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| Chapter 3 | 3. |
| On this particular Thursday, something was moving quietly through the ionosphere many miles above the surface of the planet; several somethings in fact, several dozen huge yellow chunky slablike somethings, huge as office blocks, silent as birds. They soared with ease, basking in electromagnetic rays from the star Sol, biding their time, grouping, preparing. | Tog četvrtka nešto je bezglasno klizilo kroz jonosferu, mnogo milja iznad površine planete; u stvari, bilo je više takvih objekata, nekoliko desetina ogromnih, žutih, zdepastih, masivnih, velikih poput blokova uredskih zgrada, tihih poput ptica. Jurili su s lakoćom, kupali se u elektromagnetskom zračenju zvezde Sol, vrebali priliku, grupisali se, pripremali. |
| The planet beneath them was almost perfectly oblivious of their presence, which was just how they wanted it for the moment. The huge yellow something went unnoticed at Goon-hilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them, which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they’d been looking for all these years. | Planeta pod njima bila je gotovo potpuno nesvesna njihovog prisustva, što su oni trenutno i želeli. Ogromni, žuti objekti neprimećeni su prošli iznad Gunhilija; zatim su preleteli Kejp Kanaveral, ne ostavivši traga na radarskim ekranima, dok su Vumera i Džodrel Benk gledali pravo kroz njih i nisu ih primetili - a to je baš šteta, jer bilo je to ono za čime su tragali toliko godina. |
| The only place they registered at all was on a small black device called a Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic which winked away quietly to itself. It nestled in the darkness inside a leather satchel which Ford Prefect habitually wore slung around his neck. The contents of Ford Prefect’s satchel were quite interesting in fact and would have made any Earth physicist’s eyes pop out of his head, which is why he always concealed them by keeping a couple of dogeared scripts for plays he pretended he was auditioning for stuffed in the top. Besides the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic and the scripts he had an Electronic Thumb—a short squat black rod, smooth and matt with a couple of flat switches and dials at one end; he also had a device that looked rather like a largish electronic calculator. This had about a hundred tiny flat press buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million “pages” could be summoned at a moment’s notice. It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons why the snug plastic cover it fitted into had the words DON’T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters. The other reason was that this device was in fact that most remarkable of all books ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor—The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The reason why it was published in the form of a micro sub meson electronic component is that if it were printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitchhiker would require several inconveniently large buildings to carry it around in. | Jedino mesto na kome su ipak primećeni bio je mali, crni uređaj zvani sub-eta senzo-o-matik, koji je tiho počeo da se pali i gasi. Bio je smešten u tamu unutar kožne torbice koju je Ford Prefekt neprekidno nosio o ramenu. U stvari, sadržaj torbice Forda Prefekta bio je veoma zanimljiv i ma kome zemaljskom fizičaru izbečile bi se oči da je mogao da ga vidi - zbog toga ga je Ford skrivao pomoću nekoliko izgužvanih pozorišnih tekstova koje je držao odozgo, praveći se da su mu potrebni zbog audicija. Pored sub-eta senz-o-matika i tekstova, tu su bili još elektronski palac - kratka, zdepasta, crna šipka glatke površine, snabdevena s nekoliko malih prekidača i brojčanika na jednom kraju - te uređaj koji je prilično podsećao na povelik elektronski kalkulator. Na njemu se nalazio stotinak sitnih, ravnih tastera i četvrtasti ekran sa dijagonalom od otprilike četiri inča, na kome se u trenutku mogla dobiti bilo koja od njegovih milion 'stranica'. Delovao je bolesno složeno, i to je bio jedan od razloga što je na njegovoj plastičnoj futroli velikim, prijateljskim slovima stajalo ispisano: BEZ PANIKE. Drugi razlog za to ogledao se u okolnosti da je posredi bila najznačajnija knjiga koju je ikada objavila velika izdavačka kuća na Ursa Minoru - Autostoperski vodič kroz Galaksiju. Razlog zbog koga je Vodič izdat u obliku mikro sub-mezonskih komponenti bio je taj što bi, da je štampan u obliku normalnih knjiga, svakom međuzvezdanom autostoperu bilo neophodno nekoliko izuzetno velikih zgrada da bi ga smestio. |
| Beneath that in Ford Prefect’s satchel were a few ballpoints, a notepad and a largish bath towel from Marks and Spencer. | Ispod toga, u torbici Forda Prefekta nalazilo se nekoliko olovaka, beležnica i jedan poveći peškir, nabavljen u robnoj kući 'Mark i Spenser'. |
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. | Autostoperski vodič kroz Galaksiju ima da izjavi nekoliko stvari u vezi sa peškirima. |
| A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you—daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. | Peškir, kaže on, jedna je od najkorisnijih stvari koje jedan autostoper može da ima. Jednim delom zbog njegove praktične vrednosti - možete da ga omotate oko sebe da biste se ugrejali dok idete hladnim mesecima Džaglan Bete; možete da ležite na njemu na blistavim peščanim plažama Santraginusa V i da udišete mirisna isparenja okeana; možete da se pokrijete njime i da spavate pod zvezdama što crveno blistaju nad pustinjskim svetom Kakrafun; možete ga upotrebiti kao jedro za maleni splav kojim ćete se spustiti niz laganu, mirnu reku Mot; možete da ga navlažite i koristite u borbi prsa u prsa; da ga omotate oko usta da biste se sačuvali od otrovnih isparenja ili oko glave da izbegnete pogled proždrljivih buljoustih zveri Traala (to su tako očajno glupe životinje da misle da ne mogu da vas vide ako vi ne možete videti njih - tupe kao ćuskija, ali vrlo, vrlo proždrljive); u slučaju nekakvih vanrednih okolnosti, možete mahati peškirom kao signalnom zastavicom - i, naravno, možete se njime brisati ukoliko posle svega toga još bude dovoljno čist. |
| More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with. | Što je još važnije, peškir ima izuzetnu psihološku vrednost. Iz nekog razloga, ako strag (strag: ne-autostoper) otkrije da stoper poseduje sopstveni peškir, automatski će pretpostaviti da poseduje i četkicu za zube, sapun, kutiju keksa, čuturu, kompas, mapu, sprej protiv gamadi, kišni mantil, skafander i tako dalje. Štaviše, strag će u tom slučaju drage volje pozajmiti stoperu nešto od svega toga ili od desetine drugih stvari koje je stoper mogao slučajno da izgubi. Strag će, u stvari, misliti da čovek koji je u stanju da stopira uzduž i popreko kroz Galaksiju, da bez uobičajenih udobnosti odlazi i na najgora mesta, da se bori s najtežim nedaćama i da iziđe nakraj s njima, a da ipak zna gde mu je peškir, očigledno predstavlja osobu na koju vredi računati. |
| Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.) | Odatle fraze koje su prešle u stoperski rečnik, kao na primer: 'Hej, jesi li glesio onog hupi Ford Prefekta? To ti je frud koji stvarno zna gde mu je peškir.' (Glesiti: upoznati se, opaziti, sresti, imati seksualne odnose; hupi: strašno hladnokrvan tip; frud: stvarno strašno hladnokrvan tip). |
| Nestling quietly on top of the towel in Ford Prefect’s satchel, the Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic began to wink more quickly. Miles above the surface of the planet the huge yellow somethings began to fan out. At Jodrell Bank, someone decided it was time for a nice relaxing cup of tea. | Mirno smešten povrh peškira u torbici Forda Prefekta, sub-eta senz-o-matik brže zatrepta. Miljama iznad površine planete ogromni, žuti objekti počeli su da se razilaze. U Džodrel Benku, neko je zaključio da je vreme za prijatnu, mirnu šoljicu čaja. |
| “You got a towel with you?” said Ford suddenly to Arthur. | "Imaš li svoj peškir pri sebi?" reče iznenada Ford Arturu. |
| Arthur, struggling through his third pint, looked round at him. | Artur, koji se upinjao da savlada treću kriglu, zagleda se u njega. |
| “Why? What, no … should I have?” He had given up being surprised, there didn’t seem to be any point any longer. | "Šta? Zašto, nemam... zar bi trebalo?" Prestao je da se iznenađuje, činilo se da više nema svrhe. |
| Ford clicked his tongue in irritation. | Ford iznervirano coknu jezikom. |
| “Drink up,” he urged. | "Popij", požurivao ga je. |
| At that moment the dull sound of a rumbling crash from outside filtered through the low murmur of the pub, through the sound of the jukebox, through the sound of the man next to Ford hiccupping over the whisky Ford had eventually bought him. | U tom trenutku tužan zvuk loma i tutnjave probi se spolja kroz tihi žamor gostionice, kroz zvuk džuboksa, kroz glas čoveka pored Forda koji je štucao nad viskijem koji mu je Ford najzad kupio. |
| Arthur choked on his beer, leaped to his feet. | Artur se zagrcnu pivom i skoči na noge. |
| “What’s that?” he yelped. | "Šta je to?" vrisnuo je. |
| “Don’t worry,” said Ford, “they haven’t started yet.” | "Bez brige", reče Ford, "još nisu počeli." |
| “Thank God for that,” said Arthur, and relaxed. | "Hvala Bogu", odvrati Artur i malo se opusti. |
| “It’s probably just your house being knocked down,” said Ford, downing his last pint. | "Verovatno ti naprosto ruše kuću", reče Ford i iskapi poslednju kriglu. |
| “What?” shouted Arthur. Suddenly Ford’s spell was broken. Arthur looked wildly around him and ran to the window. | "Šta?" zaurla Artur. Iznenada je nestala sva začaranost koju je izazvao Ford. Artur se divlje zagleda oko sebe i otrča do prozora. |
| “My God, they are! They’re knocking my house down. What the hell am I doing in the pub, Ford?” | "Moj Bože, istina je! Ruše mi kuću! Šta ja, kog vraga, tražim u gostionici?" |
| “It hardly makes any difference at this stage,” said Ford, “let them have their fun.” | "Teško da to u ovom trenutku ima ikakvog značaja", reče Ford. "Pusti ih neka se zabavljaju." |
| “Fun?” yelped Arthur. “Fun!” He quickly checked out the window again that they were talking about the same thing. | "Zabavljaju?" vrisnu Artur. "Zabavljaju!" On na brzinu ponovo pogleda kroz prozor da bi proverio govore li o istoj stvari. |
| “Damn their fun!” he hooted, and ran out of the pub furiously waving a nearly empty beer glass. He made no friends at all in the pub that lunchtime. | "Vrag im odneo zabavu!" dreknuo je i istrčao iz gostionice, mašući gotovo praznom kriglom piva. Tog dana nije stekao baš mnogo prijatelja u gostionici. |
| “Stop, you vandals! You home wreckers!” bawled Arthur. “You half-crazed Visigoths, stop, will you!” | "Prestanite, vandali jedni! Rušitelji domova!" vikao je Artur. "Vizigoti sumanuti, hoćete li da prekinete!" |
| Ford would have to go after him. Turning quickly to the barman he asked for four packets of peanuts. | Ford odluči da pođe za njim. Brzo se okrenuo gostioničaru i zatražio četiri kesice kikirikija. |
| “There you are, sir,” said the barman, slapping the packets on the bar, “twenty-eight pence if you’d be so kind.” | "Evo, ser", reče gostioničar i tresnu kesicama o bar. "Dvadeset osam penija, ukoliko nemate ništa protiv." |
| Ford was very kind—he gave the barman another five-pound note and told him to keep the change. The barman looked at it and then looked at Ford. He suddenly shivered: he experienced a momentary sensation that he didn’t understand because no one on Earth had ever experienced it before. In moments of great stress, every life form that exists gives out a tiny subliminal signal. This signal simply communicates an exact and almost pathetic sense of how far that being is from the place of his birth. On Earth it is never possible to be farther than sixteen thousand miles from your birthplace, which really isn’t very far, so such signals are too minute to be noticed. Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and he was born six hundred light-years away in the near vicinity of Betelgeuse. | Ford ne samo da nije imao ništa protiv, već je dao gostioničaru još jednu novčanicu od pet funti i rekao mu da zadrži kusur. Gostioničar je pogleda, a onda se zagleda u Forda. Iznenada je zadrhtao - načas je iskusio osećaj koji nije shvatio, jer ga pre toga niko na Zemlji nije nikada iskusio. U trenucima velike napetosti, svaki postojeći oblik života odašilje slabašan podsvesni signal. Taj signal precizno i gotovo patetično predstavlja koliko je daleko to biće od svog mesta rođenja. Na Zemlji nije moguće udaljiti se preko šesnaest hiljada milja od tog mesta, što zaista nije preterano mnogo, i zbog toga su takvi signali previše slabašni da bi se mogli primetiti. Ford Prefekt bio je u tom trenutku izložen velikom pritisku, a rođen je šest stotina svetlosnih godina odatle, u neposrednoj blizini Betelgeza. |
| The barman reeled for a moment, hit by a shocking, incomprehensible sense of distance. He didn’t know what it meant, but he looked at Ford Prefect with a new sense of respect, almost awe. | Gostioničar se na trenutak zatetura, pogođen potresnim, neshvatljivim osećajem udaljenosti. Nije shvatio šta to znači, ali gledao je Forda Prefekta s novim poštovanjem, gotovo strahom. |
| “Are you serious, sir?” he said in a small whisper which had the effect of silencing the pub. “You think the world’s going to end?” | "Da li je to ozbiljno, ser?" rekao je on jedva čujnim glasom koji je za posledicu imao gotovo trenutno stišavanje čitave gostionice. "Mislim, da dolazi smak sveta?" |
| “Yes,” said Ford. | "Da", reče Ford. |
| “But, this afternoon.” | "Ali, zar već ovog popodneva?" |
| Ford had recovered himself. He was at his flippest. | Ford se prenuo. Bio je ponovo u svom elementu. |
| “Yes,” he said gaily, “in less than two minutes I would estimate.” | "Da", reče on veselo. "Po mojoj proceni, za manje od dva minuta." |
| The barman couldn’t believe this conversation he was having, but he couldn’t believe the sensation he had just had either. | Gostioničar nije mogao da poveruje da vodi takav razgovor, ali nije mogao da poveruje ni u osećaj koji je upravo iskusio. |
| “Isn’t there anything we can do about it then?” he said. | "Zar ne postoji ništa što bismo mogli da učinimo?" upitao je. |
| “No, nothing,” said Ford, stuffing the peanuts into his pocket. | "Ne, ništa", reče Ford i strpa kikiriki u džep. |
| Someone in the hushed bar suddenly laughed raucously at how stupid everyone had become. | U utihloj krčmi neko se iznenada grohotom nasmeja na račun toga koliko su ljudi postali glupi. |
| The man sitting next to Ford was a bit sozzled by now. His eyes weaved their way up to Ford. | Čovek koji je sedeo pored Forda do tog trenutka već je bio propisno pijan. On zakoluta očima prema Fordu. |
| “I thought,” he said, “that if the world was going to end we were meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something.” | "Mislio sam", rekao je, "ako dolazi smak sveta, da treba da legnemo na pod ili da stavimo papirne kese na glavu ili tako nešto." |
| “If you like, yes,” said Ford. | "Možete, ako vam se to dopada", reče Ford. |
| “That’s what they told us in the army,” said the man, and his eyes began the long trek back toward his whisky. | "Tako su nas učili u vojsci", reče čovek, a njegove oči krenuše na dugo putovanje nazad, prema viskiju. |
| “Will that help?” asked the barman. | "Hoće li to pomoći?" pitao je gostioničar. |
| “No,” said Ford, and gave him a friendly smile. “Excuse me,” he said, “I’ve got to go.” With a wave, he left. | "Neće", rekao je Ford i prijateljski se nasmešio. "Izvinite", rekao je, "moram da idem". Mahnuo je i otišao. |
| The pub was silent for a moment longer and then, embarrassingly enough, the man with the raucous laugh did it again. The girl he had dragged along to the pub with him had grown to loathe him dearly over the last hour, and it would probably have been a great satisfaction to her to know that in a minute and a half or so he would suddenly evaporate into a whiff of hydrogen, ozone and carbon monoxide. However, when the moment came she would be too busy evaporating herself to notice it. | Krčma je još trenutak bila tiha, a tada, krajnje neprikladno, ponovo se oglasio čovek s grlenim smehom. Tokom poslednjih pola sata zgadio se devojci koju je dovukao u krčmu i njoj bi verovatno bilo veoma drago da je znala da će za nepun minut on iznenada ispirati u oblak vodonika, ozona i ugljen-monoksida. Ali, kada je trenutak došao, bila je previše zauzeta sopstvenim isparavanjem da bi to primetila. |
| The barman cleared his throat. He heard himself say, “Last orders, please.” | Gostioničar pročisti grlo. Začuo je sebe kako govori: "Poslednje narudžbine, molim". |
| The huge yellow machines began to sink downward and to move faster. | Ogromne, žute mašine počele su da poniru nadole i da ubrzavaju. |
| Ford knew they were there. This wasn’t the way he had wanted it. | Ford je znao da su tu. Ali nije ih želeo na ovaj način. |
| Running up the lane, Arthur had nearly reached his house. He didn’t notice how cold it had suddenly become, he didn’t notice the wind, he didn’t notice the sudden irrational squall of rain. He didn’t notice anything but the caterpillar bulldozers crawling over the rubble that had been his home. | Artur je, trčeći stazom, stigao gotovo do svoje kuće. Nije primetio kako je iznenada postalo hladno, nije zapazio vetar, nije uočio iznenadni, neobjašnjivi nalet kiše. Nije primećivao ništa osim buldožera-guseničara koji su se kretali preko ruševina koje su mu nekada bile dom. |
| “You barbarians!” he yelled. “I’ll sue the council for every penny it’s got! I’ll have you hung, drawn and quartered! And whipped! And boiled … until … until … until you’ve had enough.” | "Varvari!" urlao je. "Tužiću upravu za svaki peni koji je uništila! Daću da vas obese, zadave i raščereče. I bičuju! I da vas skuvaju...sve dok...sve dok...ne dobijete svoje." |
| Ford was running after him very fast. Very very fast. | Ford je brzo trčao za njim. Vrlo, vrlo brzo. |
| “And then I will do it again!” yelled Arthur. “And when I’ve finished I will take all the little bits, and I will jump on them!” | "A onda sve ispočetka!" urlao je Artur. "A kada završim, pokupiću parčiće, pa ću skakati po njima!" |
| Arthur didn’t notice that the men were running from the bulldozers; he didn’t notice that Mr. Prosser was staring hectically into the sky. What Mr. Prosser had noticed was that huge yellow somethings were screaming through the clouds. Impossibly huge yellow somethings. | Artur nije primetio da ljudi istrčavaju iz buldožera; nije primetio ni kako gospodin Proser prestravljeno zuri u nebo. Gospodin Proser je, u stvari, primetio ogromne, žute objekte koji su uz urlik prolazili kroz oblake. Žute objekte koji su bili nemoguće veliki. |
| “And I will carry on jumping on them,” yelled Arthur, still running, “until I get blisters, or I can think of anything even more unpleasant to do, and then …” | "I gaziću ih", urlao je Artur, i dalje trčeći, "sve dok ne dobijem žuljeve, ili dok ne smislim nešto još gadnije što ću da vam napravim, a onda ću..." |
| Arthur tripped, and fell headlong, rolled and landed flat on his back. At last he noticed that something was going on. His finger shot upward. | Artur se saplete, otkotrlja i ostade da leži na leđima. Najzad je primetio da se nešto dešava. On uperi prst u vis. |
| “What the hell’s that?” he shrieked. | "Ma šta je ono, kog đavola?" kriknuo je. |
| Whatever it was raced across the sky in its monstrous yellowness, tore the sky apart with mind-boggling noise and leaped off into the distance leaving the gaping air to shut behind it with a bang that drove your ears six feet into your skull. | Šta god da je bilo, jurilo je preko neba, ogrezlo u čudovišnoj, žućkastoj boji; procepilo je svod bukom koja je kidala živce i nestalo u daljini, ostavivši iza sebe rasparani vazduh da se zatvori uz silovito bang, koje je saterivalo bubne opne duboko u unutrašnjost glave. |
| Another one followed and did exactly the same thing only louder. | Došlo je još jedno i učinilo istu stvar, samo bučnije. |
| It’s difficult to say exactly what the people on the surface of the planet were doing now, because they didn’t really know what they were doing themselves. None of it made a lot of sense— running into houses, running out of houses, howling noiselessly at the noise. All around the world city streets exploded with people, cars skidded into each other as the noise fell on them and then rolled off like a tidal wave over hills and valleys, deserts and oceans, seeming to flatten everything it hit. | Bilo je teško reći šta su sada radili ljudi na površini planete, jer to nisu znali ni sami. Ništa od svega što su pokušavali nije imalo mnogo smisla - utrčavali su u kuće, istrčavali iz kuća, bezglasno vrištali na svu tu buku. Širom sveta ulice su bile pune ljudi, kola su se sudarala kako ih je zvuk zahvatao i potom poput plimskog talasa brisao preko brda i dolina, pustinja i okeana, drobeći na svom putu sve što bi zahvatio. |
| Only one man stood and watched the sky, stood with terrible sadness in his eyes and rubber bungs in his ears. He knew exactly what was happening and had known ever since his Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic had started winking in the dead of night beside his pillow and wakened him with a start. It was what he had waited for all these years, but when he had deciphered the signal pattern sitting alone in his small dark room, a coldness had gripped him and squeezed his heart. Of all the races in all of the Galaxy who could have come and said a big hello to planet Earth, he thought, didn’t it just have to be the Vogons. | Samo je jedan čovek stajao i gledao u nebo, stajao s užasnom tugom u očima i gumenim čepovima u ušima. On je tačno znao šta se događa i to još otkako mu je sub-eta senz-o-matik zatreptao u gluvo doba noći pokraj jastuka i probudio ga, zaprepašćenog. Bilo je to ono što je čekao toliko godina, ali kada je dešifrovao signal, sam u svojoj malenoj, mračnoj sobi, hladnoća ga je obuzela i stegla mu srce. Od svih rasa iz svih Galaksija koje su mogle da naiđu i upute veliki pozdrav planeti Zemlji, pomisli on, zar su to morali da budu baš Vogoni? |
| Still, he knew what he had to do. As the Vogon craft screamed through the air high above him he opened his satchel. He threw away a copy of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-coat, he threw away a copy of Godspell: he wouldn’t need them where he was going. Everything was ready, everything was prepared. | A ipak, znao je šta treba da učini. Dok je vogonska letelica urlala kroz vazduh visoko nad njime, otvorio je svoju torbicu. Izbacio je primerak Džozefa i neverovatne tehnikolor spavaćice, izbacio je primerak Slova božjeg: tamo kuda se spremao da pođe to mu neće biti potrebno. |
| He knew where his towel was. | Znao je on gde mu je peškir. |
| A sudden silence hit the Earth. If anything it was worse than the noise. For a while nothing happened. | Iznenadna tišina zahvati Zemlju. Bilo je to još gore od buke. Na trenutak se ništa nije dešavalo. |
| The great ships hung motionless in the sky, over every nation on Earth. Motionless they hung, huge, heavy, steady in the sky, a blasphemy against nature. Many people went straight into shock as their minds tried to encompass what they were looking at. The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t. | Džinovski brodovi počivali su na nebu bez pokreta, iznad svake zemaljske nacije. Bez pokreta su lebdeli, ogromni, teški, čin huljenja protiv prirode. Mnoge ljude obuzeo je šok dok su pokušavali da shvate u šta to gledaju. Brodovi ne lebde nasred neba ništa češće nego što to čine cigle. |
| And still nothing happened. | I još se ništa nije dešavalo. |
| Then there was a slight whisper, a sudden spacious whisper of open ambient sound. Every hi-fi set in the world, every radio, every television, every cassette recorder, every woofer, every tweeter, every mid-range driver in the world quietly turned itself on. | Zatim se začuo šum, nagli, difuzni zvuk ozvučenja na otvorenoj pozornici. Svaki Hi-Fi stub na svetu, svaki radio, svaki televizor, svaki kasetofon, svaki dubokotonac, visokotonac i srednjetonac tiho se uključio. |
| Every tin can, every dustbin, every window, every car, every wineglass, every sheet of rusty metal became activated as an acoustically perfect sounding board. | Svaka limena konzerva, svaka kanta za smeće, svaki prozor, svaka vinska čaša, svaka ploča zarđalog metala pretvorila se u akustički savršen zvučni izvor. |
| Before the Earth passed away it was going to be treated to the very ultimate in sound reproduction, the greatest public address system ever built. But there was no concert, no music, no fanfare, just a simple message. | Pre nestanka, Zemlja se suočila s najsavršenijom zvučnom reprodukcijom, najveličanstvenijim razglasom koji je ikada stvoren. Ali iz njega se nije začuo nikakav koncert, nikakva muzika, nikakve fanfare, samo jedna poruka. |
| “People of Earth, your attention, please,” a voice said, and it was wonderful. Wonderful perfect quadraphonic sound with distortion levels so low as to make a brave man weep. | "Narode Zemlje, molim za pažnju", reče glas, a zvuk je bio savršen. Bio je predivan, kvadrofonski, sa tako niskim nivoima izobličenja da se čovek od toga rasplače. |
| “This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council,” the voice continued. “As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.” | "Govori vam Proštetnik Vogon Jelc iz galaktičke uprave za hipersvemirsko planiranje", nastavio je glas. "Kao što ste bez sumnje upoznati, planovi razvoja spoljašnjih oblasti Galaksije nalažu izgradnju ekspresne hipersvemirske trase kroz vaš zvezdani sistem i, na žalost, vaša planeta jedna je od onih koje su predviđene za uništenje. Proces će trajati nešto manje od dva vaša zemaljska minuta. Hvala." |
| The PA died away. | Razglas se isključi. |
| Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds as if they were iron filings on a sheet of board and a magnet was moving beneath them. Panic sprouted again, desperate fleeing panic, but there was nowhere to flee to. | Nerazumni užas zavlada među ljudima Zemlje koji su to slušali. Strava se lagano širila kroz okupljenu gomilu, kao da su posredi bili opiljci gvožđa na ploči ispod koje se kreće magnet. Izbi panika, beznadna, sumanuta želja za bekstvom, ali nije bilo mesta na koje se moglo pobeći. |
| Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said: | Kada su ovo primetili, Vogoni ponovo uključiše svoj S. O. Kazali su: |
| “There’s no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.” | "Nema svrhe da glumite toliko iznenađenje. Svi planovi i nalozi za uništenje bili su izloženi u vašem lokalnom odeljenju za planiranje na Alfa Kentauru čitavih pedeset zemaljskih godina, prema tome,imali ste dovoljno vremena da uložite kakvu god hoćete formalnu žalbu, a sada je zaista prekasno da počnete da pravite probleme." |
| The PA fell silent again and its echo drifted off across the land. The huge ships turned slowly in the sky with easy power. On the underside of each a hatchway opened, an empty black square. | S. O. se ponovo utišao, a njegov odjek orio se Zemljom. Ogromni brodovi okrenuše se na nebu s lakoćom. Na donjem kraju svakog od njih otvoriše se vrata, prazni crni kvadrat. |
| By this time somebody somewhere must have manned a radio transmitter, located a wavelength and broadcast a message back to the Vogon ships, to plead on behalf of the planet. Nobody ever heard what they said, they only heard the reply. The PA slammed back into life again. The voice was annoyed. It said: | Do tog trenutka nekome je negde očigledno pošlo za rukom da osposobi neki radio-predajnik, odredi talasnu dužinu i emituje poruku vogonskim brodovima, moleći ih da poštede planetu. Niko nikada nije saznao šta je tačno rečeno, svi su čuli samo odgovor. S. O. je ponovo škljocnuo i oživeo. Glas je zvučao iznervirano. Rekao je: |
| “What do you mean, you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? For heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light-years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that’s your own lookout. | "Šta hoćete da kažete time da nikada niste uspeli da stignete do Alfa Kentaura? Za ime Božje, ljudi, zar vam nije poznato da se ta zvezda nalazi na samo četiri svetlosne godine odavde? Žalim, ali ukoliko vas ne zanimaju lokalne prilike, sami ste krivi. |
| “Energize the demolition beams.” | Aktivirajte zrake za uništenje." |
| Light poured out of the hatchways. | Svetlost zablista iz otvora. |
| “I don’t know,” said the voice on the PA, “apathetic bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.” It cut off. | "Ma briga me", reče glas na S. O. prokleta, zaostala planeta, uopšte mi je nije žao." Prekinuo se. |
| There was a terrible ghastly silence. | Zatim je usledila užasna, zlokobna tišina. |
| There was a terrible ghastly noise. | Zatim je usledila užasna, zlokobna buka. |
| There was a terrible ghastly silence. | Zatim je usledila užasna, zlokobna tišina. |
| The Vogon Constructor Fleet coasted away into the inky starry void. | Vogonska konstruktorska flota izgubi se potom u mastiljavoj, zvezdanoj praznini. |