(阿爾喬姆聽(tīng)得大氣都不敢喘一下，看到老滑頭彼得對(duì)待此事都如此害怕，他更加深信有一股不可預(yù)測(cè)的力量和黑幕正從未知的角落蔓延開(kāi)來(lái)。)

“那貝戈瓦亞后來(lái)發(fā)生什么了？”阿爾喬姆說(shuō)話的聲音都開(kāi)始不對(duì)勁了。

'And what happened to Begovaya?' Artyom's voice sounded unusual, unlike him.

“他們倒沒(méi)有發(fā)生什么。在見(jiàn)證了這一切之后，貝方?jīng)Q定爆破，炸斷了通往波列扎耶夫的隧道。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)有四十多米的隧道因此倒塌；不用特殊機(jī)械挖掘的話是不可能再次打通的，就算有機(jī)會(huì)能用得上，我打賭你也堅(jiān)持不下去。再說(shuō)了，這種機(jī)器你上哪兒找去？我們車站的那一臺(tái)十五年前就已經(jīng)銹得不成樣子了?！?/p>

'Nothing happened to them. They saw what the deal was, and exploded the tunnel that led to Polezhaevskaya. I hear forty metres' worth of tunnel is collapsed; there's no digging through it without spcial machinery, and even with machinery, I bet you wouldn't get very far...And where are you going to find tht kind of machinery, anyway? Our machinery rotted away fifteen years ago already...'

彼得·安德烈維奇凝視著火堆，陷入了沉默。阿爾喬姆大聲清了清嗓子，說(shuō)到：“唉......我確實(shí)該向剛剛那東西開(kāi)槍，我真是個(gè)笨蛋。”

Pyotr Andreevich fell silent, gazing into the fire. Artyom gave a loud cough and said, 'Yeah...I should've shot the thing, of course...I was an idiot.'

忽然一聲大喊從南邊，車站方向傳來(lái)：“嘿~那兒的，四百米那兒的！一切正常嗎？”

A shout came from the south, from the direction of the station: 'Hey there, at the four-hundredth metre! Everything OK there?'

彼得·安德烈維奇從火光中緩過(guò)神，將雙手環(huán)成喇叭模樣，大聲回應(yīng)道：“過(guò)來(lái)點(diǎn)兒！我們這兒有情況！”

Pyotre Andreevich folded his hands into the shape of a megaphone and shouted in reply: 'Come closer! We've got a situation here!'

從車站隧道方向緩緩出現(xiàn)了三個(gè)人影，他們的手電筒晃動(dòng)著，似乎是三百米處的巡邏隊(duì)成員。直到完全被篝火的火光照射到，他們才關(guān)閉手電，隨意地坐了下來(lái)。

Three figures approached in the tunnel, from the station, their flashlights shining - probably patrol members from the three-hundredth metre. Stepping into the light of the fire, they put out their flashlights and sat down.

“哇哦，彼得，原來(lái)是你在這兒。我剛還在想呢，今天會(huì)是誰(shuí)被派來(lái)值守邊境呢？”一個(gè)高階巡邏軍官一邊笑，一邊從他的戰(zhàn)術(shù)背包中甩出一根煙。

'Hi there, Pyotr! So it's you here. And I'm thinking to myself - who'd they send off to the edge of the earth today?' said the senior patrolman, smiling and shaking a cigarette from his pack.

“聽(tīng)著，安德烈，我的人剛剛看見(jiàn)上面有什么東西。但是這小崽子沒(méi)開(kāi)槍...那東西躲進(jìn)了隧道。他說(shuō)那東西不像人類?！?/p>

'Listen, Andryukha! One of my guys saw someone up here. But he didn't get to shoot...It hid in the tunnel. He says it didn't look human.'

“不像人類？那它看起來(lái)是什么樣子的？”安德烈轉(zhuǎn)身面向阿爾喬姆。

'Didn't look human? What did it look like, then?' Andrey turned to Artyom.

“我，我其實(shí)都沒(méi)看清它，只是向它詢問(wèn)了暗號(hào)，它卻直接往北面跑了。但是腳步聲不像人類，聽(tīng)起來(lái)很快，很輕盈，像是有四條腿而不是兩條......”

（阿爾喬姆盡可能地回想著所有的細(xì)節(jié)，想用足夠多的情報(bào)換來(lái)前輩對(duì)自己剛剛瀆職的諒解。）

'I didn't even see it...I just asked for the password, and it ran right off, heading north. But the footsteps weren't human - they were light, and very quick, as if it had four legs instead of two...'

“噢~或許是三個(gè)！”安德烈眨了眨眼，做了一個(gè)鬼臉。

'Or three!' winked Andrey, making a scary face.

阿爾喬姆頓時(shí)屏住了呼吸，回想起通往地面的菲利耶夫軌道線，那里流傳著的三腿怪人的故事，那兒的隧道挖得并不算深，所以他們沒(méi)有辦法抵御來(lái)自地面的核輻射傷害。傳聞那里有著三條腿、兩個(gè)頭以及各種怪異的生物在站點(diǎn)內(nèi)外四處爬行。

Artyom choked, remembering the stories about three-legged people from Filevskaya line where some of the stations went up to the surface, and the tunnel didn't run very deep at all, so they had alomost no protection from the radiation. There were three-legged things, two-headed things and all kinds of weird shit crawling all over the metro from those parts.

安德烈猛吸一口煙，從嘴中扯了出來(lái)，對(duì)他的隊(duì)員說(shuō)到：“行吧，伙計(jì)們，來(lái)都來(lái)了，為什么不多坐會(huì)兒呢？如果有三條腿的壞家伙又來(lái)騷擾我們的小兄弟，我們來(lái)幫他們一把，嗯？嘿~阿爾喬姆，這兒還有熱水嗎？”

Andrey took a drag of his cigarette and said to his men, 'All right, guys, since we're already here why don't we sit down for a while? If any three-legged things crawl up on these guys again, we'll lend a hand. Hey, Artyom! Got a kettle?'

彼得·安德烈維奇起身將罐子里的水倒入一個(gè)破舊且滿是灰塵的水壺中，并把它掛在篝火的架子上。幾分鐘后，隨著逐漸響起的嗚嗚聲，壺中的水沸騰了起來(lái)。這充滿生活氣息的旋律，撫慰著周邊的人，阿爾喬姆感受到了一絲溫暖和平靜。他環(huán)視四周，火堆旁圍坐著堅(jiān)強(qiáng)可靠的隊(duì)友們，都曾經(jīng)歷過(guò)充滿挑戰(zhàn)和危險(xiǎn)的日子。感覺(jué)永遠(yuǎn)都可以相信和依賴這樣的人。他們所處的站臺(tái)，在整個(gè)地鐵線中是最享有聲譽(yù)的安全營(yíng)地，這都?xì)w功于此刻聚在火堆旁的這幫猛漢以及車站中他們的同伴。他們之間的羈絆火熱似血，更勝手足。

Pyotr Andreevich got up and poured some water from a canister into a beat-up, soot-covered kettle, and hung it over the flame. In a few minutes, the kettle began to whistle as it came to a boil. The sound, so domestic and comforting, made Artyom feel warmer and calmer. He looked around at the men who were sitting at the fire: all of them strong dependable people, hardened by the challenging life they led here. You could trust men like these; you could count on them. Their station always had the reputation for being the most successful along the entire line - and that was all thanks to the men gathered here, and to others like them. They were all connected to each other with warm, almost brotherly bonds.

而阿爾喬姆只是個(gè)才過(guò)二十歲的小伙子，他出生于地表，那時(shí)候人們還在室外生活。阿爾喬姆和出生于地下的孩子們不同，他身板健壯，血?dú)夥絼?，且敢于冒著地面的?qiáng)烈輻射和太陽(yáng)的灼人熱浪的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)前往上層探索，那里對(duì)地下居民而言就是廢墟一片，無(wú)可留戀。

Artyom was just over twenty years old and had come into the world when life was still up there, on the surface. He wasn't as thin and pale as the others who'd been born in the metro, who wouldn't dare go up to the surface for fear of radiation and the searing rays of the sun, which are so ruinous for underground dwellers. True, even Artyom, as far as he could remember, had been on the surface only once, and then it was only for a moment - the background radiation there had been so bad that anyone who got a bit too curious would be completely fried within a couple of hours, before he'd even managed to enjoy a good stoll, and see his fill of the bizarre world that lay on the surface.