 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chapter 20 | 20. |
| Five figures wandered slowly over the blighted land. Bits of it were dullish gray, bits of it dullish brown, the rest of it rather less interesting to look at. It was like a dried-out marsh, now barren of all vegetation and covered with a layer of dust about an inch thick. It was very cold. | Pet prilika lagano je koračalo pustošnim predelom. Neki delovi njihove okoline bili su tmurno sivi, neki tmurno smeđi, ostatak je bio mnogo neugledniji. Sve je podsećalo na isušenu močvaru s koje je sada nestalo sve bilje i koju je prekrio sloj prašine debeo oko jednog inča. Bilo je vrlo hladno. |
| Zaphod was clearly rather depressed about it. He stalked off by himself and was soon lost to sight behind a slight rise in the ground. | Zaphoda je sve to očigledno veoma razočaralo. Odlutao je negde za svoj groš i ubrzo je nestao sa vidika, zaklonjen blagim uzvišenjem na tlu. |
| The wind stung Arthur’s eyes and ears, and the stale thin air clasped his throat. However, the thing that was stung most was his mind. | Vetar je grizao Arturove oči i uši, a retki vazduh stezao mu je grlo. Ali stvar koja je najviše trpela bio je njegov um. |
| “It’s fantastic …” he said, and his own voice rattled his ears. Sound carried badly in this thin atmosphere. | "To je fantastično..." kazao je, a sopstveni glas šuplje mu je zazveketao u ušima. U toj retkoj atmosferi zvuk se loše prenosio. |
| “Desolate hole, if you ask me,” said Ford. “I could have more fun in a cat litter.” He felt a mounting irritation. Of all the planets in all the star systems of all the Galaxy—many wild and exotic, seething with life—didn’t he just have to turn up at a dump like this after fifteen years of being a castaway? Not even a hot-dog stand in evidence. He stooped down and picked up a cold clod of earth, but there was nothing underneath it worth crossing thousands of light-years to look at. | "Zabačena rupčaga, ako mene pitaš", reče Ford. "Više bih se zabavljao gajenjem krastavaca." Sve se više nervirao. Od svih planeta u svim zvezdanim sistemima čitave Galaksije - mnogih divljih i egzotičnih, prepunih života - zar je posle petnaest godina izgnanstva morao da dođe baš na ovakvo đubrište? Nigde čak ni kioska s viršlama. Sagao se i podigao hladni grumen sa tla, ali pod njim nije bilo ničega zbog čega je vredelo proputovati hiljadu svetlosnih godina. |
| “No,” insisted Arthur, “don’t you understand, this is the first time I’ve actually stood on the surface of another planet … a whole alien world …! Pity it’s such a dump though.” | "Ne", bio je uporan Artur, "zar ne shvataš, ovo je prvi put da stojim na površini druge planete... Čitavog jednog tuđinskog sveta...! Šteta samo što je takvo đubrište." |
| Trillian hugged herself, shivered and frowned. She could have sworn she saw a slight and unexpected movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she glanced in that direction all she could see was the ship, still and silent, a hundred yards or so behind them. | Trilijan se skupila, stresla i namrštila. Gotovo se mogla zakleti da je krajičkom oka spazila sićušan, neočekivan pokret, ali kada se osvrnula, jedino je videla brod, miran i tih, udaljen stotinak jardi. |
| She was relieved when a second or so later they caught sight of Zaphod standing on top of the ridge of ground and waving to them to come and join him. | Osetila je olakšanje kada je posle otprilike jedne sekunde ugledala Zaphoda kako im sa vrha uzvišenja maše da dođu do njega. |
| He seemed to be excited, but they couldn’t clearly hear what he was saying because of the thinnish atmosphere and the wind. | Delovao je uzbuđeno, ali zbog tanušne atmosfere i vetra nisu mogli razabrati šta govori. |
| As they approached the ridge of higher ground they became aware that it seemed to be circular—a crater about a hundred and fifty yards wide. Round the outside of the crater the sloping ground was spattered with black and red lumps. They stopped and looked at a piece. It was wet. It was rubbery. | Kada su se približili uzvišenju, shvatili su da je kružno - posredi je bio krater od približno sto pedeset jardi u prečniku. Oko kratera, uzdignuti deo tla bio je zasut crnim i crvenim komadima nečega. Zastali su i pogledali jedno parče. Bilo je vlažno. Bilo je mekano. |
| With horror they suddenly realized that it was fresh whale-meat. | S užasom shvatiše da je reč o svežem kitovom mesu. |
| At the top of the crater’s lip they met Zaphod. | Na rubu kratera sreli su Zaphoda. |
| “Look,” he said, pointing into the crater. | "Gle", rekao je i pokazao krater. |
| In the center lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperm whale that hadn’t lived long enough to be disappointed with its lot. The silence was only disturbed by the slight involuntary spasms of Trillian’s throat. | U središtu je ležala raznesena lešina usamljenog kita-ulješure, koji nije poživeo dovoljno dugo da se razočara svojom brojnošću. Tišinu je narušavao jedino zvuk nevoljnih grčeva Trilijaninog vrata. |
| “I suppose there’s no point in trying to bury it?” murmured Arthur, and then wished he hadn’t. | "Pretpostavljam da nema smisla da pokušamo da ga zakopamo", promrmljao je Artur, ali odmah zažali što je to učinio. |
| “Come,” said Zaphod, and started back down into the crater. | "Dođite", reče Zaphod i poče da silazi u krater. |
| “What, down there?” said Trillian with severe distaste. | "Šta, tamo dole?" odvrati Trilijan s izrazom krajnjeg gađenja. |
| “Yeah,” said Zaphod, “come on, I’ve got something to show you.” | "Aha", reče Zaphod. "Dođite, hoću nešto da vam pokažem." |
| “We can see it,” said Trillian. | "Vidimo i odavde", reče Trilijan. |
| “Not that,” said Zaphod, “something else. Come on.” | "Ne to", reče Zaphod. "Nešto drugo. Dođite." |
| They all hesitated. | Svi su oklevali. |
| “Come on,” insisted Zaphod, “I’ve found a way in.” | "Dođite", bio je uporan Zaphod. "Našao sam način kako da uđemo." |
| “In?” said Arthur in horror. | "Da uđemo", ponovi Artur užasnuto. |
| “Into the interior of the planet! An underground passage. The force of the whale’s impact cracked it open, and that’s where we have to go. Where no man has trod these five million years, into the very depths of time itself….” | "U unutrašnjost planete! Podzemni prolaz. Silina kitovog udarca otvorila ga je i tuda treba da prođemo. Tamo gde čovek nije kročio pet miliona godina, u dubine samog vremena..." |
| Marvin started his ironical humming again. | Marvin ponovo ironično zapevuši. |
| Zaphod hit him and he shut up. | Zaphod ga tresnu i on ućuta. |
| With little shudders of disgust they all followed Zaphod down the incline into the crater, trying very hard to avoid looking at its unfortunate creator. | Blago drhteći od gađenja, sledili su Zaphoda niz padinu u krater, upinjući se svim silama da izbegnu poglede prema njegovom nesrećnom tvorcu. |
| “Life,” said Marvin dolefully, “loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it.” | "Život", reče Marvin mračno. "Možete da ga se gadite ili da ne obraćate pažnju na njega, ali ne možete ga voleti." |
| The ground had caved in where the whale had hit it, revealing a network of galleries and passages, now largely obstructed by collapsed rubble and entrails. Zaphod had made a start clearing a way into one of them, but Marvin was able to do it rather faster. Dank air wafted out of its dark recesses, and as Zaphod shone a flashlight into it, little was visible in the dusty gloom. | Zemljište se urušilo tamo gde ga je pogodio kit i otkrilo mrežu galerija i prolaza koji su sada dobrim delom bili zatrpani srušenom zemljom i iznutricama. Zaphod poče da raščišćava prolaz u jedan od njih, ali Marvinu je to mnogo brže polazilo za rukom. Ustajali vazduh izbi iz mračnog hodnika i kada je Zaphod uneo upaljenu svetiljku, malo šta se videlo. |
| “According to the legends,” he said, “the Magratheans lived most of their lives underground.” | "Prema predanju", rekao je, "žitelji Magratee veći deo života provodili su pod zemljom." |
| “Why’s that?” said Arthur. “Did the surface become too polluted or overpopulated?” | "Zašto?" upita Artur. "Zar je površina bila previše zagađena ili prenaseljena?" |
| “No, I don’t think so,” said Zaphod. “I think they just didn’t like it very much.” | "Ne, ne verujem", reče Zaphod. "Mislim da im se naprosto nije sviđala." |
| “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” said Trillian, peering nervously into the darkness. “We’ve been attacked once already, you know.” | "Jesi li siguran da znaš šta radiš?" upita Trilijan i nervozno proviri u tamu. "Znaš, već su nas jednom napali." |
| “Look, kid, I promise you the live population of this planet is nil plus the four of us, so come on, let’s get on in there. Er, hey, Earthman …” | "Čuj, dete, jemčim ti da je živa populacija ove planete nula plus nas četvoro i zato hajde, siđi ovamo. Ovaj, hej, Zemljanine..." |
| “Arthur,” said Arthur. | "Arture", reče Artur. |
| “Yeah, could you just sort of keep this robot with you and guard this end of the passageway. Okay?” | "Aha, a je l' bi ti mogao da malko zadržiš ovog robota kraj sebe i da čuvaš ovaj kraj prolaza? U redu?" |
| “Guard?” said Arthur. “What from? You just said there’s no one here.” | "Da čuvam?" reče Artur. "Od koga? Upravo si rekao da ovde nema nikoga." |
| “Yeah, well, just for safety, okay?” said Zaphod. | "Aha. Pa onako, za svaki slučaj, radi bezbednosti, u redu?" reče Zaphod. |
| “Whose? Yours or mine?” | "Čije bezbednosti? Vaše ili moje?" |
| “Good lad. Okay, here we go.” | "Budi dobar momak. U redu, idemo." |
| Zaphod scrambled down into the passage, followed by Trillian and Ford. | Zaphod se spusti u prolaz, a sledili su ga Trilijan i Ford. |
| “Well, I hope you all have a really miserable time,” complained Arthur. | "E pa, nadam se da ćete se loše provesti", požali se Artur. |
| “Don’t worry,” Marvin assured him, “they will.” | "Bez brige", uveravao ga je Marvin, "hoće." |
| In a few seconds they had disappeared from view. | Posle nekoliko sekundi nestali su sa vidika. |
| Arthur stamped around in a huff, and then decided that a whale’s graveyard is not on the whole a good place to stamp around in. | Artur je uvređeno trupkao po okolini, a onda je zaključio da grob jednog kita nije baš najpogodnije mesto za trupkanje. |
| Marvin eyed him balefully for a moment, and then turned himself off. | Marvin ga je na trenutak zlobno probadao pogledom, a onda se isključio. |
| Zaphod marched quickly down the passageway, nervous as hell, but trying to hide it by striding purposefully. He flung the beam around. The walls were covered in dark tiles and were cold to the touch, the air thick with decay. | Zaphod je brzo marširao niz prolaz, đavolski nervozan, iako je pokušavao da to sakrije koračajući kao da ima neki određen cilj. Pomerao je snop svetiljke oko sebe. Zidovi su bili prekriveni tamnim pločicama, a vazduh gust od mirisa raspadanja. |
| “There, what did I tell you?” he said. “An inhabited planet. Magrathea,” and he strode on through the dirt and debris that littered the tile floors. | "Eto, šta sam vam rekao?" govorio je. "Naseljena planeta. Magratea." Potom bi nastavio da korača kroz prljavštinu i otpatke koji su prekrivali popločane podove. |
| Trillian was reminded unavoidably of the London Underground, though it was less thoroughly squalid. | Trilijan je sve to neizbežno podsetilo na londonsku podzemnu železnicu, iako je ovde bilo nešto manje zapušteno. |
| At intervals along the walls the tiles gave way to large mosaics—simple angular patterns in bright colors. Trillian stopped and studied one of them but could not interpret any sense in them. She called to Zaphod. | Tu i tamo, duž zidova, pločice su ustupale mesto ogromnim mozaicima i jednostavnim, uglastim šarama živih boja. Trilijan je zastala i počela da proučava jedan od njih, ali u njemu nije razabrala nikakav smisao. Onda pozva Zaphoda. |
| “Hey, have you any idea what these strange symbols are?” | "Hej, imaš li pojma šta bi ovi čudni simboli mogli da predstavljaju?" |
| “I think they’re just strange symbols of some kind,” said Zaphod, hardly glancing back. | "Čini mi se da su to, u stvari, neki čudni simboli", reče Zaphod, jedva se i osvrnuvši. |
| Trillian shrugged and hurried after him. | Trilijan sleže ramenima i pohita za njim. |
| From time to time a doorway led either to the left or right into smallish chambers which Ford discovered to be full of derelict computer equipment. He dragged Zaphod into one to have a look. Trillian followed. | S vremena na vreme nailazili su na vrata koja su vodila levo ili desno u omanje prostorije za koje je Ford otkrio da su pune napuštene kompjuterske opreme. Povukao je Zaphoda do jedne od njih da je pogleda. Trilijan ih je sledila. |
| “Look,” said Ford, “you reckon this is Magrathea …” | "Čuj", reče Ford, "zaključio si da je ovo Magratea..." |
| “Yeah,” said Zaphod, “and we heard the voice, right?” | "Aha", reče Zaphod, "i čuli smo glas, zar ne?" |
| “Okay, so I’ve bought the fact that it’s Magrathea—for the moment. What you have so far said nothing about is how in the Galaxy you found it. You didn’t just look it up in a star atlas, that’s for sure.” | "U redu, ja sam prihvatio činjenicu da je ovo Magratea - za sada. Ali dosad baš ništa nisi rekao o tome kako si je, za ime Galaksije, pronašao. Sigurno nisi pogledao u zvezdani atlas." |
| “Research. Government archives. Detective work. Few lucky guesses. Easy.” | "Istraživanje. Vladine arhive. Detektivski posao. Nekoliko srećnih nagađanja. Lako." |
| “And then you stole the Heart of Gold to come and look for it with?” | "A onda si ukrao 'Zlatno srce' da bi došao njime i našao ovo mesto?" |
| “I stole it to look for a lot of things.” | "Ukrao sam ga da bih našao mnoge stvari." |
| “A lot of things?” said Ford in surprise. “Like what?” | "Mnoge stvari", reče Ford iznenađeno. "Na primer?" |
| “I don’t know.” | "Ne znam." |
| “What?” | "Šta?" |
| “I don’t know what I’m looking for.” | "Ne znam šta to tražim." |
| “Why not?” | "Kako to, ne znaš?" |
| “Because … because … I think it might be because if I knew I wouldn’t be able to look for them.” | "Zato... Zato što... Mislim da se, kada bih znao, ne bih usudio da nastavim potragu." |
| “What, are you crazy?” | "Šta, zar si poludeo?" |
| “It’s a possibility I haven’t ruled out yet,” said Zaphod quietly. “I only know as much about myself as my mind can work out under its current conditions. And its current conditions are not good.” | "U tu mogućnost još nisam sasvim siguran", reče Zaphod tiho. "O sebi znam samo onoliko koliko moj um može da zaključi u svom trenutnom stanju. A to stanje nije baš najbolje." |
| For a long time nobody said anything as Ford gazed at Zaphod with a mind suddenly full of worry. | Zadugo niko nije rekao ni reč, a Ford je iznenada počeo brižno da zagleda Zaphoda. |
| “Listen, old friend, if you want to …” started Ford eventually. | "Čuj, stari druže, ako hoćeš da..." poče Ford konačno. |
| “No, wait … I’ll tell you something,” said Zaphod. “I freewheel a lot. I get an idea to do something, and, hey, why not, I do it. I reckon I’ll become President of the Galaxy, and it just happens, it’s easy. I decide to steal this ship. I decide to look for Magrathea, and it all just happens. Yeah, I work out how it can best be done, right, but it always works out. It’s like having a Galacticredit card which keeps on working though you never send off the checks. And then whenever I stop and think—why did I want to do something?—how did I work out how to do it?—I get a very strong desire just to stop thinking about it. Like I have now. It’s a big effort to talk about it.” | "Ne, stani. Reći ću ti nešto", kazao je Zaphod. "Često mi se dešava da ne znam zašto sam nešto uradio. Padne mi na pamet da učinim nešto i, hej, što da ne, to i učinim. Odlučim se da postanem predsednik Galaksije i to se naprosto tako desi, lako. Odlučim da ukradem taj brod. Odlučim da potražim Magrateu i to se naprosto desi. O da, razmišljam kako bi bilo nabolje da to uradim, tako je, ali uvek mi pođe za rukom. To ti je kao da imaš galaktikreditnu karticu koja i dalje radi, iako nikada nisi uplatio nijedan ček. A kad god zastanem i počnem da razmišljam... zašto sam želeo da uradim nešto?... kako sam smislio način na koji ću to da uradim?... osetim vrlo jaku želju da prestanem da razmišljam o tome. Kao što osećam sada. Potreban je veliki napor da bih govorio o tome." |
| Zaphod paused for a while. For a while there was silence. Then he frowned and said, “Last night I was worrying about this again. About the fact that part of my mind just didn’t seem to work properly. Then it occurred to me that the way it seemed was that someone else was using my mind to have good ideas with, without telling me about it. I put the two ideas together and decided that maybe that somebody had locked off part of my mind for that purpose, which was why I couldn’t use it. I wondered if there was a way I could check. | Zaphod zastade na trenutak. Neko vreme je vladala tišina. Onda se on namrštio i kazao: "Sinoć sam se ponovo zabrinuo. Zbog toga što moj um kao da nije radio kako treba. Onda mi je palo na pamet da sve to izgleda kao da neko drugi koristi moj um da bi pomoću njega dobio dobre ideje, a da meni o tome ništa ne govori. Sabrao sam dve misli i zaključio da je možda taj neko zatvorio deo mog uma u tu svrhu i da ja zato nisam u stanju da ga upotrebim. Pitao sam se, postoji li neki način da to proverim. |
| “I went to the ship’s medical bay and plugged myself into the encephalographic screen. I went through every major screening test on both my heads—all the tests I had to go through under Government medical officers before my nomination for presidency could be properly ratified. They showed up nothing. Nothing unexpected at least. They showed that I was clever, imaginative, irresponsible, untrustworthy, extrovert, nothing you couldn’t have guessed. And no other anomalies. So I started inventing further tests, completely at random. Nothing. Then I tried superimposing the results from one head on top of the results from the other head. Still nothing. Finally I got silly, because I’d given it all up as nothing more than an attack of paranoia. Last thing I did before I packed it in was take the superimposed picture and look at it through a green filter. You remember I was always superstitious about the color green when I was a kid? I always wanted to be a pilot on one of the trading scouts?” | Otišao sam u medicinsko odeljenje broda i priključio se na elektroencelograf. Izveo sam sve glavne testove na obema glavama - sve testove kroz koje sam morao da prođem kod vladinih medicinskih stručnjaka pre nego što je moja kandidatura za predsednika propisno prihvaćena. Nisu pokazali ništa. Ili bar ništa neočekivano. Pokazali su da sam pametan, maštovit, neodgovoran, nepoverljiv, ekstrovertan, ništa što ne biste mogli i sami da zaključite. Nikakvih anomalija. Onda sam počeo da izmišljam nove testove, potpuno nasumce. Ništa. Onda sam pokušao da nadograđujem testove jedne glave na nalaze druge glave. I dalje ništa. Onda sam se razbesneo, jer sam gotovo došao do zaključka da je posredi napad paranoje. Poslednje što sam uradio pre nego što sam se spakovao bio je da uzmem zajedničku sliku i pogledam je kroz zeleni filter. Sećaš li se kako sam stalno bio sujeveran u vezi sa zelenom bojom kada sam bio mali? Oduvek sam želeo da budem pilot na jednom od trgovačkih izviđača?" |
| Ford nodded. | Ford klimnu glavom. |
| “And there it was,” said Zaphod, “clear as day. A whole section in the middle of both brains that related only to each other and not to anything else around them. Some bastard had cauterized all the synapses and electronically traumatized those two lumps of cerebellum.” | "I bilo je tamo", reče Zaphod, "jasno kao dan. Čitava sekcija u središtu oba mozga koja je bila povezana samo unutar sebe i više ni sa čim okolo. Neki kopilan spalio je sve sinapse i elektronski traumatizovao one dve gromuljice od cerebeluma." |
| Ford stared at him, aghast. Trillian had turned white. | Ford je zurio u njega, prestravljen. Trilijan je prebledela. |
| “Somebody did that to you?” whispered Ford. | "Neko ti je to učinio?" prošapta Ford. |
| “Yeah.” | "Aha." |
| “But have you any idea who? Or why?” | "A imaš li pojma ko bi to mogao biti? Ili zbog čega?" |
| “Why? I can only guess. But I do know who the bastard was.” | "Zbog čega? Mogu samo da nagađam. Ali znam ko je bio taj kopilan." |
| “You know? How do you know?” | "Znaš? Kako možeš da znaš?" |
| “Because they left their initials burned into the cauterized synapses. They left them there for me to see.” | "Zato što su ostavili urezane inicijale u spaljene sinapse. Ostavili su ih da bi ih ja mogao videti." |
| Ford stared at him in horror and felt his skin begin to crawl. | Ford ga je prestravljeno posmatrao i osećao kako mu kožom mile trnci. |
| “Initials? Burned into your brain?” | "Inicijali? Urezani u tvoj mozak?" |
| “Yeah.” | "Aha." |
| “Well, what were they, for God’s sake?” | "Pa, kako glase, za ime Božje?" |
| Zaphod looked at him in silence again for a moment. Then he looked away. | Zaphod ga je na trenutak ćutke gledao. Onda je skrenuo pogled. |
| “Z.B.,” he said quietly. | "Z. B." rekao je tiho. |
| At that moment a steel shutter slammed down behind them and gas started to pour into the chamber. | U istom trenutku iza njih tresnu čelični poklopac i u prostoriju pokulja gas. |
| “I’ll tell you about it later,” choked Zaphod as all three passed out. | "Objasniću vam kasnije", zakrklja Zaphod pre nego što su se sve troje onesvestili. |