Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 The headache came first, and it was awful— a pounding behind his right eye that would not quit. The whole room seemed to thrum in rhythm with his pain— or, wait! Maybe it was his pain thrumming with the room. What was that noise? And why was his bed moving? He sat up with a start and very nearly toppled off the conveyor belt to the factory floor forty feet below. What the— It all came back to him— being kidnapped, interrogated, and chloroformed by the Kabras. They must have dumped him here— in one of the factories that made China the industrial engine of the entire world! He took stock of the situation. Behind him and in front of him on the belt were large sheets of

第7章首先是头痛，而且很厉害——他的右眼后面怦怦直跳，停不下来。 整个房间似乎都随着他的痛苦在颤动——或者，等等！也许是他的疼痛在房间里晃动。 那是什么声音？为什么他的床会动？ 他猛地坐了起来，差点从传送带上摔到下面40英尺的工厂地板上。 这是什么-一切都回到了他的脑海-被绑架，审问，被卡布拉人麻醉。 他们一定是把他扔在这里了——在一个让中国成为全世界工业引擎的工厂里！他估量了一下形势。 在他身后和他前面的皮带上都是大张的

multicolored plastic. About ten yards ahead, the pieces were being dropped into a hopper that fed a gigantic stamping machine beneath it. The closer he got, the louder the noise, until it threatened to jar loose his molars. All remaining grogginess disappeared in a heartbeat. I'm going to get stamped into the door-crasher special at Walmart! The only way off the conveyor belt was a four-story drop. And there was no point in yelling for help. No one could possibly hear him over the general din. He had to find a way to stop this belt! He jumped up and ran against the direction of the conveyor. Every time he came to a sheet of plastic, he crammed it under the belt, hoping to disrupt its operation. There was no result at first, but he refused to despair. This giant machine was never going to run out of plastic. And he was never going to run out of energy to use it to jam the conveyor. Not unless I want a one-way trip through the guts of that machine!

五彩缤纷的塑料。大约在前方十码的地方，碎块正被扔进一个料斗里，料斗下面是一台巨大的冲压机。 他越靠近，那声音就越响，几乎要把他的臼齿震掉了。 所有剩下的昏昏沉沉的感觉都在一瞬间消失了。 我要被印进沃尔玛的撞门特惠活动！离开传送带的唯一方法就是从四层楼高的地方掉下去。 喊救命是没有意义的。 在一片嘈杂声中，谁也听不见他说话。 他必须想办法阻止这条皮带！他跳起来，逆着传送带的方向跑去。 每次看到一张塑料布，他就把它塞到腰带下面，希望能破坏它的运转。 起初没有结果，但他拒绝绝望。 这台巨大的机器永远不会用完塑料。 而且他永远不会耗尽能量，用它来堵塞传送带。 除非我想单程穿过那台机器的内部！

When he felt the first wobble, he was so encouraged that he found the strength to speed up his efforts. The burning rubber smell came next, and soon he had to watch his footing on the pitching belt. Smoke began to surround him, and the automatic sprinkler system came on. A moment later, the conveyor ground to a halt, and the stamping machine fell silent. A hooray died in Dan's throat as dozens of factory workers began scaling a system of catwalks toward his position. Now that the belt had stopped, he could see that the only other way down was on the stamping machine itself. A system of grips and ladders for maintenance workers traced a route up its steel flank. He ran to the end of the belt and swung himself down to a metal ring. From there, it was like the rock wall at the community center back in Massachusetts— a simple matter of finding the right handholds and footholds. As he jumped to the floor, he nearly tripped over a pallet piled high with the factory's finished product— a mechanical lollipop holder with a figure as its base. All this equipment, all these

当他感到第一次摇晃时，他受到了极大的鼓舞，他找到了加快努力的力量。 接下来是橡胶燃烧的气味，很快他就不得不注意自己在投球带上的立足点了。 烟雾开始包围他，自动喷水灭火系统启动了。 过了一会儿，传送带停了下来，冲压机器也安静了下来。 当数十名工厂工人开始爬上通往他位置的通道时，一声欢呼在丹的喉咙里消失了。 现在传送带停止了，他可以看到，唯一的另一条路是冲压机器本身。 一个供维修工人使用的扶手和梯子系统沿着钢质侧翼向上延伸。 他跑到皮带的末端，把自己甩到一个金属环上。 从那里开始，它就像马萨诸塞州社区中心的石墙一样——找到正确的支撑点和立足点只是一个简单的问题。 当他跳到地板上时，他差点被一个堆得很高的托盘绊倒，托盘上堆满了工厂的成品——一个机械棒棒糖支架，底座是一个人物。 所有这些设备，所有这些

workers, this giant manufacturing complex, for lollipops. Sheesh. He picked one up and almost swallowed his tongue. The figure was none other than his Cahill cousin Jonah Wizard, reality TV star, hip-hop mogul, and rival in the Clue hunt. Jonah's smirking face routinely appeared on posters, magazines, action figures, Pez dispensers, lunch boxes, and now motorized lollipop holders. There was no escaping the guy. He pressed a small button on the base. The candy twirled, and Jonah's tinny voice announced, "What's happening, yo?" Those recorded words turned out to be Dan's undoing. A very agitated foreman grabbed him by the arm. In a few seconds, he was surrounded by a small army of irate factory workers, all yelling at him in Chinese. He took a lick of the lollipop and tried to look like a passing tourist. "Mmm— grape. My favorite." The foreman switched to heavily accented English. "What you do, boy? You break

工人们，这个巨大的生产基地，生产棒棒糖。 震惊或印象深刻。他捡起一个，差点把舌头吞了下去。 这个人不是别人，正是他卡希尔的堂兄乔纳·奇才，真人秀电视明星，嘻哈大亨，以及线索搜索的对手。 乔纳傻笑的脸经常出现在海报、杂志、人偶、Pez自动售货机、午餐盒上，现在还出现在电动棒棒糖夹上。 谁也逃不过那家伙。 他按下底座上的一个小按钮。 糖果转了起来，乔纳的小声音说：“发生什么事了，你？”那些被录下来的话最终导致了丹的毁灭。 一个非常激动的工头抓住了他的胳膊。 几秒钟后，他就被一小群愤怒的工厂工人包围了，所有人都用中文对他大喊大叫。 他舔了舔棒棒糖，装出一副过路人的样子。 “嗯——葡萄。我最喜欢的。” 工头改用带有浓重口音的英语说话。 “你是干什么的，孩子？”你打破

everything!" "Check out the conveyor up top," Dan advised. "The belt got a little jammed. Happens a lot, right?" "Never happens!" thundered the foreman. "You spoil perfect record on day of very important visitor!" "What's happening, yo?" came Jonah Wizard's voice again. Dan stared at the lollipop holder in his hand. He hadn't pressed the button…. The angry crowd melted away and went to surround the newcomer. Dan goggled. It was the real Jonah Wizard, live and in person, touring the factory where his lollipops were made. No wonder the Kabras had dumped Dan here. It was a message not just to Dan, but to Jonah, too. He recalled Natalie's words: We're everywhere…. The hip-hop star's eyes widened when he spotted Dan. A half step behind him, his ever-present father began composing an e-mail on his BlackBerry.

一切!”“看看上面的传送带，”丹建议道。 “皮带有点卡住了。 经常发生，对吧？”“从来没发生过！”工头吼道。 “你在很重要的访客日破坏完美记录！”“发生什么事了，你？”又是大法师约拿的声音。 丹盯着手里的棒棒糖夹。 他没有按按钮.... 愤怒的人群渐渐散去，围住了新来的人。 丹瞪视。这是真正的乔纳巫师，现场和亲自参观他的棒棒糖工厂。 难怪卡布拉夫妇把丹丢在这里。 这不仅是给但的信息，也是给约拿的信息。 他回忆起娜塔莉的话：我们无处不在.... 这位嘻哈明星看到丹时睁大了眼睛。 在他身后半步的地方，他的父亲开始在他的黑莓手机上写电子邮件。

"Mr. Wizard!" the foreman exclaimed. "Thousand apologies! Worthless boy break machine—" "Chill, man." Jonah somehow managed to imbue his street lingo with an easygoing, almost folksy simplicity. The world's first down-home hip-hop star. "The kid's my cousin. I told him to meet me here. My fault." Dan's eyes narrowed even as he sighed with relief. The last time he and Amy had seen Jonah, the creep had marooned them on a crocodile- infested island in the middle of the Nile. "Where's your sis and the nanny?" Jonah asked. "Au pair," Dan corrected. "We got— separated." Jonah shrugged. "It's all good. Chinese TV gave us a limo to use while we're in town. I'll have the driver give you a ride back to your hotel." He noted the anxious flush on Dan's cheeks. "I get it. You're lost, and you don't know where to find them." "I can take care of myself," Dan said. "Word," Jonah agreed. "But why should you

“巫师先生！”工头喊道。 “千道歉!没用的男孩破机器——”“冷静点，伙计。” 乔纳不知怎么地设法使他的街头行话充满了随和的、几乎是平易近人的简单。 世界上第一个地道的嘻哈明星。 “那孩子是我表弟。我让他在这里见我。 我的错。”丹的眼睛眯了起来，尽管他松了口气。 他和艾米最后一次见到约拿时，这个怪物把他们困在了尼罗河中部一个鳄鱼出没的岛上。 “你姐姐和保姆呢？”约拿问道。 “互惠生，”丹纠正道。“我们走散了。” 约拿耸耸肩。“一切都很好。 我们在城里的时候，中国电视台给了我们一辆豪华轿车。 我让司机送你回旅馆。” 他注意到丹的脸颊因焦虑而涨红。 “我明白了。你迷路了，你不知道去哪里找他们。” “我能照顾好自己，”丹说。 “一言为定，”约拿同意了。“可是你为什么要这样做呢？