Chapter 16

chapter sixteen I immediately realize where Drooler is going—and why. A group of guards are gathered around what appears to be a giant ball of squirming hair. They tear off pieces in wads, shoving them into their fang-filled mouths. Bits fall to the ground—and Drooler wanders that way. "I think he's just hungry. Hey, what do you feed him anyway?" I ask, realizing I've never seen Drooler actually eat. Dirk frowns. "Umm..." "Dude, do you not feed Drooler?" June asks. "He liked that spicy dough—" Dirk starts, before— "GET A LOAD OF THIS LITTLE BUGGER!" a guard suddenly shouts. "No, no, no!" Dirk says, inhaling sharply. "They're gonna beat him with pillowcases full of soap!" But the evil monster jailers mostly just seem intrigued. One rips out a wad of hair and tosses it to Drooler, like some grandpa feeding stale bread to pigeons at the park. Drooler gulps it down.

我立刻意识到Drooler要去哪里——以及为什么要去。 一群警卫聚集在一个巨大的毛球周围。 它们把碎片撕成一团，塞进长着尖牙的嘴里。 碎片掉在地上，流口水就这样四处游荡。 “我想他只是饿了。 嘿，你喂他吃什么？”我问，意识到我从未见过流口水真正吃东西。 德克皱眉。“嗯……”“伙计，你不喂流口水吗？”6月问道。 “他喜欢那辣味面团——”德克开始说，然后——“看看这个小混蛋！”一个警卫突然喊道。 “不，不，不！”德克说，猛地吸了口气。 “他们会用装满肥皂的枕套打他！”但邪恶的怪物狱卒大多只是好奇。 一个人扯下一团头发扔给德罗尔，就像爷爷在公园里给鸽子喂不新鲜的面包一样。 流口水把它吞了下去。

"Guys," June says, realizing. "This is just the distraction we needed!" "Drooler is not a distraction!" Dirk says. "Hey," I say. "When opportunity knocks, you gotta answer." Dirk glares at us all for a long moment, then growls, "Fine. Just be quick. If those jerks touch one drop of slime on Drooler's head, I can't be held responsible for what happens next."

“伙计们，”琼意识到。 “这正是我们需要的分散注意力的东西！”“流口水不会让你分心！”德克说。 “嘿，”我说。“当机会敲门时，你必须回应。” 德克盯着我们大家看了很长时间，然后咆哮道：“好吧。 快点。如果那些混蛋碰了口水头上的一滴黏液，接下来发生的事情我可不能负责。”

Quint grins. "In that case, it is time I unveil..." he starts, reaching into his backpack for a big reveal. "The HAMMOCK HARNESS!" June's lasso-line can lower me down so I can access the director. Aium Dirk anchors the line. Yeah, fine, whatever. Can we just get on with it? Jewellers mingling with evil. Okay, first love all of this. Second, I'm going with you. "It's really only designed for one..." Quint says. But I gesture to the guards below. "Who knows how long Drooler's hairwad-slurping antics are gonna keep those dudes busy. If anything goes wrong, you'll be dangling like a fish on a hook—alone."

昆特笑着说。“既然这样，我该揭开……” 他开始了，伸手到背包里想要一个大揭秘。 “吊床吊带！”琼的套索能把我放下去，这样我就能见到局长了。 艾姆·德克稳住了线。 好吧，随你怎么说。我们能继续吗？ 珠宝商与恶魔混在一起。 好吧，我第一次爱上了这一切。 第二，我要和你一起去。 “它真的只是为一个人设计的……” 五度音说。但我向下面的卫兵做了个手势。 “谁知道流口水吃发棒的滑稽动作能让那些家伙忙上多久。 如果出了什么差错，你就会像一条挂在钩子上的鱼一样，一个人吊着。”

Quint relents. Moments later, we're both crammed into the hammock harness while June and Dirk lower us down. But I'm quickly realizing I should have listened to Quint because— The harness flips, spinning a dozen times, then— I might barf. Gee, if only someone had said this was built for one, Craning my neck, I'm just barely able to see the Directarium. It looks like an arcade machine made out of Jell-O and peanut shells.

昆特又释然。过了一会儿，我们都被塞进吊床吊带里，琼和德克把我们放下来。 但我很快意识到我应该听昆特的话，因为-脊甲翻转，旋转十几次，然后-我可能会呕吐。 哎呀，要是有人说这是为一个人建造的就好了。伸长脖子，我几乎看不见路标了。 看起来像是用果冻和花生壳做成的街机。

Little nodules—that look unnervingly like belly buttons—cover its display screen. I shudder a little when Quint pokes one without hesitation. He taps the Maparatus, and a short dongle arm extends. He presses the dongle against the Directarium's access port, frowns, flips it over, tries again, frowns again. No dice. He flips it once more— and the dongle slides in. "Always on the third try," he mutters. The Directarium flashes, then begins whirring as diagrams flash by at top speed. Quint's got this covered, so I twist my head. I spot two gangly guards posing with Drooler. A squat guard tries to get into the picture—but they shove him away. "Speed it up, Quint," I whisper. "This could go south any second." "Retrieving the full map of the fortress now," Quint replies. There's a whirring sound as the Directarium transfers the information into the Maparatus. It only takes a few minutes—but it feels like an eternity. Thankfully—Drooler keeps the guards busy, hammin' it up for the crowd. At last, the Maparatus beeps again—low and long. "Finished!" Quint says. Finally, I think. Now let's get outta here.

小结节——看起来令人不安地像肚脐——覆盖着它的显示屏。 当昆特毫不犹豫地戳了一个时，我有点不寒而栗。 他敲了敲Maparatus，一只短狗手臂伸出来。 他把加密狗按在目录的访问端口上，皱了皱眉，把它翻过来，又试了一次，又皱了皱眉。 不行。他再次翻转它——加密狗滑了进去。 “总是第三次尝试，”他嘟哝道。 指示器闪烁，然后开始旋转，图表以最高速度闪过。 昆特已经搞定了，所以我挠头了。 我看到两个瘦长的警卫在和流口水合影。 一个矮胖的警卫试图进来——但他们把他推开了。 “加快速度，昆特，”我低声说。 “这事随时都可能出问题。” “正在取回要塞的完整地图，”昆特回答。 局座将信息传送到马帕拉图斯时，会发出一阵嗡嗡声。 这只需要几分钟，但感觉就像永恒一样。 谢天谢地，drooler让警卫忙得不可开交，为人群准备好了。 最后，马帕拉图又发出了低沉而漫长的蜂鸣声。 “完了!”五度音说。最后，我认为。 现在我们离开这里吧。

I flash Dirk the "pull us up, now" signal—but Dirk doesn't see me. He's watching Drooler. And at that moment, many things go wrong at once... Drooler meeps—but it's not his usual meep. It's loud and scared and confused. I turn—and gasp. "Those guards! They're playing... keep-away! With Drooler!" Dirk lets go of the line—and without him anchoring it, June has no choice but to release us.

我给德克做了个“马上拉我们上来”的手势——但德克没看见我。 他在看《流口水》。在那一刻，许多事情同时出错…… 流口水的汪汪叫——但这不是他平常的汪汪叫。 它又吵又害怕又困惑。 我转过身来，喘着气。“那些警卫!他们在玩… 开玩笑!流着口水!”德克放开了线，没有他的防守，琼别无选择，只能放走我们。