A Password for the Net Mender

At dusk the harbour pier smells of salt and warm metal, and Yaw is the only person fishing at the far end. He comes here every evening after school, because the water goes silver just before it goes dark. Tonight, though, something at the edge of his eye keeps bothering him. A small yellow square is flapping on the railing beside the bait shed.

黄昏时，港口栈桥上弥漫着盐味和温热的金属味，雅乌是尽头唯一在钓鱼的人。每天放学后他都来这里，因为天黑之前，水面会泛起银光。可今晚，眼角总有什么东西让他分心：饵料棚旁的栏杆上，有一小片黄色的方块在扑扇。

He leans over to look. It is a sticky note, curling at the corners, covered in cramped handwriting. Under a smudged drawing of a trident, someone has written a password in words. It is Triton, with a number one instead of the i, then a dash, then four four nine one. A tiny arrow points at the one.

他探身去看。那是一张便利贴，边角卷了起来，上面密密麻麻地写着潦草的字。在一幅模糊的三叉戟图案下面，有人用文字写了一个密码：Triton，其中的 i 换成了数字一，然后是一道短横线，再接四四九一。一个小箭头指着那个一。

Beyond the railing, in the shadow of the shed, stands the pier's net mender. It is a squat machine on four wheels, with six thin arms folded against its chest like a sleeping insect. Normally it spends the evenings repairing torn nets for the fishing crews. Tonight a single amber light blinks on its side, and a small screen glows with two words: ENTER PASSWORD.

栏杆外，在棚子的阴影里，站着栈桥上的补网机。它是一台四个轮子的矮墩墩的机器，六条细细的手臂收在胸前，像一只睡着的昆虫。平时，它每天傍晚都在为渔船队修补破网。今晚，它侧面有一盏琥珀色的灯在闪烁，小屏幕上亮着两个词：输入密码。

"Looks like you're locked out, my friend," Yaw says to it.

“看来你被锁在外面了，朋友，”雅乌对它说。

He reaches for the note, only to read it more carefully. At that exact moment, a voice rings along the boards.

他伸手去拿那张便利贴，想读得更仔细些。就在这一刻，一个声音沿着木板传来。

"Hey! Step away from that panel!"

“嘿！离那块面板远点！”

A boy of about seventeen is jogging down the pier in an orange vest, a tablet clutched against his chest. His badge says VOLUNTEER TECHNICIAN. He stops a few metres away, out of breath, and points at Yaw as if he had caught a thief.

一个十七岁左右的男孩穿着橙色背心，怀里紧紧抱着一块平板电脑，沿着栈桥小跑过来。他的工牌上写着“志愿技术员”。他在几米外停下，气喘吁吁，指着雅乌，仿佛抓到了一个小偷。

"I haven't touched anything," Yaw says, lifting both hands. The sticky note is still pinched between his fingers.

“我什么也没碰，”雅乌说着举起双手。便利贴还夹在他指间。

"You're holding the password," the boy says.

“你拿着密码呢，”男孩说。

"I'm holding a piece of paper. It was stuck on the railing."

“我拿着一张纸。它贴在栏杆上。”

"A piece of paper that unlocks the net mender. Do you know how many people would like to take that machine apart? It has the harbour's whole fish-count in its memory." The boy narrows his eyes. "Who are you working for?"

“一张能解锁补网机的纸。你知道有多少人想把这台机器拆开吗？整个港口的鱼群计数都存在它的内存里。”男孩眯起眼睛。“你在为谁办事？”

Yaw nearly laughs, but the boy looks so serious that he swallows it. "I'm working for my dinner," he says. "I came to catch something small and fry it. That is my entire plan."

雅乌差点笑出声，可男孩看起来那么严肃，他就把笑咽了回去。“我在为我的晚饭办事，”他说，“我来是钓点小鱼回去煎着吃。我的全部计划就这些。”

"Then why were you reading the note?"

“那你为什么要读那张便条？”

"Because it was flapping at me. I thought it was rubbish." Yaw glances at the screen. "Is the machine really that important?"

“因为它一直冲着我扑扇。我以为是垃圾。”雅乌瞥了一眼屏幕。“这台机器真有那么重要吗？”

"It is the only one on the pier that can read the migration signals," the boy says. "Without it, the nets are not mended, and the counting stops. And somebody changed the password three days ago. I have been locked out since Monday."

“这栈桥上只有它能读取洄游信号，”男孩说，“没有它，渔网没人补，计数也要中断。而且三天前有人改了密码，我从星期一起就被锁在外面了。”

"Somebody changed it?"

“有人改了密码？”

"The harbour office did. They sent it to me in a message, and I was supposed to remember it." He rubs his forehead. "I have a terrible memory for anything that is not a number sequence I can sing. So I wrote it down. I wrote it on a yellow note and stuck it somewhere safe, and then I lost track of where."

“港务办公室改的。他们通过消息发给我，要我自己记住。”他揉了揉额头。“除了能哼出来的数字串，我什么都记不住。所以我把它写下来了。写在一张黄色便条上，贴在一个安全的地方，然后就忘了贴在哪儿。”

Yaw looks at the note in his fingers. He looks at the boy's vest, and the small trident drawn on the tablet's cover, the same shaky trident that is drawn on the note. Slowly, the boy's expression changes as he follows Yaw's gaze.

雅乌看着指间的便条，又看了看男孩的背心，还有平板电脑壳上画的小三叉戟，和便条上那个歪歪扭扭的三叉戟一模一样。男孩顺着雅乌的目光看过去，神情慢慢变了。

"Oh," says the boy.

“哦，”男孩说。

"Is your name Anand?" Yaw asks, reading the badge. "Because I think this is your handwriting."

“你叫阿南德？”雅乌读着工牌问，“因为我觉得这是你的笔迹。”

"That is my handwriting." Anand stares at the sticky note. For a moment he seems to forget how to speak. "I stuck it on the railing so I would see it when I walked past. Then I walked past it every day and never once looked at it."

“这是我的笔迹。”阿南德盯着便利贴，一时间好像忘了怎么说话。“我把它贴在栏杆上，这样经过时就能看到。结果我每天都从它旁边走过，却一次也没看过它。”

"Three days?"

“三天？”

"Three days," Anand says miserably. "And I accused the one person who actually found it."

“三天，”阿南德沮丧地说，“而我居然指责了唯一真正找到它的人。”

"You did," Yaw agrees, but he is grinning. "It was quite a good performance, though. The bit with the finger was very official."

“是啊，”雅乌表示同意，但他咧嘴笑着。“不过演得挺不错。你指着我那一下，很官方。”

Anand laughs, a short, surprised sound, and his shoulders drop. "I am sorry. I have been sleeping badly. All I could think about was the fish-count, and the people who would blame me if the data was lost."

阿南德笑了，是短短的、意外的一声，肩膀也松了下来。“对不起。我最近睡得不好，满脑子都是鱼群计数，还有数据丢了会怪我的那些人。”

"Well, here." Yaw holds out the note. "You had better use it before it blows into the harbour."

“好了，给你。”雅乌递出便条。“你最好趁它被风吹进港湾之前用上它。”

Anand takes it as though it were something very fragile. He steps up to the machine and, with great concentration, types the password one character at a time. He double-checks the capital T. He double-checks the one. Then he presses the green key.

阿南德接过去，仿佛接着什么易碎的东西。他走到机器前，全神贯注地一个字符一个字符地输入密码。他又核对了大写的 T，又核对了那个一，然后按下绿色的键。

For a moment, nothing happens. The amber light keeps blinking. Yaw is beginning to think that the password has expired as well. Then the machine gives a soft hum, like a cat settling into a chair. The six arms unfold one by one. The light turns from amber to a calm blue, and the little screen fills with scrolling numbers.

有那么一会儿，什么也没发生，琥珀色的灯依旧闪烁。雅乌开始觉得密码也许已经过期了。接着，机器发出轻轻的嗡鸣，像一只猫在椅子里蜷好身子。六条手臂一条条展开，灯光从琥珀色变成平静的蓝色，小屏幕上滚动起一串数字。

"Good evening," the machine says, in a voice that sounds a little like a polite librarian. "Three days of nets are waiting. Shall I begin?"

“晚上好，”机器说，声音有点像一位有礼貌的图书管理员，“三天的渔网在等着。要开始吗？”

"Please," says Anand, and his voice cracks. He turns to Yaw. "That is the first thing it has said to me since Monday."

“请开始，”阿南德说，声音都变了调。他转向雅乌。“从星期一到现在，这是它对我说的第一句话。”

"I think it missed you."

“我觉得它想你了。”

"It is a machine."

“它只是台机器。”

"It is a machine that said good evening," Yaw replies. "Most of my teachers cannot manage that."

“可它是一台会说晚上好的机器，”雅乌回答，“我的老师大多都做不到这一点。”

Anand laughs again. He taps the screen, and the net mender rolls out of the shadow toward a heap of tangled netting beside the crates. Its arms start to move, quick and precise, tying and tugging, so fast that Yaw can hardly follow them. A faint blue pattern ripples along its side whenever it finishes a knot.

阿南德又笑了。他点了点屏幕，补网机从阴影里滚出来，驶向板条箱旁一堆纠缠的渔网。它的手臂动了起来，又快又准，打结、拉紧，快得雅乌几乎看不清。每打完一个结，它的侧面就泛起一圈淡淡的蓝色波纹。

"Would you like to see the fish-count?" Anand asks. "I mean, as an apology. It is quite interesting, actually. It follows the migration lines all the way to the open sea."

“你想看看鱼群计数吗？”阿南德问，“就当是赔罪。真的很有意思，它能一路追踪洄游路线到外海。”

"I would like that very much," says Yaw. "But the light is almost gone, and I still have no dinner."

“我很想看，”雅乌说，“不过天快黑了，我还没钓到晚饭呢。”

"Fishing, then. Go ahead." Anand grins and sits on an upturned crate beside the machine. "I will keep an eye on your rod while you tell me what you are hoping to catch."

“那你去钓吧。”阿南德咧嘴笑了，在机器旁一只倒扣的板条箱上坐下。“你告诉我你想钓什么，我帮你看着鱼竿。”

"Anything that is small and stupid."

“任何又小又笨的东西。”

"Then you have come to the right pier."

“那你来对栈桥了。”

Yaw laughs, takes up his line, and checks the hook. The water below is a dark mirror now, with the first stars trembling on its surface. Behind him, the net mender hums, and Anand is reading numbers aloud to himself with an air of great relief. Somewhere out beyond the breakwater, a ship sounds its horn.

雅乌笑了，拿起鱼线，检查鱼钩。脚下的水现在像一面黑镜子，第一批星星在水面颤动。身后，补网机嗡嗡作响，阿南德如释重负地大声念着数字。防波堤外某处，一艘船鸣响了汽笛。

He draws back his arm, swings the rod in a long, smooth arc, and sends the line out over the water. It lands with a quiet ripple, and he settles back to wait.

他抬起手臂，将鱼竿在空中画出一道长长的、平滑的弧线，把鱼线甩向水面。鱼线轻轻落下，激起一圈涟漪，他安下心来等待。