雙語漫威故事《鋼鐵俠》 第七章

Chapter　7

第七章

 

“ETA, J.A.R.V.I.S.?” asked Tony, sweating inside his armor despite the temperature control.

“預(yù)計到達(dá)時間，賈維斯？”托尼問道，盡管控制了溫度，穿著盔甲，還是流著汗。

 

“Estimated time of arrival three minutes, three seconds,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

“預(yù)計到達(dá)時間為三分三秒。”賈維斯答道。

 

Tony checked his visual scanners as he skimmed the surface of the Atlantic Ocean—low enough to evade any A.I.M. radar. Almost as if on cue, A.I.M. Island appeared on the horizon.

托尼在掠過大西洋表面時，順便檢查了下他的視覺掃描器——低到足以躲避任何先鋒科技的電磁雷達(dá)。幾乎就在這時，先鋒科技島出現(xiàn)在地平線上。

 

“Let's go for a swim, J.A.R.V.I.S.,” said Tony. In response, J.A.R.V.I.S. immediately prepped the armor for underwater maneuvers. All openings were sealed; carbon dioxide exhaust ports were activated.

“賈維斯，去游個泳吧。”托尼說。作為回應(yīng)，賈維斯立刻將盔甲轉(zhuǎn)換為水下裝置，封住了所有出口，并且啟動了二氧化碳排氣口。

 

Tony plunged into the ocean.

托尼潛入海洋里。

 

Why did I snap at Cap back there? he thought.

“為什么我在那要突然打斷隊長呢？”他心想。

 

Tiny caterpillar drives—silent engines—turned in Tony's boots, propelling him toward A.I.M. Island with stunning speed. In the quiet ocean void, Tony gave himself over to his thoughts. I wasn't angry with him. I was angry with myself. None of this is his fault. If I hadn't built the generator in the first place, those aliens wouldn't be trying to take over the earth. And M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. wouldn't be helping them.

微小的履帶推進(jìn)器——靜音引擎——在托尼的靴子中運作著,推著他以驚人的速度前往先鋒科技島。在安靜的海洋虛空中，托尼陷入了沉思。“我沒有生他的氣。我只是生自己的氣。他什么錯都沒有。如果一開始我沒有發(fā)明生成器，這些外星生物就不會試圖控制地球。魔多客和先鋒科技也不會幫助他們。”

 

Once again, Tony was overwhelmed with guilt. How could he continue to invent advanced technologies but also guarantee they would be used only for good and not evil—to help others, not hurt them?

托尼又一次深感愧疚。他怎么才能夠繼續(xù)發(fā)明先進(jìn)科技，并且保證它們可以用來造福人類，而不是供壞人作惡，傷害人類呢？

 

He checked his oxygen supply—85 percent. So far, so good. The armor's motion detectors revealed three objects circling in the distance. Sharks, maybe? But J.A.R.V.I.S. hadn't detected any life-forms. Robot sharks, I bet. Of course A.I.M. would have robot sharks. Why didn't I listen to Cap instead of running off on my own?

他檢查了自己的供氧系統(tǒng)——百分之八十五。目前為止，還很充足?？椎囊苿犹綔y器檢測到有三個物體在遠(yuǎn)處盤旋。也許是鯊魚？但是賈維斯沒有探測到任何生命形式。“我打賭是機器人鯊魚。當(dāng)然先鋒科技會有機器人鯊魚。為什么我沒有聽隊長的建議，要自己單獨行動呢？”

 

Tony activated his armor's underwater countermeasures, and several small robotic beacons ejected from his shoulder launcher. Each mimicked the sounds of Tony's armor and drew two of the robot sharks away. The third shark was hungry . . . for metal! It attacked Tony from below and almost swallowed him whole! The metal teeth ground against his armor, and his suit began to fizzle and cave in on him. Tony quickly grabbed the robotic jaws and activated his elbow thrusters, tearing the metal mouth in two.

托尼啟動了盔甲的水下應(yīng)對裝置，幾個小的機器信標(biāo)從他的肩扛發(fā)射器中射出。每一個都模仿托尼盔甲的聲音，將兩個機器人鯊魚引開了。第三個鯊魚對……金屬極其渴望！它從底部攻擊托尼，幾乎要把他整個吞入口中。金屬牙齒緊貼著他的盔甲，他的衣服開始發(fā)出嘶嘶聲，向內(nèi)塌陷。托尼迅速抓住機器人下顎，并激活了他的肘部推進(jìn)器，將它的金屬嘴撕成兩半。

 

Really? Tony thought. I almost bit the bullet because of a robo-fish? He rocketed like a torpedo toward his destination.

“真的嗎？”托尼心想，“僅僅一個機器魚就幾乎讓我遭受了巨大的痛苦？”他像魚雷一樣向目的地疾馳。

 

Beneath the ocean, A.I.M. Island looked like a large geodesic dome constructed of foreign materials—nothing like the islands Tony was used to vacationing at.

在海洋之下，先鋒科技島形似由異域材料建成的大型網(wǎng)格狀球頂，一點也不像托尼之前度假的島嶼。

 

This is where Cap would say, “We need a plan. We need to act as a team,” thought Tony. And here I am with neither. Well done, Stark, well done.

“這就是隊長所說的，‘我們需要一個計劃。我們需要團隊作戰(zhàn)。’”托尼想，“現(xiàn)在我一個人在這，既沒有計劃也沒有團隊。很好，斯塔克，這很好。”

 

“Okay,” Tony said to himself, “time to make a door.”

“好的，”托尼對自己說，“是時候造個門了。”

 

“They kind of give me the creeps,” said the A.I.M. agent with a shudder. She stood with another agent at the door of a large control room.

“他們有點讓我毛骨悚然。”先鋒科技的特工打了個寒戰(zhàn)說。她和另一位特工站在巨大的控制室門口。

 

“Shhhh,” the second agent replied softly. “Don't let the boss hear you talking like that!”

“噓，”第二位特工輕聲回答，“不要讓老板聽到你這樣說！”

 

ZAAAAAAK! The wall ripped open, torn apart by a massive repulsor blast! In rushed a torrent of seawater and, along with it, Iron Man! The agents were knocked unconscious. An alarm wailed for only a second before it was silenced by Iron Man's repulsor.

咔——咔！墻被一束巨大的沖擊光束劈開了！沖進(jìn)來一股海水，還有鋼鐵俠！特工們被打昏了。警報僅僅響了一秒鐘，就被鋼鐵俠的沖擊光束關(guān)閉了。

 

Let's hope I didn't wake anybody up, he thought.

“希望我沒有吵醒任何人。”他想。

 

Within minutes, the wall had resealed, leaving no sign of Iron Man's entrance. “Self-healing polymer walls,” said Tony. “We'll have to look into those for Stark Tower. Save a fortune every time the Hulk busts a wall.”

幾分鐘后，墻壁自動恢復(fù)原樣，絲毫看不出鋼鐵俠的入侵。“自我修復(fù)高分子墻壁。”托尼說，“我們要將它用在斯塔克大樓上，這樣每次綠巨人撞壞墻，都可以省下一筆錢。”

 

Iron Man was inside A.I.M.'s hidden base, in a corridor. Activating his boot jets, Tony took off, continuing to follow M.O.D.O.K.'s energy signature.

鋼鐵俠進(jìn)入先鋒科技秘密基地內(nèi)的通道。托尼激活他的靴子噴射器，飛了起來，繼續(xù)跟蹤魔多客能量標(biāo)記。

 

The master control room is enormous, Tony thought. He was up in an air shaft, looking down at the room through a grate. He saw an assembly of A.I.M. agents—all armed—surrounding an enormous duplicate Cosmic Bridge Generator.

“主控室很大。”托尼心想。他在一個通風(fēng)井上方，通過格柵看向這個房間。他看見一場先鋒科技特工會議——全都全副武裝——圍繞著一個巨大的宇宙連接生成器的復(fù)制品。

 

“You are too cautious,” said a spine-chilling voice.

“你太小心翼翼了。”一個令人毛骨悚然的聲音說道。

 

“And you are not cautious enough!” came the reply, silencing everyone in the room.

“而你太不小心了！”另一個聲音答道，房間里每個人都安靜下來。

 

Tony took a second to place the first voice, but he knew the second one. . . . M.O.D.O.K.

托尼花了一些時間來確定第一個聲音來源，但是他清楚第二個聲音是……魔多客。

 

Iron Man smirked. He was confident he had the element of surprise. He prepared to blast through the grate, but before he could act, an explosion struck Tony's hiding spot. He fell to the floor of the master control room, hard.

鋼鐵俠笑了笑。他確信自己可以帶來一份驚喜。他準(zhǔn)備炸開柵欄，但是在他動手前，一次爆炸襲擊了托尼的藏身之處。他重重地跌入主控室的地板上。

 

“You're late, Iron Man,” M.O.D.O.K. intoned. He almost sounded bored. “I expected you approximately thirty-four seconds ago.”

“你遲到了，鋼鐵俠。”魔多客緩慢地說道。他聽起來很無聊。“34秒之前你就該到了。”

 

Iron Man righted himself and was greeted by the army of A.I.M. agents. Floating beside them in his hover chair was M.O.D.O.K. His head was impossibly huge and his limbs tiny, almost useless. In the center of his vast forehead was a glowing beam, the source of his immense psionic powers.

鋼鐵俠讓自己站直，先鋒科技特工軍隊就迎了上來。漂浮在他們周圍，坐在懸停椅子上的是魔多客。他的頭不可思議的大，四肢卻極小，幾乎無用。在他廣闊前額的中央有一束發(fā)光光束，那是他巨大能量的來源。

 

“I would have been here sooner, but the traffic was terrible,” Tony joked. He tried to sound like his usual devil-may-care self, but the odds were against him. Things didn't look good for one lone Iron Man.

“我原本可以早一點到的，交通太堵了。”托尼開玩笑地說。他試圖讓自己聽起來像往常一樣無所忌憚，但是勝算對他來說并不大。當(dāng)前情形對于只身前來的鋼鐵俠來說不太樂觀。

 

M.O.D.O.K. ignored Iron Man and hovered over to the generator's control panels. Iron Man saw the familiar yellow-green blobs, their many arms reaching, grabbing, constructing. This new Cosmic Bridge Generator dwarfed the one Tony had destroyed at Outpost 13.

魔多客沒有理會鋼鐵俠，而是盤旋到生成器控制面板上方。鋼鐵俠看到熟悉的黃綠色團狀物，許多手臂伸出來，搶奪、構(gòu)建。這個全新的宇宙連接生成器相較于托尼在13號哨所摧毀的那個有些矮小。

 

“That thing looks big enough to, I don't know, bring a whole planet of slimy, scummy creatures to Earth,” said Tony. Channeling as much power as he could to his repulsors, he unleashed a barrage of devastating blasts at the generator. Well, they should have been devastating. Unlike the generator at Outpost 13, this one was unaffected by his repulsors.

“那個東西似乎大到足以，我不知道，將整個行星的黏糊糊的生物帶到地球上。”托尼說。他盡其所能轉(zhuǎn)移能量至沖擊光束裝置，對著生成器釋放出毀滅性的爆炸波。好吧，照說應(yīng)該是毀滅性的。但不同于13號哨所的生成器，這個絲毫不受他沖擊光束的影響。

 

One of the beasts let out a bitter laugh, then slowly shuffled its mass toward Iron Man. Its writhing arms shot out and grabbed Tony by the neck. Then, without warning, it dropped him and began to change shape.

其中一個怪物發(fā)出一聲嘲笑，接著慢慢地移向鋼鐵俠。它伸出扭動的手臂，抓住鋼鐵俠的脖子，毫無預(yù)兆地把他摔下來，接著它開始改變形狀。

 

Its features slowly morphed, going from altogether alien to a little more . . . familiar. Two arms, two legs. Tall. Elongated facial features. Almost human.

它的身體開始緩慢變形，從外星人轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橛行┦煜さ捏w型。兩只手臂，兩條腿，高大、瘦長的面孔，幾乎成為人形。

 

Something Tony had seen years before.

托尼多年前遇見過這類事。

 

“Phantoms?” said Tony in disbelief. Back when the Avengers had first joined together to fight evil, he had encountered a strange being who called himself the Space Phantom. He could change his shape to mimic almost anyone or anything. He imitated the different members of the Avengers, pitting the heroes against one another.

“幽靈？”托尼不可思議地說。他的思緒回到最開始，復(fù)仇者們齊力與惡魔作戰(zhàn)時，他曾遇到過一個奇怪的生物，稱自己為太空幽靈。它可以改變自己的形狀來模仿幾乎任何人任何事。它將自己仿造成不同的復(fù)仇者，讓英雄們自相殘殺。

 

“Yes, that is what your kind call us,” snarled the alien, its voice practically dripping with slime. “Our own world has become . . . inhospitable. But your world . . . your Earth . . . will make a glorious new home. Once you and your miserable kind have been . . . displaced.”

“是的，你們?nèi)祟惥褪沁@樣稱呼我們的。”外星人咆哮道，它的聲音幾乎是黏糊糊的。“我們的世界不再適合居住。但是你們的世界，只要我們可以取代你和你們可憐的人類，你們的地球?qū)俏覀儤O好的全新家園。”

 

“Slow down, sloppy joe. What about all the nice people who already live here?” Tony asked. The A.I.M. agents began to circle Iron Man. Tony's audio sensors detected the sound of their weapons heating up.

“等一等，邋遢喬。那些早就居住在這里的好人們怎么辦呢？”托尼問道。先鋒科技特工開始包圍鋼鐵俠。托尼的音頻傳感器檢測到他們啟動了武器。

 

“The Phantoms shall first replace all those humans in positions of power,” M.O.D.O.K. explained. “Your Cosmic Bridge Generator will transport the Phantoms here and send their human counterparts to their destroyed home world.”

“幽靈們會首先取代那些掌權(quán)者。”魔多客解釋道，“你的宇宙連接生成器會將幽靈們帶至地球，將人類送到幽靈們已遭毀滅的世界。”

 

That explains why they needed the generator! Every time a Phantom imitates someone, that person is sent to the Phantom's world. But when a Phantom changes its shape again, the person returns. They would need some other method to send people away permanently . . . like the generator!

“他們需要生成器原來是因為這個！幽靈每次仿制出一個人，被仿制的人就會被送去幽靈的世界。但是當(dāng)幽靈再次轉(zhuǎn)變身形，這個人就會回到地球。他們需要其他方法，可以將人類永遠(yuǎn)地送走，比如利用生成器！”

 

“And what's in it for you and A.I.M.?” Tony asked M.O.D.O.K.

“那你和先鋒科技會得到什么好處？”托尼問魔多客。

 

M.O.D.O.K. threw Tony a look of annoyance. “Is it not obvious? I desire complete control of this world. With the Phantoms, that goal is within my grasp.”

魔多客惱怒地看了眼托尼。“這還不夠明顯嗎？我希望控制整個世界。有幽靈在，一切都在我掌握之中。”

 

Tony had heard enough. He ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to switch all energy reserves to his repulsors. But just as he was about to unleash all the force he could muster, he was struck by the A.I.M. agents! They fired at once, encasing him in a field of hard light. Then J.A.R.V.I.S. came online with more bad news: “Power now operating at reserve levels.”

托尼受夠了。他命令賈維斯將所有能量聚集到他的沖擊光束裝置上。但是正當(dāng)他準(zhǔn)備釋放所有他能聚集的能量之時，先鋒科技的特工擊中了他！他們立即開戰(zhàn)，把他包裹在強光中。接著，賈維斯帶來了更多壞消息：“電力正以備用水平運作。”

 

M.O.D.O.K. and the Phantoms closed in on Tony.

魔多客和幽靈們靠近托尼。

 

He struggled against the onslaught, but he could still hear Cap's words echoing in his head: This is too big for any one of us, Tony.

他艱難地對抗襲擊，但是隊長的話仍然回蕩在他腦海里：托尼，這對我們?nèi)魏我粋€人來說都是件難事。