第十一章
Unlike the Zentraedi, who had in a sense taught them everything they knew about warfare, the Invid were not above the idea of taking hostages. The reason for this can be traced back to the chaotic period following the defoliation of Optera by the Masters' newly created clone warriors. The Regent was convinced that Zor had stolen the Flowers of Life merely to offer them up in exchange for the Regis herself. Emulating the Tiresian then, the Regent had sent out his new army not to kill, but to capture Zor, in the hopes of holding him hostage for the return of the Flowers!
Bloom Nesterflg, The Social Organization of the Invid
在某种意义上，天顶星人被教会的是他们所知的关于作战的每件事情。和天顶星人不同，因维人并不会对扣押人质之类的想法不屑一顾。这么做的理由可以追溯到机器人统治者用新建立的克隆人军队攻陷奥普特拉星球之后的混乱时期。那时因维摄政王确信佐尔偷走了生命之花不过是想利用他们交换瑞吉斯（女王）本人。之后仿效这个泰雷西亚人的做法，摄政王派出他的新军去抓捕佐尔，而不是去杀了他，希望能用他作为人质换回生命之花！
——布鲁姆·勒斯特弗戈，《因维的社会组织》
"I just think we should talk this over first, that's all," Tesla told the assembled Sentinels, Bioroid pilots, and assorted members of Kami's tribe.
“我只是认为我们应该先好好谈谈，仅此而已。”泰斯拉告诉聚集起来的哨兵战士、生化人驾驶员和卡米部落的各类成员们。
He could see that the Garudans weren't exactly thrilled to have an Invid in their midst-particularly the Invid who had supervised the Regent's specimen mission some time ago-and he was beginning to wonder whether he would even make it out of the village alive, let alone into one of the farm-hives. Still, he reasoned, if he could come up with a better plan than the hostage exchange the Sentinels seemed to be favoring at the moment, he might be able to save himself from either fate.
他可以看到这些嘎鲁达人并没有因为他们当中有一个因维人而害怕地发抖——特别是这个因维人不久以前曾经督导过瑞金特的标本采集任务。泰斯拉开始怀疑他甚至是否能活着离开这个村子，更不用说回到某个农场母巢里。他一直在思考，哨兵同盟此刻似乎很偏向于人质交换，如果他能提出一个更好的计划，或许能够保全自己免受任意一种命运（译注：指被杀死或作为人质被交换）。
"After all," Tesla continued, undaunted,"it doesn't sound to me like you have this thing entirely worked out. The whens, the wheres, the hows...And for all I know, the Regent may have given orders for me to be shot on sight."
“毕竟，”泰斯拉并没有气馁，继续说道，“我听起来不像是你们已经完全解决了这件事情。在什么时间，什么地方，以及怎么去做……而且就我所知，瑞金特可能已经下命令一旦见面就射杀我。”
This much was true, and as a result the group lapsed into an uneasy silence. They couldn't simply call the farm, nor could they just waltz in waving the proverbial white flag. But this was where Tesla was supposed to supply answers; and instead he was suddenly acting as though he couldn't bear to part company with his captors. In private Janice had told everyone to expect as much, although she had been vague about the reasons.
这些倒是真的，结果人群陷入了一片不安的沉寂。他们既不能简单地去造访因维农场，也不能轻易地就公然亮出白旗。而这正是泰斯拉应该提供答案的地方，于是他突然表现出好像他再也不能忍受与他的俘获者们之间的意见分歧了。私下里贾妮斯已经告诉过每个人不要期望太高，尽管之前她对其中的原因也不是很清楚。
"Then what the heck have we been keeping you around for all this time·" Jack shouted."You're supposed to be our ace in the hole, not some hunk of dead weight."
“那么这段时间我们一直把你留在身边到底是为了哪门子原因？”杰克大声嚷道，“你应该是我们手中雪藏的王牌，而不是一大坨累赘。”
"Jack, I'm hurt, I'm really hurt," Tesla returned, trying to put emotion behind the words.
“杰克，伤了我的心了，真的伤到我了。”泰斯拉回答道，试图在话语中掩饰自己的感情。
The shuttle was back on the planet's surface now. Vince Grant was still aboard the SDF-7; but almost everyone else with the exception of Teal had shuttled down. Jean's team was in the process of erecting an atmosphere-controlled geodesic medical module on the outskirts of the village to house Rick and the others once they were freed. Veidt and Sarna had affirmed that five or even fifteen minutes' exposure to Garuda's atmosphere wouldn't prove lethal; but at the same time the danger to Rick and the others was increasing with each moment they were kept from proper treatment. Just what constituted "proper" treatment had yet to be determined; and Veidt refused to speculate until the Humans were rescued and run through a battery of tests.
现在穿梭机回到了行星表面。文斯·格兰特仍旧呆在SDF-7上；而除了缇尔之外的几乎每个人都已经穿梭降落了。吉英·格兰特的小队正处在一项工作进程当中：在农场的外围建立一个大气可控的网格医务舱，以便瑞克和其他人被释放以后收容他们。维特和莎娜已经确认了在嘎鲁达大气中曝露5分钟甚至15分钟并不会致命；但同时对瑞克和其他人来说，危险会随着他们未接受护理时间的延长而增加。到底“适当”的护理该由哪些内容组成已经被确定了，维特则拒绝在这些人类被营救回来之前和没进行过成套测试的时候预测结果。
Burak was sorry he had opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could do to change things. Besides, Tesla was giving it his best shot and might yet convince the Sentinels to adopt a different course of action.
巴拉克（译注：前文中是贝克，误？）对插了一句话感到很抱歉，但是他没有其他可做的来改变什么。而泰斯拉正在用他切中要害的辞令说道，并且还可能说服哨兵成员们采用另一套不同的行动方案。
"Let's hear it, if you've got a better plan," Miriya Sterling was saying.
“让我们听听，如果你有更好的计划。”米莉娅·斯特林如是说。
Tesla put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth, the crown of his head inches from the longhouse rafters. The breathing gear the med group had fashioned for the Invid was a jury-rigged affair of masks, tanks, and tubes, giving Tesla a decidedly elephantine appearance.
泰斯拉把手背在身后，来来回回地踱步，他头上的头罩在长屋的房椽上慢慢移动。医疗队为因维人改造的呼吸装置是一套由面具、气罐和管子组成的临时设施，这明显让泰斯拉看起来是又粗又笨。
"How's this·" he asked at last, swinging around to face Jack, Cabell, the chief, and a few others."Divert attention away from the farm by initiating a raid-"
“这样如何？”他终于问到，转身面向杰克、卡贝尔、酋长和一些其他人，“发动一次袭击来转移对农场的注意力然后……”
"We're one step ahead of you, Tesla," Max said, interrupting."Infiltrate a small party at the same time, and end up giving your troops more hostages."
“我们已经这样干过了，泰斯拉，”麦克斯打断了他，“同时渗透了一支小分队，结果给你的军队送去了更多的人质。”
"It doesn't have to end that way," Tesla argued."Not if I'm with the commando team."
“本来不必搞得那么糟，”泰斯拉争辩道，“如果我跟突击队一起去就不会。”
Jack grunted."What do you know that Rick didn't know· We went in quiet as mice and they nailed us."
杰克不满地嘟哝说，“你知道什么瑞克不知道的？我们像老鼠一样悄悄前进，结果他们扣住了我们。”
"It was the mecha-your Hovercycles-that gave you away. The farm's defenses can sense Protoculture activity. So even though you got past the Inorganics..."
“是你们的气垫摩托机甲暴露了你们。农场的防御系统能够感受到史前文化的活动。因此即使你们躲过了无机兽的……”
Tesla left the sentence unfinished, pleased to see that the Sentinels were offering one another surprised glances.
泰斯拉没有把话说完，暗自高兴地看到哨兵成员们一个个惊讶地面面相觑。
"No wonder they got the jump on us," Jack remarked.
“难怪他们打了我们一个措手不及，”杰克评论道。
"What about weapons, Tesla·" Cabell thought to ask.
“武器会怎么样，泰斯拉？”卡贝尔想起来问道。
"Weapons, too," the Invid answered him.
“武器也一样。”这个因维人回答他。
Max looked around the longhouse."Where does that leave us·"
麦克斯环顾着长屋的四周说，“那剩下能用的东西在哪呢？”
"Swords, crossbows, spears," Gnea said proudly.
“剑，十字弓，长矛。”妮雅自豪地说。
Cabell shook his head."They're no use against Inorganics."
卡贝尔摇着头说，“它们对无机兽没有用。”
"Grenades, then," Learna chimed in."Rocket launchers-"
“那么，用手榴弹，”莱亚娜插了一句，“火箭筒……”
"And these," said the chief, as two of his tribesmen dragged an odd-looking crate into the hut.
“还有这些，”酋长说道，同时他的两个部族手下拉着一个外形奇特的板条箱进到屋里。
Inside were a dozen Karbarran firearms not unlike Lron's own small-bore. Each wooden and metal-fitted rifle had a large globular fixture forward of the trigger guard and forestock lever."We received many such crates during the final days of the Masters' empire," the chief went on to explain as Lron hefted one of the weapons.
里面有一打卡巴拉的火器，和勒荣自己的小口径火器没有什么不同。每个木制和金属装的步枪在扳机锁和前托杆的前面都有一个巨大的球形装置。“在机器人统治者帝国最后的日子里，我们接收了很多这样的板条箱。”酋长继续解释，勒荣则举起了其中的一把武器。
"Yes," Lron said,"Karbarra was exporting rebellion then." He glanced over at Tesla."Until the Invid appeared."
“不错，”勒荣说，“卡巴拉接着就起义了。”他瞥了一眼泰斯拉，“直到因维人出现。”
Max, too, was studying the Invid."All right, Tesla," he said, coming to his feet."We'll play this one your way. But all deals are off at the first sign of any monkey business."
麦克斯也一直在揣摩这个因维人。“好吧，泰斯拉，”他一边说一边站了起来，“这一次我们按照你的方式行动。但是只要一发现任何骗人的把戏，所有的约定就立刻作废。”
Tesla regarded Max and the others through his hastily fashioned mask."Now, why would I want to do that when I've had enough trouble just trying to act Human·"
泰斯拉透过他仓促制成的面具向麦克斯和其他人致意：“可是现在，我要像个正常的人类一样活动都很困难，又有什么理由去做我该做的事情呢？”
This time the team was principally XT-Lron and Crysta, Gnea and Bela, with Learna as guide. That Jack would accompany them had been taken for granted; and, after Tesla's plan had been given the okay, Janice signed on. The Praxians felt more comfortable with their one-handed crossbows, shields, and shortswords than anything else the Sentinels could offer in the way of weaponry, and Gnea wouldn't part company with her spearlike naginata. But the others carried Karbarran air rifles, satchels of command-detonated explosives, conventional fragmentation grenades, and rocket launchers. Shortly after Garuda's midnight, the eight-member team was inserted by Garudan flitters to within twenty miles of the crater, allowing them ample time to reach the farm-hive before sunrise.
这一次行动队主要由外星哨兵成员组成：勒荣和克里斯塔，妮雅和贝拉，由莱亚娜作为向导。杰克已获准陪同他们一起前往；在泰斯拉的计划得到认可之后，贾妮斯也加入了。普拉西斯人觉得用她们的单手十字弓、盾牌和短剑比哨兵们能提供的其他武器更顺手，而妮雅是一定要用她那像矛一样的薙刀的。其他人则装备了卡巴拉气动枪、指令起爆炸药包、常规杀伤手雷和火箭筒等。嘎鲁达的午夜刚过，这个8人小队就由嘎鲁达搬运机输送到距离（农场所在的）环形山20英里以内的地方，这样他们就有充足的时间在日出之前到达农场母巢。
At the same time, Wolff and the Sterlings met back at the shuttle to coordinate plans for their joint diversionary raid against two neighboring farms. It was decided that the Veritechs and Hovertanks would commence their strikes at sunrise, when the Garudan slaves would still be in the camps.
与此同时，沃尔夫和斯特林夫妇在穿梭机上再次碰头，协调他们对两个邻近农场的牵制性联合打击计划，并决定变形战斗机和气垫坦克部队在日出时发动攻击，那时嘎鲁达奴隶们还仍旧呆在他们的营地里。
"We're going to concentrate our fire against the orchards, here and here," Max briefed his squadron later on, pointing to areas on the maps Learna had provided. The hives themselves-processing plants really-were almost certainly protected by energy shields like the one the Invid had thrown over Tiresia's Royal Hall during the battle for Tirol. But since the Sentinels' main objective was to draw out the enemy mecha, Max saw no reason why targeting the precious Optera tree plantations couldn't achieve the same result.
“我们打算集中火力攻击种植园，这里和这里。”麦克斯稍后给他的中队作任务简报，指着地图上莱亚娜提供的目标区域说。真正加工植物的因维母巢自身都几乎肯定是由能量护盾所保护的，就像泰洛作战期间因维人施加在泰雷西亚皇家大礼堂上的防护罩一样。但既然哨兵部队的主要目的是引出敌人的机甲，麦克斯找不出理由为什么瞄准这些珍贵的奥普特拉树木种植园不能实现同样的效果。
"Colonel Wolff's tankers will position themselves along this ridgeline and move in after you've completed your initial runs. Then you're to pulverize that hive. If we dump enough into that shield we might be able to punch through." Similar all-out bursts had worked against the Karbarran hives. Max scanned his small audience."Any questions·" When all the headshaking was over, he added,"All right then, let's saddle up."
“在你们出发后，沃尔夫上校的坦克部队会沿着这条山脊线前进。接着你们要摧毁那个巢穴。如果能够对能量护盾倾泻足够的火力，我们或许可以打穿它。”类似的全力连续射击对卡巴拉的因维母巢曾经起过作用。麦克斯审视着他年轻的飞行员们说：“还有问题吗？”当所有人都摇过头之后，他说到：“那么好的，准备出发。”
Outside the shuttle, he caught sight of Miriya, who had been off briefing the Skull's Red contingent, and hurried over to her just as she was scampering up into the Alpha's cockpit. She had seemed preoccupied during the meeting with Wolff, and absent even now when he asked her if everything was all right.
在穿梭机外面，他看到了米莉娅，她刚刚完成骷髅战队红色分队的作战简报，正要奔向阿尔法战机的驾驶舱，麦克斯急忙赶了过去。在和沃尔夫开会的时候米莉娅看起来就走神了，即使是现在当麦克斯问她是否有什么事情的时候她也显得心不在焉。
"Yeah, fine," she said, offering him a weak smile beneath her transpirator.
“没什么，很好。”米莉娅说，透过她的呼吸面罩给了麦克斯一个弱弱的微笑。
"You don't look fine," he told her, touching her hair."Maybe you should sit this one out." She laughed at the suggestion, more out of surprise, he suspected, than anything else. A former Quadrono sit out a fight·
“你看起来并不好，”麦克斯告诉她，一边抚摸着她的头发说，“也许你不该参加这次行动。”她不由地一笑，更多是出于意外而不是其他的原因，麦克斯猜测。一名前昆德诺（天顶星精英女性战士）不参加作战？
"Max, I'm just a little tired." She donned the thinking cap, climbed the notch ladder, and settled herself in the cockpit seat."Now wipe that concerned look off your face," she told him before lowering the canopy.
“麦克斯，我只是有一点累。”她做出一副思考的样子，爬上凹形舷梯，坐进驾驶舱里。“现在擦掉你脸上那忧虑的表情吧。”她告诉他，并放下了座舱盖。
He forced a smile her way, readjusted his mask, and ran to his own mecha. In five minutes both squadron teams were up, tearing through Garuda's crimson predawn skies.
麦克斯冲着她勉强一笑，调整了一下自己的面具，并跑向了他自己的机甲。飞行中队的两支分队（译注：分别是麦克斯的蓝色分队和米莉娅的红色分队）在五分钟内都完成起飞，战鹰划过黎明前嘎鲁达深红色的天空。
The farms they had chosen to hit were some fifty miles southwest of the crater farm, surrounded by extensive forests of Optera trees, which from Max's point of view resembled outsized melon patches; the hive itself was a freeze-frame shot of a hydrogen bomb's first-stage canopy.
他们选择打击的农场距离那个环形山农场西南约50英里，由广袤的奥普特拉树木森林所环绕，在麦克斯看来就像特大号的瓜田。而母巢自身则像一颗氢弹爆炸初期形成的云冠凝固后的样子。
He took hold of the stick and ordered the Skull to follow him in, loosing a dozen napalm torpedoes from the Alpha's undercarriage pylons at treetop-level. Angry plumes of liquid fire fountained above the ground fog behind him as the VT went ballistic; Max turned to look over his shoulder as the rest of the squadron dove in for their runs, each explosion spreading dollops of burning stuff from tree to tree. Skull One rolled over and went in again, incinerating a patch of forest west of the hive now, while Miriya's team gave the east quadrant hell. Then all at once there were Invid Shock Troopers in the air, rising out of the leaping flames and black smoke like a swarm of angry hornets.
麦克斯把持着操作杆，命令骷髅战队跟上他的动作，阿尔法战机掠过树梢，从底部外挂架上投下一打爆破燃烧弹。战机拉出一条弧线，留下身后由液体燃烧剂构成的狂暴热柱喷薄在地面雾气之上。麦克斯回头看去，其余的战机轮番俯冲，每一次爆炸都在树木之间撒布下成团的燃烧剂。骷髅一号翻转机身再次进入（攻击）航线，将母巢西面的一大片森林焚为灰烬；与此同时米莉娅的部队正将东区的森林化为一片地狱火海。接着，因维的突击骑兵机如同一群愤怒的黄蜂从跳跃的火焰和滚滚的黑烟中升起，突然出现在空中。
"We've got company, Skull Leader," one of Max's wingmen reported."Multiple signals at eight o'clock."
“我们有客人来了，骷髅队长，”麦克斯的一名僚机报告，“8点钟方向出现大量（敌机）信号。”
Max turned his attention from the ascending mecha and twisted around to his right: twenty or more Pincer Ships were approaching from the direction of the crater farm.
麦克斯将注意力从本地升空的因维机甲转移到他的右侧：约超过20架的因维螯击机正从环形山农场方向赶来。
"Coming around to zero one zero," Max said into the tac net."Help me engage, Blue Danube."
“回到010区域，”麦克斯对着战术通信网络呼叫，“帮我迎击敌人，蓝色多瑙河。”
"On my way, Skull One. Rolling out..."
“我来了，骷髅一号。正在撤出……”
Max went for missile lock on the lead Pincer and thumbed off two heat-seekers; they found the ship as it climbed, quartering it and a second Pincer in the process. But the Invid were answering the challenge, and Max was forced to break high and right as streams of annihilation disks screamed into the pocket he had vacated. His wingmen split and boostered out in the nick of time, chased by clusters of Shock Troopers from the Invid's counteroffensive group.
麦克斯用导弹锁定了领头的螯击机，拇指一按射出两枚热导导弹；导弹从斜后方跟上了爬升中的敌机，并同时找到了第二架螯击机。但是因维人对挑战的回应也随之而来，麦克斯不得不放弃制高权，一连串湮灭光弹呼啸着向他刚刚离开的位置打来。他的僚机和他散开了，并及时加力推进脱离，成群的因维反击部队的突击骑兵机正追击过来。
Max imaged the Alpha over to Battloid mode at the top of his climb, targeting data scrolling across his display screens now, and the net a tangle of requests and mad shrieks. A hail of missiles tore from the VT's open shoulder racks and dropped into the midst of the Invid pursuit group, wiping out five of their number. Max went to guns with the remaining two, hands clenching the HOTAS, trapshooting the Invid with the Alpha's rifle/cannon as they streaked by him.
麦克斯在爬升过程中将阿尔法战机变为战斗机器人模式，并同时关注着显示屏上连番滚动的数据以及通信网络里杂乱的声音——各种请求和激动的尖叫声。一阵导弹从变形战斗机打开的肩部弹仓飞射而出，落入因维追击部队的中间，消灭掉5架敌机。麦克斯准备用枪来对付剩下的两架，双手牢牢地握着驾驶杆，当因维战机被打得晕头转向时，他用阿尔法的来复枪/炮以打飞靶的形式把它们击落了。
Elsewhere in the field, Miriya's team was holding its own against the mecha born in that inferno below. Half the trees were on fire now, thick smoke roiling in Garuda's dawn, while Humans and Invid exchanged salvos of death. Battloids and Troopers grappled gauntlet to claw.
在战场的其他地方，米莉娅的部队正忙着自己对付从下方火海地狱中出现的因维机甲。现在一半的树木都已经着火，浓浓的烟尘在嘎鲁达的黎明中翻滚，人类和因维的部队正互相倾泻着致命的齐射火力。战斗机器人和因维突击机手爪交错扭打在一起。
"Guess we succeeded in getting their attention," Max said to no one in particular. He chinned Miriya's frequency and asked for an update; he repeated the request when she didn't respond, then reconfigured his ship and dropped down to have a look for himself.
“我想我们已经成功地吸引了它们的注意力。”麦克斯自己说了一句，并没有特别针对谁。他呼叫米莉娅的频率并请求她的答复；他不断重复着请求但米莉娅没有回应，接着他将机甲重新变形为战机模式并下降高度自己去看个究竟。
Miriya had gone to Battloid and was executing her own version of a Fokker Feint when Max caught up with her. There were four Shock Troopers hovering around her mecha, pulling sting-and-runs. He smiled as he watched her ace one of them with the autocannon; but that look collapsed when he realized how slow she was to react to follow-up energy Frisbees delivered by the remainder of the group. Max was close enough now to throw himself into the fight; but the sight of her sloppiness had left him shaken, and he almost got himself dusted.
当麦克斯赶上她的时候，米莉娅已经变形为机器人模式，并正在实行一个她自己版本的“福克佯动”（译注：“福克佯动”是麦克斯首创的VT战机机器人模式战术机动动作，首见于《Macross Saga》）。有四架因维突击骑兵机正盘旋在她机甲周围，边打边闪。原本看到她用自动炮击落了一架敌机麦克斯还在笑，但是战术动作看起来没有成功，他意识到米莉娅对残余敌人射出的后继碟形能量光弹的反应太慢。麦克斯现在已经接近到足以投入战斗，但是看到米莉娅战法如此马虎他感到不安，而且自己也几乎被弄得心烦意乱。
"Miriya, what's wrong·" he said when the last of the four had been dispatched."Miriya!"
“米莉娅，怎么回事？”当四架敌机中的最后一架被处理掉以后，他呼喊着，“米莉娅！”
"I...don't know, Max," she answered him after a moment."Dizzy spell."
“我……不知道，麦克斯，”片刻之后她回答道，“有点头晕。”
"I want you to return to base."
“我要你回基地去。”
Miriya's face came up on Skull One's commo screen."I'll be all right. It's better now."
米莉娅的面容出现在骷髅一号的通信屏幕上：“我会没事的。现在好多了。”
"Forget it-"
“别扯这个——”
"Max!" Wolff's voice suddenly boomed through the net."We've got troubles! Inorganics-hundreds of them!"
“麦克斯！”沃尔夫的声音突然从通信网络里传出，“我们有麻烦了！无机兽，有几百个！”
Max looked away from Miriya's image and chinned the com freak."Your Pack should be able to handle those things, Wolff," he said.
麦克斯从米莉娅的影像这边转过脸去，对这个意外战况唠叨了两句。“你的战队能够搞定这些事情，沃尔夫。”他说。
"It's not us they're after, Commander," Wolff said, just as gruffly."The sons of bitches have turned them loose on the camp-they're attacking the Garudans!"
“他们不是冲我们来的，指挥官，”沃尔夫粗声粗气地说，“这些狗娘养的已经对营地开火了——它们在攻击嘎鲁达人！”
A short distance from the besieged orchard, Wolff's Hovertank team was well into the forests surrounding the second farm. From the ridgeline above the dome-shaped hive, where the Pack had been Guardian-configured, Wolff had been able to observe the Skull's fiery treetop passes. He had then given the order for his tankers to open fire. They hadn't lobbed five minutes' worth of projectiles into the forest when the first wave of Inorganics had appeared-Hellcats, galloping across Garuda's tundra and heading straight for the ridge. They were followed a minute later by ranks of the bipedal demonic-looking Robo-trolls known as Cranns and Odeons.
离被包围的种植园不远，沃尔夫的气垫坦克部队正好进入第二个农场周围的森林。战队已按照守护神模式配置，从穹状母巢上方的山脊线上，沃尔夫能够看到骷髅战机们贴着树梢犹如烈火般的低空掠飞。他接着对他的坦克部队下达了开火命令。他们对森林的吊射火力还没有持续五分钟，第一波无机兽就出现了——是地狱猫，它们飞奔穿过嘎鲁达的冻土带，径直向山脊冲过来。片刻之后跟着出现了成队的双足魔鬼巨怪——有点像机器人的样子，是克兰兽和奥迪昂兽。
Wolff had hated the things ever since he went up against them on Tirol, and had been looking forward to engaging them-anything to get Minmei off his mind for a while, to keep his hand from reaching out for a bottle...So he had ordered the Pack over to standard mode and led the charge down the rocky slope, only to find that the Inorganics had changed course. And it had only taken a moment to figure out the reason behind the tactic: the Invid were planning to use the Garudans as the Sentinels had the Invid's life-giving trees-for diversion. The XT labor force was strung out for more than a mile along a sparsely wooded hillside guarded by a company of armed and weapon-wielding Invid soldiers. It was then that Wolff had opened the net to Max.
沃尔夫很讨厌这些东西，从他在泰洛开始对付它们起就这样，他一直在盼望与它们作战——这可以让他暂时不去想明美，和止住伸向酒瓶的手……因此他已经命令战队变为标准模式，并带领冲锋冲下满是岩石的斜坡，不料竟发现无机兽们已经改变了路线。推测出这个战术的动机并没花多长时间：因维人打算用嘎鲁达人来转移哨兵们对因维人赖以为生的树木的注意力。这些外星劳工的队伍沿着一条树木稀少的山坡拉开了有超过一英里的距离，由一队荷枪实弹的因维士兵看守着。紧接着沃尔夫就打开通信网络向麦克斯报告了这件事情。
The Skull fighters were overhead now; Wolff could see them through breaks in the trees' clustered, billiard-ball canopies. Shock Troopers and Pincer Ships were right on their tails.
一架架骷髅战机现在正从头顶飞过；透过林木茂密的球形树冠，沃尔夫能够从枝叶的间隙中看到他们。因维的突击骑兵机和螯击机正在他们后面尾随。
Wolff's Hovertanks broke out of the forest a moment after Skull One Touched down; the Alpha was in Guardian mode, with the rifle/cannon gripped in one gauntlet, stammering its harsh greeting to the Hellcats. Dozens of Inorganics burst apart as armor-piercing rounds ripped into the pack, but five times that number made it through the VT's still-forming line, bounding over the mecha and continuing their mad rush for the Garudans. Aware of the situation now, the helpless slaves had broken ranks and were attempting to flee; most of them were cut down instantly by bursts from the soldiers' forearm guns, while others fell to the first wave of Inorganics, torn apart by Hellcats or roasted by bolts from the Cranns' orifice-dimpled weapons spheres.
沃尔夫的气垫坦克部队离开了森林，就在骷髅一号降落后一小会；阿尔法战机处于守护神模式，一只机械手中握着来复枪/炮，不断地向地狱猫们送去它无情的问候。穿甲子弹射入兽群，许多无机兽被打碎了，但是有五倍于被击毁数目的无机兽穿过了变形战斗机编成的静态防线，它们越过这些机甲并继续着对嘎鲁达人的疯狂进攻。意识到这一现状后，无助的奴隶们破坏了队形，开始逃跑；他们中的大部分立即就被看守士兵们手中的枪械开火击倒了，而其他人则死于第一波无机兽，或者被地狱猫撕裂，或者被克兰兽具有喇叭口的球形武器射出的电光烧焦了。
Wolff ordered the Pack to spread out and form a second line; the Hovertanks reconfigured and began to fire at will, decimating much of the second sortie wave, but suddenly forced to deal with the Shock Troopers as well. Annihilation disks stormed into the tankers' midst, tearing up the land and overturning two of the mecha. Wolff could see that members of Max's blue team were going over to Battloid and repositioning themselves opposite the Pack to form the second leg of a V formation. Wolff called for a cannonade as the Inorganics rushed into the notch. Pounded with explosive rounds the tundra shook and bellowed; the ridge trapped the concussive sounds and hurled them back, as Inorganics and Shock Troopers alike were reduced to gobs of white-hot metal, geysers of fire in the already superheated air.
沃尔夫命令战队展开形成第二道防线；气垫坦克们变形并准备全力开火消灭第二波突围的无机兽，但是很快他们就被迫同时处理追来的突击骑兵机。湮灭光弹咆哮着打在坦克群的中间，撕裂了土地，掀翻了两台机甲。沃尔夫可以看到麦克斯蓝色小队的成员们正在变形为战斗机器人模式，在他战队的对面重新配置队伍以形成一个V型编队的第二条腿。当无机兽们冲到编队的凹口时，沃尔夫下令连续开火。在爆破射弹的猛烈打击下，大地颤抖和咆哮着；山脊挡住了这震颤的声响，又把它们扔回来。无机兽和突击骑兵机都变成了一堆堆白热的金属渣和炙烈空气中间歇闪耀的火光。
Miriya's Red team came in just then to add their deafening movement to the score. Pincer Ships and VTs went face-to-face, hammering away at one another, while missiles and projectiles corkscrewed through the firestorm and smoke.
米莉娅的红色分队就在这时赶到了，带着震耳欲聋的大动作加入到战斗中。螯击机和变形战斗机面对面缠打在一起，彼此都以死相搏，导弹、枪弹从火焰风暴和烟尘中打着螺旋迸射而出。
Wolff told his B team to hold their ground; at the same time he and the other A tankers battled their way over scorched terrain and through flaming stands of trees toward the Garudans' march of death. Prevented from ascending the hillside by rows of Invid soldiers and vulnerable below to the Inorganics' unchecked advance, the vulpine XTs were being slaughtered. Wolff thought he could hear their wailing clear through the tank's canopy and the tac net's cacophony of calls. The Pack couldn't fire for fear of killing even more of them; so instead Wolff led the tankers on a flat-out collision course straight to where the Inorganics had become bunched up at the base of the hill. The tanks smashed their way into the thick of the slaughter, down-swept deflection bows cutting Cranns and Odeons in half. Hellcats leaped on the hovering mecha, only to be blasted to smithereens by in-close guns, or crushed by hand when some of the Pack reconfigured to Battloid mode.
沃尔夫告诉他的B组坚守自己的位置；同时他和其他A组的坦克边打边跨过已经烧焦的地带，穿过燃烧的树丛，向嘎鲁达人的死亡行军区域靠拢。由于从山坡向上攀爬被成排的因维士兵所阻止，在无机兽大军毫无顾忌地推进下又只能束手待毙，这些形如狐狸的外星人正在被大肆屠杀。沃尔夫觉得他能够透过坦克的座舱盖清晰地听见他们的哀嚎，还能听到战术通信网络中充满喊叫的杂音。战队不能随便开火以免误伤更多的嘎鲁达人；因此取而代之的是，沃尔夫带领气垫坦克以最高速的碰撞航路直接冲向无机兽群在山脚聚集的地方。坦克们狠狠地撞进屠杀最密集的区域，偏斜的下掠艇首（译注：可类比飞机的后掠翼）将克兰兽和奥迪昂兽切成两半。一些地狱猫跳上盘旋中的机甲，不过是被近身武器打得稀烂，或者是被部分变形为战斗机器人模式的机甲用手碾碎。
Meanwhile, at the edge of the forest Max's VT teams were getting the upper hand. Pincer and Shock Trooper ships were falling out of the sky like ducks on a bad day at the marsh. Miriya's Reds accounted for most of those kills; Wolff could just discern them overhead, flying circles around the enemy pilots. He caught sight of one VT in particular as it was completing some sort of aerial pirouette that had left three Pincers in ruin; he was thinking that it must have been Miriya's, until he saw the VT sustain a shot any cadet could have dodged. Wolff watched it plummet toward a ravaged area of woodland.
与此同时，在森林的边缘麦克斯的变形战斗机部队正取得优势。螯击机和突击骑兵机像倒霉日中沼泽地的野鸭子一样纷纷从天上掉下来。米莉娅的红色分队创造了大部分的战果；沃尔夫可以从头顶看到她们，在敌机周围盘旋飞行。他瞥见一架特别的变形战机正在完成某种空中皮鲁埃特旋转（译注：单点旋转，常见于芭蕾舞）动作，并击毁了三架螯击机；他原本在想那一定是米莉娅的战机，直到他看到那架变形战机承受了一发连任何一名军校学员都应该能避开的炮弹。沃尔夫注视着它垂直掉落在一片被毁坏的林地中。
"That's the place they got jumped," Jack said, pointing out a damaged row of Optera trees at the bottom of the slope. The hulks of the three Scout ships had been removed, but there was evidence of the fires the explosions had touched off."Then they were dragged into the hive." Jack handed binoculars up to Lron, once again indicating the direction."You can just make out the entrance or whatever it is."
“那就是他们被伏击的地方，”杰克指着斜坡底部一行排列不完整的奥普特拉树木说。三架侦察机的残骸已经被移走了，但仍留下了曾经开火和爆炸的痕迹。“那么它们是被拉到母巢里去了。”杰克把双筒望远镜递给勒荣，再一次指示着方向。“你正好能辨认出入口，无论它是什么。”
Tesla gave him the Invid word for the portal, mumbling something Jack found unintelligible.
泰斯拉对着杰克说了一句因维语的“入口”，嘴里嘟囔着一些令杰克莫名其妙的东西。
"Like I said: whatever it is."
“就像我说过的：无论它是什么。”
Careful not to disturb his transpirator, Lron took a look through the armored glasses and passed them along to Crysta. She was upping the intensity some, when Learna's trill-like signal reached them from somewhere in the trees. A moment later, the Garudan appeared at the base of the slope, motioning the team down. Gnea and Bela were crouched behind her, masked and vigilant, looking more than ever like barbaric gladiators lifted from some Roman arena. Jack tapped Janice on the shoulder and got everyone under way.
勒荣用军用望远镜看了一眼，小心翼翼地以免弄乱呼吸面罩，接着他把望远镜传递给了克里斯塔。她调高了一些亮度，这时从树林中传来莱亚娜发出的颤音般的信号。一会儿之后，这个嘎鲁达人出现在斜坡的底部，示意队伍下去。妮雅和贝拉蹲伏在莱亚娜身后，隐蔽并警戒着，看起来更像是粗野的角斗士从某个罗马竞技场中升起一般。杰克轻轻拍了下贾妮斯的肩膀，领着大家继续前进。
They had reached the crater well before dawn, without incident despite the presence of stepped-up Inorganic patrol teams. Not just Hellcats, but Cranns and Odeons-bizarre enough creatures by daylight, and positively frightening in the predawn ground fog. Even these hadn't deterred the free Garudans from putting in an appearance, though; only this time it was more than curiosity that motivated them: many had armed themselves with Karbarran air rifles, hoisting them in a display of support as the team passed. Just before sunrise at the crater rim, Jack had seen flashes of explosive light in the southwestern skies, rolls of distant thunder-the Skull's bombing run against the neighboring farm. Shortly thereafter, scores of Shock Troopers had risen from the basin and flown toward the sound of the guns.
他们刚好在拂晓以前到达了环形山，没有惊动加强过的无机兽巡逻队。不仅仅是地狱猫，还有克兰兽和奥迪昂兽，在白天看起来都足够狰狞了，在黎明前的低雾中更是让人心生恐惧。而即便如此也没有阻止自由嘎鲁达战士的露面；只有在这个时候驱使和激励他们的才不单单是好奇心：许多人都装备了卡巴拉气动枪，在小分队通过时准备为他们提供支援。就在太阳从环形山边缘升起以前，杰克在西南方向的天空看到了爆炸的闪光，伴随着远处滚滚的雷鸣声——是骷髅中队在轰炸邻近的农场。其后不久，许多突击骑兵机从洼地里升起，向枪声传来的方向飞去。
"Any activity·" Jack asked when he reached the base of the slope.
“有什么动静吗？”在到达斜坡底部时杰克问道。
"Nothing so far," Learna told him."We went as far as the hive."
“目前没有，”莱亚娜告诉他，“我们快要到母巢了。”
Jack turned to Tesla."What do you think·" he said angrily. He had no patience left for the Invid's malingering. Keeping Tesla concealed on the trail had led to more than a few hairy moments; and on the slope he had behaved less like a sentient creature than an out-of-control boulder. But now the time had come for Tesla to earn his keep."What's their routine·"
杰克转向泰斯拉。“你怎么想？”他生气地说，对这个因维人的装病显得毫无耐性。之前在山道上要让泰斯拉保持隐蔽已经出过好几次危险的岔子；在山坡上的时候他就不像是一个有知觉的正常人，而是像一块失控的大鹅卵石。但现在体现泰斯拉价值的时刻到了。“他们的例行活动是怎样的？”杰克问。
Tesla glanced at what could be seen of the hive through the trees."Difficult to say, what with all the activity you've stirred up. Normally, the slaves would be arriving any minute now." Tesla looked up at one of the trees' vine-encrusted globe canopies."Pity, too," he mused."All this ripe fruit going to waste."
泰斯拉透过树木的缝隙瞅了母巢一眼。“很难说，因为你们已经搅出了这么些动静。正常的话，奴隶们现在随时都可能到达。”泰斯拉抬头看着其中一棵树上的藤蔓——绕嵌在球形的树冠里。“太可惜了，”他显得若有所思，“所有这些成熟的果实都要浪费掉了。”
Jack brandished a long-bladed dirk as Tesla reached out to pluck a particularly succulent-looking piece."You haven't earned it yet, Tesla. Besides, you don't really want to take off the mask, do you·"
当泰斯拉伸手去摘一个看起来肉质特别丰富的果子的时候，杰克向他亮出了一把刀刃很长的匕首。“你还没有资格享用它，泰斯拉。而且，你不是真的想摘掉面罩，是吧？”他说。
Tesla thought it over. There was no reason he couldn't lift the mask for the time it would take to gobble down some fruit; but he decided not to bother arguing the point. So he simply left the fruit to rot Instead of adding it to the samples he had already stuffed into the pockets of his robes.
泰斯拉考虑了一下，他找不到任何理由为什么他不可以在这个时候摘掉面具来享用一些水果，但他还是决定不在这个问题上引起争论。因此他简单地放下这个果子，留着它自己腐烂，而不是把它添加到自己长袍的口袋中，里面已经塞满了各式的玩意儿。
"No, I suppose not," he said after a moment.
“是的，我想不会的。”迟疑了一小会后他回应道。
Jack ordered him to take the point; and in ten minutes the team arrived at the hive's entrance. It was faintly lit, a half-moon-shaped tunnel twenty-five-feet high and composed of what looked like solidified sea foam. There seemed to be a slight shimmering to the air inside, but this ceased when Tesla identified himself to the scanner. A voiceprint, Jack thought, but he couldn't be sure.
杰克命令泰斯拉回到自己的位置；十分钟后小分队到达了母巢的入口。它朦胧地发亮，是一条25英尺高的半月形隧道，由看起来像凝固的海水泡沫的东西构成。隧道内部的空气似乎正在微微地泛光，但是当泰斯拉在扫描器前确认身份后这些就停止了。是声纹，杰克想，但他并不能确定。
The tunnel was deadly hot, evil-smelling even through the masks' filters, and reminded Jack of fiber-optic vids he had seen of the human body's arterial system. It terminated in a rotunda, whose enormity and crepuscular illumination Jack found disorienting. Dozens of corridors emptied into the area, like detonator horns on an old-fashioned naval mine.
隧道里热得要命，难闻的气味甚至透过了面罩的过滤器，杰克想起了他曾见过的光纤视频流或者（译注：of误or？）是人类身体的动脉系统。隧道的末端是一个圆形建筑，它巨大的外形和朦胧的光亮让杰克觉得迷乱。许多走廊连入到这个区域，就像老式水雷上繁多的引信触角。
"We can dispense with these contraptions," Tesla was saying, pulling the transpirator from his snout. He took a deep breath and smiled at everyone. Jack could see that he was taking obvious delight in their amazement.
“我们可解除这些装置。”泰斯拉一边说一边从他的猪嘴巴上拉下呼吸面罩。他做了一个深呼吸并对着每个人笑。杰克可以看出泰斯拉明显对大家的惊愕感到高兴。
"This is our foyer," Tesla said, with an elaborate wave of his arm.
“这是我们的接待室。”泰斯拉说，用手做出一个精致的致意动作。
Jack checked the display on the biosensor Jean had strapped on his wrist. Satisfied, he slipped the filtration mask from his mouth, determined to keep a straight face. Still wary, he sniffed at the air, found it slightly dank but breathable, and gave the all-clear for the others to follow his example."Which way·" he demanded, leading with his chin.
杰克检查了一下吉英戴在他手腕上的生物传感器的显示情况，满意地从嘴上拉下过滤面罩，决定把脸露出来。他仍然保持着警觉，闻了闻空气的味道，发现虽然有点潮湿但还是可呼吸的。于是杰克对其他人示意安全，可以和他一样摘掉面罩。“走哪条路？”他问，用手捋着下巴。
Tesla pointed to the circular shaft directly overhead."There." With a theatrical gesture, he motioned the team to gather round him. No sooner had they done so than they found themselves imprisoned by some sort of tractor beam that was lifting them en masse toward the overhead shaft. Gnea brought the tip of her lance to the ribbed underside of Tesla's neck.
“那里。”泰斯拉指着头顶正上方的圆形井道说。他用一个戏剧表演般的手势示意大家围在他身边。正当所有人刚刚就位的时候，大家突然发现自己被某种牵引光束束缚住，一起被拉向头顶的井道。妮雅用她的矛尖顶住了泰斯拉脖子的下棱。
"No," he told her, up on tiptoes to ease the contact."You have it all wrong. This is simply our...elevator system."
“不，”泰斯拉告诉她，向上踮起脚以免被扎到，“你完全搞错了。这只是我们的……升降机系统。”
Jack and Janice were down in a combat crouch, weapons drawn, searching the beam's translucent circumference for any sign of danger. Lron, Crysta, Bela, and Kami were similarly postured, Karbarran air rifles at high port, crossbows armed. Tesla continued to protest for the duration of the thirty-second ascent into the dome's upper reaches.
杰克和贾妮斯弓身做了一个战斗蹲伏，抽出武器，搜索着光束半透明的周边环境中有无危险的状况。勒荣、克里斯塔、贝拉和卡米（译注：前文中的8人小队中根本没有卡米，此处生造一人！）也是同样的姿势，卡巴拉气动枪高举，十字弓上弦。泰斯拉继续申明着进入穹顶上层部分有一段持续三十秒的上升时间。
Slowly, the tractor field began to de-rezz.
慢慢地，牵引力场开始减弱消失。
Jack had relaxed some by the time the beam shut down; then all at once he saw four Invid sentries swinging around to face them, forearm cannons raised.
光束关闭后杰克稍微放松了一些，但那时他突然看见四个因维岗哨正转身面向他们，手中的武器已经举起。
Max had seen Miriya's Alpha go down. He had his own VT in Battloid mode now, and was running it toward the crash site through a section of burning forest. Two of his team were dead; at least that many of Miriya's had died as well. He wasn't sure how Wolff was doing, but he had seen more than one Hovertank overturned by Shock Trooper anni disks. Max didn't even want to think about the Garudan slaves. And suddenly there was Miriya to worry about.
麦克斯看到了米莉娅阿尔法战机的坠落。他现在把自己的战机变为战斗机器人模式，并正穿过一片烧焦的森林赶往米莉娅的坠落地点。他的两名队员牺牲了；而米莉娅的分队也至少遭受了同样的损失。他不确定沃尔夫的情况如何，但他已经看到不止一辆气垫坦克被突击骑兵机的湮灭光弹击毁。麦克斯甚至不愿去想嘎鲁达的奴隶们。而突然之间还要为米莉娅担心。
The mecha's scanners caught sight of something up ahead, and Max called for increased intensity, studying the biosensor data displays. A minute later he had visuals. It was Miriya's Red Alpha alright, in lopsided Guardian configuration, radome tipped to the ground-a wounded bird.
机甲的扫描仪捕捉到了前方的什么东西，麦克斯增强了显示强度，仔细查看生物传感器的数据显示。片刻之后他得到了视觉影像。就是米莉娅的红色阿尔法战机，在守护神模式下倒向一侧，雷达整流罩（机鼻）插在地上：一只受伤的鸟儿。
Then Max spotted the Hellcats-four of them, attacking the VT's canopy with a frenzy, battering it with downward blows of their armored heads. He could see that one Inorganic had managed to get a claw inside, and was waving it around, presumably hoping to slice Miriya to shreds. The four turned at the same moment to show Max their gleaming fangs and sword-edged shoulder horns; two hunt-mates leaped for the VT straightaway, but he already had the rifle/cannon locked on them. They came apart in midair like clay pigeons. Max holed a third where it stood glaring at him, and now the final 'Cat snatched its paw from the punctured canopy, reared up, and came at him. Max tried to sidestep the Battloid when the Hellcat jumped, but his timing was off; the Inorganic latched on to the mecha's ablative head shields and began to ram its snout against the permaplas visor. Reflexively, Max pressed himself back into the cockpit seat; he had a larger-than-life view of the crazed thing's snapping mouth and false gullet. The 'Cat was snarling, trying desperately to slice open the Battloid's belly with the churning motion of its razor-sharp hind claws. Max shut down the external pickups and armed the head lasers. The angle was almost too oblique, but the Hellcat's back was heaving in and out of the targeting brackets and Max thought he might have a chance. He raised the Battloid's left arm, gripped the 'Cat around the waist, and tugged it into the lasers' field. Then he triggered the in-close guns. The Inorganic brought its head up as the light beams seared into its backside; it took Max's follow-up pulse right through the eyes and dropped to the ground, lifeless.
接着，麦克斯发现了地狱猫——有四只，正在疯狂地攻击变形战斗机的座舱盖，用它们披着装甲的脑袋向下猛击，一点点将其破坏。麦克斯能够看到一只无机兽已经设法伸进了一只爪子并在四处乱抓，大概想把米莉娅切成碎片。这时四只地狱猫同时向麦克斯转过身，亮出它们闪着寒光的獠牙和具有剑刃的肩部犄角；其中的一对猎杀搭档直接向战机跃奔过来，但麦克斯已经用来复枪/炮锁定了它们。两只无机兽像陶土飞靶一样在空中被打开了花。麦克斯又打穿了第三只站着怒视他的无机兽，现在最后一只大猫从戳穿了的座舱盖中抽回爪子，暴跳而起，直冲他而来。当地狱猫跳起时麦克斯试图让机器人横跨一步来躲闪，但他的动作慢了；这只无机兽抓住了机甲可磨削的头部遮护板，开始用它的嘴部猛击用超强玻璃制成的机器人面颊。麦克斯反射性地向后撞在座舱座位上；他看到了一幅难得一见的景象，这个疯狂之物那正在撕咬的嘴巴和人工的咽喉。大猫在咆哮，用它那锋利的后爪以搅拌式的动作，拼命地试图刨开机器人的腹部。麦克斯关掉了外部接收装置，启动了头部激光器。射击角度几乎太过倾斜而无法使用，但是地狱猫的背部正在对焦瞄准区域内出出进进，麦克斯想或许还有一线机会。他举起机器人的左臂，从腰部紧握住大猫，把它拖进激光的照射场。接着他击发这个近身武器。无机兽因后背受到光束的烧蚀而抬起了头，结果麦克斯发射的剩余激光脉冲正好从它眼睛中穿过，大猫跌落在地上，完蛋了。
Max stomped the thing twice. He imaged over to Guardian mode and pulled his mask tight as he popped the media's canopy. Miriya had yet to show herself. Scampering up along the Red's downswept wing, he peered into the shattered cockpit and began to fumble with the manual-release levers.
麦克斯又重踩了这家伙两次。他变形为守护神模式，迅速地跳出机甲（译注：media误mecha？）的座舱并严密地拉下他的面罩。米莉娅仍没有出现。他沿着红色阿尔法的下掠机翼奔跑上去，向破碎的座舱中张望，并慌张地摸索着手动解锁控制杆。
"Miriya!"
“米莉娅！”
He called her name twice more before he succeeded in springing the ship's protective blister. She appeared unharmed, but unconscious. More troubling, however, was the fact that the Hellcat had ripped off her mask; she had been breathing Garuda's atmosphere for a dangerously long time.
在成功弹开战机的保护舱盖之前他呼唤了米莉娅的名字好几次。米莉娅出现在里面，没有受伤，但是已不省人事。然而更麻烦的是，地狱猫曾抓掉了她的面罩；她已经在一段危险的长时间段里一直呼吸着嘎鲁达的大气。
《沙丘》六部曲合集
《波西杰克逊》系列合集
《猎魔人》合集
Bloom Nesterflg, The Social Organization of the Invid
在某种意义上，天顶星人被教会的是他们所知的关于作战的每件事情。和天顶星人不同，因维人并不会对扣押人质之类的想法不屑一顾。这么做的理由可以追溯到机器人统治者用新建立的克隆人军队攻陷奥普特拉星球之后的混乱时期。那时因维摄政王确信佐尔偷走了生命之花不过是想利用他们交换瑞吉斯（女王）本人。之后仿效这个泰雷西亚人的做法，摄政王派出他的新军去抓捕佐尔，而不是去杀了他，希望能用他作为人质换回生命之花！
——布鲁姆·勒斯特弗戈，《因维的社会组织》
"I just think we should talk this over first, that's all," Tesla told the assembled Sentinels, Bioroid pilots, and assorted members of Kami's tribe.
“我只是认为我们应该先好好谈谈，仅此而已。”泰斯拉告诉聚集起来的哨兵战士、生化人驾驶员和卡米部落的各类成员们。
He could see that the Garudans weren't exactly thrilled to have an Invid in their midst-particularly the Invid who had supervised the Regent's specimen mission some time ago-and he was beginning to wonder whether he would even make it out of the village alive, let alone into one of the farm-hives. Still, he reasoned, if he could come up with a better plan than the hostage exchange the Sentinels seemed to be favoring at the moment, he might be able to save himself from either fate.
他可以看到这些嘎鲁达人并没有因为他们当中有一个因维人而害怕地发抖——特别是这个因维人不久以前曾经督导过瑞金特的标本采集任务。泰斯拉开始怀疑他甚至是否能活着离开这个村子，更不用说回到某个农场母巢里。他一直在思考，哨兵同盟此刻似乎很偏向于人质交换，如果他能提出一个更好的计划，或许能够保全自己免受任意一种命运（译注：指被杀死或作为人质被交换）。
"After all," Tesla continued, undaunted,"it doesn't sound to me like you have this thing entirely worked out. The whens, the wheres, the hows...And for all I know, the Regent may have given orders for me to be shot on sight."
“毕竟，”泰斯拉并没有气馁，继续说道，“我听起来不像是你们已经完全解决了这件事情。在什么时间，什么地方，以及怎么去做……而且就我所知，瑞金特可能已经下命令一旦见面就射杀我。”
This much was true, and as a result the group lapsed into an uneasy silence. They couldn't simply call the farm, nor could they just waltz in waving the proverbial white flag. But this was where Tesla was supposed to supply answers; and instead he was suddenly acting as though he couldn't bear to part company with his captors. In private Janice had told everyone to expect as much, although she had been vague about the reasons.
这些倒是真的，结果人群陷入了一片不安的沉寂。他们既不能简单地去造访因维农场，也不能轻易地就公然亮出白旗。而这正是泰斯拉应该提供答案的地方，于是他突然表现出好像他再也不能忍受与他的俘获者们之间的意见分歧了。私下里贾妮斯已经告诉过每个人不要期望太高，尽管之前她对其中的原因也不是很清楚。
"Then what the heck have we been keeping you around for all this time·" Jack shouted."You're supposed to be our ace in the hole, not some hunk of dead weight."
“那么这段时间我们一直把你留在身边到底是为了哪门子原因？”杰克大声嚷道，“你应该是我们手中雪藏的王牌，而不是一大坨累赘。”
"Jack, I'm hurt, I'm really hurt," Tesla returned, trying to put emotion behind the words.
“杰克，伤了我的心了，真的伤到我了。”泰斯拉回答道，试图在话语中掩饰自己的感情。
The shuttle was back on the planet's surface now. Vince Grant was still aboard the SDF-7; but almost everyone else with the exception of Teal had shuttled down. Jean's team was in the process of erecting an atmosphere-controlled geodesic medical module on the outskirts of the village to house Rick and the others once they were freed. Veidt and Sarna had affirmed that five or even fifteen minutes' exposure to Garuda's atmosphere wouldn't prove lethal; but at the same time the danger to Rick and the others was increasing with each moment they were kept from proper treatment. Just what constituted "proper" treatment had yet to be determined; and Veidt refused to speculate until the Humans were rescued and run through a battery of tests.
现在穿梭机回到了行星表面。文斯·格兰特仍旧呆在SDF-7上；而除了缇尔之外的几乎每个人都已经穿梭降落了。吉英·格兰特的小队正处在一项工作进程当中：在农场的外围建立一个大气可控的网格医务舱，以便瑞克和其他人被释放以后收容他们。维特和莎娜已经确认了在嘎鲁达大气中曝露5分钟甚至15分钟并不会致命；但同时对瑞克和其他人来说，危险会随着他们未接受护理时间的延长而增加。到底“适当”的护理该由哪些内容组成已经被确定了，维特则拒绝在这些人类被营救回来之前和没进行过成套测试的时候预测结果。
Burak was sorry he had opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could do to change things. Besides, Tesla was giving it his best shot and might yet convince the Sentinels to adopt a different course of action.
巴拉克（译注：前文中是贝克，误？）对插了一句话感到很抱歉，但是他没有其他可做的来改变什么。而泰斯拉正在用他切中要害的辞令说道，并且还可能说服哨兵成员们采用另一套不同的行动方案。
"Let's hear it, if you've got a better plan," Miriya Sterling was saying.
“让我们听听，如果你有更好的计划。”米莉娅·斯特林如是说。
Tesla put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth, the crown of his head inches from the longhouse rafters. The breathing gear the med group had fashioned for the Invid was a jury-rigged affair of masks, tanks, and tubes, giving Tesla a decidedly elephantine appearance.
泰斯拉把手背在身后，来来回回地踱步，他头上的头罩在长屋的房椽上慢慢移动。医疗队为因维人改造的呼吸装置是一套由面具、气罐和管子组成的临时设施，这明显让泰斯拉看起来是又粗又笨。
"How's this·" he asked at last, swinging around to face Jack, Cabell, the chief, and a few others."Divert attention away from the farm by initiating a raid-"
“这样如何？”他终于问到，转身面向杰克、卡贝尔、酋长和一些其他人，“发动一次袭击来转移对农场的注意力然后……”
"We're one step ahead of you, Tesla," Max said, interrupting."Infiltrate a small party at the same time, and end up giving your troops more hostages."
“我们已经这样干过了，泰斯拉，”麦克斯打断了他，“同时渗透了一支小分队，结果给你的军队送去了更多的人质。”
"It doesn't have to end that way," Tesla argued."Not if I'm with the commando team."
“本来不必搞得那么糟，”泰斯拉争辩道，“如果我跟突击队一起去就不会。”
Jack grunted."What do you know that Rick didn't know· We went in quiet as mice and they nailed us."
杰克不满地嘟哝说，“你知道什么瑞克不知道的？我们像老鼠一样悄悄前进，结果他们扣住了我们。”
"It was the mecha-your Hovercycles-that gave you away. The farm's defenses can sense Protoculture activity. So even though you got past the Inorganics..."
“是你们的气垫摩托机甲暴露了你们。农场的防御系统能够感受到史前文化的活动。因此即使你们躲过了无机兽的……”
Tesla left the sentence unfinished, pleased to see that the Sentinels were offering one another surprised glances.
泰斯拉没有把话说完，暗自高兴地看到哨兵成员们一个个惊讶地面面相觑。
"No wonder they got the jump on us," Jack remarked.
“难怪他们打了我们一个措手不及，”杰克评论道。
"What about weapons, Tesla·" Cabell thought to ask.
“武器会怎么样，泰斯拉？”卡贝尔想起来问道。
"Weapons, too," the Invid answered him.
“武器也一样。”这个因维人回答他。
Max looked around the longhouse."Where does that leave us·"
麦克斯环顾着长屋的四周说，“那剩下能用的东西在哪呢？”
"Swords, crossbows, spears," Gnea said proudly.
“剑，十字弓，长矛。”妮雅自豪地说。
Cabell shook his head."They're no use against Inorganics."
卡贝尔摇着头说，“它们对无机兽没有用。”
"Grenades, then," Learna chimed in."Rocket launchers-"
“那么，用手榴弹，”莱亚娜插了一句，“火箭筒……”
"And these," said the chief, as two of his tribesmen dragged an odd-looking crate into the hut.
“还有这些，”酋长说道，同时他的两个部族手下拉着一个外形奇特的板条箱进到屋里。
Inside were a dozen Karbarran firearms not unlike Lron's own small-bore. Each wooden and metal-fitted rifle had a large globular fixture forward of the trigger guard and forestock lever."We received many such crates during the final days of the Masters' empire," the chief went on to explain as Lron hefted one of the weapons.
里面有一打卡巴拉的火器，和勒荣自己的小口径火器没有什么不同。每个木制和金属装的步枪在扳机锁和前托杆的前面都有一个巨大的球形装置。“在机器人统治者帝国最后的日子里，我们接收了很多这样的板条箱。”酋长继续解释，勒荣则举起了其中的一把武器。
"Yes," Lron said,"Karbarra was exporting rebellion then." He glanced over at Tesla."Until the Invid appeared."
“不错，”勒荣说，“卡巴拉接着就起义了。”他瞥了一眼泰斯拉，“直到因维人出现。”
Max, too, was studying the Invid."All right, Tesla," he said, coming to his feet."We'll play this one your way. But all deals are off at the first sign of any monkey business."
麦克斯也一直在揣摩这个因维人。“好吧，泰斯拉，”他一边说一边站了起来，“这一次我们按照你的方式行动。但是只要一发现任何骗人的把戏，所有的约定就立刻作废。”
Tesla regarded Max and the others through his hastily fashioned mask."Now, why would I want to do that when I've had enough trouble just trying to act Human·"
泰斯拉透过他仓促制成的面具向麦克斯和其他人致意：“可是现在，我要像个正常的人类一样活动都很困难，又有什么理由去做我该做的事情呢？”
This time the team was principally XT-Lron and Crysta, Gnea and Bela, with Learna as guide. That Jack would accompany them had been taken for granted; and, after Tesla's plan had been given the okay, Janice signed on. The Praxians felt more comfortable with their one-handed crossbows, shields, and shortswords than anything else the Sentinels could offer in the way of weaponry, and Gnea wouldn't part company with her spearlike naginata. But the others carried Karbarran air rifles, satchels of command-detonated explosives, conventional fragmentation grenades, and rocket launchers. Shortly after Garuda's midnight, the eight-member team was inserted by Garudan flitters to within twenty miles of the crater, allowing them ample time to reach the farm-hive before sunrise.
这一次行动队主要由外星哨兵成员组成：勒荣和克里斯塔，妮雅和贝拉，由莱亚娜作为向导。杰克已获准陪同他们一起前往；在泰斯拉的计划得到认可之后，贾妮斯也加入了。普拉西斯人觉得用她们的单手十字弓、盾牌和短剑比哨兵们能提供的其他武器更顺手，而妮雅是一定要用她那像矛一样的薙刀的。其他人则装备了卡巴拉气动枪、指令起爆炸药包、常规杀伤手雷和火箭筒等。嘎鲁达的午夜刚过，这个8人小队就由嘎鲁达搬运机输送到距离（农场所在的）环形山20英里以内的地方，这样他们就有充足的时间在日出之前到达农场母巢。
At the same time, Wolff and the Sterlings met back at the shuttle to coordinate plans for their joint diversionary raid against two neighboring farms. It was decided that the Veritechs and Hovertanks would commence their strikes at sunrise, when the Garudan slaves would still be in the camps.
与此同时，沃尔夫和斯特林夫妇在穿梭机上再次碰头，协调他们对两个邻近农场的牵制性联合打击计划，并决定变形战斗机和气垫坦克部队在日出时发动攻击，那时嘎鲁达奴隶们还仍旧呆在他们的营地里。
"We're going to concentrate our fire against the orchards, here and here," Max briefed his squadron later on, pointing to areas on the maps Learna had provided. The hives themselves-processing plants really-were almost certainly protected by energy shields like the one the Invid had thrown over Tiresia's Royal Hall during the battle for Tirol. But since the Sentinels' main objective was to draw out the enemy mecha, Max saw no reason why targeting the precious Optera tree plantations couldn't achieve the same result.
“我们打算集中火力攻击种植园，这里和这里。”麦克斯稍后给他的中队作任务简报，指着地图上莱亚娜提供的目标区域说。真正加工植物的因维母巢自身都几乎肯定是由能量护盾所保护的，就像泰洛作战期间因维人施加在泰雷西亚皇家大礼堂上的防护罩一样。但既然哨兵部队的主要目的是引出敌人的机甲，麦克斯找不出理由为什么瞄准这些珍贵的奥普特拉树木种植园不能实现同样的效果。
"Colonel Wolff's tankers will position themselves along this ridgeline and move in after you've completed your initial runs. Then you're to pulverize that hive. If we dump enough into that shield we might be able to punch through." Similar all-out bursts had worked against the Karbarran hives. Max scanned his small audience."Any questions·" When all the headshaking was over, he added,"All right then, let's saddle up."
“在你们出发后，沃尔夫上校的坦克部队会沿着这条山脊线前进。接着你们要摧毁那个巢穴。如果能够对能量护盾倾泻足够的火力，我们或许可以打穿它。”类似的全力连续射击对卡巴拉的因维母巢曾经起过作用。麦克斯审视着他年轻的飞行员们说：“还有问题吗？”当所有人都摇过头之后，他说到：“那么好的，准备出发。”
Outside the shuttle, he caught sight of Miriya, who had been off briefing the Skull's Red contingent, and hurried over to her just as she was scampering up into the Alpha's cockpit. She had seemed preoccupied during the meeting with Wolff, and absent even now when he asked her if everything was all right.
在穿梭机外面，他看到了米莉娅，她刚刚完成骷髅战队红色分队的作战简报，正要奔向阿尔法战机的驾驶舱，麦克斯急忙赶了过去。在和沃尔夫开会的时候米莉娅看起来就走神了，即使是现在当麦克斯问她是否有什么事情的时候她也显得心不在焉。
"Yeah, fine," she said, offering him a weak smile beneath her transpirator.
“没什么，很好。”米莉娅说，透过她的呼吸面罩给了麦克斯一个弱弱的微笑。
"You don't look fine," he told her, touching her hair."Maybe you should sit this one out." She laughed at the suggestion, more out of surprise, he suspected, than anything else. A former Quadrono sit out a fight·
“你看起来并不好，”麦克斯告诉她，一边抚摸着她的头发说，“也许你不该参加这次行动。”她不由地一笑，更多是出于意外而不是其他的原因，麦克斯猜测。一名前昆德诺（天顶星精英女性战士）不参加作战？
"Max, I'm just a little tired." She donned the thinking cap, climbed the notch ladder, and settled herself in the cockpit seat."Now wipe that concerned look off your face," she told him before lowering the canopy.
“麦克斯，我只是有一点累。”她做出一副思考的样子，爬上凹形舷梯，坐进驾驶舱里。“现在擦掉你脸上那忧虑的表情吧。”她告诉他，并放下了座舱盖。
He forced a smile her way, readjusted his mask, and ran to his own mecha. In five minutes both squadron teams were up, tearing through Garuda's crimson predawn skies.
麦克斯冲着她勉强一笑，调整了一下自己的面具，并跑向了他自己的机甲。飞行中队的两支分队（译注：分别是麦克斯的蓝色分队和米莉娅的红色分队）在五分钟内都完成起飞，战鹰划过黎明前嘎鲁达深红色的天空。
The farms they had chosen to hit were some fifty miles southwest of the crater farm, surrounded by extensive forests of Optera trees, which from Max's point of view resembled outsized melon patches; the hive itself was a freeze-frame shot of a hydrogen bomb's first-stage canopy.
他们选择打击的农场距离那个环形山农场西南约50英里，由广袤的奥普特拉树木森林所环绕，在麦克斯看来就像特大号的瓜田。而母巢自身则像一颗氢弹爆炸初期形成的云冠凝固后的样子。
He took hold of the stick and ordered the Skull to follow him in, loosing a dozen napalm torpedoes from the Alpha's undercarriage pylons at treetop-level. Angry plumes of liquid fire fountained above the ground fog behind him as the VT went ballistic; Max turned to look over his shoulder as the rest of the squadron dove in for their runs, each explosion spreading dollops of burning stuff from tree to tree. Skull One rolled over and went in again, incinerating a patch of forest west of the hive now, while Miriya's team gave the east quadrant hell. Then all at once there were Invid Shock Troopers in the air, rising out of the leaping flames and black smoke like a swarm of angry hornets.
麦克斯把持着操作杆，命令骷髅战队跟上他的动作，阿尔法战机掠过树梢，从底部外挂架上投下一打爆破燃烧弹。战机拉出一条弧线，留下身后由液体燃烧剂构成的狂暴热柱喷薄在地面雾气之上。麦克斯回头看去，其余的战机轮番俯冲，每一次爆炸都在树木之间撒布下成团的燃烧剂。骷髅一号翻转机身再次进入（攻击）航线，将母巢西面的一大片森林焚为灰烬；与此同时米莉娅的部队正将东区的森林化为一片地狱火海。接着，因维的突击骑兵机如同一群愤怒的黄蜂从跳跃的火焰和滚滚的黑烟中升起，突然出现在空中。
"We've got company, Skull Leader," one of Max's wingmen reported."Multiple signals at eight o'clock."
“我们有客人来了，骷髅队长，”麦克斯的一名僚机报告，“8点钟方向出现大量（敌机）信号。”
Max turned his attention from the ascending mecha and twisted around to his right: twenty or more Pincer Ships were approaching from the direction of the crater farm.
麦克斯将注意力从本地升空的因维机甲转移到他的右侧：约超过20架的因维螯击机正从环形山农场方向赶来。
"Coming around to zero one zero," Max said into the tac net."Help me engage, Blue Danube."
“回到010区域，”麦克斯对着战术通信网络呼叫，“帮我迎击敌人，蓝色多瑙河。”
"On my way, Skull One. Rolling out..."
“我来了，骷髅一号。正在撤出……”
Max went for missile lock on the lead Pincer and thumbed off two heat-seekers; they found the ship as it climbed, quartering it and a second Pincer in the process. But the Invid were answering the challenge, and Max was forced to break high and right as streams of annihilation disks screamed into the pocket he had vacated. His wingmen split and boostered out in the nick of time, chased by clusters of Shock Troopers from the Invid's counteroffensive group.
麦克斯用导弹锁定了领头的螯击机，拇指一按射出两枚热导导弹；导弹从斜后方跟上了爬升中的敌机，并同时找到了第二架螯击机。但是因维人对挑战的回应也随之而来，麦克斯不得不放弃制高权，一连串湮灭光弹呼啸着向他刚刚离开的位置打来。他的僚机和他散开了，并及时加力推进脱离，成群的因维反击部队的突击骑兵机正追击过来。
Max imaged the Alpha over to Battloid mode at the top of his climb, targeting data scrolling across his display screens now, and the net a tangle of requests and mad shrieks. A hail of missiles tore from the VT's open shoulder racks and dropped into the midst of the Invid pursuit group, wiping out five of their number. Max went to guns with the remaining two, hands clenching the HOTAS, trapshooting the Invid with the Alpha's rifle/cannon as they streaked by him.
麦克斯在爬升过程中将阿尔法战机变为战斗机器人模式，并同时关注着显示屏上连番滚动的数据以及通信网络里杂乱的声音——各种请求和激动的尖叫声。一阵导弹从变形战斗机打开的肩部弹仓飞射而出，落入因维追击部队的中间，消灭掉5架敌机。麦克斯准备用枪来对付剩下的两架，双手牢牢地握着驾驶杆，当因维战机被打得晕头转向时，他用阿尔法的来复枪/炮以打飞靶的形式把它们击落了。
Elsewhere in the field, Miriya's team was holding its own against the mecha born in that inferno below. Half the trees were on fire now, thick smoke roiling in Garuda's dawn, while Humans and Invid exchanged salvos of death. Battloids and Troopers grappled gauntlet to claw.
在战场的其他地方，米莉娅的部队正忙着自己对付从下方火海地狱中出现的因维机甲。现在一半的树木都已经着火，浓浓的烟尘在嘎鲁达的黎明中翻滚，人类和因维的部队正互相倾泻着致命的齐射火力。战斗机器人和因维突击机手爪交错扭打在一起。
"Guess we succeeded in getting their attention," Max said to no one in particular. He chinned Miriya's frequency and asked for an update; he repeated the request when she didn't respond, then reconfigured his ship and dropped down to have a look for himself.
“我想我们已经成功地吸引了它们的注意力。”麦克斯自己说了一句，并没有特别针对谁。他呼叫米莉娅的频率并请求她的答复；他不断重复着请求但米莉娅没有回应，接着他将机甲重新变形为战机模式并下降高度自己去看个究竟。
Miriya had gone to Battloid and was executing her own version of a Fokker Feint when Max caught up with her. There were four Shock Troopers hovering around her mecha, pulling sting-and-runs. He smiled as he watched her ace one of them with the autocannon; but that look collapsed when he realized how slow she was to react to follow-up energy Frisbees delivered by the remainder of the group. Max was close enough now to throw himself into the fight; but the sight of her sloppiness had left him shaken, and he almost got himself dusted.
当麦克斯赶上她的时候，米莉娅已经变形为机器人模式，并正在实行一个她自己版本的“福克佯动”（译注：“福克佯动”是麦克斯首创的VT战机机器人模式战术机动动作，首见于《Macross Saga》）。有四架因维突击骑兵机正盘旋在她机甲周围，边打边闪。原本看到她用自动炮击落了一架敌机麦克斯还在笑，但是战术动作看起来没有成功，他意识到米莉娅对残余敌人射出的后继碟形能量光弹的反应太慢。麦克斯现在已经接近到足以投入战斗，但是看到米莉娅战法如此马虎他感到不安，而且自己也几乎被弄得心烦意乱。
"Miriya, what's wrong·" he said when the last of the four had been dispatched."Miriya!"
“米莉娅，怎么回事？”当四架敌机中的最后一架被处理掉以后，他呼喊着，“米莉娅！”
"I...don't know, Max," she answered him after a moment."Dizzy spell."
“我……不知道，麦克斯，”片刻之后她回答道，“有点头晕。”
"I want you to return to base."
“我要你回基地去。”
Miriya's face came up on Skull One's commo screen."I'll be all right. It's better now."
米莉娅的面容出现在骷髅一号的通信屏幕上：“我会没事的。现在好多了。”
"Forget it-"
“别扯这个——”
"Max!" Wolff's voice suddenly boomed through the net."We've got troubles! Inorganics-hundreds of them!"
“麦克斯！”沃尔夫的声音突然从通信网络里传出，“我们有麻烦了！无机兽，有几百个！”
Max looked away from Miriya's image and chinned the com freak."Your Pack should be able to handle those things, Wolff," he said.
麦克斯从米莉娅的影像这边转过脸去，对这个意外战况唠叨了两句。“你的战队能够搞定这些事情，沃尔夫。”他说。
"It's not us they're after, Commander," Wolff said, just as gruffly."The sons of bitches have turned them loose on the camp-they're attacking the Garudans!"
“他们不是冲我们来的，指挥官，”沃尔夫粗声粗气地说，“这些狗娘养的已经对营地开火了——它们在攻击嘎鲁达人！”
A short distance from the besieged orchard, Wolff's Hovertank team was well into the forests surrounding the second farm. From the ridgeline above the dome-shaped hive, where the Pack had been Guardian-configured, Wolff had been able to observe the Skull's fiery treetop passes. He had then given the order for his tankers to open fire. They hadn't lobbed five minutes' worth of projectiles into the forest when the first wave of Inorganics had appeared-Hellcats, galloping across Garuda's tundra and heading straight for the ridge. They were followed a minute later by ranks of the bipedal demonic-looking Robo-trolls known as Cranns and Odeons.
离被包围的种植园不远，沃尔夫的气垫坦克部队正好进入第二个农场周围的森林。战队已按照守护神模式配置，从穹状母巢上方的山脊线上，沃尔夫能够看到骷髅战机们贴着树梢犹如烈火般的低空掠飞。他接着对他的坦克部队下达了开火命令。他们对森林的吊射火力还没有持续五分钟，第一波无机兽就出现了——是地狱猫，它们飞奔穿过嘎鲁达的冻土带，径直向山脊冲过来。片刻之后跟着出现了成队的双足魔鬼巨怪——有点像机器人的样子，是克兰兽和奥迪昂兽。
Wolff had hated the things ever since he went up against them on Tirol, and had been looking forward to engaging them-anything to get Minmei off his mind for a while, to keep his hand from reaching out for a bottle...So he had ordered the Pack over to standard mode and led the charge down the rocky slope, only to find that the Inorganics had changed course. And it had only taken a moment to figure out the reason behind the tactic: the Invid were planning to use the Garudans as the Sentinels had the Invid's life-giving trees-for diversion. The XT labor force was strung out for more than a mile along a sparsely wooded hillside guarded by a company of armed and weapon-wielding Invid soldiers. It was then that Wolff had opened the net to Max.
沃尔夫很讨厌这些东西，从他在泰洛开始对付它们起就这样，他一直在盼望与它们作战——这可以让他暂时不去想明美，和止住伸向酒瓶的手……因此他已经命令战队变为标准模式，并带领冲锋冲下满是岩石的斜坡，不料竟发现无机兽们已经改变了路线。推测出这个战术的动机并没花多长时间：因维人打算用嘎鲁达人来转移哨兵们对因维人赖以为生的树木的注意力。这些外星劳工的队伍沿着一条树木稀少的山坡拉开了有超过一英里的距离，由一队荷枪实弹的因维士兵看守着。紧接着沃尔夫就打开通信网络向麦克斯报告了这件事情。
The Skull fighters were overhead now; Wolff could see them through breaks in the trees' clustered, billiard-ball canopies. Shock Troopers and Pincer Ships were right on their tails.
一架架骷髅战机现在正从头顶飞过；透过林木茂密的球形树冠，沃尔夫能够从枝叶的间隙中看到他们。因维的突击骑兵机和螯击机正在他们后面尾随。
Wolff's Hovertanks broke out of the forest a moment after Skull One Touched down; the Alpha was in Guardian mode, with the rifle/cannon gripped in one gauntlet, stammering its harsh greeting to the Hellcats. Dozens of Inorganics burst apart as armor-piercing rounds ripped into the pack, but five times that number made it through the VT's still-forming line, bounding over the mecha and continuing their mad rush for the Garudans. Aware of the situation now, the helpless slaves had broken ranks and were attempting to flee; most of them were cut down instantly by bursts from the soldiers' forearm guns, while others fell to the first wave of Inorganics, torn apart by Hellcats or roasted by bolts from the Cranns' orifice-dimpled weapons spheres.
沃尔夫的气垫坦克部队离开了森林，就在骷髅一号降落后一小会；阿尔法战机处于守护神模式，一只机械手中握着来复枪/炮，不断地向地狱猫们送去它无情的问候。穿甲子弹射入兽群，许多无机兽被打碎了，但是有五倍于被击毁数目的无机兽穿过了变形战斗机编成的静态防线，它们越过这些机甲并继续着对嘎鲁达人的疯狂进攻。意识到这一现状后，无助的奴隶们破坏了队形，开始逃跑；他们中的大部分立即就被看守士兵们手中的枪械开火击倒了，而其他人则死于第一波无机兽，或者被地狱猫撕裂，或者被克兰兽具有喇叭口的球形武器射出的电光烧焦了。
Wolff ordered the Pack to spread out and form a second line; the Hovertanks reconfigured and began to fire at will, decimating much of the second sortie wave, but suddenly forced to deal with the Shock Troopers as well. Annihilation disks stormed into the tankers' midst, tearing up the land and overturning two of the mecha. Wolff could see that members of Max's blue team were going over to Battloid and repositioning themselves opposite the Pack to form the second leg of a V formation. Wolff called for a cannonade as the Inorganics rushed into the notch. Pounded with explosive rounds the tundra shook and bellowed; the ridge trapped the concussive sounds and hurled them back, as Inorganics and Shock Troopers alike were reduced to gobs of white-hot metal, geysers of fire in the already superheated air.
沃尔夫命令战队展开形成第二道防线；气垫坦克们变形并准备全力开火消灭第二波突围的无机兽，但是很快他们就被迫同时处理追来的突击骑兵机。湮灭光弹咆哮着打在坦克群的中间，撕裂了土地，掀翻了两台机甲。沃尔夫可以看到麦克斯蓝色小队的成员们正在变形为战斗机器人模式，在他战队的对面重新配置队伍以形成一个V型编队的第二条腿。当无机兽们冲到编队的凹口时，沃尔夫下令连续开火。在爆破射弹的猛烈打击下，大地颤抖和咆哮着；山脊挡住了这震颤的声响，又把它们扔回来。无机兽和突击骑兵机都变成了一堆堆白热的金属渣和炙烈空气中间歇闪耀的火光。
Miriya's Red team came in just then to add their deafening movement to the score. Pincer Ships and VTs went face-to-face, hammering away at one another, while missiles and projectiles corkscrewed through the firestorm and smoke.
米莉娅的红色分队就在这时赶到了，带着震耳欲聋的大动作加入到战斗中。螯击机和变形战斗机面对面缠打在一起，彼此都以死相搏，导弹、枪弹从火焰风暴和烟尘中打着螺旋迸射而出。
Wolff told his B team to hold their ground; at the same time he and the other A tankers battled their way over scorched terrain and through flaming stands of trees toward the Garudans' march of death. Prevented from ascending the hillside by rows of Invid soldiers and vulnerable below to the Inorganics' unchecked advance, the vulpine XTs were being slaughtered. Wolff thought he could hear their wailing clear through the tank's canopy and the tac net's cacophony of calls. The Pack couldn't fire for fear of killing even more of them; so instead Wolff led the tankers on a flat-out collision course straight to where the Inorganics had become bunched up at the base of the hill. The tanks smashed their way into the thick of the slaughter, down-swept deflection bows cutting Cranns and Odeons in half. Hellcats leaped on the hovering mecha, only to be blasted to smithereens by in-close guns, or crushed by hand when some of the Pack reconfigured to Battloid mode.
沃尔夫告诉他的B组坚守自己的位置；同时他和其他A组的坦克边打边跨过已经烧焦的地带，穿过燃烧的树丛，向嘎鲁达人的死亡行军区域靠拢。由于从山坡向上攀爬被成排的因维士兵所阻止，在无机兽大军毫无顾忌地推进下又只能束手待毙，这些形如狐狸的外星人正在被大肆屠杀。沃尔夫觉得他能够透过坦克的座舱盖清晰地听见他们的哀嚎，还能听到战术通信网络中充满喊叫的杂音。战队不能随便开火以免误伤更多的嘎鲁达人；因此取而代之的是，沃尔夫带领气垫坦克以最高速的碰撞航路直接冲向无机兽群在山脚聚集的地方。坦克们狠狠地撞进屠杀最密集的区域，偏斜的下掠艇首（译注：可类比飞机的后掠翼）将克兰兽和奥迪昂兽切成两半。一些地狱猫跳上盘旋中的机甲，不过是被近身武器打得稀烂，或者是被部分变形为战斗机器人模式的机甲用手碾碎。
Meanwhile, at the edge of the forest Max's VT teams were getting the upper hand. Pincer and Shock Trooper ships were falling out of the sky like ducks on a bad day at the marsh. Miriya's Reds accounted for most of those kills; Wolff could just discern them overhead, flying circles around the enemy pilots. He caught sight of one VT in particular as it was completing some sort of aerial pirouette that had left three Pincers in ruin; he was thinking that it must have been Miriya's, until he saw the VT sustain a shot any cadet could have dodged. Wolff watched it plummet toward a ravaged area of woodland.
与此同时，在森林的边缘麦克斯的变形战斗机部队正取得优势。螯击机和突击骑兵机像倒霉日中沼泽地的野鸭子一样纷纷从天上掉下来。米莉娅的红色分队创造了大部分的战果；沃尔夫可以从头顶看到她们，在敌机周围盘旋飞行。他瞥见一架特别的变形战机正在完成某种空中皮鲁埃特旋转（译注：单点旋转，常见于芭蕾舞）动作，并击毁了三架螯击机；他原本在想那一定是米莉娅的战机，直到他看到那架变形战机承受了一发连任何一名军校学员都应该能避开的炮弹。沃尔夫注视着它垂直掉落在一片被毁坏的林地中。
"That's the place they got jumped," Jack said, pointing out a damaged row of Optera trees at the bottom of the slope. The hulks of the three Scout ships had been removed, but there was evidence of the fires the explosions had touched off."Then they were dragged into the hive." Jack handed binoculars up to Lron, once again indicating the direction."You can just make out the entrance or whatever it is."
“那就是他们被伏击的地方，”杰克指着斜坡底部一行排列不完整的奥普特拉树木说。三架侦察机的残骸已经被移走了，但仍留下了曾经开火和爆炸的痕迹。“那么它们是被拉到母巢里去了。”杰克把双筒望远镜递给勒荣，再一次指示着方向。“你正好能辨认出入口，无论它是什么。”
Tesla gave him the Invid word for the portal, mumbling something Jack found unintelligible.
泰斯拉对着杰克说了一句因维语的“入口”，嘴里嘟囔着一些令杰克莫名其妙的东西。
"Like I said: whatever it is."
“就像我说过的：无论它是什么。”
Careful not to disturb his transpirator, Lron took a look through the armored glasses and passed them along to Crysta. She was upping the intensity some, when Learna's trill-like signal reached them from somewhere in the trees. A moment later, the Garudan appeared at the base of the slope, motioning the team down. Gnea and Bela were crouched behind her, masked and vigilant, looking more than ever like barbaric gladiators lifted from some Roman arena. Jack tapped Janice on the shoulder and got everyone under way.
勒荣用军用望远镜看了一眼，小心翼翼地以免弄乱呼吸面罩，接着他把望远镜传递给了克里斯塔。她调高了一些亮度，这时从树林中传来莱亚娜发出的颤音般的信号。一会儿之后，这个嘎鲁达人出现在斜坡的底部，示意队伍下去。妮雅和贝拉蹲伏在莱亚娜身后，隐蔽并警戒着，看起来更像是粗野的角斗士从某个罗马竞技场中升起一般。杰克轻轻拍了下贾妮斯的肩膀，领着大家继续前进。
They had reached the crater well before dawn, without incident despite the presence of stepped-up Inorganic patrol teams. Not just Hellcats, but Cranns and Odeons-bizarre enough creatures by daylight, and positively frightening in the predawn ground fog. Even these hadn't deterred the free Garudans from putting in an appearance, though; only this time it was more than curiosity that motivated them: many had armed themselves with Karbarran air rifles, hoisting them in a display of support as the team passed. Just before sunrise at the crater rim, Jack had seen flashes of explosive light in the southwestern skies, rolls of distant thunder-the Skull's bombing run against the neighboring farm. Shortly thereafter, scores of Shock Troopers had risen from the basin and flown toward the sound of the guns.
他们刚好在拂晓以前到达了环形山，没有惊动加强过的无机兽巡逻队。不仅仅是地狱猫，还有克兰兽和奥迪昂兽，在白天看起来都足够狰狞了，在黎明前的低雾中更是让人心生恐惧。而即便如此也没有阻止自由嘎鲁达战士的露面；只有在这个时候驱使和激励他们的才不单单是好奇心：许多人都装备了卡巴拉气动枪，在小分队通过时准备为他们提供支援。就在太阳从环形山边缘升起以前，杰克在西南方向的天空看到了爆炸的闪光，伴随着远处滚滚的雷鸣声——是骷髅中队在轰炸邻近的农场。其后不久，许多突击骑兵机从洼地里升起，向枪声传来的方向飞去。
"Any activity·" Jack asked when he reached the base of the slope.
“有什么动静吗？”在到达斜坡底部时杰克问道。
"Nothing so far," Learna told him."We went as far as the hive."
“目前没有，”莱亚娜告诉他，“我们快要到母巢了。”
Jack turned to Tesla."What do you think·" he said angrily. He had no patience left for the Invid's malingering. Keeping Tesla concealed on the trail had led to more than a few hairy moments; and on the slope he had behaved less like a sentient creature than an out-of-control boulder. But now the time had come for Tesla to earn his keep."What's their routine·"
杰克转向泰斯拉。“你怎么想？”他生气地说，对这个因维人的装病显得毫无耐性。之前在山道上要让泰斯拉保持隐蔽已经出过好几次危险的岔子；在山坡上的时候他就不像是一个有知觉的正常人，而是像一块失控的大鹅卵石。但现在体现泰斯拉价值的时刻到了。“他们的例行活动是怎样的？”杰克问。
Tesla glanced at what could be seen of the hive through the trees."Difficult to say, what with all the activity you've stirred up. Normally, the slaves would be arriving any minute now." Tesla looked up at one of the trees' vine-encrusted globe canopies."Pity, too," he mused."All this ripe fruit going to waste."
泰斯拉透过树木的缝隙瞅了母巢一眼。“很难说，因为你们已经搅出了这么些动静。正常的话，奴隶们现在随时都可能到达。”泰斯拉抬头看着其中一棵树上的藤蔓——绕嵌在球形的树冠里。“太可惜了，”他显得若有所思，“所有这些成熟的果实都要浪费掉了。”
Jack brandished a long-bladed dirk as Tesla reached out to pluck a particularly succulent-looking piece."You haven't earned it yet, Tesla. Besides, you don't really want to take off the mask, do you·"
当泰斯拉伸手去摘一个看起来肉质特别丰富的果子的时候，杰克向他亮出了一把刀刃很长的匕首。“你还没有资格享用它，泰斯拉。而且，你不是真的想摘掉面罩，是吧？”他说。
Tesla thought it over. There was no reason he couldn't lift the mask for the time it would take to gobble down some fruit; but he decided not to bother arguing the point. So he simply left the fruit to rot Instead of adding it to the samples he had already stuffed into the pockets of his robes.
泰斯拉考虑了一下，他找不到任何理由为什么他不可以在这个时候摘掉面具来享用一些水果，但他还是决定不在这个问题上引起争论。因此他简单地放下这个果子，留着它自己腐烂，而不是把它添加到自己长袍的口袋中，里面已经塞满了各式的玩意儿。
"No, I suppose not," he said after a moment.
“是的，我想不会的。”迟疑了一小会后他回应道。
Jack ordered him to take the point; and in ten minutes the team arrived at the hive's entrance. It was faintly lit, a half-moon-shaped tunnel twenty-five-feet high and composed of what looked like solidified sea foam. There seemed to be a slight shimmering to the air inside, but this ceased when Tesla identified himself to the scanner. A voiceprint, Jack thought, but he couldn't be sure.
杰克命令泰斯拉回到自己的位置；十分钟后小分队到达了母巢的入口。它朦胧地发亮，是一条25英尺高的半月形隧道，由看起来像凝固的海水泡沫的东西构成。隧道内部的空气似乎正在微微地泛光，但是当泰斯拉在扫描器前确认身份后这些就停止了。是声纹，杰克想，但他并不能确定。
The tunnel was deadly hot, evil-smelling even through the masks' filters, and reminded Jack of fiber-optic vids he had seen of the human body's arterial system. It terminated in a rotunda, whose enormity and crepuscular illumination Jack found disorienting. Dozens of corridors emptied into the area, like detonator horns on an old-fashioned naval mine.
隧道里热得要命，难闻的气味甚至透过了面罩的过滤器，杰克想起了他曾见过的光纤视频流或者（译注：of误or？）是人类身体的动脉系统。隧道的末端是一个圆形建筑，它巨大的外形和朦胧的光亮让杰克觉得迷乱。许多走廊连入到这个区域，就像老式水雷上繁多的引信触角。
"We can dispense with these contraptions," Tesla was saying, pulling the transpirator from his snout. He took a deep breath and smiled at everyone. Jack could see that he was taking obvious delight in their amazement.
“我们可解除这些装置。”泰斯拉一边说一边从他的猪嘴巴上拉下呼吸面罩。他做了一个深呼吸并对着每个人笑。杰克可以看出泰斯拉明显对大家的惊愕感到高兴。
"This is our foyer," Tesla said, with an elaborate wave of his arm.
“这是我们的接待室。”泰斯拉说，用手做出一个精致的致意动作。
Jack checked the display on the biosensor Jean had strapped on his wrist. Satisfied, he slipped the filtration mask from his mouth, determined to keep a straight face. Still wary, he sniffed at the air, found it slightly dank but breathable, and gave the all-clear for the others to follow his example."Which way·" he demanded, leading with his chin.
杰克检查了一下吉英戴在他手腕上的生物传感器的显示情况，满意地从嘴上拉下过滤面罩，决定把脸露出来。他仍然保持着警觉，闻了闻空气的味道，发现虽然有点潮湿但还是可呼吸的。于是杰克对其他人示意安全，可以和他一样摘掉面罩。“走哪条路？”他问，用手捋着下巴。
Tesla pointed to the circular shaft directly overhead."There." With a theatrical gesture, he motioned the team to gather round him. No sooner had they done so than they found themselves imprisoned by some sort of tractor beam that was lifting them en masse toward the overhead shaft. Gnea brought the tip of her lance to the ribbed underside of Tesla's neck.
“那里。”泰斯拉指着头顶正上方的圆形井道说。他用一个戏剧表演般的手势示意大家围在他身边。正当所有人刚刚就位的时候，大家突然发现自己被某种牵引光束束缚住，一起被拉向头顶的井道。妮雅用她的矛尖顶住了泰斯拉脖子的下棱。
"No," he told her, up on tiptoes to ease the contact."You have it all wrong. This is simply our...elevator system."
“不，”泰斯拉告诉她，向上踮起脚以免被扎到，“你完全搞错了。这只是我们的……升降机系统。”
Jack and Janice were down in a combat crouch, weapons drawn, searching the beam's translucent circumference for any sign of danger. Lron, Crysta, Bela, and Kami were similarly postured, Karbarran air rifles at high port, crossbows armed. Tesla continued to protest for the duration of the thirty-second ascent into the dome's upper reaches.
杰克和贾妮斯弓身做了一个战斗蹲伏，抽出武器，搜索着光束半透明的周边环境中有无危险的状况。勒荣、克里斯塔、贝拉和卡米（译注：前文中的8人小队中根本没有卡米，此处生造一人！）也是同样的姿势，卡巴拉气动枪高举，十字弓上弦。泰斯拉继续申明着进入穹顶上层部分有一段持续三十秒的上升时间。
Slowly, the tractor field began to de-rezz.
慢慢地，牵引力场开始减弱消失。
Jack had relaxed some by the time the beam shut down; then all at once he saw four Invid sentries swinging around to face them, forearm cannons raised.
光束关闭后杰克稍微放松了一些，但那时他突然看见四个因维岗哨正转身面向他们，手中的武器已经举起。
Max had seen Miriya's Alpha go down. He had his own VT in Battloid mode now, and was running it toward the crash site through a section of burning forest. Two of his team were dead; at least that many of Miriya's had died as well. He wasn't sure how Wolff was doing, but he had seen more than one Hovertank overturned by Shock Trooper anni disks. Max didn't even want to think about the Garudan slaves. And suddenly there was Miriya to worry about.
麦克斯看到了米莉娅阿尔法战机的坠落。他现在把自己的战机变为战斗机器人模式，并正穿过一片烧焦的森林赶往米莉娅的坠落地点。他的两名队员牺牲了；而米莉娅的分队也至少遭受了同样的损失。他不确定沃尔夫的情况如何，但他已经看到不止一辆气垫坦克被突击骑兵机的湮灭光弹击毁。麦克斯甚至不愿去想嘎鲁达的奴隶们。而突然之间还要为米莉娅担心。
The mecha's scanners caught sight of something up ahead, and Max called for increased intensity, studying the biosensor data displays. A minute later he had visuals. It was Miriya's Red Alpha alright, in lopsided Guardian configuration, radome tipped to the ground-a wounded bird.
机甲的扫描仪捕捉到了前方的什么东西，麦克斯增强了显示强度，仔细查看生物传感器的数据显示。片刻之后他得到了视觉影像。就是米莉娅的红色阿尔法战机，在守护神模式下倒向一侧，雷达整流罩（机鼻）插在地上：一只受伤的鸟儿。
Then Max spotted the Hellcats-four of them, attacking the VT's canopy with a frenzy, battering it with downward blows of their armored heads. He could see that one Inorganic had managed to get a claw inside, and was waving it around, presumably hoping to slice Miriya to shreds. The four turned at the same moment to show Max their gleaming fangs and sword-edged shoulder horns; two hunt-mates leaped for the VT straightaway, but he already had the rifle/cannon locked on them. They came apart in midair like clay pigeons. Max holed a third where it stood glaring at him, and now the final 'Cat snatched its paw from the punctured canopy, reared up, and came at him. Max tried to sidestep the Battloid when the Hellcat jumped, but his timing was off; the Inorganic latched on to the mecha's ablative head shields and began to ram its snout against the permaplas visor. Reflexively, Max pressed himself back into the cockpit seat; he had a larger-than-life view of the crazed thing's snapping mouth and false gullet. The 'Cat was snarling, trying desperately to slice open the Battloid's belly with the churning motion of its razor-sharp hind claws. Max shut down the external pickups and armed the head lasers. The angle was almost too oblique, but the Hellcat's back was heaving in and out of the targeting brackets and Max thought he might have a chance. He raised the Battloid's left arm, gripped the 'Cat around the waist, and tugged it into the lasers' field. Then he triggered the in-close guns. The Inorganic brought its head up as the light beams seared into its backside; it took Max's follow-up pulse right through the eyes and dropped to the ground, lifeless.
接着，麦克斯发现了地狱猫——有四只，正在疯狂地攻击变形战斗机的座舱盖，用它们披着装甲的脑袋向下猛击，一点点将其破坏。麦克斯能够看到一只无机兽已经设法伸进了一只爪子并在四处乱抓，大概想把米莉娅切成碎片。这时四只地狱猫同时向麦克斯转过身，亮出它们闪着寒光的獠牙和具有剑刃的肩部犄角；其中的一对猎杀搭档直接向战机跃奔过来，但麦克斯已经用来复枪/炮锁定了它们。两只无机兽像陶土飞靶一样在空中被打开了花。麦克斯又打穿了第三只站着怒视他的无机兽，现在最后一只大猫从戳穿了的座舱盖中抽回爪子，暴跳而起，直冲他而来。当地狱猫跳起时麦克斯试图让机器人横跨一步来躲闪，但他的动作慢了；这只无机兽抓住了机甲可磨削的头部遮护板，开始用它的嘴部猛击用超强玻璃制成的机器人面颊。麦克斯反射性地向后撞在座舱座位上；他看到了一幅难得一见的景象，这个疯狂之物那正在撕咬的嘴巴和人工的咽喉。大猫在咆哮，用它那锋利的后爪以搅拌式的动作，拼命地试图刨开机器人的腹部。麦克斯关掉了外部接收装置，启动了头部激光器。射击角度几乎太过倾斜而无法使用，但是地狱猫的背部正在对焦瞄准区域内出出进进，麦克斯想或许还有一线机会。他举起机器人的左臂，从腰部紧握住大猫，把它拖进激光的照射场。接着他击发这个近身武器。无机兽因后背受到光束的烧蚀而抬起了头，结果麦克斯发射的剩余激光脉冲正好从它眼睛中穿过，大猫跌落在地上，完蛋了。
Max stomped the thing twice. He imaged over to Guardian mode and pulled his mask tight as he popped the media's canopy. Miriya had yet to show herself. Scampering up along the Red's downswept wing, he peered into the shattered cockpit and began to fumble with the manual-release levers.
麦克斯又重踩了这家伙两次。他变形为守护神模式，迅速地跳出机甲（译注：media误mecha？）的座舱并严密地拉下他的面罩。米莉娅仍没有出现。他沿着红色阿尔法的下掠机翼奔跑上去，向破碎的座舱中张望，并慌张地摸索着手动解锁控制杆。
"Miriya!"
“米莉娅！”
He called her name twice more before he succeeded in springing the ship's protective blister. She appeared unharmed, but unconscious. More troubling, however, was the fact that the Hellcat had ripped off her mask; she had been breathing Garuda's atmosphere for a dangerously long time.
在成功弹开战机的保护舱盖之前他呼唤了米莉娅的名字好几次。米莉娅出现在里面，没有受伤，但是已不省人事。然而更麻烦的是，地狱猫曾抓掉了她的面罩；她已经在一段危险的长时间段里一直呼吸着嘎鲁达的大气。