[57, La, Lanthanum, 镧, 138.9055]
Immortality
不朽
Lanthanum, like many of the other so-called “rare earths” is not particularly rare. Unless, of course, you live in one of the worlds of the Reaches – that attenuated region at the outermost fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy directly opposite Earth, where one half the sky is rich in stars and the other half almost black. Through an accident of stellar evolution, lanthanum is almost unknown in the Reaches. Most of its uses are trivial, of course – in optical glass applications, as a cracking catalyst, in certain lasers. But it also happens to be necessary as an intermetallic hydride in the complex process that is used to create the drug rather imprecisely (for it’s only good for ten thousand years) known as Immortality.
像许多其他所谓的“稀土”元素一样，镧其实并不是特别稀有。当然，除非您生活在大河区的其中一个世界中。“大河”是银河系最外缘的一块衰减区域，与地球的相对位置正好相反。那里一半的天空富含恒星，而另一半几乎是黑色的。因为一次恒星演化事故，镧在大河区几乎是未知的。当然，它的大多数用途都是微不足道的，比如用于制造光学玻璃，用作裂化催化剂，或是用在某些激光器中。但是，在用于制造称为“不朽”的药物（这描述并不严密，实际上其好处只有只有短短的一万年）那复杂的过程中，它作为金属间氢化物也很有必要。
For centuries the worlds of the Reaches smoldered resentfully under the neglectful rule of the Galactic Technocracy. But the Technocracy controlled the flow of Immortality, and cut it off at the least hint of trouble.
几个世纪以来，因为银河技术官僚主义的统治疏忽，大河区的世界的不满日益严重。但是，技术政权控制着不朽的流通，哪怕一丁点麻烦都会在其才冒苗头时将其扑灭。
Which is why the freighter sailing under the corporate colors of the venerable firm of Summergarden, Claimjumper & Ting, was given a military escort. The load of lanthanum it carried was enough to serve a planet’s needs for a century. Or a rebellion’s for as long as it took.
这就是为什么夏日园、夺利者以及地硬这些老牌公司名下航行的一艘货轮需要军事护送。这么一艘船上装的镧的量足以满足一颗星球一个世纪的需求。或是引发足够长的叛乱。
The attack began with the explosion of half a dozen neutron bomb mines.
半打中子弹爆炸，然后袭击就开始了。
That took out the crew and AIs of the ore freighter without damaging its cargo. Then Freeman’s Raiders popped their ships out of n-space and engaged the escorts with directed matter-disrupters. Torpedoes werelaunched. Sunbombs exploded. Ships grappled and were breached and boarders swarmed through the gaps with projectile weapons and monomolecular garottes. Sixty thousand troopers died in the Battle of Three Suns. Only seventy-three rebels survived.
矿船上的船员和AI全送了命，而上面的货物毫发无损。之后，弗里曼的突袭队飞船从n空间中冒出，将护卫舰与直接破坏物质者连在了一起。鱼雷发射，炸弹爆炸。船只扭成一团、遭到破坏，登机者带着手炮和单分子绞丝蜂拥而上。三日之内六万士兵阵亡。只有七十三名叛军幸存。
The handful of survivors hot-wired the ore freighter and used its contents to jump-start a war that ultimately lasted five hundred years and laid waste to a third of the galaxy.
为数不多的幸存者们将这艘矿船发动了起来，并使用上面的货物发动了一场战争，这场战争最终持续了五百年，耗费了三分之一个银河系的资源。
Five thousand years later, Freeman himself held a banquet to commemorate the hijacking. Though the banquet room was small, a good half of the surviving population of the Reaches was in attendance. After the obligatory speeches, the great man stood to propose a toast.
五千年后，弗里曼本人为庆祝劫机举行了宴会。尽管宴会厅很小，但幸存下来的大河人口中大部分都出席了会议。客套话之后，这位伟人站起来敬酒。
“To the most precious thing in all the universe,” he said, raising his wine glass high. “To life!”
“致整个宇宙中最珍贵的东西。”他说，“致生活！”