27 The Caged Beast

The Caged Beast Three days later, Ebenezer and Bethany were standing on the most boring street in the world. It was deliberately boring—designed so that people would walk and drive past it without ever feeling compelled to give it a second glance. Its name was something forgettable like Mill Road or North Street, and the buildings were constantly (and secretly) remodeled so that changing architectural fashions would never make them anything less than "unremarkable." The most interesting thing about the whole place was a puddle. Bethany splashed her sneakers in it whilst Ebenezer rang the

三天后，埃比尼泽和伯大尼站在世界上最无聊的街道上。 它被故意设计得很无聊，这样人们走路或开车经过它时就不会觉得有必要再看它一眼。 它的名字就像米尔路（Mill Road）或北街（North Street）那样容易被人遗忘，而且这些建筑不断地被（秘密地）改造，所以不断变化的建筑风格永远不会让它们变得“不起眼”。 整个地方最有趣的地方是一个水坑。 贝瑟妮把她的球鞋溅在水里，埃比尼泽按响了门铃

buzzer of the address they'd been given. A few seconds later Mr. Nickle answered through the intercom. "Yes, what—it?" he asked. "Oh hullo, Squee— er. What are you do—ere? How the devil did you find us?" "You invited us—remember? You woke us up in the middle of the night. You said it was important; you said we had to come here first thing," said Ebenezer. "Yeah—and it's a total pain. Some of us still have two and a half chapters of Quantum Mechanics for Morons to read!" shouted Bethany from the puddle. "Did I really?" said Mr. Nickle, thoroughly confused. "Why would I do th—? Are you—?" "Mr. Nickle, we can't hear you very well. It sounds like you're miles away," said Ebenezer.

他们得到的地址的蜂鸣器。 几秒钟后，尼克先生通过对讲机接了电话。 “是的，是什么？”他问。 “哦，你好，squeee——嗯。你在这儿干什么？ 你到底是怎么找到我们的？”“你邀请了我们——记得吗？” 你半夜把我们吵醒了。 你说这事很重要；你说我们必须首先来这里，”埃比尼泽说。 “是啊，而且非常痛苦。 我们有些人还有两章半的《量子力学》给傻瓜读呢！”宝芬妮在水坑里喊道。 “真的吗？”尼克尔先生说，完全被弄糊涂了。 “我为什么要——”你是——吗?”“先生。 妮可，我们听不太清楚。 听起来你好像在几英里之外，”埃比尼泽说。

"Hmm? Oh ye—that's because I prob—ly am. Come join me. P—t on the wellies," said Mr. Nickle. The intercom went dead, and a few moments later two pairs of scarlet Wellington boots were shoved through the mail slot—one set in Ebenezer's size, the other in Bethany's. Ebenezer pushed the intercom again, but there was no response, whilst Bethany ran over and put her boots on. "This'll be much better for splashing!" said Bethany. She ran up to the puddle and jumped into it. But instead of a great big splash, there was nothing. She disappeared inside the puddle, as if she had fallen through the earth. "BETHANY!" shouted Ebenezer. He quickly put on his boots and jumped after her,

“嗯?哦，是的，那是因为我可能是。 和我一起来吧。穿上雨靴，”尼克尔先生说。 对讲机坏了，过了一会儿，两双鲜红色的惠灵顿长靴被塞进了信箱——一双是埃比尼泽的尺码，另一双是宝芬妮的。 埃比尼泽又推了推对讲机，但没有回应，而贝瑟妮跑过去穿上了靴子。 宝芬妮说：“这对溅水会好得多！” 她跑到水坑边，跳了进去。 但除了溅起一大片水花，什么也没有。 她消失在水坑里，仿佛从地上掉了下去。 “伯大尼！”埃比尼泽喊道。 他迅速穿上靴子，跟着她跳了起来，

even though he had been feeling distinctly uncomfortable around puddles ever since the beast had done its puddling in the theater. He fell through the puddle as well and discovered that it wasn't a puddle at all. It was a portal to an island. He found himself wading in a sea of water toward the island's shore. As he got closer, he saw that the island was dominated by a single building—a fat, high-tech pyramid building, covered with the words D.O.R.R.I.S. HQ— NOTHING TO SEE HERE. Other people and creatures—agents, prisoners, interview suspects—were wading toward the shore from all directions, each of them having been transported to the island from different portals all across the world. Bethany was already on the beach with Mr.

尽管自从那畜生在戏院里弄完水坑之后，他在水坑周围就感到特别不自在。 他也掉进了水坑，发现它根本不是一个水坑。 那是通往一个岛的入口。 他发现自己在一片海水中朝着小岛的海岸跋涉。 当他走近时，他看到岛上只有一座建筑——一座高大的高科技金字塔建筑，上面写着D.O.R.R.I.S.字样 总部-这里没什么可看的。 其他的人和生物——特工、囚犯、采访嫌疑人——正从四面八方涉水向岸边走来，他们每个人都是从世界各地不同的入口被运送到岛上的。 宝芬妮已经在海滩上了。

Nickle, trying her very best not to be impressed by the spectacle. Ebenezer quickly ran up the beach toward them. Mr. Nickle was leaning on one of his walking sticks and carrying three helmets under his other arm. "Yeah, you definitely did. You said it was urgent," Bethany was saying whilst Mr. Nickle looked on in confusion. "Was it about the beast? Or Claudette?" "Claudette? Who's—" began Mr. Nickle, but then he remembered. He looked down at the helmets and frowned again. "I don't know why I have these, but we should put them on." The three of them put on their helmets as they walked into the pyramid. The ground- floor lobby was a hotbed of suspicion and mistrust, with agents looking around the

尼克尽力不被眼前的景象所打动。 埃比尼泽迅速跑上海滩，朝他们奔去。 尼克尔先生拄着一根手杖，另一只胳膊下夹着三个头盔。 “是的，你确实做到了。 “你说事情很紧急，”宝芬妮说，而尼克先生在一旁困惑地看着。 “是关于那只野兽吗？”还是克劳德特?”“克劳德特? 谁——”尼克先生刚开口，但又想起来了。 他低头看了看头盔，又皱起了眉头。 “我不知道我为什么要戴这些，但我们应该戴上它们。” 他们三人戴上头盔走进金字塔。 一楼的大厅是猜疑和不信任的温床，到处都是特工

room—all of them silently accusing each other of treachery. Mr. Nickle led them through to the medical bay, where a familiar face was snoozing upon one of the beds. "CLAUDETTE!" said Bethany. She ran over and woke Claudette up with a squeeze. "Oh, hullo, poppet," said Claudette. Her voice was weak, and so was her body. She was hooked up to various beeping machines, and even when she was awake, she seemed in a half-dazed state. "I'm so, so sorry about everything that—" "Nah. Don't you dare say sorry. No one's to blame but the beast," said Bethany. The mention of the beast caused Claudette to wince. "That creature… I saw inside its mind, you know," she said. "The war, Rapscallicus, that

他们都默默地指责对方背叛。 尼克尔先生领着他们来到医务室，一张熟悉的面孔正在一张床上打盹。 “克劳德特！”伯大尼说。 她跑过去掐了一下克劳德特，把她吵醒了。 “哦，你好，宝贝，”克劳德特说。 她的声音很弱，她的身体也很弱。 她连上了各种哔哔声的机器，即使是醒着的时候，她似乎也处于半迷糊的状态。 “我对这一切感到非常、非常抱歉——”“不。 你竟敢说对不起。不能怪任何人，只能怪野兽。”宝芬妮说。 提到那只野兽，克劳德特畏缩了一下。 “那个生物……你知道，我看到了它的内心，”她说。 “战争，Rapscallicus