姜小白对《The Martian》的笔记(1)

the pot calling the kettle black

“Nice to meet you,” Venkat said. “What can I do for you, Rich?”
“I came up with something a while ago. Spent a lot of time on it.” He dumped the papers on Venkat’s desk. “Lemme find the summary.…”
Venkat stared forlornly at his once-clean desk, now strewn with scores of printouts.
“Here we go!” Rich said triumphantly, grabbing a paper. Then his expression saddened. “No, this isn’t it.”
“Rich,” Venkat said. “Maybe you should just tell me what this is about?”
Rich looked at the mess of papers and sighed. “But I had such a cool summary.…”
“A summary for what?”
“How to save Watney.”
“That’s already in progress,” Venkat said. “It’s a last-ditch effort, but—”
“The Taiyang Shen?” Rich snorted. “That won’t work. You can’t make a Mars probe in a month.”
“We’re sure as hell going to try,” Venkat said, a note of annoyance in his voice.
“Oh, sorry, am I being difficult?” Rich asked. “I’m not good with people. Sometimes I’m difficult. I wish people would just tell me. Anyway, the Taiyang Shen is critical. In fact, my idea won’t work without it. But a Mars probe? Pfft. C’mon.”
“All right,” Venkat said. “What’s your idea?”
Rich snatched a paper from the desk. “Here it is!” He handed it to Venkat with a childlike smile.
“Venkat took the summary and skimmed it. The more he read, the wider his eyes got. “Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely!” Rich beamed.
“Have you told anyone else?”
“Who would I tell?”
“I don’t know,” Venkat said. “Friends?”
“I don’t have any of those.”
“Okay, keep it under your hat.”
“I don’t wear a hat.”
“It’s just an expression.”
“Really?” Rich said. “It’s a stupid expression.”
“Rich, you’re being difficult.”
“Ah. Thanks.”