43 An Awakening

43 An Awakening So a trebuchet is a giant catapult?" said Little-Bit, looking at the lengthy pink-and-blue contraption that was being towed into position twenty metres behind the siege tower. Essentially, yes," replied Rockwell, revelling in his position as the resident expert on proceedings. "As you can see, they're comprised of a long arm with a cradle to hold the projectile on one end, and then a big box full of something very heavy at the other. The heavy end is then winched up really high, and when you drop it back down, it whips the arm around to throw the projectile. They're pretty awesome, to be honest, but they take a while to set up because they're so big." "Well, I wish they'd get a move on," said Peanut, looking at

43 觉醒 "这么说，投石机就是一种巨型弹弓对不对？"小不点看着那台被拖到攻城塔后方二十米处就位的粉蓝色长器械，开口问道。 "基本上没错，"罗克韦尔答道，他正享受着自己全场万事通专家的身份。 "你看，它有一根长臂，一端有放弹丸的托架，另一端则是装满重物的大箱子。 我们先把重的那端绞到高处，松开后它猛地下坠，就会带动机臂把弹丸甩出去。 说实话，投石机可厉害啦，只是它个头太大，架设起来要花不少时间。" "哼，我真希望他们快点弄完，"花生边说，边看向

her watch. "Mr White and Alan could be back any second now." The children watched as a team of hamsters wearing bright blue helmets ran into a giant wheel at the base of the trebuchet and started running furiously, causing it to spin. This set the whole mechanism in motion so that the large box at one end of the giant arm began to slowly rise up, and the cradle at the other started to descend. As the cradle approached the ground, several Resistance agents began to roll an extremely dense charcoal missile towards the cradle. That's when it happened. An ear-splitting roar filled the skies all around the

自己的手表。 "怀特先生和艾伦随时都可能回来了。" 孩子们看到，一群戴着亮蓝色头盔的仓鼠跑进投石机底部的大转轮，拼命飞快奔跑，让转轮转了起来。 转轮带动整个机关运转，长臂一端的大箱子慢慢升起，另一端的托架慢慢降下。 托架快要碰到地面时，好几名抵抗军战士把一块密度极高的炭制弹丸朝托架滚了过去。 就在这时，意外发生了。 一声震耳欲聋的咆哮响彻了四周的

Rainbow Lake. It was so loud that the buds popped out of Rockwell's ears, and the hamsters operating the trebuchet instantly froze. Peanut felt a familiar but unwelcome fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach as the truck they were sitting in began to vibrate. Everybody looked towards the source of the noise. Long plumes of black smoke had started to emerge from the five chimneys on top of the Big X, and, to the horror of the children, the eyes of the RAZERs in the cockpit were glowing red. Peanut swallowed hard. "They're back."

彩虹湖上空。 那声音太大了，震得罗克韦尔耳朵里的耳垢都掉了出来，操作投石机的仓鼠瞬间僵住不动。 她们乘坐的卡车开始震动，花生感觉胃里一阵熟悉又讨厌的发慌。 所有人都朝声音的源头望去。 大X顶端的五个烟囱开始冒出滚滚黑烟，更让孩子们恐惧的是，驾驶舱里剃刀战士的眼睛正闪着红光。 花生用力咽了口唾沫。 "他们回来了。"