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artha waited, practising the breathing techniques her virtual life 莎一邊等待，一邊練習虛擬 coach had taught her. After a few minutes, a smiling Relations 人生教練教導她的呼吸法。 Agent joined her, slinking towards her high table through the 數分鐘後，一名笑容可掬 hanging vines of the augmented reality lounge. 的關係顧問無聲無息地穿過擴增實境 Martha was accustomed to these artificial venues. The high temperatures, （AR）會客室懸掛著的藤蔓，來到瑪莎 poor air quality, and constant risk of storms meant people often stayed indoors. 的高腳桌前。 That was the case for most of her friends, anyway; even though they all 瑪莎早已對這類虛擬場所習以為常。 lived within the SHaM Triangle (Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao), she 氣溫高、空氣差、風暴威脅不斷，已使人 hardly ever saw them. They hook up their hologrammes for brunch every 們待在室內成為常態。至少瑪莎的大多數 Saturday, take virtual trips to Phuket once a year... but the times they actually 朋友就是如此：雖然大家同住「深港澳三 met in the flesh? Those days were long gone. 角」 （深圳、香港、澳門），每逢週六都會 The Relations Agent waited a moment, blinking, then spoke in a slow, 透過全像投影技術共晉早午餐，每年還 soothing tone: “Hello Martha. My name is Toni and Iʼm here to help you find 會結伴去一趟布吉虛擬之旅……但說到真 your True Family. What can I do for you today?” A bot, Martha assumed. She 正見面？這些日子已一去不返。 tried to replicate that same laid-back tone, but when she replied, her voice 關係顧問等了一會，眨了眨眼，以 tensed up, coming off a pitch too high. She felt a lump form in her throat. 緩慢而柔和的語調說：「Hello，瑪莎。 “Iʼm looking for a daughter.” 我是東尼，是來幫您尋找真正的家人 “And Iʼm sure we can find her for you, Martha. Could you start by 的。請問您有何需要呢？」這是個機械人 describing her?” 吧，瑪莎心想。她試著模仿那徐緩的語 Again, Marthaʼs voice stalled, making her think of a manual car going 調回話，結果發出的聲音卻有些緊繃， uphill in the wrong gear – a situation few these days had experienced. Describe 音調過高，就像喉嚨卡到異物一樣。 her. Her daughter Abigail, now almost 40, loomed large in her mind: her messy 「我想找個女兒。」 curly hair and ruddy cheeks, her deep, curious eyes, always questioning her 「我們一定可以幫您找到的。瑪 mother, pushing back. “What on earth are you doing?” she asked herself, taking 莎，可以請您描述一下她嗎？」 on her daughterʼs reproachful tone. Another voice piped up from her gut, 瑪莎的聲音再一次卡在喉嚨裡，這 defending her decision: “Youʼre not here anymore, Abigail. I need this.” 讓她聯想到手動排檔車上坡時換錯檔 “Sheʼs in her late 20s. Poised, smart, good sense of humour.” Her voice 的情形──這種情況現在已經很少人經 was loosening up as her dreams of a new daughter took shape. “She has 歷過的。 many interests, particularly making things – she models whole cities with 「描述一下她。」瑪莎心頭浮現她那年 her friends! And then she likes to come home and eat dinner with me. 近40的女兒艾比蓋兒的模樣：凌亂的 Sometimes we take virtual trips together. Sheʼs open-minded, easy-going...” 捲髮、紅潤的雙頰，深邃而充滿好奇的 “She sounds delightful! And what does she look like?” 眼眸，總是不斷質疑母親，跟母親唱反 Abigail, or Abi, as she called her – surged back into view: aged 12, her 調。「你到底在做甚麼啊？」瑪莎以女兒 thick plaits swinging as she pretended to be a pirate on her VR ship; aged 28, 慣用的責難語氣問自己。隨即，她心裡 her green eyes shining after swapping her screen-damaged lenses for a lab冒出另一把捍衛自己決定的聲音：「艾 grown pair; in her 30s, her hair billowing as she waved from the ferry... 比蓋兒，你已經不在這裡了，我需要一 “Short hair, brown eyes, not too tall, slim-build.” 個新女兒。」 “Let me have a look in our database... Youʼre in luck! We have a couple of 「年紀接近30歲，穩重伶俐，有幽 actresses available, so letʼs go with the best. When would you like to meet her?” 默感。」隨著理想中的新女兒逐漸在腦 “Oh, um... later this week? Is Thursday possible?” 海中成形，瑪莎的聲線放鬆下來，「她 “Thursday it is. At your house? She can come around 6.30pm, right on 興趣很廣泛，尤其喜歡動手做東西，還 time for dinner?” 會跟朋友一起製作整個城市的模型！她 “Perfect. And her name?” 也喜歡回家跟我一起吃晚飯；偶爾我們 “Thatʼs up to you!” 會一起來趟虛擬旅行；她心胸寬闊，很 “Oh. Doesnʼt she have a name?” 隨和……」
ARIANA 2018
111
