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| Chapter 12 | 12. |
| A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive— you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program. | Bučno čangrljanje sladunjave muzike ispunjavalo je kabinu 'Zlatnog srca' dok je Zaphod tragao po sub-eta radio talasima za vestima o samom sebi. Uređaj na kome je to radio bio je prilično neugodan za rukovanje. Godinama se radio-aparatima upravljalo pritiskanjem dugmadi i pomeranjem skala; potom se tehnologija usavršila i kontrole su postale osetljive na dodir - samo je trebalo da pređete prstima preko njihove površine. Sada je dovoljno da mahnete rukom u opštem pravcu uređaja i da se nadate. Naravno, na taj način štedelo se mnogo mišićnog naprezanja, ali morali ste da budete neugodno mirni ukoliko ste želeli da i dalje slušate isti program. |
| Zaphod waved a hand and the channel switched again. More gunk music, but this time it was a background to a news announcement. The news was always heavily edited to fit the rhythms of the music. | Zaphod mahnu rukom i kanal se ponovo promeni. Začu se još sladunjave muzike, ali ovog puta bila je to samo prateća muzika za najavu vesti. Vesti su uvek pažljivo pripremane, tako da se uklope u ritam muzike. |
| “… and news reports brought to you here on the sub-etha wave band, broadcasting around the Galaxy around the clock,” squawked a voice, “and we’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere … and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys. And of course, the big news story tonight is the sensational theft of the new Improbability Drive prototype ship by none other than Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox. And the question everyone’s asking is … has the Big Z finally flipped? Beeblebrox, the man who invented the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, ex-confidence trickster, once described by Eccentrica Gallumbits as the Best Bang since the Big One, and recently voted the Worst Dressed Sentient Being in the Known Universe for the seventh time … has he got an answer this time? We asked his private brain care specialist Gag Halfrunt …” | "...I pred vesti koje vam svakog sata dolaze s ovih talasa na sub-eta talasnom području za oblast čitave Galaksije", kreketao je glas, "upućujemo jedan veliki pozdrav svim inteligentnim oblicima života, ma gde se nalazili... kao i svima ostalima tamo napolju, važno je samo da guramo zajedno, momci. A, razume se, glavna vest je senzacionalna krađa prototipskog broda s pogonom neverovatnoće, koju je izveo niko drugi do predsednik Galaksije Zaphod Biblbroks. Pitanje koje nam svima pada na pamet jeste... Da li je veliki Z najzad zglajznuo? Biblbroks, čovek koji je izumeo pangalaktički grgolj blaster, varalica naivnih, onaj koga je Ekscentrika Galumbita opisala kao najžešći prasak posle Velikog Praska i koji je odnedavno po sedmi put proglašen za najgore odeveno razumno biće u poznatoj Vaseljeni... da li je ovog puta dobio svoj odgovor? Pitamo njegovog ličnog stručnjaka za mozak, Gega Halfrunta..." |
| The music swirled and dived for a moment. Another voice broke in, presumably Halfrunt. He said “Vell, Zaphod’s just zis guy, you know?” but got no further because an electric pencil flew across the cabin and through the radio’s on/off-sensitive airspace. Zaphod turned and glared at Trillian—she had thrown the pencil. | Muzika se na trenutak prituli, pa utiša. Umeša se još jedan glas, očigledno Halfruntov. On reče: "Pa, Saphod fam je takaf momak, snate?" ali nije stigao dalje, jer kabinu prelete jedno elektropenkalo i zakači deo vazdušnog prostora radio-prijemnika koji je bio odgovoran za uključivanje i isključivanje. Zaphod se okrete i pogleda Trilijan - ona je, naime, bacila penkalo. |
| “Hey,” he said, “what you do that for?” | "Hej", kazao je on, "zašto si to učinila?" |
| Trillian was tapping her finger on a screenful of figures. | Trilijan je kuckala prstom po ekranu punom podataka. |
| “I’ve just thought of something,” she said. | "Nešto sam razmišljala", rekla je. |
| “Yeah? Worth interrupting a news bulletin about me for?” | "Da? Zar je to toliko važno da je vredelo prekidati vesti o meni?" |
| “You hear enough about yourself as it is.” | "Dosta si slušao o sebi." |
| “I’m very insecure. We know that.” | "Meni treba puno ponavljanja. To oboje znamo." |
| “Can we drop your ego for a moment? This is important.” | "Možeš li na trenutak da zaboraviš na svoj ego? Ovo je važno." |
| “If there’s anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.” Zaphod glared at her again, then laughed. | "Ukoliko u okolini ima ičega važnijeg od mog ega, hoću da bude uhvaćeno i streljano." Zaphod je ponovo pogleda, a zatim se nasmeja. |
| “Listen,” she said, “we picked up those couple of guys …” | "Slušaj", reče ona, "pokupili smo ona dva tipa..." |
| “What couple of guys?” | "Koja dva tipa?" |
| “The couple of guys we picked up.” | "Dva tipa koja smo pokupili." |
| “Oh yeah,” said Zaphod, “those couple of guys.” | "Aha", reče Zaphod, "ta dva tipa." |
| “We picked them up in Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.” | "Pokupili smo ih u oblasti ZZ9 Plural Z Alfa." |
| “Yeah?” said Zaphod, and blinked. | "Aha?" reče Zaphod i trepnu. |
| Trillian said quietly, “Does that mean anything to you?” | Trilijan nastavi: "Da li ti to išta znači?" |
| “Mmmm,” said Zaphod, “ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha?” | "Mmmm", reče Zaphod, "ZZ9 Plural Z Alfa, ZZ9 Plural Z Alfa?" |
| “Well?” said Trillian. | "Dakle?" reče Trilijan. |
| “Er … what does the Z mean?” said Zaphod. | "Ovaj... Šta znači ono Z? reče Zaphod. |
| “Which one?” | "Koje?" |
| “Any one.” | "Bilo koje." |
| One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn’t be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn’t understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was renowned for being amazingly clever and quite clearly was so—but not all the time, which obviously worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but she could no longer be bothered to argue about it. | Jedan od najvećih problema na koje je Trilijan naišla tokom svog odnosa s Zaphodom bio je kako da nauči da razlikuje kada se on pravi glup samo da bi uspavao budnost onih s kojima razgovara, kada se pravi glup zato što ga mrzi da razmišlja i želi da to učine drugi umesto njega, kada se pravi glup da bi prikrio činjenicu da uopšte ne shvata šta se događa i kada je stvarno prirodno glup. On je važio za izuzetno pametnu osobu i očevidno je i bio takav - ali ne sve vreme, a to ga je brinulo. Zbog toga se ponašao na takav način. Više mu se sviđalo da ljudi budu zbunjeni nego da ga cene. Trilijani se naročito ovo činilo iskreno glupo, ali mrzelo ju je da se i dalje nateže oko toga. |
| She sighed and punched up a star map on the visiscreen so she could make it simple for him, whatever his reasons for wanting it to be that way. | Uzdahnula je i dovela mapu zvezda na viziekran da bi mogla da mu objasni stvar na što je moguće jednostavniji način, pa ma šta bili njegovi razlozi da to želi. |
| “There,” she pointed, “right there.” | "Ovde", pokazala je, "tačno ovde." |
| “Hey … yeah!” said Zaphod. | "Hej... Aha!" reče Zaphod. |
| “Well?” she said. | "Pa?" rekla je. |
| “Well what?” | "Šta, pa?" |
| Parts of the inside of her head screamed at other parts of the inside of her head. She said, very calmly, “It’s the same sector you originally picked me up in.” | U njenoj glavi, jedni delovi vrištali su na druge. Rekla je, izuzetno staloženo: "Reč je o istom sektoru u kome si provobitno pokupio mene." |
| He looked at her and then looked back at the screen. | Pogledao ju je, a zatim vratio pogled na ekran. |
| “Hey, yeah,” he said, “now that is wild. We should have zapped straight into the middle of the Horsehead Nebula. How did we come to be there? I mean, that’s nowhere.” | "Hej, aha", rekao je. "E, pa to je sjajno. Trebalo je da skoknemo pravo do središta magline Konjska Glava. Kako smo dospeli ovamo? Hoću da kažem, pa ovo je Bogu iza leđa." |
| She ignored this. | Nije obratila pažnju na to. |
| “Improbability Drive,” she said patiently. “You explained it to me yourself. We pass through every point in the Universe, you know that.” | "Pogon Neverovatnoće", strpljivo je rekla. "To si mi lično objasnio. Znaš da prolazimo kroz svaku tačku Vaseljene u istom trenutku." |
| “Yeah, but that’s one wild coincidence, isn’t it?” | "Da, ali koja je to podudarnost, zar ne?" |
| “Yes.” | "Jeste." |
| “Picking someone up at that point? Out of the whole of the Universe to choose from? That’s just too … I want to work this out. Computer!” | "Da naletimo na nekoga baš u toj tački? Od čitave Vaseljene koja nam je stajala na raspolaganju? To je naprosto previše... Želim da to raščistim. Kompjuteru." |
| The Sirius Cybernetics Shipboard Computer, which controlled and permeated every particle of the ship, switched into communication mode. | Brodski kompjuter Sirijuske kibernetske korporacije, koji je kontrolisao i prožimao svaki deo broda, prebacio se u režim za komuniciranje. |
| “Hi there!” it said brightly and simultaneously spewed out a tiny ribbon of ticker tape just for the record. The ticker tape said, Hi there! | "Ej, ćao!" reče on veselo i istovremeno izbaci mali komad štampane trake koji je bio tu radi trajnog zapisa. Na traci je pisalo: "Ej, ćao!" |
| “Oh God,” said Zaphod. He hadn’t worked with this computer for long but had already learned to loathe it. | "O, Bože", reče Zaphod. Nije se mnogo baktao s tim kompjuterom, a već mu se smučio. |
| The computer continued, brash and cheery as if it were selling detergent. | Kompjuter nastavi, samopouzdano i veselo poput putujućeg trgovca. |
| “I want you to know that whatever your problem, I am here to help you solve it.” | "Želim da znate da sam ja ovde da vam pomognem u rešavanju vaših problema, kakvi god da su." |
| “Yeah, yeah,” said Zaphod. “Look, I think I’ll just use a piece of paper.” | "Dobro, dobro", reče Zaphod. "Čuj, mislim da ću radije obaviti proračun na parčetu hartije." |
| “Sure thing,” said the computer, spilling out its message into a waste bin at the same time, “I understand. If you ever want …” | "Svakako", reče kompjuter i istovremeno izbaci papir s istom porukom u veliku korpu, "shvatio sam. Ukoliko ipak budete poželeli da..." |
| “Shut up!” said Zaphod, and snatching up a pencil sat down next to Trillian at the console. | "Umukni!" reče Zaphod, zgrabi penkalo i sede za konzolu pored Trilijan. |
| “Okay, okay,” said the computer in a hurt tone of voice and closed down its speech channel again. | "U redu, u redu", reče kompjuter uvređenim glasom i ponovo isključi govorni kanal. |
| Zaphod and Trillian pored over the figures that the Improbability flight-path scanner flashed silently up in front of them. | Zaphod i Trilijan pažljivo su proučavali brojke koje je skener putne neverovatnoće tiho izbacivao ispred njih. |
| “Can we work out,” said Zaphod, “from their point of view what the Improbability of their rescue was?” | "Možemo li da izračunamo", reče Zaphod, "koja je, s njihove tačke gledanja, bila neverovatnoća spasenja?" |
| “Yes, that’s a constant,” said Trillian, “two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and nine to one against.” | "Da, to je konstanta", reče Trilijan, "jedan prema dva na dvesta sedamdeset šest hiljada sedamsto devet." |
| “That’s high. They’re two lucky lucky guys.” | "Mnogo. Ta dvojica su pravi srećkovići." |
| “Yes.” | "Da." |
| “But relative to what we were doing when the ship picked them up …” | "Ali u odnosu na ono šta smo mi radili kada ih je brod pokupio..." |
| Trillian punched up the figures. They showed two-to-the-power-of-Infinity-minus-one to one against (an irrational number that only has a conventional meaning in Improbability Physics). | Trilijan unese brojke. Ekran pokaza jedan prema dva na beskonačno minus jedan (iracionalni broj koji ima smisla samo u fizici neverovatnoće.) |
| “It’s pretty low,” continued Zaphod with a slight whistle. | "...Još je poprilično niska", produži Zaphod uz tihi zvižduk. |
| “Yes,” agreed Trillian, and looked at him quizzically. | "Da", složi se Trilijan i pogleda ga upitno. |
| “That’s one big whack of Improbability to be accounted for. Something pretty improbable has got to show up on the balance sheet if it’s all going to add up into a pretty sum.” | "Gadna neverovatnoća. Moraće da iskrsne nešto prilično neverovatno da bi se u zbiru sve valjano uravnotežilo." |
| Zaphod scribbled a few sums, crossed them out and threw the pencil away. | Zaphod napisa nekoliko brojeva, preškraba ih i baci penkalo. |
| “Bat’s dos, I can’t work it out.” | "Vrag ga odneo, ne umem da izračunam." |
| “Well?” | "Dakle?" |
| Zaphod knocked his two heads together in irritation and gritted his teeth. | Zaphod iznervirano lupnu glavom o glavu i iskezi zube. |
| “Okay,” he said. “Computer!” | "U redu", reče on, "kompjuteru!" |
| The voice circuits sprang to life again. | Kola za sintezu glasa ponovo oživeše. |
| “Why, hello there!” they said (ticker tape, ticker tape). “All I want to do is make your day nicer and nicer and nicer …” | "Ej, ćao!" rekoše ona (papirna traka, papirna traka). Želim da vam učinim dan sve lepšim i lepšim i lepšim..." |
| “Yeah, well, shut up and work something out for me.” | "Aha, e onda zaveži i uradi nešto za mene." |
| “Sure thing,” chattered the computer, “you want a probability forecast based on …” | "Svakako", ćeretao je kompjuter, "želite prognozu verovatnoće zasnovanu na..." |
| “Improbability data, yeah.” | "Podacima o neverovatnoći, aha." |
| “Okay,” the computer continued. “Here’s an interesting little notion. Did you realize that most people’s lives are governed by telephone numbers?” | "U redu", produžio je kompjuter. "Evo zanimljivog podatka. Jeste li znali da su životi većine ljudi upravljani telefonskim brojevima?" |
| A pained look crawled across one of Zaphod’s faces and on to the other one. | Bolan izraz pređe s jednog Zaphodovog lica na drugo. |
| “Have you flipped?” he said. | "Jesi li ti malo šenuo?" upita ga on. |
| “No, but you will when I tell you that …” | "Nisam, ali vama će se to sigurno desiti kada vam budem rekao da..." |
| Trillian gasped. She scrabbled at the buttons on the Improbability flight-path screen. | Trilijan uzviknu. Bacila se za dugmad skanera putne neverovatnoće. |
| “Telephone number?” she said. “Did that thing say telephone number?” | "Telefonski broj?" reče ona. "Da li je ta stvar rekla telefonski broj?" |
| Numbers flashed up on the screen. | Brojke zapalacaše po ekranu. |
| The computer had paused politely, but now it continued. | Kompjuter je neko vreme pristojno ćutao, a potom je produžio. |
| “What I was about to say was that …” | "U stvari, hteo sam da kažem da..." |
| “Don’t bother, please,” said Trillian. | "Nemoj se opterećivati, molim te", reče Trilijan. |
| “Look, what is this?” said Zaphod. | "Slušaj, šta je ovde posredi?" reče Zaphod. |
| “I don’t know,” said Trillian, “but those aliens—they’re on the way up to the bridge with that wretched robot. Can we pick them up on any monitor cameras?” | "Ne znam", reče Trilijan, "ali ti stranci - idu prema mostu, zajedno s onim prokletim robotom. Možemo li ih dobiti na nekoj od monitorskih kamera?" |