They’re Made Out of Meat他们是肉做的

特里·比森　向芷嫣/译

“Theyre made out of meat.”

“他们是肉做的。”

“Meat？”

“肉？”

“Meat. Theyre made out of meat.”

“肉。他们是肉做的。”

“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.”

“毫无疑问。我们从这个星球各地采集了若干样本，把他们带回我们的侦察舰，对他们全身上下进行了探查。他们全是肉。”

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

“那不可能。无线电信号怎么解释？那些发送给恒星的消息。”

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

“他们用无线电波交流，但那些信号不是他们发出的。那些信号是机器发出的。”

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

“那是谁造了那些机器？那才是我们想接触的对象。”

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

“是他们造了那些机器。那就是我想告诉您的——肉造了那些机器。”

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

“真荒唐。肉怎么可能造机器？你这是要我相信肉有感知力。”

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

“我没有要求您怎样，我只是在讲事实。这些生物是这片宇宙域中唯一有感知力的物种，而且他们是肉做的。”

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

“或许他们和奥福勒相似。嗯，就是那種碳基智慧物种，生长过程中会经历肉质阶段。”

“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？”

“不一样。他们生而为肉，死了还是肉。我们研究了他们好几个生命周期，他们的寿命不怎么长。你能想象肉的寿命是多长吗？”

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

“饶了我吧。对了，也许他们不全都是肉。你知道，像韦迪勒那样，头是肉质的，但里面是等离子电子脑。”

“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。我们想过这种可能，因为他们的确有韦迪勒那样的肉质头。但是我刚说过，我们探查了他们。他们全身上下都是肉。”

“No brain？”

“没有脑？”

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

“噢，脑倒是有，不过那脑也是肉做的！”

“So... what does the thinking？”

“那么……思维从哪里产生？”

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

“您还没明白吗？就是这个脑产生思维。这个肉脑。”

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

“有思维的肉！你这是要我相信肉会思考！”

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

“没错，会思考的肉！有意识的肉！会相爱的肉，会做梦的肉。这肉无所不能！您现在有概念了吗？”

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

“天哪。原来你是认真的。他们就是肉做的。”

“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.”

“您终于明白了，对。他们的的确确是肉做的。而且，按他们的纪年算，近百年来他们一直试图联系上我们。”

“So what does the meat have in mind.”

“这肉想干什么呢？”

“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，肉想和我们说话。其次，我猜肉想探索宇宙、与其他有感知力的物种接触、交换思想和信息。都是寻常路子。”

“Were supposed to talk to meat？”

“指望我们和肉说话？”

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

“就是这么回事。听听他们用无线电发送来的消息：‘你好！有人在吗？有人在家吗？诸如此类。”

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

“看来他们的确会说话。他们会运用词语、观点、概念吗？”

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

“噢，是的。唯一不同的是他们借助的是肉。”

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

“你刚才告诉我，他们使用无线电。”

“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.”

“确实，但你知道无线电波里是什么吗？是肉声。当你拍打肉的时候，肉会发出杂声，对吧？他们之间就是靠拍打肉来说话的。他们甚至可以通过从肉里喷出空气来唱歌哩！”

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

“天哪。会唱歌的肉！太不可思议了！ 那你有什么建议？”

“Officially or unofficially？”

“于公于私？”

“Both.”

“不妨都讲讲。”

“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，我們应该接触、欢迎，并记录这片宇宙域内所有具备感知力的物种或多元生物，不带偏见、不怀恐惧，也不牵扯个人喜好。于私嘛，我建议抹掉记录，忘记这一切。”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

“我正希望你会那样说。”

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

“这么干似乎很残忍，但凡事皆有度。我们真的想和肉接触吗？”

“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。我们能对他们说什么呢？‘嗨，肉，你好吗？这有用吗？我们在这儿要和多少个行星打交道？”

“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.”

“只有一个。他们可以乘坐特制肉容器前往其他行星，但不能住在上面。作为肉，他们只能在C空间旅行。这让他们无法超越光速，进而使他们对外接触的可能性很小。根本就是微乎其微。”

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

“那么，我们就假装宇宙中无人居住啦。”

“Thats it.”

“没错。”

“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。不过你自己也说过，谁想碰见肉呢？另外，我们侦察舰里那几块让你们探查过的肉怎么处理？你保证他们不会记得？”

“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.”

“即使他们记得，他们也只会被当成怪人。我们探进了他们的头，抹平了他们脑中的肉，这样对他们而言，我们只是一场梦罢了。”

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

“肉的梦！我们竟然成为肉的梦，这倒是意想不到地合适！”

“And we marked this sector unoccupied.”

“同时，我们还把这片宇宙域标记为无人居住。”

“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，这事就这么定了。还有其他的吗？银河系另一边还有什么有意思的东西吗？”

“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区一个九级恒星上有一种聚氢核智慧物种，很腼腆，但挺可爱。在两个银河自转时之前与我们接触过，现在又想示好。”

“They always come around.”

“他们总来我们附近晃悠。”

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

“为什么不呢？想一想，如果孤孤单单的，那这个宇宙的寒意该多么难以忍受，多么难以言喻啊。”

（译者单位：中山大学）