Chapter 7

ChAPTER SEVEN "We can cross off Hilda," said Kate, as the lift swooped down to the fifth floor. "She didn't even know the chutes existed- and come to think of it, Gus and River only just got back from Paraguay; the sabotage has been going on for weeks, so it can't be them either." "We really could be onto something with Penny Press," squeaked Rupert. "She could well be the last one to see the paper

第七章 “我们可以把希尔达排除了，”凯特说道，这时电梯正嗖地一下往五楼降去。 “她甚至都不知道这些传送滑道存在——而且想想看，格斯和里弗才刚从巴拉圭回来； 破坏行动已经持续好几个星期了，所以也不可能是他们。” “我们追查彭妮·普雷斯的方向说不定真的找对了，”鲁珀特尖声说道。 “她很可能是报纸送到约翰内斯手里之前最后一个接触它的人——而且她负责核对所有错误。”

before it goes to Johannes- and she's in charge of mistakes." "Unless someone's doing a good job of getting around her," said Kate, as the doors opened into a pitch-black room. A strong chemical smell filled her nose. "Ms Press?" she called into the darkness. "Are you in here?" Something creaked in front of them. "Shivering walnuts!" squeaked Rupert, jumping a full five centimetres. "Can you turn a light on, please?" asked Kate. "Oh no... I can't do that," said a floaty voice. "It'll ruin the developing photos. Here, take these..." Kate felt a pair of goggles being

在交给约翰内斯之前 —— 差错都由她负责。 “除非有人特意绕开了她做手脚，”凯特话音刚落，电梯门就开了，门外是一片漆黑的房间。 一股浓烈的化学品气味钻进了她的鼻子。 “普雷斯女士？” 她朝着黑暗里喊道。 “你在里面吗？” 他们前方有什么东西吱呀响了一声。 “我的核桃抖掉啦！”鲁珀特尖声叫起来，整个人蹦得足有五厘米高。 “请问你能把灯打开吗？”凯特问。 “哦不行……我不能开灯，”一个轻飘飘的声音说道。 “灯会弄坏正在冲洗的照片的。 来，拿着这些……” 凯特感觉有一副护目镜被塞到了自己手里，同时听见鲁珀特接过护目镜时礼貌地说了句“谢谢你”。

pressed into her hand and heard Rupert say, "Thank you," politely as he received his. As she put the goggles on, Penny Press's face loomed into view in black and white, uncomfortably close to Kate's own. Thick glasses, with all sorts of bizarre mechanisms sprouting from the frames, magnified her watery eyes. "You're the Special Correspondent girl, aren't you?" whispered Penny. "I've seen you here before. "What do you mean?" Kate frowned. "In the photos. Penny tapped a nearby tank. Inside, Kate saw pictures suspended in gloopy, glowing liquid. "Did you know your shirt had a blob of shrimp on it in

护目镜被塞进她手里，同时听见鲁珀特接过属于他的那份时，礼貌地说了句：“谢谢你。” 她戴上护目镜后，彭妮·普雷斯的脸突然在黑白色的视野里冒了出来，离凯特的脸近得让人不舒服。 她戴着厚厚的眼镜，镜框上伸出各种各样稀奇古怪的装置，把她湿漉漉的眼睛放大了好多倍。 “你就是那个特派记者小姑娘，对不对？”彭妮小声说。 “我之前在这里见过你。” “你这话是什么意思？” 凯特皱起了眉头。 “在照片里呀。” 彭妮轻轻敲了敲旁边的一个池子。 凯特看见池子里的黏糊糊、发着光的液体里，正泡着好多照片。 “你知不知道你上次登上报纸的时候，衬衫上沾了一点虾酱呀？”

your last printed appearance?" "Well, the Miss Custard wasn't the cleanest of boats," said Kate, crossing her arms.

你上次登上报纸的时候 “这个嘛，‘奶油冻小姐号’本来就不是什么干净的船，”凯特抱着胳膊说道。

"I'm sorry," said Penny sadly. My laser-focused attention to detail can be irritating. Smarty gets livid when I tell him his tie is hanging three degrees off- centre. But I can't help seeing things other people don't. It's my job, after all." "To check the newspaper?" asked Kate. "Yes, sixteen times, each with a different magnifying device, and straight after Smarty sends them down from the News Room. I hand-stamp each page with my initials and then send it to Johannes." Penny held up a stamp with the letters P.P. engraved on its surface. "And I hadn't missed a single error in twenty-eight years! Not until now, that is." Penny's huge eyes filled with tears and her pale lips

“对不起呀，”彭妮难过地说。 我对细节的关注度太高了，有时候会惹人烦。 我每次告诉斯马蒂他的领带歪了三度，他都会气得脸色发青。 可我就是能看见别人注意不到的东西，我也没办法呀。 毕竟这是我的工作嘛。” “是核对报纸内容的工作？”凯特问。 “对呀，斯马蒂从新闻室把稿子发下来之后，我要用十六种不同的放大镜各检查一遍， 每一页都盖上我名字的首字母章，再送去给约翰内斯。” 彭妮举起一个印章，表面刻着“P.P.”两个字母。 “我这二十八年来从来没漏掉过一个错误！ 直到现在，才出了问题。” 彭妮的大眼睛里盛满了泪水，苍白的嘴唇

began to wobble. "But it's not my fault! Someone's been sneaking around in here and messing things up, I just know it!" Penny pointed at a glowing puddle in the corner. "Something was spilled?" asked Kate. Penny gulped back her tears and nodded. "Some of my precious Depiction Liquid. I use it to develop the photos- it's very rare and expensive. The spill wasn't here when I left last night, but it's the first thing I noticed this morning. Kate tightened her goggles and stepped towards the glowing smudge. It was strange looking at things in black and white... But wait- what was that? "Footprints!" she breathed. "Look.

开始微微发抖。 “可这不是我的错呀！ 有人偷偷溜进来过，把东西都搞乱了，我百分百肯定！” 彭妮指着角落里一滩发光的液体。 “是有什么东西洒出来了吗？”凯特问。 彭妮把眼泪憋了回去，点了点头。 “是我宝贝的显像液。 我用它来冲洗照片——这东西特别稀有，也特别贵。 我昨晚离开的时候还没有洒，今天早上我一来就看见这滩东西了。 凯特把护目镜按紧了些，朝那片发光的污迹走过去。 看什么都是黑白色的，感觉怪怪的…… 等等——那是什么？ “脚印！” 她屏住呼吸低声说。 “你看。