Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 'That's odd,' said Flora with a hint of concern in her voice. 'Why would the lift just start working again all by itself? Something's not right.' No one had an answer to that mystery, but they were all very glad the lift was working again and that there was now something to distract Charlie from his wee-soaked hair and clothes. A moment later, the lift pinged and the doors slid open. Flora poked her head out of the lift and looked both ways. 'All clear. Which way, Wogan?' Wogan squinted at his map. 'I'm not sure. Charlie splashed some of my wee on the map, and it's all a bit blurry now. But I think it's left.' 'Well,' said Charlie, 'there's only one way to find out.' Charlie strode out of the lift, and the others quickly followed. With each step Charlie took on the marble floor, his shoes squelched and squeaked. 'Charlie!' hissed Flora. 'Your shoes are very noisy!'

“真奇怪，”弗洛拉说，声音里带着一丝担心。 “为什么电梯会自己重新启动呢？” 有点不对劲。”没有人知道这个谜的答案，但他们都很高兴电梯又能工作了，现在有东西可以分散查理的注意力了，他的头发和衣服都被尿浸湿了。 过了一会儿，电梯砰的一声响了，门打开了。 弗洛拉从电梯里探出头来，朝两边看了看。 所有清晰。走哪条路，沃根？”沃根眯着眼睛看地图。 “我不确定。查理把我的尿溅到地图上了，现在地图有点模糊了。 但我想是左边。“好吧，”查理说，“只有一个办法能弄清楚。”查理大步走出电梯，其他人也跟着走了出去。 查理在大理石地板上每走一步，他的鞋子都会发出吱吱嘎嘎的声音。 “查理!弗洛拉嘶嘶地说。“你的鞋子太吵了！”

'There's not much I can do about that,' snapped Charlie. 'They appear to be soaked in wee FOR SOME REASON.' Nobody had anything to say to that. At the end of the long corridor there was a large grey door. 'I think this might be it,' said Wogan, squinting at the damp map. He pushed the door and they all piled in. The door led to a small platform, which hung over a vast room. Inside the room were hundreds, possibly thousands, of chickens. They stared silently at the four interlopers. Countless unblinking eyes glinted coldly. The friends stared back. A few low, threatening clucks echoed around the chamber. 'I think,' whispered Wogan, 'this might be the wrong room.' They edged backwards out of the room, never taking their eyes off the staring chickens for a second. Wogan quietly shut the door behind them. 'We shall never talk of that room again,' said Mohsen, his face pale. They all murmured in agreement, and then ran down the corridor opposite until they arrived at another door, a huge wooden one with a gleaming brass nameplate that said: MR VAN DER GRUYNE PRESIDENT VAN DER GRUYNE INDUSTRIES

“我对此无能为力，”查理厉声说。 “由于某种原因，它们似乎被尿浸透了。”没人对此有什么可说的。 在长廊的尽头有一扇灰色的大门。 “我想可能就是这里了。”沃根眯着眼睛看着潮湿的地图说。 他推开门，他们都挤了进去。 这扇门通向一个小平台，平台悬在一个大房间的上方。 房间里有成百上千只鸡。 他们默默地盯着那四个闯入者。 无数不眨的眼睛，冷冷地闪烁着。 朋友们也盯着他看。几声低沉、威胁的咯咯声在房间里回荡。 “我想，”沃根悄声说，“可能走错房间了。”他们慢慢地离开了房间，眼睛一秒钟也没有离开过瞪着他们的鸡。 沃根在他们身后轻轻地关上了门。 “我们再也不要谈论那个房间了，”莫森脸色苍白地说。 他们都低声表示同意，然后沿着对面的走廊跑到另一扇门前，那是一扇巨大的木门，上面有一块闪闪发光的黄铜铭牌，上面写着：范德格鲁恩先生，范德格鲁恩工业公司总裁

KNOCK THREE TIMES DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU ARE A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON 'This is it,' said Wogan. He lifted his fist up to the door and knocked slowly three times. 'Why are you knocking?' asked Flora. 'Because it says to!' replied Wogan, pointing at the nameplate. 'Flora, you really need to get your head in the game.' Silence greeted the knock. 'I don't think there's anybody in there!' whispered Mohsen urgently. 'What do we do now?' 'We go in!' Flora said, and pulled the brass handle. The door opened silently. Flora, Mohsen and Wogan padded quietly into the room, followed by Charlie, who squelched noisily into the room, each step leaving a yellow footprint on the thick cream carpet. There was a huge mahogany desk in the centre of the room with a computer on it. The walls were lined with old leather-bound books. There were no chairs in the room except the one behind the desk– clearly visitors to Mr Van der Gruyne's office were expected to stand. An antique globe, all wood and brass, stood in one corner. There was one thing missing, though. There was no safe. 'There's no safe,' said Mohsen, repeating what the narrator had just said. Maybe there's a safe hidden somewhere, thought the narrator. 'Maybe there's a safe hidden somewhere,' said Flora, as if reading the thoughts of the narrator. Get

敲三下门，除非你是非常重要的人物，否则不要进来。“就是这里了，”沃根说。 他举起拳头，慢慢地敲了三下门。 “你为什么要敲门？”弗洛拉问。 “因为它是这么说的！沃根指着铭牌回答。 “弗洛拉，你真的需要把注意力放在比赛上。”敲门声过后，一片寂静。 “我想里面没有人！”莫森急切地小声说。 “我们现在怎么办？”“我们进去吧！”弗洛拉说着拉了拉黄铜把手。 门悄悄地开了。弗洛拉、莫森和沃根蹑手蹑脚地走进房间，查理也跟着进来，每走一步都在厚厚的奶油地毯上留下一个黄色的脚印。 房间中央有一张巨大的红木桌子，上面放着一台电脑。 墙上排列着旧皮面书。 除了桌子后面的那把椅子，房间里没有其他椅子——显然，来范德格鲁恩办公室的客人都是站着的。 一个角落里放着一个古董地球仪，全是木头和黄铜的。 不过，还是少了一样东西。 没有保险箱。“没有安全的地方，”莫森重复着叙述者刚刚说过的话。 也许有个保险箱藏在什么地方，叙述者想。 “也许有个安全的地方藏着，”弗洛拉说，仿佛读懂了叙述者的想法。 得到

out of my head, Flora. The four started searching. About three seconds later, they stopped searching as there was nowhere else to look. 'That's it then. We're stuffed,' said Wogan. 'It's not here. Now what do we do, search every room in the building? That could take days.' As Wogan spoke, he leaned one hand against the globe. It immediately spun, and he slipped forward, his fingers jamming between the globe and the frame. At that moment Mohsen, Flora and Charlie all heard a tiny sound. 'What was that clicking noise?' asked Flora. 'I think that was my finger breaking,' whimpered Wogan. 'No, it wasn't that,' said Flora. 'It sounded like it came from behind these books.' Flora went over to the shelf and started pulling books off. 'Maybe there's something hidden here. A lever or something,' she continued. 'Hello!' called Wogan. 'My fingers are still stuck in the globe! Could one of you give me a hand here?' 'Look! Up there!' Mohsen pointed at a book on the top shelf, which stuck out further than the others. 'Maybe the globe triggered some sort of mechanism and pushed that book out. Come on, give me a hand up.' 'My fingers really are actually quite sore,' said Wogan, still attached to the globe. Charlie rushed over to Mohsen, and gave him a leg-up.

从我的脑海中消失，弗洛拉。四个人开始寻找。 大约三秒钟后，他们停止了搜索，因为没有别的地方可看。 “那就这样吧。“我们吃饱了。”沃根说。 “不在这儿。现在该怎么办，搜查整栋楼的每个房间吗？ 这可能需要几天时间。”沃根说话时，一只手靠在地球仪上。 它立刻旋转起来，他滑了过去，手指夹在地球仪和镜框之间。 就在这时，莫森、弗洛拉和查理都听到了一个微小的声音。 “那咔哒声是怎么回事？”弗洛拉问。 “我想是我的手指断了。”沃根呜咽着说。 “不，不是那个，”弗洛拉说。 “听起来像是从这些书后面传来的。”弗洛拉走到书架前，开始把书拿下来。 “也许这里藏着什么东西。 “杠杆之类的东西，”她接着说。 “你好!沃根叫道。“我的手指还卡在地球仪里！”你们谁能帮我一下吗？“看!那里!”莫森指着书架顶层的一本书，这本书比其他书都要突出。 “也许地球触发了某种机制，把那本书推出来了。 来吧，拉我一把。“我的手指真的很疼，”沃根说，仍然紧紧地抓着地球仪。 查理冲向莫森，扶了他一把。

Mohsen pulled the book free. 'There's a button behind it!' 'Well, press it!' Mohsen pressed the button and immediately a whirring, vibrating thrum filled the room. The globe suddenly started moving across the floor as if pulled by some unseen force. Wogan yelped. 'It's got me, it's got me! It won't let me go!' Charlie and Flora rushed over to Wogan and started pulling on his hand. After some serious tugging, he broke free, and all three fell backwards. The globe had stopped moving, but where it had been

莫森把书拉了出来。 “后面有一个按钮！”“那就按吧！”莫森按下按钮，房间里立刻响起了嗡嗡作响的震动声。 地球仪突然开始在地板上移动，好像被某种看不见的力量拉着。 Wogan叫喊起来。“它抓住我了，它抓住我了！”它不让我走！”查理和弗洛拉冲向沃根，开始拉他的手。 经过一番努力，他挣脱了，三个人都向后摔倒了。 地球停止了移动，但它原来所在的地方

a trapdoor was now revealed. And there was something coming up through it. It was a slowly rising platform, and on top of the platform was a great black metal box. It was the safe. 'It's the safe!' said Mohsen, once again repeating exactly what the increasingly frustrated narrator had JUST said. The four circled the safe, examining it. It looked heavy, and very old. There was a dial on it, and a solid slightly rusty iron handle. Charlie tried the handle. It was locked. 'I guess it was worth a go,' Charlie said with a rueful smile. Mohsen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'OK, so we found it, but how do we open it?' 'Charlie, now's your time. We need you to change,' said Flora, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'Flora!' Charlie shouted, knocking the hand off his shoulder on to the floor. 'Seriously, that thing is just creepy. Please just stick it in the bin.' 'Flora's right, Charlie,' said Mohsen. 'We can't open the safe on our own. We need animal strength.' Charlie swallowed. 'OK. I'll try.' 'Oh, you'll do more than try,' came a sudden voice. 'You will change. Or else.' The friends swung round. Standing behind them was the last person on earth they wanted to see.

这时露出了一扇活板门。 有什么东西从里面爬上来。 那是一个缓慢上升的平台，平台顶上有一个巨大的黑色金属盒子。 是保险箱。“是保险箱！”莫森说，又一次重复了这位越来越沮丧的叙述者刚刚说过的话。 四个人围着保险柜转，仔细检查。 它看起来很重，很旧。 上面有一个表盘，还有一个结实的铁把手，有点生锈了。 查理试了试把手。门锁上了。 “我想还是值得一试的，”查理苦笑着说。 莫森若有所思地揉了揉下巴。 “好吧，我们找到了它，但我们怎么打开它？”“查理，现在轮到你了。” “我们需要你换衣服。”弗洛拉把手放在他的肩膀上说。 “植物!”查理喊道，把他肩上的那只手撞到地板上。 “说真的，那东西太吓人了。 请把它扔进垃圾桶。“弗洛拉说得对，查理，”莫森说。 “我们自己打不开保险箱。 我们需要动物的力量。”查理吞下。 ‘好吧。我试试看。“哦，你不只是想试试，”一个突然的声音说。 “你会改变的。不然。”朋友们转过身来。 站在他们身后的是他们最不想看到的人。