Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

"For the first time in my life," said Arthur, "I found myself praying from the bottom of my heart that my calculations were wrong, but I am afraid God will not grant me such forgiveness. I found that we were moving inexorably towards a result, The result is scary just thinking about it.” He looked around the room, pausing for a moment on everyone he called.Of course there is young Beanie 25, Schelling 501 from the Department of Psychology, and archaeologist Sifna 89. By sheer willpower, he tried to hide from them the fatigue he could feel, the growing disappointment, the devastating effect of what he had learned in the last week, and he even let himself forget it all. .But lately, he's often been unable to help feeling that he's lived too long, or wished he had died a year or two ago.These thoughts were always relentless in his mind.Once upon a time, steely will and tireless energy were the keynotes of his character.Now, aging was a constant drain on his energy and a refusal to let those characters slip through him.

He said to Schelling: "As far as I understand, the scope of your research is darkness, right?" The chubby psychologist seemed slightly amused. "Let's just say that. My doctoral dissertation is on darkness-related psychopathy, but the study of darkness is also an aspect of my research topic. I am interested in all kinds of mass hysteria... people I am very interested in the irrational response of the brain to huge stimuli. The various psychotic symptoms of human beings make me forget to eat and sleep." "Very good." Arthur said calmly, "Even if it's what you said. Listen to Beanie 25, you are an authority on the study of darkness in this university. You just watched our astronomy demonstration on the computer screen, I think you are well aware of what our discovery means fundamentally."

The old astronomer couldn't find a way to sound less condescending.But Schelling didn't seem particularly angry. He said calmly: "I think I understand it very well. You are saying that at a certain distance from us, there is a mysterious and invisible celestial body, the size of a planet, orbiting Kargesh. The gravitational force of one star approaching another just accounts for the deviation in the orbit of Kargash that Biney found. Am I right?" "Yes, exactly," said Arthur. "Well," went on Schelling, "it seems that this object sometimes comes between us and the sun, a phenomenon called a solar eclipse. But only one of the suns must orbit a certain position for this to happen. , this sun is Dovim. It has been shown that a solar eclipse can only occur when..." Schelling stopped suddenly, frowning, "when a sun of Dovim appears in the sky, and it and the so-called Kargash The second row is in a line, covering Dovim completely, and it only appears when we can't see the light. Am I right?"

Arthur nodded. "You understand exactly right." "I'm scared and I hope my understanding is wrong." "Now, a word about the effects of the eclipse..." said Arthur. Schelling took a deep breath. "Well. A solar eclipse...it happens every 2049 years, thank goodness!...will bring long periods of widespread darkness to Kalgesh. The situation around the world is that each continent will be in complete darkness for up to . . . how much do you say? . . . nine to fourteen hours, depending on the latitude." "Now, as a professional psychologist, can you talk about your opinion, what effect does it have on the human brain?" Arthur said.

"You'll lose your mind," Schelling said without hesitation. The room was suddenly enveloped in silence. After a while, Arthur said, "Is it your prediction that the whole world will go crazy?" "Generally, the darkness of the world, the madness of the world. I think people will be affected in varying degrees, ranging from short-term disorientation or depression to complete and permanent loss of sanity. Naturally, at first , whose psychology is more stable, the less likely to be destroyed by the darkness. But I think, no one will be completely immune to harm."

"I don't understand," said Beanie, "why darkness makes a man mad?" Schelling smiled. "We just can't adapt. If you can, imagine you live in a world with only one sun in the sky. The world rotates once, and the two hemispheres are only in the sun half the time, and the other half are dark." Benny couldn't help making a frightened gesture. "Got it?" Schelling said. "You don't even want to hear about it! But people on that planet have to get used to that darkness every day. Likely, they'll find the day more pleasant and more agreeable to them." but for the darkness, they will take it calmly, treat it as a normal thing in the day, and will not have any impulse at all, just use it as the time to sleep, and when they wake up, it will be broad daylight again. But , we can’t do it. We are used to living in an environment of eternal light, every moment, year after year, there is sunshine. If Onas is not in the sky, there are Tano, Sisar and Dovim in the sky , or Patrou and Trey, etc. Our brains, even our minds, are used to permanent light. We don't like days without light, even for a brief moment. You sleep with an eternal light on in your house Is it? I am like this!"

"Of course," Beanie said. "Of course? Why 'of course'?" "Why? Everyone sleeps like this!" "That's the crux of the matter. My friend Beanie, please tell me: Have you ever been in the dark?" Beanie thought, leaning against the wall next to the picture window. "No, I can't say I've experienced it, but I know what it is. It's just... um..." He made a puzzling movement with his fingers, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "It's just that there is no light, like In the cave." "Have you ever been in a cave?"

"In the cave! Of course not!" "I don't think you have either. I tried it once a long time ago, when I was studying psychosis caused by darkness. But I came out soon. I walked in, and when I looked back, the hole was still vaguely visible, but there was darkness around me." Schelling giggled, "I never thought a fat guy like me could run so fast." Almost in a provocative tone, Benny said: "In this situation, if I were here, I don't think I would run away." The psychologist smiled slightly at the young astronomer. "Very brave to say! I admire your courage, my friend." Turning to Arthur, Schelling said, "Would you allow me to perform a little psychological experiment, sir?"

"Just do what you want." "Thank you." Schelling turned his gaze back to Beanie. "Draw the curtain next to you. Do you mind? My friend Beanie?" Beanie looked surprised. "What are you doing?" "Just close the curtains, nothing. Come and sit next to me when you do." "Well, if you insist..." Thick red curtains hung from either side of the windows.It had been 40 years since the house had been Arthur's office.As far as he could remember, the curtain had never been drawn once.Beanie shrugged, reached out and grabbed the fringed pull cord, and gave it a hard tug.Red curtains slid across the wide windows, their brass rings hissing on their rods.At first the dim red light of Dovim could be seen, and then there was a shadow, and even the shadow became indistinct.

The room was silent.The footsteps were louder as Benny groped his way to the table.Halfway through, the footsteps stopped. "I can't see where you are, Sherin," he said pitifully. "Feel over here," Schelling ordered in a nervous voice. "But I can't see you!" gasped the young astronomer, "I can't see anything!" "How did you expect it just now? This is darkness." After a while, Schelling continued, "Come here. Even if you close your eyes, you can't go wrong in this room. Come and sit down .” Footsteps sounded again, and some shaking could be heard, followed by the sound of someone touching a chair.Benny's voice was weak: "I'm here."

"how do you feel?" "Me...it's okay." "You like the dark, don't you?" There was no answer for a long time. "No." "Don't you like it, Beanie?" "I don't like it at all, it's awful. It's like the whole wall is going to..." He paused again, "They're pressing on me. I keep trying to push it away...but I'm not going crazy. Actually , I feel like I'm getting used to it." "Okay. Sifna, how are you feeling?" "I can take a small amount of darkness, and I often go through an underground passage. But I can't say I like it." "What about you, Arthur?" "I'm still alive, too. But I think you've proved your point, Dr. Schelling," snapped the Director of the Observatory. "Okay. Beanie, now please draw the curtains." There was a careful step in the dark and the rustle of Beanie's body against the drapery as he fumbled for the stay cord, and then there was the brisk hiss of the curtain opening.Dovim's red light filled the room.Beanie looked out the window at the smallest of the six suns, and couldn't help letting out a happy squeal. Schelling wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and said in a trembling voice, "It's just staying in a dark room for a while." "It's bearable," Beanie said lightly. "Yeah, in a dark room, at least for a while. But, you've all heard about the Choller Centennial Fair, haven't you? That mystery tunnel scandal. Beanie, last summer I told you about it one evening at the Six Suns Club. You were with that reporter called Theremon." "Yeah, remember. People ride through dark tunnels in amusement parks and come out crazy." "Just a mile-long tunnel ... with no lights. People were jolting through the tunnel in convertibles for 15 minutes. Some people died of shock while walking through it, and others lost their minds forever when they came out." "Why is that? What's driving them crazy?" "It's actually the same thing that was acting on you just now. When the curtains are drawn, you feel that the walls are constantly pressing against you. Human beings are instinctively afraid of the dark. There is a term in psychology, which is claustrophobia. Darkness is always associated with closed places, therefore, to be afraid of one closed place is to be afraid of all closed places. Do you understand?" "Is it the same with those who went mad in the tunnel?" "Unfortunately, in your terms, those who go . Believe me, because I have personal experience in the tunnel. Just now, you only experienced a few minutes without light in the room, and I think you all feel scared. You might as well think about what it was like for fifteen minutes." "Didn't they recover afterwards?" "Some are recovered, some will be tormented for years, and perhaps never recovered. Their underlying terror of darkness and closure has materialized in the mind, or may be called ingrained. Others, as I say , suddenly died of terror. As for recovery, where do we start? This is the power of fifteen minutes of darkness." "For some people," Beanie said stubbornly, his brow furrowed and furrowed, "I still don't think it's going to be that bad for most of us. Certainly not including me." Schelling sighed angrily. "Just imagine... darkness everywhere. There is no light anywhere in sight. Houses, trees, fields, earth, sky...it's pitch black! The stars come into your vision. If you've heard the preaching of those believers...whatever they are , call them stars. Can you imagine all this?" "Yes. I can imagine," Beanie said solemnly, more sharply. "No! No! You can't!" Schelling suddenly impulsively hit his fist on the table, "You're deceiving yourself! You can't even imagine it. Your brain doesn't have the ability to imagine that concept at all... ...Look at yourself, Beanie, you're a mathematician, aren't you? Can you really imagine exactly what infinity is? Or what is eternity? You can only talk about it, or reduce it to equations, assuming These abstract numbers are real, they are just symbols written on paper .But when you try to really fill your brain with the idea of ​​infinity, I'm sure you'll get dizzy pretty quickly.A small portion of the truth scares you, as does the small portion of darkness you just tasted.When the real thing appears, your brain is limited and unable to comprehend the phenomenon.As a result, you lose your sanity completely or permanently.In short, I have no doubts about it. " There was a sudden, eerie silence in the room. Finally, Arthur finally spoke. "That's your conclusion? Dr. Schelling? Most people lose their minds?" "At least 75 percent of people will lose their minds, maybe 85 percent, maybe even 100 percent." Arthur shook his head. "It's appalling, absurd, an unbelievable catastrophe. I must tell you, though, that my thoughts are the same as Beanie's... we'll beat it anyway, and people will be far less affected than you Seriously. Despite my age, I can still feel a little optimism, a little hope..." Sifna said suddenly: "Mr. Arthur, may I speak?" "Of course! Otherwise, what are you doing here?" The archaeologist stood up and walked to the middle of the room. "In a way, I'm surprised that I'm here. When I first discussed my Sajikan discovery here with Benny, I begged him to keep it a secret. I was in Worried about my scientific reputation because I know that the data I have found could easily constitute evidence in support of certain religious statements, the most irrational, horrific, and dangerous religious fanatics to exist in our society. No need to explain, you know I'm talking about the Flames. But shortly thereafter, Beanie came back to me with his new discovery... the cycle time of the Dovim eclipse....I understand that I must share what I know.I bring here photos and excavation maps of the Tombo Mound, located near the main Bekerimot archaeological site on the Sajikan Peninsula.Beanie, you've seen all these photographs, but please pass them on to Dr Arthur and Dr Schelling..." Sifna waited for them to finish reading the material, and then continued: "If you think of the ancient residential area on Tombo Mound as a big cake with layers... Naturally, the youngest layer is the top layer... It is much easier to understand these diagrams. The topmost layer we call the Beckerimot culture layer, and the next layer was built by the same people, and we believe that it was in the embryonic period of the Bekerimot civilization. Below it overlaps Layer after layer, there are at least seven layers in total, or even more. "Gentlemen, each residential layer ended up being destroyed by fire. I think you can all see the black lines between each layer, which are fire lines... charcoal layers. First, I just intuitively understand these The time of the rise and fall of the city is guessed, and it is believed that the time of each fire is about two thousand years apart, and the latest one is about two thousand years ago, slightly earlier than the Bekrimot culture, which is considered to be a history-making culture. "However, the age of charcoal is most suitable to be determined by carbon dating, which can provide us with a more accurate time. Once the excavations from Tombo Mound were delivered to Salo City, the laboratories of our department were very busy. Stop, carbon dated them, and now the results are in. I can tell you from memory. The top floor of Tombo was destroyed by a fire in 2050, and the numbers are off by plus or minus 20 years; The charcoal ash in the lower second layer is 4100 years ago, plus or minus 40 years; the third layer was destroyed by a fire 6200 years ago, plus or minus 80 years; the fourth layer is 8300 years ago, plus or minus 100 years; Five floors..." "My God!" exclaimed Schelling, "are they all so equally spaced?" "Every layer is like this. The fires occur intermittently every little more than two centuries. Despite the small amount of bias that inevitably occurs in the measurements, it is still safe to conclude that they are actually separated by 2049 years. This is precisely the The intervals between eclipses in Dovim that Beanie attests to...and," Sifna added in a stern voice, "is also the length of time that the Flames call the Years of Penitence. At the end of each Year of Penitence, The world deserves to be consumed by fire." "There's a mass madness effect," Schelling bluffed. "When darkness falls, people need light... Light of any kind, torches, bonfires. Burn everything! Burn the furniture, burn the houses." "No," Beanie muttered. "Remember," Schelling said, "these people are insane, they're like children . result." "No," Beanie said again, very disappointed. "No, no, nothing could be more absurd than that." "It's a unique insight that the Tombo fire was a small event in a small place ... it's a rare coincidence that happened over such a long period of time with such precision and coherence," Sifner said. regular, and limited to one place, perhaps a place where special purification ceremonies were held. Since no other place on the planet Kalgesh has been found to have it ancient, we have not yet been able to make other claims. But Beanie's calculations are That changed everything and now we find that every 2049 years...not necessarily true...the world will go into darkness. As Schelling said, then the fire will burn and get out of control. When a fire like Tombo burns, any residential area, Wherever it is in the world, it will burn like the city of Tombo, and for the same reason. Tombo is the only place left from prehistoric times, a holy place, a place of God, as the Flames say. The place where it appeared to humans." "Perhaps they will reappear to man," said Arthur darkly, "and give us evidence of the fires of old." Beanie watched him. "So you've come to believe the preaching of the disciples, sir?" It seemed to Arthur that Beanie's questioning was almost like calling him a madman.For a while, he had nothing to say. Then he opened his mouth, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible. "Trust them? No, no, not quite. But I'm interested in them, Beanie, and I'm afraid to even ask the necessary question: What if they're right? It's clear from all indications that the darkness is indeed 2049 years apart. This happens once a year, which is what the Apocalypse refers to. At this time Schelling said that if this happened, the world would go crazy, and Sifna's evidence shows that at least in one small part of the world Places that do have crazy things happen over and over again, where houses have been destroyed by a fire that happens every 2049 many times.” "So, what do you think we should do?" Beanie asked, "Join the Flame faction?" Arthur controlled his anger again. "No, Beanie. Just study their teachings to see what use they have for us." "Use?" Schelling and Sifna said loudly almost at the same time. "Yes, use!" Arthur clenched his thin hands and waved them in front of them, "Don't you realize that the survival of human civilization depends on the four of us? It's time to test us, right? As romantic as it may sound, all four of us shared what was beginning to seem indisputable: the end of the world was upon us. Worldwide darkness...bringing worldwide madness...generated World-wide conflagration... Whole cities are engulfed in conflagration, society ceases to exist. But there is already a small group of people who, on the basis of no one knowing whether it is true or not, are predicting when and which day the same catastrophe will occur. " "September 19," Beanie said softly. "September 19th, yes. There is only one sun in the sky, Dovim...and, if we are right, the second Kargash will come and emerge from its concealment, blocking all light. This day , According to the Flame faction, the fire will consume our town. How do they know? A fluke guess? Purely fabricated?" "Some of the stuff they said didn't make sense," Beanie pointed out. "For example, stars would appear in the sky. What are stars? Where do they come from?" Arthur shrugged and said, "I don't know either. This part of the flame sect's teachings is likely to be an allegory, but they seem to have some records of solar eclipses that have occurred, and from these records, they made their current dire predictions." .For these records, we need to do further understanding." "Why us?" Beanie asked. "Because we ... as scientists ... will play the role of leadership and scientific authority in the struggle to save civilization in the future," said Arthur. Protect yourself and weather what's to come. But the truth is, only gullible and ignorant people are interested in the Flames, and most of the smart and sane people look down on them as much as we do... look at them be weirdos, fools, lunatics or liars. What we have to do is to persuade them to share with us their astronomical and archaeological data, if they have any. And then use public opinion to publicize our findings. Then we use the data obtained from them The data supporting them, we have to do that, essentially forming an alliance with them to deal with what we all think is going to happen. In this way, we can gain the attention of a wide range of society, from the gullible to the favorite Pickpockets." "So you want us to be politicians instead of scientists?" Sifna asked. "I don't like that. That's not my job at all. I'm in favor of giving the data to the government and letting them..." "Government!" Beanie snorted. "Beney's right," Schelling said. "I know what government officials do. They're going to form a committee, put out a report... and finally put the report on file, and then form another committee to take what the previous committee found. Stuff is pulled from the archives, voted on, and... no, we don't have time for that much. Our job is to make our point. I know the first thing to tackle is what the dark does to people's brains What kind of damage. Arthur and Beanie, you both have mathematical proof that darkness is coming. You, Sifna, know what the darkness can do to ancient civilizations." "But dare we go out and look for them?" Beanie asked. "Aren't we afraid to jeopardize our scientific reputation if we associate with them?" "Well said!" Sifna said, "We need to stay away from them!" Arthur frowned and said: "Perhaps you are right. I have a suggestion that may be too naive. We can establish a working partnership with them. No, I withdraw my suggestion." "Wait!" said Beanie. "I have a friend . A secret meeting could be arranged for Arthur and the senior officer. Sir, you could try them out to see if they have anything we could use ... by obtaining from them a more reliable proof in our favour. The material...we can deny the meeting at any time if it turns out they have nothing in our favor." "That's a possible approach," said Arthur. "I'd like to meet him, though it's a bit annoying. . . . I suppose there's no fundamental objection to my suggestion, then? You're all in favor of action." , to respond as necessary to what we have discovered." "I'm in favor," Beanie said, glancing at Schelling. "I'm still adamant that man can survive the darkness. But everything that's been said here and now makes me feel that a lot of man can't survive the civilization we've created." Nor will it be spared ... unless we act." Arthur nodded. "Very well. Tell your friend Theremon, though, be careful. You know what I think of the press, and I don't like it much better than the Flames. But make sure your It was clear to Theremon that I only wished to meet in private with the senior Flame official whom he knew." "It must be done, sir!" "You, Schelling, give me all the literary works that describe how people react when they are in the dark for a long time." "No problem, Doctor." "And you, Sifna...can you prepare a report on the excavation of Tombo that can be understood by laymen? For the recurring fire problem, provide as detailed evidence as possible." "Some evidence is yet to be completed, Dr. Arthur. This part of the material was not discussed today." Arthur's brow furrowed. "what you mean?" "The clay tablets with inscriptions," she said, "were found in the third and fourth floors from the top of the mound. Mudlin has accepted this difficult task and is trying to interpret them. Come out. His preliminary opinion is that the soil tablets recorded some kind of sacrificial warning before the fire.” "That's how it was written in the first editions of Revelation!" said Beanie, raising his voice. "Oh, yes. Maybe that's the truth." Sifna said with a smile, and there was not much joy in her voice, "In short, I hope to get the explanation of the soil slips as soon as possible, and then I can hand over all the materials to you, Arthur PhD." "Very well," said Arthur. "We need all the information we can get. That's what we've been doing with our lives." He looked them over one by one. "However, there is one important thing to keep in mind: I did not mean to do them any favors by agreeing to contact the Flames. I just wanted to find out what they had that would convince us of what was about to happen in the world Thing, situation, that's all. Otherwise, I try to distance myself from them. I don't want to involve any false stuff, I don't believe their deceitful nonsense.. I just want to know how they came to disaster That conclusion will happen. And I want you guys to be equally vigilant in your dealings with them. Understand?" "It's all like a dream," Beanie said softly. "A very bad nightmare," Arthur went on, "every cell in my soul is crying: The catastrophe will not happen! It's pure nonsense! By the next September 19th, the world will be safe! Unfortunately, the numbers point to catastrophe." He looked out the window.Onas had vanished from the sky, and Dovim appeared on the horizon the size of a dot.Twilight has fallen.Only Patru and Trey still emitted a gloomy light, which made people feel very uncomfortable. "We cannot hesitate any longer. The darkness is coming, or the stars...whatever they are...will literally appear. The fire will burn. In eleven months the end of the civilization we have created will come! The end of the world It will come!"