Shadow of the Hegemon226

kircheis

Part One Volunteers
第一部分　志愿兵
Chapter One Petra
第一章　佩查

To: Chamtajnagar sacredriver@ifcom.gov
致：Chamtajnagar sacredriver@ifcom.gov（切瑞纳格将军）
From: Locke espinoza@polnet.gov
自：Locke espinoza@polnet.gov（洛克）
Re: What are you doing to protect the children
回复：你为保护那些孩子做了什么？

Dear Admiral Chamrajnagar,
I was given your idname by a mutual friend who once worked for you but now is a glorified dispatcher – I’m sure you know whom I mean. I realize that your primary responsibility now is not so much military as logistical, and your thoughts are turned to space rather than the political situation on Earth. After all, you decisively defeated the nationalist forces led by your predecessor in the League War, and that issue seems settled. The IF remains independent and for that we are all grateful.

亲爱的切瑞纳格上将：
一位共同的朋友给了我你的地址——你肯定明白我指的是谁，他一度曾在你手下工作，不过目前已经变成荣誉的象征了。我了解你现在的首要任务不像后勤那么军事化，而且你的思想也从关注地球的政治局势开始转向宇宙。你在前辈的领导下，果断的在联盟战争中击败了民族主义者的武力，这一结果看起来是必然的。国际舰队保持着独立自主，这点我们都表示感谢。

What no one seems to understand is that peace on Earth is merely a temporary illusion. Not only is Russia’s long-pent expansionism still a driving force, but also many other nations have aggressive designs on their neighbors. The forces of the Strategos are being disbanded, the Hegemony is rapidly losing all authority, and Earth is poised on the edge of cataclysm.

　　看来没人意识到地球的目前的和平只是暂时的幻想，不仅华沙条约国长期的膨胀主义仍然是一个强劲的力量，其他同盟国也在制定着侵略邻居们的计划。将军的权力正在被削弱，霸主迅速失去其威信，而地球则处于崩溃边缘。

The most powerful resource of any nation in the wars to come will be the children trained in Battle, Tactical, and Command School. While it is perfectly appropriate for these children to serve their native countries in future wars, it is inevitable that at least some nations that lack such IF-certified geniuses or who believe that rivals have more-gifted commanders will inevitably take preemptive action, either to secure that enemy resource for their own use or, in any event, to deny the enemy the use of that resource. In short, these children are in grave danger of being kidnapped or killed.

各国在战争中最强有力的资源将是那些经过战争训练的孩子们，很可能这些孩子会在即将到来的战争中为其各自的祖国服务，而某些国家则将因为自己缺乏这些经过国际舰队鉴定的天才，或者因为他们认为敌人拥有更多的天才指挥官而先发制人，无论敌人的资源是为了用于战争还是仅仅为了防止别的国家拥有他们，这些事情是不可避免的。简而言之，这些孩子们正处于严重的被绑架或谋害的危机中。

I recognize that you have a hands-off policy toward events on Earth, but it was the IF that identified these children and trained them, thus making them targets. Whatever happens to these children, the IF has ultimate responsibility. It would go a long way toward protecting them if you were to issue an order placing these children under Fleet protection, warning any nation or group attempting to harm or interfere with them that they would face swift and harsh military retribution. Far from regarding this as interference in Earthside affairs, most nations would welcome this action, and, for whatever it is worth, you would have my complete support in all public forums.

我认为你的不干涉政策对地球上的局面有利，但正是国际舰队鉴定并且训练了这些孩子并使他们变成了靶子。无论这些孩子身上发生了什么，国际舰队都有最终的责任。如果你打算发布一条命令把这些孩子置于舰队的保护之下，警告各国家组织若是妨碍或者打扰他们都将遭到军队迅速并且严酷的报复，这对保护他们将大有帮助。远离地球上这些冲突吧，大部分国家都将欢迎这一事实。而且，无论它指的什么，你都将得到我在公众舆论上的全力支持。

I hope you will act immediately. There is no time to waste.

　　希望你能尽快行动起来，没有时间可以浪费了。

Respectfully,
Locke
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　洛克

Nothing looked right in Armenia when Petra Arkanian returned home. The mountains were dramatic, of course, but they had not really been part of her childhood experience. It was not until she got to Maralik that she began to see things that should mean something to her. Her father had met her in Terevan while her mother remained at home with her eleven-year-old brother and the new baby -- obviously conceived even before the population restrictions were relaxed when the war ended. They had no doubt watched Petra on television. Now, as the flivver took Petra and her father along the narrow streets, he began apologizing. "It won't seem much to you, Pet, after seeing the world."

当佩查·阿卡莉回到亚美尼亚的家中时，一切在她眼中看起来都不大对劲。当然山脉是动人的，不过它们并非她童年经历的一部分。直到她到达Maralik后，事物在她眼中才有其意义。她的父亲在Terevan见到她，母亲仍留在家中照顾她11岁大的弟弟和新出生的婴儿——显然人口限制在战争结束后已经放松了。他们肯定在电视上看过佩查，现在，正当小汽车载着佩查和她的父亲在狭窄的小道上前行时，他开始道歉了：“佩特，在看到世界之后，它们看起来的确没什么。”

"They didn't show us the world much, Papa. There were no windows in Battle School."

　　“爸爸，他们没有让我们看到世界，战斗学校中没有窗户。”

"I mean, the spaceport, and the capital, all the important people and wonderful buildings . . ."

　　“我是说，发射场，还有首都，全都是重要的人和惊人的建筑……”

"I'm not disappointed, Papa." She had to lie in order to reassure him. It was as if he had given her Maralik as a gift, and now was unsure whether she liked it. She didn't know yet whether she would like it or not. She hadn't liked Battle School, but she got used to it. There was no getting used to Eros, but she had endured it. How could she dislike a place like this, with open sky and people wandering wherever they wanted?

“我没有失望，爸爸。”她开始说谎来安慰他。看来似乎是他把Maralik当作礼物送给她，却不确定她是否喜欢。她仍然不知道她是否该喜欢，她不喜欢战斗学校，不过她已经习惯了那里。那里没有希望，不过她仍然忍受了下来。而这里则有着开阔的天空，人们也可以自由往来，她怎么会不喜欢？

Yet she was disappointed. For all her memories of Maralik were the memories of a five-year-old, looking up at tall buildings, across wide streets where large vehicles loomed and fled at alarming speeds. Now she was much older, beginning to come into her womanly height, and the cars were smaller, the streets downright narrow, and the buildings -- designed to survive the next earthquake, as the old buildings had not -- were squat. Not ugly -- there was grace in them, given the eclectic styles that were somehow blended here, Turkish and Russian, Spanish and Riviera, and, most incredibly, Japanese -- it was a marvel to see how they were still unified by the choice of colors, the closeness to the street, the almost uniform height as all strained against the legal maximums.

但是她失望了，因为她所有关于Maralik的记忆都是属于五岁小孩的：仰望高高的建筑物，穿过宽广的街道，巨大的交通工具以惊人的速度出现和隐没。但现在她长大了，她有了一个女人的正常身高，汽车看起来也小得多了，街道则是显然的狭窄，而建筑——过去的建筑设计不考虑抗震，而现在的建筑则都为这个原因而建造得矮小了。不过并不难看，它们都很优雅，而且不知何故拥有数种混合风格。例如：土耳其和俄国，西班牙和里维埃拉，而且，最不可置信的还有日本建筑。它们是个用色不统一的奇迹，最靠近街道，还拥有统一的高度和对抗法律的极限。

kircheis

纠正了一个错误。

"I'm not disappointed, Papa." She had to lie in order to reassure him. It was as if he had given her Maralik as a gift, and now was unsure whether she liked it. She didn't know yet whether she would like it or not. She hadn't liked Battle School, but she got used to it. There was no getting used to Eros, but she had endured it. How could she dislike a place like this, with open sky and people wandering wherever they wanted?

“我没有失望，爸爸。”她开始说谎来安慰他。看来似乎是他把Maralik当作礼物送给她，却不确定她是否喜欢。她仍然不知道她是否该喜欢，她不喜欢战斗学校，不过她已经习惯了那里。她不习惯艾洛斯，不过她仍然忍受了下来。而这里则有着开阔的天空，人们也可以自由往来，她怎么会不喜欢？

Yet she was disappointed. For all her memories of Maralik were the memories of a five-year-old, looking up at tall buildings, across wide streets where large vehicles loomed and fled at alarming speeds. Now she was much older, beginning to come into her womanly height, and the cars were smaller, the streets downright narrow, and the buildings -- designed to survive the next earthquake, as the old buildings had not -- were squat. Not ugly -- there was grace in them, given the eclectic styles that were somehow blended here, Turkish and Russian, Spanish and Riviera, and, most incredibly, Japanese -- it was a marvel to see how they were still unified by the choice of colors, the closeness to the street, the almost uniform height as all strained against the legal maximums.

但是她失望了，因为她所有关于Maralik的记忆都是属于五岁小孩的：仰望高高的建筑物，穿过宽广的街道，巨大的交通工具以惊人的速度出现和隐没。但现在她长大了，她有了一个女人的正常身高，汽车看起来也小得多了，街道则是显然的狭窄，而建筑——过去的建筑设计不考虑抗震，而现在的建筑则都为这个原因而建造得矮小了。不过并不难看，它们都很优雅，而且不知何故拥有数种混合风格。例如：土耳其和俄国，西班牙和里维埃拉，而且，最不可置信的还有日本建筑。它们是个用色不统一的奇迹，最靠近街道，还拥有统一的高度和对抗法律的极限。

She knew of all this because she had read about it on Eros as she and the other children sat out the League War. She had seen pictures on the nets. But nothing had prepared her for the fact that she had left here as a five-year-old and now was returning at fourteen.

她知道这一切，毕竟当她在艾洛斯袖手旁观同盟战争的时候已经从书上读过了，而且她也从网络上找到了图片。但是她仍没有准备好面对事实：她离开的时候只是个5岁小孩，而归来时已经14了。

"What?" she said. For Father had spoken and she hadn't understood him.

“什么？”她没听明白父亲说的话。

"I asked if you wanted to stop for a candy before we went home, the way we used to."

“我问你是否愿意在回家前停下来吃点糖果，就像我们习惯的那样。”

Candy. How could she have forgotten the word for candy?

糖？她怎么会忘记了糖是什么意思呢？

Easily, that's how. The only other Armenian in Battle School had been three years ahead of her and graduated to Tactical School so they overlapped only for a few months. She had been seven when she got from Ground School to Battle School, and he was ten, leaving without ever having commanded an army. Was it any wonder that he didn't want to jabber in Armenian to a little kid from home? So in effect she had gone without speaking Armenian for nine years. And the Armenian she had spoken then was a five-year-old's language. It was so hard to speak it now, and harder still to understand it.

无疑这就是原因。战斗学校的另外一个亚美尼亚人早在三年前就毕业去战术学校了，因此他们在几个月的差别间失之交臂。当她从地面学校进入战斗学校时她7岁，那个人10岁，而且甚至没有担任过战队长。他不愿意和从家乡来的小孩说话有什么奇怪？所以结果就是她已经九年没有说起过亚美尼亚了。而她说的亚美尼亚语仍然属于一个五岁的小孩，现在说起来已经太困难了，甚至理解也遇到一些障碍。

How could she tell Father that it would help her greatly if he would speak to her in Fleet Common -- English, in effect? He spoke it, of course -- he and Mother had made a point of speaking English at home when she was little, so she would not be handicapped linguistically if she was taken into Battle School. In fact, as she thought about it, that was part of her problem. How often had Father actually called candy by the Armenian word? Whenever he let her walk with him through town and they stopped for candy, he would make her ask for it in English, and call each piece by its English name. It was absurd, really -- why would she need to know, in Battle School, the English names of Armenian candies?

她如何能告诉父亲，如果他能够跟她讲舰队通用语——例如英语——会很有帮助？他肯定会说的，她当年在家的时候父母非常强调这一点，所以她进入战斗学校才没遇到语言障碍。事实上她考虑过这些了，这也是她问题的一部分。父亲有多经常会用亚美尼亚语说糖果这个词？无论何时，当他带着她步行通过小镇的时候，他们总是停下来吃糖的，他总是让她用英语点单，并且找出每一块糖的英文名字。听起来可笑，但事实上——为什么她需要在战斗学校中知道每一块糖的亚美尼亚名字？

"What are you laughing for?"

“你在笑什么？”

"I seem to have lost my taste for candy while I was in space, Father. Though for old time's sake, I hope you'll have time to walk through town with me again. You won't be as tall as you were the last time."

“我在太空似乎对糖失去了胃口呢，父亲。可是为了老时光，我希望你能再度和我一起步行穿过小镇。哦，你不必跟上次一样高大。”

"No, nor will your hand be as small in mine." He laughed, too. "We've been robbed of years that would be precious now, to have in memory."

“哦，你的手也不必像当年一样小小的放在我手里。”父亲也笑起来了，“我们被剥夺的时光现在在记忆中变得无比珍贵了。”

"Yes," said Petra. "But I was where I needed to be."

“是啊。” 佩查回答，“但是我去了需要我的地方。”

Or was I? I'm the one who broke first. I passed all the tests, until the test that mattered, and there I broke first. Ender comforted me by telling me he relied on me most and pushed me hardest, but he pushed us all and relied upon us all and I'm the one who broke. No one ever spoke of it; perhaps here on Earth not one living soul knew of it. But the others who had fought with her knew it. Until that moment when she fell asleep in the midst of combat, she had been one of the best. After that, though she never broke again, Ender also never trusted her again. The others watched over her, so that if she suddenly stopped commanding her ships, they could step in. She was sure that one of them had been designated, but never asked who. Dink? Bean? Bean, yes -- whether Ender assigned him to do it or not, she knew Bean would be watching, ready to take over. She was not reliable. They did not trust her. She did not trust herself.

我是吗？我是第一个崩溃的。我通过了每一场测验直到最后，而在那时我第一个崩溃了。安德为了安慰我说他最依赖我因此给我压力太大了，但他给了我们所有人压力而且同样依赖每个人，但我是唯一一个崩溃的。没有人提起来，可能在地球上没有一个活人知道这一点，但是曾和她并肩作战的战友们知道。直到她在战斗中昏迷之前她一直是最好的，而那之后，虽然她再也没有崩溃，安德却也再没有信任她。其他人监视着她，以便如果她再度失去对战舰的控制，他们能马上插手。她肯定他们中有人被指定来做这项工作，但是从没问过是谁。丁克？豆子？豆子——对，无论安德是否有指派，她知道豆子会保持警觉随时接管的。她已经不可信了，他们不信任她，她也不信任自己。

Yet she would keep that secret from her family, as she kept it in talking to the prime minister and the press, to the Armenian military and the schoolchildren who had been assembled to meet the great Armenian hero of the Formic War. Armenia needed a hero. She was the only candidate out of this war. They had shown her how the online textbooks already listed her among the ten greatest Armenians of all time. Her picture, her biography, and quotations from Colonel Graff, from Major Anderson, from Mazer Rackham.

但是她仍将对家庭保守秘密，就像她对总理和新闻界发言，对组织起来与虫族战争中英雄会面的亚美尼亚军方及学生保守秘密一样。亚美尼亚需要英雄，而她则是唯一一个参与了战争的人。他们向她展示了在线教科书早已经把她列为十位最伟大的亚美尼亚人之一。她的照片，她的传记，里面还引用了格拉夫上校、安德森少校和马泽·雷汉的评语。

And from Ender Wiggin. "It was Petra who first stood up for me at risk to herself. It was Petra who trained me when no one else would. I owe everything I accomplished to her. And in the final campaign, in battle after battle she was the commander I relied upon."

还有安德·维京的：“是佩查第一个冒着风险支持我，也是她在别人都不愿意做的情况下第一个训练了我。我完成的每一件事都应该归功于她，而在最后一战中，她都是我依赖的支队长。”

Ender could not have known how those words would hurt. No doubt he meant to reassure her that he did rely upon her. But because she knew the truth, his words sounded like pity to her. They sounded like a kindly lie.

安德不知道这样的言辞会伤害她。无疑他是希望告诉她他的依赖以安慰她。但是因为她知道事实，他的言辞听起来就像对她的怜悯，听起来只是个善意的谎言。

And now she was home. Nowhere on Earth was she so much a stranger as here, because she ought to feel at home here, but she could not, for no one knew her here. They knew a bright little girl who was sent off amid tearful good-byes and brave words of love. They knew a hero who returned with the halo of victory around her every word and gesture. But they did not know and would never know the girl who broke under the strain and in the midst of battle simply . . . fell asleep. While her ships were lost, while real men died, she slept because her body could stay awake no more. That girl would remain hidden from all eyes.

现在她在家中了，地球上再也没有一个地方像这里这么陌生，因为她应该有回家的感觉，可是她不能。因为这里没有人了解她。他们所知道的她是一个带着含泪的告别以及勇敢的爱被带走的女孩，他们知道的她是一个胜利的荣光围绕在每一句话和每一个动作中的英雄。但他们不知道——也永远不会知道——她在战争中因为压力昏倒在地板上的样子。虽然她的战舰失去了，虽然真实的人死亡了，她却因为身体支持不住而睡着了。这样的女孩应该在所有人眼中隐藏起来。

And from all eyes would be hidden also the girl who watched every move of the
boys around her, evaluating their abilities, guessing at their intentions, determined to take any advantage she could get, refusing to bow to any of them. Here she was supposed to become a child again -- an older one, but a child nonetheless. A dependent.

应该在所有人眼中隐藏起来的还有那个女孩，她看着周围的男孩评估他们的能力，猜测他们的意图，决心利用自己的一切优势，拒绝屈服于任何一个之前。现在她被假定又变回一个孩子了——稍微大一点，不过仍然是孩子。一个受赡养者。

kircheis

After nine years of fierce watchfulness, it would be restful to turn over her life to others, wouldn't it?

在保持了长达九年的高度警觉之后，现在她的生活该转为和他人一样平静了不是吗？

"Your mother wanted to come. But she was afraid to come." He chuckled as if this were amusing. "Do you understand?"

“你的母亲也想来，但是她又害怕。”他笑着说，好像这很有趣，“你明白吗？”

"No," said Petra.

“不。”佩查回答。

"Not afraid of you," said Father. "Of her firstborn daughter she could never be afraid. But the cameras. The politicians. The crowds. She is a woman of the kitchen. Not a woman of the market. Do you understand?"

“不是怕你。”父亲说，“她永远不会害怕她的长女的。她怕的是相机，政治家，人群。她是家庭妇女而非女强人，你明白了吧？”

She understood the Armenian easily enough, if that's what he was asking, because he had caught on, he was speaking in simple language and separating his words a little so she would not get lost in the stream of conversation. She was grateful for this, but also embarrassed that it was so obvious she needed such help.

如果他问的是亚美尼亚语的话，她明白了，因为他理解她所以只用简单的词分割开来表达自己的意思，这样她就不会迷失在词语的洪流之中。她很感激这点，但也很羞愧，因为这太明显的表示着：她需要帮助。

What she did not understand was a fear of crowds that could keep a mother from coming to meet her daughter after nine years.

她所不明白的是，为什么人群恐惧症能够阻止一位母亲与自己分别九年女儿的相见。

Petra knew that it was not the crowds or the cameras that Mother was afraid of. It was Petra herself. The lost five-year-old who would never be five again, who had had her first period with the help of a Fleet nurse, whose mother had never bent over her homework with her, or taught her how to cook. No, wait. She had baked pies with her mother. She had helped roll out the dough. Thinking back, she could see that her mother had not actually let her do anything that mattered. But to Petra it had seemed that she was the one baking. That her mother trusted her.
　　
佩查知道并非人群和相机让母亲害怕，而是佩查自己。曾经失去的五岁女儿永远不会是五岁了，她的青春期是在一名舰队护士的帮助下度过的，她的母亲从未俯身在她的作业上，也不曾教她如何做饭。不，等等，至少她曾经和母亲一起烤派的，她曾经帮忙擀面。这样回忆着，她发现母亲其实没有让她做任何有实质意义的工作，不过对佩查来说她似乎的确是做饭的一员。这就是母亲对她的信任。

That turned her thoughts to the way Ender had coddled her at the end, pretending to trust her as before but actually keeping control.

这让她回想起安德在最后对她的关照，假装像从前那样信任她，但暗中掌握着控制权。

And because that was an unbearable thought, Petra looked out the window of the flivver. "Are we in the part of town where I used to play?"

这个想法让人无法承受，所以佩查望向车窗外了，“我们是在我曾经镇中玩耍的那个地方吗？”

"Not yet," said Father. "But nearly. Maralik is still not such a large town."

“现在没到。”父亲说，“但是很快就到了，马拉里克仍然是个很小的城镇。”

"It all seems new to me," said Petra.

“但对我是新的。”佩查说。

"But it isn't. It never changes. Only the architecture. There are Armenians all over the world, but only because they were forced to leave to save their lives. By nature, Armenians stay at home. The hills are the womb, and we have no desire to be born." He chuckled at his joke.

“它不是新的。它从不改变，除了那些建筑之外。亚美尼亚人遍布世界，但只是因为他们被迫离乡去求生存。我们生来是应该留在家中的，这些群山是我们的发源地，而我们从未期望出生。”他为自己的笑话发笑了。

Had he always chuckled like that? It sounded to Petra less like amusement than like nervousness. Mother was not the only one afraid of her.

他总是喜欢这么笑吗？听在佩查耳中不像娱乐倒像神经过敏。母亲并非唯一一个害怕她的人。

At last the flivver reached home. And here at last she recognized where she was. It was small and shabby compared to what she had remembered, but in truth she had not even thought of the place in many years. It stopped haunting her dreams by the time she was ten. But now, coming home again, it all returned to her, the tears she had shed in those first weeks and months in Ground School, and again when she left Earth and went up to Battle School. This was what she had yearned for, and at last she was here again, she had it back . . . and knew that she no longer needed it, no longer really wanted it. The nervous man in the car beside her was not the tall god who had led her through the streets of Maralik so proudly. And the woman waiting inside the house would not be the goddess from whom came warm food and a cool hand on her forehead when she was sick.

最后车还是到家了，而她也终于意识到了自己在哪儿。这里与她记忆中比较起来又小又破，但是说实话，她已经有许多年没有想起这个地方了，在十岁时这些梦就不再出现。但是现在，重新回到家中，那些梦也回到了她的脑海，那些她在刚到地面学校时候流过的眼泪，还有当她离开地面学校前往战斗学校的时刻。这是她渴望已久的而现在她终于归来了。她得回了一切，但是她知道自己已经不需要了。汽车中那个坐在身边神经质的男人并非那个领着她自豪的穿过马拉里克高高的神，而那个在房中的女人也并非那个在她病中把冰冷的手放在她滚烫的前额上并带来温暖事务的女神。

But she had nowhere else to go.

但是她没有其他地方可去了。

Her mother was standing at the window as Petra emerged from the flivver. Father palmed the scanner to accept the charges. Petra raised a hand and gave a small wave to her mother, a shy smile that quickly grew into a grin. Her mother smiled back and gave her own small wave in reply. Petra took her father's hand and walked with him to the house.

她的母亲正倚窗眺望佩查走出车门，父亲把手放在扫描仪上打开家门。佩查举手向母亲致意，一个小小的害羞的微笑很快变为欢快的笑。她的母亲也微笑着向她挥手回答，佩查拉着父亲的手走入家门。

The door opened as they approached. It was Stefan, her brother. She would not have known him from her memories of a two-year-old, still creased with baby fat. And he, of course, did not know her at all. He beamed the way the children from the school group had beamed at her, thrilled to meet a celebrity but not really aware of her as a person. He was her brother, though, and so she hugged him and he hugged her back. "You're really Petra!" he said.

门在他们接近的时候打开了。是她的弟弟斯捷潘。她无法从记忆中那个两岁的全是婴儿脂肪弄出褶子的小孩中区分出他来，而他当然也不熟悉她。他接近她的方式比较像是在学校组织里会见英雄那样颤抖着，并没有意识到她也是人类。不过他毕竟是她的弟弟，当她拥抱他的时候他也回以拥抱。“真的是你！佩查！”

"You're really Stefan!" she answered. Then she turned to her mother. She was still standing at the window, looking out.

“真的是你！斯捷潘！”她回答道，然后转向母亲。她仍然站在床边眺望着。

"Mother?"

“妈妈？”

The woman turned, tears streaking her cheeks. "I'm so glad to see you, Petra," she said.

　　女人转身回来，脸上挂满泪水，“我真高兴见到你，佩查。”她说。

But she made no move to come to Petra, or even to reach out to her.

但是她没有靠近佩查，甚至没有伸出手。

"But you're still looking for the little girl who left nine years ago," said Petra.

“不过你看起来仍像在寻找那个九年前离开的小女孩。”佩查说。

Mother burst into tears, and now she reached out her arms and Petra strode to her, to be enfolded in her embrace. "You're a woman now," said Mother. "I don't know you, but I love you."

母亲大哭了，现在她伸出了手，佩查冲向她的怀抱，“你现在是成年女子了。”母亲说，“我不熟悉你，但是我爱你。”

"I love you too, Mother," said Petra. And was pleased to realize that it was true.

“我也爱你，妈妈。”佩查回答，而且非常高兴的意识到这是真的。

kircheis

They had about an hour, the four of them -- five, once the baby woke up. Petra shunted aside their questions -- "Oh, everything about me has already been published or broadcast. It's you that I want to hear about" -- and learned that her father was still editing textbooks and supervising translations, and her mother was still the shepherd of the neighborhood, watching out for everyone, bringing food when someone was sick, taking care of children while parents ran errands, and providing lunch for any child who showed up. "I remember once that Mother and I had lunch alone, just the two of us," Stefan joked. "We didn't know what to say, and there was so much food left over."

他们四个人有了大约一个小时时间——他们五个，因为婴儿也醒了。佩查回避了一些问题：“哦，我的事情都已经被新闻界出版或者广播了，所以谈谈你们吧，那才是我想听的。”同时知道了她的父亲仍然在编辑教科书和管理翻译，母亲仍然照顾着邻居，密切注意每一个人，当他们病了的时候送食物过去，为繁忙的家长们照料孩子，而且为露面的孩子提供食物。“我还记得有一次母亲与我共进午餐，只有我们两个。” 斯捷潘笑道，“我们都不知道说什么好，因为剩了太多食物吃不下了。”

"It was already that way when I was little," Petra said. "I remember being so proud of how the other kids loved my mother. And so jealous of the way she loved them!"

“我小时候也曾经发生过。”佩查说，“我记得自己是如此的骄傲，因为那些孩子是这么爱妈妈，我甚至妒嫉她爱他们的方式了！”

"Never as much as I loved my own girl and boy," said Mother. "But I do love children, I admit it, every one of them is precious in the sight of God, every one of them is welcome in my house."

“从不像我爱自己的儿女那样。”母亲回答，“不过我喜欢孩子，我同意这样的观点就是每个人在上帝眼中都是珍贵的，所以每个人都可以在我家得到欢迎。”

"Oh, I've known a few you wouldn't love," said Petra.

“哦，我可认识几个你肯定不会喜欢的。”佩查说。

"Maybe," said Mother, not wishing to argue, but plainly not believing that there could be such a child.

“也许吧。”母亲不想争论所以回答道，不过很明显她不相信世界上有这样的孩子。

The baby gurgled and Mother lifted her shirt to tuck the baby to her breast.

婴儿闹起来了，母亲卷起她的衣服给他喂奶。

"Did I slurp so noisily?" asked Petra.

“我是不是有点吵？”佩查问。

"Not really," said Mother.

“没有。”母亲说。

"Oh, tell the truth," said Father. "She woke the neighbors."

“哦，说实话，”父亲说，“她把邻居都吵醒了。”

"So I was a glutton."

“所以我吃得太多了。”

"No, merely a barbarian," said Father. "No table manners."

“不，只不过是有点粗鲁。”父亲说，“缺乏餐桌礼仪。”

Petra decided to ask the delicate question boldly and have done with it. "The baby was born only a month after the population restrictions were lifted."

佩查试图大胆的问出那个敏感的问题，而她也的确问了。“那个婴儿是在人口限制刚刚撤销后出生的。”

Father and Mother looked at each other, Mother with a beatific expression, Father with a wince. "Yes, well, we missed you. We wanted another little girl."

父母相互望着，母亲有一种幸福的表情，父亲则有些退缩，“是的，我们想你，所以想再要一个女孩。”

"You would have lost your job," said Petra.

“你会丢了饭碗的！”佩查说。

"Not right away," said Father.

“没那么快。”父亲说。

"Armenian officials have always been a little slow about enforcing those laws," said Mother.

“亚美尼亚官员在执行法律的时候总是挺慢。”母亲说。

"But eventually, you could have lost everything."

“但是最后你们会失去世界！”

"No," said Mother. "When you left, we lost half of everything. Children are everything. The rest is . . . nothing."

“不。”母亲说，“当你离开的时候，我们已经失去了半个世界。孩子就是一切，其余的……什么都不是。”

Stefan laughed. "Except when I'm hungry. Food is something!"

斯捷潘笑了，“除了我饿了的时候，食物还是有点意义的。”

"You're always hungry," said Father.

“你总是饿的。”父亲说。

"Food is always something," said Stefan.

“所以食物总是有意义的。”斯捷潘说。

They laughed, but Petra could see that Stefan had had no illusions about what the birth of this child would have meant. "It's a good thing we won the war."

他们都笑了，但是佩查能够看出斯捷潘对于婴儿的出生没抱幻想。“我们赢了战争总是件好事。”

"Better than losing it," said Stefan.

“是啊，总比输了好。”斯捷潘说。

"It's nice to have the baby and obey the law, too," said Mother.

“是啊，婴儿不是非法的了，真好。”母亲说。

"But you didn't get your little girl."

“但你没有找回你的小女孩。”

"No," said Father. "We got our David."

“没有，”父亲说，“但我们有了大卫。”

"We didn't need a little girl after all," said Mother. "We got you back."

“我们也不需要一个小女孩了。”母亲说，“你回来了。”

Not really, thought Petra. And not for long. Four years, maybe fewer, and I'll be off to university. And you won't miss me by then, because you'll know that I'm not the little girl you love, just this bloody-handed veteran of a nasty military school that turned out to have real battles to fight.

并非如此，佩查想到，而且也不是永远。四年，或者更短，我就该去上大学了。你们不会再想念我的，因为你们也会知道我不是那个你们爱着的小女孩了，只是一个满手血腥，从肮脏的军事学院中制造出来参加战争的老兵。

After the first hour, neighbors and cousins and friends from Father's work began dropping by, and it was not until after midnight that Father had to announce that tomorrow was not a national holiday and he needed to have some sleep before work. It took yet another hour to shoo everyone out of the house, and by then all Petra wanted was to curl up in bed and hide from the world for at least a week.

在最初的一个小时后，邻居，亲戚和父亲的同事们开始访问了，直到午夜父亲才意识到明天并不是假日，他们还需要在工作前休息一下。把所有人都赶回家又用了一个小时，在这之后，佩查只想钻进被窝而且至少在公众面前藏起来一个星期。

But by the end of the next day, she knew she had to get out of the house. She didn't fit into the routines. Mother loved her, yes, but her life centered around the baby and the neighborhood, and while she kept trying to engage Petra in conversation, Petra could see that she was a distraction, that it would be a relief for Mother when Petra went to school during the day as Stefan did, returning only at the scheduled time. Petra understood, and that night announced that she wanted to register for school and begin class the next day.

　　但是到第二天晚上，她知道她必须离开房子了。她并不适合日常生活。母亲爱她，是的，但是她的生活中心围绕着婴儿和邻居转，当她试图和佩查交谈时，佩查发现她只是在分心。如果能把佩查送到学校，像斯捷潘一样按照时间表上下学母亲会放松的多。佩查明白了，而那个晚上她告诉大家她想去学校注册并且在第二天开始上课。

"Actually," said Father, "the people from the IF said that you could probably go right on to university."

“实际上，”父亲说，“国际舰队的那些人说你可以直接进大学。”

"I'm fourteen," said Petra. "And there are serious gaps in my education."

“我才十四。”佩查说，“我的教育体系中有可怕的裂缝。”

"She never even heard of Dog," said Stefan.

“她甚至从没听说过DOG。”斯捷潘说。

"What?" said Father. "What dog?"

“什么？”父亲说，“什么狗？”

"Dog," said Stefan. "The zip orchestra. You know."

“D-O-G。”斯捷潘说，“是管弦乐队的缩写，你知道。”

"Very famous group," said Mother. "If you heard them, you'd take the car in for major repairs."

“非常有名的组合。”母亲说，“如果你听过他们，你最好带车去大修理。”

"Oh, that Dog," said Father. "I hardly think that's the education Petra was talking about."

“噢，那个DOG乐队。”父亲说，“我几乎想不起来这也是佩查所说的教育。”

"Actually, it is," said Petra.

“实际上，是的。”佩查说。

"It's like she's from another planet," said Stefan. "Last night I realized she never heard of anybody."

“听起来她像是从外星球来的。”斯捷潘说，“昨晚我发现她几乎谁都不知道。”

"I am from another planet. Or, properly speaking, asteroid."

“我是从另外一个星球来的。或者准确地说，小行星。”

"Of course," said Mother. "You need to join your generation."

“当然。”母亲说，“你需要加入你这一代人中。”

Petra smiled, but inwardly she winced. Her generation? She had no generation, except the few thousand kids who had once been in Battle School, and now were scattered over the surface of the Earth, trying to find out where they belonged in a world at peace.

佩查笑了，但是在思想上她退缩了。她这一代人？她没有这一代人，除了那几千个一样在战斗学校中的孩子，现在他们正散布在地球上，试着找出他们自己在和平世界的位置。

kircheis

School would not be easy, Petra soon discovered. There were no courses in military history and military strategy. The mathematics was pathetic compared to what she had mastered in Battle School, but with literature and grammar she was downright backward -- her knowledge of Armenian was indeed childish, and while she was fluent in the version of English used in Battle School -- including the slang that the kids used there -- she had little knowledge of the rules of grammar and no understanding at all of the mixed Armenian and English slang that the kids used with each other at school.

佩查很快就发现学校的功课并不容易。那里没有战史课和战略课，数学对于她在战斗学校中掌握得也少得可怜，但是在文学和文法方面她完全的落后了。她的亚美尼亚知识只是属于孩子的，而当她流利的使用在战斗学校学到的英语时——包括那些俚语——她却对语法的知识掌握太少而无法理解那些孩子们在学校使用的混杂着英语和亚美尼亚语的俚语。

Everyone was very nice to her, of course -- the most popular girls immediately took possession of her, and the teachers treated her like a celebrity. Petra allowed herself to be led around and shown everything, and studied the chatter of her new friends very carefully, so she could learn the slang and hear how school English and Armenian were nuanced. She knew that soon enough the popular girls would tire of her -- especially when they realized how bluntly outspoken Petra was, a trait that she had no intention of changing. Petra was quite used to the fact that people who cared about the social hierarchy usually ended up hating her and, if they were wise, fearing her, since pretensions didn't last long in her presence. She would find her real friends over the next few weeks -- if, in fact, there were any here who would value her for what she was. It didn't matter. All the friendships here, all the social concerns seemed so trivial to her. There was nothing at stake here, except each student's own social life and academic future, and what did that matter? Petra's previous schooling had all been conducted in the shadow of war, with the fate of humanity riding on the outcome of her studies and the quality of her skills. Now, what did it matter? She would read Armenian literature because she wanted to learn Armenian, not because she thought it actually mattered what some expatriate like Saroyan thought about the lives of children in a long-lost era of a far-off country.

每个人都对她很好，当然了。学校里社交圈的女孩们立即为她着迷，老师也把她当做名人对待。佩查让自己被带领着去看每件东西，仔细的学习她的新伙伴们使用的语言，所以她可以掌握这些俚语以及学校英语与亚美尼亚语的区别。她知道那些交际花很快就会厌倦她，特别是她们意识到佩查是如何坦率的人之后，这是她不想改变的特性。佩查很习惯于这样的事实：那些关注社会阶层的人总是很快就结束对她的憎恨，如果他们足够聪明的话，转为对她的恐惧，既然她的出现所引起的骄傲不会持续很久，她能够很快的在接下来几个星期找到自己真正的朋友，如果这里真的有能够正确评价她价值人的话。这不是问题，这里所有的友谊，社会关系在她看起来都太简单了，没有任何危险，除了学生们自己的社会生活以及学院的未来没什么问题。佩查原先的学校每一个行为都被战争的阴影所控制，她们的学习和能力掌握着人类的命运及未来。现在，有什么问题？她能够阅读亚美尼亚文学因为她希望掌握，而不是她认为知道萨洛扬这类亡命者的想法对一个生长在遥远的时代以及遥远国家的孩子有用。

The only part of school that she truly loved was physical education. To have sky over her head as she ran, to have the track lie flat before her, to be able to run and run for the sheer joy of it and without a clock ticking out her allotted time for aerobic exercise -- such a luxury. She could not compete, physically, with most of the other girls. It would take time for her body to reconstruct itself for high gravity, for despite the great pains that the IF went to make sure that soldiers' bodies did not deteriorate too much during long months and years in space, nothing trained you for living on a planet's surface except living there. But Petra didn't care that she was one of the last to complete every race, that she couldn't leap even the lowest hurdle. It felt good simply to run freely, and her weakness gave her goals to meet. She would be competitive soon enough. That was one of the aspects of her innate personality that had taken her to Battle School in the first place -- that she had no particular interest in competition because she always started from the assumption that, if it mattered, she would find a way to win.

学校生活中她唯一真正喜欢的是体育，能够在天空下奔跑，让足迹在她面前延展，完全为了快乐而奔跑，没有时钟给她计算有氧运动的时间，这太奢侈了。在体育上，她和其他女孩没有竞争，因为她的身体还需要一定时间重新适应地球的高引力，尽管国际舰队曾经担心她们在太空的低重力环境下生活会给人体带来太多损害，因此没有训练她们在除了这里一个行星的表面上生活，以至于给她造成了巨大的疼痛。但是佩查不在乎她是最后一个完成赛跑的，或者她不能跳过最低的栅栏。只要能够自由的奔跑就足够幸福了，她的虚弱给了她完成的目标。很快她就可以重新投入竞争了，这是她天生的能力也是她进入战斗学校的原因之一——对竞争她没有个人兴趣，因为她总是在承担着任务开始的，如果这成为问题，她就要找到解决方法。

And so she settled in to her new life. Within weeks she was fluent in Armenian and had mastered the local slang. As she had expected, the popular girls dropped her in about the same amount of time, and a few weeks later, the brainy girls had cooled toward her as well. It was among the rebels and misfits that she found her friends, and soon she had a circle of confidants and co-conspirators that she called her "jeesh," her private army. Not that she was the commander or anything, but they were all loyal to each other and amused at the antics of the teachers and the other students, and when a school counselor called her in to tell her that the administration was growing concerned about the fact that Petra seemed to be associating with an anti-social element in school, she knew that she was truly at home in Maralik.

她很快的习惯于新生活了，不用几个星期她就能熟练的说亚美尼亚语，连当地俚语也掌握了。像她预期的那样，那些交际花丢掉了她，而几星期之后，那些聪明的女孩开始和她交往。她在那些叛逆者和不合群的人中找到了朋友，很快有了自己心腹的圈子，她称之为“jeesh”，她的私人军队。并不是说她是掌管或者什么，不过她们都忠实于彼此，并且为了老师和其他同学的行为感到开心。而当学校顾问叫她来，告诉她政府为了她加入一个反社会的小圈子感到担心，她知道她在马拉里克找到家了。

Then one day she came home from school to find the front door locked. She carried no house key -- no one did in their neighborhood because no one locked up, or even, in good weather, closed their doors. She could hear the baby crying inside the house, so instead of making her mother come to the front door to let her in, she walked around back and came into the kitchen to find that her mother was tied to a chair, gagged, her eyes wide and frantic with fear.

之后一天，当她从学校回家时发现前门锁着，她没有带家门钥匙——邻居从来不带因为没人锁门，在好天气里面他们甚至不关门。她能听到婴儿在房里哭，所以不等母亲来给她开门，她自己绕着房子走到后面从厨房进去，发现母亲被绑在椅子里，塞着嘴，她的眼睛狂乱的睁大着。

Before Petra had time to react, a hypostick was slapped against her arm and, without ever seeing who had done it, she slipped into darkness.

在佩查明白过来事态之前，一针药物扎到她的手臂上。还没有看清楚是谁，她就昏倒在黑暗之中。

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Chapter Two – Bean
第二章　豆子

To: Locke espinoza@polnet.gov
致：Locke espinoza@polnet.gov（洛克）
From: Chamrajnagar sacredriver@ifcom.gov
自：Chamrajnagar sacredriver@ifcom.gov（切瑞纳格将军）
Re: Do not write to me again
回复：别再给我写信了！

Mr. Peter Wiggin,
Did you really think I would not have the resources to know who you are? You may be the author of the "Locke Proposal," giving you a reputation as a peacemaker, but you are also partly responsible for the world's present instability by your jingoist use of your sister's identity as Demosthenes. I have no illusions about your motives.

彼得·维京先生：
你真的认为我没有足够的资源去找出你是谁吗？你可能是《洛克提案》的作者，给了你一个和平护卫者的名誉，但是你仍然要部分的为了世界现在的不稳定性负责，因为你使用你姐姐的身份德摩斯梯尼发表了大量沙文主义的文章。我对你的动机没有幻想。

It is outrageous of you to suggest that I jeopardize the neutrality of the International Fleet in order to take control of children who have completed their military service with the IF. If you attempt to manipulate public opinion to force me to do so, I will expose your identity as both Locke and Demosthenes. I have changed my idname and have informed our mutual friend that he is not to attempt to relay communication between you and me again. The only comfort you are entitled to take from my letter is this: The IF will not interfere with those trying to assert hegemony over other nations and peoples -- not even you.

你让我破坏国际舰队的中立性去控制住那些在结束了军队服役的孩子们的建议是不可容忍的。如果你打算用公众舆论来强迫我这么做，我也将揭露你身为洛克和德摩斯梯尼的双重身份。我已经更换了自己的用户名并通知了那个我们共同的朋友，他不会再试图让你我之间保持联系了。你能从我的信中得到的唯一安慰是：国际舰队不会干预任何人去取得凌驾他国的霸权，甚至是你。

Chamrajnagar

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　切瑞纳格

The disappearance of Petra Arkanian from her home in Armenia was worldwide news. The headlines were full of accusations hurled by Armenia against Turkey, Azerbaijan, and every other Turkish-speaking nation, and the stiff or fiery denials and counter-accusations that came in reply. There were the tearful interviews with her mother, the only witness, who was sure the kidnappers were Azerbaijani. "I know the language, I know the accent, and that's who took my little girl!"

佩查·阿卡莉从亚美尼亚家中失踪已经成为世界新闻了，报纸上的标题充满了对亚美尼亚对土耳其、阿塞拜疆或者其他使用土耳其语国家的指控，或坚定或暴躁的谢绝以及反指控充斥了回复信件。她的母亲含着泪接受了采访，作为唯一的证人，非常确定绑匪是阿塞拜疆人。“我知道他们的语言！我听出了口音！是他们带走了我女儿！”

Bean was with his family on the second day of their vacation at the beach on the island of Ithaca, but this was Petra, and he read the nets and watched the vids avidly, along with his brother, Nikolai. They both reached the same conclusion right away. "It wasn't any of the Turkish nations," Nikolai announced to their parents. "That's obvious."

豆子正和全家在伊萨卡岛海滩度假的第二天，但这是佩查，因此他带着兄弟尼可莱一起拼命的从网络和新闻中阅读，他们得出了同样的结论。“肯定不是土耳其国家干的。”尼可莱告诉他们的父母，“这是很明显的。”

Father, who had been working in government for many years, agreed. "Real Turks would have made sure to speak only Russian."

在政府部门工作多年的父亲同意了他的看法，“真正的土耳其人会确保自己只说俄语。”

"Or Armenian," said Nikolai.

“或者亚美尼亚语。”尼可莱说。

"No Turk speaks Armenian," said Mother. She was right, of course, since real Turks would never deign to learn it, and those in Turkish countries who did speak Armenian were, by definition, not really Turks and would never be trusted with a delicate assignment like kidnapping a military genius.

“土耳其人不说亚美尼亚语。”母亲说。她是对的，当然，既然真正的土耳其人根本不会屈尊去学，而那些会去学亚美尼亚语的土耳其国家，准确来说，根本不算真正的土耳其人，也不会被信任指派去做绑架一名军队天才这样微妙的任务。

"So who was it?" said Father. "Agents provocateurs, trying to start a war?"

“那是谁呢？”父亲说，“恐怖分子的代理人？打算掀起战争？”

"My bet is on the Armenian government," said Nikolai. "ut her in charge of their military."

“我赌亚美尼亚政府。”尼可莱说，“打算让她去指控军队。”

"Why kidnap her when they could employ her openly?" asked Father.

“那为什么要在他们公然控制她的情况下再绑架她？”父亲问。

"Taking her out of school openly," said Nikolai, "would be an announcement of Armenia's military intentions. It might provoke preemptive actions by surrounding Turkey or Azerbaijan."

“把她带离学校。”尼可莱说，“将成为对亚美尼亚军队的一种警告，可以引起围绕着土耳其和阿塞拜疆的抢先行动。”

There was superficial plausibility in what Nikolai was saying, but Bean knew better. He had already foreseen this possibility back when all the militarily gifted children were still in space. At that time the main danger had come from the Polemarch, and Bean wrote an anonymous letter to a couple of opinion leaders on Earth, Locke and Demosthenes, urging them to get all the Battle School children back to Earth so they couldn't be seized or killed by the Polemarch's forces in the League War. The warning had worked, but now that the League War was over, too many governments had begun to think and act complacently, as if the world now had peace instead of a fragile ceasefire. Bean's original analysis still held. It was Russia that was behind the Polemarch's coup attempt in the League War, and it was likely to be Russia that was behind the kidnapping of Petra Arkanian.

尼可莱的话表面看来似乎有理，但是豆子知道得更清楚。从他们这些军事天才还在太空没有返回的时候他就已经预见到了这样的可能性。在那个时候，最主要的危险是来自官员的，而豆子给地球上的两名对立意见的领导者，洛克和德摩斯梯尼写了一封信，建议他们掌握所有战斗学校的孩子带他们回地球，这样他们就不会被国家官僚在联盟战争中所控制或谋杀。警告有用了，但现在联盟战争已经结束，太多政府开始考虑并且高兴的执行，假如说世界现在已经用和平代替了易碎的停战，豆子最初的分析就对了。在联盟战争中，是俄国藏在官员们的后面策划，而这次藏在佩查·阿卡莉绑架案后面的似乎也有俄国的影子。

Still, he didn't have any hard evidence of this and knew of no way to get it -- now that he wasn't inside a Fleet installation, he had no access to military computer systems. So he kept his skepticism to himself, and made a joke out of it. "I don't know, Nikolai," he said. "Since staging this kidnapping is having an even more destabilizing effect, I'd have to say that if she was taken by her own government, it proves they really really need her, because it was a deeply dumb thing to do."

他仍然没有任何可靠的证据，甚至没有得到这些证据的方法。现在他不在舰队中就职了，他没有进入军方电脑的入口。所以他保持着自己的怀疑开了个玩笑。“我可不这么想，尼可莱。”他说，“既然安排这次绑架造成了动摇的影响，我敢说如果她是被自己的政府带走了，这就证明他们太需要她了，因为这是他们能做的最哑口无言的事。”

"If they're not dumb," said Father, "who did it?"

“如果他们不是哑口无言，”父亲说，“谁干的？”

"Somebody who's ambitious to fight and win wars and smart enough to know they need a brilliant commander," said Bean. "And either big enough or invisible enough or far enough away from Armenia not to care about the consequences of kidnaping her. In fact, I'll bet that whoever took her would be perfectly delighted if war broke out in the Caucasus."

“一些有野心战斗并且胜利，而且足够聪明而知道他们需要一名出色指挥官的人。”豆子说，“足够强大或者足够隐秘或者离亚美尼亚足够遥远，不会造成他们与绑架案的联系。事实上，我敢打赌如果战争在高加索山脉爆发，那些带走她的人会欣喜若狂的。”

"So you think it's some large and powerful nation close by?" asked Father. Of course, there was only one large and powerful nation close to Armenia.

“所以你认为是更大更强的国家？”父亲说，当然，亚美尼亚附近只有一个强国。

"Could be, but there's no telling," said Bean. "Anybody who needs a commander like Petra wants a world in turmoil. Enough turmoil, and anybody might emerge on top. Plenty of sides to play off against each other." And now that Bean had said it, he began to believe it. Just because Russia was the most aggressive nation before the League War didn't mean that other nations weren't going to get into the game.

“可能是，但是不能说。”豆子说，“任何一个需要佩查这样司令官的人都希望世界混乱，足够的混乱，任何一个人都可以爬到顶端，足够的方面在互相斗争。”现在豆子说出来了，他开始自信，只因为俄国是在联盟战争前最有侵略性的国家并不意味着其他国家不想进入这场游戏。

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"In a world in chaos," said Nikolai, "the army with the best commander wins."

“在这样混乱的世界中，”尼可莱说，“拥有最好指挥官的军队将取得胜利。”

"If you want to find the kidnapper, look for the country that talks most about peace and conciliation," said Bean, playing with the idea and saying whatever came to mind.

“如果你希望找出绑架犯，就看看哪个国家和平和安抚的口号喊得最响，”豆子说着，玩弄着这个想法说了脑海中闪现的第一个问题。

"You're too cynical," said Nikolai. "Some who talk about peace and conciliation merely want peace and conciliation."

“你太愤世嫉俗了。”尼可莱说，“有些喊着和平口号的人只是因为他们需要和平。”

"You watch -- the nations that offer to arbitrate are the ones that think they should rule the world, and this is just one more move in the game."

“你看着，那些提出公断的国家是那些认为自己掌管世界的国家，正是在游戏中改变最大的国家。”

Father laughed. "Don't read too much into that," he said. "Most of the nations that are always offering to arbitrate are trying to recover lost status, not gain new power. France. America. Japan. They're always meddling just because they used to have the power to back it up and they haven't caught on yet that they don't anymore."

父亲笑了，“别读太多这些东西了。”他说，“大部分国家总是在提供公断而且试着获得失去的地位，不是得到新的力量。法国，美国，日本，他们总是管闲事只是因为他们习惯拥有力量支持他们，而且还没意识到现在他们什么都不是了。”

Bean smiled. "You never know, do you, Papa. The very fact that you dismiss the possibility that they could be the kidnappers makes me regard them as all the more likely candidates."

豆子笑了，“你从来都没明白，爸爸。你所忽略的真正的事实是他们可能是绑架犯，所以我把他们当作下一个候选人。”

Nikolai laughed and agreed.

尼可莱笑着同意了。

"That's the problem with having two Battle School graduates in the house," said Father. "You think because you understand military thinking that you understand political thinking, too."

“问题是有两个战斗学校的毕业生在这个房子里。”父亲说。“你认为因为你了解军队所以你就了解政治吗？”

"It's all maneuver and avoiding battle until you have overwhelming superiority," said Bean.

“二者都是机动以及避免冲击直到你掌握全面优势。”豆子说。

"But it's also about the will to power," said Father. "And even if individuals in America and France and Japan have the will to power, the people don't. Their leaders will never get them moving. You have to look at nations on the make. Aggressive peoples who think they have a grievance, who think they're undervalued. Belligerent, snappish."

“但也是力量的愿望。”父亲说，“而且即使美法日都有获得力量的愿望，但人民不是。他们的领导者永远不能让他们行动。你不得不去看野心勃勃的国家。那些认为自己有冤屈的人民更有侵略性，他们认为自己被低估了，所以好战而且急躁。”

"A whole nation of belligerent, snappish people?" asked Nikolai.

“一个全国好战的国家？急躁的人民？”尼可莱问。

"Sounds like Athens," said Bean.

“听起来有点像雅典。”豆子说。

"A nation that takes that attitude toward other nations," said Father. "Several self-consciously Islamic nations have the character to make such a play, but they'd never kidnap a Christian girl to lead their armies."

“一个对他国采取对立态度的国家。”父亲说，“有一些自由意志的伊斯兰国家有做出这样事情的特征，但他们不会去绑架基督教的女孩去领导军队。”

"They might kidnap her to prevent her own nation from using her," said Nikolai. "Which brings us back to Armenia's neighbors."

“但他们可能为了防止她为自己国家效力而绑架她。”尼可莱说，“会使我们成为亚美尼亚邻国的。”

"It's an interesting puzzle," said Bean, "which we can figure out later, after we get to wherever we're going."

“这倒是个很有趣的难题。”豆子说，“在我们确定我们的状况后能推算出来。”

Father and Nikolai looked at him as if he were crazy. "Going?" asked Father.

父亲和尼可莱面面相觑，“状况？”父亲问。

It was Mother who understood. "They're kidnaping Battle School graduates. Not just that, but a member of Ender's team from the actual battles."

母亲明白了，“他们绑架了战斗学校毕业生，不仅如此，而且是在真正的战役中参加了安德战队的人。”

"And one of the best," said Bean.

“而且是最好的。”豆子补充。

Father was skeptical. "One incident doesn't make a pattern."

父亲很怀疑，“一个偶然不代表着行为模式。”

"Let's not wait to see who's next," said Mother. "I'd rather feel silly later for overreacting than grieve because we dismissed the possibility."

“不要等着看谁是下一个了。”母亲说，“也许我很无聊，而且反应过度总比我们放过了这种可能性而悲伤好。”

"Give it a few days," said Father. "It will all blow over."

“过几天它就会显现出来了。”父亲说。

"We've already given it six hours," said Bean. "If the kidnappers are patient, they won't strike again for months. But if they're impatient, they're already in motion against all their other targets. For all we know, the only reason Nikolai and I aren't in the bag already is because we threw off their plans by going on vacation."

“我们已经给了六小时了。”豆子说，“如果绑架犯有耐心，他们不会停手几个月。而如果他们很着急，那他们早就开始瞄准下一个目标了。就我所知，我和尼可莱逃过了被绑架的唯一原因是我们度假打乱了他们的计划。”

"Or else," said Nikolai, "our being here on this island gives them the perfect opportunity."

“或者，”尼可莱说，“我们在这个岛上给了他们更好的下手机会。”

"Father," said Mother, "why don't you call for some protection?"

“爸爸！”母亲说，“我们为什么不要求一些保护呢？”

Father hesitated.

　　父亲犹豫着。

Bean understood why. The political game was a delicate one, and anything Father did right now could have repercussions throughout his career. "You won't be perceived as asking for special privileges for yourself," said Bean. "Nikolai and I are a precious national resource. I believe the prime minister is on record as saying that several times. Letting Athens know where we are and suggesting they protect us and get us out of here is a good idea."

豆子知道为什么。政治游戏是非常敏感的，而父亲此刻所作的每件事情都可能折射到他的整个事业。“你不会感到是为你自己使用特权的。”豆子说，“尼可莱和我是宝贵的国家资源，我相信总理已经说过多次而且记录在案了。让雅典知道我们在哪儿并且建议他们保护我们离开是一个好主意。”

Father got on the cellphone.

父亲拿起手机。

He got only a System Busy response.

他只得到了系统忙的反应。

"That's it," said Bean. "There's no way the phone system can be too busy here on Ithaca. We need a boat."

“就是这个了。”豆子说，“在伊萨卡岛上系统不可能这么忙。我们需要船。”

"An airplane," said Mother."

“或者飞机。”母亲说。

"A boat," said Nikolai. "And not a rental. They're probably waiting for us to put ourselves in their hands, so there won't be a struggle."

“船。”尼可莱说，“而且不能租。他们大概正等着我们自投罗网呢，所以不会有斗争。”

"Several of the nearby houses have boats," said Father. "But we don't know these people."

“有些附近的房子有船。”父亲说，“但我们不熟悉他们。”

"They know us," said Nikolai. "Especially Bean. We are war heroes, you know."

“他们熟悉我们。”尼可莱说，“特别是豆子，他是战争英雄。”

"But any house around here could be the very one from which they're watching us," said Father. "If they're watching us. We can't trust anybody."

“但是周围的任何房子都可能是正在监视我们的那一座。”父亲说，“如果他们在监视我们，我们无法信任任何人。”

"Let's get in our bathing suits," said Bean, "and walk to the beach and then wander as far as we can before we cut inland and find somebody with a boat."

“让我们穿上游泳衣。”豆子说，“走到海滩上，然后漫步到最远的地方，再切向内陆去找一人借船。”

Since no one had a better plan, they put it into action at once. Within two minutes they were out the door, carrying no wallets or purses, though Father and Mother slipped a few identification papers and credit cards into their suits. Bean and Nikolai laughed and teased each other as usual, and Mother and Father held hands and talked quietly, smiling at their sons . . . as usual. No sign of alarm. Nothing to cause anyone watching to spring into action.

既然没有更好的主意，他们就立即实施这一个了。不到两分钟他们就出门，不带皮夹或者钱包，尽管父亲和母亲在衣服里塞进了一些身份证明和信用卡。豆子和尼可莱就像通常一样互相取笑着，父母拉着手平静的聊天，向孩子们微笑，就像平常一样。没有标记或者警报，没有任何让人开始行动的理由。

They were only about a quarter mile up the beach when they heard an explosion -- loud, as if it were close, and the shockwave made them stumble. Mother fell. Father helped her up as Bean and Nikolai looked back.

他们只在海滩上走了四分之一英里就听见爆炸声。很大，就像近在咫尺，冲击波击中他们。母亲摔倒了，父亲扶她起来，豆子和尼可莱向后望去。

"Maybe it's not our house," said Nikolai.

“也许不是我们的房子。”尼可莱说。

"Let's not go back and check," said Bean.

“我们不要回去检查比较好。”豆子说。

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They began to jog up the beach, matching their speed to Mother, who was limping a little from having skinned one knee and twisted the other when she fell. "Go on ahead," she said.

他们开始脱离海滩了。但因为母亲摔倒的时候伤了膝盖并且扭伤了另一只脚，他们只能配合她的速度。但是她说：“你们先走吧。”

"Mother," said Nikolai, "taking you is the same as taking us, because we'd do whatever they wanted to get you back."

“妈！”尼可莱说，“带着你和带着我们同等重要，因为为了你能回来我们同样会做任何事。”

"They don't want to take us," said Bean. "etra they wanted to use. Me they want dead."

“他们并不希望要我们。”豆子说，“他们有了佩查，所以他们只需要我死。”

"No," said Mother.

“不！”母亲说。

"He's right," said Father. "You don't blow up a house in order to kidnap the occupants."

“他是对的。”父亲说，“你不会爆炸一间房子去诱拐里面的人。”

"But we don't know it was our house!" Mother insisted.

“但我们并不确定那是我们的房子！”母亲坚持。

"Mother," said Bean. "It's basic strategy. Any resource you can't get control of, you destroy so your enemy can't have it."

“妈！”豆子说，“这是基本的战略，不能控制的资源应该毁掉以防敌人得到。”

"What enemy?" Mother said. "Greece has no enemies!"

“什么敌人？”母亲说，“希腊没有敌人！”

"When somebody wants to rule the world," said Nikolai, "eventually everyone is his enemy."

“当有人想统治世界时，”尼可莱说，“最终每个人都是他的敌人。”

"I think we should run faster," said Mother.

“我想我们最好快点。”母亲说。

They did.

而他们也这样做了。

As they ran, Bean thought through what Mother had said. Nikolai's answer was right, of course, but Bean couldn't help but wonder: Greece might have no enemies, but I have. Somewhere in this world, Achilles is alive. Supposedly he's in custody, a prisoner because he is mentally ill, because he has murdered again and again. Graff promised that he would never be set free. But Graff was court-martialed -- exonerated, yes, but retired from the military. He's now Minister of Colonization, no longer in a position to keep his promise about Achilles. And if there's one thing Achilles wants, it's me, dead.

于是他们开始跑了。豆子反复思考着母亲的话，尼可莱的回答是对的，当然了，但是豆子不能停止惊讶：希腊可能没有敌人，但是我有，在这世界上的某处，阿基里斯仍然活着。假设他正被监控着，假设他因为精神有毛病而被拘禁了，因为他一再谋杀。格拉夫曾经承诺过他永远不会被放出来，然而，格拉夫自己虽被军事法庭证明无罪却不得不从军方退休。他现在是殖民部长，不再是那个能够确保他关于阿基里斯诺言的职位，而如果有阿基里斯想要的事情，那是我，我的死亡。

Kidnaping Petra, that's something Achilles would think of. And if he was in a position to cause that to happen -- if some government or group was listening to him -- then it would have been a simple enough matter for him to get the same people to kill Bean.

绑架佩查，这是阿基里斯可能会想到的，而如果他已经有了能导致这件事情发生的地位，如果某些政府或组织听他的，让人杀了豆子对他也是足够简单的事。

Or would Achilles insist on being there in person?

或者阿基里斯坚持亲自动手？

Probably not. Achilles was not a sadist. He killed with his own hands when he needed to, but would never put himself at risk. Killing from a distance would actually be preferable. Using other hands to do his work.

不可能，阿基里斯不是虐待狂。他只有需要的时候才亲自动手，而且永不会让他陷入危险。远距离遥控谋杀是更可取得，用他人的手来完成工作。

Who else would want Bean dead? Any other enemy would seek to capture him. His test scores from Battle School were a matter of public record since Graff's trial. The military in every nation knew that he was the kid who in many ways had topped Ender himself. He would be the one most desired. He would also be the one most feared, if he were on the other side in a war. Any of them might kill him if they knew they couldn't take him. But they would try to take him first. Only Achilles would prefer his death.

还有谁想要豆子死吗？有一些敌人会想要抓到他，他在战斗学校的成绩因为格拉夫的审判而成为公开记录了，每个国家的军队都知道他在多方面的成绩都超过安德本人。他将是他们最想得到的，也是他们最害怕的，如果他在战争中站在他们的对立面。如果知道他们得不到他，他们都会想杀死他，但是他们会先尝试抓到他。只有阿基里斯更希望他死。

But he said nothing of this to his family. His fears about Achilles would sound too paranoid. He wasn't sure whether he believed them himself. And yet, as he ran along the beach with his family, he grew more certain with every step that whoever had kidnaped Petra was in some way under Achilles' influence.

不过他没有对家里人讲，他对阿基里斯的恐惧听起来太妄想了。他并不确定他是否该相信自己。同时，当他和家人一起沿着海滩行进的时候，他越来越确定是某些人在阿基里斯的控制下绑架了佩查。

They heard the rotors of helicopters before they saw them, and Nikolai's reaction was instantaneous. "Inland now!" he shouted. They scrambled for the nearest wooden stairway leading up the cliff from the beach.

他们听见了直升机的螺旋桨声，尼可莱立刻作出了反应。“它在降落！”他喊道，他们立即爬上了最近的木质楼梯通向海滩旁边的悬崖。

They were only halfway up before the choppers came into view. There was no point in trying to hide. One of the choppers set down on the beach below them, the other on the bluff above.

在直升机进入视野之前他们只走了一半路，没有让他们藏起来的地点。一架直升机在他们下面的海滩上降落了，其他的在悬崖上面。

"Down is easier than up," said Father. "And the choppers do have Greek military insignia."

“下去比上来容易。”父亲说，“那些直升机有希腊徽章。”

What Bean didn't point out, because everyone knew it, was that Greece was part of the New Warsaw Pact, and it was quite possible that Greek military craft might be acting under Russian command.

豆子没有指出，众所周知的希腊是新华沙条约的一部分。希腊军队在俄国的指挥下简直太可能了。

In silence they walked back down the stairs. Hope and despair and fear tugged at them by turns.

他们沉默的走下楼梯，希望、绝望与恐惧交替着袭来。

The soldiers who spilled out of the chopper were wearing Greek Army uniforms.

走出直升机的士兵们穿着希腊军装。

"At least they're not trying to pretend they're Turks," said Nikolai.

“至少他们没有假装成土耳其人。”尼可莱说。

"But how would the Greek Army know to come rescue us?" said Mother. "The explosion was only a few minutes ago."

“但是希腊军队怎么会知道来营救我们？”母亲说，“爆炸几分钟前刚发生。”

The answer came quickly enough, once they got to the beach. A colonel that Father knew slightly came to meet them, saluting them. No, saluting Bean, with the respect due to a veteran of the Formic War.

回答马上就来了，当他们到达海滩上，一名父亲稍微认识的团长来迎接他们，祝福他们，不，祝福豆子，带着对虫族战争中老兵的尊重。

"I bring you greetings from General Thrakos," said the colonel. "He would have come himself, but there was no time to waste when the warning came."

“我带来了Thrakos将军的问候。”团长说，“他应该自己来的，但当警报发出的时候没时间浪费了。”

"Colonel Dekanos, we think our sons might be in danger," said Father.

“Dekanos团长，我们认为我们的孩子正处于危险之中。”父亲说。

"We realized that the moment word came of the kidnapping of Petra Arkanian," said Dekanos. "But you weren't at home and it took a few hours to find out where you were."

“当佩查·阿卡莉被绑架的消息传来时我们意识到了这点。”Dekanos团长说，“不过你们没在家，所以我们花了几个小时找你们。”

"We heard an explosion," said Mother.

“我们听见了爆炸！”母亲说。

"If you had been inside the house," said Dekanos, "you'd be as dead as the people in the surrounding houses. The army is securing the area. Fifteen choppers were sent up to search for you -- we hoped -- or, if you were dead, the perpetrators. I have already reported to Athens that you are alive and well."

“如果你们在房里，”Dekanos团长说，“你们会像附近的人一样死了。军队控制了那里，十五架直升机被派出来寻找你们，我们抱有希望，或者假如你们死了，我们至少希望找到犯罪者。我已经报告了雅典你们生存的消息。”

"They were jamming the cellphone," said Father.

“他们干扰了手机。”父亲说。

"Whoever did this has a very effective organization," said Dekanos. "Nine other children, it turns out, were taken within hours of Petra Arkanian."

“做这些的是一个非常有效率的组织。”Dekanos团长说，“我们发现在佩查·阿卡莉被绑架的一个小时内，有九个孩子也被绑架了。”

"Who?" demanded Bean.

“谁？”豆子急忙问。

"I don't know the names yet," said Dekanos. "Only the count."

“我还不知道姓名。”Dekanos团长说，“只有数量。”

"Were any of the others simply killed?" asked Bean.

“有人被杀吗？”豆子问。

"No," said Dekanos. "Not that I've heard, anyway."

“没有。”Dekanos团长说，“至少我没听到。”

"Then why did they blow up our house?" Mother demanded.

“那他们为什么炸我们的房子？”母亲问。

"If we knew why," said Dekanos, "we'd know who. And vice-versa."

“如果我们知道为什么，”Dekanos团长说，“我们也就知道是谁了。还有他们的习惯。”

They were belted into their seats. The chopper rose from the beach -- but not very high. By now the other choppers were ranged around them and above them. Flying escort.

他们坐在座位上扎好安全带，直升机从海滩上起飞了，但不非常高。但是现在，其他直升机在周围和上方包围着护卫他们。

"Ground troops are continuing the search for the perpetrators," said Dekanos. "But your survival is our highest priority."

“地面搜索队将继续寻找罪犯。”Dekanos团长说，“但是你们的生存最优先。”

"We appreciate that," said Mother.

“非常感激。”母亲说。

But Bean was not all that appreciative. The Greek military would, of course, put them in hiding and protect them carefully. But no matter what they did, the one thing they could not do was conceal the knowledge of his location from the Greek government itself. And the Greek government had been part of the Russia-dominated Warsaw Pact for generations now, since before the Formic War. Therefore Achilles -- if it was Achilles, if it was Russia he worked for, if, if -- would be able to find out where they were. Bean knew that it was not enough for him to be in protection. He had to be in true concealment, where no government could find him, where no one but himself would know who he was.

但是豆子并不那么感激。希腊军队应该，而且必须，藏起他们并给予保护。但是无论他们做什么，有一件事情不能做就是从希腊政府隐瞒他的位置。而从虫族战争前，希腊政府就是俄罗斯控制下的华沙条约国之一，因此阿基里斯，假如是阿基里斯的话，如果他为俄国工作，如果能找出他们在哪儿，豆子知道他们受到的保护远远不够。他必须真正的隐蔽，没有哪个政府能够找到，除了他自己没人知道他在哪儿。

The trouble was, he was not only still a child, he was a famous child. Between his youth and his celebrity, it would be almost impossible for him to move unnoticed through the world. He would have to have help. So for the time being, he had to remain in military custody and simply hope that it would take him less time to get away than it would take Achilles to get to him.

问题在于他不仅仍是个孩子，而且是出名的孩子。在他的年轻和名声之间，他几乎不可能隐姓埋名的穿越世界。他必须寻求帮助，所以暂时，他将保留在军队保护之中，简单的希望只需要一点时间就能逃脱，在阿基里斯得到他之前。

If it was Achilles.

如果是阿基里斯的话……


The end of Chapter 2

kircheis

Chapter Three Message in a Bottle
第一章　佩查

To: Carlotta agape@vatican.net/orders/sisters/ind
致：Carlotta agape@vatican.net/orders/sisters/ind（凯罗特修女）
From: Graff pilgrimage@colmin.gov
自：Graff pilgrimage@colmin.gov（格拉夫）
Re: Danger
回复：危险

I have no idea where you are and that's good, because I believe you are in grave danger, and the harder it is to find you, the better.

我不知道你在哪儿，这是件好事，因为我确信你正处于极大的危险之中，越难找到你越好。

Since I'm no longer with the IF, I'm not kept abreast of things there. But the news is full of the kidnaping of most of the children who served with Ender in Command School. That could have been done by anybody, there is no shortage of nations or groups that might conceive and carry out such a project. What you may not know is that there was no attempt to kidnap one of them. From a friend of mine I have learned that the beach house in Ithaca where Bean and his family were vacationing was simply blown up -- with so much force that the neighboring houses were also flattened and everyone in them killed. Bean and his family had already escaped and are under the protection of the Greek military. Supposedly this is a secret, in hopes that the assassins will think they succeeded, but in fact, like most governments, Greece leaks like a colander, and the assassins probably already know more than I do about where Bean is.

既然我不再属于国际舰队了，我也不会再站在他们一边。但是新闻中全都是绑架那些曾与安德一起在指挥学院中服役的孩子们的消息。这可能是任何人干的，有足够的国家和组织都打算并要实施这种计划。不过你可能还不知道，他们中的任何一个都没有实施这一尝试。从一个朋友那里我知道豆子家在伊萨卡岛海滩度假的房子被炸了，在这样大的冲击之下，邻居的房子也都被炸平，他们都死了。豆子和家人已经从家中逃出并处于希腊军方的保护下。假设这还是个秘密，希望那些暗杀者能以为他们已经成功了，但事实上，就像大多数政府那样，希腊的泄密简直像个筛子，而那些暗杀者大概比我还早知道豆子在哪儿。

There is only one person on Earth who would prefer Bean dead.

地球上只有一个人希望豆子死掉。

That means that the people who got Achilles out of that mental hospital are not just using him -- he is making, or at least influencing, their decisions to fit his private agenda. The danger to you is grave. The danger to Bean, more so. He must go into deep hiding, and he cannot go alone. To save his life and yours, the only thing I can think of is to get both of you off planet. We are within months of launching our first colony ships. If I am the only one to know your real identities, we can keep you safe until launch. But we must get Bean out of Greece as quickly as possible. Are you with me?

这意味着那些从精神病院抢出了阿基里斯德人并没有能完全控制他，他做出了，或者至少影响了他们的决断来符合它的私人议程。对你的危险大概是墓地，而对豆子的危险，比死亡还可怕。他必须深深的藏起来，而且不能独自一人。为了拯救他和你的生命，我唯一能想到的一件事情是送你们离开地球。不过几个月，我们就要送走我们的第一批殖民者了，如果我是唯一一个知道你真实身份的人，我们可以让你安全的离开。但是我们必须从希腊人手中得到豆子，越快越好。你愿意帮我吗？

Do not tell me where you are. We will work out how to meet.

别告诉我你在哪儿，我们将想办法会面。

How stupid did they think she was?

他们认为她有多傻？

It took Petra only about half an hour to realize that these people weren't Turkish. Not that she was some kind of expert on language, but they'd be babbling along and every now and then out would pop a word of Russian. She didn't understand Russian either, except for a few loan words in Armenian, and Azerbaijani had loan words like that, too, but the thing is, when you say a Russian loan word in Armenian, you give it an Armenian pronunciation. These clowns would switch to an easy, native-sounding Russian accent when they hit those words. She would have to have been a gibbon in the slow-learner class not to realize that the Turkish pose was just that, a pose.

佩查只用了半小时就明白过来那些人不是土耳其人。她并非土耳其语的专家，但是他们独自一人的时候就在胡说，而且时不时蹦出几个俄文词来。她也不懂俄语，除非一些从俄语演变为亚美尼亚的单词，当然，阿塞拜疆也从俄语演变了一些单词，但是事实上，当你用亚美尼亚语说俄文单词时，你会用亚美尼亚语发音，而这些小丑蹦出这些单词时则在用一种容易的国际化的俄国口音。除非她是一个长臂猿，否则不可能认识不到那些土耳其的姿势只不过是伪装。

So when she decided she'd learned all she could with her eyes closed, listening, she spoke up in Fleet Common. "Aren't we across the Caucasus yet? When do I get to pee?"

所以当她知道她已经得到了装睡时的所有情报后，她用舰队公用语开口了。“我们不是正穿过高加索山脉吗？什么时候停下来上厕所？”

Someone said an expletive.

某个人骂了一句。

"No, pee," she answered. She opened her eyes and blinked. She was on the floor of some ground vehicle. She started to sit up.

“不！我要上厕所！”她回答着睁开了眼睛发现自己在一辆车的地板上，她开始坐起来。

A man pushed her back down with his foot.

一个男人立即把她按回到自己的脚下。

"Oh, that's clever. Keep me out of sight as we coast along the tarmac, but how will you get me into the airplane without anyone seeing? You want me to come out walking and acting normal so nobody gets all excited, right?"

“哦，这很聪明。当我们沿海岸到停机坪的时候不让我看外面。但是你们打算怎么能不让别人看到就把我弄到飞机上呢？你们打算让我自由走动和说话使得没人怀疑？”

"You'll act that way when we tell you to or we'll kill you," said the man with the heavy foot.

“你要么按我们说的做，要么去死。”那个有大脚的男人说道。

"If you had the authority to kill me, I'd be dead back in Maralik." She started to rise again. Again the foot pushed her back down.

“如果你有杀死我的权利，我早在马拉里克就死了。”佩查再次尝试坐起来而那个大脚男人再度按倒她。

"Listen carefully," she said. "I've been kidnapped because somebody wants me to plan a war for them. That means I'm going to be meeting with the top brass. They're not stupid enough to think they'll get anything decent from me without my willing cooperation. That's why they wouldn't let you kill my mother. So when I tell them that I won't do anything for them until I have your balls in a paper bag, how long do you think it will take them to decide what's more important to them? My brain or your balls?"

“仔细听着。”她说，“我被绑架因为有人需要我来计划一场战争，那就是说我要去见到最高指挥者。他们可不会那么蠢认为没有我的配合也能从我身上得到想要的东西。这就是为什么他们没让你们杀死我母亲。所以，如果我告诉他们除非我得到你们的脑袋否则就什么都不干，你们认为他们会犹豫多久才做出决定？我的大脑或者是你们的脑袋？”

"We do have the authority to kill you."

“我们有权力杀你。”

It took her only moments to decide why such authority might have been given to morons like these. "Only if I'm in imminent danger of being rescued. Then they'd rather have me dead than let somebody else get the use of me. Let's see you make a case for that here on the runway at the Gyuniri airport."

这让她用了几分钟来确定为什么这种蠢人能得到这样的权力，“除非我马上就能被救出去，他们会宁愿让我死掉以便由他人代替。让我们看看你在这里，在飞机跑道上杀我！”

A different rude word this time.

又是一个骂人的词。

Somebody spurted out a sentence of Russian. She caught the gist of it from the intonation and the bitter laughter afterward. "They warned you she was a genius."

某些人爆出了一些俄文句子，她从语调和之后的苦笑中抓住了重点，“他们警告你她是个天才。”

Genius, hell. If she was so smart, why hadn't she anticipated the possibility that somebody would make a grab for the kids who won the war? And it had to be kids, not just her, because she was too far down the list for somebody outside Armenia to make her their only choice. When the front door was locked, she should have run for the cops instead of puttering around to the back door. And that was another stupid thing they did, locking the front door. In Russia you had to lock your doors, they probably thought that was normal. They should have done better research. Not that it helped her now, of course. Except that she knew they weren't all that careful and they weren't all that bright. Anybody can kidnap someone who's taking no precautions.

天才，见鬼。如果她真这么狡猾，为什么没有预见到有人会想要夺取这些战胜孩子们的可能性？而且必须是孩子们，不会正好是她，毕竟对于亚美尼亚外的人来说她应该是排在单子的最后面。当前门锁上的时候，她应该逃走而不是绕到后门去，还有另一件很蠢的事她没看出来，锁上前门。在俄国你需要锁门，所以他们大概认为这才是常态，他们应该更好的研究一下。不仅这些，当然，除了她知道他们不是那么小心而且也不聪明，任何人都可以绑架一个全无防范的人。

kircheis

"So Russia makes her play for world domination, is that it?" she asked.

“所以俄国为了世界控制权导演了这场闹剧，对不对？”她问。

"Shut up," said the man in the seat in front of her.

“闭嘴！”坐在前面位置的男人说。

"I don't speak Russian you know, and I won't learn."

“你知道我不会说俄语，而且也不会学。”

"You don't have to," said a woman.

“你不必学。”一个女人说。

"Isn't that ironic?" said Petra. "Russia plans to take over the world, but they have to speak English to do it."

“这不是讽刺吗？”佩查说，“俄国意图接管世界，但他们自己却要说英语。”

The foot on her belly pressed down harder.

踩在她腹部的那只大脚用力往下踩了。

"Remember your balls in a bag," she said.

“记住你的脑袋！”她说。

A moment, and then the foot let up.

过了一会儿，那只脚慢慢抬了起来。

She sat up, and this time no one pushed her down.

她坐起来，这一次没人把她按倒了。

"Untape me so I can get myself up on the seat. Come on! My arms hurt in this position! Haven't you learned anything since the days of the KGB? Unconscious people don't have to have their circulation cut off. Fourteen-year-old Armenian girls can probably be overpowered quite easily by big strong Russian goons."

“解开我让我坐到座位上，快点。我的胳臂在这个位置下疼死了。你们没从KGB的经历中学到点什么吗？不省人事的人不能让他们的血液循环终止，一个14岁的亚美尼亚女孩可能会被这群俄国暴徒弄死的！”

By now the tape was off and she was sitting beside Heavy-foot and a guy who never looked at her, just kept watching out the left window, then the right, then the left again. "So this is Gyuniri airport?"

于是绳子松开了，她坐在大脚男人和一个从不看她的男人中间，继续从左边的窗户往外看，然后是右边，然后再回到左边，“所以这里就是Gyuniri机场了？”

"What, you don't recognize it?"

“什么？你不认为是这样吗？”

"I've never been here before. When would I? I've only taken two airplane trips in my life, one out of Terevan when I was five, and the other coming back, nine years later."

“我从来没来过这儿。什么时候来？我只有两次坐飞机旅行，其中之一是在我五岁离开埃里温的时候，另外一次则是九年之后的回来。”

"She knew it was Gyuniri because it's the closest airport that doesn't fly commercial jets," said the woman. She spoke without any tone in her voice -- not contempt, not deference. Just . . . flat.

“她知道这里是Gyuniri机场因为那是不飞商务航班的最近的机场。”那个女人说，她的声音里没有丝毫语气，不轻视也不尊重，只是……平和的。

"Whose bright idea was this? Because captive generals don't strategize all that well."

“这是谁的天才主意？因为笨蛋通常不会制订这么聪明的战略。”

"First, why in the world do you think anyone would tell us?" said the woman. "Second, why don't you shut up and find things out when they matter?"

“首先，为什么你认为有人告诉我们？”那个女人说，“其次，你为什么不闭嘴来找出它们的关系？”

"Because I'm a cheerful, talkative extrovert who likes to make friends," said Petra.

“因为我是个高兴的，多嘴的外向性格的女孩喜欢交朋友。”佩查说。

"You're a bossy, nosy introvert who likes to piss people off," said the woman.

“你是个烦人的，好管闲事的内向的家伙，总喜欢让别人发火。”女人说。

"Oh, you actually did some research."

“哦，你的确是在做一些研究。”

"No, just observation." So she did have a sense of humor. Maybe.

“不，只是观察。”看来她还是有幽默感的，也许。

"You'd better just pray you can get over the Caucasus before you have to answer to the Armenian Air Force."

“你最好去祈祷你们在遭遇亚美尼亚空军之前能通过高加索山脉。”

Heavy-foot made a derisory noise, proving that he didn't recognize irony when he heard it.

大脚发出了嘲弄的笑声，证明他根本不懂得反话。

"Of course, you'll probably have only a small plane, and we'll probably fly out over the Black Sea. Which means that IF satellites will know exactly where I am."

“当然，你们可能只有一架小飞机，而且可能要飞过黑海，也就是说国际舰队卫星能很清楚的知道我在哪儿。”

"You're not IF personnel anymore," said the woman.

“你不再是国际舰队的人了。”女人说。

"Meaning they don't care what happens to you," said Heavy-foot.

“也就是说他们才不关心你怎么了。”大脚说。

By now they had pulled to a stop beside a small plane. "A jet, I'm impressed," said Petra. "Does it have any weaponry? Or is it just wired with explosives so that if the Armenian Air Force does start to force you down, you can blow me up and the whole plane with me?"

到现在为止他们停在了一架小飞机旁边。“一架喷气机，真给了我深刻的印象。”佩查说，“没有任何武器吗？或者只是装置了爆炸物以防亚美尼亚空军让你们迫降，你们就可以把整架飞机炸毁？”

"Do we have to tie you again?" asked the woman.

“我们是不是该再把你绑上？”女人说。

"That would look really good to the people in the control tower."

“对那些坐在控制塔里的人来说看起来不错。”

"Get her out," said the woman.

“带她出去。”女人说。

Stupidly, the men on both sides of her opened their doors and got out, leaving her a choice of exits. So she chose Heavy-foot because she knew he was stupid, whereas the other man was anyone's guess. And, yes, he truly was stupid, because he held her by only one arm as he used his other hand to close the door. So she lurched to one side as if she had stumbled, drawing him off balance, and then, still using his grip to support her weight, she did a double kick, one in the groin and one in the knee. She landed solidly both times, and he let go of her very nicely before falling to the ground, writhing, one hand clutching his crotch and the other trying to slide his kneecap back around to the front of his knee, Did they think she'd forgotten all her hand-to-hand unarmed combat training? Hadn't she warned him that she'd have his balls in a bag?

愚蠢，她两边的男人都开门下去了，剩下她自己选择出口。所以她选择了大脚那边的出口因为她知道他很蠢。反之另一个人则是某人的猜测。然后，当然，他真的够蠢了，因为他用一只手抓着她用另一只手去关门。于是她猛地一歪好像绊倒了，拉得他失去平衡，然后继续用他的手抓着她的重量，她做了一个双重踢，一下踢在腹股沟上，另一下踢在膝盖上，于是她平稳的落地了，他在倒地之前放开了手，翻滚着，一只手捂住腹部另一只揉着膝盖，他们认为她会忘记徒手格斗课程吗？她已经警告过他她想要他的脑袋的问题了。

She made a good run for it, and she was feeling pretty good about how much speed she had picked up during her months of running at school, until she realized that they weren't following her. And that meant they knew they didn't have to.

她成功的逃走了，对于在学校数月练习跑步后自己能达到速度感觉实在很好，直到她意识到他们没有追来，也就是说他们知道他们不必追。

No sooner had she noticed this than she felt something sharp pierce the skin over her right shoulder blade. She had time to slow down but not to stop before she collapsed into unconsciousness again.

没有多久她就发现了这一点，什么东西尖锐的刺破了她右肩后面的皮肤。她减慢了速度但是没有停，直到她再度昏迷为止。

This time they kept her drugged until they reached their destination, and since she never saw any scenery except the walls of what seemed to be an underground bunker, she had no guesses about where they might have taken her. Somewhere in Russia, that's all. And from the soreness of the bruises on her arms and legs and neck and the scrapes on her knees and palms and nose, she guessed that they hadn't been too careful with her. The price she paid for being a bossy, nosy introvert. Or maybe it was the part about pissing people off.

这一次他们持续给她用药直到到达了他们的目的地，而且她再也没看到景色除了那些看起来在地铁里或者船上的墙壁。她没有猜测他们要把她带到哪儿，俄国的某地，那就够了。而从她胳臂、腿、脖子，膝盖、手掌、鼻子上的擦伤来看，她猜他们没有对她太小心。她作为一个烦人的，好管闲事的内向的家伙得到的待遇，或者这也是让那些家伙麻烦的一部分。

She lay on her bunk until a doctor came in and treated her scrapes with a special no-anesthetic blend of alcohol and acid, or so it seemed. "Was that just in case it didn't hurt enough?" she asked.

她躺在铺位上直到一名医生进来用特殊的无麻醉的酒精和酸混合物给她处理伤口，至少闻起来像。“那是什么？我伤得还不够？”她问。

The doctor didn't answer. Apparently they had warned the woman what happened to those who spoke to her.

医生没有回答，显然他们警告了这个女人和她说话的人发生了什么事。