On several occasions Anastasia’s description of earthly civilisations contained references to the existence of life on other planets and in other galaxies of the Universe. And I got so interested in this that while I was listening to her tale about mankind’s past, I could only think about how life evolved out there, on other planets.
阿納絲塔夏在描述地球文明時，好幾次提到，在宇宙的其他銀河中，有些星球存有生命。我對此實在太好奇了，所以在聽她講人類的過去時，腦中只想著其他星球上的生命是什麼樣子。
Anastasia, no doubt, saw my interest in her story waning, and stopped talking. I was quiet, too, thinking about how I could get her to tell in more specific detail about life in extraterrestrial civilisations. I could have asked her directly, of course, but she tends to get somehow distracted whenever she can’t explain why she knows something others don’t. And it seems to me that her desire not to stand out from other people on account of her abilities discourages her from talking about everything. I’ve begun noticing, for example, that she’s rather shy about her inability to explain how certain phenomena work. This is in fact what happened when I asked her directly:
阿納絲塔夏想必是看到我對她的故事心不在焉，因此沒有再講下去，而我也沒有說話，因為我在思考，如何讓她多告訴我有關外星文明的事情，並且說得具體一點。我大可直接問她，但她每次只要無法解釋自己為什麼知道別人不曉得的事情時，就會變得有點不知所措。
我覺得她是因為不希望自己看起來能力異於常人，所以並沒有每次都全盤托出。我開始發現，她會因為沒有辦法解釋某些現象的機制而感到難為情。當我直接問她以下問題時，她就有這樣的反應：
“Tell me, Anastasia, are you able to teleport yourself in space? I mean: moving your body from one place to another?”
“Why are you asking me about that, Vladimir?”
“First tell me specifically: yes or no?”
“告訴我，阿納絲塔夏，你有辦法在空間中瞬間移動嗎？就是把自己的身體從一個地方移到另一個地方。”
“為什麼你要問我這個？弗拉迪米爾。”
“你先具體地回答我，能還是不能？”
“Vladimir, everybody has that kind of ability. But I am not sure I can explain to you just how natural this process is. You will only withdraw yourself from me again, saying I’m a witch. You will feel uncomfortable with me.”
“So that means you can?”
“I can,” she answered hesitantly, her head bowed.
“弗拉迪米爾，人人都有這種能力，但我不確定自己可不可以解釋這個過程有多自然。如果我說的話，你又會遠離我，把我視為女巫，不喜歡待在我身邊。”
“所以說，你辦得到？”
“辦得到。”阿納絲塔夏猶豫不決地回答我後低著頭。
“Then give me a demonstration. Show me how it happens.”
“Perhaps I should try to explain first...”
“No, Anastasia, first show me. It’s always more interesting to watch something than to listen. And then you can explain.”
“那就示範給我看，讓我知道怎麼辦到的。”
“我應該先試著解釋……”
“不用，阿納絲塔夏，先示範給我看。用看的總是比用聽的有趣，你可以待會再解釋。”
Anastasia had an estranged look about her as she rose to her feet. She closed her eyes, tensed up a little, and then disappeared before my eyes. Dumbstruck, I looked all around. I even felt with my hands the spot where she had just been standing, but all that was there was some trampled grass, while Anastasia was nowhere to be seen. Then I caught sight of her standing on the far side of the lake. I looked at her, speechless. Then she called out:
阿納絲塔夏漠然地站起身來、閉上眼睛，身子稍微緊繃了一下後就消失了。我驚訝地看了看四周，甚至去感受她剛剛還在的地方，但只看到幾根被壓扁的小草，阿納絲塔夏不在那兒。後來我看到她站在湖的對岸，我看著她，卻說不出話來。
她對我大喊：
“Shall I swim to you? Or shall I once more...”
“Once more!” I replied and, taking care not to blink in case I missed anything, I began watching the figure of Anastasia standing on the other side of the small lake. All at once she vanished. Simply dissolved into thin air. Not even a trace of smoke was left at the place where I had just seen her. I continued to stand there unblinkingly
“我要游過去嗎？還是再……”
“再一次！”我回答，同時盯著站在對岸的阿納絲塔夏，完全不敢眨眼睛，深怕漏看了什麼。她又突然不見了，消失在空氣之中，甚至沒有留下任何一絲煙。我仍目不轉睛地看著那邊。
“I am here, Vladimir.” Anastasia’s voice sounded right beside me. Once again she was standing no more than a metre away. I found myself stepping back a little, then I sat down on the ground, trying not to show any sense of surprise or excitement. For some reason the thought came that suddenly she might take it into her head to dissolve my body and then not assemble it afterward.
Anastasia spoke first. “Only the owner of a body can fully dissolve it or split it into atoms. This is an ability available only to Man, Vladimir.”
“我在這裡，弗拉迪米爾。”阿納絲塔夏的聲音從我身邊傳來，她又站在離我一公尺遠的地方。我往後退了幾步，坐到草地上，試著隱藏我內心的驚訝和激動。不知為何，我腦中有個想法：“她會不會突然也想把我的身體弄不見，然後不把我變回來。”
“只有身體的主人才能把自己完全變不見，將身體分解成原子。這隻有人類辦得到，弗拉迪米爾。”阿納絲塔夏先開口說話。
I realised she was going to first try to prove to me that she was Man, and so as not to have her waste any time, I said:
“I realise that it’s only given to Man. But surely not to every Man.”
“Not to everyone. One must — ”
“I know what you’re going to say: One must have pure thoughts.”
我知道她會先開始證明自己是人，所以為了不浪費她的時間，我說：
“我知道只有人類辦得到，但畢竟不是所有人都可以。”
“對，不是所有人，人必須有……”
“我知道你要說‘必須有純淨的思想’。”
“Yes. Pure thoughts, and besides that, the ability to think quickly and in images, to visualise in specific detail one’s self, one’s body and desire, a strong will, and faith in one’s self...”
“是的，純淨的思想，不過還要能以影象的方式快速地思考，具體且仔細地想象自己、自己的身體和願望、堅強的意志、對自己的信任……”
“Don’t explain, Anastasia. Don’t waste your time trying. Tell me rather, can you move your body to any place at all?”
“Any place, yes, though I rarely do that. Any place can be very dangerous... Besides, there is no need to. Why move one’s body? There are other ways...”
“Why dangerous?”
“It is essential to get an accurate picture of the place you wish to move your body to.”
‘And if you don’t get an accurate picture, what can happen?”
“Your body might be lost.”
“不用解釋了，阿納絲塔夏，別浪費時間。最好還是告訴我，你可以把自己的身體移到任何地方嗎？”
“可以，但我很少這麼做。移到任何地方可能會非常危險，而且沒有必要。何必要移動身體呢？可以用其他方式……”
“為什麼會危險？”
“要非常準確地想象你要讓身體移到的地方。”
“如果想象不準的話，會發生什麼事？”
“你可能會失去你的身體。”
“How?”
“For example, suppose you wanted to transport your body to the floor of the ocean, and the water pressure crushes it. Or you suffocate. Or you might wind up on a city street in front of an oncoming car, and the car hits your body and injures it.”
‘And can Man also transport his body to another planet?”
“Distance plays absolutely no role here. It will move itself to whatever place your thought dictates. After all, your thought goes to the destination first. It is also what assembles and puts together again the body that was earlier dissolved in space.”
“怎麼失去？”
“舉例來說，你想把身體移到海底，卻可能被水壓壓垮或窒息；或者，你可能出現在城裡的馬路上，被來車撞到而殘廢。”
“那麼人也可以把身體移到別的星球嗎？”
“距離完全不是問題，身體可以移動到任何思想所指的地方。思想會先到達你想去的地方，然後重組、集結之前融於空氣之中的身體。”
（未完待續）