Chapter 23

chapter twenty-three A door slithers open—and a tunnel maze, leading to the Operating Theater, lies beyond. As we enter, Cannonhead Johnson shouts like a drill sergeant, "Move, maggots!" Dirk starts to tell Cannonhead to take it down a notch—when we realize he's talking to actual maggots. Or, slugs, maybe. A parade of slugs steadily slithers up his neck and into the cannon that juts out of his head. "Gotta load up the ol' noggin musket," he says. "Of course," Dirk says, like that's a normal thing. "Well, good luck. We'll see you on the outside."

第二十三章一扇门打开了，后面是通往手术室的迷宫隧道。 当我们进入时，炮头约翰逊像教官一样喊道：“走开，蛆！”德克开始告诉加农黑德要低调一点——当我们意识到他在和真正的蛆虫说话时。 或者是鼻涕虫。一群鼻涕虫稳步地爬上他的脖子，钻进了从他头上伸出来的大炮。 他说：“我得把子弹装上。” “当然，”德克说，好像这是一件正常的事情。 “好吧，祝你好运。我们在外面见。”

Squish, wiggle. Don't need luck, Meatball. I got a cannon on my head, Fairpoint. Moments later, we're speeding through a maze of curving, splitting tubes and tunnels. They're slick and angled at a steep incline—but we surf up them with incredible speed, propelled by some weird reverse gravity. The tunnels warp around us—expanding, bulging, then tightening. "Rerouting!" Quint says for the third time, watching the Maparatus. "The fully awake fortress's body is changing! It seems to be shutting down nonessential organs and redirecting all energy to the Operating Theater!"

压扁,摆动。不需要运气，肉丸子。 我头上有大炮，费尔波因。 片刻之后，我们在蜿蜒的、分裂的管道和隧道迷宫中加速前进。 它们很光滑，有一个陡峭的斜坡，但我们在一些奇怪的反向重力的推动下，以令人难以置信的速度冲浪。 隧道在我们周围弯曲——先是膨胀，然后又变紧。 “重路由!”昆特第三次说，看着马帕拉图斯。 “完全清醒的堡垒的身体正在发生变化！它似乎在关闭不重要的器官，把所有的精力都转移到手术室！”

It's a good thing we tapped into the Directarium— otherwise we'd be squished to a pulp right now. Uh, guys, Dave was saying oddball stuff back there. Can you explain the double distraction? Deal to me again? It's a twopronged approach requiring perfectly timed precision. Any minute the goon platoon will start their big breakout with the creature-Brigade. "That'll get Wracksaw's attention," Dirk says. "Enough to clear some guards outta the theater." "Which," June says, "should allow us to place the Fortress Breaker. And detonate it! Setting off that chain reaction Peaches was talking about." "Left!" Quint shouts, leaning at an impossible angle. We zip through the mouth of the forking

幸好我们进入了指挥部，否则我们现在就会被压成一团了。 伙计们，戴夫刚才说了些奇怪的话。 你能解释一下这种双重干扰吗？ 又跟我交易了？这是一种双管齐下的方法，需要完美的计时精度。 打手排随时会和生物旅开始大突围。 “这会引起Wracksaw的注意，”Dirk说。 “足够把一些警卫赶出剧院了。” “这样，”琼说，“我们就可以放置堡垒破坏者了。 然后引爆它！引发了皮什说的连锁反应。” “留下!”昆特喊道，身体倾斜成一个不可能的角度。 我们飞快地穿过岔道口

tunnel. "It will be chaos! The guards won't know what's up and what's down anymore!" "Yes, not knowing what's up and what's down sure will be awful for them," I say dryly as I watch the gravity-defying floor rush beneath my feet. "And in that chaos, the Goon Platoon and the creatures complete their escape," Quint says. "And we do, too," Dirk continues. "It's the perfect double distraction!" June says. Glancing down at the Maparatus, Quint says, "Ready yourselves—we're about to arrive!" An instant later, we're out of the ever-tightening passage, sliding and skidding into a massive arena- like venue. Thankfully, we enter at the rear-rear-rear mezzanine, back row—the cheapest of the cheap seats. "Forget Operating Theater," June whispers, eyes wide. "This thing is as big as an opera theater."

隧道。“会很混乱的！”守卫们再也不知道什么是上什么是下了！”“是的，不知道什么是上，什么是下，对他们来说肯定是可怕的，”我冷冷地说，看着我脚下的重力地板飞驰而过。 昆特说：“在混乱中，‘打手排’和其他生物完成了他们的逃跑。 “我们也一样，”德克继续说道。 “这是完美的双重分散注意力！”6月说。 昆特瞥了一眼玛帕拉图斯，说：“准备好——我们就要到了！”过了一会儿，我们驶出了越来越紧的通道，滑行着进入了一个像竞技场一样的大场地。 谢天谢地，我们进入了后排的后后夹层——廉价座位中最便宜的。 “忘掉手术室吧，”琼小声说，眼睛睁得大大的。 “这东西和歌剧院一样大。”

The stadium's many rows are filled with guards. There are no seats or benches—instead, the guards kneel, their insect-like legs folded and twisted beneath them. Thankfully, their eyes—or rather, the dents where their eyes should be—are fixed on the preparation happening below. On Ghazt... His body lies on a floating slab: the operating table. Though it reminds me more of an altar. The acoustics in this place are rock-and-roll good —we're at least one hundred feet above the operating floor, but the clanging of tools and the chittering of the Dire Nurses carries up. Debra tightens the restraints around Ghazt's body. Eye-Bulb carries a long hose. And looming over them all is Wracksaw. "IT IS TIME!" His voice echoes through the theater. "This thing is about to get underway," I say. "We gotta place the Fortress Breaker now." "But where is the heart?" June says. "It appears we're on top of it..." Quint says, eyeing the Maparatus as he twists it around. While Quint searches, I watch the action down below. Wracksaw extends his armacles, calling for his tools.

体育场的许多排都坐满了警卫。 监狱里没有座位，也没有长凳——取而代之的是，警卫们跪着，昆虫般的腿在身下折叠扭曲。 谢天谢地，他们的眼睛——或者更确切地说，他们眼睛上的凹痕——都盯着下面正在进行的准备工作。 Ghazt…他的身体躺在一个漂浮的平板上：手术台上。 不过这更让我想起祭坛。 这个地方的音响效果非常好——我们离手术室至少有一百英尺高，但工具的叮当声和护士们的叽叽喳喳声不绝于耳。 黛布拉收紧了盖兹特身上的束缚。 “眼球”携带一根长软管。 而在他们所有人面前若隐若现的是锯怪。 “时间到了！”他的声音在剧院里回响。 “这事马上就要开始了，”我说。 “我们现在得把堡垒破坏者安置好。” “可是心在哪儿呢？”6月说。 “看来我们已经控制住了……” 昆特一边说，一边打量着马帕拉图斯。 在昆特搜索的同时，我在下面观察行动。 断臂锯伸出他的手臂，呼唤他的工具。

Sonic hammer check brain prob. Check color changing. Crazy strong jack

声波锤检查脑部问题。 检查颜色变化。疯狂强杰克