They’re Made Out of Meat他們是肉做的

特里·比森　向芷嫣/譯

“Theyre made out of meat.”

“他們是肉做的?！?/p>

“Meat？”

“肉？”

“Meat. Theyre made out of meat.”

“肉。他們是肉做的?！?/p>

“Meat？”

“肉？”

“Theres no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet， took them aboard our recon vessels1， probed them all the way through. Theyre completely meat.”

“毫無疑問。我們從這個星球各地采集了若干樣本，把他們帶回我們的偵察艦，對他們?nèi)砩舷逻M行了探查。他們?nèi)侨狻！?/p>

“Thats impossible. What about the radio signals？ The messages to the stars.”

“那不可能。無線電信號怎么解釋？那些發(fā)送給恒星的消息?！?/p>

“They use the radio waves to talk， but the signals dont come from them. The signals come from machines.”

“他們用無線電波交流，但那些信號不是他們發(fā)出的。那些信號是機器發(fā)出的?！?/p>

“So who made the machines？ Thats who we want to contact.”

“那是誰造了那些機器？那才是我們想接觸的對象?！?/p>

“They made the machines. Thats what Im trying to tell you. Meat made the machines.”

“是他們造了那些機器。那就是我想告訴您的——肉造了那些機器?！?/p>

“Thats ridiculous. How can meat make a machine？ Youre asking me to believe in sentient2 meat.”

“真荒唐。肉怎么可能造機器？你這是要我相信肉有感知力?！?/p>

“Im not asking you， Im telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in the sector and theyre made out of meat.”

“我沒有要求您怎樣，我只是在講事實。這些生物是這片宇宙域中唯一有感知力的物種，而且他們是肉做的?！?/p>

“Maybe theyre like the Orfolei3. You know， a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage.”

“或許他們和奧福勒相似。嗯，就是那種碳基智慧物種，生長過程中會經(jīng)歷肉質(zhì)階段?！?/p>

“Nope. Theyre born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans， which didnt take too long. Do you have any idea the life span of meat？”

“不一樣。他們生而為肉，死了還是肉。我們研究了他們好幾個生命周期，他們的壽命不怎么長。你能想象肉的壽命是多長嗎？”

“Spare me. Okay， maybe theyre only part meat. You know， like the Weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside.”

“饒了我吧。對了，也許他們不全都是肉。你知道，像韋迪勒那樣，頭是肉質(zhì)的，但里面是等離子電子腦?！?/p>

“Nope. We thought of that， since they do have meat heads like the Weddilei. But I told you， we probed them. Theyre meat all the way through.”

“不是。我們想過這種可能，因為他們的確有韋迪勒那樣的肉質(zhì)頭。但是我剛說過，我們探查了他們。他們?nèi)砩舷露际侨?。?/p>

“No brain？”

“沒有腦？”

“Oh， there is a brain all right. Its just that the brain is made out of meat！”

“噢，腦倒是有，不過那腦也是肉做的！”

“So... what does the thinking？”

“那么……思維從哪里產(chǎn)生？”

“Youre not understanding， are you？ The brain does the thinking. The meat.”

“您還沒明白嗎？就是這個腦產(chǎn)生思維。這個肉腦?！?/p>

“Thinking meat！ Youre asking me to believe in thinking meat！”

“有思維的肉！你這是要我相信肉會思考！”

“Yes， thinking meat！ Conscious meat！ Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal！ Are you getting the picture？”

“沒錯，會思考的肉！有意識的肉！會相愛的肉，會做夢的肉。這肉無所不能！您現(xiàn)在有概念了嗎？”

“Omigod4. Youre serious then. Theyre made out of meat.”

“天哪。原來你是認真的。他們就是肉做的?！?/p>

“Finally， Yes. They are indeed made out meat. And theyve been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years.”

“您終于明白了，對。他們的的確確是肉做的。而且，按他們的紀年算，近百年來他們一直試圖聯(lián)系上我們?！?/p>

“So what does the meat have in mind.”

“這肉想干什么呢？”

“First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the universe， contact other sentients， swap ideas and information. The usual.”

“首先，肉想和我們說話。其次，我猜肉想探索宇宙、與其他有感知力的物種接觸、交換思想和信息。都是尋常路子?！?/p>

“Were supposed to talk to meat？”

“指望我們和肉說話？”

“Thats the idea. Thats the message theyre sending out by radio. ‘Hello. Anyone out there？ Anyone home？ That sort of thing.”

“就是這么回事。聽聽他們用無線電發(fā)送來的消息：‘你好！有人在嗎？有人在家嗎？諸如此類。”

“They actually do talk， then. They use words， ideas， concepts？”

“看來他們的確會說話。他們會運用詞語、觀點、概念嗎？”

“Oh， yes. Except they do it with meat.”

“噢，是的。唯一不同的是他們借助的是肉?！?/p>

“I thought you just told me they used radio.”

“你剛才告訴我，他們使用無線電?！?/p>

“They do， but what do you think is on the radio？ Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat it makes a noise？ They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat.”

“確實，但你知道無線電波里是什么嗎？是肉聲。當你拍打肉的時候，肉會發(fā)出雜聲，對吧？他們之間就是靠拍打肉來說話的。他們甚至可以通過從肉里噴出空氣來唱歌哩！”

“Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise？”

“天哪。會唱歌的肉！太不可思議了！ 那你有什么建議？”

“Officially or unofficially？”

“于公于私？”

“Both.”

“不妨都講講?！?/p>

“Officially， we are required to contact， welcome， and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in the quadrant， without prejudice， fear， or favor. Unofficially， I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing.”

“于公嘛，我們應該接觸、歡迎，并記錄這片宇宙域內(nèi)所有具備感知力的物種或多元生物，不帶偏見、不懷恐懼，也不牽扯個人喜好。于私嘛，我建議抹掉記錄，忘記這一切?！?/p>

“I was hoping you would say that.”

“我正希望你會那樣說?！?/p>

“It seems harsh， but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat？”

“這么干似乎很殘忍，但凡事皆有度。我們真的想和肉接觸嗎？”

“I agree one hundred percent. Whats there to say？” ‘Hello， meat. Hows it going？ But will this work？ How many planets are we dealing with here？”

“我百分之百同意。我們能對他們說什么呢？‘嗨，肉，你好嗎？這有用嗎？我們在這兒要和多少個行星打交道？”

“Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers， but they cant live on them. And being meat， they only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal5， in fact.”

“只有一個。他們可以乘坐特制肉容器前往其他行星，但不能住在上面。作為肉，他們只能在C空間旅行。這讓他們無法超越光速，進而使他們對外接觸的可能性很小。根本就是微乎其微?！?/p>

“So we just pretend theres no one home in the universe.”

“那么，我們就假裝宇宙中無人居住啦?！?/p>

“Thats it.”

“沒錯?！?/p>

“Cruel. But you said it yourself， who wants to meet meat？ And the ones who have been aboard our vessels， the ones you have probed？ Youre sure they wont remember？”

“真殘忍啊。不過你自己也說過，誰想碰見肉呢？另外，我們偵察艦里那幾塊讓你們探查過的肉怎么處理？你保證他們不會記得？”

“Theyll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that were just a dream to them.”

“即使他們記得，他們也只會被當成怪人。我們探進了他們的頭，抹平了他們腦中的肉，這樣對他們而言，我們只是一場夢罷了。”

“A dream to meat！ How strangely appropriate， that we should be meats dream.”

“肉的夢！我們竟然成為肉的夢，這倒是意想不到地合適！”

“And we marked this sector unoccupied.”

“同時，我們還把這片宇宙域標記為無人居住?！?/p>

“Good. Agreed， officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others？ Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy？”

“好，同意，于公于私都同意，這事就這么定了。還有其他的嗎？銀河系另一邊還有什么有意思的東西嗎？”

“Yes， a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotation ago， wants to be friendly again.”

“有，G445區(qū)一個九級恒星上有一種聚氫核智慧物種，很靦腆，但挺可愛。在兩個銀河自轉(zhuǎn)時之前與我們接觸過，現(xiàn)在又想示好。”

“They always come around.”

“他們總來我們附近晃悠。”

“And why not？ Imagine how unbearably， how unutterably cold the universe would be if one were all alone.”

“為什么不呢？想一想，如果孤孤單單的，那這個宇宙的寒意該多么難以忍受，多么難以言喻啊。”

（譯者單位：中山大學）