5 The Northern Line

Chapter 5 The Northern Line Rocky?" Peanut laughed as they made their way to the tube station. "Like the boxer? So do you do a bit of fighting in your spare time? Put "em up, PUT "EM UP!" She and her sister adopted their best Muhammad Ali stances and danced around in a circle pretending to throw punches. "Very funny," said Rockwell, shaking his head at their little charade. "To be honest, I'm not sure you and Little Shrimp here are in a position to be taking the mickey out of anybody's nicknames." Fair point, thought Peanut, as the three of them went through the ticket barriers. "So, did you hear the news?" she said when they

第五章 北线 罗基？ 花生往地铁站走的时候，笑得停不下来。 “是那个拳击手吗？ 那你闲时会打两圈吗？ “快出招！出拳呀！” 她和妹妹摆出拳王阿里的经典架势，绕着圈蹦跳，假装出拳进攻。 “可真有意思，”罗克韦尔摇着头，看着她们的小闹剧说道。 “说实话哦，你和这儿这个小虾米，还好意思笑话别人的外号吗？” 花生暗暗觉得这话有理，三人刷票过了检票闸机。 “那你听说那个消息了吗？” 她说，就在他们

reached the Northern Line platform. About that painting in Spain?" "Yeah. Another one bites the dust." Rockwell hitched his rucksack further on to his shoulder. "What was it called? Guenevere, wasn't it?" Peanut shook her head. It never failed to amaze her just how little her friend knew about art. "Guernica, by Picasso. And that's the tenth priceless work of art to disappear in less than three months." She pulled a piece of paper from her dungarees pocket and unfolded it. She shook her head. "We shouldn't have left it so long before going back to Chroma. Maybe we could have saved some of those paintings if we'd returned sooner."

走到北线站台的时候。 就是西班牙那幅画的事哦？” “没错。 又一幅名作消失了。” 罗克韦尔把滑下来的背包往肩膀上提了提。 “那幅画叫什么来着？ 是格温娜维尔对不对？” 花生摇了摇头。 她这位朋友对艺术了解少得可怜，这点总是让她惊讶。 “是毕加索画的《格尔尼卡》。 这已经是不到三个月里消失的第十幅无价艺术品了。” 她从工装裤口袋掏出一张纸，把它展开。 她摇了摇头。 “我们不该拖这么久才回克罗玛， 要是我们早点回去，说不定就能救下其中几幅画了。”

"Oh, come on, you remember what happened the last time we were there," said Rockwell. "We came this close to being imprisoned forever by Mr White!" He held his finger and thumb a centimetre apart. "We're lucky not to be locked up in the Spire right now, being guarded by RAZERs!" The RAZERs, or Rigorous Attitude Zero Empathy Robots, formed the mechanical army used by Mr White to enforce his rule as Mayor of the City. There were thousands of them policing Northern line. Chroma's citizens across the twelve districts. And Rockwell was correct: had it not been for Peanut's quick thinking, they would definitely still be imprisoned in the Spire right now. Luckily, they had managed to escape and, with the help of Mr and Mrs Markmaker, the leaders of the Resistance

“哎呀，你还记得我们上次去那儿发生了什么吗，”罗克韦尔说。 “我们当时差一点就被怀特先生永远关起来了！” 他伸出拇指和食指，比出一厘米的距离。 “我们现在没被关在尖塔里、被利刃机器人看守，已经够走运了！” 利刃机器人，也就是严苛态度零共情机器人，是克罗玛市长怀特先生用来维持统治的机械军队。 几千个利刃机器人在北线巡逻执勤。 管控着克罗玛十二个区的所有市民。 而且罗克韦尔说得没错：要不是花生反应敏捷，他们现在肯定还被关在尖塔里。 幸好他们成功逃了出来，在抵抗组织领袖马克梅克夫妇的帮助下

movement against Mr White, return home safely to London. That had been the first time they'd used the top-secret Green Valleys portal which led to the National Portrait Gallery via a small hidden door behind a bust of Queen Victoria. The tube train arrived at the platform with a rumble and the doors slid open accompanied by the familiar "Mind the gap announcement. At least we know why White wanted your pencil so much," said Rockwell as the three of them boarded and sat down. "He's obviously using it to travel between Chroma and the real world so that he can destroy all of the most-loved artworks on the planet. As the train lurched out of the station, Peanut thought back to the time she had sketched a picture of a door in her bedroom using Little Tail. It had turned out to be the portal that first led her to Chroma. That's when she'd discovered one of the pencil's most amazing powers: it was a magical portal-making device, a power totally unique to Little Tail. No wonder Mr White had looked so happy when he'd finally

反抗怀特先生的运动后，平安回到了伦敦的家。 那是他们第一次使用绝密的绿谷传送门，穿过维多利亚女王胸像背后的隐藏小门就能直达国家肖像馆。 地铁轰隆一声停靠站台，车门滑开，还伴着熟悉的“请小心缝隙”广播提示。 “现在我们总算知道怀特为什么那么想要你的铅笔了，”三人上车坐下后，罗克韦尔说道。 “他肯定是用这支铅笔穿梭在克罗玛和现实世界，好毁掉全世界所有最受喜爱的艺术品。 列车晃晃悠悠驶出车站，花生回想起当初，她用小尾巴笔在卧室画了一扇门的事。 那扇门偏偏就是带她第一次去到克罗玛的传送门。 就在那时她发现了这支铅笔最神奇的能力：它是能制作传送门的魔法装置，这份能力是小尾巴独有的。 难怪怀特先生终于拿到它的时候，那么开心。

got his hands on it. He now had the ability to create doors between the two worlds wherever and whenever he liked. "The thing that's confusing me," said Peanut thoughtfully, is the way he is destroying the artworks. Disintegration. How would he even do that?" The train's brakes screeched noisily as it pulled into the next station. "Huh! It's obvious, isn't it?" said Little-Bit, not looking up from her copy of 2000 AD. Is it?" said Peanut. "Here we go," sighed Rockwell. Come on then. Let's hear it, Sherlock." Little-Bit lowered her comic and looked at Rockwell. "Well, Mr White must have made copies of the paintings and sculptures in Chroma and then, somehow, switched the fakes with the real things." Peanut and Rockwell frowned. "Think about it," continued Little-Bit. "When you draw something in Chroma, it becomes real, right? And it stays

拿到了这支笔。 现在他能随时随地在两个世界之间打开通道了。 “让我想不通的一点是，”花生若有所思地说，“他毁掉艺术品的方式不对劲儿。 全都是粉碎破坏。 他到底是怎么做到的呢？” 火车进站时，刹车发出了刺耳的尖响。 “哼！ 这不是明摆着的吗？”小丽特低头看着手里的《2000AD》，头也不抬地说。 “是吗？”花生问。 “又来了，”罗克韦尔叹了口气。 那你快说呀。 快讲给我们听听啊，大侦探。” 小丽特放下漫画，看向罗克韦尔。 “唔，怀特肯定是先在克罗玛仿造出那些画作和雕塑，再把赝品和真品掉包。” 花生和罗克韦尔都皱起了眉头。 “你好好想想，”小丽特接着说。 “你在克罗玛画画，画出来的东西就会变成真的，对不对？ 而且它会一直

real there. But whenever you draw something with Little Tail in our world, it crumbles away to dust as soon as someone touches it. "She's right," said Peanut. "Remember, Rockwell, when I drew that apple in the science lab at school to show you how the pencil worked? When you picked it up, it turned into that silvery grey powder." "Exactly," said Little-Bit, "And I bet it's the same with the magic stuff you draw in Chroma. If you were to bring something through to our world, a painting, for example, it would also disintegrate when touched. "Mmmm. I suppose..." said Rockwell. He seemed reluctant to admit that Little-Bit might be right. "So if it is only the fake artworks that have been destroyed," said Peanut, "what's happened to the real ones?" Come on, surely even you two can work this out?" Little- Bit smiled, clearly enjoying herself now. "I would bet my entire comic collection that he has stolen the originals for himself and is hiding them somewhere in the Illustrated City."

真的就在那里。 但只要你在我们的世界用小尾巴画东西，刚一碰就会碎成粉末。 “她说得没错，”花生说。 “还记得吗罗克威尔，我之前在学校实验室画了个苹果，给你演示这支铅笔怎么用？ 你拿起它，它就变成了银灰色的粉末。” “没错，”小不点说，“而且我敢说你在科罗玛画的魔法东西也是一样的。 要是你把东西带到我们的世界，比如说一幅画，被碰到也会碎开。 “嗯。 我想……大概是吧。”罗克威尔说。 他不太愿意承认小不点说的可能是对的。 “所以如果被毁的只有假艺术品，”花生说，“那真迹都去哪了呢？” 得了吧，你们俩肯定能想明白对不对？”小 不点笑着说道，这会儿她显然觉得很有意思。 “我拿我全部的漫画收藏打赌，肯定是他偷走了真迹，藏在插画城的某个地方了。”