旅时者 Time Trekker

旅时者·第一卷 Time Trekker (I)

由蒸汽鸟报出版的枫丹科学幻想小说，讲述了一位工程师利用时间机器旅行的故事。

A Fontainian science fiction novel published by The Steambird. It tells the story of an engineer's travels using a time machine.

那是很多年以前的事情了。晚宴过后，爱薇艾小姐（如今应当是涅诺宁夫人）正在以她那一如既往的、戏剧化的语气，向我们抱怨现代科学的进展过于迅速。尽管她对工程学的了解还不如她对海祇岛土壤质量的了解（当然，她对后者也一无所知），但就像是当时在一部分绅士和淑女之间流行的那样，自称对工程学感兴趣是一种时尚。

This is a story from many years ago. After the evening banquet, Ms. Aviva (who today would be Lady Nenonen) was, as always, theatrically grousing to us about the all-too-swift march of science. Though her grasp on engineering is even less firm than her knowledge of Watatsumi Island's soil quality (and of course, she knows nothing about the latter either), but self-proclaimed interest in engineering was in vogue amongst some ladies and gentlemen at the time.

「早在数千年前，我们的祖先便已经征服了这片大地，」她清了清嗓子，轻轻摇着带翠翎和苍晶石的华丽折扇，竭力让自己露出一副沮丧的表情来，「数百年前，凭借新式潜水设备，他们又轻而易举地征服了海洋。如今，又有一些高贵的先生和小姐们突发奇想，打算摆脱大地的束缚，凭借所谓的『重力仪』去征服天空——而他们的构想，恐怕也会在不久的将来变为现实。」

"Our ancestors had already conquered this land thousands of years ago," she said as she cleared her throat, twirling her jade-plumed and blue-gem-encrusted folding fan while endeavoring in vain to wear a visage of despondency. "And a few hundred years ago, they conquered the oceans with ease using new diving equipment. Today, some noble young folk have suddenly got it in their heads to use a so-termed gravimeter to break free from the earth's shackles and conquer the skies — and surely, I fear, their dream may yet become reality in the near future."

「不错，正如您所说。人类——多么强大而精力充沛的智慧生灵！无论何时，他们总是在用难以想象的热情改变着自己的生活条件，」蒸汽鸟报的编辑立即评论说，「实际上，如果我们只从机械工程学和理论意义上——而不是其余意义上——来评价，人类几乎与造物主平起平坐。因为他们凭借自己的聪明才智征服了自然界的绝大多数空间，通过意志，他们能够重新塑造这个世界的样貌。」

"Indeed, it is just as you say. Humans — ah, what a mighty and energetic species, with such great wisdom! No matter the circumstances, humans ever seek to change their living conditions with unimaginable passion," The Steambird editor immediately opined. "In truth, when it comes to mechanical engineering and theory, humanity is already on par with the creator. They have conquered most of the natural world, and by their will, they can shape this world anew."

「唉，我想要表达的并不是这个意思，」爱薇艾小姐夸张地叹了口气，「那些遥远而黑暗的未知大陆，那些深藏在海底的古代遗迹——所有那些浪漫的探索与开拓，所有那些彰显我们科学技术与理性荣光的伟大业绩，几乎快要和我们这个文明的时代绝缘了。我们的祖辈实现了太多令人惊奇的成就，却没有给我们留下可供探索与征服的空间。对那些生来便渴望探索未知的绅士与淑女而言，还有什么比这更为痛苦的事情呢？」

"Ah, that's... not what I meant to say," Ms. Aviva said with an affected sigh. "Those distant and dark unknown continents, those ruins hidden deep beneath the seas, all that romantic exploration and trailblazing — such great achievements, that which has put the glorious achievements of our sciences and reasoning on full display — have all but become lost to our civilization. Our forebears reached too high and achieved too much, leaving too little for us to explore or conquer. Could there be a sadder fate to befall those ladies and gentlemen amongst us who were born to crave the exploration of the unknown?"

她装腔作势地引用着传说中的国王亚尔杰代伊的话，仿佛这样就能证明她是真的在为这样的想法感到痛心。不过，在场的人都只是懒洋洋地坐着，充其量礼貌地点点头。厄蕾夫人轻轻打了个哈欠。

Here, her pretentious invocation of the legendary King Argeadai's words seemed an attempt to prove how truly this state of affairs hurt her. However, everyone simply sat around lazily, at most giving polite nods. Lady Elle lightly yawned.

见没人接话，爱薇艾小姐的兴致便也淡了下去，将话题转向了下周的舞会。显而易见，这是个更受欢迎的话题，原本僵硬的气氛也再一次热闹了起来。拉塔尔勋爵正准备跟我们讲他在须弥听到过的一个关于高塔、巫师和玻璃球的传说，可还没等他来得及开始，就在这时，一直沉默的克里克先生打断了他。

Seeing how no one answered, Ms. Aviva's enthusiasm faded and she proceeded to switch the topic to next week's ball. This was, evidently, a more popular topic, and the stiff atmosphere once again grew lively. Monsieur Ratar was just about to regale us with a tale he had heard in Sumeru regarding a tower, a mage, and a glass ball, but before he could begin, Mr. Ciric, who had remained silent till now, interrupted.

「您，爱薇艾小姐，您刚才所说的事情，确实令人印象深刻，」他点了一根烟，「不过，您也不必过于忧虑，因为这世上仍有一处空间尚未被人类征服——并且，如果缺乏必要的技巧，或许永远也不会被人类征服。」

"Good Ms. Aviva, the things you said certainly left an impression on me." He lit a cigarette. "However, you need not worry. There is still one space that has yet to be subdued by humanity — indeed, if the required techniques do not emerge, I fear it will never be."

「哪一处？」勋爵面带愠色地问。他原本对那个关于猴子的故事很有自信。

"Where's that?" Ratar asked, a sullen look on his face. He had been so very confident about his monkey story, after all.

「时间。」

"Time."

顷刻间屋内鸦雀无声，下一秒所有人笑得前仰后合。

The room fell silent momentarily before all present broke out into laughter.

「真是不着边际的奇谈怪论！」兰涅医生强忍着笑意，「首先，时间怎么能是空间的一部分呢？」

"What preposterous talk!" Dr. Reinier declared, trying not to laugh. "Firstly, how can time be considered a part of space?"

「您能够脱离时间，独立存在于空间中吗？」

"Can you separate yourself from time and exist independently in space alone?"

「什么意思？」

"What do you mean?"

「这一个瞬间您还在这里和我交谈，下一个瞬间——您消失得无影无踪。这可能吗？」他停顿了片刻，仿佛是在等待其他人思考，「很显然，任何思想严谨的人都应当清楚，和长度、宽度、高度一样，时间也是空间的一个维度。因此，时间——作为空间的一部分——自然也能够被征服。」

"I mean to, at this moment, still be speaking to me, and in the next disappear without a trace. Is this possible?" He waited for a moment, as if waiting for the others to think. "Obviously, anyone with the capacity for rigorous thought would know for certain that much like length, width, and height, time is also a dimension of space. As such, it is a part of nature, and can thus be conquered."

「毫无道理…」医生小声咕哝了一句，但也没有多反驳什么。

"Utterly preposterous..." The doctor muttered, but did not refute the statement.

「我从事这项研究已经有些时日了，」他继续说道，「我已经构想了一种机器，能让人随心所欲地在时间里穿行。大约两个月后，这台机器应该就能完工了。到那时，爱薇艾小姐，我邀请您和在座各位绅士淑女到我的工坊来，共同见证人类的另一项伟大成就——征服时间。」

"I have been involved in research of this sort for some time," he continued, "and I have come up with a machine that can allow people to travel through time as they please. This machine will be ready in two months. At that time, Ms. Aviva, I invite you and all the ladies and gentlemen present here to my workshop, to bear witness to humanity's next great achievement: the conquest of time."

爱薇艾小姐没有说话。实际上，从她的表情来判断，我们这位出身高贵的朋友压根就没听懂克里克先生在说什么。

Ms. Aviva did not speak. In fact, from her expression, our noble friend did not understand Mr. Ciric's words at all.

旅时者·第二卷 Time Trekker (II)

由蒸汽鸟报出版的枫丹科学幻想小说，讲述了一位工程师利用时间机器旅行的故事。

A Fontainian science fiction novel published by The Steambird. It tells the story of an engineer's travels using a time machine.

两个月后，我们几个人——蒸汽鸟报的编辑、医生、勒维洛·厄雷沃先生，还有其他几个出席了那次晚宴的人——如约来到了克里克的工坊。爱薇艾小姐没有来，她对这种事情向来不感兴趣，出席卡朗代沙龙的社交舞会显然更有意义。

Two months later, we — The Steambird editor, the doctor, Mr. Revilo Oliver, and others who had attended that evening banquet — came to Ciric's workshop as agreed. Ms. Aviva was not there, for she never had much interest in such things, but instead found more meaning in attending a social ball at Salon Caritat.

令人惊讶的是，与两个月前相比，克里克明显苍老了许多，也憔悴了许多。黯淡的灯盏下，那张原本热忱而傲慢的面孔上凝固着一种冷漠而肃默的神情，几乎像是须弥那些干瘪枯瘦的苦行僧一般。

Surprisingly, Ciric had grown older and more frail in just two months. In the dim light of the lamp, his once enthusiastic, arrogant expression had hardened into something indifferent and solemn, almost like the emaciated ascetics of Sumeru.

他欢迎我们入座，语气平静。

He welcomed us to take our seats, speaking in a calm tone.

「那么，您征服时间的计划进展如何？」蒸汽鸟报的编辑直截了当地发问。「您所说的时间机器又在哪里？」

"Well then, how is your plan to conquer time progressing?" The Steambird editor asked directly. "Where is the time machine you spoke of?"

克里克没有回答，而是指向了一旁的书桌。我们顺着他指的方向看去，桌子正中央是一架镀金的鲸式飞艇模型，差不多有一台小钟那么大，哪怕是外行人也能一眼看得出来，这模型的做工极为考究。澄净的水晶外壳下，有一种无法辨认的、无定型的色彩在缓缓流动，在灯罩投下的阴影中若隐若现地发着光。

Ciric did not reply. Instead, he pointed to the desk next to him. Our gazes followed, and in the middle of that table was a gold-plated whale-shaped model airship about the size of a small clock. Even a non-professional eye could readily discern that the model was of exquisite craftsmanship. Beneath its clear crystal shell, an indistinguishable and formless color flowed ever so slowly, glowing faintly in the lampshade's shadow.

「所以，」医生说，「您用了两个月的时间，打造了一台连勒波特的工匠都会惊奇不已的小玩具。」

"So," the doctor said, "it took you two months to make this little toy that would amaze even Lepaute's artisans?"

「它看上去确实不起眼，」克里克看了他一眼，眼神里带着一种我难以描述的情绪，几乎能称得上是怜悯，「这不过是它在这一刻的投影。就像是从侧面观察一张纸，能看到的也只有一条细线。」

"It certainly looks like nothing special," Ciric said, an inscrutable emotion shining in his eyes that could almost be called pity, "But this is simply a projection the object has left in this moment, just as one can only see a thin line when viewing paper from the side."

「胡言乱语。」

"Blithering nonsense."

不知为何，克里克没有反驳，只是语气平静地请求我们，让他讲完自己在时间中旅行的经历。我们答应了他的要求，于是他开始讲述我下面记录的这个故事，从头到尾没有被打断。

For some reason, Ciric did not refute that statement, merely asking us in a calm tone to hear him out concerning his time travel experiences. We agreed, and so he began to tell the story I shall now relate below, without interruption from beginning to end.

对于你们来说，应该是在两个月前，我第一次向你们讲述了时间机器的事情。同样，对于你们来说，大约是在一个星期前，我完成了这台机器的制造，并决定登上它，进行人类历史上第一次时间旅行。

For all of you, it was two months ago when I first told you of the idea of a time machine. Similarly, it must have been a week ago when I finished constructing said device and stepped into it, initiating the very first instance of time travel in human history.

我无法用语言来表达时间旅行中的种种奇怪感受，就像是无法用语言让盲人意识到星光有多么璀璨。大约二十分钟后——尽管用主观时间来阐述时间旅行是一件相当无意义的事情——机器停了下来，我环顾四周，发觉自己正身处雷穆利亚帝国的一个定居点。那些由巨石雕砌而成的宏大的神庙与竞技场足以使欧庇克莱歌剧院感到自惭形秽，阿兰·吉约丹大师的造物与那些昂首阔步于街巷之间的魔像相比，几乎能称得上是发育不良的侏儒。就在我如此感叹的时候，几名巡逻的军团士兵发现了我。在他们看来，像我这样奇装异服的人，必定是蛮族派来的细作。于是他们立刻抓住了我，称我为下贱的奴隶，信奉伪神的堕落者，要把我投入深坑，喂给毒蛇。

The strange sensations that came over me as I traveled through time are beyond words, just as there are no words with which one can impress the stars' brightness upon a blind person. About twenty minutes after this — though describing time travel by using subjective time is quite meaningless — the machine ceased operation. I looked about me then, and realized that I was in a Remurian imperial settlement. The grand temples and arenas carved of titanic stone would make the Opera Epiclese hang its head in shame, while the creations of Alain Guillotin would be little more than a child's wind-up toy before the towering Remurian golems. Just as I was beside myself in awe, a few patrolling troops discovered me. Seeing my strange style of dress, they took me to be a spy for the barbarian tribes. They seized me, naming me a lowly slave, a degenerate believer in a false god, and threatened to throw me into a deep cistern to feed the vipers.

所幸，当地的营造官——后来我知道，她的名字是埃蒂娅·亚纳瓦娜——意识到我的身份不同寻常，派人将我送到她面前。她忍受着我错漏百出的语法和糟糕透顶的口音（那个时候，我甚至无法准确读出「雷穆利亚」这个词，发音听上去更像是「厄墨伊亚」），向我提出了许多问题，而我也如实回答了她。很快，她便接受了我来自未来的事实，向我展示了一块奴隶们最近挖掘出来的石板。

Fortunately, the local Aedile — I later found out that her name was Aidia Anavana — realized that my identity was anything but ordinary, and had me sent before her. She endured my calamitous grammar and catastrophic accent (at that time, I could not even pronounce "Remuria," with it coming out something more akin to "Emuia") while asking me many questions, which I answered truthfully. Quickly, she accepted the fact that I was from the future and showed me a stone slate that the slaves had recently dug up.

旅时者·第三卷 Time Trekker (III)

由蒸汽鸟报出版的枫丹科学幻想小说，讲述了一位工程师利用时间机器旅行的故事。

A Fontainian science fiction novel published by The Steambird. It tells the story of an engineer's travels using a time machine.

那是一块正方形的石板，每一行和每一列都铭刻着七个对称的字符——并非是雷穆利亚的文字，而是我们如今使用的那种文字。无论以何种方式、何种顺序阅读，文本的信息都完全一样：一个精心设计的谜语，涉及狗、牧草、苍翎雀、夏日的雨、蔷薇的歌声、长鬓虎的斑纹、岩石纹理的次序。我一向热衷于玩弄字句的游戏，尽管如此，这个无限循环的谜语依然让我产生了近乎眩晕的感觉。不知为何，我意识到我必须要解开这个谜语，无论要付出何种代价。我耗费了整整半年的时间，和埃蒂娅一起破译了它——破译的关键在于一个已经死去了三十年的奴隶的名字，而谜底则是一个日期，指向帝国覆灭的数百年后。

The slate was a perfect square, each line and column engraved with seven symmetrical sequences of symbols — these were not in Remurian script, but rather the characters we use today. Regardless of the manner in which the text was read, or the order, or direction, the information within the text did not change — it was an elaborate riddle involving dogs, pastures, cyan finches, the summer rains, the song of the roses, a Rishboland Tiger's stripes, and the ordered patterns of rocks. Despite my long-time love of wordplay games, this endless cycle of riddles made me terribly dizzy. For some reason, I knew that I must solve it, no matter the price. I spent half a year doing so alongside Aidia — and as it turned out, the key to deciphering it lay with the name of a slave now thirty years dead, while the answer was a date, set several hundred years after the empire's fall.

我向埃蒂娅告别，登上时间机器，前往那个日期，期望能找到石板背后隐藏的秘密。在那里，我遇到了几名逐影猎人，他们向我展示了另一块石板。石板上同样铭刻着四十九个对称的字符，那些字符同样组成了另一个谜语，这次的谜底是另一个日期，标注着更为遥远的未来。

I bade Aidia farewell and stepped back upon the time machine, forwarding myself to that date in hopes of finding the secret behind that stone slate. There, I met several Marechaussee Hunters, and they showed me another stone slate, which again had 49 mirrored characters on it that formed another riddle. Again, the answer was a date, one set in a future still further off.

我追随这些石板的指引，穿行于过去和未来，如此往复十三次。每一块石板上的谜语都比上一块更难解。其中一个谜语的破译线索来自一本三百年后出版的劣质爱情小说，那本书第三十七页上的第五个词恰好与三百七十五年前编号为三百七十五的执律庭警员的全名构成共轭。另一个谜语的破译线索则来自一种盛开在几千年后的白花——我不知道那种花的名字，雌蕊群很奇怪。也许是某种锦葵，我不确定——那种花以云雀的鸣叫声作为养分，所以线索之一便是生活在雷穆利亚时期的云雀胸肋的数目。谜语的构成大抵如此。

Following these stone slates' directions, I cris-crossed the fabric of past and future, shuttling back and forth 13 times. Each stone slate's riddle was trickier than the last. One of them could only be cracked using a bad romance novel that would only be published 300 years hence — the 5th word of the 37th page of that book would form a conjugate with the full name of the 375th Maison Gardiennage officer from 375 years ago. Another riddle's cipher was based on a white flower that will only bloom several millennia in the future — I know not its name, and its pistil structure is very strange indeed. It might be a mallow of some sort, but I cannot be sure. That flower is nourished by skylark calls, and so one of the clues to its cipher was the number of ribs on a skylark during Remurian times. I suppose that is, generally speaking, just how the riddles worked.

最后一块石板来自贝瑟·埃尔顿纪念博物馆的地下储物间，上面没有其他字符，只有一个数字：零。

The final stone slate came from the underground storeroom of the Basil Elton Memorial Museum, and had naught but one number on it: "0."

我不知道自己当时究竟在想些什么——将目的地设置为「零」是毫无意义的做法——但我依然将那个数字输入了机器，拉动了操纵杆。不知过去了多久，机器再一次停了下来。我意识到自己正悬浮于一片大海上方，没有浪潮，也没有波涛，因为就连风也不存在于这一刻。笼罩在我头顶的天空不再是蓝色，而是一种难以描述的暗红，无数遥远而苍白的星辰点缀其上，仿佛铺在海岸边的盐霜。

I do not know what I was thinking at the moment. After all, setting my destination to "0" is an action utterly devoid of meaning. But I punched the number into my machine all the same and pulled the control lever. After who knows how long, the machine stopped. I sensed that I was floating atop a sea with no waves or tides, for even the wind did not exist at that moment. The sky that loomed overhead was not blue, but a dark red adorned with countless stars, pale and distant, like salt frost lining the shore.

我凝望着原初的大海，就这样过去了数分钟，我才意识到，平静的海面之下，影影绰绰地藏着什么东西。那是原本不应存在于此的沫芒宫。

I stared at this very first of oceans, transfixed, and several minutes passed before I realized that there was something shadowy hidden beneath the placid surface. It was the Palais Mermonia, which should not be there.

就在这时，我听到有什么人呼唤我的名字——内文·克里克，那个声音说。我回过头，就像是望向镜子那般，一个相貌与我别无二致的人紧紧盯着我的眼睛，就如同我盯着他那般。

At that moment, I could hear someone call me by name — Neven Ciric, the voice called. I turned, and it was like looking into a mirror. A man, identical to myself, looking me dead in the eye, just as I did to him.

「内文·克里克，」他接着说，「你想要征服时间。没有人能征服时间。」

"Neven Ciric," he continued, "you wish to conquer time. No one can do that."

「是你留下了那些谜语？」

"It was you who left those riddles behind?"

「是你留下了那些谜语，」他重复了一遍我的问题，仿佛这就是对问题的回答。「那些谜语是时间的一部分，每一个对称的字符都等同于时间本身。」

"It was you who left those riddles behind." He repeated my question as if it was an answer. "Those riddles are part of time, and every matching symbol is time itself."

「所以——时间最终的谜底是零。」

"So, the final answer to the riddle of time is zero."

「零不是谜底，而是另一个谜面，因为谜底不会出现在谜面中，」他说，「时间的谜底是镜子。或者说，最容易理解的谜底是镜子。两面镜子对准彼此，其中无限反射的光路就是时间。无数背离的、汇合的、平行的光构成了名为时间的错觉，没有过去，也没有未来，因为过去就是未来。当你站在时间零的位置上，沿着两面镜子之间的缝隙向前看去，所有的光路都位于同一个平面，没有任何一束光能够从中逃脱。沫芒宫早在建造之前便已经沉没，而沉没的沫芒宫也会被再度筑起。欢笑、悲伤、泪水与死亡终将无数次重演，因为这就是镜子的本质。你永远也无法征服时间，就如同你无法用手抓住自己的影子。」

"Zero is not an answer. Instead, it is another mystery, for the answer cannot be found in the riddle," he said. "The answer to time's riddle is a mirror — or perhaps I should say that this is the answer that is simplest to comprehend. When two mirrors face each other, time is the infinite reflection of light therein. Countless diverging, converging, and parallel lights form the illusion we call time. There is no past or future, for the past is the future. As you stand here at Moment Zero and look forward along the gap between the two mirrors, all beams of light fall along the same plane, and not one may escape. The Palais Mermonia had already sunk long before it was ever built, and the sunken Palais will be raised anew. Joy, sorrow, tears, and death must infinitely recur, for this is the nature of a mirror. Similarly, you can never conquer time, just as you can never grasp your shadow in your hand."

或许是出于惊恐，又或许是出于一时的狂乱——当他的最后一个音节落下，我拔出了用来防身的铳枪，朝着他的脑袋扣下了扳机。

Perhaps it was horror or momentary frenzy, but when he finished, I whipped out the firearm I kept for self-defense, leveled it at his head, and pulled the trigger.

房间内鸦雀无声。

The room was silent.

「我不指望你们能相信我的话，」克里克站起身来，扫视着我们，「就把这些当作是我为了掩盖自己没能制造出时间机器而编造出的胡话吧，把它当作一个蹩脚的故事，一个纯粹出自妄想的梦吧。那么——失陪了，女士们，先生们，我要去为未来的我留下谜题了。」

"I do not expect you to believe me," Ciric said as he stood up, his eyes sweeping the room. "Just take it as a bunch of bunk that I made up to cover up for my inability to make a time machine. Make of it some lame tale, a dream born purely of delusion. In any case, ladies and gentlemen, I shall take my leave of you — my future self awaits a riddle that I must set him."

我再也没见过克里克·内文。

I never saw Ciric Neven again.