| In the sky a huge green catalog number appeared. It flickered and changed, and when they looked around again so had the land. | Na nebu se najednom pojavi ogromni, zeleni, kataloški broj. On zatrepta i promeni se, a kada se oni osvrnuše, videše da se isto dogodilo i s predelom. |
| As with one voice they all went, “Yuch.” | Uglas im se ote gromko: "Uh!" |
| The sea was purple. The beach they were on was composed of tiny yellow and green pebbles, presumably terribly precious stones. The mountains in the distance seemed soft and undulating with red peaks. Nearby stood a solid silver beach table with a frilly mauve parasol and silver tassles. | Okean je bio ljubičast. Obala na kojoj su se nalazili bila je prekrivena sitnim, žutim i zelenim šljunkom - sve, zapravo, neverovatno skupocenim draguljima. Planine u daljini delovale su mekano i drhtavo i imale su crvene vrhove. U blizini se nalazio srebrni stočić za plažu sa zatvorenim, svetloljubičastim suncobranom i srebrnim ukrasima. |
| In the sky a huge sign appeared, replacing the catalog number. It said, Whatever your tastes, Magrathea can cater for you. We are not proud. | Na nebu se pojavio džinovski natpis i zamenio kataloški broj. Na njemu je pisalo: Magratea vam može omogućiti sve što poželite. Mi se ne ustručavamo ni pred čime. |
| And five hundred entirely naked women dropped out of the sky on parachutes. | A iz neba ispade pet stotina potpuno nagih žena s padobranima. |
| In a moment the scene vanished and left them in a springtime meadow full of cows. | U trenu prizor iščeznu i ostavi ih usred prolećne livade prepune krava. |
| “Ow!” said Zaphod. “My brains!” | "Auu!" reče Zaphod. "Moje glave!" |
| “You want to talk about it?” said Ford. | "Želiš li da porazgovaramo o njima?" upita Ford. |
| “Yeah, okay,” said Zaphod, and all three sat down and ignored the scenes that came and went around them. | "Aha, u redu" reče Zaphod, a onda sve troje sedoše, ne obraćajući više pažnju na prizore koji su se pojavljivali i nestajali oko njih. |
| “I figure this,” said Zaphod. “Whatever happened to my mind, I did it. And I did it in such a way that it wouldn’t be detected by the Government screening tests. And I wasn’t to know anything about it myself. Pretty crazy, right?” | "Zaključio sam sledeće", reče Zaphod. "Štagod da se desilo s mojim umom, sam sam to učinio. I to tako da se ne može otkriti vladinim medicinskim proverama. A sam pojma nisam imao o svemu tome. Zvuči baš šašavo, zar ne?" |
| The other two nodded in agreement. | Drugo dvoje klimnuše u znak saglasnosti. |
| “So I reckon, what’s so secret that I can’t let anybody know I know it, not the Galactic Government, not even myself? And the answer is I don’t know. Obviously. But I put a few things together and I can begin to guess. When did I decide to run for President? Shortly after the death of President Yooden Vranx. You remember Yooden, Ford?” | "Pa sam mozgao, šta je to tako tajno da ne smem da dopustim nikome da sazna, ni galaktičkoj vladi, čak ni samome sebi? A odgovor je da ne znam. Očigledno. Ali sabrao sam nekoliko stvari i počeo da nagađam. Kada sam se odlučio da se kandidujem za predsednika? Ubrzo posle smrti predsednika Judena Vranksa. Sećaš li se Judena, Forde?" |
| “Yeah,” said Ford, “he was that guy we met when we were kids, the Arcturan captain. He was a gas. He gave us conkers when you bust your way into his megafreighter. Said you were the most amazing kid he’d ever met.” | "Aha", reče Ford. "On je bio tip koga smo sreli kada smo bili klinci, onaj arkturijanski kapetan. On nam je dao kestenja kada si upao na njegov megateretnjak. I kazao je da si najneverovatniji klinac koga je sreo." |
| “What’s all this?” said Trillian. | "O čemu vi to?" reče Trilijan. |
| “Ancient history,” said Ford, “when we were kids together on Betelgeuse. The Arcturan megafreighters used to carry most of the bulky trade between the Galactic Center and the outlying regions. The Betelgeuse trading scouts used to find the markets and the Arcturans would supply them. There was a lot of trouble with space pirates before they were wiped out in the Dordellis wars, and the megafreighters had to be equipped with the most fantastic defense shields known to Galactic science. They were real brutes of ships, and huge. In orbit round a planet they would eclipse the sun. | "Stara priča"? reče Ford, "iz vremena kada smo obojica bili klinci na Betelgezu. Arkturijanski megateretnjaci prevozili su najveći deo kabaste robe između središta Galaksije i spoljašnjih oblasti. Trgovački izviđači sa Betelgeza nalazili su tržišta, a Arkturijanci su ih snabdevali. Bilo je mnogo nevolja sa svemirskim piratima pre nego što su ovi zbrisani u dordelijskim ratovima i megateretnjaci su morali da budu opremljeni najfantastičnijim odbrambenim štitovima za koje je nauka znala. Bili su to stvarno gadni brodovi, a i ogromni - kada bi se našli na orbiti neke planete izazvali bi pomračenje sunca. |
| “One day, young Zaphod here decides to raid one. On a tri-jet scooter designed for stratosphere work, a mere kid. I mean forget it, it was crazier than a mad monkey. I went along for the ride because I’d got some very safe money on him not doing it, and didn’t want him coming back with fake evidence. So what happens? We get in his trijet which he had souped up into something totally other, crossed three parsecs in a matter of weeks, bust our way into a megafreighter I still don’t know how, marched on to the bridge waving toy pistols and demanded conkers. A wilder thing I have not known. Lost me a year’s pocket money. For what? Conkers.” | Jednog dana, mladi Zaphod odlučio je da opljačka jedan od njih uz pomoć mlaznog tromotorca, sazdanog za letove do stratosfere. Najobičniji klinac. Govorio sam mu, mani se toga, čoveče, potpuno si poludeo. Pošao sam s njim na let jer sam se na sigurno opkladio da neće uspeti, a nisam hteo da se vrati sa izmišljenim dokazima. I šta se desilo? Popeli smo se na njegov tromotorac, koji je on preradio u nešto potpuno drugačije, za par nedelja prešli tri parseka, probili se na megateretnjak - ni danas ne shvatam kako - upali na most vitlajući pištoljima-igračkama i zahtevali da nam daju kestenja. Luđu stvar nisam mogao da zamislim. Koštala me je jednogodišnjeg džeparca. A radi čega? Kestenja." |
| “The captain was this really amazing guy, Yooden Vranx,” said Zaphod. “He gave us food, booze—stuff from really weird parts of the Galaxy—lots of conkers, of course, and we had just the most incredible time. Then he teleported us back. Into the maximum security wing of the Betelgeuse state prison. He was a cool guy. Went on to become President of the Galaxy.” | "Kapetan je bio taj neverovatni tip, Juden Vranks", reče Zaphod. "Dao nam je klope, pića - stvarčice iz zaista otkačenih krajeva Galaksije - gomilu kestenja, razume se, i stvarno smo se neverovatno zabavljali. Onda nas je teleportirao nazad. U najčuvanije krilo državnog zatvora na Betelgezu. Tip je stvarno bio opasan. Posle je postao predsednik Galaksije." |
| Zaphod paused. | Zaphod zastade. |
| The scene around them was currently plunged into gloom. Dark mists swirled round them and elephantine shapes lurked indistinctly in the shadows. The air was occasionally rent with the sounds of illusory beings murdering other illusory beings. Presumably enough people must have liked this sort of thing to make it a paying proposition. | Prizor oko njih utonuo je tog trenutka u polutamu. Tmurne magluštine kovitlale su se oko njih, a džinovska obličja nejasno su vrebala po senkama. S vremena na vreme, vazduhom su se prolamali krici nepostojećih stvorenja koja su proždirala druga nepostojeća stvorenja. Ovakve stvari očevidno je volelo dosta ljudi, čim su stavljene u prodajni katalog. |
| “Ford,” said Zaphod quietly. | "Forde", reče Zaphod tiho. |
| “Yeah?” | "Da?" |
| “Just before Yooden died he came to see me.” | "Nešto pre nego što će umreti, Juden me je posetio." |
| “What? You never told me.” | "Šta? To mi nikada nisi pričao." |
| “No.” | "Nisam." |
| “What did he say? What did he come to see you about?” | "Šta je rekao? Zašto je želeo da te vidi?" |
| “He told me about the Heart of Gold. It was his idea that I should steal it.” | "Ispričao mi je o 'Zlatnom srcu'. Bila je to njegova zamisao da ga ukradem." |
| “His idea?” | "Njegova zamisao?" |
| “Yeah,” said Zaphod, “and the only possible way of stealing it was to be at the launching ceremony.” | "Aha", reče Zaphod, "a jedinu moguću priliku da se ukrade pružala je svečanost lansiranja." |
| Ford gaped at him in astonishment for a moment, and then roared with laughter. | Ford na trenutak zinu od zaprepašćenja, a zatim zaurla od smeha. |
| “Are you telling me,” he said, “that you set yourself up to become President of the Galaxy just to steal that ship?” | "Hoćeš da kažeš", rekao je, "da si se kandidovao za predsednika Galaksije samo da bi ukrao taj brod?" |
