Chapter 4

chapter four Suddenly, the front doors fly open and Quint bursts into Joe's Pizza. "Jack! June! Come, quick! It's finally finished!" "Your Downton Abbey ancestral family tree?" I ask. "Your toothpick replica of the Death Star?" June asks. "Even better!" Quint says. "Come on! I just need to stir the formula..." "OK—that sounds foreboding...." June says. "But also... rad?" I say. Moments later, we're following Quint through Joe's Pizza. I wave hi to a few buddies as we walk through the kitchen and into the huge cold storage room. Inside, I see three massive tanks. Quint hurries up a stepladder and starts stirring.

突然，前门开了，昆特冲进了乔披萨店。 “杰克!6月!来,快!终于完成了！”“你在唐顿庄园的祖先家谱？”我问。 “你的死星牙签复制品？”6月问道。 “更好的!”五度音说。 “来吧!我只需要搅拌一下配方……” “好吧，听起来有不祥的预兆....” 6月说。“还…rad ?”我说。 过了一会儿，我们跟着昆特走进了乔披萨店。 当我们穿过厨房进入巨大的冷库时，我向几个朋友挥手致意。 在里面，我看到了三个巨大的坦克。 昆特赶紧爬上梯子，开始搅拌。

Welcome to the Goo-Slime Factory, AKA PROJECT Day-Glow Act impressed. He's really excited. "It smells like hot dogs and sweat," June says. "And I love it!" I say. "How long did it take you guys to build this??" "Wasn't that big a project," Dirk says with a shrug. "I used to help my dad at his work sites, and they were bigger than this. The biggest!" We all stare at Dirk for an awkward moment. "What?" Dirk says, "My dad was a master builder. Before I was born, he worked

欢迎来到Goo-Slime工厂，又名PROJECT Day-Glow Act印象深刻。 他真的很兴奋。“闻起来像热狗和汗水，”琼说。 “我喜欢它！”我说。“你们花了多长时间建造这个？？”“这不是一个大项目，”德克耸耸肩说。 “我以前在我爸的工地帮忙，那些工地比这还大。 最大的!”我们都尴尬地盯着德克。 “什么?”德克说：“我爸爸是一个建筑大师。 在我出生之前，他工作过

on, like, the space station, the old Yankee Stadium, lots of celebrities' houses." We continue to stare at Dirk, and the awkward moment grows longer. Thankfully, Quint jumps in. "Now, the formula is nontoxic to humans—but extremely toxic to Thrull's vines." "After the battle with Thrull and the Tendrill, I knew we'd need more goo-slime," Quint says. "A lot." Dirk nods. "And this morning's skeleton battle proved the nerd was right. Luckily, while you've been off playing zombie hopscotch, we built this," he says, showcasing the factory like Vanna White. "Three full tanks of goo for the next time those skull-heads show up." "Good timing," June says. "Because I also have big news! SKAELKA'S BACK! And she found out—" "WHERE THE OUTPOST IS!" I exclaim triumphantly. "OK, duder, thanks for stealing my thunder," June says. "But yeah—Skaelka found it. And that means, it's time for us to leave."

比如空间站，老扬基体育场，很多名人的房子。” 我们继续盯着德克，尴尬的时刻越来越长。 谢天谢地，昆特跳了进来。 “现在，这个配方对人类是无毒的，但对斯拉尔的藤蔓剧毒。” “在与Thrull和Tendrill的战斗之后，我知道我们需要更多黏液，”昆特说。 “很多”。德克点点头。今天早上的骷髅大战证明了那个书呆子是对的。 幸运的是，当你在玩僵尸跳房子游戏时，我们建造了这个，”他说，展示了像Vanna White一样的工厂。 “给我满满三罐黏液，下次那些骷髅出现的时候再喝。” “时机不错，”琼说。“因为我也有大新闻！”SKAELKA回来了!她发现了——”“前哨站在哪里！”我得意洋洋地喊道。 “好吧，兄弟，谢谢你抢了我的风头，”琼说。 但是，是的——斯卡尔卡找到了。 这意味着，我们是时候离开了。”

Quint thinks for a short moment, then nods. "OK, then. We knew this day would come." Dirk taps the tank a few times. "Well, all right." "Yes!" June says, totally amped up. "We're gonna find the Outpost! Then discover where Thrull is building his Tower! And then we'll go destroy it! And then we'll save this dimension and any other survivors who might be out there!" We must begin preparations at once. Lists are in order. So many lists. Road trip time. Finally, wait till Thrall gets a load of this gooselime. He's gonna go scampering back to his Lemo dimension.

昆特想了一会儿，然后点点头。 “好吧,。我们知道这一天会到来。” 德克敲了几下坦克。 “好吧，好吧。”“是的!”琼兴奋地说。 “我们要找到前哨站！”然后发现Thrull在哪里建造他的塔！然后我们就去摧毁它！然后我们就可以拯救这个次元，以及其他可能在那里的幸存者！”我们必须马上开始准备工作。 列表是有序的。这么多清单。 公路旅行时间。最后，让萨尔听听这段蠢话吧。 他要跑回他的莱莫空间了。

I swallow. I knew that someday we'd have to head out and hunt down Thrull's Tower. But until now, that always felt like some faraway distant errand. But now it's actually happening—and the reality of leaving Wakefield is sinking in. And I feel... well... I'm not sure.... I'm trying to get my head around it, when June jumps in, all excited. "Now that we finally know where we need to go," June says, "we can chart a course. And all good road trips have a pre-planned itinerary." "We'll need a map," Quint says. "Preferably, a very old one with a thousand creases that you can never get folded back up correctly." "I have a map," Dirk says, "and not just any map. It's the ULTIMATE road trip map." "Um, amazing," June says. "Where is it?" "At my house," Dirk says. "My, uh, old house." Everyone's quiet for a moment. None of us have ever been to Dirk's house. He never brought it up and we never asked.

我吞下。我知道总有一天我们会去寻找瑟鲁之塔。 但直到现在，这一直感觉像是一个遥远的差事。 但现在它真的发生了——离开韦克菲尔德的现实正在逐渐深入人心。 我觉得……嗯…我不确定.... 我正试着理清头绪，琼突然插嘴，很兴奋。 “现在我们终于知道我们要去哪里了，”琼说，“我们可以制定路线了。 所有好的自驾游都有一个预先计划好的行程。” “我们需要一张地图，”昆特说。 “最好是一张很旧的、有上千条折痕的、永远无法正确折叠起来的纸。” “我有一张地图，”德克说，“而且不是普通的地图。 这是终极公路旅行地图。” “嗯，太棒了，”琼说。“它在哪儿？”“在我家，”德克说。 “我的，呃，老房子。”大家都安静了一会儿。 我们都没去过德克家。 他从没提过，我们也没问过。

Part of me thought maybe he never actually had a house; just couldn't picture it. I half imagined that before all this he just lived off the land and stolen lunch money...

我的一部分想法是，也许他从来没有真正的房子；只是无法想象。 在这一切发生之前，我还以为他只是靠土地为生，偷午饭钱……