Chapter 18

chapter eighteen There's a strange weightlessness to my body. I felt this same way a year earlier when the king wretch hijacked my brain-showing me visions of possible futures, possible realities. But this isn't a nightmare world. This is a nothing world. And in this nothing world. I have time to think

我的身体有一种奇怪的失重感。 一年前我也有同样的感觉那个混蛋国王劫持了我的大脑给我展示了可能的未来，可能的现实。 但这不是一个噩梦般的世界。 这是一个虚无的世界。在这个虚无的世界里。 我有时间思考

My mind goes back Before the Mallusk. Before leaving Wakefield. Back to the night Bardle died. That's when I first connected to the dark energy, the power to control and manipulate the undead. I pulled Ghazt's powers out of the tail and that strange. cosmic energy filled the Scrapken tentacle that covered my hand. It lived in that hand for a brief moment And then that energy and power was transferred into the Slicer. It was drained from my hand and injected into the slicer, turning it the color of midnight, the Midnight Blade. After that, the Scrapken tentacle became a permanent glove. The cosmic hand Ghazt's powers in the blade, combined with the scrapping tentacle wrapped around my hand. Those

我的思绪回到了Mallusk号之前。 离开韦克菲尔德之前。回到巴德尔死的那晚。 那是我第一次接触到暗能量，控制和操纵不死族的力量。 我把加斯特的能力从尾巴和那个奇怪的。 宇宙能量充满了覆盖在我手上的Scrapken触手。 它在那只手上停留了一小会儿然后能量和力量被转移到切片机里。 它被从我手中抽干注入切片机，变成了午夜的颜色，午夜之刃。 在那之后，Scrapken的触手变成了一只永久的手套。 宇宙之手加斯特的力量在刀刃上，结合了缠绕在我手上的刮擦触须。 那些

are two major forces uniting to form one cosmic mega-weapon And that mega-weapon is the only way I'm able to control the zombies Suddenly, a strange bolt of lightning—reverse lightning, erupting through the ground—appears in the distance of this nothing world as the thought strikes my brain Alfred! Cood day Sir. Whoa!

是两股强大的力量联合起来形成一个宇宙超级武器而这个超级武器是我唯一能够控制僵尸的方法突然，一道奇怪的闪电——反向闪电，从地面上爆发出来——出现在这个虚无世界的远处，我突然想到阿尔弗雷德！您好，先生。 哇!

"Um, sorry," I say after a moment. "You scared me. Didn't know anyone else was, uh, here. Thought I had this astral plane all to myself. But... you are here, too? Right?" Alfred glances around. "Apparently, I am, sir." "You just appeared? And—wait!—you actually talk like a butler?! That's how you speak?" "I speak exactly the way you imagine I speak," Alfred says. His voice is soft and flat and calm. "Oh. OK. Um, can we chat? 'Cause I'm... I'm just really confused. Bardle and Warg taught me to control zombies. I speak, out loud, the things I want you guys to do, and then I swing the Slicer and you guys do those things. You follow the commands. Like, I dunno... 'ALFRED, BRING ME A CHAIR!'"

“嗯，对不起，”过了一会儿我说。 “你吓到我了。我不知道这里还有别人。 我以为这个星光层是我一个人的。 但是…你也在这里？对吗?”阿尔弗雷德环顾四周。 “显然，我是，先生。”“你刚出现？” 或!-你说话真像个管家？你就是这么说话的？”“我说话的方式和你想象的一模一样，”阿尔弗雷德说。 他的声音柔和、平淡、平静。 “哦。好的。我们能谈谈吗？因为我…… 我真的很困惑。巴德尔和沃恩教我控制僵尸。 我大声说出我想让你们做的事情，然后我挥动切片机，你们就去做那些事情。 你遵循命令。我不知道…… “阿尔弗雷德，给我拿把椅子来！”’”

Hey, Oh, thanks. I look down at the chair, decide it's real enough to get comfy in, and lean back and continue. "But Alfred, back at the water park, I controlled you without the Slicer. That happened, right? I didn't make that up?" Alfred is silent. "See, I thought it was my brain reaching out— like the Force. That's what it felt like. Bu..." "But....?" Alfred asks. "But it wasn't some sort of Jedi telepathy, was it?" "Certainly not, sir," Alfred says. "You are no Jedi." "OK, you don't have to sound so happy about it," I say. I look down at the Cosmic Hand. "So

嘿，哦，谢谢。我低头看了看椅子，觉得它足够真实，可以舒服地坐进去，然后向后靠，继续说下去。 “但是阿尔弗雷德，在水上乐园的时候，我没有切片机就控制了你。 这发生了，对吧？那不是我瞎编的吧？”阿尔弗雷德沉默了。 “瞧，我还以为是我的大脑伸出来了——就像原力一样。 这就是我的感觉。Bu……” “但是……?”阿尔弗雷德问道。“但这不是某种绝地心灵感应，对吧？”“当然不是，先生，”阿尔弗雷德说。 “你不是绝地武士。”“好吧，你不必听起来这么高兴，”我说。 我低头看着宇宙之手。 “所以

now I'm thinking... it was this. The Cosmic Hand. It delivered the commands—just like the Slicer delivers commands. I don't think there's any other-dimensional, zombie-controlling power in me. It's just... the Cosmic Hand and the Slicer, together—they, like, allow me to wield that power." "Hmm," Alfred says. "Without the Cosmic Hand, I could have sat up on Blargus's back all day long, trying to send thoughts and commands from my brain to yours— but nothing would have happened. Right?" "Perhaps," Alfred says. "So I used the Cosmic Hand and only the Cosmic Hand to control you... and after that, it began to change The Cosmic Hand has been different. Felt different. Looks different! Makes me feel different. Do you think so?" "I think whatever you think," Alfred tells me. "I am a figment of your imagination." I shake my head. The Cosmic Hand is a bigger unknown than I ever realized: maybe the Biggest Unknown. And I used that Biggest Unknown to grab the wounded Howler as it rocketed toward Quint. And the Howler felt its power. It knew, then, that it had found Jack Sullivan, the kid with the blade who

现在我在想……是这样的。 宇宙之手。它传递命令——就像Slicer传递命令一样。 我不认为我有控制僵尸的超能力。 它只是…宇宙之手和切片机，合在一起——它们让我可以使用那种力量。” “嗯，”阿尔弗雷德说。“如果没有宇宙之手，我可以整天坐在布拉格斯的背上，试着把我脑子里的想法和命令传递给你——但是什么也不会发生。 对吗?”“也许吧，”阿尔弗雷德说。 “所以我用宇宙之手，而且只用宇宙之手来控制你…… 在那之后，宇宙之手开始改变。 感觉不同。看起来不同的!让我感觉与众不同。 你这样认为吗？”“你怎么想我就怎么想，”阿尔弗雷德告诉我。 “我是你想象出来的。” 我摇了摇头。宇宙之手是一个比我意识到的更大的未知：也许是最大的未知。 我用那个最大的未知抓住了受伤的吼叫，它飞向昆特。 咆哮者感受到了它的力量。 它知道，它找到了杰克·沙利文，那个拿着剑的孩子