A.Kalchas' World

 

作者：Heiner de Wendt
译者：ilmyn


Arith注视着眼前这个可恶的吉斯泽莱，后者正在解开Arith身上的锁子甲。

“快过来，”他的敌人说道。“你会自由的死去。”

吉斯洋基向敌人的脸上唾了一口。“你根本不懂得自由。你根本不懂得忠诚。终有一天泽斯的诅咒会彻底摧毁你们！”

那个战士听到这句话后，他的橙黄色眼珠似乎因盛怒而快要爆裂。他将淬毒匕首野蛮的扎进Arith的左手，囚犯勉强控制自己不发出尖叫。当散发出微光的匕首切开Arith的肌肉时，他的暗色的血液溅落在冰冷的石制地面上。一股炙热的麻木感侵入了Arith训练有素的身体。

“快过来，”吉斯泽莱用刺耳的声音喊着，当他把匕首拔出时他的眼睛闪烁着光芒。他推着Arith走出门，带着他穿过一条长长的走廊，这是保卫附近城市的堡垒的一部分。Arith来到混沌海就是为了烧毁这些堡垒，他携带的特殊设备可以让他打断可恶的吉斯泽莱塑物者的混乱塑性能力。

两个人顺着走廊来到了一扇银色金属大门前，大门毫无预警的敞开了，里面的一切一览无遗。透过门可以看见一座巨大的圆形大厅，高耸的拱形天花板顶部有个空洞，这似乎是为了让里面的人看见上方翻滚的混乱物质而特意开凿的。二十多名吉斯泽莱顺着墙边警惕的站着，全副武装，时刻准备参与战斗。他们环绕房间排列成一个圆环。 Arith被带到圆环的中心，就站在天花板空洞下面。

“这个人，”那个吉斯泽莱战士指着他，“他到这里来想毁掉我们的家园，我们的自由，我们的生命。议会已经因为他的所作所为而判他死刑。”接着，圆环中一个年长的吉斯泽莱开口说道。“许多同志都认为他们很了解吉斯洋基。但是，我，不这样认为。我想问你――虽然你的族人十分尊崇自由，但为何却像奴隶一般服侍你们的女皇？”

Arith一脸不屑。“奴隶？哈！你们才是奴隶。我屈服于我们女皇的智慧。但是你们，你们毫无理由的夜郎自大。我们的女皇杀掉我族之中违法者，你们吉斯泽莱就认为她是邪恶的。但是你们所谓的神王不也这样做么？”

“你错了，”吉斯泽莱打断了他。“Zaerith杀人，但是他不撒谎。他允许任何人努力追求学问和智慧，而不只是力量。他不允许任何人威胁到我们的自由――无论来自外部，还是来自内部。”

Arith又吐了一口唾沫。“糟糕的狡辩，老家伙。我看到的唯一不同点是我们的女皇在领导我们，而――”

“你又错了。你们的女皇不允许任何吉斯洋基获得更强的能力。Zaerith允许我们这样。直接服务于他的人并不多，但是被选中的时候他们都会知道。那些远离他的人，只要他们不引诱人民追随自己，只要他们不会威胁我族，他们就可以不停增强自己的能力。神王反对的是奴隶制。他是我们的自由的保护人。”

“当然，当然，”Arith回答道，他感觉到毒素在血液中奔流，即使他能逃脱，他也会被毒死。毒素让他无法发挥出自己的能力。“此刻你和我一样自由，老家伙。不同的是，我能看见我的枷锁，即使是无形的。”

之后，他跌倒了。身下的地面在一阵急速的晃动之后突然消失，他的身体似乎失去了重量，不停的上升，上升，一直到达屋顶的空洞。最后，他憎恨的混乱物质……吞没了他。

 

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw -
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there! Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there! Mcavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake. Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square -
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there! He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair -
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there! And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair -
But it's useless to investigate - Mcavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
`It must have been Macavity!' - but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long-division sums. Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spaer:
At whatever time the deed took place - MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

 

 

You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees!
The Original Conjuring Cat -
(There can be no doubt about that).
Please listen to me and don't scoff. All his
Inventions are off his own bat.
There's no such Cat in the metropolis;
He holds all the patent monopolies
For performing surprising illusions
And creating eccentric confusions.
At prestidigitation
And at legerdemain
He'll defy examination
And deceive you again.
The greatest magicians have something to learn
From Mr. Mistoffelees' Conjuring Turn.
Presto!
Away we go!
And we all say: OH!
Well I never!
Was there ever
A Cat so clever
As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees! He is quiet and small, he is black
From his ears to the tip of his tail;
He can creep through the tiniest crack
He can walk on the narrowest rail.
He can pick any card from a pack,
He is equally cunning with dice;
He is always deceiving you into believing
That he's only hunting for mice.
He can play any trick with a cork
Or a spoon and a bit of fish-paste;
If you look for a knife or a fork
And you think it is merely misplaced -
You have seen it one moment, and then it is gawn!
But you'll find it next week lying out on the lawn.
And we all say: OH!
Well I never!
Was there ever
A Cat so clever
As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees! His manner is vague and aloof,
You would think there was nobody shyer -
But his voice has been heard on the roof
When he was curled up by the fire.
and he's sometimes been heard by the fire
When he was about on the roof -
(At least we all heard somebody who purred)
Which is incontestable proof
Of his singular magical powers:
And I have known the family to call
Him in from the garden for hours,
While he was asleep in the hall.
And not long ago this phenomenal Cat
Produced seven kittens right out of a hat!
And we all said: OH!
Well I never!
Did you ever
Know a Cat so clever
As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

 

 

TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNTOF THE PARTICIPATIONOF THE PUGS AND THE POMS, AND THEINTERVENTION OF THE GREAT RUMPUSCAT
The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows,
Are proud and implacable passionate foes;
It is always the same, wherever one goes.
And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say
That they do not like fighting, will often display
Every symptom of wanting to join in the fray.
And they
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you can hear them all over the Park. Now on the occasion of which I shall speak
Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week
(And that's a long time for a Pol or a Peke).
The big Police Dog was away from his beat -
I don't know the reason, but most people think
He'd slipped into the Bricklayer's Arms for a drink -
And no one at all was about on the street
When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet.
They did not advance, or exactly retreat,
But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet,
And started to
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park. Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,
Is no British Dog, but a Heathen Chinese.
And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar,
Some came to the window, some came to the door;
There were surely a doyen, more likely a score.
And together they started to grumble and wheeye
In their huffery-snuffery Heathen Chinese.
But a terrible din is what Pollicles like,
for your Pollicle Dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke,
And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters,
And every dog-jack of them notable fighters;
And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order,
Playing When the Blue Bonnets Came Over the Border.
Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof,
But some from the balcony, some from the roof,
Joined in
To the din
With a
Bark bark bark bark
Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park. Now when these bold heroes together assembled,
The traffic all stopped, and the Underground trembled,
And some of the neighbours were so much afraid
That they started to ring up the Fire Brigade.
When suddenly, up from a small basement flat,
Why who should stalk out but the GREAT RUMPUSCAT.
His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing,
He gave a great yawn, and his jaws were amazing;
And when he looked out through the bars of the area,
You never saw anything fiercer or hairier.
And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning,
The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning.
He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap -
And they every last one of them scattered like sheep. And when the Police Dog returned to his beat,
There wasn't a single one left in the street.

 

 

Old Deuteronomy's lived a long time;
He's a Cat who has lived many lives in succession.
He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme
A long while before Queen Victoria's accession.
Old Deuteronomy's buried nine wives
And more - I am tempted to say, ninety-nine;
And his numerous progeny prospers and thrives
And the village is proud of him in his decline.
At the sight of that placid and bland physiognomy,
When he sits in the sun on the vicarage wall,
The Oldest Inhabitant croaks: `Well, of all ...
Things ... Can it be ... really! ... No! ... Yes! ...
Ho! hi!
Oh, my eye!
My sight may be failing, but yet I confess
I believe it is Old Deuteronomy!' Old Deuteronomy sits in the street,
He sits in the High Street on market day;
The bullocks may bellow, the sheep they may bleat,
But the dogs and the herdsmen will turn them away.
The cars and the lorries run over the kerb,
Andthe villagers put up a notice: ROAD CLOSED -
So that nothing untoward may chance to disturb
Deuteronomy's rest when he feels so disposed
Or when he's engaged in domestic economy:
And the Oldest Inhabitant croaks: `Well, of all ...
Things ... Can it be ... really! ... No! ... Yes! ...
Ho! hi!
Oh, my eye!
I'm deaf of an ear now, but yeat I can guess
That the cause of the trouble is Old Deuteronomy!' Old Deuteronomy lies on the floor
Of the fox and French Horn for his afternoon sleep;
And when the men say: `There's just time for one more,'
then the landlady from her back parlour will peep
And say: `Now then, out you go, by the back door,
For Old Deuteronomy mustn't be woken -
I'll have the police if there's any uproar' -
And out they all shuffle, without a work spoken.
The digestive repose of that feline's gastronomy
Must never be broken, whatever befall:
And the Oldest Inhabitant croaks: `Well of all ...
Things ... Can it be ... really! ... Yes! ... No! ...
Ho! hi!
Oh, my eye!
My legs may be tottery, I must go slow
And be careful of Old Deuteronomy!'

 

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.
As knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians, tight-rope walkers and acrobats
They had an extensive reputation. They made their home in Victoria Grove -
That was merely their centre of operation, for they were incurably given to rove.
They were very well known in cornwall Gardens, in Launceston Place and in Kensington Square -
they had really a little more reputation than a couple of cats can very well bear. If the area window was found ajar
And the basement looked like a field of war,
If a tile or two came loose on the roof,
Which presently ceased to be waterproff,
If the drawers were pulled out from the bedroom chests,
And you couldn't find one of your winter vests,
Or after supper one of the girls
Suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls:
Then the family would say: `It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie - or Rumpelteazer!' - And most of the time they left it at that. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a very unusual gift of the gab.
They were highly efficient cat-burglars as well, and remarkably smart at a smash-and-grab.
They made their home in Victoria Grove. They had no regular occupation.
they were plausible fellows, and liked to engage a friendly policeman in conversation. When the family assembled for Sunday dinner,
With their minds made up that they wouldn't get thinner
On Argentine joint, potatoes and greens,
And the cook would appear from behind the scenes
And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow:
`I'm afraid you must wait and have dinner tomorrow!
For the joint has gone from the oven - like that!'
Then the family would say: `It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie - or Rumpelteazer!' - And most of the time they left it at that. Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a wonderful way of working together.
And some of the time you would say it was luck, and some of the time you would say it was weather.
They would go through the house like a hurricane, and no sober person could take his oath
Was it Mungojerrie - or Rumpelteazer? or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both? And when you heard a dining-room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming -
Then the family would say: `Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! AND Rumpelteazer!' - And there's nothing at all to be done about that!