【故事主线】

分别来自中国香港、印度、英国和澳大利亚的六位主人公为了寻找传说中的食人族踏上了开往南美的邮轮……

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【人物简介】

小强：男，香港富豪之子，喜好探险旅游，本次探险旅行的发起人。

蜜儿：女，香港某野外生存俱乐部教练，武功出色，中国的“劳拉”。

威廉：男，英国作家，以经常发布一些惊世奇闻的旅行游记著称。

桑杰：印度小男孩，印度洋海啸后当地的唯一幸存者。

艾德里安：男，澳大利亚生物学家，喜欢研究昆虫。

白雪：蜜儿的宠物狗，忠心耿耿，总给人带来意外惊喜。

编剧：James Palmer（英国）

情节策划：何彦平、王妮

插画：姚薇

本栏目有偿欢迎读者参与剧情策划

投稿信箱：contribution@bilingualtime.com

Plot Synopsis

【本期剧情】

艾德里安将所有人带回家，还有那个昏迷不醒的神秘男子。大家对这一系列奇怪事件都感到非常不安时却发现神秘男子的身体构造异于常人，而且他的身上也有一个小型蛇形符，在他奇迹般地苏醒后，蛇形符背后的秘密初露端倪，而维多利亚号也宣布停止原来的航行计划，那小强一行人是否因此而放弃他们的探险之旅呢？

Episode 8: The Astonishing Truth

第八集：惊人的真相

情景1：小强一行人来到艾德里安的家中。陌生人依旧昏迷不醒。

Adrian: It's strange. I've been looking over his wounds, and they're healing abnormally fast. And his anatomy - it doesn't seem normal. I hate to say it - but it doesn't even seem human.

Candy: What are you saying?

Adrian: He could be some kind of mutant, I guess. Or have a congenital condition I don't know about.

Candy: One where you heal fast? That seems odd. But I've heard of monks who can do that - you know, like a kind of chi power.

Adrian: Whatever it is, I think he'll be awake soon.

Candy: What's that around his neck?

Adrian: It's an amulet of some kind!

Candy: It looks just like … like Sanjay's amulet. Here, let me -

（她伸手去拿护身符，注意到它熠熠生辉。）

Candy: Maybe I shouldn't take it off him. But let me go and talk to Sanjay.

（她走进另外一间房，里面的人在看电视。）

Xiaoqiang: Look, the meteorites are still striking all over the oceans. They're saying that if it doesn't end soon, there'll be food shortages, hospital failures, all kinds of things. I just spoke to my father, and he asked me to stay in Australia for the moment. He's really worried about the risks of travelling - doesn't even want me coming home to help with the business. At least he's off my back about that!

William: Maybe it's a sign. Maybe we shouldn't be going on this expedition at all.

Candy: William, you're always changing your mind on this. We have to press on. I'm sure whatever this is, it'll be over soon.

William: I can only hope you're right.

Candy: Anyway, I've got some news about our mysterious stranger.

Xiaoqiang: I hope he's doing ok. I think he really saved our bacon in that crash, you know. I remember seeing him at the last moment, putting himself between us and the car that hit us.

Candy: Adrian said he's healing really fast. But - my news.

Xiaoqiang: Yes?

Candy: He's wearing an amulet. A snake amulet - like Sanjay's.

Xiaoqiang: Sanjay? Do you know anything about this?

Candy: This gets stranger and stranger.

Adrian: (from the next room)Come in here, everyone - he's awake!

情景2：真相大白

（大家都围在床边，神秘人在床上慢慢坐起来。）

Candy: Are you feeling ok? What's your name?

Saka: Call me Angeraksaka. Or Saka.

Sanjay: That's Hindi for bodyguard!

Saka: My family has always named themselves after their duty.

Candy: What do you mean, your duty?

Saka: Perhaps I should not say.

Xiaoqiang: I think it's time you started talking! We could still go to the police with this, you know! Im sure there are plenty of people who'd be interested in all this.

Sanjay: I must make a confession. I think - I think I have seen this man before.

Xiaoqiang: You have? Why didn't you say so before?

Sanjay: I wasn't certain. It was so confused, and I was half-unconscious. In the tsunami … he saved me.He pulled me from the waves. I thought then he was just a Sikh, a soldier perhaps. But my amulet then - it was glowing. When I was in danger, when we heard the waves were coming, I pushed the button on it, like my father told me to.

Saka: I am a bodyguard. I am charged with the protection of this little one, as I was charged with the protection of his father. Then I failed. I will not fail again.

Xiaoqiang: Who are you working for? Are you an accomplice of the Hills? They were interested in Sanjay.

Saka: I work for no-one except the prince.

Candy: The prince?

Saka: The prince! (he gestures at Sanjay)

Sanjay: What do you mean? I'm not a prince! I'm just an ordinary boy.

Saka: My prince, you know there is something different about you. There always has been.

Candy: You've always been able to talk to Snow White - almost as if you understand what he's saying.

Saka: Give me your hand. (he draws a knife, and draws it sharply across Sanjays hand)

Sanjay: Owww!

Candy: What are you doing!

Saka: Watch.

Adrien: My god, it's healing - that's incredible.

Sanjay: He's right … it's always been like this. If I hurt myself as a child, the cuts or bruises would fade.Even after the tsunami, I woke up without a scratch on me.

Saka: It is the power of our kind.

Candy: So you're saying you and Sanjay - you're some kind of superhumans?

Saka: I am from another planet. Or, rather, my ancestors were. I was born here.

Candy: What on earth are you talking about? You mean you're an alien?

Saka: Of a kind. The higher mathematics is difficult for me to understand, let alone explain. It is not another planet as you would think of it, but instead, it exists in a parallel position to the Earth in the cosmic slipstream.

Candy: Eh?

Saka: Think of it as another dimension, with another Earth, where humanity took different paths.

Candy: But if you're still human, why are you so strong?

Saka: The travel between dimensions affected our ancestor's bodies. Our metabolism, our very nature, reacts differently. And my kind are modified for strength, back on our homeland.

Adrien: What do you call your planet?

Saka: We call it 'Earth,' of course. In our science, your earth is 'Earth-2.' But perhaps here, my earth is the second earth.

Saka: Please! You must not reveal us. We would be in terrible danger.

William: That woman - she's one of you, isn't she?

Saka: From the Russian lands. Yes. Here, and many others. Our enemies.

Candy: Your enemies?

Saka: When we came here, we were fleeing a civil war on our own planet. The family - the family of the prince – were the losers. They fled as far as they could, to another world entirely; beyond the space and time we know. The science was newly developed, and primitive. The others came after us. Or so my grandfather told me. This was nearly four hundred years ago. We were bred to be a warrior caste, soldiers and protectors of the nobles. It has been twenty generations for us here. We placed ourselves among monks and mystics, warriors and scholars, as we guarded your ancestors. There were others, other survivors, but they fell. Some, I know now, were slain by the Russian woman. Her family were among those hunting us.

William: So … she isn't just an ordinary woman. I knew it, by God!

Saka: Her family - their name translates, as best as I can render it, as 'The Renders' - have always been cruel and vicious. It does not surprise me that they found positions of power here as well. We thought them dead for years, and concentrated on finding the technology to return ourselves. But then they found us, fifty years ago! It was my grandfather's time - that was when we were scattered from our charges. We have been seeking them for years. My father died in this quest, drowned by a mob in the Mumbai riots, and I thought I would die never having seen the face of the man I was charged to protect.

Sanjay: How did you find me? In the tsunami …

Saka: For years we had not been able to locate our prince. The growing use of telecommunications by people on this earth meant that so many other signals were interfering with ours. Finally I caught your distress call on the amulet by luck, as I was nearby. I received the message that Sanjay was in danger. Yet, when I arrived, it was too late for his father …

Adrian: But what about his father? How could he perish like that? You seem to be almost invulnerable.

Saka: Water is our weakness. In it we lose our strength, our invulnerability. It was with human force only that I could save Sanjay.

Candy: What about these meteorites?

Saka: I have no idea. Perhaps more interference from our world? My grandfather theorized that after we left, the time delay effect of dimensional travel might have thrown the worlds out of joint. It may be only a few days later there, but hundreds of years here. It would explain why no other travellers have come.

Candy: What do we do now?

Saka: When our warships rode the slipstream, one of them crashed in India. The other - in the Amazon.A third - in Russia. But the Indian and Russian ones have been destroyed. This is why the others are seeking it now - whoever gets it would have a tremendous weapon. And perhaps a way back to our home planet.

Xiaoqiang: That must have been what my uncle uncovered - or something like it!

Saka: I'm not certain how you fit into this. There are webs and patterns beyond me, a simple soldier. But I know this - if you care about Sanjay, if you care to stop the Russian, if you care about the future of this world or another - we must find that warship before they do!

Candy: Then I guess … we're going to have to find a way to the Amazon.

William: I got another message from the Hills. They said they've found a small ship willing to risk it and take us.

Candy: Then we have to go - even if it's a trap. We need to find out more!

Sanjay: This is my fight. You must not risk yourselves.

Adrien: Fascinating! A man could make a career in this - a Nobel, even. It could change everything we know about the world - physics, biology, everything!

William: Don't be absurd, lad. We're all in it, now. I'm not certain I believe all this - but - we have to go. To the Amazon!

情景1：小强一行人来到艾德里安的家中。陌生人依旧昏迷不醒。

艾德里安：很奇怪。我仔细检查了他的伤口，它们愈合地出奇得快。还有他的骨骼，看起来不正常。我不想说——但它不像是人类。

蜜儿：你什么意思？

艾德里安：他可能是某种突变体，我猜的。或者有我不知道的先天畸形。

蜜儿：愈合很快的地方么？这似乎很奇怪。但我曾听说僧人会那样——你知道，某种气的力量。

艾德里安：不管它是什么，我觉得他一会儿就会苏醒。

蜜儿：他脖子上挂的是什么东西？

艾德里安：是一种护身符！

蜜儿：它很像……像桑杰的护身符。让我——

（她伸手去拿护身符，注意到它熠熠生辉。）

蜜儿：也许我不应该将它从他身上拿下来。但我要过去跟桑杰说句话。

（她走进另外一间房，里面的人在看电视。）

小强：看，陨石仍在袭击整个海面。据说如果不很快停止，食物将短缺，医院将关门，会出现很多可怕的事。我刚跟我爸通了电话，他让我先呆在澳大利亚。他很担心旅程中的危险——甚至不要让我回去帮忙打理生意。不管怎样，至少他不再拿那事烦我了。

威廉：可能它是个征兆。或许我们根本不应该进行这次探险。

蜜儿：威廉，你在这事儿上总是变来变去。我们必须坚持下去。我确信，不管怎样，都会很快结束的。

威廉：我只能希望你是对的。

蜜儿：先不说这些，我有一些关于这个神秘陌生人的消息。

小强：我希望他安然无恙。我觉得他在车祸中真的救了我们。我记得最后一次见到他时，他处于我们和撞我们的那辆车之间。

蜜儿：艾德里安说他愈合的非常快。但——我的消息。

小强：什么？

蜜儿：他戴着一个护身符。一个蛇形护身符——就像桑杰的那个。

小强：桑杰？关于这个东西你知道什么吗？

蜜儿：这件事越来越诡异。

艾德里安：（从另外一个房间）大家过来——他醒了！

情景2：真相大白

（大家都围在床边，神秘人在床上慢慢坐起来。）

蜜儿：你还好么？你叫什么？

萨卡：叫我昂格拉克萨卡。或者萨卡。

桑杰：这是北印度语中保镖的意思！

萨卡：我的家人通常把职责名称作为自己的名字。

蜜儿：什么意思，你的职责？

萨卡：或许我不应该说。

小强：我觉得现在你该开口了！我们仍可以报警，你知道！肯定有很多人对这些感兴趣。

桑杰：我必须承认。我想，我想我以前见过这个人。

小强：你见过？你以前怎么不说？

桑杰：我当时不确定。很混乱，我也不大清醒。在海啸中……他救了我。他把我从海浪中拉了上来。我当时以为他只是个锡克人，可能是一名士兵。但当时我的护身符——在发亮。当我遇到危险，听到海浪袭来时，我就按下护身符上的按钮，这是我父亲教我的。

萨卡：我是个保镖。我受命保护这个小家伙，也受命保护他父亲。我失职了。今后绝不会再失职。

小强：你为谁效力？你是希尔夫妇的帮凶么？他们对桑杰很感兴趣。

萨卡：我只为王子效力。

蜜儿：王子？

萨卡：王子！（他向桑杰致敬。）

桑杰：你什么意思？我不是王子！我只是一个普通的男孩。

萨卡：王子殿下，你知道你有与众不同的地方。一直都有。

蜜儿：你一直能跟白雪对话——就好像你听得懂他说话。

萨卡：手给我。（他拔出一把小刀，在桑杰手上迅速划过。）

桑杰：嗷！

蜜儿：你干嘛呢！

萨卡：看。

艾德里安：我的天，在愈合——真神奇。

桑杰：他是对的……一直都这样。我小时候伤到自己时，伤口或伤痕就会消失。即使是海啸之后，我醒来时身上也没有一处伤痕。

萨卡：这是我们这种人的力量。

蜜儿：那你是在说你和桑杰——你们是某种超人么？

萨卡：我来自另外一个行星。或者说，我的祖先是。我在地球出生。

蜜儿：你到底在说什么？你的意思是说你是外星人？

萨卡：其中一种。更深奥的我不懂，更别说解释了。不是你们想象的另外一个行星，它其实在宇宙中同地球处于平行的位置。

蜜儿：嗯？

萨卡：试想另外一个维度，另外一个地球，那里的人类不一样。

蜜儿：但如果你还是人类，为什么这么强壮？

萨卡：维度间的穿梭影响了我们祖先的身体。我们的新陈代谢，我们的本质，与众不同。在我们家乡，我们这种人天生强壮。

艾德里安：你们把你们的星球叫什么？

萨卡：我们当然称之为“地球”。在我们的科学里，你们的地球是“地球二号。”但可能在这里，我的地球是第二个地球。

萨卡：求求你们！不要把我们的情况透露出去。那样我们的处境会非常危险。

威廉：那个女人——她跟你们是一类的，是么？

萨卡：来自俄国。是的。这里，还有许多。我们的敌人。

蜜儿：你们的敌人？

萨卡：我们来这里时，我们星球上正发生内战，人们纷纷逃离。王子的家族是失败方。他们能逃多远就逃多远，逃到另外一个世界，穿越了我们所知的时空。这门科学刚兴起，还处在原始阶段。其他人来追捕我们。这是我祖父告诉我的。这大约是400年前的事了。我们一出生就是武士、士兵和贵族的保镖。我们在这里已经是第20代人了。我们化装成僧人、秘法师、武士和学者等，保护你的父亲。有其他幸存者，但已经去世。我现在知道了，有一些人是被那个俄国女人杀死的。她的家人当时也在追杀我们。

威廉：所以……她不是一个普通女人。我对天发誓，我早就知道。

萨卡：她的家人——将他们的名字翻译过来，最好听的也是“破坏者”—— 既残忍又恶毒。毫不奇怪，他们在这里也变得强大起来。我们原以为他们都死了好多年了，就专心去找让我们回去的技术。但五十年前，他们发现了我们！那是我祖父的年代，我们也是那个时候被派到各地执行任务的。我们找桑杰父子找了很多年。寻找期间我的父亲遇害，是在孟买骚乱中被一群暴徒淹死的，我曾想如果我死了，就永远见不到我奉命保护的人了。

桑杰：你是如何找到我的？在海啸时……

萨卡：我们找了很多年都没能找到王子。这个地球上的人们使用无线电越来越频繁，干扰了我们自己的信号。最后我很幸运收到了你的护身符发出的求救信号，因为当时我就在不远处。我收到消息，知道桑杰有危险。但当我到时已经太晚，来不及救他父亲了……

艾德里安：但他父亲呢？他怎么会那样去世？你们似乎是刀枪不入。

萨卡：水是我们的克星。在水里我们就会浑身无力，不再是刀枪不入。我救桑杰只是凭借普通人的力量。

蜜儿：陨石是怎么回事？

萨卡：我不知道。可能是来自我们世界的更多的阻碍？据我祖父推论，我们离开之后，维度穿梭引起的时间延迟效应可能会把世界弄得一团糟。这在那里可能只是几天之后的事，但在这里就是几百年后的事。这也是为什么其他人还没来。

蜜儿：我们现在该怎么办？

萨卡：我们的战舰在穿越冲流时，一个在印度坠落。另一个落在亚马逊。第三个落在俄国。但落在印度和俄国的都已经坠毁。因此他们在找它——无论是谁找到它都会得到一个强大的武器。或许还能找到回我们自己星球的路。

小强：我叔叔肯定发现了这些，或者类似的事。

萨卡：我不确信你是不是说的同一件事。有很多事我不明白，我只是一名普通的士兵。但我知道——如果你关心桑杰，如果你想制止那个俄国女人，如果你关心这个世界或其他世界的未来，我们就必须在他们之前找到战舰！

蜜儿：那我认为……我们得想办法去亚马逊。

威廉：我又收到了希尔夫妇的信息。他们说他们找到了一艘小船，想冒冒险，也愿意带上我们。

蜜儿：我们必须走——即使它是一个圈套。我们必须找出更多！

桑杰：这是我的斗争。你们不要冒险。

艾德里安：太棒了！这可以成就一番事业——甚至获得诺贝尔奖。这会改变我们所了解的世界上的任何事情——物理学、生物学，一切！

威廉：小鬼，别犯傻了。我们现在是同一根绳上的蚂蚱。我不确信我们是否要相信这些，但我们必须要走。去亚马逊！

To be Continued…

下集预告

小强一行人带着巨大的疑虑登上了希尔夫妇的船，由于陨石降落，他们将原计划取道夏威夷改成去复活岛，亚马逊之旅由此开始。在船上，威廉开始回忆自己以前的美好时光，大家都兴高采烈地谈论起自己最开心的事。但在船靠近复活岛时却出现了一群全副武装的人将他们抓起来，而威廉居然也是他们中的一员……

Notes

1. off one's back

意为“烦某人、跟某人啰嗦”。

例句：You wanna get off my back?

你别烦我，好不好？

2. press on

意为“加紧、勇往直前”。

例句：You should press on with your work.

你应该加紧做自己的工作。

Steadfast in our purpose, we now press on.

遵循着我们的目标，我们在勇往直前。

3. save one's bacon

意为“使某人保住性命、生计、名誉等, 使某人免于死亡、损害”。

例句：I am nearly bankrupt, but your loan saved my bacon.

我已濒於破产，是你借给我的钱使我幸免於难。

4. charge with

意为“承担、担负”。

例句：I'm charging you with cleaning the room before you go.

我要你负责把房间打扫干净再走。

5. by God

意为“老天作证”。

例句：By God he's done it!

老天作证，他做过那件事！

6. out of joint

意为：“混乱、紊乱”。

例句：The delays put the whole schedule out of joint.

一再的拖延打乱了全部安排。