67 The Snowfields of the North Draw

67 The Snowfields of the North Draw As the party of five slid to the ground, finally reaching the snowfields of the North Draw, it appeared that their daring escape from the Spire had gone totally unnoticed. "Mr White and the RAZERs must really want to find my pencil," said Peanut. "What do you mean?" asked Rockwell as Peanut busily drew a lantern to shed some light on the proceedings. "How do they know about the pencil?" She spent the next five minutes explaining everything that had happened during her encounter with Mr White and

67 北坳雪原 五人小队滑落到地面，终于抵达北坳雪原，看来他们从尖塔大胆逃走的行动完全没被发现。 “怀特先生和雷泽帮肯定很想找到我的铅笔，”花生说。 “你这话是什么意思？”洛克威尔问道，此时花生正忙着画一盏灯笼，给这片地方照亮。 “他们怎么会知道这支铅笔的事？” 接下来五分钟，她把自己和怀特先生相遇时发生的所有事都讲了一遍，

Alan up on the ninety-ninth floor. "Wow!" said Rockwell. "The kaleidoscoppi turned up to help? It just goes to show that if you give a little love, it really does all come back to you." "Indeed," said Mr M. "You reap what you sow, as Mr White will discover sooner rather than later, hopefully." The three children turned to face the man that they had been charged with rescuing. "It's lovely to meet you, finally," said Peanut. Doodle licked Mr M's face. Likewise. And I can't thank you enough for rescuing me. He smiled. "Let's head back to HQ, where we can at least sort you out with a cup of tea. That would be a start. Now, I'd say that it would be wise to get out of sight as soon poss—" Before he could finish the sentence, a familiar high- pitched sound filled the night sky. The group turned to look back towards the Spire and saw what looked like a huge, glittering silver cloud on the horizon. But, as it rolled towards them, twinkling in the moonlight, it soon became apparent that it wasn't a cloud at all, rather a huge shoal of Exocetia, the mechanical flying fish. They were travelling low across the ground, directly towards the group, and they were moving fast. Very fast. "Er, I think it's time to go," said Rockwell. I concur," said Mr M.

以及在九十九层楼上遇到艾伦的事。 “哇哦！”洛克威尔说。 “万花镜竟然也过来帮忙了？ 这正说明，你付出一点善意，最后善意一定会回到你身上。” “没错，”M先生说，“种瓜得瓜种豆得豆，怀特先生很快就会尝到苦果，希望如此。” 三个孩子转过身，面向他们奉命营救的这位男士。 “终于见到你了，真开心，”花生说。 嘟嘟舔了舔M先生的脸。 我也很高兴见到你们。 你们救了我，我真是感激不尽。 他笑了。 “我们回总部去吧，至少回去能给你们倒杯热茶。 先做这件事就好。 现在，我觉得我们最好快点躲起来——”他话还没说完，一阵熟悉的锐响就划破了夜空。 众人回头望向尖塔，看见天边有一大片闪闪发光的银云。 可当它借着月光闪着光朝他们滚过来时，大家很快发现那根本不是云，那是一大群叫“飞箭鱼”的机械飞鱼。 它们贴着地面低空飞行，直直朝着众人冲过来，速度快极了。 快得惊人。 “呃，我觉得我们该跑了，”洛克威尔说。 “我同意，”M先生说。

"RUN!" shouted Little-Bit. But, seconds later, the cloud was upon them. The first few Exocetia flew straight past them like bullets, before stopping fifty metres ahead, turning around and forming a long, curved barrier. Seconds later, Peanut, Rockwell, Little- Bit, Mr M and Doodle found themselves in the middle of the vast shoal. The group stopped running and stood in a tight circle facing out, with their hands over their ears, as thousands of screaming fish, their eyes glowing red, joined the throng. Then, all of a sudden, the wailing stopped. Silence. Peanut felt a light fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. Then the vibration moved to her chest as a barely audible hum began to increase in volume. The snow on the ground oscillated as the hum got louder and louder and louder, eventually rising to a thundering roar. Then the wall of fish surrounding them parted to reveal the enormous, monstrous, terrifying vehicle responsible for the noise. The children had never seen anything like it in their lives. It was huge: as tall as a house and as wide as a tennis court. It was supported by two enormous sets of tank tracks that rolled slowly but relentlessly, dragging their huge cargo across the snow. The central part was made up of several rivet-covered boxes, on top of which sat a large cockpit with a narrow, black

“快跑！”小波大喊。 可才过几秒，那片“鱼云”就扑到了他们跟前。 头几只飞箭鱼像子弹一样直直擦着他们飞过去，飞到五十米外停下，掉头围成了一道长长的弧形屏障。 没过几秒，花生、洛克威尔、小波、M先生和嘟嘟就被这一大群飞箭鱼团团围在了中间。 众人停下脚步，紧紧挤在一起站成圈面向外侧，双手捂住耳朵，此时几千只眼睛发红、嘶鸣不止的飞箭鱼不断涌来。 接着，突然间，所有嘶鸣都停了。 四周一片寂静。 花生感觉到小腹传来一阵轻轻的颤动。 紧接着颤动传到胸口，一道几乎听不见的嗡嗡声渐渐变大。 地上的积雪跟着震动，嗡嗡声越来越响，最后变成了雷鸣般的轰鸣。 围着他们的鱼墙分开，露出了制造这阵噪音的那个庞大、狰狞、可怕的载具。 几个孩子长这么大，从没见过这么可怕的东西。 它太大了：和房子一样高，和网球场一样宽。 它靠两组巨大的坦克履带支撑，履带缓慢却不停歇地转动，拖着这个庞然大物在雪地上前进。 载具中部是几个钉满铆钉的箱体，箱体上方是一个宽大的驾驶舱，配着一块窄窄的黑色

windscreen. Just behind that were several floodlights that lit the whole area, and a huge vat, emblazoned with a large white "X', with five little chimneys sticking out of the top. Each one was billowing a plume of jet-black smoke. But the piece de résistance, the truly terrifying icing on the already-pretty-

挡风玻璃。 挡风玻璃后方有好几盏探照灯把整片区域照得透亮，旁边还有一个大桶，桶身印着大大的白色“X”，桶顶伸出五个小烟囱。 每个烟囱都往外滚滚冒着浓黑的烟雾。 但最绝的，也是给这个本就够吓人的载具再添恐怖感的

scary cake, was the front of the vehicle. It literally had a mouth— a huge opening, ten metres wide, lined, top and bottom, with pointed, razor- sharp metal teeth that moved up and down very, very quickly. And if that wasn't enough, inside the mouth was a rapidly rotating cylinder covered with hundreds more tooth- like blades.

之处，是载具的前端。 它居然真的长了一张嘴——一个十米宽的大开口，上下都布满了尖尖锋利的金属牙齿，这些牙齿还在飞快地不停开合。 这还不够，嘴里面还有一个快速旋转的圆柱，上面布满了几百个牙齿一样的刀片。

"The Big X," whispered Rockwell. "Oh dear!" gasped Little-Bit. "Er, Peanut," said Rockwell. "There's a massive, horrifying, metal eating-machine approaching us. Any ideas?" She studied the Big X as it rolled towards them. When it was about ten metres away from the group, it slowed to a standstill and the engine stopped. A gullwing door opened to the right of the windscreen, and a large block of metal emerged hydraulically. It gradually unfolded to reveal itself as a flight of stairs. When the bottom tread reached the ground, a figure dressed all in dazzling white and topped with a fedora stepped from the cockpit and walked down the steps. He was followed by the muscular figure of Alan. They approached Peanut. Miss Jones," said the man in the hat. "Mr White," said Peanut.

“大X号，”洛克威尔小声说。 “天哪！”小波倒吸一口凉气。 “呃，花生，”洛克威尔说。 “有一个超大、超吓人的吃铁机器朝我们过来了。 你有什么主意吗？” 花生仔细打量着朝他们开过来的大X号。 当它开到离人群还有十米远的时候，慢慢停了下来，引擎也熄了火。 挡风玻璃右侧的鸥翼门打开，一块大金属板靠着液压伸了出来。 它慢慢展开，原来是一道楼梯。 当最底下一级踩到雪地后，一个全身穿着耀眼白衣、头戴费多拉帽的男人从驾驶舱走出来，顺着楼梯走下来。 他身后跟着身强体壮的艾伦。 他们走到花生面前。 “琼斯小姐，”戴帽子的男人开口道。 “怀特先生，”花生应道。