日本のSF小説を、アメリカ人作家によるものと仕立て上げられるか？

「すみませんけど、これを見てくださる？」 とミリーは大型ディスプレイをさした。

「ええ、さっきから拝見していますよ……」と老人は言った。 「ここは……こんな言葉で訳すのはまちがいで、おそらく粒子の対創生とその片方の粒子の“エルゴ領域加速”のことだと思います。――ほう……面白いですね。彼らは……例の十万年前に来た宇宙人の連中ですか？……彼らは……ブラックホールから、エネルギーをとり出そうとしていた……おそらくとり出していた……」

「何ですって？」ミリーは眼をまるくした。「ブラックホールからは、何も出てこないんじゃないの？」

「いや――回転している場合、その赤道面にできるエルゴ領域をつかえば……回転していなくても、充分慎重にやれば、ブラックホール周辺の強い重力ポテンシャルをつかって、物体を加速する事ができます。つまりブラックホールに“仕事”をさせる事もできるわけです。ブラックホールが帯電していれば、荷電粒子をつかって、電気をとり出す事もできます。……連中……ははあ……どうやら、ブラックホールをつかって、発電しようとしたのかな？――もうちょっと文章をおくってください……。はて、これはなんだろう？……これ は重力量子……これは重力波の式として……なんでここに、レーザーみたいな概念が出てくるんだ？……スピンを増大させて……いや、ちがう……。これは連星の事だろうな。重心を相互に高速回転する……ブラックホール連星で……高エネルギー重力波パルサー？……角運動量をあげて……エルゴ領域をひろげて……一組のB・H連星を？……どうするのか？……重力波増幅……干渉……定常波が、どうだというんだ？……重力波レーザー？――」

老人の顔は、突然青くなり、汗が一面にそのしわ深い顔にふき出し、よろよろとよろけた。

「危ない！」と、モシがとび上がって後ろからささえた。

「どうなさったの？」とミリーはハンカチを出して、老人の汗をぬぐった。

「おかげんが悪いの？」

「い、いや……」と老人はあえぎながら首をふった。「すごい話だ……私には……とてもついて行けん……」

「さあ、おちついて……」ミリーは老人を椅子にすわらせた。「そんなにむずかしい理論を追わなくても、私たちの解読を助けてくださったらいいのよ……」

"Excuse me, could you take a look at this?" Millie said, pointing to the large display.

"Yes, I’ve been looking at it for a while now," the old man replied. "This here... it’s probably a mistake to translate it with those terms. I suspect it’s actually about particle pair creation, or more specifically, the 'ergosphere acceleration' of one of those particles. ...Well, how fascinating. Are they... the ones from that alien race that arrived one hundred thousand years ago? ...They were trying to extract energy from the black hole... or, perhaps, they had already succeeded..."

"What do you mean?" Millie’s eyes widened. "I thought nothing could ever escape a black hole?"

"No—if the hole is rotating, you can utilize the ergosphere that forms at its equator. Even if it isn't rotating, if you're careful enough, you can harness the intense gravitational potential around a black hole to accelerate matter. In other words, you can make the black hole do 'work' for you. If the black hole is charged, you could even use charged particles to extract electricity. ...These people... my goodness... it seems they were trying to use the black hole to generate power, weren't they? ...Please, scroll the text down a bit more... Wait, what is this? ...Is this quantum gravity? ...And here, in the formula for gravitational waves... why is there a concept like a laser? ...Increasing the spin..."

"No... wait, that’s not it. This must be about a binary system. High-speed rotation around their mutual center of mass... a binary black hole system... and a high-energy gravitational wave pulsar? ...Increasing angular momentum... expanding the ergosphere... a pair of black holes? ...What are they doing? ...Gravitational wave amplification... interference... what about a standing wave? ...A gravitational wave laser? —"

The old man’s face suddenly went pale. Sweat broke out across his deeply wrinkled features, and he began to stagger.

"Watch out!" Mosh leaped up and caught him from behind.

"Are you all right?" Millie asked, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face. "Are you feeling ill?"

"N-no..." the old man gasped, shaking his head. "It’s just an incredible story... I... I’m having a hard time keeping up..."

"Now, just calm down..." Millie said, helping him into a chair. "You don't need to wrap your head around such difficult theories—just help us with the deciphering, that’s all we need."

"No... wait, that's not it. This must be about a binary system."

"What are they doing?"

異星文明はブラックホールをエネルギー源にしていた

「いや違う」

"You don't need to wrap your head around such difficult theories—just help us with the deciphering"

「そんな難しい理論まで理解しなくていいですから、解読だけ手伝ってください」

「理系出身の日本人。
ハードSFが好き。
ブラックホール物理の一般書をかなり読んでいる。
英語で直接書けるが、思考のベースは日本語。」

"Excuse me, could you take a look at this?" Millie said, pointing to the large display.

"Yes, I've been studying it for a while," the old man replied. "This part here... I don't think those terms are the right translation. It seems to be talking about particle-pair creation—or more precisely, the acceleration of one member of the pair through an ergosphere. ...How fascinating. Could this be related to the people who arrived a hundred thousand years ago? ...They were trying to extract energy from a black hole—or perhaps they'd already learned how..."
"What do you mean?" Millie's eyes widened. "I thought nothing could escape a black hole."

"Not exactly. If the hole is rotating, you can make use of the ergosphere that forms around it. And even if it isn't rotating, the enormous gravitational potential around a black hole can still be used to accelerate matter. In other words, you can make the black hole do work for you. If the hole carries an electric charge, there are ways of extracting electrical energy as well. ...These people... good heavens... were they using black holes as power sources? ...Scroll down a little further... Wait. What's this? ...Quantum gravity? ...And here, in this equation for gravitational waves—why does it resemble a laser model? ...Increasing the spin..."

"No... wait. That's not it. This is a binary system. Rapid rotation around a common center of mass... a binary black-hole system... and some kind of high-energy gravitational-wave pulsar? ...Increasing angular momentum... expanding the ergosphere... a pair of black holes? ...What are they trying to do? ...Amplification of gravitational waves... interference... and then a standing wave? ...A gravitational-wave laser—"

The old man's face suddenly turned pale. Sweat appeared across his deeply lined features, and he swayed unsteadily.

"Watch out!" Mosh sprang to his feet and caught him from behind.

"Are you all right?" Millie asked, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his face. "Are you feeling sick?"

"N-no..." the old man gasped, shaking his head. "It's just an extraordinary story... I... I'm having trouble keeping up with it..."

"Easy now," Millie said, helping him into a chair. "You don't have to understand every difficult theory. Just help us decipher it—that's all we need."

"No... wait. That's not it."
"What are they trying to do?""...A gravitational-wave laser—"

"Good heavens..."

the old man

彼（村上龍）の小説は無国籍ですよね。最近の僕のようににはあまり民俗的な要素は使ってないんじゃないですか。それはもしかしたら日本語で書いてるから、無国籍になれる。いわば僕の場合は、音楽だから日本語で書くも英語で書くもないんですけど、比喩的に言うと僕の音楽は英語で書いてるんですよ。英語の文法で。だから逆に民俗的な要素とかそういうものを取り入れたくなるのかもしれない。日本語の言語空間の中ではあまり日本ということを意識しなくてもすむわけよ。 たくさんある現在のポップスはサウンド的には外国風に聴こえるわけですけど、一番インターナショナルな側にいる僕の音楽が一番エスニックに響くという逆説があるんですけど、面白いですね。