'That the hrud are not aliens at all,' said Tzurin, 'but some strain of humanity, perhaps from the far distant future, maybe the end of time itself.'

佩圖拉博頓時(shí)臉色一沉：“這太瘋狂了。如果是那樣的話，他們?yōu)槭裁匆獊磉@兒？”

Perturabo scowled. 'That is madness. If that were so, why would they come here?'

“誰知道呢？” 祖里恩如此說道，“在漫長(zhǎng)而又黑暗的前路上，誰知道有什么樣恐怖之物在等著呢？也許他們知道我們的時(shí)代會(huì)迎來和平，所以他們就聚集于此，準(zhǔn)備享受帝國(guó)將要帶給銀河的穩(wěn)定安泰。”

'Who can tell?' said Tzurin. 'Who knows what horrors await in the long, dark reaches ahead? Perhaps they see peace coming in our time,?and gather here to enjoy the stability that the Imperium shall bring to the galaxy.'

“那么他們就是一群蠢材。我看不見和平，” 原體輕聲嘀咕道，“非常好，祖里恩。我也十分重視求知。你可以繼續(xù)測(cè)試并收集你的樣本。不過，要是我認(rèn)為你的興趣對(duì)戰(zhàn)斗造成了任何形式的妨害，我會(huì)親手宰了你。”

'Then they are fools. I see no peace,' the primarch muttered. 'Very well, Tzurin. The pursuit of knowledge is dear to my heart also. You may proceed and gather your samples. But if I believe the battle to be in any way jeopardised by your interests, I will kill you myself.'

III.然而除了基本的形態(tài)之外，赫魯?shù)氯嗽谕獗砩细祟悰]有半分相似之處。

在那寬闊的面孔上眨著（一雙）黑色的巨眼，它的臉上還有厚厚的粘液，那是從其皮膚上的黑色毛孔中流出來的。它的下顎在嘴角那里抽動(dòng)著。（它的）皮膚非常潮濕。它既沒有頭發(fā)，也沒有表情，從它的眼里看不到靈魂的光芒。除了四肢和腦袋的基本形態(tài)之外，它完全就是個(gè)異形。它全身上下都裹在臭氣熏天的長(zhǎng)袍之中，但由于它們的一側(cè)已經(jīng)被燒掉了，因此露出了（位于其下的）鉸接式鎧甲，這件鎧甲與其靈活的肢體緊密地貼合在一起。它舉起了自己的利劍，但它也受到了力場(chǎng)的影響，只見劍體周圍的光芒不受控制地?fù)u擺了起來，然后就此熄滅。

Huge black eyes blinked in a broad face thick with mucous streaming from dark pores in its flesh. Mandibles twitched in the corners of its mouth. The skin was repellently moist. It had no hair, no expression, no soul-light in its eyes. The basic form of four limbs and a head aside, it was utterly alien. Stinking robes swathed it head to foot, but on one side they had been burned away, revealing articulated armour closely fitted to its flexible limbs. It lifted its sword, but it too was affected by the field, and the sheen of light around it wavered uncontrollably before puttering out.

IV.赫魯?shù)挛涫繒?huì)使用一種威力相當(dāng)恐怖的熔熵光劍：它既可以扭轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)空（1），也可以在物理上斷玉分金（2）。

（1）赫魯?shù)挛涫考饨兄鴱目罩姓股矶F(xiàn)，它們每個(gè)人都拿著一對(duì)光劍，劍上的熔熵就像煙霧一樣。它們閃爍著，從一個(gè)地方跳到了另一個(gè)地方，朝其所在方位傾瀉而去的彈藥要么就是徒勞無功地?fù)糁辛讼”〉目諝?，要么就是在引爆之前便被?duì)方與生俱來的時(shí)間力場(chǎng)消耗掉了。

Screeching hrud warriors appeared from folds in the air, each wielding twinned blades of light that smoked with entropic dissolution. They flickered and leapt from place to place, the munitions poured in their direction hitting naught but thin air, or wasted by the beings' native time fields before they could detonate.

軍團(tuán)四面楚歌。

The Legion was embattled on all sides.

赫魯?shù)氯苏谕囱ɡ镉縼恚瑢?duì)方的時(shí)間武器效果就像撕裂他的戰(zhàn)友一樣撕裂了福特萊頓的感知。事情偏離了常軌。福特萊頓的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)時(shí)不時(shí)就會(huì)停止下來，取而代之的則是一種令人暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向的混亂感。許多鋼鐵勇士戰(zhàn)死了，從絕望的戰(zhàn)斗中擲身而出，然后再度復(fù)返，他們的凝聚力被打得粉碎。武器一碰到赫魯?shù)氯说睦芯蜁?huì)變成碎片。被超自然的利劍刺穿的戰(zhàn)士們就此四散爆裂，他們的軀體被扭成了不可名狀的樣子。其他人的年紀(jì)開始反向倒退，他們先是一下子變得精力充沛，然后便在痛苦中死去了，因?yàn)樗麄兊纳眢w對(duì)植入物產(chǎn)生了嚴(yán)重的排斥反應(yīng)。

The hrud were pouring into the cavern, the effects of their temporal weaponry ripping apart Fortreidon's perception as efficiently as it dismembered his comrades. Events broke from their normal flow. Fortreidon's war ceased to proceed from moment to moment, but was instead broken into a disorienting jumble. Many Iron Warriors died, thrown from the middle of desperate combat and then back again, their concentration broken. Weapons fell to pieces as they encountered hrud blades. Warriors speared by unearthly swords exploded, their bodies forced into impossible shapes. Others aged backwards, flushed with vigour for a second, before dying in agony as their bodies gorily rejected their implants.

（2）福特雷登周圍的同伴紛紛被殺。巴丹倒了下去，一柄汲命之劍將他砍成了兩截。當(dāng)他倒地時(shí)，其身著的盔甲裂成了氧化的碎片，而他的骨頭（更是）化成了粉末。

Fortreidon's company were slain around him. Bardan fell, cut in half by a blade that sucked the life from him.

V.不管是生靈還是死物，一旦接觸到赫魯?shù)氯说臅r(shí)間力場(chǎng)，都會(huì)慘遭摧殘。

那里有一大群赫魯?shù)?。全面?zhàn)爭(zhēng)的喧囂將這個(gè)巨大的房間塞得滿滿當(dāng)當(dāng)。一場(chǎng)齊心協(xié)力的裝甲突擊越過了地面，然后從一團(tuán)閃爍的形體中殺了過去，到處都響起了爆炸之聲。正如福特雷登所見到的那樣，一輛提豐攻城坦克被外形模糊不清的赫魯?shù)氯藞F(tuán)團(tuán)圍住了。那里發(fā)出了一道閃光，然后它們便離開了，其身后只留下了一具銹蝕的車架。一支無畏機(jī)甲方陣從后面沖了上來，但是由聚焦的時(shí)間漩渦所形成的灼熱之刺將他們盡數(shù)擊倒，他們由里到外地腐爛了起來。氧化作用削弱了他們的底盤，無畏就這樣坍了下去，然后，一層薄粥一般的有機(jī)質(zhì)從他們的石槨中灑了出來。

There the hrud were legion. The chamber was vast, and filled with the tumult of full-scale war. Explosions boomed everywhere as a concerted armoured assault pushed its way across the floor through a mass of flickering shapes. As Fortreidon watched, a Typhon siege tank was mobbed by the indistinct outlines of the hrud. There was a flash, and they stepped away, leaving a rusted skeleton behind. A phalanx of Dreadnoughts rushed out from behind only to be felled by searing stabs of focused temporal vortices that rotted them from the inside out. Their chassis collapsed, thinned by oxidation, and a thin, organic gruei spilled onto the ground from their sarcophagi.

VI.火焰武器可以對(duì)赫魯?shù)氯嗽斐珊芎玫臍Ч?/span>

火焰瘋狂地閃爍著，它們圍著生物猝然而舞。赫魯?shù)氯说撵亓?chǎng)極大地加快了氧氣的消耗，火焰很快就燃燒殆盡了。

Flames flickered into an insane, jerking dance around the creatures. The consumption of oxygen was radically accelerated by the hrud's entropic fields, and the fires burned themselves out quickly.

然而這并不足以拯救異形?；埂P勒芬再度扣動(dòng)了扳機(jī)，他將一股火焰噴到了異形的身上。對(duì)方那臭氣熏天的分層式外袍在熊熊燃钷的襲擊下冒出了蒸汽，當(dāng)蒸騰的水汽達(dá)到燃燒溫度時(shí)，它們一下子就被點(diǎn)燃了。

It was not enough to save the xenos. Genus Kellephon squeezed his trigger again, sending another blast of flame over the aliens. Their stinking, layered robes steamed under the assault of burning promethium, igniting suddenly as their moisture boiled off and they reached combustion temperature.

一個(gè)垂死的赫魯?shù)氯税l(fā)出了尖叫，那聲音聞所未聞。它的聲音讓人想起了世界之生的最后一刻，或是終末之星的寂滅之時(shí)。這是時(shí)間本尊的死亡之嘯。

A dying hrud screamed like nothing should. The sound of it brought to mind the last, ticking seconds of a world's life, or the ultimate exhaustion of the final star. It was the death scream of time itself.

VII.強(qiáng)力的能量武器可以對(duì)赫魯?shù)氯嗽斐煽植赖膿魵⑿Ч?/span>

狼蛛的機(jī)魂發(fā)現(xiàn)了赫魯?shù)氯说拇嬖冢缓缶痛碎_火。激光彈命中了敵人的熵力場(chǎng)。經(jīng)過加速的光芒突破了所有物理的限制，將兩個(gè)生物撕成了碎片。（激光）炮再度開火。另一個(gè)赫魯?shù)氯怂赖纳晕⑾駱右稽c(diǎn)，它的隱匿覆層上被燒出了四個(gè)整齊的洞孔

The Tarantulas' machine-spirits registered the hrud's presence and opened fire. The laser shots hit the entropic fields of the enemy. Sped up past all physical constraints, the light exploded, tearing two of the creatures apart. The guns fired again. Another hrud went down less dramatically, four neat holes burned through its concealing layers.

VIII.當(dāng)然，只要愿意付出代價(jià)，也能用其它方式殺死赫魯?shù)氯恕?/span>

然而赫魯?shù)氯瞬皇菬o敵的。它們會(huì)死。爆矢彈可以殺掉它們，利劍也行，（即使用）雙手也能勒住異形的細(xì)脖子。

But the hrud were not invincible. They could die. Bolts slew them, as did swords, and hands locked around thin alien necks.?

IX.人工靜滯力場(chǎng)可以壓制赫魯?shù)氯说臅r(shí)空扭曲能力。

光之漩渦就像鞭笞一樣從洞窟中一掠而過，在那里，相互碰撞時(shí)間流把身陷絕境的倒霉蛋們統(tǒng)統(tǒng)撕成了碎片。力場(chǎng)穩(wěn)定了下來。赫魯?shù)氯说呐で?yīng)被打消了，因?yàn)殪o滯力場(chǎng)在壓倒對(duì)方生理機(jī)能的同時(shí)，還驅(qū)散了籠罩在它們身周的熵波。

Vortices of light whipped across the cavern where competing temporal currents clashed, tearing apart those unfortunate to be caught in the worst of it. The field stabilised. The distorting effects of the hrud were banished as the stasis field overwhelmed their biology, banishing the entropic waves that surrounded them.

PS-1：不過投放靜滯力場(chǎng)時(shí)需要對(duì)赫魯?shù)氯说呐で饔眠M(jìn)行精心的測(cè)算，不然的話，輕則自己的部隊(duì)遭殃，重則整個(gè)星球都有可能會(huì)被撕成碎片。

You will need to precisely calculate the distortion effect of the hrud, or you risk trapping your Legion in a null time field or blowing the entire planet to pieces.?

X.一萬一千多年后（1），鈦星人也用類似的戰(zhàn)術(shù)（2）擊敗了入侵瓦施'雅家門的赫魯?shù)氯恕贿^它們的數(shù)量應(yīng)該遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)少于鋼鐵勇士所面對(duì)的遷徙大軍（3）。

赫魯?shù)氯缩遘k了鈦星人的家門世界瓦施'雅。成千上萬的火戰(zhàn)士慘遭殺害，因?yàn)楹蒸數(shù)氯说臅r(shí)熵力場(chǎng)在數(shù)小時(shí)之內(nèi)就讓他們老了幾十歲。幸存下來的鈦星人進(jìn)行了撤退，然后重新集結(jié)。他們的指揮官啟動(dòng)了“化身”戰(zhàn)斗協(xié)議，作戰(zhàn)機(jī)蜂和XV8危機(jī)戰(zhàn)斗服被一波又一波地放了出去。它們的超級(jí)合金可以抵抗赫魯?shù)氯说牡蛄愎猸h(huán)，這些帶著火焰噴射器和熱熔爆能槍的自動(dòng)機(jī)兵將肆虐的異形從瓦施'雅的地表上清除了出去，這些躬身聳肩的生物被趕得逃回了宇宙的深處。

The Hrud ravage the T'au sept world of Vash'ya. Thousands of Fire Warriors are slain as the Hrud's bizarre chrono-entropicfields cause them to age several decades in a matter of hours. The surviving T'au retreat and regroup. Their Commander initiates combat protocol 'Avatar', unleashing waves of combat drones and remotely operated XV8 Crisis Battlesuits. Their super-alloys resistant to the Hrud's withering aura, these automated warriors scour the alien infestation from the surface of Vash'ya with flamers and fusion blasters, sending the hunched creatures fleeing into the depths of space.

（1）古甘恩星系（Gugann System）之戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)于999.M30，而瓦施'雅之戰(zhàn)發(fā)生于第三次擴(kuò)張結(jié)束之后（999.M41）, 所以兩者相差了大約一萬一千多年。

（2）除了火焰武器和能量武器之外，鈦星人很可能還在此役中投入了時(shí)間武器——?因?yàn)樗麄兊?strong>制式時(shí)間武器在743.999.M41就已經(jīng)正式投入使用了，其產(chǎn)生的時(shí)間流能夠?qū)d具①和有生作戰(zhàn)部隊(duì)②造成驚人的殺傷。

①現(xiàn)在，敵方的炮艇最多只需幾秒鐘的功夫就可以脫戰(zhàn)了。在對(duì)方暴露位置后，兩個(gè)中隊(duì)的陽鯊轟炸機(jī)從巨型山脊的盲區(qū)中冒了出來，它們優(yōu)雅的棕褐色機(jī)身背對(duì)著太陽疾飛而至。那是悖律中隊(duì)，它們下掛的炸彈列陣裝的并不是由普通型號(hào)所搭載的、基于等離子的脈沖炸彈，而是能夠在時(shí)間流上制造漏洞的不穩(wěn)定靜滯力場(chǎng)。危險(xiǎn)，影陽如此想到，但是極其有效。

The enemy gunships were seconds away now, at most. Out from the blind edge of the giant ridge where they had exposed their position came two squadrons of Sun Shark bombers, their elegant tan hulls flying with the sun behind their tails. Paradox squadrons, their underslung bomb arrays fitted not with the plasma-based pulse bombs standard to their kind, but unstable stasis fields that could introduce a glitch into the timestream itself. dangerous, thought Shadowsun, but extremely effective.

帝國(guó)的炮艇群向置身于開闊地上的鈦星人發(fā)射了一波導(dǎo)彈。低沉的爆炸聲響徹廢土荒野，黑色的頁巖如同雨點(diǎn)一般灑向危機(jī)戰(zhàn)斗服。由于醉心于山脊之下的獵物，炮艇群沒有注意到向它們掩殺過來的悖律中隊(duì)。影陽注視著她的轟炸機(jī)群，它們切入了一條攔截航線，然后把局部靜滯化的異象投向敵方的飛行器。

The Imperial gunships loosed a salvo of missiles towards the tau out in the open, the dull thump of detonations blasting Crisis battlesuits across the wastes in showers of black shale.Intent on their prey on the plain beneath the ridge, the gunships did not notice the Paradox squadrons converging on their position. Shadowsun watched intently as her bombers cut an intercept course, dropping localised stasis anomalies towards the enemy craft.

一道眼花繚亂的光芒于瞬間閃現(xiàn)，帝國(guó)炮艇周圍的時(shí)空開始膨脹。巨大的飛行器被凍結(jié)了一秒鐘之久，它們的引擎怒吼著，在交替往復(fù)的現(xiàn)實(shí)中艱難地跋涉著。然后，包裹著炮艇的時(shí)間泡沫紛紛破裂，四艘炮艇全都呼嘯著、以數(shù)米之差越過了山脊的頂端，一頭插進(jìn)了碎裂的大地之中。

There was a flare of eye-watering unlight for a second, and the fabric of space-time bulged around the Imperial gunships. For a second the giant aircraft froze, the angry bellow of their engines stuttering in and out of existence. Then, as the bubble of time that had encapsulated them popped, all four of the aircraft roared over the top of the ridge, missing it by metres and ploughing nose-first into the hard, cracked earth.?

②為了發(fā)動(dòng)第二波攻擊，她的陽鯊中隊(duì)開始在山脊的邊緣地帶再度集結(jié)。它們從低空越過了那些帝國(guó)炮艇的殘骸，鳩'戎'剎就躲在它們的后面。只見陽鯊機(jī)群將更多的時(shí)空異象炸彈投了下去，每一枚都迸出了一道閃爍的白光。雖然影陽壓根就不知道土氏究竟是怎么鼓搗出這種武器的——盡管她自己在靜滯中沉睡了許多年——但是它們的效果毋庸置疑。歐伊·肯·雍將一段低空突襲的鏡頭傳了過來，在時(shí)間的催化下，每一艘炮艇殘骸都變成了銹蝕的碎片，而附近的戰(zhàn)士全都化成了匐倒在泛黃動(dòng)力甲中的白骨。

At the lip of the ridge, her Sun Shark squadrons had rallied for another attack run. They were coming back in low over the wrecked Imperial gunships and the gue'ron'sha sheltering in their lee. One by one the Sun Sharks dropped more of their temporal anomaly bombs, each detonating with a shimmering burst of white light. In truth Shadowsun did not understand how the earth caste had devised such weapons – despite the fact she had slept in stasis herself for many long years – but their efficacy was beyond question. Oe-ken-yon’s telesensors blipped footage of a low blitz that force-aged each gunship’s wreckage into rusting scrap and left the warriors nearby as slumped skeletons inside yellowed suits of armour.?

（3）從時(shí)熵力場(chǎng)的特性③和老化速度來看，入侵瓦施'雅家門的赫魯?shù)氯嗽跀?shù)量上要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)少于鋼鐵勇士當(dāng)年遇到的赫魯?shù)逻w徙大軍——因?yàn)楹笳咭幌伦泳湍茏屝请H戰(zhàn)士老化致死④。

③我從你的計(jì)算中得知，位錯(cuò)效應(yīng)會(huì)隨著赫魯?shù)卢F(xiàn)身的數(shù)量而顯著增加。

I see from your calculations that the dislocation effects increase dramatically with the number of hrud present.

④“事情有些不對(duì)勁?！?哈拉基斯如此說道。他環(huán)視著檔案堆的邊緣，然后一邊咳嗽，一邊為自己抓了一份。他的爆矢槍在地上摔成了碎片，他凝視著舉起的雙手，不敢相信自己身上發(fā)生了什么。，

'Something's wrong,' said Harrakis. He peered around the edge of the archive stack and snatched himself back, choking. His bolter fell to the ground in pieces, and he held up his hands, staring at them, not believing what was happening to him.

“還有其他人在！”他氣喘吁吁地說道。其拳套上外露的陶鋼正在不斷的粒化，仿佛就好像在風(fēng)雨中遺棄了五千年似的。它們?cè)诠沟氖稚献兂闪怂樾?，里面的肉體就這樣露了出來。它開始起皺下陷。肌肉變軟了，手指因退行性疾病而纏結(jié)到了一起。他的皮膚變薄了，上面還出現(xiàn)了肝色的斑點(diǎn)，他的靜脈呈現(xiàn)出醒目的藍(lán)色，里面的脈搏一下子就弱了下去。

'More of them!' he gasped. The bare ceramite of his gauntlets was pitting, as if left out in the elements for five thousand years. They crumbled around his hands, exposing the flesh within. It wrinkled and sagged. Muscles melted away, fingers became knotted with degenerative disease. His skin thinned and became liver spotted, and his veins stood out blue, the pulse in them weakening by the moment.

哈拉基斯的尖叫變成了可怕的咯咯聲。他倒了下去，只見灰塵從鎧甲的裂縫里傾瀉而出。

Harrakis' screams became hideous gurgles. He fell down, dust pouring from the rents opening up in his armour.

不到一秒鐘，哈拉基斯就死了。

Harrakis death took place in less than a second.

PS-2：這也許就是戰(zhàn)斗服的超級(jí)合金能夠抵抗凋零光環(huán)的原因。

XI.鈦星人和赫魯?shù)氯瞬⒎峭耆珨硨?duì)，后者偶爾也會(huì)以傭兵之身受雇于鈦星人。

兩個(gè)躲在暗處的赫魯?shù)氯艘贿呏钢业姆较?，一邊用他們的奇言怪語相互嘶鳴。我這才意識(shí)到我們是多么的勢(shì)單力薄。我們幾乎和整個(gè)酒吧懟上了。

The two hrud are hiding in the shadows, hissing at each other in their strange language and pointing in my direction. It's then that I realise just how outnumbered we are. It's pretty much us against the whole bar.

PS-3：有時(shí)鈦星人甚至還會(huì)雇傭獸人。

“神圣王座上的皇帝呀！” 譚雅悄聲咒罵道。我們?nèi)俭@訝地向她看了過去，她偷偷地朝著房間的另一端點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。在那里，就像我不會(huì)認(rèn)錯(cuò)自己的臉一樣，坐著一群血腥的獸人。實(shí)際上，他們有五個(gè)人，這些身材魁梧綠皮并沒有搭理我們，而是專心致志地盯著他們當(dāng)中的兩個(gè)正在進(jìn)行某種比賽的家伙。他們生來就是戰(zhàn)士，我曾經(jīng)與獸人幾度交手，差點(diǎn)就沒能活下來講述這番經(jīng)歷。

'Emperor on his holy throne!' curses Tanya quietly. We all look at her with surprise and she surreptitiously nods towards the far side of the room.There, as unmistakable as my own face, sits a group of bloody orks. Five of them in fact, the burly greenskins ignoring us, concentrating instead on two of their number who are having some kind of contest. Born warriors, I've fought orks on a couple of occasions, and barely lived to tell the tale.

資料來源：

Warhammer 40,000?Rulebook ·?3rd Edition

Codex：Tau Empire · 8th Edition?

Last Chancers novel series?·?Kill Team?·?Gav Thorpe.

Liber Xenologis · Darius Hinks?

The Primarchs?series ·?Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia?·?Guy Haley