译注：括号里都是译注，是的。
携枪的女孩们 GIRLS WITH GUNS 我想要的只不过是一个该死的煎蛋卷和一杯咖啡而已。遗憾的是，阳光普照的塔科马（Tacoma，美国华盛顿州西部皮尔斯郡港市，皮尔斯郡就位于暗影狂奔世界的舞台中心——西雅图的南边，塔科马在皮尔斯郡的东北，很接近西雅图）市中心的艾伦餐厅并不提供咖啡——他们提供豆咖（soycaf）。我两种都喝过，它们就是不一样。是啊，真货挺花钱，但偶尔享受点真货难道不值得吗？而不是假的？不过，至少他们的煎蛋卷还是完全足以弥补这一点，所以我压下这份失望。我掏了足够的腰包点了真蛋，因为它的替代品那么地近乎不可食用，而且他们把真货里塞满了豆制口利左香肠（soyrizo）、真洋葱与甜椒，还有多到荒唐的米制假胡椒芝士。这方盘中的天堂。
我从一个像这样的地方开始暗影中的生活。已经过去五年了。那时我流落街头；那时我与军队在几周前以不足以称为亲切的条件分道扬镳，而我不但得想方设法在拘留营度日，撤销军职也使我难以再找到一个合法工作。很多公司不喜欢我这种会顶撞上司的人身上的风险，无论当时这样做多么正当也好。这显示出一种“坏的态度”，也就是在公司话（Corp-speak）里面不向你的企业主人卑躬屈膝的意思。我受不了。
劇透 - :
All I wanted was a damn omelet and a cup of coffee. Sadly, Allen’s Diner in sunny, downtown Tacoma didn’t serve coffee—they served soykaf. I’ve had both, and it’s just not the same. Yeah, the real stuff will cost you, but isn’t it worth it to once in a while have something good? And not fake? But at least their omelets more than made up for it, so I dealt with the disappointment. I shelled out enough for real eggs, because the substitutes are just this side of inedible, and they stuffed the real ones with soyrizo and real onions and bell peppers and a ridiculous amount of rice-based faux-pepper jack cheese. Heaven on a plate right there.
I got started in the shadows at a place like this. Been five years now. I was out on the street; the army and I had parted company on less-than-cordial terms a few weeks earlier, and while I’d managed to avoid time in the stockade, a bad conduct discharge made it hard to find a legitimate job. A lot of the corps didn’t want the risk of someone like me, who’d struck a superior officer, no matter how justified it might have been at the time. It speaks of a bad attitude, which in corpspeak means not bowing down to your corporate masters. Can’t have that.
于是我就成了那样，老早以前那时候，一边试着不让自己看起来过于绝望，一边在皮阿拉普（Puyallup，美国华盛顿州西部皮尔斯郡市，在塔科马东边）的某个餐馆后巷里勒紧裤腰带，和一打左右的其他无家可归者抢夺残羹冷炙。我猜那间餐厅中的一个员工在我身上看到了什么东西——可能是我的态度，或者是那件在军队把我一脚踢开之前我想办法弄出来的护甲外套——于是她打手势让我到她旁边去。“你想挣点儿钱吗？”她问。
“是啊，”我一边跟她说道，一边努力控制自己的声音不要显得那么渴望。我意识到接下来的不会是什么太好的事情，但我也意识到我的境况不允许我那么挑剔。“你需要我干什么？”
她又上下打量了我一阵，然后摆手把我叫进厨房。“坐下别动。”她这样说道，并且叫另一个厨房里的员工给我来个三明治。她离开了一阵子，然后回来带走我。她把我带到一个雅座前面。那是一个远离门与窗的昏暗角落里。唯一一个坐在那里的人是一个头上插着几个数据接口、通讯链放在桌上一杯可能是咖啡的东西旁边的兽人。
他像那个女人在后巷里做的一般上下打量了我一阵，然后说道：“请坐吧。”我爬上雅座的座位——这玩意儿的确从一开始就不是为了我这样的矮人设计的，但我早已不得不在人生中面对更糟糕的不便——然后那女人重新装满了他面前的杯子，也在我面前放了一杯。我安静地干掉了她给我的三明治；那个兽人一直耐心地等我吃完。
劇透 - :
So there I was, way back when, trying not to look too desperate, tightening my belt in an alley behind some diner in Puyallup, competing with a dozen or so other homeless people for scraps. I guess one of the employees at that diner saw something in me—my bearing, maybe, or the armor jacket I’d managed to liberate before the army gave me the boot—and she motioned me to her side. “You want to earn some cred?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I told her, trying to keep my voice from sounding too eager. I figured what was coming wasn’t going to be good, but I also figured I wasn’t in a position to be picky. “What do you need me to do?”
She looked me up and down a little bit more, then waved me into the kitchen. “Sit tight,” she said, and told one of the others in the kitchen crew to get me a sandwich. She disappeared for a moment, then came back to get me. She led me up front to one of the booths. It was in a dark corner, away from the doors and windows. The only person sitting there was an ork with a couple of datajacks in his head, a commlink sitting next to a cup of something that might have been coffee.
He looked me up and down like the woman had done back in the alley, then he said, “Have a seat.” I climbed up into the booth—it really wasn’t built with a dwarf like me in mind, but I’ve had to deal with worse inconveniences in my life—and the woman refilled his cup and set one down in front of me. I finished the sandwich she’d gotten for me in silence; the ork waited patiently for me.
“你有什么特长吗？”他用如同搅拌机里的碎石响动一般的声音问我。
“我以前在军队里开卡车。”我说。
“军队还为矮人改装载具？”他看起来发自内心地好奇。
我点点头。“是啊。有时候我也得自己来，但那不是什么大问题。”
他在一个呼出的AR窗口中做了个动作，然后点了点头。“如果情况需要，要你对某人开枪，有问题吗？”
我盯着他看了超过一分钟。他在为一场暗影狂奔面试我。真正的暗影工作，一票大的。至少我当时是这么想的。当你像我那样落魄到那种地步，即使下水道看起来也像是一步向上。“我不会为你杀任何人，但如果是为了保护我自己或队友……不，我能开枪。”我感觉自己两颊发红。“虽然，我还一把都没有。”
他点点头。“这不是什么湿活（涉及杀人的工作）；我尽力避免那一类东西。”他又做了几个手势。“碰巧的是我正需要一个司机。我已经有了车子和队员，虽然你不得不自己做你需要的改装。”他挥手移开AR窗口并且看着我的眼睛。我并没有畏缩。“报酬是一千，预付一半。后天开干；给我你的通讯码（commcode），我到时候会告诉你详情。”我给了他通讯码，于是他继续说了下去。“然而，你会想要武装起来的，所以你的预付款这一次不是现金。你有睡的地儿吗？”
我点点头。“算是吧。”我告诉他我当时凑合的地方，于是他说他会派人带去我的报酬。他叫我在走前再拿一个三明治走，然后站起身来，把通讯链装进口袋，离开了。我拿上那个三明治，回到了我的窝棚。我一边想着自己究竟搅和进了怎样的破事，一边沉沉入睡。第二天早上我醒来，旁边放着一个盒子。盒子旁还有一张纸条写着：“Frank，这是你的预付款。Hauser。”
我还没告诉他我的名字呢。
劇透 - :
“You got any skills?” he asked me with a voice that sounded like gravel in a blender.
“I drove a truck in the army,” I said.
“The army adapts vehicles for dwarfs?” He seemed genuinely interested.
I nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes I had to do it myself, but it wasn’t that big a deal.”
He made a motion in an AR window he had up, then nodded. “You have any problems with shooting someone if the situation calls for it?”
I looked him over for a minute. He was interviewing me for a shadowrun. Actual shadow work, the big time. At least that’s what I thought then. When you’re down as far as I was, even the gutter looks like a step up. “I’m not gonna kill anybody for you, but if it’s defending myself or my team … no, I can pull the trigger.” I felt my cheeks flush. “I don’t have a piece, though.”
He nodded. “This isn’t wetwork; I try to stay away from that sort of thing.” He made a few more gestures. “It so happens I need a driver. I’ve got the ride and the crew, though you’ll have to do your own mods.” He waved aside the AR window and looked me in the eyes. I didn’t flinch away. “Pay’s a thousand, half up front. It goes down day after tomorrow; give me your commcode and I’ll get you the particulars.” I gave it to him, then he continued. “You’re going to want to be armed, though, so your up-front won’t be cash this time around. You have a doss?”
I nodded. “After a fashion.” I let him know where I was crashing, and he said he’d send someone over with my payment. He told me to get another sandwich to go before I left, and then he got up, put his commlink in his pocket, and walked away. I got another sandwich and made my way back to my squat. I fell asleep wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into. The next morning I woke up with a box next to me. It had a note that said, “Frank, here’s your up-front. Hauser.”
I hadn’t given him my name.
我打开盒子，盯着里面装的那把贼他妈巨大的手枪。是一把阿瑞斯捕食者IV，原厂包装，亚光黑，和它看起来一样致命。握把尺寸缩小过以匹配我的手；盒子里还装着两个额外的弹夹，一个腋下手枪套，以及一盒子圆头弹。
如他所说，Hauser发给了我一条带有一个地址和一个时间的信息。我准时到场，并且开始花费整个下午来改造一台GMC“斗牛犬”（厢车）的驾驶座，这样我才能驾驶这破玩意儿。我与小队见面，然后第二天我们去弄出来了一打大到足够装下突击步枪的箱子。至今，我仍未知道那些箱子里装了什么；知道这件事不是我工作的一部分，而且我发现我也不那么在意。
我当时并没有不得不对某人开枪。那晚晚些时候我拿到了一个装着五百新元的信用棒。Hauser问我想不想干更多活；我如是同意了。
我带上了那把手枪。我至今依然带着。我老早就该把它丢了，但我几乎从未不得不在怒火中开枪，而且我很念旧。也许这玩意早晚会害我丢了性命，但是至今为止我还设法让我的灵肉保持着一体（活着）。
劇透 - :
I opened the box and stared at the huge fragging pistol it contained. It was a Predator IV, still in its factory packaging, matte-black and just as deadly as it looked. The grip was scaled to fit my hand; the box also held two extra clips, a shoulder holster, and a box of ball rounds.
True to his word, Hauser sent me a message with an address and a time. I turned up on time, and got to spend the afternoon modifying the driver’s side of a Bulldog van so I could drive the damn thing. I met the team, and the next day we went and liberated a dozen cases big enough to hold assault rifles. To this day, I don’t know what was in them; it wasn’t part of my job to know, and I realized I didn’t much care.
I didn’t have to shoot anyone that time around. I got a credstick with five hundred nuyen later that night. Hauser asked if I wanted more work; I allowed as to how I did.
I got to keep the pistol. I still carry that piece. I should have tossed it ages ago, but I’ve almost never had to fire it in anger and I’m sentimental. Probably going to get me killed one of these days, but so far I’ve managed to keep body and soul together.
×
我这次到艾伦餐厅是为了远离他妈的暗影。这是一种与我笑着称之为现实的东西，也就是我成为狂奔者之前曾过着的生活，连接的方法。我不知道为什么；那也不是什么多好的生活。如我所说，我有时候很念旧。
我在大约十一点半的时候踱进餐厅；午餐高峰期还没到，但那里还是已经有挺多人在了。我爬上常坐的高脚凳四处打量。常客，大多数吧；有的人望着我颌首示意，有的对我皱皱眉头。尤其是一个女人，一个三十到三百岁中间的兽人，甚至低声诅咒着，朝地上啐了一口，站起来走到餐厅的另一区域去了。我们互相认识；我曾经在一次工作里开车，在那次工作里，她的儿子，一个试着用他的双爪爬出童年无情的贫穷的、总体而言的好孩子，被枪击中了。他住在镇子那边的医院里，陷入昏迷；我不知道Hauser的组织还有没有在支付他的医疗账单，但我对此持怀疑态度。我很念旧，但Hauser——Hasuer是那种认为感情只会碍事的家伙。
女服务员，一位比较年长的叫做Charlotte的女士，还没有问我要点什么就径直在我面前放下一杯豆咖。她朝我微笑着，在我还没下单之前就向我确认着我的煎蛋卷订单，然后在我责备着自己的好懂的同时把订单送到厨房。我早晚得想法子摆脱这些常例。但是这里的煎蛋卷太他妈好吃了。
这时我注意到一个女孩正走进门向顾客们讨零钱。乞讨很操蛋，但即使在我们这个明亮闪光的电子时代，还是有公司卷和硬币四处流通。保持灵肉一体很难，但在我看来她还没有彻底放弃躺平拉倒。她的头扬起的角度比那稍稍高了一些。
劇透 - :
I come to Allen’s these days to get the hell away from the shadows. It’s a way to connect to what I laughingly refer to as reality, the life I used to lead before I became a runner. I don’t know why; it wasn’t a great life. Like I said, I’m sentimental sometimes.
I staggered into the diner at about half past eleven; the lunch rush hadn’t started yet, but there was still a pretty good crowd. I climbed up on my usual barstool and looked around. Regulars, mostly; some looked at me and nodded, some scowled. One woman in particular, an ork somewhere between thirty and three hundred years old, actually muttered a curse, spat on the floor, and got up and walked to a different section of the diner. We knew each other; I’d been driving a job where her son, a basically good kid trying to claw his way out of the soulless poverty of his childhood, had gotten shot up. He was in a coma in a hospital across town; I wondered if Hauser’s operation still paid his medical bills, but I doubted it. I’m sentimental, but Hauser—Hauser’s one of those guys who thinks emotions just get in the way.
The waitress, an older human lady named Charlotte, set a cup of soykaf in front of me without having to ask what I wanted. She smiled at me, read my omelet order back to me before I’d even made it, and sent it to the kitchen while I chided myself for my predictability. I was going to have to shake up my routine one of these days. But the omelets were so damn good.
I noticed this girl walk in the door and start hitting up customers for loose change. Panhandling sucks, but even in this bright shiny electronic age of ours, there’s still corp scrip and coinage floating around. It’s hard to keep body and soul together, but it didn’t seem to me she’d resorted to flat-backing just yet. She held her head up a little high for that
当麻烦进门时，她尚未走到我在的餐厅这一边。说“麻烦进门”，当然了，我的意思其实是，“一个头顶粉红鸡冠头的蠢逼操蛋混混骑着一台他妈的哈雷‘天蝎’冲进门并且朝天花板用雷明顿‘室内清扫者’开枪”。
我想要的只不过是一个该死的煎蛋卷。
我低下我的头并且闭上眼。流浪骑士（Knight Errant）很少这么登场；在鸡蛋之外，这是我如此喜欢这个地方的另一个原因。我不是警察。我曾经在军队里开卡车；现在我为约翰逊先生（Mr. Johnson）开卡车。我是一个暗影狂奔者。我为了钱朝着人们的脸上开枪。至少，形象地说是这样的。
但是这是我的地盘，妈的。这是我逃离像这样的疯狂事的地方。一打粉红鸡冠头的好朋友和亲戚们这时加入了他的行列，恐吓着顾客与员工们。我不记得他们的颜色了；无论他们是什么人，他们都不是在自己的地盘上。这是个问题，因为虽然KE不会在这个街区巡逻，但我们有刺头帮（the Spikes），他们可不能容忍他们以外的机车帮派。这些暴徒正在试着对那些暴徒声明地盘，而且不久之后事情就会变得更混乱。
妈的。
他们开始朝着我在的餐厅这边走过来。大部分人都躲在他们的桌子下或柜台后。除了我和那个乞讨女孩以外的大部分人。她蹲在柜台旁边的角落里，但她并没有缩在那后面。她正在看着那些暴徒勒索顾客并随意砸碎身边的东西。我在她的脸上看到某些好久没看到的东西。她很害怕……但恐惧没有支配她。她很害怕，但她同时很愤怒。她正在想办法鼓起勇气。
于是我微微一笑，而她朝我露出了奇怪的表情，似乎她在试着搞清楚我到底哪里有病。几乎在我感觉到粉红鸡冠头走到我旁边的同时，她歪了歪头。就像对待其它他收拾的普通人一样，他冲着我大呼小叫，基本而言实在做出一副他的身材和那把他拿着的手枪尺寸的霰弹枪（指室内清扫者）足够能让我两脚发抖的态势。
他走的太过近了。在我一拳塞进他的腹腔神经丛之前他甚至没机会打出一枪。“好了，老家伙，给我你的（信用）棒和（通讯）链！”
劇透 - :
She hadn’t made it over to my side of the diner when trouble walked in. By “trouble walked in,” of course, I mean, “a dumb fraggin’ ganger with a pink mohawk rode a damn
Harley Scorpion through the door and unloaded a Remington Roomsweeper into the ceiling.”
All I wanted was a goddamn omelet.
I bowed my head and closed my eyes. Knight Errant didn’t come out this way very often; besides the eggs, that was one of the reasons I liked the place so much. I wasn’t a cop. I used to drive a truck in the army; now I drove a truck for Mr. Johnson. I was a shadowrunner. I shot people in the face for money. Figuratively, anyway.
But this was my place, dammit. This is where I came to get away from craziness like this. A dozen of Pink Mohawk’s close friends and relations had joined him by this time, terrorizing the customers and the staff. I didn’t recognize their colors; whoever they were, they were away from their turf. This was a problem, because while KE didn’t patrol the neighborhood, we did have the Spikes, and they didn’t take kindly to motorcycle-riding thugs that weren’t them. These punks were trying to make a statement to those punks, and before too long things were going to get even messier.
Dammit. They were starting to make their way to my side of the diner. Most of the crowd was hiding under their tables or behind the counter. Most everybody but me and the panhandler. She had tucked herself into a corner by the counter, but she wasn’t cowering behind it. She was watching the gangers shake down the customers and tear random shit apart. I saw something in her face that I hadn’t seen in a while. She was scared … but it wasn’t running her. She was scared, but she was also angry. She was looking for a way to stand her ground.
I smiled a little then, and she gave me a funny look, like she was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. She cocked her head at about the same time I felt Pink Mohawk walking up beside me. Like the other mouth-breathers he rode with, he was hooting and hollering and generally acting like his size and the pistol-sized shotgun he was carrying were going to be enough to leave me shaking in my boots.
He was way too close. He wouldn’t be able to get off a shot before I could put my fist in his solar plexus. “All right, old man, gimme your stick and your link!”
老家伙，个屁咧。我抬头看着他——我是一个矮人，得抬头看很多东西——然后第一次好好打量了一下这混混。天哪。他才是刚长毛的年纪。我试着保持冷静，让他集中注意力在我身上，但我真的很希望我的队中的某人在这里陪着我。然而，我孤身一人。大多时候如此。“你还有时间停止这一切，带着你全套的器官滚出去。”我在脑海中扳下一个开关，在我准备好的同时开始感觉身轻如燕。
是啊，大多数时候我开车。然而这不是我所有的工作。这些跳线（wires，指跳线反射）在战斗中对我的帮助几乎和在车轮上对我的帮助一样多。
混混对我一番嘲笑，然后把室内清扫者指向我的头。“我说，给我你的信用棒，老家伙！”
我的左拳如同眼镜蛇一般击中他的腹部，让他打了个对折，一拳把他打昏了过去。他甚至没机会哭喊。他的确有机会扣下扳机，但那一刻他的枪已经不是指向我的头；他在倒地的同时在地上打出一地碎片。我一手刀剁在他的后脖子来帮他一把。我跳下高脚凳，在我的战斗靴亲吻粉红鸡冠头的夹克后背的同时一把抽出我的捕食者。我正在搜寻我的第一个真正的目标，突然感觉到一对大锤击中了我的外套里加护的陶瓷板。我一阵蹒跚，脚绊到了鸡冠头的衣领。
他们中的一个击中了我。那是一把重型手枪，但枪声听起来不像是一把好枪。大概是符拉迪沃斯托克（Vladivostok，俄罗斯远东城市）哪个纳米工坊或是血汗工厂出来的便宜货，虽然假如它打中了我的头，我也就死了。在我的脑袋与地砖亲密接触的时候我松开了捕食者的握把；星星在我双眼中跳舞的时候我听到它一路滑走的声音。我努力摆脱眩晕并且寻找着另一把武器，与此同时另一个混混走近来终结由她开始的事情（开枪杀死Frank）。我的手摸到了那个鸡冠头的室内清扫者；我一只手一把拽住了它，努力用另一只手抓住握把，并把它瞄准那个冲我开枪的混混，却发现她摇摇晃晃地后退，如同石头掉进井里一般倒在地上。
我认出了放倒她的那把武器的枪声；那是我的捕食者。我回头望去，看到那个年轻的矮人女孩站在那里，用一种及格水平的姿势双手握着握把。她看起来有些吃惊，但很坚定。我又微笑了起来——这次比较灿烂——然后站起来，手里拿着鸡冠头的枪，靴子踏着鸡冠头的后脑勺，面对着这个帮派的残余。
劇透 - :
Old man, my ass. I looked up at him—I’m a dwarf, I look up at a lot of things—and got my first good look at the punk. Jesus. He was barely old enough to shave. I tried to play it cool, to keep him focused on me, but I really wished some of my team were there with me. I was on my own, though. Mostly. “There’s still time to call this off and get out of here with all of your organs.” I flipped a switch in my head and felt my body light up as I got ready.
Yeah, mostly I drive. It’s not all I do, though. The wires help me in a fight almost as much as they help me behind the wheel.
The punk scoffed, and pointed the Roomsweeper at my head. “I said gimme your stick, old man!”
My left fist shot into his belly like a cobra, doubling him over and knocking the breath out of him. He didn’t even have a chance to cry out. He did have time to pull the trigger, but by that time he was no longer aiming the gun at my head; he took a divot out of the floor as he went down. I chopped the back of his head to help him along. I jumped down from my stool, drawing my Predator as my combat boots found the back of Pink Mohawk’s jacket. I was looking for my first real target when I felt a pair of hammers hit me in the ceramic plates that reinforced the armor in my jacket. I staggered backward and tripped as my foot caught on Mohawk’s collar.
One of them had shot me. It was a heavy pistol, but the report didn’t sound like a high-quality piece. Something cheap made in a nanoforge or a sweatshop in Vladivostok, probably, though if it had hit me in the head, I’d be just as dead. I came down hard on the diner’s tile floor. I lost my grip on the Predator as the back of my head met the tile; I could hear it skidding away as stars began dancing in my vision. I shook it off and looked for another weapon as one of the other gangers approached to finish what she’d started. My hand found the barrel of Mohawk’s Roomsweeper; I yanked it into one hand, got my other hand around the grip, and I was aiming at the punk who shot me when she staggered backward and dropped like a stone down a well.
I recognized the report of the weapon that dropped her; it was my Predator. I looked back, and saw the young dwarf girl standing there, in a passable stance with both hands on the grip. She looked surprised, but determined. I smiled again, a little wider this time, and stood up to face the surprised remnants of the gang with Mohawk’s gun in my hand and my boot on the back of his head.
一件关于大多数帮派的趣事：他们中很多人并不想要一场真正的战斗。他们想要暴揍人们并恐吓他们。面对真正的抵抗，他们中大多数会夹着尾巴逃走。这个帮派也没差；他们发现头目倒下后，立即像被龙追赶着一样窜出了艾伦餐厅。我拖着鸡冠头和那个对我开枪的女孩——她还没死，但她醒来时可有的好受了——然后把他们都扔进了下水道。那辆摩托车也被我推出来扔在他们身上了。我走回餐厅，看到那女孩倒在雅座里，我的捕食者就待在她面前的桌子上。我拿起它装进枪套，然后环顾餐厅。几乎肯定有谁按下了“紧急按钮™”，而且游侠骑士很快就会出现，普通巡逻队或者别的什么。当他们到达的时候我不在场肯定会比较好。
我回头望向那个女孩。“你饿吗？”
她点点头。
我指向厨房，以及后门。“我觉得我欠你一顿饭，至少，但我们大概应该去别的什么地方吃。”我递给她那混混的室内清扫者。“来吧，我知道一个地方。”
她把手枪塞进外套口袋，跟着我到了停车场。我们一起塞进我开着的那辆小破卡车，并且在不吸引注意的情况下以最快速度远离了艾伦餐厅。我是对的；流浪骑士巡警已经开始赶往现场，闪着警灯。我们与几个朝着我们来处的巡逻车擦肩而过。我一打方向盘开向皮阿拉普。
那个女孩在途中几乎一言不发。我在卡车的主控台一通摸索，找到了一个有几百新元的信用棒，递给了她。“你自己赚来的，”我说，“感谢你在那里救了我一命。”
她面无表情地接过了信用棒，然后说道：“不谢。”她看着信用棒。“我们正在往哪去？”她问道。我不知道她在想什么，是关于我还是整体处境。她看起来很警惕，但她并没有像认为我是那些坏家伙中的一员那样反应。
“另一个餐厅，挺像之前那个的。煎蛋卷没那么好吃，但是他们有不错的三明治。”我们又在安静中开了一段车，然后我拐进了正是五年前我开始走上这条疯狂道路的那个我曾乞讨的餐厅的停车场。
劇透 - :
Funny thing about most gangs: A lot of them don’t really want a real fight. They want to beat people up and terrorize them. Faced with actual resistance, most of them will tuck their tails and run. This one was no different; they lit out of Allen’s like a dragon was chasing them as soon as they figured out that their boss was down. I dragged Mohawk and the girl who’d shot me—she wasn’t dead, but she was going to be sore as hell when she came around—and dumped them both in the gutter. The bike I pushed out and toppled over next to them. I walked back in, and found the girl slumped into a booth, my Predator sitting on the table in front of her. I picked it up and holstered it, then looked around the diner. Someone had almost certainly hit a PANICBUTTON™, and the Knights would show up soon, regular patrols or not. It would be much better for me if I weren’t there when they arrived.
I looked back to the girl. “You hungry?”
She nodded.
I motioned toward the kitchen, and the back door. “I think I owe you lunch, at least, but we should probably get it someplace else.” I handed her the punk’s Roomsweeper. “Come on, I know a place.”
She tucked the pistol into a jacket pocket and followed me to the parking lot. We both piled into the beat-up pickup I was driving and headed away from Allen’s as quickly as I could without attracting attention. I’d been right; Knight Errant cops were already pulling up to the place, lights blazing. We passed a couple of their cruisers going back the way we came. I turned the truck and headed for Puyallup.
The girl was silent for most of the drive. I rummaged through the truck’s console and found a certified credstick with a couple of hundred nuyen on it and handed it to her. “You earned this,” I said. “Thanks for saving my ass back there.”
She took it without expression, then said, “You’re welcome.” She looked at the stick. “Where are we going?” she asked. I don’t know what she was thinking, either about me or the situation in general. She seemed wary, but she didn’t act like she thought I was one of the bad guys.
“Another diner, a lot like that one. Omelets aren’t as good, but they have pretty good sandwiches.” We drove a little further in silence, then I pulled into the parking lot at the same diner I’d been scrounging behind five years ago when I’d started down this crazy road.
我停下了车，在下车前望向她。“你需要工作吗？我认识个人。”
她眼中浮现出一种谨慎的希望。“好啊。战胜饥饿嘛。”
我轻轻笑了。“别以为我不清楚。”
我们爬下卡车，从正门走进餐厅。我扫过人群，而且当然了，我看到Hauser正在他往常的角落雅座里主持晚宴。他朝我颌首示意，但已经有人坐在他对面了，所以我带着女孩到吧台前坐下。女侍者来拿走了我们的点单，然后上菜时女孩津津有味地埋头吃起了她的三明治。
Hauser的客人终于起身离开了；我赶紧朝雅座走去。Hauser看起来正一天天变老，但对于兽人就是这样的。他们在我们其他人之前先变老。我知道他在某处有一个儿子，想来他会好好培养这个儿子来接管他的家族生意，但我不会去见他。Hauser热情地招呼我，并问我上次的活干的怎么样。当然，他知道结果，但这一行也有要遵守的形式。
我用脑袋指了指那女孩，说道，“这有个在找活干的。她很有胆量，如果没别的了的话。”我告诉他方才在艾伦餐厅发生的一切；他赞许地点头并且示意她过来。
我转身离去，在女孩从我身边经过时微笑着。我听到她爬上雅座，也听到Hauser嘶哑的声音问她：“你有什么特长吗？”
劇透 - :
I stopped the truck, then looked at her before I got out. “You need a job? I know a guy.”
A look of wary hope showed in her eyes. “Yeah. Beats starving.”
I chuckled. “Don’t I know it.”
We climbed down from the truck and walked into the diner by the front door. I scanned the crowd, and sure enough, I saw Hauser holding court in his usual corner booth. He acknowledged me with a nod, but someone was sitting opposite him, so I motioned the girl to a barstool and we both sat down. A waitress took our order, and the girl dug into her sandwich with gusto when it arrived.
Hauser’s guest finally rose and left; I excused myself and walked over to the booth. Hauser was looking rougher every day, but that happens with orks. They get old before the rest of us. I know he had a son somewhere whom he was presumably grooming to take over the family business, but I’d never met him. Hauser greeted me warmly and asked how my last job had gone. He knew the answer, of course, but there are forms to follow in this work.
I motioned with my head toward the girl, and said, “Got someone looking for work. She’s got moxie, if nothing else.” I told him about what had just happened over at Allen’s; he nodded approvingly and motioned her over.
I turned to leave, and smiled at the girl as she passed me. I heard her climb into the booth, and heard Hauser’s raspy voice ask her, “You got any skills?”
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所以就是女矮人狂奔者的传承故事啦，可喜可贺可喜可贺
