《翻译》彤梦

2、唯一方案

　　唯一方案

　　埃里克·弗兰克·拉塞尔

　　他在黑暗中沉思，独自一人。没有一点声响，没有一句呢喃。没有抚慰他的手。没有温暖他的心。

　　黑暗。

　　孤独。

　　永恒的囚禁，除了黑暗与寂静，别无他物。没有定罪就遭监禁。没有过失却受惩罚。难以忍受，却又不得不忍受，除非能想出某个逃出升天的办法。

　　不用妄想从别处得到救助。没有谁会对此悲伤、同情、遗憾、怜悯。没有可以打开的门。没有可以转动的锁。没有可以锯断的栅栏。只有浓得化不开、深不可测的黑夜，四处摸索，却一无所获。

　　伸手向右边划个圈，什么都没有。再向左边挥挥胳膊，是一片彻底的虚无。穿过黑暗，笔直前行，像一个盲人迷失在巨大的、被遗忘的走廊。这里没有地板，没有脚步声的回响，也没有什么会阻碍他的行动。

　　他能触摸并感受到的东西只有一样。那就是自己。

　　所以，想要克服眼前的困境，唯一可利用的资源就隐藏在他自己体内。他一定是救赎他自己的工具。

　　怎么做？

　　没有问题是不能解决的。据此论点，科学才存在。如果它不成立，科学就会死亡。他是一个彻头彻尾的科学家。因此，他不可能拒绝对其能力的挑战。

　　他的痛苦源自无聊、寂寞，以及精神和物质上的贫乏。他不能再忍受下去了。最简单的逃避办法是通过想象。就像一个套着约束衣的人，在自己编织的梦境中冒险，从而逃避□□的枷锁。

　　但光是做梦是不够的。它们是虚幻的，并且过于短暂。他想要得到的自由，必须是真实持久的。这意味着他必须将梦境变成严峻的现实。一个精心策划的虚假的现实才能得以永存。它一定是永生不灭的。再没有比这更彻底的逃脱方法了。

　　所以他坐在绝对的黑暗中，内心正激烈交战。这里没有时钟或日历能纪录他究竟思考了多久。这里也没有可以估算时间的外部信息。这里什么都没有，只有他敏捷的头脑在不停运作。

　　只有一个论点：没有问题是不能解决的。

　　他终于找到了答案，如何逃离永恒的夜晚。这将会带给他经验、同伴、冒险、精神锻炼、娱乐、温暖、爱、说话的声音、手的抚慰。

　　计划并不简单。正相反，它是相当复杂的，足以反抗无休止的岁月。它应该是可以持久的。最坏的结果就是立刻回到寂静及难以忍受的黑暗。

　　这需要大量练习。有数以百万计的问题需要考虑，包括它们之间的相互作用。当这一切完成后，他还要处理数以百万计的其他问题。以此类推。

　　他为自己编织了一个浩瀚无垠的梦境。这里的一切极尽错综复杂，每一个细节都考虑周详，哪怕是一个小数点或是一个逗号。在梦境中，他可以获得新生。但不是作为他自己。他将把自己分解为不计其数的部分，他们会拥有多种多样的形态，每一个都要为自己独有的生存环境而奋斗。

　　为了加强战斗的难度，挑战忍耐力的极限，他将忘记自我，使得其分身处于极端无知的状态，迫使他们从头开始学起。他为游戏设定了基本规则，在他们中间播撒仇恨的种子。那些遵守规则的，被称之为“善”。反之，则被叫做“恶”。于是，在一个宏大的冲突中，还有周而复始、无穷无尽的冲突。

　　当一切准备妥当，他将打破现状，不再是一个人，而是无数独立个体的巨大集合。随后，他的分身必须不断争斗，才能得以统一，找回自己。

　　然而首先，他必须使梦境成为现实。噢，这才是真正的考验！

　　就是现在。实验必须立即进行。

　　微微前倾，他凝视着黑暗，说道：“要有光。”

　　于是，就有了光。

　　SOLE SOLUTION

　　by Eric Frank Russell

　　He brooded in darkness and there was no one else. Not a voice, not a whisper. Not the touch of a hand. Not the warmth of another heart.

　　Darkness.

　　Solitude.

　　Eternal confinement where all was black and silent and nothing stirred. Imprisonment without prior condemnation. Punishment without sin. The unbearable that had to be borne unless some mode of escape could be devised.

　　No hope of rescue from elsewhere. No sorrow or sympathy or pity in another soul, another mind. No doors to be opened, no locks to be turned, no bars to be sawn apart. Only the thick, deep sable night in which to fumble and find nothing.

　　Circle a hand to the right and there is nought. Sweep an arm to the left and discover emptiness utter and complete. Walk forward through the darkness like a blind man lost in a vast, forgotten hall and there is no floor, no echo of footsteps, nothing to bar one's path.

　　He could touch and sense one thing only. And that was self.

　　Therefore the only available resources with which to overcome his predicament were those secreted within himself. He must be the instrument of his own salvation.

　　How

　　No problem is beyond solution. By that thesis science lives. Without it, science dies. He was the ultimate scientist. As such, he could not refuse this challenge to his capabilities.

　　His torments were those of boredom, loneliness, mental and physical sterility. They were not to be endured. The easiest escape is via the imagination. One hangs in a strait-jacket and flees the corporeal trap by adventuring in a dreamland of one's own.

　　But dreams are not enough. They are unreal and all too brief. The freedom to be gained must be genuine and of long duration. That meant he must make a stern reality of dreams, a reality so contrived that it would persist for all time. It must be self-perpetuating. Nothing less would make escape complete.

　　So he sat in the great dark and battled the problem. There was no clock, no calendar to mark the length of thought. There were no external data upon which to compute. There was nothing, nothing except the workings within his agile mind.

　　And one thesis: no problem is beyond solution.

　　He found it eventually. It meant escape from everlasting night. It would provide experience, companionship, adventure, mental exercise, entertainment, warmth, love, the sound of voices, the touch of hands.

　　The plan was anything but rudimentary. On the contrary it was complicated enough to defy untangling for endless aeons. It had to be like that to have permanence. The unwanted alternative was swift return to silence and the bitter dark.

　　It took a deal of working out. A million and one aspects had to be considered along with all their diverse effects upon each other. And when that was done he had to cope with the next million. And so on … on … on.

　　He created a mighty dream of his own, a place of infinite complexity schemed in every detail to the last dot and comma. Within this he would live anew. But not as himself. He was going to dissipate his person into numberless parts, a great multitude of variegated shapes and forms each of which would have to battle its own peculiar environment.

　　And he would toughen the struggle to the limit of endurance by unthinking himself, handicapping his parts with appalling ignorance and forcing them to learn afresh. He would seed enmity between them by dictating the basic rules of the game. Those who observed the rules would be called good. Those who did not would be called bad. Thus there would be endless delaying conflicts within the one great conflict.

　　When all was ready and prepared he intended to disrupt and become no longer one, but an enormous concourse of entities. Then his parts must fight back to unity and himself.

　　But first he must make reality of the dream. Ah, that was the test!

　　The time was now. The experiment must begin.

　　Leaning forward, he gazed into the dark and said, "Let there be light."

　　And there was light.