The nights spent on board seemed to pass quickly. Onthis journey, there were none of Shay’s cryptic2 clues topuzzle through, no brush fires to escape, and no antiqueRusty machines descending4 to scare her to death. Theworld seemed to be empty except for the occasional ruins,as if Tally and David were the last people alive.
They augmented5 their diet with fish caught from theriver, and Tally roasted a rabbit on a fire she’d built herself.
She watched David repair his leather clothes and decidedshe would never be able to manage a needle and threadwell. He taught her how to tell time and direction from thestars, and she showed him how to open the expert softwarein the boards to optimize6 them for night travel.
At the sea they turned south, heading down the northernreaches of the same coastal7 railway that Tally had followedon her way to the Smoke. David said it had oncestretched unbroken all the way back to Tally’s home cityand beyond. But now there were large gaps in the track,and new cities built on the sea, so they had to travel inlandmore than once. But David knew the rivers, the spurs of therailroad, and the other metal paths the Rusties had leftbehind, so they made good time toward their goal.
Only the weather stopped them. After a few days’ traveldown the coast, a dark and threatening mountain of cloudsappeared over the ocean. At first, the storm seemed reluctantto come ashore8, building up its nerve over a slowtwenty-four hours, the air pressure changing in a way thatmade the hoverboards jittery9 to ride. The storm gave plentyof warning, but when it finally arrived, it was much worsethan Tally had imagined weather could be.
She’d never faced the full force of a hurricane, exceptfrom within the solid structures of her inland city. It wasanother lesson in nature’s savage10 power.
For three days Tally and David huddled11 in a plastic tentin the shelter of a rock outcrop, burning chemical glowsticksfor heat and light, hoping the magnets in the hoverboardswouldn’t bring down a lightning strike. For the firstUGLIES 349hours, the drama of the storm kept them fascinated,amazed at its power, wondering when the next peal12 ofthunder would shake the cliffs. Then the driving rainbecame simply monotonous13, and they spent a whole daytalking to each other about anything and everything, butespecially their childhoods, until Tally was sure that sheunderstood David better than anyone she’d ever known.
On their third day trapped in the tent they had a terriblefight—Tally could never remember about what—thatended when David stormed out and stood alone in the icywind for a solid hour. When he finally returned, it took himhours to stop shivering, even wrapped in her arms. “We’retaking too long,” he finally said.
Tally squeezed tighter. It took time to prepare subjectsfor the operation, especially if they were older than sixteen.
But Dr. Cable wouldn’t wait forever to turn David’s parents.
Every day the storm delayed them, there was a greater chancethat Maddy and Az had already gone under the knife. ForShay, the perfect age for turning, the odds14 were even worse.
“We’ll get there, don’t worry. They measured me everyweek for a year before I was supposed to turn. It takes timeto do it right.”
A shudder15 passed through his body.
“Tally, what if they don’t bother to do it right?”
The storm ended the next morning, and they emerged tofind that the world’s colors had been transformed. The350 Scott Westerfeldclouds were bright pink, the grass an unearthly green, andthe ocean darker than Tally had ever seen it, marked onlyby the foam16 crests17 of waves and a peppering of driftwooddriven into the sea by the wind. They rode all day to makeup18 for lost time, in a state of shock, amazed that the worldcould still exist after the storm.
Then the railway turned inland, and a few nights laterthey reached the Rusty3 Ruins.
The ruins looked smaller, as if the spires19 had shrunk sinceTally had left them behind more than a month before,headed to the Smoke with nothing but Shay’s note and aknapsack full of SpagBol. As she and David passed throughthe dark streets, the ghosts of the Rusties no longer seemedto threaten from the windows.
“The first time I came here at night, this place reallyscared me,” she said.
David nodded. “It’s kind of creepy how well preservedit is. Of all the ruins I’ve seen, it looks the most recent.”
“They sprayed it with something to keep it up forschool trips.” And that was her city in a nutshell, Tally realized.
Nothing left to itself. Everything turned into a bribe,a warning, or a lesson.
They stowed most of their gear in a collapsed20 buildingfar from the center, a crumbling21 place that even truantuglies would probably avoid, packing only water purifiers,a flashlight, and a few food packets. David had never beenUGLIES 351any closer to the city than the ruins, so Tally took the leadfor once, following the vein22 of iron that Shay had shownher months before.
“Do you think we’ll ever be friends again?” she asked asthey hiked toward the river, lugging23 their boards for thefirst time the entire trip.
“You and Shay? Of course.”
“Even after . . . you and me?”
“Once we’ve rescued her from the Specials, I figureshe’ll forgive you for just about anything.”
Tally was silent. Shay had already guessed that Tallyhad betrayed the Smoke. She doubted anything would evermake up for that.
Once they reached the river, they shot down the whitewater at top speed, glad to be finally free of the heavysaddlebags. With the spray hitting her face, the roar ofwater all around her, Tally could almost imagine this wasone of her expeditions, back when she was a carefree citykid and not a . . .
What was she now? No longer a spy, and she couldn’tcall herself a Smokey anymore. Hardly a pretty, but shedidn’t feel like an ugly, either. She was nothing in particular.
But at least she had a purpose.
The city came into view.
“There it is,” she called to David over the churningwater. “But you’ve seen cities before, right?”
“I’ve been this close to a few. But not much closer.”
352 Scott WesterfeldTally gazed down at the familiar skyline, the slendertrails of fireworks silhouetting24 the party towers and mansions26.
She felt a pang27 of something like homesickness, butmuch worse. The sight of New Pretty Town had once filledher with longing28. Now the skyline was like a vacant shell,all its promises gone. Like David, she had lost her home.
But unlike the Smoke, her city still existed, right in front ofher eyes—but emptied of everything it had once meant.
“We’ve got a few hours before sunrise,” she said. “Wantto take a look at Special Circumstances?”
“The sooner the better,” David said.
Tally nodded, her eyes tracing the familiar patterns oflight and darkness surrounding the city. There was time tomake it there and back before daybreak.
“Let’s go.”
They followed the river as far as the ring of trees and brushthat separated Uglyville from the suburbs. The greenbeltwas the best place to travel without being seen, and a goodride as well.
“Don’t go so fast!” David hissed29 from behind as shewhipped through the trees.
She slowed down. “You don’t have to whisper. No onecomes here at night. It’s ugly territory, and they’re all in bed,unless they’re tricking.”
“Okay,” he said. “But shouldn’t we be more carefulabout hoverpaths?”
UGLIES 353“Hoverpaths? David, hoverboards work everywhere inthe city. There’s a metal grid30 under the whole thing.”
“Oh, right.”
Tally smiled. She had been so used to living in David’sworld, it was good to be explaining things to him for once.
“What’s the matter,” she taunted31, “can’t keep up?”
David grinned. “Try me.”
Tally turned and shot ahead, cutting a zigzag32 pathbetween the tall poplars, letting her reflexes guide her.
She remembered her two hovercar rides to SpecialCircumstances. They’d flown across the greenbelt on the farside of town, then out to the transport ring, the industrialzone between the middle-pretty suburbs and outerCrumblyville. The hard part would be getting across theburbs, a risky33 place to have an ugly face. Luckily, middlepretties went to bed early. Most of them, anyway.
She raced David halfway34 around the greenbelt, until thelights of the big hospital sat directly across the river fromthem. Tally remembered that first terrible morning, yankedaway from the promised operation, flown out to be interrogated,her future pulled out from under her. She made agrim face, realizing that this time she was actually going outlooking for Special Circumstances.
A tingle35 passed through her as they left the greenbelt. Aminuscule part of Tally still expected her interface36 ring towarn her that she was leaving Uglyville. How had she wornthat stupid thing for sixteen years? It had seemed such a354 Scott Westerfeldpart of her back then, but now the idea of being trackedand monitored and advised every minute of the dayrepelled Tally.
“Stick close,” she said to David. “This is the part whereyou should whisper.”
As a littlie, Tally had lived in the middle-pretty burbswith Sol and Ellie. But back then her world had beenpathetically tiny: a few parks, the path to littlie school, onecorner of the greenbelt where she would sneak37 in to spy onuglies. Like the Rusty Ruins, the neat row houses and gardensseemed much smaller to her now, an endless village ofdollhouses.
They skimmed the rooftops, crouching38 low. If anybodywas awake, going for a late-night run or walking a dog, theywouldn’t be looking up, hopefully. Their boards barely ahand’s breadth above the housetops, the patterns of shinglespassed underneath39 hypnotically. All they encountered werenesting birds and a few cats, who flew or scrambled40 out oftheir way in surprise.
The burbs ended suddenly, a last band of parks fadinginto the transport ring, where underground factories stucktheir heads aboveground and cargo41 trucks drove concreteroads all day and night. Tally lofted42 her board and gainedspeed.
“Tally!” David hissed. “They’ll see us!”
“Relax. Those trucks are automatic. Nobody comes outhere, especially at night.”
UGLIES 355He stared down at the lumbering43 vehicles nervously44.
“Look, they don’t even have headlights.” She pointeddown at a giant road-train passing below, the only lightcoming from it a dim red flicker45 from underneath, the navigationlaser reading the bar codes painted onto the road.
They rode on, David still anxious at the sight of movingvehicles below.
Soon, a familiar landmark46 rose above the industrialwasteland.
“See that hill? Special Circumstances is just below it.
We’ll climb up top and take a look.”
The hill was too steep to put a factory on, and apparentlytoo big and solid to flatten47 with explosives andbulldozers, so it stood out on the flat plain like a lopsidedpyramid, steep on one side and sloping on the other,covered with scrub and brown grass. They skimmed up thesloping side, dodging48 a few boulders49 and hardscrabbletrees, until they reached the top.
From this height, Tally could see all the way back toNew Pretty Town, the glowing disk of the island about asbig as a dinner plate. The outer city was in darkness, andbelow her, the low, brown buildings of Special Circumstanceswere lit only with the harsh glare of security lights.
“Down there,” she said, her voice falling to a whisper.
“Doesn’t look like much.”
“Most of it’s underground. I don’t know how far downit goes.”
356 Scott WesterfeldThey stared at the cluster of buildings in silence. Fromup here, Tally could see the perimeter50 wire clearly, stretchingaround the buildings in an almost perfect square. Thatmeant serious security. There weren’t many barriers in thecity—not that you could see, anyway. If you weren’t supposedto be someplace, your interface ring just politelywarned you to move along.
“That fence looks low enough to fly over.”
Tally shook her head. “It’s not a fence, it’s a sensor51 wire.
You get within twenty meters of it and the Specials willknow you’re there. Same goes if you touch the groundinside it.”
“Twenty meters? Too high to clear on boards. So whatdo we do, knock on the gate?”
“There’s no gate that I can see. I went in and out by hovercar.”
David drummed his fingers on his board. “What aboutstealing one?”
“A hovercar?” Tally whistled. “That’d be a pretty goodtrick. I knew uglies who used to go joyriding, but not inSpecial Circumstances hovercars.”
“It’s too bad we can’t just jump down.”
Tally narrowed her eyes. “Jump?”
“From here. Get on our hoverboards back at the bottomof the hill, zoom52 up at maximum speed, then jump off fromabout this spot. We’d probably hit that big building deadcenter.”
UGLIES 357“Dead is right. We’d splat.”
“Yeah, I guess. Even with crash bracelets53, our armswould probably yank out of their sockets54 after a fall likethat. We’d need parachutes.”
Tally looked down, plotting trajectories55 from the hilltop,shushing David when he started to speak again, thewheels of her brain spinning. She remembered the party atGarbo Mansion25, which seemed like years ago.
Finally, she allowed herself to smile.
“Not parachutes, David. Bungee jackets.”
点击
收听单词发音
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1
tally
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| 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 | |
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cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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optimize
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| v.使优化 [=optimise] | |
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coastal
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| adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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jittery
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| adj. 神经过敏的, 战战兢兢的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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makeup
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| n.组织；性格；化装品 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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silhouetting
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| 使呈现影子（silhouette的现在分词形式） | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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grid
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| n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅 | |
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taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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tingle
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| vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动 | |
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interface
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| n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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lofted
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| 击、踢、掷高弧球( loft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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landmark
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| n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标 | |
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flatten
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| v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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49
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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50
perimeter
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| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
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51
sensor
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| n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官） | |
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zoom
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| n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升 | |
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53
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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54
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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trajectories
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| n.弹道( trajectory的名词复数 )；轨道；轨线；常角轨道 | |
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