Chapter 15

chapter fifteen Bardle pulls a stone from his rucksack and lifts it to his lips. A small glob of yellow saliva drops onto it. He pitches the stone out into the water. I watch to see where it lands, but crashing waves hide the splash. For a long moment, nothing happens. But then the wooden pier creaks, a chill cuts through me, and the waves go flat. The water is still. Up above, a large cloud drifts by. It blocks the moon and everything goes dark. When the cloud passes, I gasp. Something ripples in the water—a football field away. Oh, real quick—a weird thing about me, I don't even really love football, but any distance—I measure in football fields. How far is it from here to Arkansas? I dunno—492 football fields?

第十五章巴德尔从背包里拿出一块石头，举到嘴边。 一小团黄色的唾液滴在上面。 他把石头扔进水里。 我想看看它落在哪里，但汹涌的海浪掩盖了溅起的水花。 很长一段时间，什么也没发生。 但木码头嘎吱作响，一阵寒意袭上心头，海浪平静下来。 水是静止的。在空中，一大片云飘过。 它挡住了月亮，一切都变黑了。 当乌云散去，我喘不过气来。 有什么东西在一个足球场外的水面上泛起涟漪。 哦，简单说一下，我有一件很奇怪的事，我甚至不喜欢足球，但是我在足球场测量任何距离。 从这里到阿肯色州有多远？ 我不知道，492个足球场？

And then it happens.... I see the creature rising out of the water and it takes all my strength to resist making a break for it. Actually, it takes more than that— Hold that thought. Let's See how this plys out, The surging sea creature is so big that the water rushing off its body, smashing the surface, sounds like a rainstorm. Dirk takes a shaky step backward and stutters, "It's—it's—" "The Scrapken," I say. "Bardle, the Scrapken tried to kill us!"

然后就发生了....我看到那个生物从水里浮出水面，我用尽全身的力气才没有挣脱。 事实上，这需要更多的时间-等等。 让我们来看看这个是怎么玩的，汹涌的海洋生物是如此之大，以至于水从它的身体上冲下来，粉碎表面，听起来像暴风雨。 德克摇摇晃晃地后退了一步，结结巴巴地说：“这是——这是——” “巴德尔，斯克拉布肯想杀我们！”

"Yes, you have told me the story," Bardle says. "As I understood it, you broke into its home. Destroyed things. Played games atop its head." "Well, when you say it like that..." I mutter. "Also, I don't think we technically played games atop its head. It was a sleepover." It's still rising—the Scrapken is bigger than I ever realized. At the junkyard, half of its body must have been buried beneath the ground. Bardle turns with a grim smile. "Let us make sure the Nightmare King is not playing inside your head, Dirk. The Scrapken, as you call it, always eats what it kills. And the digestive process is slow...." The Scrapken rises to its full height. One tentacle lifts out of the water and extends toward us, setting its tip down gently on the pier—but the tremendous weight of the thing causes the rickety wood to shift and moan. The tentacle unfolds outward—like a platform—and there's this feeling like an elevator door is opening.

“是的，你给我讲过这个故事，”巴德尔说。 “据我所知，你闯入了它的家。 摧毁的东西。在它的头上玩游戏。” “好吧，既然你这么说……” 我喃喃自语。“而且，我不认为我们是在它的头顶上玩游戏。 那是在别人家过夜。”它还在上升——Scrapken比我想象的要大。 在垃圾场，它的一半身体肯定被埋在地下。 巴德尔转过身来，狞笑着。 “让我们确保噩梦王没有在你脑子里玩，德克。 你叫它废品，它总是吃自己杀死的东西。 消化过程也很慢....” Scrapken上升到最高点。 一只触手伸出水面，向我们伸出来，它的尖端轻轻地落在桥墩上——但它的巨大重量使摇摇晃晃的木头晃动起来，发出呻吟。 触手向外展开，就像一个平台，给人一种电梯门打开的感觉。

I've fought ferocious monsters. I've run from undead hordes. This is different. It feels like this creature was always here. I mean, it wasn't—it came through the portals. But it doesn't feel like an intruder. A gentle push at my back. Dirk. go. I think it wants us to like go. How about you first? You know, since we're here for your brain, if it was my brain, that was being weird, I would totally go first. Dirk mumbles under his breath, then takes a heavy step past me. Argh, now I feel lame. I

我打过凶猛的怪物。 我从不死族那里逃出来了。 这是不同的。感觉这个生物一直都在这里。 我是说，它不是，它是从传送门进来的。 但感觉不像闯入者。 轻轻地推了一下我的背。德克。 走了。我觉得它想让我们喜欢。 你先来怎么样？既然我们是为了你的大脑而来，如果是我的大脑，那就太奇怪了，我绝对会先说的。 德克低声咕哝着，然后迈着沉重的步子从我身边走过。 啊，现在我觉得自己很差劲。我

hurry to keep up. Together, Dirk and I step onto the large flat tentacle. It's squishy, like standing on a gym mat soaked in sweat. The tentacle dips once more as Bardle steps behind us. Slowly, we are lifted—the tentacle carrying us out, over the crashing waves, and up toward the creature's mouth and eye. It's overwhelming. Three small figures standing in the palm of a monster's hand. A monster that could crush, swallow, devour us if it wanted. Bardle looks nervous, too—not a great sign. He cracks his knuckles. Not like us—where it's a quick snap or two. It sounds like a hundred bones, cracking like dominoes. Then—

快点跟上。德克和我一起踏上了那根又大又平的触手。 它很软，就像站在被汗水浸湿的体操垫上。 巴德尔走到我们后面，触手又垂了下来。 慢慢地，我们被触手抬了起来——触手把我们抬了出来，越过汹涌的海浪，飞向这只生物的嘴巴和眼睛。 这是压倒性的。三个小人站在怪物的手掌里。 一个可以压碎，吞下，吞噬我们的怪物。 巴德尔看起来也很紧张，这不是一个好迹象。 他掰了掰指关节。不像我们，一两次就能搞定。 听起来像一百根骨头，像多米诺骨牌一样裂开。 然后,