Chapter 15

chapter fifteen Ick erupts as the sack explodes beneath us like a water balloon dropped from thirty stories up. The half-built creature inside breaks our fall—and is flattened into a smear. We all lie there for a moment, not quite able to believe what just happened. "Ugh, it's in my nose," June says finally. "It's in my underwear," I say. "It's in my foot underwear," Quint says. "Just call 'em socks, Quint," Dirk says. The ground is slippery from the gooey remains of the shattered sac, and it takes us a comically long time to stand. We've landed on the peak of some peculiar structure—high-enough up that a breeze whips over us. As I finish scrubbing off, I hear June whisper, "Uh, guys..."

当袋子在我们下面爆炸时，我爆发了，就像一个从三十层楼高的地方掉下来的水球。 里面那个半建成的生物阻止了我们的坠落，并被夷为平地。 我们都在那里躺了一会儿，不敢相信刚刚发生的事情。 “哦，它在我的鼻子里，”琼最后说。 “它在我的内裤里，”我说。 “它在我的脚内衣里，”昆特说。 “就叫它们袜子吧，昆特，”德克说。 地面上粘满了破碎的囊，很滑，可笑的是，我们需要很长时间才能站立。 我们降落在某个特殊建筑的顶端——高得足以让微风吹过我们的头顶。 我洗漱完毕，听到琼小声说：“呃，伙计们……”

I'm pretty sure we landed at the center of a prison compound, a prison compound inside a monster fortress. But where's the light prison part? Think we're standing on it, buddy. "This is like a Russian nesting doll of lousiness," I say. "The Maparatus is indicating that the Directarium is below us," Quint says. "Down there." So down there is where we go... There's a wet, floppy fissure at the platform's center—and we hurry to it. Squeezing through, we drop down into the spiraling prison. It's like a Jenga skyscraper—with some pieces missing, some only halfway inserted.

我很确定我们降落在一个监狱大院的中心，一个怪物堡垒里的监狱大院。 但光监狱的部分在哪里？ 我想我们站在上面了，伙计。 我说：“这就像一个肮脏的俄罗斯套娃。” 昆特说：“马帕拉图斯表明，指挥所在我们下面。” “那里。”下面就是我们要去的地方… 在平台的中心有一个潮湿、松软的裂缝——我们赶紧走过去。 我们挤了进去，掉进了螺旋形的监狱。 这就像叠叠的摩天大楼——有些缺了，有些只插了一半。

"This prison clearly wasn't built for human legs," Quint observes. There are no steps—just a circular, endlessly winding tube, like a looping parking garage ramp. The tube is partly see-through—like it's made of plexiglass smeared with strawberry jam. It leads us past an endless string of prison cells—each one vacant. As we continue down, we find ourselves—without meaning to—walking along the floor, then up the wall, across the ceiling, down the other wall, and finally back down to the floor. And then it repeats. Again. And again. It's a long way down—er—up? Sideways, maybe.

“这座监狱显然不是为人的腿而建的，”昆特说。 这里没有台阶，只有一个无穷无尽的环形管道，就像一个环形的停车场坡道。 这个管子部分是透明的——它是由涂有草莓酱的有机玻璃制成的。 它带我们经过一排没有尽头的牢房——每一间都是空的。 当我们继续往下走时，我们发现自己——无意中——沿着地板走，然后爬上墙，穿过天花板，走下另一堵墙，最后回到地板上。 然后重复。再一次。 一次又一次。从下到上是一条很长的路？ ,也许吧。

I don't think gravity worked the same in this place. Oh yeah. We gave it away. "I never thought I'd miss trekking through the Forbidden Forest of Foreboding," Dirk says after nearly an hour of walking. "But I do." "From our hero quest," Quint explains. June laughs. "Oh, is that what you're calling it?" "You bet," Dirk says." 'Cause that's what it was. Me and Quint even had statues erected in our honor. It was epic." OK, seriously. Just how much stuff did I miss out on? I think, and my imagination runs wild... -THE FOMO COLLAGE

我觉得重力在这里不一样。 噢,是的。我们把它送人了。“我从没想过我会错过穿越不祥禁林的徒步旅行，”德克走了将近一个小时后说。 “但我知道。”“来自我们的英雄任务，”Quint解释道。 6月笑着说。“哦，你是这么说的吗？”“当然，”德克说。 因为事实就是这样。 我和昆特甚至还为我们立了雕像。 这是史诗般的。”好吧,认真。 我到底错过了多少东西？ 我想，我的想象力变得狂野起来…… - fomo拼贴

"Yeah, well," I start, my mouth quickly getting away from me. "Me and June had a hero quest, too. While you were gone. It was awesome. We, uh, we fought a Bone Halfer—" "So did we," Dirk says, unimpressed. "But we fought the front half." "Yeah, well, we defeated rezzoch and Thrull. Did I mention that? Yep, they're dead now. Also, we ran into a buncha zombie influencers and we all started a YouTube channel and already have a ton of followers." I look to June to back me up. But the only thing she backs up is the bus, right over me. "Nope, none of that happened. I already went on my own solo adventure; I don't need to join your fake imaginary one, Jack." —I don't know how much time has passed when the never-ending tube finally spits us out on the ground floor—I just know I'm happy it's over. We exit out into some sort of lobby. A single prison guard stands at a vending machine, angrily poking buttons. We quickly tiptoe past...

“是啊，好吧，”我开始说，我的嘴很快从我身边移开。 “我和琼也有一个英雄任务。 你不在的时候。太棒了。 我们，嗯，我们和一个半骨人打过仗——”“我们也是，”德克说，不为所动。 “但我们在上半场打得很好。” “是啊，我们打败了雷佐克和瑟鲁。 我提到过吗？是的，他们现在已经死了。 此外，我们遇到了一群僵尸网红，我们都开设了一个YouTube频道，已经有了大量的粉丝。” 我指望琼来支持我。 但她唯一支持的就是巴士，就在我上方。 “不，这些都没有发生。 我已经开始了自己的独自冒险；我不需要加入你那虚假的想象，杰克。” 我不知道过了多久，那永无休止的地铁终于把我们送到了一楼，我只知道我很高兴一切都结束了。 我们走到一个大厅。 一个监狱看守站在自动售货机前，愤怒地戳着按钮。 我们迅速地蹑手蹑脚地走过……