Chapter 23 Chapter Four (8)

Colonel Joel sat behind a desk in my office.There were no files and documents on the desktop, and the room was lonely, only decorated with the vase of flowers. The handsome young police officer (I don't know his name yet) carried a cypress box to the table and went back behind the colonel. The colonel took out some papers, looked down and said, "Among the items found in your apartment is this wooden box. I want you to look at it, because there is something unusual in it. There are nearly three hundred pieces of white poplar Wooden slips, eight inches by two inches each, many of which are densely entwined with threads. The wood is loose and brittle, but some of the entangled threads are still new, and some are almost weathered. It's two pieces joined together, and it's got some queer characters on it. I think you'll agree with me when I say—"

I stared at his black glasses, and he continued: "A reasonable inference is that these wooden slips are tools for transmitting information. God knows when you have used this thing to exchange information with a certain organization. Now you still A chance to explain what the characters mean and what organization that is." He took a wooden slip from the box, tapped the smooth surface of the table, and pushed it towards me. Looking at the characters engraved by strangers who have been around for a long time, I can't even think of whether to read from left to right or from right to left.I have spent long nights brooding over these collections, and I have calculated that I have a collection of texts in more than four hundred different characters, perhaps four hundred and fifty.But I don't know what they mean at all.Does each character represent a thing, a circle for the sun, a triangle for a woman, and a ripple for a lake; or does the circle just mean "circle" and the triangle is "triangle" and the ripple is "ripple"?Or does it mean that each character represents a different vocal part, such as lips, teeth, throat, chest, etc., and they can make different sounds when they are coordinated. This is an unimaginable extinct barbarian language?Maybe my four hundred characters mean nothing but curlicues of twenty or thirty basic letters, which I am too stupid to see?

"He greets his daughter," I was surprised to hear a nasal voice come out of my own mouth.I clicked these characters from right to left, "He said he hadn't seen his daughter for a long time. He wished her a happy life and all the best. He hoped that the lambing season would be safe and sound. He said he had a gift for his daughter when we met. Sending his love. The signature is not very legible, maybe 'your father' or something, maybe a name." I reached out and took out another wooden slip from the box.The young police officer, who sat all the time behind the colonel, with a little book on his knee, looked at me sternly, and his pencil stopped.

"This is the next part," I read, "'I am sorry to bring you the bad news that the soldiers have taken your brother. I go to the fort every day to beg him to come back. I sit with my head bare In the dust. Yesterday they sent someone for the first time to tell me that your brother is no longer there and sent away. "Where? "I asked, but he didn't say. Don't tell your mother, join me in praying for his safety.'" "Let's look at the next one." The pencil stopped moving, and he didn't write anything down. "'We brought your brother back yesterday. They let us into a room and found him lying on a table and sewn into a sheet.'" Joel leaned back slowly into the chair. back.The young officer held up the closed notebook, and Joel made a stop gesture, "'They want me to bring your brother back just like this, but I've got to see it first.' What kind of one do you guys give me?" Body? ’—I said, “You have so many bodies here, so many corpses of young men. I opened the coverlet and saw that it was really him. I saw stitches on every eyelid. "What did you guys do?" I said. "That's our custom," he said. I tore off the coverlet and saw that he was covered in bruises and welts all over his body, and his feet were swollen and broken. "What happened to him?" I asked. "I don't know." ’ said the man, ‘it’s not on the record, if you have questions you can ask the sergeant, but he’s busy right now. "We had to bury your brother on the spot, just outside their fortress, because the body was beginning to stink. Tell your mother and comfort her.'"

"Now let's see what the next piece says. Look, there's only one character, and it's the barbarian character: war. This character also has another meaning, which is: revenge. If you look at it upside down, maybe it can be read as : Justice. There is no way to know the deep meaning in it. This is part of the wisdom of the barbarian. "The rest of the wood says the same thing." I reached into the box with my good hand and gave it a stir. "Just a moral, these things can be read in many ways. Or each tablet can be read in many ways. Taken together it can be seen as a family journal or as a war plan ;crosswise it can be read as a history of the last days of the Empire—I mean the old Empire. Experts and scholars differ in their studies of the ancient barbarian remains. These allegorical texts are buried on all sides of the desert and can be found everywhere ...I found this wooden box in an abandoned public building three kilometers from here. Graveyards are also a good place for such things, although they are sometimes hard to find. It is recommended that you better dig around: maybe in Where you stand, you keep digging down and you may suddenly come across something related to the dead. Look in the air, too: the air here is full of that symbolism and cries - it's impossible to get rid of : If you listen carefully, and listen with a little compassion, you will hear their never-ending echoes in the cramped space. Best to listen to at night: sometimes you can't sleep because the cries of the dead creep into your Ears, these cries, like the characters they write, can be interpreted differently."

"Thank you, I have finished the translation." I looked at Colonel Joel without blinking the whole time.He wasn't provoked again, just for a moment, when I mentioned the Empire, and his subordinate was about to stand up and beat me, he grabbed the sleeve of that one with one hand. If that person is close to me, I will give him a blow with all my strength.Even if I disappear from the face of the earth, I have to leave some mark on them. Joel said: "You don't know how disgusting your behavior is. You are the only border official who didn't fully cooperate with us. Frankly speaking, I have no interest in your little wooden signs." He waved his hand, Chips were strewn all over the table. "They're too much like gambling sticks. I know some tribes on the frontier who gamble with wooden sticks.

"I ask you to consider calmly: what future do you have here? You will not hold your old post. You have brought yourself a complete disgrace. Although you will not be prosecuted—" "I'm waiting for you to sue!" I yelled. "When will I be sued? When will I be brought to trial? Will I still have a chance to defend myself?" I was furious.The passionate words have been nestled in my mouth, torturing me painfully.If I could stand up to these people in a fair court at this moment, I would use the sharp words to humiliate them.In a normal state of sane mind and body, many fiery words would stir in my chest.But they won't take you to court while you're sane and healthy.They're going to throw me in dark confinement until I'm a gibberish idiot, and then drag me to a closed courtroom to have a fivesome that they themselves find boring minute proceedings.

"These are extraordinary times," said the colonel, "and the judiciary has been transferred from the civil law to the gendarmerie." He sighed. "Chief executive, you don't seem to believe that we dare to hold a trial against you. You think you have a high prestige in the local area. I'm afraid you don't know the seriousness of your dereliction of duty; you don't understand the consequences of abandoning your friends and fooling around with scumbags." How bad it is, no one I've talked to has not been ashamed of your behavior." "My private life is nobody else's business!"

"But I want to tell you that our decision to relieve you is welcomed by the majority of the local population. As for me personally, I have nothing against you. I thought about it a few days before returning here, and I want to start from The answer you get is just a clarification of a question, and when it's over you can go back to your concubines as a free man." It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps the humiliation of them was unnecessary, that for whatever reason these two men might have wished to see me throw a tantrum, rage, every muscle in my body tense, I reminded myself to keep silent .

"You seem to have a new ambition and aspiration," he went on, "you seem to have given yourself a new title, 'One Man,' and this 'One Man' intends to sacrifice his freedom for the sake of principle. "Let me ask you: Do you know what the townspeople think of you for your ridiculous behavior in the square that day? Believe me, in their eyes, you are not a 'one person', you are just a clown , a lunatic. You are dirty and smelly like a beggar old man, a pile of garbage. They don't want you back for any duties, you have no way out here. "I guess you want to go into history and be a martyr, but who's going to put you in the history books? These frontier clashes aren't a big deal, it's going to pass quickly, and there's another twenty years of peace on the frontier .People don't have any interest in what's behind the history."

"There was no conflict at the border until you came," I said. "This is nonsense," he said. "You're blind to the facts. You're living in a bygone era. You think we're dealing with a few docile, small nomadic tribes. In reality we're dealing with a well-organized Hostile forces. If you go out and take a look, you will understand." "Those captives you brought back—are they a formidable enemy? Is that what you mean? You are the enemy, Colonel!" I couldn't help it any longer.He pounded the table with his fist. "You were the enemy, you started the war, you gave the third game the scapegoat they needed - it didn't start now, you brought the first unkempt savages here a year ago It started in time. History will prove me right!" "Nonsense. These things are too trivial to be history." He still looked calm, but I knew I'd hurt him. "You are a vile thing that only tortures people, and you are only worthy of being hanged!" "Go tell the judge, you 'one'," he muttered. We looked at each other. "Well," he sorted out the scraps of paper in front of him, "I want you to make a statement about each of your recent dealings with the savages, and your unauthorized visits to them." "I reject." "Very well, this is the end of the conversation." He turned to the subordinate, "He is under your control." He got up and walked out.The warrant officer was left in front of me.