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他们称我们是盗墓者,其实不然。我们只不过是掠夺过去的东西,提供给现实世界。我们找到为人所弃的荒芜的旧世界,拾起所有值钱的东西,卖给繁荣的收藏市场。你想要700年前的时钟、1000年前的床, 还是一本真正的印刷书吗?只要给个定单,迟早我们会满足你的要求。我们常常走运,一般会赚上一笔,偶尔不盈不亏。只有一个地方我们竟然亏过钱。我一直记得它——绿柳,那该死的星球只在它那儿有柳树,其他地方毫无绿色。然而那儿有一个机器人,我和巴洛尼发现他时,他在一个机房里边,上面半盖着一堆旧式电脑零件和变种牛自动进料器。我们在废料堆里挑来挑去,借着从门口透进来的一闪一闪的太阳光,抖动抖动,看看它们能否被卖出去。
They call us robbers, but they are not. We are nothing more than plundering the past and giving it to the real world. We find the deserted old world we have abandoned, picking up all the valuable things and selling it to the prosperous collection market. You want the clock 700 years ago, the bed 1000 years ago, or a real printing book? Just give an order sooner or later we will meet your request. We are often lucky, usually make a sum, occasionally not profit without loss. Only one place we actually lose money. I remember it all the time - Green Willow, the damned planet had willow only in it, and no other place green. However, there was a robot there, and when Barone and I were there, he was in a machine room, covered with a pile of old-fashioned computer parts and mutton automatic feeders. We pick them in the waste pile and, with the twinkling sunlight that comes in from the doorway, weaves and jitter to see if they can be sold.