Chapter 17

chapter seventeen We race for the crossing. I'm relieved to be leaving the gorblins behind—but know it's just a matter of time before Wracksaw and the enforcers close in, now that Flustrod has alerted everyone to our location. I expect the crossing to be a bridge or walkway. Instead, it's a series of rocks, floating high above an antigravity river below. Seabiscuit navigates it with ease, bouncing and hopping forward. Through the window I spot Stargrove keeping pace. She still looks like a terrifying monster who could finish us all off with a flick of just one of her arms. But I'm not scared of her anymore. Especially not now, as she gleefully pinwheels over the rocks.

第十七章我们赛跑过河。 我松了一口气，因为我要离开那些妖精了——但我知道，现在弗鲁斯特罗德已经通知了所有人我们的位置，锯怪和执法者的逼近只是时间问题。 我希望这个十字路口是一座桥或人行道。 相反，它是一系列的岩石，漂浮在下方的反重力河流之上。 “海洋饼干”可以轻松地导航，弹跳向前。 透过窗户，我看到斯塔格罗夫在追我。 她看起来仍然像一个可怕的怪物，只要轻轻甩一下她的一只胳膊，就能把我们所有人都干掉。 但我不再怕她了。 尤其是现在，她正兴高采烈地在岩石上玩风车。

"So, are you gonna tell us the big dead star thing is our friend now?" Globlet asks, glancing suspiciously out the window at Stargrove. "'Cause we have a saying in my dimension: one is the loneliest number, two's company, three's more company, four is good for splitting pizza, and five is a bad idea all around, especially when the fifth is personally responsible for dozens of cage-match deaths." I've finally calmed down enough to process and explain what's going on. "What just happened..." I begin. "It was different than any other time I've controlled a zombie. With Alfred and the rest of my Zombie Squad, I just flick the

“那么，你要告诉我们，那个大死星现在是我们的朋友了吗？”Globlet问，怀疑地看了一眼窗外的Stargrove。 “因为在我的次元里有句话：1是最孤独的数字，2是陪伴，3是更多的陪伴，4是分披萨的好数字，5是一个坏主意，尤其是当5个人要为几十个笼子里的死亡负责时。” 我终于冷静下来，可以解释发生了什么。 “刚才发生的事……”我开始。 “这和我以前控制僵尸的时候都不一样。 阿尔弗雷德和我的僵尸小队的其他成员，我只要弹

Slicer while shouting out a command, like, 'Bring me nachos.' And they follow that command—which is why you so rarely see me without nachos. And when Blargus was gonna smash me... I controlled Alfred with only the Cosmic Hand, no Slicer. But I've never known what any of them were thinking." "Right," Quint says, leaning forward, tapping his fingers with extreme interest. "Continue..." "But with Stargrove..." I start, explaining how I saw what Stargrove was thinking—the mind-doodles, a visible array of choices and options, allowing us to communicate. Not just me giving orders—but both of us, back and forth. "Friend, that is extraordinary!" Quint exclaims. "You used a pictorial language to communicate with a monster zombie... and CONVINCED IT to help you in a fight that should have left you flattened!" I nod, again thinking back to my final moments with Ghazt. The final few molecules of Ghazt's power were delivered into the Cosmic Hand. I saw it change, I freaked, and Ghazt simply said, "Now you are the general, Jack." I didn't know what he meant then. But I think now I do. To lead an army, you need to be able to

一边切片，一边喊着命令，比如“给我拿玉米片来”。他们遵循这个命令——这就是为什么你很少看到我不吃玉米片的原因。 当布拉格斯要打我的时候… 我只用宇宙之手控制阿尔弗雷德，没有切片机。 但我从来不知道他们在想什么。” “对，”昆特说，身体前倾，饶有兴趣地敲着手指。 “继续……”“可是在星格罗夫……” 我开始解释我是如何看到斯塔格罗夫在想什么——心灵涂鸦，一组可见的选择和选项，让我们能够交流。 不只是我一个人发号施令，我们俩都是，来来回回。 “朋友，这太不寻常了！”昆特惊呼道。 “你用一种图画语言和一个怪物僵尸交流…… 说服它在一场本应把你打趴下的战斗中帮助你！”我点点头，再次回想起我和Ghazt在一起的最后时刻。 加斯特力量的最后几个分子被送到了宇宙之手。 我看到它变了，我吓坏了，加兹特只是说：“现在你是将军了，杰克。” 我当时不知道他是什么意思。 但我想我现在知道了。要领导一支军队，你需要有能力

communicate with its solders. And that power of communication seems to be what Ghazt put into the Cosmic Hand. "If I can read the zombies' mind-doodles, and they can understand mine," I say, a smile growing on my face, "that could be how I lead the army." "Are you settled on calling them 'mind-doodles'?" Globlet asks. "'Cause I have notes." Ignoring Globlet, Quint says, "If you can actually do that..." He doesn't need to finish his sentence. We both know it could turn the tide in the coming battle for the future of our dimension. "I won't know for sure until I've got a lot of zombies to try with," I caution. "Maybe it just works with Stargrove because we have, like, a special psychic connection." Just a couple of mine. Dude holes, eh?

与它的士兵沟通。 这种沟通的力量似乎就是Ghazt赋予宇宙之手的。 “如果我能读懂僵尸的思想涂鸦，他们也能理解我的，”我说，脸上露出笑容，“那我就能领导军队了。” “你决定叫它们‘心灵涂鸦’了吗？”Globlet问道。 “因为我有笔记。”昆特没有理会Globlet，他说：“如果你真的能做到……” 他不需要把话说完。 我们都知道它可以在未来的战斗中扭转我们次元的未来。 我警告说：“在我有很多僵尸可以尝试之前，我不会确定。” “也许这只适用于Stargrove，因为我们有一种特殊的精神联系。” 只是我的几个。男人窝，是吗？

"Hang on to your biscuits!" Globlet shouts, as Seabiscuit bounds off the last floating rock, flips in the strange gravity, and finally lands on the far side of the crossing. What lies before us now is a very wide, very exposed road. "Are there any other routes to the Hidden City?" I ask. "It's too easy for Wracksaw and the enforcers to find us on these main roads. Thanks to those gorblins, the whole dimension knows where to look for us." "Ah, so you want options? Well, you're in luck! We have options! Two!" Globlet says, pointing to a sign ahead. THE FUN AND EASY ROUTE INCLUDES FREE CAR WASH. THE HIGHWAY OF HAZARDS. TAKE A RIDE AND SEE DOUBLE DANGEROUS DETOURS. RADIOACTIVE ROADBLOCKS, COUNTLESS BOOBY TRAPS. PERIL APLENTY. DEFINITELY QUICKSAND

“拿好你的饼干！”地球仪喊道，海洋饼干从最后一块浮石上跳下来，在奇怪的重力下翻转，最后降落在渡口的另一边。 现在摆在我们面前的是一条非常宽阔、非常暴露的道路。 “去隐秘之城还有别的路吗？”我问。 “在这些主要道路上，莱克锯和执法者很容易找到我们。 多亏了那些半兽人，整个次元都知道到哪里去找我们了。” “啊，所以你想要选择？”好吧，你很幸运！我们还有选择！两个!”Globlet指着前面的一个标志说。 这条有趣又简单的路线包括免费洗车。 充满危险的公路。骑一骑，看看双重危险的弯路。 放射性路障，无数的诡雷。 丰富的危险。绝对流沙

"Peril aplenty." It sounds like a decent theme for a birthday party... and a terrible theme for the final stretch to the Hidden City. But if it keeps us off Wracksaw's radar, I'll take it... Turns out, it's way more than just peril. The route is both impossible and impassible. Or, it would be, if we didn't have Stargrove. Now that we're trading mind-doodles, she's Swiss Army knife– level helpful.

丰富的“危险”。这听起来是个不错的生日派对主题…… 这是通往隐秘之城最后一段的可怕主题。 但如果它能让我们不被骷髅锯发现，我就接受它…… 事实证明，这不仅仅是危险。 这条路既不可能又无法通行。 或者，如果没有星格罗夫，就会是这样。 既然我们在交换心灵涂鸦，她就像瑞士军刀一样有帮助。