Chapter 17

17 FRANK AND WATSON ROLL, QUICKLY AND inconspicuously, on their regular bikes, through downtown Midville, across South Midville, and out to the lake. They skid to a stop in a deserted lot right next to exactly what Watson described—a big black cube. And just as Frank predicted, the building is topped with two lake water–fed cooling towers.

弗兰克和沃森骑着他们常骑的自行车，迅速而不引人注目地穿过米德维尔市中心，穿过南米德维尔，来到湖边。 他们在一个废弃的停车场停了下来，就在沃森描述的那个地方旁边——一个巨大的黑色立方体。 正如弗兰克预测的那样，这座建筑的顶部有两座湖水冷却塔。

"Ditch the bikes here," says Frank. They hide both bikes behind a mound of brick and lumber and dirt rubble and approach the Big Black Cube.

“把自行车扔在这里，”弗兰克说。 他们把两辆自行车藏在一堆砖头、木材和泥土碎石后面，向大黑立方走去。

There is nothing around the Cube. No fences keeping anyone out. No kennels hiding guard dogs. No towers with floodlights and security guards. Nothing but a bare lot. But it is a fortress because there are no visible doors, vents, or openings of any other kind in the smooth, gunmetal-black surface. The only break in the exterior is a band of windows too high to reach or to see in through. "So how do we sneak in?" whispers Watson. "Did you secretly copy Edison's fingerprints off a glass you made him pick up back in the shop, and we're going to fool a thumb scanner?" "Nope."

魔方周围什么也没有。 没有栅栏把任何人挡在外面。 没有狗窝藏着看门狗。 没有带照明灯和保安的塔楼。 什么也没有，只有一点点。但它是一座堡垒，因为在光滑的黑色表面上没有可见的门、通风口或任何其他类型的开口。 外部唯一的裂缝是一排窗户，太高了，无法到达或看到里面。 “那我们怎么溜进去呢？”华生小声说。 “你是不是从你让爱迪生在店里捡起的玻璃上偷偷复制了他的指纹，然后我们要骗过指纹扫描仪？”“不。”

"You reconstructed his eyeball from a 3-D camera, and we're going to fake out a retina scanner?" "Nope." "Tiny portable missile launcher? Giant trained tunneling moles?"

“你用3d相机重建了他的眼球，而我们要搞一个视网膜扫描仪？”“不。” “小型便携式导弹发射器？” 巨型训练有素的地道鼹鼠？”

"Nope and nope." Frank scans the ground in front of him carefully. "We need the densest rock we can find. A nice metamorphic or basic igneous would be fine..." Watson picks up a baseball-size piece of speckled black, gray, and reddish rock and shows it to Frank. Frank hefts it in one hand. "Granite. Perfect." "So now we grind the granite into dust," guesses Watson, still whispering, "combine it with another powder you have in your lab coat to make instant dynamite, and light it to explode a hole in the side of the Cube?" "Simpler than that," says Frank. He winds up, pitches the granite chunk at one high window, and smashes the glass with a resounding crash! Sirens whoop. Lights flash.

“不，不。”弗兰克仔细地扫视着面前的地面。 “我们需要能找到的密度最大的岩石。 好的变质岩或基本的火成岩就可以了……” 沃森拿起一块棒球大小的岩石，上面有黑色、灰色和红色的斑点，拿给弗兰克看。 弗兰克一手拿着它。 “花岗岩。完美。”“那么，现在我们把花岗岩磨成灰尘，”沃森猜测道，仍然低声说，“把它和你实验室外套里的另一种粉末混合起来，制成即时炸药，然后点燃它，在立方体的侧面炸出一个洞？”“比那更简单，”弗兰克说。 他转过身，把那块花岗岩扔到一扇高高的窗户上，砰的一声打碎了玻璃！塞壬大叫。 灯闪。

Video cameras pop up out of the ground, recording two nearly invisible door panels sliding open and a small army of gray- uniformed security guards running out, grabbing Einstein and Watson, and hustling them inside the Cube.

摄像机从地下跳出来，记录下两个几乎看不见的门板滑开，一小队穿着灰色制服的保安跑出来，抓住爱因斯坦和沃森，把他们塞进立方体。