65 Dad

65 Dad "Hello, Peanut," said the man in the dark room. She exhaled. And then she smiled. "Hello, Dad." DADDY!" yelled Little-Bit. She ran straight past Peanut and leaped into her father's open arms, tears streaming down her face. "I've missed you so much!" "I've missed you too, beanbag," he said. "Oh, you've got so big!" Leo stepped forward, nervously. Dad. I, I..." "I know, son, I know," said Dad before Leo could say any more. He gently lowered Little-Bit to the floor, then grabbed his son and pulled him in for one of his famous

65 爸爸 “你好啊，花生，” 黑房间里的男人开口说道。 她长舒了一口气。 接着她露出了笑容。 “你好，爸爸。” “爸爸！” 小不点大喊道。 她径直跑过花生，纵身跳进爸爸张开的怀抱，眼泪顺着脸颊流了下来。 “我好想你啊！” “爸爸也想你，小软豆，” 他说道。 “哦，你都长这么大啦！” 里奥紧张地走上前去。 爸爸。 我，我……” “我知道，孩子，我都知道，” 里奥还没说完，爸爸就开口了。 他轻轻把小不点放到地上，接着抓住儿子，给了他一个他那有名的

bear hugs. "I'm SO proud of you, Leo. You did it! You got them here! You're all here!" Then he looked round at Peanut, his eyes shining in the light that was streaming through the grate. She smiled, shyly. And as for you," he said. "My little artist. You're quite the hero, I'm told. Come here, Peanut." She cuddled him tightly, burying herself deep in his beardy embrace. "I always believed in you, Dad," she said, tears pricking her eyes. "Always." "Ahem," came a voice from near the Post-it note door. "Oh, yes," said Peanut, turning around. "Dad, this is my friend Rockwell Riley." "Pleased to meet you, sir," said Rockwell. "I've heard so much about you. "Likewise, young man. Thank you for being such a good friend to my girls." "Oh, no problem. Being their friend is pretty easy, really." He looked at Little-Bit, and smiled. "Well, most of the time. Er, can I ask a question, Mr Jones? Where are we? And what happened after you escaped from the Spire?" That's two questions," said Little-Bit.

大熊抱。 “我真为你骄傲，里奥。 你做到了！ 把他们都带到这儿来了！ 你们全都来了！” 接着他看向花生，从炉栅透进来的光线里，他的眼睛亮晶晶的。 她害羞地笑了笑。 “至于你呀，” 他说。 “我的小艺术家。 我听说，你可是个大英雄呢。 过来吧，花生。” 她紧紧抱住他，把脸深深埋进他布满胡子的怀抱里。 “爸爸，我一直都相信你，” 她说，眼泪湿润了眼眶。 一直都信。” “咳咳，” 便利贴门旁边传来一个声音。 “哦，对了，” 花生说着转过身。 “爸爸，这是我的朋友罗克韦尔·莱利。” “先生，很高兴见到您，” 罗克韦尔说。 “我听过太多关于您的事了。 “我也是，年轻人。 谢谢你当我女儿们这么好的朋友。” “哦，不客气。 说真的，当她们的朋友挺容易的。” 他看向小不点，笑了笑。 “嗯，大部分时候都挺容易。 那个，琼斯先生，我能问个问题吗？ 我们现在在哪儿？ 你从尖塔逃出来之后发生了什么？” “这可是两个问题哦，” 小不点说。

"Yes, of course," said Dad. "I can see see that you guys need some answers. Well, firstly, I can assure you that we're somewhere safe. We're very close to Chroma, that's all you need to know for now. And as for my escape, I actually had quite a bit of help. Suddenly, the two glowing red lights in the corner of the room turned bright green, and a tall silver robot emerged from the shadows. "Greetings, Jones children," they said in a metallic voice. "Greetings, Jones children's friend." "RAZER!" yelled Rockwell, before diving under the desk at the back of the room and covering his head with his hands. "Rockwell," said Dad. "There's nothing to worry about. This is 67. They're on our side. Without them, I never would have got out. "Gary! Don't forget about me!" A gruff voice, with a broad Glaswegian accent, appeared to be coming from somewhere on the floor near Rockwell. The children looked down, just in time to see

“好呀，当然可以，” 爸爸说。 “我知道你们需要一些答案。 这样吧，首先我可以向你们保证，我们现在待在一个安全的地方。 我们离克罗玛非常近，目前你们只需要知道这些就够了。 至于我逃跑的事，其实我得到了不少帮助。 突然，房间角落那两盏发红光的灯变成了亮绿色，一个高高的银色机器人从阴影里走了出来。 “你们好，琼斯家的孩子们，” 它用金属质感的声音说道。 “你们好，琼斯孩子们的朋友。” “雷泽！” 罗克韦尔大喊，接着一头扎进房间后方的桌子底下，用手抱住了头。 “罗克韦尔，” 爸爸说。 “没什么好担心的。 这是67号。 它是我们这边的。 没有它，我根本逃不出来。 “加里！别忘了我呀！” 一个带着浓重格拉斯哥口音的粗嗓门，从罗克韦尔脚边地板的某个位置传了出来。 孩子们低下头去，正好看到

a large, brown rat saunter out from under the desk. Rockwell leaped to his feet, jumped on to the chair and started screaming. "AARGH! IT'S A RAT!" he howled. "Kids, this is Woodhouse," said Dad, stifling a laugh. "His help has been invaluable. Without him, you wouldn't be here in this room with me now. All right, wee ones? It's grand to finally catch up with you all. A pleasure to meet you too, Woodhouse," said a smiling Little-Bit. "And you, 67." "Dad, I have to ask," said Peanut. "Why didn't you come and help us at the Battle for the Spire?" Dad walked over to the desk. "I know it's difficult for you to understand," he said, and heaven knows it was very hard for me to stay away, but according to the stories, Conté's heir is the source of the kind of power White can only dream of. That is a huge threat to him." "So if you have this power, why not use it to help with the battle?" asked Peanut. "I wish I could have, but the secret of how the power works has been lost for many years. Until I can uncover the secret,

一只大大的棕色老鼠慢悠悠地从桌子底下走了出来。 罗克韦尔一下子跳起来，蹦到椅子上，开始尖叫。 “啊啊啊！ 有老鼠！” 他吼道。 “孩子们，这是伍德豪斯，” 爸爸忍住笑说道。 “他帮了我大忙。 没有他，你们也不会现在在这个房间里和我见面。 怎么样呀，小家伙们？ 终于能和你们碰面，可太开心了。 我也很高兴见到你，伍德豪斯，” 小不点笑着说。 “也很高兴见到你，67号。” “爸爸，我一定要问，” 花生说。 “你为什么没来参加尖塔之战帮我们呢？” 爸爸走到书桌边。 “我知道这对你来说很难理解，” 他说，天知道留在这儿不出去对我来说有多难熬，但传说里说，孔戴的继承人拥有怀特梦寐以求的强大力量， 这对他来说是巨大的威胁。” “那如果你有这种力量，为什么不用它帮忙战斗呢？” 花生问道。 “我也希望能用上，但这种力量的秘密已经失传很多年了。 在我解开这个秘密之前，

I have to stay hidden from White. If he had managed to lure me out into the open, and capture me again, the Resistance would have lost its best chance to destroy White's threat to Chroma once and for all. When I was first imprisoned in the Spire, no one knew I was Conté's heir. But now White knows, he will stop at nothing to get rid of me. I won't jeopardise everything that the Resistance is working towards." "Working towards?" said Rockwell from his position atop the chair. "Ah, of course! You won't have heard the news! We won the battle! The Resistance has control of the Spire! We're not working towards anything! Because we've already done it!" "I did hear the news, actually," replied Dad. "I've been keeping a close eye on what's been happening from here." He pointed at a small, primitive-looking computer on the desk. "You've all done so much for this city already." "So... what did you mean by working towards?" asked Peanut. Dad stood up. A shadow seemed to pass across his face. "I'm afraid, children, that Chroma will never be fully liberated until the day that Mr White is captured. Unless he is physically locked inside a cell, he remains a danger to us and to everything we stand for. To the very existence of creativity." He walked over to the grates and looked outside. "You're right, Rockwell. The Battle for the Spire is won. But I'm afraid the war is not over. The room was silent for a good thirty seconds before Peanut spoke.

我必须躲起来，不能让怀特找到我。 要是他成功把我引出来、再次抓住我，反抗军就会失去彻底终结怀特对克罗玛威胁的绝佳机会。 我刚被关进尖塔的时候，没人知道我是孔特的继承人。 可现在怀特知道了，他会不惜一切代价除掉我。 我不能拿反抗军为之奋斗的一切冒险。" "为之奋斗？"罗克韦尔坐在椅背上开口问道。 "啊，当然了！ 你还没听到新消息呢！ 我们打赢仗了！ 反抗军已经拿下尖塔了！ 我们已经不用再奋斗了！ 因为我们已经做到了！" "其实我确实听到消息了，"爸爸回答道。 "我一直在这里密切关注着这边的动向。" 他指了指桌上一台样子简陋陈旧的小型电脑。 "你们大家已经为这座城市做了太多了。" "那……你说的奋斗是什么意思呀？"皮纳特问道。 爸爸站了起来。 一抹阴云仿佛掠过了他的脸庞。 "孩子们，恐怕不抓到怀特先生，克罗玛就永远得不到彻底解放。 除非把他实实在在关进牢房，否则他对我们、对我们坚持的一切都仍是威胁。 甚至会威胁到创造力本身的存在。" 他走到格栅边，望向外面。 "你说得没错，罗克韦尔。 尖塔之战我们已经赢了。 但恐怕战争还没有结束。 房间安静了足足三十秒，皮纳特才开口说话。