国外英文文学系列 Counterweight.docx

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1、国外英文文学系列 CounterweightTitle: CounterweightAuthor: Jerry SohlSure Im a Nilly, and Ive died seven times, always in the blackness of the outer reaches, and Im not alone, although there arent very many of us, never were.It made sense. Interstellar was new and they wanted him on the ship because he was a

2、 trained observer. They wanted facts, not gibberish. But to ask a man to give up two years of his lifewell, that was asking a lot. Two years in a sardine can. Still, it had an appeal Keith Ellason knew he couldnt deny, a newsmans joy of the clean beat, a planetary system far afield, a closeup view o

3、f the universe, history in the making.Interstellar Chief Rexroad knocked the dottle from his pipe in a tray, saying, Transworld Press is willing to let you have a leave of abscence, if youre interested.He knew Secretary Phipps from years of contacting, and now Phipps said, Personally, I dont want to

4、 see anybody else on the job. Youve got a fine record in this sort of thing.Keith Ellason smiled, but just barely. You should have called me for the first trip.Phipps nodded. I wish we had had you on the Weblor I.Crewmen, Rexroad said, make poor reporters.The Weblor I had taken off on the first trip

5、 to Antheon five years before with a thousand families, reached the planet with less than five hundred surviving colonists. Upon the return to Earth a year later, the crews report of suffering and chaos during the years outgoing voyage was twisted, distorted and fragmentary. Ellason remembered it we

6、ll. The decision of Interstellar was that the colonists started a revolution far out in space, that it was fanned by the ignorance of Captain Sessions in dealing with such matters.Space affects men in a peculiar way, Phipps said. We have conquered the problem of small groups in spacewitness the disc

7、overy of Antheon, for examplebut when there are large groups, control is more difficult.Sessions, Rexroad said, was a bully. The trouble started at about the halfway point. It ended with passengers engaging in open warfare with each other and the crew. Sessions was lucky to escape with his life.As I

8、 recall, Ellason said, there was something about stunners.Phipps rubbed his chin. No weapons were allowed on the ship, but you must remember the colonists were selected for their intelligence and resourcefulness. They utilized these attributes to set up weapon shops to arm themselves.The second trip

9、 is history, Rexroad said. And a puzzle.Ellason nodded. The ship disappeared.Yes. We gave control to the colonists.Assuming no accident in space, Phipps said, it was a wrong decision. They probably took over the ship.And now, Ellason said, youre going to try again.Rexroad said very gravely, Weve got

10、 the finest captain in Interplanetary. Harvey Branson. No doubt youve heard of him. Hes spent his life in our own system, and hes handpicking his own crew. We have also raised prerequisites for applicants. We dont think anything is going to happen, but if it does, we want to get an impersonal, unpre

11、judiced view. Thats where you come in. You do the observing, the reporting. Well evaluate it on your return.If I return, said Ellason.I suppose thats problematical, Phipps said, but I think you will. Captain Branson and his fifty crewmen want to return as badly as you do. He grinned. You can write t

12、hat novel youre always talking about on your return trip on the Weblor II.Being a Nilly is important, probably as important as running the ship, and I think it is this thought that keeps us satisfied, willing to be what we are.The Weblor II had been built in space, as had its predecessor, the Weblor

13、 I, at a tremendous cost. Basically, it was an instrument which would open distant vistas to colonization, reducing the shoulder-to-shoulder pressure of a crowded solar system. A gigantic, hollow spike, the ship would never land anywhere, but would circle Antheon as it circled Earth, shuttling its c

14、argo and passengers to the promised land, the new frontier. A space-borne metropolis, it would be the home for three thousand persons outward bound, only the crew on the return trip. It was equipped with every conceivable facility and comfortdining rooms, assembly hall, individual and family compart

15、ments, recreation areas, swimming pool, library, theater. Nothing had been overlooked.The captains briefing room was crowded, the air was heavy with the breathing of so many men, and the ventilators could not quite clear the air of tobacco smoke that drifted aimlessly here and there before it was ca

16、ught and whisked away.In the tradition of newspaperman and observer, Keith Ellason tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, pressing against a bulkhead, but Captain Bransons eyes sought his several times as Branson listened to final reports from his engineers, record keepers, fuel men, computermen,

17、 and all the rest. He grunted his approval or disapproval, made a suggestion here, a restriction there. There was no doubt that Branson was in charge, yet there was a human quality about him that Ellason liked. The captains was a lean face, well tanned, and his eyes were chunks of blue.Gentlemen, Br

18、anson said at last, as Ellason knew he would, I want to introduce Keith Ellason, whose presence Interstellar has impressed upon us. On loan from Transworld, he will have an observer status. He introduced him to the others. All of them seemed friendly; Ellason thought it was a good staff.Branson deta

19、ined him after the others had gone. One thing, Mr. Ellason. To make it easier for you, I suggest you think of this journey strictly from the observer viewpoint. There will be no story for Transworld at the end.Ellason was startled. While he had considered the possibility, he had not dwelt on it. Now

20、 it loomed large in his mind. I dont understand, Captain Branson. It seems to meLet me put it differently. Let me say that you will not understand why I say that until the journey ends. He smiled. Perhaps I shouldnt have mentioned it.Ellason left the captains quarters with an odd taste in his mouth.

21、 Now why had Branson said that? Why hadnt Rexroad or Phipps said something, if it was important?He made himself comfortable in his seven-foot-by-seven-foot cubicle, which is to say he dropped on his bed, found it more comfortable than he thought it would be, put his arms behind his head, stared at t

22、he ceiling. Metal walls, no windows, one floor vent, one ceiling vent, and a solitary ceiling molding tube-light. This would be his home for a year, just as there were homes like it for three thousand others, except that the family rooms would be larger. His quarters were near the front of the spike

23、 near the officers quarters.He felt rather than heard the dull rumble. It was a sound he knew would be with him for two yearsone year going and one year returning.He looked at his watch, picked up his notebook and made an entry. The ship right now would be slipping ever so slowly away from Earth. He

24、 got up. Hed have to go forward to the observation dome to see that. Last view of Earth for two years.The penetration of space by large groups is the coming out from under the traditions of thousands of years, and as these planet-orginated rules fall away, the floundering group seeks a new control,

25、for they are humanity adrift, rudderless, for whom the stars are no longer bearings but nonexistent things, and values are altered if they are not shown the way.The theft of Carver Janssens attache case occurred on the thirty-first day out. In Ellasons mind the incident, though insignificant from th

26、e standpoint of the ship as a whole, could very well be the cause of dissension later on. His notes covering it were therefore very thorough.Janssens case contained vegetable and flower seedsthousands of them, according to the Captains Bulletin, the ships daily newsletter which went to all hands and

27、 passengers. In the Bulletin the captain appealed to the thief to return the case to Mr. Janssen. He said it was significant that all en route had passed stability tests, and that it was to the ships discredit that someone with criminal tendencies should have been permitted aboard.Ellason had to smi

28、le at that. What did Captain Branson think of those colonists who killed each other on the Weblor I? They had passed stability tests too. This, then, was what happened when you took three thousand strangers and stuck them in a can for a year.When Ellason saw Branson about it, the captain said, Of co

29、urse I realize it takes only a little thing like this to set things off. I know people get tired of seeing each other, playing the same tapes, looking at the stars from the observation dome, walking down the same corridors, reading the same books, eating the same meals, though God knows we try to va

30、ry it as much as we can. Space creates rough edges. But the point is, we know all this, and knowing it, we shouldnt let it happen. Weve got to find that thief.What would he want seeds for? Have you thought of that?Of course. Theyd have real value on Antheon.Ellason sought out Carver Janssen. He was

31、a middle-aged man with a tired face and sad eyes. He said, Now what am I going to Antheon for? I could only take along so much baggage and I threw out some comfort items to make room for the seeds. Im a horticulturist, and Interstellar asked me to go along. But what use am I now? Where am I going to

32、 get seeds like those? Do you know how long it took me to collect them? Theyre not ordinary seeds, Mr. Ellason.There was an appeal from Janssen in the next days newsletter describing the seeds, telling of their value, and requesting their return in the interests of the Antheon colony and of humanity

33、.On the thirty-fourth day a witness turned up who said he had seen a man emerging from Janssens compartment with the black case. I didnt think anything of it at the time, Jamieson Dievers said.Branson asked him to describe the man.Oh, he was about six feet tall, stocky build, and he wore a red rubbe

34、r mask that covered his head completely.Didnt you think that was important? Branson asked in an outraged voice. A man wearing a red mask?Dievers shrugged. This is a spaceship. How would I know whether a red maskor a blue or green onedoes or doesnt belong on a spaceship?Although Dievers account appea

35、red in the newsletter, it was largely discounted.If it is true, Branson told Ellason, the theft must be the work of a psychotic. But I dont believe Jamieson Dievers. It may well be hes the psychotic. He snorted. Red rubber mask! I think Ill have Dievers put through psychiatry.Attendant to taking not

36、es on this incident, Ellason noted a strange thing. Janssen lived in that part of the ship known as the First Quadrant, and those who lived in that quadrantmore than seven hundred men, women and childrenfelt that the thief must surely live in Quadrant Two or Four. Elias Cromley, who had the compartm

37、ent next to Janssens, sounded the consensus when he said, Surely a man wouldnt steal from his own quadrant, now would he, Mr. Ellason?And so, Ellason observed in his notebook, are wars created.Seen in space, stars are unmoving, silent, sterile bright eyes ever watchful and accusing. To men unused to

38、 it, such a sight numbs, compresses, stultifies. He introduces a countermeasure, proof he exists, which is any overt act, sometimes violent.On the forty-fifth day June Failright, the young wife of one of the passenger meteorologists, ran screaming down one of the long corridors of the Third Quadrant

39、. She told the captain she had been attacked in her compartment while her husband was in the ships library. She was taken to one of the ships doctors, who confirmed it.She said the culprit was a husky man wearing a red rubber mask, and though her description of what he had done did not appear in the

40、 story in the newsletter, it lost no time in penetrating every compartment of the ship.Ellason was present when a delegation from the Third Quadrant called on Captain Branson, demanding action.Branson remained seated behind his desk, unperturbed, saying, I have no crewmen to spare for police duty.Th

41、e delegation commenced speaking vehemently, to be quieted by Bransons raised hand.I sympathize, Branson said, but it is up to each quadrant to deal with its problems, whatever they may be. My job is to get us to Antheon.The group left in a surly mood.You wonder at my reluctance, Mr. Ellason, Captain

42、 Branson said. But suppose I assign the crew to patrol duties, the culprit isnt caught, and further incidents occur. What then? It soon becomes the crews fault. And soon the colonists will begin thinking these things might be the crews doing in the first place.Yes, Ellason said, but what if the intr

43、uder is a crewman?I know my men, Branson said flatly.You could have a shake-down for the mask and the seed case.Do you think it is a member of the crew? Bransons eyes were bright. No, I trust my men. I wont violate that trust.Ellason left, feeling uneasy. If he were Branson, hed initiate an investig

44、ation, if nothing else than to prove the crew guiltless. Why couldnt Branson see the wisdom of setting an example for the colonists?As a Nilly, I knew that space breeds hate. There is a seed of malevolence in every man. It sometimes blossoms out among the stars. On the Weblor II it was ready for rip

45、ening.Raymond Palugger was killed in the ships hospital on the sixty-first day. Palugger, a Fourth Quadrant passenger, had complained of feeling ill, had been hospitalized with a diagnosis of ileus. He had put his money belt in the drawer of the small stand beside his bed. A man in a red mask was se

46、en hurrying from the hospital area, and a staff investigation revealed that Palugger had died trying to prevent the theft of the belt.Captain Branson did not wait for the newsletter. Through the ships speaker system, he reported that Palugger had a fortune in credits in the belt and had died of a se

47、vere beating. He said that since the incident occurred in the staff section of the ship, his crew would be forced to submit to a thorough inspection in an effort to find the mask, the seed case, the money and the man.I will not countenance such an act by a crewman, Branson said. If and when he is fo

48、und, he will be severely dealt with. But he might not be a member of the crew. I am ordering an assembly of all passengers at nine tomorrow morning in the auditorium. I will speak to you all then.Faces were angry, tongues were sharp at the meeting, eyes suspicious and tempers short. Above it all was the overpowering presence of Captain Branson speaking to them.It is not my desire to interfere in passenger affairs, he said. Insofar as the ship is concerned, it is my duty to make certain no crewman is guilty. This I am doing. But my crew is not a