战吗？”
Vince Grant shot to his feet and turned on the pilot, even as Jean was trying to calm him down."The council would never bow to the Regent's demands that we be hunted down! They'd break the truce before they'd do that-"
文斯·格兰特猛地站起，矛头对准那位飞行员，即使是吉英也尽力让他镇静些。“委员会绝不会屈从于瑞金特的要求来追杀我们！早在屈从之前，他们就会撕毁和约了——”
"Not if Edwards is running the council!"
“如果爱德华兹控制着委员会，就不是这样！”
"Waste 'em!" said a Skull pilot."They were ready to let us die on Praxis! I say we're free agents!"
“干掉他们！”一个骷髅中队飞行员说：“他们乐意让我们死在普拉西斯！要我说，我们现在是自由战士！”
XTs and Humans cheered. Rick found himself thinking about pirates, and happened to notice Jack Baker slapping Lron on the back, while Karen raised her eyes in an imploring gesture.
外星人和人类都欢呼着。瑞克不由得想起了海盗们，又无意中看到杰克·贝克拍击着勒荣的后背，而凯伦抬头用恳求的神态望着他。
"Put it to a vote," Max suggested.
“投票表决吧，”麦克斯建议。
Rick scanned the crowd and received nods of agreement from Lisa, Wolff, Miriya, Vince, and Cabell."Will it be Garuda, then, or back to Tirol·" he asked loud enough to be heard above the tumult.
瑞克扫视人群，看到丽莎、沃尔夫、米莉娅、文斯和卡贝尔都点头同意。“下一步是嘎鲁达，还是回泰洛？”他声音宏亮，盖过了人群的喧哗。
"Garuda!" came the overwhelming response.
“嘎鲁达！”回答声势不可挡。
"Then it's settled," he said, aware once more of how he had taken charge without being asked. And from across the room, Lisa's eyes burned into his own.
“那就这么定了，”他说道，又一次意识到自己未经请求便掌管了大局。这时，他看到在房间另一头的丽莎，炯炯灼热的目光正注视着他。