Chapter 12

chapter twelve Well, you're doing it, Jack. You're really doing it. Yep. I'm climbing the cliff. No amount of Spider-Man movie-watching and Spider-Man video-gaming could have prepared me for this.

第十二章好吧，你做到了，杰克。 你真的做到了。是的。 我正在爬悬崖。再多的蜘蛛侠电影和蜘蛛侠游戏也无法让我为此做好准备。

The cliff is everything Skaelka promised: gross, scary, and BIG. Two hundred feet, er—talons, looks like a lot when you're staring up at it—but, trust me, it feels like even more when you're clinging to the side of it. When I pictured the climb, I figured my friends and I would say a bunch of emotional stuff first, before I started. But that didn't happen. I think we all knew it wouldn't help. Instead, Dirk was just like— if you die, I get your stuff, okay? But your stuff is lame and I don't want your stuff. So don't die.

悬崖是Skaelka承诺的一切：恶心、可怕、巨大。 两百英尺，呃，魔爪，当你盯着它看的时候，看起来很多，但是，相信我，当你紧紧抓住它的一边时，感觉就更多了。 当我想象攀登时，我想在开始之前，我和我的朋友们会先说一堆感情上的话。 但这并没有发生。我想我们都知道这没用。 相反，德克只是说，如果你死了，我就拿走你的东西，好吗？ 但你的东西很烂，我不想要你的东西。 所以不要死。

And with that, I was off. My backpack—with Quint's human hamster ball packed inside—digs hard into my shoulders. My body is all pain. The good thing about the pain, though, is that it distracts from everything else. My mind is blank, unthinking, as I climb: hand over hand, foot finding foothold. I don't stop until I'm nearly a quarter of the way up. And I only stop because my arms have turned to rubber. I find a small recess, just large enough to fit my butt and one leg. I wait for the blood to return to my limbs and the air to my lungs. I'm just inching out of the nook, reaching for a handhold, when—

说完，我就出发了。我的背包——里面装着昆特的人类仓鼠球——深深地扎进了我的肩膀。 我全身都痛。然而，疼痛的好处是，它分散了人们对其他事情的注意力。 我的头脑是空白的，没有思考，当我爬：手拉手，脚找到立足点。 我要爬到将近四分之一的地方才会停下来。 我停下来的唯一原因是我的手臂已经变成橡胶了。 我找到了一个小凹处，刚好能放得下我的屁股和一条腿。 我等待着血液回流到四肢，空气回流到肺部。 我刚从角落里爬出来，想找个把手，就

foom I can't believe I volunteered for this. A crashing gust of wind suddenly pounds the cliffside, swinging me away from the wall like a screen door crashing open, turning me nearly horizontal. Seconds before I'm hurled into oblivion— SCHLURP! The Cosmic Hand finds a protruding rock and clamps down, hard as a vise. When the wind finally lets up, I crash back into the cliff face, dangling like the most perilously placed ornament on the Christmas tree.

我真不敢相信我自愿做这个。 一阵猛烈的狂风突然拍打着悬崖边，把我从墙上甩了出去，就像纱门被撞开一样，把我几乎翻到了水平位置。 在我被抛入遗忘的几秒钟之前——嘘！宇宙之手找到一块突出的岩石，像虎钳一样用力夹住。 等风终于停了，我又撞到了悬崖上，像圣诞树上最危险的装饰物一样晃来晃去。

The Cosmic Hand squeezed harder than hard— harder than I ever could—during the blast. I don't love the way the Cosmic Hand is, like, starting to know things. But I won't argue now. Not the time to complain when it just saved me from a death drop. The higher I climb, the stranger the cliff becomes. The more... unearthly. Goop bubbles out of cracks and crevices. The jagged stone glistens like it's made of gelatin. I'll say it again: no amount of Spider-Man movie- watching and Spider-Man video-gaming could have prepared me for this. Though Quint might disagree. Back in the day, before the monster apocalypse, we spent a lot of time talking about the logistics of Spider-Man's abilities...

宇宙之手在爆炸过程中比以往任何时候都更用力地挤压。 我不喜欢宇宙之手开始了解事物的方式。 但我现在不想争辩。不是抱怨的时候，它刚把我从死亡坠落中救了出来。 我爬得越高，悬崖就变得越陌生。 越……神秘的。黏糊糊的东西从裂缝和裂缝中冒出来。 锯齿状的石头闪闪发光，就像明胶做的一样。 我再说一遍：再多的蜘蛛侠电影和蜘蛛侠电子游戏也无法让我为此做好准备。 尽管昆特可能不同意。 在怪物启示录之前，我们花了很多时间谈论蜘蛛侠能力的后勤……

His hands are sticky. It's that simple. It's not that simple. He's part spider. His hands are covered in spatula. Hundreds of teeny tiny spatula. Oh yeah. Then what about his gloves? The spatula go through his gloves. How convenient. And I bet you think they go through his sandals too. When does he wear sandals? FOCUS, JACK! I scream at my own brain. Stop thinking about Quint! Stop thinking about the time before you had the Cosmic Hand! There's no point, and it won't help any— But... But what about June? On the train? I wanted to help her, but I couldn't—so the Cosmic Hand did it for me. And the Cosmic Hand cut her. It was just a scratch, sure. But what about next time? My mind is suddenly racing, out of control. Is what I'm doing right now making a next time inevitable?

他的手黏糊糊的。就是这么简单。 事情没那么简单。他有蜘蛛的血统。 他的手上沾满了锅铲。 成百上千的小铲子。 噢,是的。那他的手套呢？ 铲子穿过他的手套。 如何方便。我敢打赌你也认为它们会穿过他的凉鞋。 他什么时候穿凉鞋？ 焦点,杰克!我对着自己的大脑尖叫。 别再想昆特了！别再想你拥有宇宙之手之前的事了！没有意义，也不会有任何帮助-但是… 但是六月呢？在火车上？ 我想帮她，但我做不到——所以宇宙之手帮我做了。 然后宇宙之手砍了她。 当然，只是擦伤而已。 但是下次呢？我的思绪突然狂转，失去了控制。 我现在做的事会不会导致下一次的悲剧？