34 Josephine and the RAZERs

34 Josephine and the RAZERs Rockwell waited silently in the control room until the last of the footsteps had disappeared, then he stepped back into the empty corridor. The air felt slightly cooler than it had before, and, strangely, he could hear the faint sound of wind blowing. When he got to the lift lobby, he discovered why A huge, circular hole had been cut into the wall. It was just like the one that Peanut had made when they'd surfed down to the North Draw on her spray- paint slide during their first visit to the Spire. He felt a pang of nostalgia. She must have persuaded them all to paraglide down, he

34 约瑟芬与剃刀战队 洛克韦尔在控制室静静等候，直到最后一阵脚步声彻底消失，才退回空无一人的走廊。 这里的空气比刚才稍凉一点，奇怪的是，他还能听到隐约的风声。 他走到电梯厅后，终于明白了缘由——墙上被破开了一个巨大的圆洞。 这和他们第一次来尖塔大厦时，花生开着喷漆滑梯滑去北闸通道弄出的洞一模一样。 他心头涌起一阵怀念。 他心想，肯定是花生说服所有人一起滑翔下去了

thought. The feeling of relief that he hadn't had to talk his way out of that one was very welcome! He'd already decided that he would take the stairs, even before he saw Peanut's exit of choice. After all, the last thing Rockwell wanted was to bump into someone who recognised him, and he was pretty sure no one else would be stupid enough to walk down ninety-nine storeys. Anyway, his mum was always telling him that he should do more exercise, so he'd be killing two birds with one stone. Talking of stones, Rockwell remembered something that he'd overheard 67 say in the corridor. The robot had referred to Mr White as

他心想。 不用自己想方设法脱身，这种如释重负的感觉可太舒服了！ 早在看到花生选的出口之前，他就打定主意要走楼梯了。 毕竟洛克韦尔最不想碰到认识他的人，而且他敢肯定，没人会傻到走楼梯下九十九层楼。 再说了，妈妈总念叨让他多运动，这样刚好一举两得。 说到巧合，洛克韦尔想起刚才在走廊无意间听到67号说的话。 那个机器人把怀特先生叫做

Mr Stone. Why? Now that Mr White had been captured and his identity revealed, surely it made more sense to call him by his real name. It was a curious detail that, for some reason, had got Rockwell's brain whirring with all sorts of theories. He decided he would return to those later, but first he needed to get down to the lake. It took him about an hour to walk down the stairs to the ground floor. When he finally got there, not only did his thighs feel like someone had driven over them with a red-hot steamroller, but he also felt dizzy and sick from all the quarter- turn staircases. He slinked over, green-faced, to a shadowy corner in the Spire's main lobby and sat on the floor to wait for his head to stop spinning. Just as he sat down, a door to his right burst open and in

斯通先生。 为什么呢？ 现在怀特先生已经被抓住，身份也曝光了，叫他的真名不是更合理吗？ 这个奇怪的细节，不知为何让洛克韦尔脑洞大开，冒出了各种各样的猜测。 他决定之后再琢磨这件事，眼下得先赶到湖边去。 走楼梯下到一楼整整花了他一个小时。 等他终于走到终点，大腿酸得就像被滚烫的压路机碾过，拐来拐去的盘旋楼梯也绕得他头晕恶心。 他脸色发青，悄悄溜到尖塔主厅一个阴暗的角落，坐在地上等头晕劲消下去。 他刚坐下，右侧一扇门猛地被推开，走进来

came two RAZERs carrying what looked like another RAZER on a gurney. Behind them walked a tall woman with short white hair, wearing a black polo-neck jumper. It was Josephine! She was the one person who Rockwell didn't mind bumping into at this moment. He stood and walked over to her. "Hi, Josephine," he said. "Ah, Rockwell," she said. "There you are. I was wondering why you weren't outside with the others. Did you oversleep?" "Something like that," replied the boy. His eyes suddenly widened as he looked at the robot on the gurney. "Hold on, is that... RAZER 72?" "Yes, I believe it is," she replied. "Really? Did you fish them out of the lake? Down by Die Brücke?" "Well, we didn't need to do much fishing, to be honest. The lake is virtually empty now and 72 was just lying on the bottom for all the world to see. Mr and Mrs M haven't started the refilling ceremony yet. In fact, if you hurry, you'll still make it in time to watch the water go back in.

两个剃刀机器人，抬着一副担架，担架上还躺着另一个剃刀机器人。 他们身后跟着一位高个子女士，留着白色短发，穿一件黑色高领毛衣。 是约瑟芬！ 这可是此刻洛克韦尔撞见了也完全不介意的人。 他站起身，朝约瑟芬走过去。 "嗨，约瑟芬。"他说。 "啊，洛克韦尔。"她说。 "原来你在这儿。 我还纳闷你怎么没跟其他人在外面呢。 你睡过头了吗？" "差不多吧。"男孩回答。 他看向担架上的机器人，眼睛猛地瞪大了。 "等等，这难道是……72号剃刀？" "没错，就是它。"她回答。 "真的吗？ 是你们把它从湖里捞出来的吗？ 就在戴布吕克桥那边吗？" "实话说吧，我们根本没怎么捞。 现在湖水差不多都排干了，72号就躺在湖底，谁都能看见。 M先生夫妇还没开始注水仪式呢。 其实你要是快点走，还赶得上看湖水重新灌进湖里。

You should, you know. It really is a historic moment. "Yes, yes, I know. But... where are you going now?" "Well, I thought I'd take 72 down to the basement and, y" know, have a tinker. Rockwell gasped. "You're going to try to fix them?" he said, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. "Well, I thought I'd have a go," she said, cautiously. "Listen, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do anything. They have taken on a lot of water, but I figure if anybody can get 72 up and running again, it's me. After all, I designed and built the original RAZERs." "Josephine," said Rockwell, hopefully. "Can I come with you. Oh, please! I'm really into engineering and I'd love to learn more about it from somebody as brilliant and experienced as you. Josephine smiled. "Flattery, young man, will get you everywhere. OK, I don't see why not. But only if you promise to do exactly as I tell you." "I promise," he replied. Are you sure you don't mind missing the ceremony?" "Positive," Rockwell replied. "When I get back to school, Mrs Bloyce is not going to believe this!" "OK then," said Josephine. "Let's see what we can do for 72, shall we? I don't know about you, but when I see that something is broken, I must at least try to fix it.

你真该去看看的。 这可是妥妥的历史性一刻。 "对对，我知道。 可是……你现在要去哪儿呢？" "唔，我打算把72号带到地下室去，你懂的，捣鼓两下。 洛克韦尔倒吸了一口凉气。 "你要试着修好它吗？"他问，声音里藏不住激动。 "嗯，我打算试试看。"她谨慎地说。 "听我说，我也不确定能不能修好它。 它进了好多水，但我想，要说这世上谁能让72号重新启动，也就只有我了。 毕竟，最初的剃刀战队就是我设计建造的。" "约瑟芬，"洛克韦尔满怀期待地说。 我能跟你一起去吗。 求你了！ 我特别喜欢工程学，好想跟着你这么厉害又有经验的大师多学一点东西。 约瑟芬笑了。 "年轻人，拍马屁可是走到哪里都管用。 行吧，我觉得没问题。 但你得保证完完全全按我说的做才行。" "我保证。"他回答。 你确定不介意错过这场仪式吗？" "我非常确定。"洛克韦尔回答。 "等我回学校，布洛伊丝太太肯定都不敢相信这件事！" "那好吧。"约瑟芬说。 "咱们来看看能为72号做些什么，好吗？ 我不知道你怎么想，但我看见坏了的东西，至少总得试着修一修。