She focused on the nausea5 eating away at her stomach,trying to forget why she was here. As Tally and her escortmade their way down the hall, she tried to pull herselftogether, tucking in her shirt and tugging6 at her hair.
Dr. Cable certainly didn’t look like she’d just gotten up.
Tally tried without success to imagine what a tousled Dr.
Cable would look like. Her darting7, metal-gray eyes hardlyseemed as if they would ever close long enough to sleep.
“So, Tally. You’ve reconsidered.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll answer all our questions now? Honestlyand of your own free will?”
Tally snorted. “You’re not giving me a choice.”
Dr. Cable smiled. “We always have choices, Tally. You’vemade yours.”
“Great. Thanks. Look, just ask your questions.”
“Certainly. First of all, what on earth happened to yourface?”
Tally sighed, one hand touching8 the scratches. “Trees.”
“Trees?” Dr. Cable raised an eyebrow9. “Very well. On amore important subject, what did you and Shay talk aboutthe last time you saw her?”
Tally closed her eyes. This was it, the moment whenshe would break her vow10 to Shay. But a small voice in herexhausted brain reminded her that she was also keeping apromise. Now she could finally join Peris.
“She talked about going away. Running away withsomeone called David.”
“Ah, yes, the mysterious David.” Dr. Cable leanedback. “And did she say where she and David weregoing?”
“A place called the Smoke. Like a city, only smaller.
And no one was in charge there, and no one was pretty.”
“And did she say where it was?”
“No, she didn’t, not really.” Tally sighed and pulledShay’s crumpled11 note from her pocket. “But she left methese directions.”
Dr. Cable didn’t even look at the note. Instead, shepushed a piece of paper from her side of the desk over toTally’s. Through bleary eyes, Tally saw that it was a 3-Dcopy of the note, perfect down to the slight incisions12 ofShay’s labored13 penmanship on the paper.
130 Scott Westerfeld“We took the liberty of making a copy of that the firsttime you were here.”
Tally glared at Dr. Cable, realizing she’d been duped.
“Then why do you need me? I don’t know anything morethan what I just said. I didn’t ask her to tell me any more.
And I didn’t go with her, because I just . . . wanted . . . tobe pretty!” A lump rose in her throat, but Tally decided14 thatunder no circumstances—special or not—was she going tocry in front of Dr. Cable.
“I’m afraid that we find the instructions on the noterather cryptic15, Tally.”
“You and me both.”
Dr. Cable’s hawk-eyes narrowed. “They seem to bedesigned to be read by someone who knows Shay quitewell. By you, perhaps.”
“Yeah, well, I get some of it. But after the first couple oflines, I’m lost.”
“I’m sure it’s very difficult. Especially after a long nightof . . . trees. I still think you can help us, however.”
Dr. Cable opened a small briefcase16 on the deskbetween them. Tally’s tired brain struggled to makesense of the objects in the case. A firestarter, a crumpledsleeping bag . . .
“Hey, that’s like the survival stuff that Shay had.”
“That’s right, Tally. These ranger17 kits18 go missing everyso often. Usually just about the same time that one of ouruglies disappears.”
UGLIES 131“Well, mystery solved. Shay was all ready to travel tothe Smoke with a bunch of that stuff.”
“What else did she have?”
Tally shrugged19. “A hoverboard. A special one, withsolar.”
“Of course a hoverboard. What is it about those thingsand miscreants20? And what did Shay plan to eat, do yousuppose?”
“She had food in packets. Dehydrated.”
“Like this?” Dr. Cable produced a silvery food pack.
“Yeah. She had enough for four weeks.” Tally took adeep breath. “Two weeks, if I’d gone along. More thanenough, she said.”
“Two weeks? Not so very far.” Dr. Cable pulled a blackknapsack from beside her desk and started to pack thevarious objects into it. “You might just make it.”
“Make it? Make what?”
“The trip. To the Smoke.”
“Me?”
“Tally, only you can understand these directions.”
“I told you: I don’t know what they mean!”
“But you will, once you’re on the journey. And ifyou’re . . . properly motivated.”
“But I already told you everything you wanted toknow. I gave you the note. You promised!”
Dr. Cable shook her head. “My promise, Tally, was thatyou wouldn’t be pretty until you helped us to the very best132 Scott Westerfeldof your ability. I have every confidence that this is withinyour ability.”
“But why me?”
“Listen carefully, Tally. Do you really think that this isthe first time we’ve been told about David? Or the Smoke?
Or found some scrawled21 directions about how to get there?”
Tally flinched22 at the razor-blade voice, turning awayfrom the anger on the woman’s cruel face. “I don’t know.”
“We’ve seen all this before. But whenever we go ourselves,we find nothing. Smoke, indeed.”
The lump had return to Tally’s throat. “So how am Isupposed to find anything?”
Dr. Cable pulled the copy of Shay’s note toward herself.
“This last line, where it says to ‘wait on the bald head,’
clearly refers to a rendezvous23 point. You go there, you wait.
Sooner or later, they’ll pick you up. If I send a hovercar fullof Specials, your friends will probably be a bit suspicious.”
“You mean, you want me to go alone?”
Dr. Cable took a deep breath, a disgusted look on herface. “This isn’t very complicated, Tally. You have had achange of heart. You have decided to run away, followingyour friend Shay. Just another ugly escaping the tyranny ofbeauty.”
Tally looked up at the cruel face through a prism ofgathering tears. “And then what?”
Dr. Cable pulled another object from the briefcase, anecklace with a little heart pendant. She pressed on itsUGLIES 133sides, and the heart clicked open. “Look inside.”
Tally held the tiny heart up to her eye. “I can’t see anything. . . ow!”
The pendant had flashed, blinding her for a moment.
The heart made a little beep.
“The finder will only respond to your eye-print, Tally.
Once it’s activated25, we’ll be there within a few hours. Wecan travel very quickly.” Cable dropped the necklace ontothe desk. “But don’t activate24 it until you’re in the Smoke.
This has taken us some time to set up. I want the real thing,Tally.”
Tally blinked away the afterimage of the flash, trying toforce her exhausted1 brain to think. She realized now thatthis had never been simply a matter of answering questions.
They had always wanted her as a spy, an infiltrator26. Shewondered just how long this had been planned. How manytimes had Special Circumstances tried to get an ugly towork for them before? “I can’t do this.”
“You can, Tally. You must. Think of it as an adventure.”
“Please. I’ve never even spent the whole night outsidethe city. Not alone.”
Dr. Cable ignored the sob27 that had cut through Tally’swords. “If you don’t agree right now, I’ll find someone else.
And you’ll be ugly forever.”
Tally looked up, trying to see through the tears thatwere flowing freely now, to peer past Dr. Cable’s cruel maskand find the truth. It was there in her dull, metal-gray eyes,134 Scott Westerfelda cold, terrible surety unlike anything a normal pretty couldever convey. Tally realized that the woman meant what shesaid.
Either Tally infiltrated28 the Smoke and betrayed Shay, orshe’d be an ugly for life.
“I have to think.”
“Your story will be that you ran away the night beforeyour birthday,” Dr. Cable said. “That means you’ve alreadygot to make up for four lost days. Any more delays, andthey won’t believe you. They’ll guess what happened. Sodecide now.”
“I can’t. I’m too tired.”
Dr. Cable pointed29 at the wallscreen, and an imageappeared. Like a mirror, but in close-up, it showed Tally asshe looked right now: puffy-eyed and disheveled, exhaustionand red scratches marking her face, her hair stickingout in all directions, and her expression turning horrified30 asshe beheld31 her own appearance.
“That’s you, Tally. Forever.”
“Turn it off . . .”
“Decide.”
“Okay, I’ll do it. Turn it off.”
The wallscreen went dark.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
tally
|
|
| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
hawks
|
|
| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
swoop
|
|
| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
nausea
|
|
| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
eyebrow
|
|
| n.眉毛，眉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
vow
|
|
| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
crumpled
|
|
| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
incisions
|
|
| n.切开，切口( incision的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
labored
|
|
| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
cryptic
|
|
| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
briefcase
|
|
| n.手提箱，公事皮包 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ranger
|
|
| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
kits
|
|
| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
miscreants
|
|
| n.恶棍，歹徒( miscreant的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
scrawled
|
|
| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
flinched
|
|
| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
rendezvous
|
|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
activate
|
|
| vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
activated
|
|
| adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
infiltrator
|
|
| n.渗透者，渗入者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
sob
|
|
| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
infiltrated
|
|
| adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
horrified
|
|
| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |