Chapter 21 21. Lord Asriel's Welcome

Lyra rode a mighty bear cub, Roger rode another, Iorek marched tirelessly ahead, and a team of armored bears with fireball launchers followed in the rear. The road is long and difficult.The hinterland of Svalbard is a mountainous area, full of messy peaks and steep ridges, deep valleys and steep valleys, and the temperature is unbearable.Lyra thought of the steady gypsy sled on the way to Birvangar, how swift and comfortable it seemed now!The air here was bitter, and Lyra had never felt so cold before; but maybe it was because the bear she was riding was not as light as Iorek's feet, or maybe it was her exhaustion.In any case, this road is too difficult to walk.

Lyra didn't quite know where they were going or how far it was, except what old bear Sauron Axelson had told her while they were preparing the fireball launcher.He had been involved in the negotiations with Lord Asriel over the conditions of his captivity, and he remembered that very well. At first, he said, the armored bears on Svalbard thought Lord Asriel was no different from any other politician, king or troublemaker exiled to their frigid island.Prisoners are important people, otherwise they would have been killed without hesitation by their own people; one day they may become invaluable treasures of the armored bears-if their political fortunes change and return to the country as rulers; Therefore, it may be in the bear's interest to treat them with less cruelty and disrespect.

So, Lord Asriel felt that conditions in Svalbard were neither good nor bad compared with countless other places of exile, but there were certain things which made his guards more reserved for him than for other prisoners. heightened vigilance.There was an air of mystery, a spiritual danger, about anything to do with the dust; there was palpable confusion among those who had brought him to Svalbard, Mrs. Coulter and Iofer? Laknisson conducted secret correspondence. In addition, the armored bears had never seen such an arrogant and bossy man as Lord Asriel.He even influenced Eofur Laknesson, argued with him fiercely, and persuaded the Bear King to let him choose his dwelling place.

He said the first place allotted to him was too low, and what he needed was a spot of high ground above the smoke and noise of the fire mines and the smithy.He provided the armored bear with the blueprint of the residence he wanted, and told them where it should be built.He bribed them with gold, alternately flattering and intimidating Iofur Laknizon.The armored bear was so dazed that he willingly began building a shelter for him.Soon, on a headland facing north, a house rose: spacious, solid, with a fireplace, burning huge coals mined and brought by armored bears, and large windows with real glass .There he lived, as a prisoner as a king.

He then set about collecting materials for the construction of the laboratory. With great persistence he sent for books, instruments, chemicals, tools and equipment of every description. In the end, these things were procured from various sources: some were brought in openly, and some were smuggled in by visitors he insisted on seeing.Lord Asriel collected the materials he needed through land, sea and air. After being imprisoned for six months, he got all the equipment he wanted. So, he started to work, thinking, planning, and calculating, waiting for something that he needed to complete the task that made the sacrifice committee dreadful.That moment is getting closer by the minute.

Iorek stopped at the foot of a ridge to move the two children, for they were dangerously frozen, frozen.That's when Leila got her first glimpse of the prison where her father was being held. "Look up," Iorek said. The broad, rugged hillside, full of jerky rocks and ice, has a laborious trail leading up to a cliff that soars into the sky.There are no auroras in the sky, but the stars are very bright.The dark cliff rose forlornly, but on the top of the cliff was a large house, from which lights poured freely in all directions: not smoky, flickering blubber lamps, nor white Instead of blinding electric spotlights, warm, beige naphtha lamps.

The window itself, from which the light shines, speaks of the power of Lord Asriel.Glass itself is already very expensive, and at such a high latitude, such a large window is a waste of heat; therefore, to see such a window in such a place is enough to say that the wealth and power here are more than Io. Fur Laknisson's gaudy palace was much bigger. Lyra and Roger mounted their armored bears for the last time, and Iorek led them up the climb toward the house.Beneath the thick snow was a yard surrounded by a low wall.Iorek pushed open the courtyard door and heard a bell ring somewhere in the house.

Lyra got off her back, barely able to stand, and she helped Roger get off his back too.The two children supported each other as they staggered through the waist-deep snow toward the front steps. Ah, how warm it is in the house!Ah, to rest quietly! Lyra reached for the doorbell, but the door opened before she could find the handle.Inside was a small, dimly lit vestibule, designed to keep the heat from escaping.She recognized at once the figure standing in the light: Thorold, Lord Asriel's valet, and his elf, a doberman named Anfang. Lyra pushed the hood back feebly. "Who..." As soon as Thorold opened his mouth, he recognized the person in front of him. He continued, "It can't be Laila, can it? Little Laila? Am I dreaming?"

He put his hand behind his back to open the inner door. Inside was a great hall with a coal fire blazing in the stone fireplace, and naphtha lamps warming the carpet, the leather chairs, the shiny wood furniture... Lyra hadn't seen anything like it since leaving Jordan Something, she felt her throat suddenly seemed to be stuck. Lord Asriel's snow leopard elf let out a low growl. Lyra's father stood there, fierce at first, triumphant, expectant in his dark-eyed, mighty face; eyes. "no no!" He staggered back, clutching the mantelpiece.Laila couldn't move. 'Get out!' cried Lord Asriel. 'Turn back, get out, get out! I didn't send for you!'.

Laila was speechless.She opened her mouth, twice, three times, and finally said with difficulty: "No, no, I'm here because—" He looked terrified, shaking his head constantly and holding his hands up as if to keep her out.Lyra couldn't believe he was so nervous. She took a step forward to reassure him, and Roger came and stood beside Lyra, looking very worried. Their elves flapped their wings and flew into the warm hall.After a while, Lord Asriel rested his hand on his brow and calmed down a little.He looked down at the two children, and the blood began to return to his face.

"Lila," he said, "you're Lila?" "It's me, Uncle Asriel," Lyra replied, feeling that this was the wrong time to talk about their real relationship. "I'm here to bring you the alethiometer from the dean of Jordan College." "Yes, of course you brought it," he said. "Who is this?" "His name is Roger Parslow," Lyra said, "and he's the boy in the kitchen at Jordan College, but—" "How did you get here?" "I was about to say that. Iorek Bernison is out there, and he brought us here. He's been with me since Trollsand, and we got Iofer on when--" "Who is Iorek Bernison?" "It's the armored bear. He brought us here." "Thorold," he cried, "put the boys some hot bath-water, and get them something to eat. Then they need to get some sleep.Their clothes are very dirty, find them something to wear.Do it now, I'm going to talk to this bear. " Lyra felt dizzy, either from the heat or from finally relaxing. She saw the footman bow and leave the hall, and Lord Asriel walked into the vestibule and closed the door behind him.By this time, Laila had almost slumped in the chair closest to her. It seemed that just after a while, Thorold spoke to her. "Come with me, miss," he said.Lila forced herself to her feet and walked with Roger into the warm bathroom, with fluffy towels hanging from the heated rails, and the water in the bathtub steaming under the naphtha lamp. "You go first," Lyra said, "I'll sit outside and we'll talk." So, panting heavily and shyly with the heat, Roger stepped into the bathtub and began to take a bath.The two of them used to swim together bare-bottomed and play with the other children in the River Isis (Upper Thames, near Oxford) or Cherwell.However, this time it was different. "I'm afraid of your uncle," said Roger through the open door, "I mean your father." "It's better to call him uncle, sometimes I'm afraid of him too." "When we first came in, he didn't look at me at all, he just looked at you, and he was very scared. When he saw me, he immediately calmed down again." "He's just surprised," Lyra said. "Anyone who does. He hasn't seen me since that time in the lounge at Jordan, so he must Very surprised." "No," said Roger, "not only surprised. He looked at me like a wolf and calculating." He splashed some water on himself.Laila took out the alethiometer. "Should I ask the alethiometer?" Lyra asked. "Well... no. There are some things I'd rather not know. Ever since Taotie got to Oxford, all the news I've heard seems to be bad. It's no good knowing what's going to happen five minutes from now. Like now, I know this bathroom is fine, and in five minutes I can still use that warm towel. After drying off, I might think about what to eat, but that's it, no more I think about it. After dinner, I might think about getting a good night's sleep in bed. But I won't think about it any further, Laila. We've seen terrible things, haven't we?And there could be more and more, so I guess it's best not to know what's going to happen in the future, I'm only concerned with the present. " "Yes," said Lyra listlessly, "sometimes I think so, too." So, even though she still had the alethiometer in her hand, it was just a comfort. Laila didn't turn the wheel on it, and didn't notice the wobble of the alethiometer needle.Pantalaimon was silently staring at the alethiometer. After the two had bathed, had some bread and cheese, and drank some wine and hot water, Thorold the servant said: "Now, Roger goes to bed, and I will take him. Miss Lyra, my lord." My lord asked if you would like to meet him in the study." In a room with wide glass windows Lyra saw Lord Asriel.The windows overlooked the frozen sea far below, a coal fire burned under the wide mantelpiece, and a naphtha lamp was dimmed so that there was nothing between the people in the room and the starlit landscape beyond. There are hardly any distracting reflexes left.Lord Asriel was reclining in a chair on one side of the fire, and beckoned her to come and sit in another opposite. "Your friend Iorek Bernison is resting outside," he said. "He likes the cold." "Did he tell you about the duel with Iofur Raknizon?" "Not exactly, but I know he's the king of Svalbard now, isn't he?" "Of course it is. Iorek never lies." "He seems to have volunteered to be your bodyguard." "No, it was John Faa who asked him to take care of me. That's why he did it. He was carrying out John Faa's orders." "How did John Faa get involved in this?" "If you tell me something, I'll tell you," Lyra said. "You're my father, aren't you?" "Yes, so what?" "Then you should have told me, that's it. You shouldn't hide this from people, because when they find out, they'll think they're stupid, and it's cruel of you to do it. If I found out, I'm your daughter , so what's the difference? You could tell me about it years ago, tell me; ask me to keep it a secret, and I'll keep it a secret, no matter how small I am, if you want me to keep it a secret, I'll do it Yes. I would be very proud if you kept me secret, and I would never say anything about it. But, you never told me. You told people about it, but you never told me about it. Say." "Who told you that?" "John Faah." "He also told you about your mother?" "yes." "Then, I have nothing more to say. I don't want rude children to interrogate me and condemn me. I want to hear what you have seen and heard along the way and what you have done." "I brought you the goddamn alethiometer, didn't I?" Lyra yelled, almost in tears, "I've been taking care of it all the way from Jordan College to now. Although We've been through so much, but we still hid it well, treated it like a baby, and learned how to use it. I could have given it up and it wouldn't be in any danger, but I carried it with me It has come such a damn long way. But you don't even say thank you, and you don't look happy to see me at all. I don't know why I did it, but I did it anyway, didn't give up, even surrounded by armored bears in the stinking palace of Eofur-Laknisong, I didn't give up, it was all on my own , I lied to him, I lied to him to fight Iorek so that I could come here, all for you... When you actually saw me, you almost fainted, as if I was something you never wanted to see like a horrible thing.Lord Asriel, you are not human, you are not my father, my father would not treat me like this.Dads are supposed to love their daughters, right?But you don't love me, and I don't love you, that's a fact.I love Farder Coram, and I love Iorek Bernison; I love a armored bear more than I love my papa.I'm also sure that Iorek Bernison loves me more than you do. " "You told me yourself that he was only carrying out John Faa's orders. If you're being emotional, I don't want to waste time talking to you." "Then take your damn alethiometer away, I'm going back with Iorek." "where to?" "Go back to the palace of Iofel. When Mrs. Coulter and the Priest Council come, he can fight them. If he beats me, I'm dead, and I don't care. If he wins, We'll send for Lee Scoresby, and I'll fly away in his balloon, and—" "Who is Lee Scoresby?" "It's the balloonist. He brought us here, and the balloon fell. Here's your alethiometer. It's all right." He did not move, did not reach for the alethiometer.Lyra placed it on the brass railing by the hearth. "I thought I'd tell you that Mrs. Coulter is on her way to Svalbard. As soon as she hears about Eofur Lacknesson, she's coming here. She's in a Zeppelin, They brought many, many soldiers, and they were going to carry out the order of the church authorities and kill us all." "They'll never find us," he said quietly. He seemed so deliberate that it made Lyra less vicious. "You don't know," she said dubiously. "Of course I know." "Then you have another alethiometer?" "I don't need an alethiometer to know this. Now, Lyra, I want to hear how you got here. Start at the beginning without missing a single detail." Lyra followed his orders and began to speak.She told the story of her hiding in the lounge at Jordan College, of how the Glutton kidnapped Roger, and of her days with Mrs. Coulter, and then told everything that happened afterwards. over again. She spoke at length.After she finished speaking, she said: "So, there is one thing I want to know, and I think I have a right to know, just like I have a right to know who I am. Although you didn't say that, you must Tell me, for compensation. Here it is: What is dust? Why is everyone afraid of it?" He stared at her, as if wondering if she would understand what he had to say.He had never looked at himself seriously before, Lyra thought; until then he had always seemed like an adult who indulged children in mischief. But now, he seemed to feel that she was about to grow up. "The dust is what makes the alethiometer work," he said. "Ah... I thought it might be dust! What else? How did people find out?" "In a sense, the church has always known this. They've been preaching about dust for centuries, they just don't call it dust. "But a few years ago, a Muscovite named Boris Mikhailovich Rusakov discovered a new elementary particle. You've heard of things like electrons, photons, neutrinos, right? They're called elementary particles because you can't subdivide them any further: they're made of nothing but themselves. Well... it's a new kind of elementary particle, there's no question about that, but , but it is very difficult to measure them, because they do not react in the usual way at all. What puzzled Rusakov most is why this new particle seems to be concentrated around people, as if influenced by our As if attracted by adults, especially by adults. Children can also attract such particles, but rarely until their spirits are fixed in a certain form. After puberty, their ability to attract dust becomes stronger, like Like adults, dust settles on them too. "Since all discoveries of this kind concern ecclesiastical doctrine, their results must be declared by the ecclesiastical authorities in Geneva. Rusakov's discoveries were so incredible and outlandish that the inspectors of the ecclesiastical court Suspected that he was possessed by the devil. So he exorcised the demon in the laboratory and questioned Rusakov according to the rules of the church court. But, in the end, they had to accept the fact that Rusakov did not lie , and did not deceive them, the dust does exist. "That left them with the problem of determining what this substance was. In the very nature of the Church, there was only one explanation at their disposal. Church authorities decided that the dust was physical evidence of the original sin of man. Do you know what original sin is?" Laila pursed her lips, as if she was back at Jordan Academy, where a teacher was checking her half-knowledge. "Pretty much," she said. "No, you don't. Go to the shelf by the table and bring me the Bible." "Remember the story of Adam and Eve?" "Of course," said Lyra, "Eve was not supposed to eat that fruit, and the snake tempted her, so she ate." "and then?" "Well...they were thrown out. God threw them out of the garden." "God told them not to eat that fruit, because after eating it, they would no longer be immortal. Don't forget that they were naked in the Garden of Eden, and like children they could transform their spirits as they pleased.But then this happened. " He turned to the third chapter of "Genesis" and read: "The woman said to the serpent, We may eat all the fruits of the trees in the garden; "But the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, You shall neither eat it nor touch it, lest you die. "The snake said to the woman, you will not necessarily die; "for God knows that when you eat the fruit, your eyes will be bright, and your spirit will show its original shape, and you are like God, knowing the difference between good and evil. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eyes, and capable of manifesting the spirits of men, she took some fruit, and ate it; and gave it to her husband, and he ate it too. "The eyes of both of them were opened, and they saw the form of their spirits, and they spoke to them. "But when men and women know their spirits, they know that they have been greatly changed, for up to that moment they seemed to be one with all that was in the earth and in the air, and there was no difference between them;" They now see the difference, and understand good and evil; and they are ashamed, and sew fig leaves together to cover their nakedness..." He closed the book. "This is how sin came into the world," he said, "sin, shame, death, the very moment their spirits were fixed, so did sin." "But..." Laila struggled to find the words she wanted, "but it's not true, is it? Not as real as chemistry or engineering, not that real, right?In fact, there was no Adam and Eve at all, right?Academician Cassington told me that it was just a fairy tale. " "According to tradition, the title of Academician Cassington is given to free-thinking people. His task is to challenge the beliefs of the academicians, so it is natural for him to say that. However, assuming that Adam and Eve are an imaginary number, It's like the square root of minus one: you'll never see any concrete evidence that it exists, but if you put it in your equation, you can now see all kinds of things you couldn't imagine without it. Can be calculated. "In short, that's what the church has taught people for thousands of years. After Rusakov discovered the dust, he finally had physical evidence to prove that something happened in the process of human beings from innocence to cunning. meaningful thing. "Coincidentally, the Bible also gives us the term dust. At first people called it the Rusakov particle, but it was soon pointed out that at the end of Chapter 3 of Genesis, There is this curious passage where God cursed Adam because he ate of the forbidden fruit." He opened the Bible again and pointed Lyra to the passage.Lyra read: "In the sweat of your brow you shall eat until you return to the ground, for from the ground you were taken; dust you are, and dust you shall return..." Lord Asriel said: "Church scholars have long thought hard about the translation of this passage. Some people say that it should not be translated as "still return to the dust", but should be translated as "still subject to the dust"; others think that the "soil" and "dust" in this passage are like a pun, it is true The meaning is that God admits that part of his character is also sinful. People have different opinions, and no one can make everyone agree because the original text has corruption. But the word is very expressive and should not be ignored. That's why the particles are called dust." "What's with the glutton?" Lyra asked. "The Chief Priest Council...that's your mother's faction. She was smart enough to see an opportunity and build her own power base, but she's a smart person herself, and I dare say you've noticed that. It was in keeping with the desire of the Church authorities to allow the various institutions to prosper, so that they could profit by provoking in the middle; They pretended to call that faction heretical, and never went through the proper registration process. "You know, your mother has always had a lust for power. At first, she tried to get it in the conventional way, namely by marriage, but it didn't work, which I think you've heard. So she turned to Of course, she can't go the way of a man - such as being a priest, etc. - She can only use extraordinary means, she must establish her own position, establish her own channels of influence, and use these channels ...specializing in the study of dust was a very sensible step. Everyone is afraid of dust, and no one knows what to do; when she offered to have her lead the investigation, the church authorities were greatly relieved, and then gave her Provide a variety of financial and resource support." "But they cut—" No matter how hard she forced herself, Laila couldn't finish the sentence, the words were stuck in her mouth, and she couldn't get them out. "You know what they do! Why does the Church allow them to do such a thing?" "There has been a precedent, something like this has happened before. Do you know what the word castration means? It means to cut off a boy's sex organs so that he no longer has male characteristics. Castrated male singer You can keep your high notes all your life, that's why the church allows it, because it's so useful in church music. There are castrated male singers who become great singers, incomparable artists; most just reduce to fat , ruined androgynous monsters; others died of the aftereffects of castration operations. But you see, the Church has no hesitation about such a small cut.So, there are such precedents. And the surgery we are talking about now is much more hygienic than the old methods, and at that time there were no anesthetics, no sterile gauze, and no complete nursing care.Relatively speaking, this operation is much gentler. " "Not gentle!" Lyra yelled, "Not gentle!" "Yes, certainly not mildly, and that's why they had to hide in the far North Pole, in dark, uninhabited places; and that's why the Church is happy to have someone like your mother in charge - who Do you doubt such a charming, well-connected, lovely and rational person? However, since this is a secret and unofficial mission, if necessary, she is also an object that the church can refute." "But, who originally came up with the idea to do that kind of cutting?" "It was her idea. According to her guess, when a person is in adolescence, two things may be connected: the spirit changes and the dust begins to deposit. If the spirit is separated from the body, we may no longer have to obey the dust '—that is, original sin. The question is whether it is possible to separate the elf from the human body without dying. However, she has been to many places and has seen a lot. For example, she has been to Africa. Africans have a The method of making slaves is called reincarnation. Such slaves have no will of their own, will work day and night, never run away, and will not complain. They look like zombies..." "He who has no elves!" "Exactly. Thus she realized that it is possible to separate man from spirit." "Well... Tony Costa told me about the scary ghosts in the northern woods, and I think they might be the same thing." "Yes. In short, the Chief Priest Committee was established because of such an idea, and it was also out of the church's obsessed obsession with original sin." Lord Asriel's daemon twitched his ears sharply, and he laid his hand on her beautiful head. "When they were cutting, there was another situation," he continued, "but they didn't pay attention. The energy connecting the human body and the spirit is very huge. When cutting, all the energy is released instantly and disappears." They don't notice because they mistook it for shock, resentment, or moral outrage; and they've been trained to be desensitized to it. So they ignore the energy at work, and they I never thought of using these energies..." Laila couldn't sit still.She stood up, went to the window, and stared at the endless darkness outside, but she didn't really see anything.They are so cruel.No matter how important it is to unravel the mystery of original sin, it's cruel to treat someone the same way you treated Tony Macorios.There is no reason to do so. "So what are you doing?" Lyra asked. "Have you ever made a cut like that?" "I'm interested in a completely different matter. I don't think the Chief Priest Committee has done enough. I want to find the source of the dust itself directly." "Origin? Where did it come from?" "From another universe, we can see that universe through the aurora." Lyra turned back again.Her father was leaning back in his chair, easy and strong, with eyes as fierce as his elf's.Laila didn't love him, and couldn't trust him, but she had to admire him, and admire him in this lifeless wasteland.The extreme luxury gathered in the world admires his powerful ambition. "What about another universe?" she asked. "One of an infinite number of parallel worlds. Witches have known about them for hundreds of years, yet the theologian who was the first to prove their existence mathematically was expelled more than fifty years ago." church. But this is a fact, and there is no way to deny it. "However, no one has ever thought that it is possible for us to cross from one universe to another. We originally thought that this would violate the fundamental laws. Well... we were wrong. We learned and studied and saw the world above us .Since light can travel through different worlds, so can we. Lyra, just like you learned to use the alethiometer through study and research, we used to only gradually discover that world through study and study. "Now, that world, and all other universes, arise out of possibility. Let's say you toss a coin: it may land either heads or tails, and before it hits the ground, It is impossible to know which side came up. If it came up heads, the possibility of it coming up tails would no longer exist. But before this moment, the two possibilities are equal. "However, in the other world, the coin does indeed come up tails. When this happens, the two worlds are separated. I will use the example of a coin toss to make it clearer. In fact, this possibility disappears at the level of elementary particles, but in exactly the same way: at one moment there are many possibilities, at another moment only one possibility becomes reality, Other possibilities cease to exist—unless other worlds suddenly appear, and then those possibilities do become reality. "And I'm going to go into that world behind the aurora," he said, "because I think all the dust in our universe comes from that world. You saw me give the academicians in the lounge of Jordan College You saw the dust pouring from the aurora into the world, and you saw the city with your own eyes. Now that light can cross the barrier between different universes, since dust can cross, since we can see the city city, then we can build a bridge across the past. It takes a sudden release of energy, but I can do it. Somewhere in that world is where all the dust comes from, where all the death, all the evil in this world comes from. , a source of pain and harm. Laila, no matter what humans see, there is a desire to destroy it. This is original sin. I will destroy it, and then death will no longer exist." "That's why they're keeping you here?" "Yes, they're terrified. They have a good reason." He stood up, and his elf also stood up, looking very proud, so beautiful, and so terrible.Lyra sat quite still, afraid of her father and deeply admired him, she thought he had gone completely mad - but was she qualified to judge such a man? "Go to bed," he said, "Thorold will tell you where to sleep." After speaking, he turned to leave. "You forgot your alethiometer," Lyra said. "Ah, yes. Actually I don't need it now," he said. "It's of no use to me without a book on how to use it. Don't you know? I think the Dean of Jordan College gave it to了你。他真地要你把它带给我吗？” “嗯……当然！”莱拉说。但她随即转念一想，这才发现实际上乔丹学院院长从来没有要她这样做过；她一直都是想当然地认为是要交给阿斯里尔勋爵的，因为院长把真理仪交给自己难道还有别的原因吗？“没有，”莱拉说，“我不知道，我原来以为——” “哦，我不需要它，它是你的，莱拉。” "But--" “晚安，孩子，” 莱拉无话可说了。她被弄糊涂了，脑子里急切想问的十几个问题一个也说不出来。她坐在壁炉旁边，看着他离开了房间。