Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 The screen at the video arcade showed a tilted landscape of pure white. A howling blizzard was in progress, roaring in the parka-clad CNN reporter's microphone so that he had to shout to be understood. "The fall climbing season here on Mount Everest is almost over, and it looks like winter is well underway. In the ongoing battle of man versus mountain, score this round for mountain. Not a single climber has reached the summit, and the teams are heading home in defeat— all but a few diehards, who are hunkered down, sheltering from the storm…." As the man spoke, a huge burly form powered by, bent into the wind, carrying full gear— ice ax and heavy pack, spiked crampons on his feet. Despite the cumbersome load and terrible conditions, the climber moved with athletic ease.

电子游戏厅的屏幕上呈现出一幅倾斜的纯白色画面。 一场呼啸的暴风雪正在袭来，在这位身着派克大衣的CNN记者的麦克风中咆哮，他不得不大声喊叫才能被理解。 “珠穆朗玛峰的秋季登山季节即将结束，看起来冬天即将来临。 在正在进行的人与山的战斗中，这一轮为山得分。 没有一个登山者到达顶峰，登山队正在失败地回家——除了少数顽固分子，他们蹲下来躲避风暴....” 就在那人说话的时候，一个巨大而魁梧的身影，弯着腰迎风而行，带着全套装备——冰斧和沉重的背包，脚上戴着带尖刺的冰爪。 尽管负重沉重，条件恶劣，登山者还是像运动员一样自如地移动。

Just before he pulled his goggles over his eyes, his full face came into view. Dan emitted a wheeze that matched the worst asthma attack of his life. Hamilton Holt. The Holts— the family of Cahills who had gotten a jump on the next Clue— those Tomas muscleheads were climbing Mount Everest! The frustration nearly dropped him where he stood in the video arcade. Now he knew where the next Clue was. And so what? He couldn't get in touch with Amy! The sensation began at the base of his spine and expanded outward until it flooded his entire body. It was the feeling he'd had after Grace's funeral, when William McIntyre had told them all about the 39 Clues— urgent purpose, infinite possibility. A chance to become the most powerful person on earth, to shape human history! An opportunity so incredible that a pair of Boston orphans had turned down two million dollars for a place on the hunt. Back then, it had been mostly Amy's call to

就在他把护目镜拉上眼睛之前，他的整张脸映入眼帘。 丹发出一声喘息，这与他一生中最严重的哮喘发作相符。 汉密尔顿霍尔特。霍尔特一家——卡希尔一家，他们在下一个线索上跳了一跳——那些托马斯的肌肉头正在攀登珠穆朗玛峰！这种挫败感几乎使他站在游戏厅里。 现在他知道下一条线索在哪里了。 那又怎样？他联系不上艾米！这种感觉从他的脊柱底部开始，向外扩展，直到整个身体都被淹没。 这是他在格蕾丝葬礼后的感觉，当时威廉·麦金太尔告诉了他们关于39条线索的一切——目的迫切，可能性无限。 有机会成为地球上最有权势的人，塑造人类历史！这个机会太不可思议了以至于一对波士顿孤儿拒绝了两百万美元的悬赏。 那时候，大部分时间都是艾米的召唤

chuck everything and join the contest. It was only a few weeks ago, but Dan had been through a lot since then. He'd traveled the world, experiencing thrills most people could only dream about. He'd nearly gotten killed at least a dozen times. That changed a guy. Life felt different after you'd looked death in the face. He was not the same Dan Cahill— the one who'd wanted to take the money and buy baseball cards. He was now a full partner in the destiny Grace had set for them. How could he have been fool enough to let go of it? He could never quit the Clue hunt. He'd been born into it! Amy, too. And although there was no telling how many miles lay between them right now, as long as they were both on the trail of the 39 Clues, they were not truly separated. The likes of Cora Wizard or Isabel Kabra could not be offered a chance at world domination. I have to get to Mount Everest! The arcade had a bank of computer workstations. Dan raced to an unoccupied one and opened the Internet browser. The manager rushed

扔掉所有的东西，参加比赛。 那只是几个星期前的事，但从那以后丹经历了很多。 他周游了世界，经历了大多数人只能梦想的刺激。 他至少有十几次差点被杀。 这改变了一个人。在你面对死亡之后，生活感觉不一样了。 他不再是那个想拿钱去买棒球卡的丹·卡希尔了。 在格蕾丝为他们安排的命运中，他现在是完全的伙伴了。 他怎么会傻到把它放了呢？ 他永远不能放弃寻找线索。 他生来就是这样！艾米。 虽然现在不知道他们之间有多少英里，但只要他们都在39条线索的追踪上，他们就没有真正分开。 像科拉·Wizard或伊莎贝尔·卡布拉这样的人没有机会统治世界。 我要去珠穆朗玛峰！游戏厅里有一排电脑工作站。 丹跑到一个空着的电脑前，打开了互联网浏览器。 经理冲了过去。

over and began yelling at him in Mandarin. Dan tossed a ball of crumpled Chinese bills onto the counter, hoping it would be enough to buy him some computer time. Mount Everest… Mount Everest… there it was, on the border between Nepal and Tibet. And— okay, Tibet was in the southwest corner of China. Not close exactly, but at least he was in the same part of the world. He Googled further. It was good to be back online. Amy felt comfortable surrounded by a stack of dusty books, but Dan was most at home surfing the web. A railroad timetable came up on the screen. There it was— a train from Beijing, China, all the way to Lhasa, Tibet. One of the stops, about halfway along, was Xian. He grimaced at the schedule. Thirty hours?! I'll go nuts! Travel by air would be a lot faster, he reflected. But he had no passport and very little money. And you can't stow away on a plane.

然后开始用普通话对他大喊大叫。 丹把一团皱巴巴的中国钞票扔到柜台上，希望这能给他争取点上电脑的时间。 珠穆朗玛峰，珠穆朗玛峰，就在那里，在尼泊尔和西藏的交界处。 好吧，西藏在中国的西南角。 不是很接近，但至少他在同一个地方。 他在谷歌上进一步搜索。能重新上网感觉真好。 艾米被一堆满是灰尘的书包围着感到很舒服，但丹却更喜欢在家里上网。 屏幕上出现了铁路时刻表。 它就在那里——一列从中国北京一路开往西藏拉萨的火车。 其中一站是西安，大约走了一半。 他对日程安排做了个鬼脸。 三十个小时? !我会发疯的！他想，乘飞机旅行会快得多。 但他没有护照，钱也很少。 你不能偷渡到飞机上。

"…I'm in— well, I guess that doesn't matter, because I have to find you guys now. Uh… see you later— I hope." Nellie stepped back from the pay phone at the Beijing airport, exhaling in sheer relief. The message was ten hours old, but Dan was alive! A little shaken up but okay. She couldn't wait to tell Amy. The marathon that had brought them to this spot had been dizzying. A seven-mile sprint along the Great Wall to the bus staging area; an hour bus trip, which took three hours thanks to Beijing traffic; and a taxi ride out to the airport. All this carrying one very ticked-off cat. Amy stepped out of the ladies' room and began to make her way through the crowded concourse. "Did you get the tickets?" Nellie nodded grimly. "Brace yourself, kiddo. We can't get there till tomorrow." "Huh? Why not?" "You need a special travel permit for Tibet," the au pair explained. "They're letting us fly as far as Chengdu tonight. We can pick up the permits

“……我加入了——嗯，我想这已经不重要了，因为我现在必须找到你们。” 嗯……待会儿见——希望如此。” 内莉从北京机场的付费电话旁退了下来，松了一口气。 这条消息是十小时前的，但丹还活着！有点震惊，不过还好。 她迫不及待地想告诉艾米。 把他们带到这个地方的马拉松比赛令人眼花缭乱。 沿着长城跑七英里到公共汽车站；一个小时的巴士旅行，由于北京的交通需要三个小时；然后坐出租车去机场。 这一切都带着一只生气的猫。 艾米走出女洗手间，开始穿过拥挤的大厅。 “你拿到票了吗？”内莉阴沉地点了点头。 “打起精神来，孩子。我们明天才能到那儿。” “嗯?为什么不呢?”“去西藏需要特别的旅行许可证，”这位互惠生解释说。 “他们今晚让我们最远飞到成都。 我们可以去拿许可证

there tomorrow morning and grab the next plane to Lhasa. But there's bigger news. We got a message from Dan." Amy's whoop echoed throughout the soaring curves of the terminal building. Heads turned their way. A security officer craned his neck to investigate the source of the disturbance. Quickly, Nellie put an arm around Amy's shoulder and marched her to the pay phone so she could listen to the recording herself. She replayed the message four times before finally hanging up, trembling with emotion. "He sounds scared." "Hey," Nellie's voice was kind but firm, "this is good news, remember? Of course he's scared. It looks like he's split with the Wizards. That's not so bad, either. Did you trust those sideshow freaks?" "But he's all alone," Amy lamented. "Why didn't he tell us where to come and get him?" "He had no way to be sure we'd get the message. For all he knew, he'd be waiting around for people who weren't going to show. We have to take him at his word that he's trying to find us."

明天早上到那里，然后赶下一班飞机去拉萨。 但还有更大的新闻。我们收到了丹的消息。” 艾米的呼喊声回荡在候机楼高耸的曲线上。 他们把头转过去。一名保安探出头来调查骚乱的起因。 内莉迅速地用胳膊搂住艾米的肩膀，把她带到公用电话前，让她自己听录音。 她把留言重放了四遍，终于挂了电话，激动得浑身发抖。 “他听起来很害怕。”“嘿，”内莉的声音亲切而坚定，“这是个好消息，记得吗？ 他当然害怕了。看起来他和奇才队分裂了。 这也不是很糟糕。 你相信那些杂耍怪胎吗？”“但他孤身一人，”艾米哀叹道。 “他为什么不告诉我们到哪里去找他呢？”“他无法确定我们是否能收到这条信息。 据他所知，他会等着那些不会出现的人。 我们必须相信他的话，他正在努力找到我们。”