68 Face to Face

68 Face to Face He was much shorter than she'd imagined. However, Peanut couldn't deny that, in the flesh, Mr White had quite a presence. He appeared to be made of actual light, which made him seem otherworldly. He positively shone, so much so that Rockwell and Little-Bit had to shield their eyes. Peanut couldn't see his face because of the glare, but she could just about make out the shape of the fedora hat that she'd seen on the video screen in her cell. "Well, Miss Jones," he said in his high tenor, "up until an hour ago, you were just another annoying member of the Resistance that had to be... dealt with." He looked back over his shoulder at the blades of the Big X. "But certain... details have recently come to light that have changed things somewhat.

68 面对面 他比皮纳特原本想象的要矮得多 不过，皮纳特也没法否认，怀特先生本人的气场真的很强 他整个人仿佛由光凝聚而成，看起来超凡脱俗 他浑身都在发光，亮得罗克韦尔和小不点都不得不遮住眼睛 强光让皮纳特看不清他的脸，可她勉强认出了那顶软呢帽的轮廓，就是她在囚室视频屏幕上见过的那顶 “好了，琼斯小姐，”他用高亢的男中音说道，“直到一小时前，你都只是抵抗军里又一个惹麻烦的家伙，得……解决掉。” 他回头望向大X的刀片，“不过最近有一些……内情曝光，让事情有了些变化。”

"And what might those be, White?" Mr M stepped out from behind Rockwell and stood next to Peanut. Several flying fish inched forward. Mr White held up his hand to halt them. "Ah, Markmaker, aka the brains behind the entire Resistance movement, aka our most valuable prisoner. And yet here you are, free. Alan has, yet again, excelled himself with his peerless attention to security, I see." Alan's face flushed. And not only that," Mr White continued. "Earlier this evening, I saw something that I never thought I would see. Something I thought was either a myth or had been lost long ago. "Your morals?" "Witty," deadpanned Mr White. A veritable comedian. You, young lady, were in possession of Conté's Pencil. Pencil Number One. Little Tail. Do you deny it?"

“那这些内情是什么呢，怀特？” M先生从罗克韦尔身后走出来，站到了皮纳特身边 好几只飞鱼慢慢向前挪动 怀特先生抬起手叫他们停下 “啊，记号师，整个抵抗运动的幕后智囊，也是我们最值钱的俘虏 可你现在居然获得了自由 我看呐，艾伦又一次在安保工作上“大显身手”了对吧。” 艾伦的脸一下子涨红了 “而且不止如此，”怀特先生继续说道 “今晚早些时候，我看见了一件我从来没想过能见到的东西 一件我早就觉得要么是传说，要么早已失传的东西。” “是你的道德吗？” “真会说俏皮话，”怀特先生面无表情地说 可真是个喜剧演员啊 你，小姑娘，之前拿着孔特铅笔 就是那支一号铅笔 小尾巴 你敢否认吗？”

Peanut didn't react. "You have no idea how powerful that pencil is, do you? It is wasted on you!" He was shouting now. "If I had Conté's pencil, you would not believe what I could achieve!" He took a deep breath to regain his composure. Anyway, that is all by the by, because, unfortunately, due to my assistant's continuing stupidity—" Alan's face was now scarlet— "the item in question fell from the Spire." "That's right. It did. Well done, Alan," Peanut said. Alan scowled back at her. "So you've not found it then? I thought you had all of your robots searching the place. I did. In fact, the RAZERs are still scouring the area as we speak. As yet they have not been successful in locating the pencil. "Oh well. As you said, you didn't think it even existed an hour ago. I'd just let it go if I were you." "The thing is," said Mr White, "when we returned to the Spire and discovered that you and your friends were no longer in your cells, we were, naturally, curious as to how you'd managed to escape. That's when we spotted your little chute. Quite ingenious. "Why, thank you," said Peanut, trying not to show that she was feeling more nervous by the second. "The puzzling thing, however, is that we still have your contraband art materials." He gestured to Alan, who held up

皮纳特没有任何反应 “你根本不知道那支铅笔有多厉害，对不对？ 它落在你手里完全就是浪费！” 他这会儿已经喊了起来 “要是我拿到了孔特铅笔，你根本想象不到我能做成多大的事！” 他深吸一口气，重新稳住了情绪 总之，这些都不重要了，可惜啊，因为我助理一直以来的蠢笨——此刻艾伦的脸已经红得发紫——那东西从尖塔掉下去了。” “没错呀 确实掉了 干得好呀，艾伦，”皮纳特说道 艾伦皱着眉瞪回了她 “所以你们还没找到它对不对？ 我还以为你们派了所有机器人搜遍了那块地方呢 我确实派了 实际上，剃刀机器人现在还在那片区域搜索呢 到目前为止，他们还没能找到那支铅笔 “哦，那好吧 你自己都说了，一小时前你都觉得它根本不存在 换作是我我就干脆放弃了。” “问题在于，”怀特先生说，“我们回到尖塔，发现你和你的朋友都不在囚室了，我们当然好奇你们是怎么逃出去的 然后我们就发现了你那小小的滑道 还挺聪明的嘛。” “谢谢你的夸奖呀，”皮纳特说，努力没表现出自己越来越紧张 “不过奇怪的是，你那些违禁的画具还都在我们这儿。” 他朝艾伦示意，艾伦举起

Peanut's bandolier. "So, what I am wondering is... how did you manage to spray-paint your way out of the tower, if you didn't have anything to spray-paint with?" "That's easy. I had this." Peanut threw the pencil-drawn spray can so that it landed at Mr White's feet. "You missed it when you searched me." "Hmmm." He bent down to pick it up. "It's highly unlikely that the RAZERs would have missed something of this size. He broke off the nozzle of the can and rubbed it between his fingers. "Curiouser and curiouser," he muttered. "What do you mean?" said Peanut. "Well, strangely, this can is made of graphite. Pencil graphite. A very dense, very good quality pencil graphite. In fact, it's like no pencil graphite I have ever seen before." Peanut shifted her weight from foot to foot. Mr M and Rockwell inched closer to her. "Do you know what I think?" Mr White smiled. "I think that you, Miss Jones, drew this spray-paint can with Conté's Pencil. "Impossible!" Peanut laughed. "You saw it fly out of the window. You just said so yourself." "Nevertheless, I think it would be prudent for us to search you. Exocetia! Surround her!" At least a hundred of the spiky robots darted towards Peanut, but Mr M, Rockwell, Little-Bit and Doodle were

皮纳特的子弹带 “所以，我现在很好奇…… 如果你根本没有喷漆的工具，你是怎么喷开颜料逃出高塔的呢？” “这很简单呀 我有这个呀。” 皮纳特把铅笔画出来的喷漆罐扔出去，罐子落到了怀特先生的脚边 “你们搜我身的时候漏掉了它。” “嗯。” 他弯下腰捡起了罐子 “剃刀军团不可能漏掉这么大的东西啊 他掰下罐子的喷嘴，用手指搓了搓 “越来越奇怪了，”他小声嘀咕道 “你这话是什么意思？”皮纳特问道 “嗯，奇怪就奇怪在，这个罐子居然是石墨做的 就是铅笔的石墨 密度非常高、质地非常好的铅笔石墨 说真的，我从来没见过这样的铅笔石墨。” 皮纳特换了换站立的重心 M先生和罗克韦尔慢慢向她靠近 “你知道我是怎么想的吗？” 怀特先生笑了起来 “我觉得，琼斯小姐，你就是用孔特铅笔画出了这个喷漆罐。” “不可能！” 皮纳特大笑起来 “你亲眼看见它掉出窗户了 你刚才自己都这么说了。” “话虽如此，我觉得搜一下你还是更稳妥 埃克塞西亚！ 围住她！” 至少一百个带刺机器人朝皮纳特冲了过来，可M先生、罗克韦尔、小不点和杜朵已经

quicker. They surrounded Peanut to stop the fish from getting too close. "Ha ha ha! You think that will stop us?" Mr White laughed. Peanut knew he was right. She took a deep breath. It was finally time to play the only hand left open to her. "Call them off!" she shouted. "Call them off NOW!" Mr White smiled. He could see that Peanut was holding Little Tail high above her head. It gleamed in the moonlight. And why would I do that?" Peanut looked straight at Mr White. "Because, if you don't call them off, I will snap the pencil. Its power will be gone forever. And don't think I won't do it..." Mr White was silent for a second. "All right," he said calmly. "Exocetia, retreat." The fish moved back. "So this is how it's going to work," said Peanut. You are going to let me and my friends go. We are going to walk away and you are going to let us. If you don't, I will destroy this pencil. Mr White considered what she'd said. I don't believe you. I know what that pencil can do. I've read the books about Conté and I know that it can create portals and many, many other things." Peanut looked worried. "So... in terms of how you and your little friends arrived in Chroma: mystery solved. That pencil is your ticket home.

快点。 她们围在花生身边，不让鱼靠得太近。 “哈哈哈！ 你以为这能拦住我们？” 怀特先生笑道。 花生知道他说的没错。 她深吸了一口气。 终于到了使出最后一招的时候了。 “叫它们退下！” 她大喊道。 “马上叫它们退下！” 怀特先生笑了笑。 他看见花生把小尾举得高高的，顶在头顶。 它在月光下闪闪发亮。 “我为什么要听你的？” 花生直直看向怀特先生。 “因为，如果你不叫它们退走，我就折断这支铅笔， 它的魔力就会永远消失了。 别以为我不敢这么做……” 怀特先生沉默了片刻。 “好吧，”他平静地说。 “艾克索西亚，撤退。” 鱼群向后退去了。 “规矩就得这么定，”花生说。 你必须放我和我的朋友们走。 我们离开，你不能阻拦。 你不答应，我就毁了这支铅笔。 怀特先生琢磨着她的话。 我才不信你。 我知道这支铅笔的本事。 我读过关于孔特的书，我知道它能打开传送门，还有许许多多别的魔力。” 花生露出了担忧的神色。 “所以啊……你和你的小伙伴们是怎么来到克罗马的：谜底解开了。 这支铅笔就是你们回家的船票。

Not even you would be so stupid as to destroy your own escape route. And what, exactly, do I have to go home to? My dad has gone... my mum doesn't like me... I hate my school. Let's just say that I'm not feeling overly homesick! I have nothing more to lose. I made a promise to return Mr M to the Resistance and I intend to keep it, so let us go. Mr White took a step forward. "I warned you!" said Peanut, holding the pencil as if she were about to snap it. "ALL RIGHT! All right! Stop!" shouted Mr White. "Just just go." Peanut looked at Mr M. She looked at Rockwell and Little-Bit. Then, very slowly, she started walking backwards, away from Mr White, still holding the pencil in front of her. The others started to walk backwards too. Mr White flicked a hand, and the shoal of fish behind them parted. As they backed away, Peanut looked over at Mr M. He looked back at her. "So..." he said. "Now what?"

就算是你，也不会蠢到毁掉自己的逃生路吧。 再说了，我回家又能有什么呢？ 我爸爸已经走了…… 我妈妈也不喜欢我…… 我讨厌我的学校。 说白了吧，我一点都不想家！ 我已经没什么可失去的了。 我答应过要把M先生送回抵抗组织，我说到做到，放我们走。 怀特先生向前迈了一步。 “我警告你！”花生说着，攥紧铅笔，像是马上就要把它折断一样。 “好了好了！ 别这样！ 住手！”怀特先生大喊道。 “赶紧走吧。” 花生看了看M先生，又看了看罗克韦尔和小贝。 接着，她把铅笔举在身前，慢慢开始向后退，一步步远离怀特先生。 其他人也跟着向后退。 怀特先生挥了挥手，他们身后的鱼群分开了一条路。 后退的时候，花生看向M先生，M先生也看向她。 “所以……”他说。 “接下来怎么办？”