42 The Siege Tower

42 The Siege Tower As the convoy approached the Spire, they were greeted by the intimidating sight of a Big X pointing straight towards them, surrounded by several inactive platoons of RAZERs. To the left and right, a number of equally imposing Big Xs sat in a circular formation around the edge of the lake, each one facing out towards a district of the city and flanked by more dormant RAZER platoons. Peanut noticed that there were also two robots sitting in each Big X cockpit, their eyes, thankfully, dark. The Rainbow Lake itself, resplendent in its perfectly striped, multicoloured glory, shimmered in the moonlight, and just beyond that, the enormous white Spire rose majestically into the night sky. "Thank goodness the RAZERs have been deactivated,"

42 攻城塔 当车队逼近尖塔时，一座骇人的巨型X直冲着他们，周围还围着好几队未启动的剃刃机器人。 左右两侧也矗立着许多同样气势逼人的巨型X，沿着湖边围成一圈，每一座都朝向城市的一个片区，两侧也围着休眠的剃刃机器人战队。 皮纳特注意到，每座巨型X的驾驶舱里都坐着两个机器人，幸好它们的眼睛没亮，是暗着的。 带着整齐彩色条纹的彩虹湖在月光下波光粼粼、绚烂夺目，湖的尽头，巨大的白色尖塔巍峨耸立，直插夜空。 “谢天谢地，剃刃机器人都已经关停了，

said Rockwell. "I wouldn't fancy our chances otherwise." "Look. They've finished painting the crayon fence white now," said Little-Bit sadly. "And they've started monoing all of the districts." She was right. The first hundred metres of each district was now entirely without colour. This made the lake look even more vibrant, although Peanut noticed that the water level was considerably lower than it had been the last time she had seen it. The Markmakers had warned her what to expect, but it was still a shock to see the beautiful Rainbow Lake only about three-quarters full. "Yeah, but look at how many of us are here now to put a stop to all that stuff," said Rockwell, turning towards the

罗克韦尔说道。 “不然我们根本没胜算。” “你们看。 蜡笔栅栏已经全被刷成白色了，”小比特难过地说。 “而且他们已经开始给所有城区去色了。” 她说得没错。 每个城区靠近湖边的前一百米，现在已经完全没有颜色了。 这反倒让彩虹湖看起来更鲜艳，不过皮纳特发现，湖水水位比她上次来时低了好多。 记号师们早就提醒过她会是这样，可亲眼见到美丽的彩虹湖只剩下大约四分之三的水量，她还是吃了一惊。 “是啊，不过你看看现在我们有多少人来阻止这一切，”罗克韦尔说着，转过身面向身后的

impressive convoy behind them. Josephine was right, our numbers really have swollen. I don't want to tempt fate, but I think we're actually going to do this." He turned back to Peanut, who was suddenly looking very worried. "Er, what's wrong?" "The drawbridge. It's raised," she replied, her brow furrowed. And we need to get our operatives and vehicles across the lake as quickly as possible. It'll take ages for people to fly or swim over and lower the bridge by hand. That could well mean that Mr White and Alan will get back before we can get anywhere near Mission Control." "I bet the Markmakers will have known that this might happen," said Little-Bit calmly. "They'll have it covered. I know it." "What do you reckon they're going to do?" asked Rockwell. "I think we're about to find out," said Peanut. Suddenly a familiar voice sounded in their ears. ALL UNITS, THIS IS ZERO ALPHA," said Mrs M. "H MINUS ONE MINUTE. PREPARE TO LAUNCH OPERATION RENAISSANCE! SIEGE TOWER ENGINEERS, STAND BY TO MOVE. OUT." A large and very pink lorry emerged from the pack, drove on to the concrete expanse that surrounded the Spire, and stopped about ten metres in front of the powered-down

声势浩大的车队。 约瑟芬说的没错，我们的人数真的壮大了很多。 我不想碰运气，但我觉得我们这次真的能成功。” 他转回头看向皮纳特，发现她突然满脸愁容。 “呃，出什么事了？” “吊桥。 它被升起来了，”她皱着眉头回答。 我们得让队员和车辆尽快穿过湖去。 要是让人飞过去或者游过去手动放桥，太耽误时间了。 那样一来，我们还没摸到任务控制中心，怀特先生和艾伦就回来了。 “我打赌记号师们早就料到会这样了，”小比特平静地说。 “他们肯定已经做好准备了。 我很确定。” “你觉得他们打算怎么做？”罗克韦尔问道。 “我想我们马上就知道了，”皮纳特说。 突然，一个熟悉的声音在他们耳边响起。 “所有单位注意，这里是零阿尔法，”M夫人说，“行动倒计时一分钟。 准备启动文艺复兴行动！ 攻城塔工兵队，准备出发。 通话完毕。” 一辆硕大的粉色大卡车从队伍里开出来，驶上尖塔周围的混凝土地坪，在已经关机的

Big X. Twelve Resistance operatives wearing X-shaped bandoliers holding ink bombs jumped out of the back of the vehicle and began to unload a large object, painted in blue gouache. They carefully placed the huge boxy structure in front of the truck, and then disappeared through a small door built into its side. "ALL UNITS, THIS IS ZERO BETA. H-HOUR. SIEGE TOWER ENGINEERS, GOOD LUCK! FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE... MOVE!" said Mr M via the earpieces. Right on cue, the painted boxy structure appeared to grow vertically as a slightly smaller brushwork box shot up out of the original one. A second later, another slightly

巨型X前停了下来。十二名反抗军队员戴着X形弹带，揣着墨炸弹，他们从卡车后斗跳下，开始卸载一个涂着蓝色水粉的大物件。 他们小心地把这个巨大的方形结构摆在卡车前，接着从它侧面的小门进去不见了。 “所有单位注意，这里是零贝塔。 行动开始。 攻城塔工兵队，祝你们好运！ “五、四、三、二、一……出发！”M先生通过耳机说道。 话音刚落，这个涂好色的方形结构居然开始纵向长高，一个稍小一点、带刷痕的方盒子从原盒子里伸了出来。 一秒钟之后，又一个更小一点的

smaller one shot up out of that. Then another, and another. This continued until the ingenious, tapering, telescopic tower had risen to a height of around thirty metres. Each level had a large opening cut into its side, through which the Resistance operatives could be seen climbing ladders as they made their way up the inside of the tower. Half of the operatives stopped at an open doorway ten metres from the top, and the other half went right to the summit. The children stared through the windows, open-mouthed at the rapidly erected tower. "That was SO cool," said Little-Bit. "Classic Roman ingenuity," said Rockwell. Amazing," said Peanut. "But what are they going to do now?" "Well, they'll need some sort of gangplank to get across to the Spire. But first they'll have to breach its walls. I'm guessing they'll use some sort of trebuchet." "What does "breach" mean?" asked Peanut. "Make a big hole," he replied. "Ah. So this is how they'll get people into the Spire without having to lower the drawbridge," said a smiling Peanut. "I knew they'd have a plan," said Little-Bit. "Er, Rocky. What's a trebuchet?" Rockwell grinned. "Peanut, can you write today's date down please? It's a momentous occasion. I want to remember it as the day that I knew something that LB didn't."

更小的盒子又从这个盒子里伸了出来。 接着一个接一个地伸了出来。 一直到这个设计巧妙的锥形伸缩塔升到大约三十米高才停下。 每一层侧面都开了一个大口子，能看到反抗军队员顺着梯子往塔内上方爬。 一半队员在离顶端十米的入口停了下来，另一半一直爬到了塔顶。 几个孩子透过车窗瞪圆了眼睛，惊讶地看着这座飞快建好的高塔。 “这也太酷了，”小比特说。 “这是古罗马式的经典巧思，”罗克韦尔说。 太厉害了，”皮纳特说。 “可是他们接下来要做什么？” “唔，他们需要一块跳板才能走到尖塔那边去。 不过他们得先攻破尖塔的城墙。 我猜他们会用抛石机之类的工具。” “‘攻破’是什么意思呀？”皮纳特问道。 “就是砸出一个大洞，”他回答。 “啊。 原来不用放下吊桥，他们就能靠这个把人送进尖塔里呀，”皮纳特笑着说。 “我就知道他们肯定有办法，”小比特说。 “呃，罗基。 抛石机是什么呀？” 罗克韦尔咧嘴笑了。 “皮纳特，你能把今天的日期记下来吗？ 这可是值得纪念的大日子。 我要记住这一天，这可是我知道一件连小比特都不知道的事的日子呀。”