Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

At this moment, there are basically no people in the observatory, only Fano and Tierlando are still there.To Beanie's relief, Arthur 77 had left the observatory.That's great, Beanie thought.The old man was exhausted after working hard on the research of Kargesh II.Tonight, he couldn't bear any more pressure. Only Fano and Tierlando, which is fine.Fano's brain is sharp and active, which is exactly the kind of person Beanie needs; and Tierlando has many years of experience in observing and studying the vast space with telescopes and cameras, and can give Beanie the concept he needs.

The information provides some help. Tirrando said: "I've been developing pictures all day, Beanie, and I've gotten nowhere, and it looks like I've put my life on the line. I haven't found anything in the sky but six suns. Look at the old man. Are you going crazy?" "I see its brain is as sharp as ever." "But these pictures..." said Tierlando, "I've been scanning the sky these days, and I can't find the object I'm studying. I click the shutter, move down a few degrees, click the shutter again, and click again. Move, press the shutter again. This methodically scans the entire sky. Beanie, look what I got? Nothing but a bunch of pictures!"

"If the unknown moon is invisible, Tierlando, then it cannot be. Simple enough." "Maybe it's invisible to the naked eye, but the camera should be able to..." "Look, let's not talk about that for a while. I need some help from both of you, something purely theoretical, to do with Arthur's new theory." "But what if this unknown satellite is just a pie in the sky, with little hope?" Tierlando argued. "Invisible pies can become real pies," snapped Beanie. "We don't want it to go off the rails and hit us on the head. Just say you can help."

"This, well..." "Very good. I want you to prepare for me a computerized forecast of the six suns in 4200 years." Tierlando opened his mouth wide, dumbstruck, and couldn't believe his ears. "Four thousand and two hundred years, is that what you said, Beanie?" "I know you don't keep data on any stars that last this long, but I'm talking about computer predictions, Tierlando. You've got reliable data for at least a hundred years, don't you?" "More than a hundred years." "That's even better. Set them up, move time forward and backward, and predict how they'll behave. Let the computer tell you the combination of the positions of the six suns each day for the past twenty-one centuries, and then Then let it tell you the combination of the twenty-first century in the future. If you have difficulty programming, I believe Fano will be happy to help."

"I think I can handle it," said Tierlando in a very composed tone, "but would you mind telling me the purpose of this? Are we going to write an almanac? Even if it is an almanac, all it needs is the Gregorian future. A few years. So, what on earth are you going to do?" "I'll tell you later," Beanie said. "I promise you." He let her smoke at her desk, walked across the observatory building to Arthur's workspace, and sat down in front of the monitors of the three computers on which Arthur had worked out Calgesh's second theory.Beanie stared thoughtfully for a long time at the central computer, which had shown Kargesh's orbit disturbed by the supposed Kargesh II.

He struck a key, and Kargash's second simulated trajectory line appeared on the bright display.It was a huge, monstrous ellipse in Kalgash's own small, almost circular orbit.He looked at it carefully for a moment, then hit the keys that would bring the sun to the screen, and looked at the sun on the screen thoughtfully.Watched it for about an hour, letting them appear in various configurations: one moment Onas appeared with Tano and Sisar in the sky, one moment Onas appeared with Trey and Patru, and one moment Onas Sis and Dovim appeared with Trey and Caesar, and then Dovim appeared with Tano and Caesar, and then only Patru and Trey appeared again...

Yes, all normal combinations. But what are the abnormal combinations? Only Tano and Caesar?No!This cannot happen.The positions of combined solar systems in the universe are very close, which determines that it is impossible for only Tano and Sisar to appear in the sky of this hemisphere, unless Onas or Dovim, or both of them can be seen at the same time.Maybe it was possible thousands of years ago, he thought, though he doubted it.But of course it's impossible now. Trey, Patru, Tano and Caesar appear at the same time? Not right again.These two pairs of suns are diagonally opposite Kargesh; when one pair appears in the sky, the other hides behind Kargesh.Sometimes all four of them can indeed appear in the sky, but when these two combined suns appear, Onas can always see them.That is the famous five-yang sky... This kind of sky coincides with the Dovim single-yang sky in the other hemisphere, which can only happen every few years.

So what about Trey without Patrue or Tano without Caesar? This, in theory, is true.When a combined set of suns approaches the horizon, one of the suns is above the horizon and the other is briefly below it.But it cannot be called a major solar event, it is just a short time difference.The combined suns are still together, separated only briefly by the horizon. Do six suns appear in the sky at the same time? Totally impossible! Worse... It's unimaginable! However, he gave it a second thought.Thinking of those terrible situations, Beanie shuddered all over.If six suns would appear in the sky at the same time, then some parts of the other hemisphere would not see the sun anyway.dark!Darkness will come!Yet no one anywhere in Kargesh knows anything but an abstract idea of ​​darkness.They never encountered a situation where the six suns turned together and most of the world was shrouded in extreme darkness.Will this happen?

"can you?" Beanie considered the dire possibility.The voice of Theremon explaining the Flame theory to him rang in his ears again: "...all the suns will disappear..." "...the stars will rain down fire from the black sky..." He shook his head vigorously.His knowledge of the movement of the sun in the celestial bodies did not allow him to accept the idea of ​​six suns appearing over Kargesh at the same time.It simply cannot happen, let alone a miracle.Beanie didn't believe in miracles at all.The arrangement of the sun in the sky is always like this: at any moment and at any place in Kargash, there is at least one or two shining suns in the sky.

Forget about the six suns, what darkness... all absurd reverie. Is there anything else to consider? Only Dovim appeared in the air?He thought, is that little red sun? Oh yes.This happens, but not often.When Tano, Caesar, Trey, Patru and Onas are combined to form the Five Sun Heavens above one hemisphere, only Dovim remains in the other half of the world.Beanie wondered if this moment was the moment of darkness. Is there such a possibility?Dovim itself emits very little light, a faint purple-red glow that one might mistake for darkness. But in fact, this is unreasonable. Even a small Dovim can provide enough light to let people get rid of the terror of darkness.Furthermore, Dovim's day only appears once every few years.They're uncommon, but they're not terribly special either.To be sure, if a shimmering sun first appeared in the sky had an effect on people that would cause massive psychological disorientation, then everyone would have to worry about the next day when there was only Dovim alone.According to Benny's recollection, such a day will come soon, in about a year or so.In fact, no one is worried about it.

But if only when Dovim appeared in the sky, something else happened, something special, something really unusual, blocked its shimmering light... Tierlando appeared next to him, and said sullenly: "Okay, Benny, I have already set up the sun prediction program you want. Not only are there 4200 years before and after, but also the backward time is infinite. Fano gave me the math advice, and we programmed it so that if you wanted to predict to what year, it would give you data for that year, or go back to the moment when the universe was formed." "Very good. Can you connect it to the computer I use, please? Fano, please come to my place." The stocky graduate student walked over calmly, his black eyes sparkling with curiosity.Apparently he'd been wondering what Beanie was doing.But in order to abide by the etiquette between students and professors, he didn't say anything, just waited quietly and listened to what the professor had to say. "What's shown on the display now," Beanie said, "is Arthur's hypothetical simulated orbit for Kargash II. I'm assuming that this orbit is correct because Arthur told us that it caused the All the chaos of the Kalgesh track, so I'm sure Arthur understands what he's doing. All the programming I have here, or what I'll end up having when Tierlando gets the data over, is you and her The long-term solar activity prediction program has just been set up. What I plan to do now is to find the relationship between when there is only one sun in the sky and when the second Kalgesh approaches Kalgesh, so that..." "That way you can figure out the frequency of the ellipse, can't you, sir?" Fano couldn't help blurting out. Young people's cleverness is both amused and embarrassing. "Actually, that's it. You have ellipses in your head too, don't you?" "I thought of them when Arthur first told us about Calgash II. Do you remember Simbrand? He mentioned that a strange moon might block the sun for a while, and you said it could Called a solar eclipse, and I looked for every possibility of it. But I couldn't speak, and the words were stopped by Arthur, who was too tired and anxious to go home." "Why didn't you mention it after that?" "No one asked me," Fano said. "Okay, now is your chance. I'm going to transfer all the data in the computer to your computer, and we can both sit in the same place and send the data around. What I'm looking for is a very special At this moment, the second Kargesh is at the closest position to Kargesh, and there is only one sun in the sky." Fano nodded.Walks to his computer faster than Beanie has ever seen. Beanie didn't expect to finish the calculations himself first. Fano was well-known and very good at calculations.But the problem is that the calculations of the two are carried out independently, and each is to provide a correctness test of the result.So when Fano stood up a moment later with a triumphant snort and wanted to say something, Beanie waved him angrily to keep quiet, and went on with his calculations.He took an extra awkward ten minutes. Then the data appeared on his display. If every assumption entered into the computer ... Arthur's calculation of the possible size and orbit of the unknown satellite, Tierlando's calculation of the movement of the six suns in the sky ... is correct, then the sky cannot Darkness appears.The only possibility of total darkness would be a single sunny day with only Dovim present, but it seems that Kargash II has little chance of giving Dovim an eclipse.On the long orbit of Kargesh Second, there are very few chances of getting close to Kargesh, and even less chances of encountering a single sun that only Dovim appears when approaching Kargesh, which can be regarded as very small up.Beanie understood this all too well. Is it negligible? No, not trivially. Not quite.He carefully looked at the data on the screen, and it seemed that there was a possibility of a convergence.The calculations haven't been done yet, but the situation is moving closer to this possibility as Kargash and Kargash II are continually combined within the required range of 4200 years.Every time Kalgesh II makes one revolution around its orbit, when it enters the vicinity of Kalgesh, it gets closer to Dovim Shanyangtian.Data is constantly appearing, and various astronomical images are constantly being generated in the computer.Beanie looked at the screen with suspicion and growing fear. There, finally appeared.Three spheres are arranged in a line.Kargesh... Kargesh second... Dovim! yes!It is entirely possible that Kargash II will make Dovim produce a total solar eclipse on a single sunny day in Dovim. But this figure is rarely seen.Dovim must be alone in one hemisphere, furthest from Kargesh and second closest to Kargesh.The unaided eye diameter of Kargash II is seven times that of Dovim.Dovim For half a day, every corner of Kargash was shrouded in darkness.The computer shows that this highly specific condition occurs every other time... Benny's eyes widened in disbelief. He turned to Fano, the young graduate student's round face pale with terror. Beanie said hoarsely, "Okay. I've done my calculations and got a number, but please tell me yours first." "Total solar eclipse of Dovim caused by Kargesh II, separated by 2049 years." "Yes." Beanie said with a heavy heart, "It's exactly the same as my number, it happens every 2049 years." He felt dizzy for a while, and the whole universe seemed to be turned upside down. 2049.This number is exactly the length of a penitent year as the Flames speak, and is exactly the same as the number written in the Book of Revelations. "...all the suns will disappear..." "...the stars will rain down fire from the black sky..." He didn't know what a star really was.But Sifna found a mound on the Sajikan peninsula, and several cities built on it were destroyed by a fire. This terrible fire occurs about once every two thousand years.If she used carbon... 14 dating, wouldn't the exact time between each fire happen to be 2049? "...the black sky..." Beanie looked helplessly at Fano across the room. "When will the next Dovim Shan Yangtian appear?" he asked. "There are still eleven months and four days," Fano said with a cracked smile. "It's September 19th." "Yes," Beanie said, "Mondil 71 says this is the day the skies will turn dark and God will send down fire to destroy our civilization."