Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty-Three

Schelling led the way to the next room.There were sofas, thick red curtains on the windows, and a maroon rug on the floor.Dovim's strange brick-colored light came in through the windows, and the room was stained red. Schelling was surprised to see Theremon at the observatory tonight.After all, what Theremon wrote in the column poured cold water on Arthur's gang's preparations for war across the country.In recent weeks, every time Theremon's name was mentioned, Arthur had been furious.Somehow, he graciously allowed him to watch the eclipse. This is kind of weird and has trouble.Perhaps it meant that the stubborn character of the old astronomer was beginning to crumble...not only his anger, but his whole mental capacity was exhausted in the face of the impending disaster.

Therefore, when Schelling found himself at the observatory, he was also slightly surprised.It was his last decision.A pure impulse that he had rarely experienced frightened Lilias, and frightened himself as well.He will not forget the terror the few minutes spent hiding in the mysterious tunnel caused him. Eventually, however, he realizes that he has only to stay here, just as he has only to go to the mysterious tunnel.In the eyes of others, he may be just an easy-going academic staff with a simple and heavy body; but in his own eyes, he looks like a big fat man on the surface, but he is still a scientist in his bones.He has been concerned with the study of darkness.Knowing that this time of darkness will be the darkest in the past two thousand years, but he chooses an underground shelter, how can this maintain his self-esteem?

No, he's just here, witnessing the eclipse, feeling the darkness take over the world. As they walked into the room, Theremon asked with surprising candor: "Schelling, I'm starting to wonder if this doubt I've been holding is right." "You should think about it." "Yeah, I was thinking. Look at Dovim hanging in the sky like that, the incredible red coloring it all. You know, I'd give 10 bucks for a second of white sunshine and a decent Tanot. For Therefore, I would also like to see Tano and Xisa in the sky, and even Onas in the sky." "Onus will appear in the sky in the morning." Beanie interjected just as he walked in.

"Yes, so will we?" Schelling asked, grinning a bit, picking the thorn in his words right away."Our reporter friend was dying to have a drink," he said of Biney. "Arthur will be angry, he has ordered everyone to stay sober tonight." Schelling said, "Water, then?" "That……" "Come on, Beanie. Arthur won't come here." "I guess so." Benny tiptoed to the nearest window, squatted down, took out a bottle containing a red liquid from a box below, shook it, and the bottle made a "gudong, gudong" sound. "I don't think Arthur knows that," he said, walking briskly back to the table. "Come on! That's all we have. You're a guest and you drink it, Theremon. Sherin and I will drink from the bottle." He filled the small glass cautiously.

Theremon laughed and said, "Benny, you were a teetotaler when we first met." "That was the past, and this is the present. The atmosphere is too tense. Theremon, I want to study too. In this atmosphere, having a hearty drink can make you relax a lot." "That's what I heard too," said Theremon softly.He took a sip. It seemed to be a kind of red wine, rough brewed, maybe a cheap canned wine shipped from a southern province.Only people like Beanie who don't drink at all buy it because they know what a good wine is.For now, though, a bottle of this wine is better than nothing.

Beanie took a sip himself and handed the bottle to Schelling.The psychologist turned the bottle upside down and put it on his lips to taste slowly and carefully.Then, gulping it down contentedly, wiped his lips again, and said to Binny, "Arthur was kind of weird tonight. I mean he was kind of weird on this occasion. What's the matter?" "I guess he's worried about Fano and Yermott"! "Who?" "Two graduate students. They should have arrived a few hours ago, but they haven't arrived yet. Arthur is the most short-staffed right now, because all but the necessary people will have to go to the retreat."

Theremon said, "Do you think they would desert?" "Who? Fano and Yermot? Of course not, they are not that kind of people. They will be here tonight. When the solar eclipse appears, they will make records, but if there is any riot in Saro City, they will be arrested." What should I do if I catch it?" Beanie shrugged, "Okay, I guess they will come sooner or later. But when the critical moment is approaching, they haven't arrived yet, and the work piles up, and things become troublesome. It was Arthur who worried." Schelling said: "I don't think so. Of course, there were two missing, and he'll take that to mind, but there were other things. The last time I saw him he was very combative, talking about rebuilding society after a solar eclipse... This is the real Arthur, a man of steel. What I see now What I found was a man who was physically and mentally exhausted and badly injured. He looked pitiful, and all he could do was wait for the end to come. He didn't throw Serimon out..."

"He tried to do that," said Theremon, "but Beanie and Severa dissuaded him." "Here you are, Beanie. Have you ever heard of anyone who could talk Arthur out of something? . . . Here, give me the wine." "Maybe it's my fault," said Therimon. "Everything I've written has attacked his plan...to build hideouts like hideouts all over the country. If he really believes there will be a A period of national darkness when the whole of humanity will go mad and lose its mind..." "What he believes," said Beanie, "is what we all believe."

"It would be a blow to Arthur if the government didn't take his predictions seriously. I share the responsibility of everyone. I will never forgive myself if you all turn out to be right. " Schelling said, "Don't give yourself too much credit. Even if you write five columns a day calling for a massive readiness campaign, Thelimon, the government will still not do anything about it. If there is a hard-core journalist who is as popular as you On Arthur's side, the government might not take Arthur's warnings as seriously as they did." "Thanks a lot," Theremon said. "I'm grateful... Is there any more wine?" He glanced at Beanie. "Of course, I have trouble with Severa. She thinks my words are too bad."

"She seemed very interested in you for a while," Beanie said. "I still want to know, to be honest, are you and her... ah...?" "No." Theremon smiled slightly. "No, we never will now. We were very good friends, though, and she was charming, really. What about her prehistoric cycle theory? Does it matter?" "No, if you listen to the rest of the department," Schelling said, "they're very dismissive of the theory. Of course, they've all benefited from the archaeological system that's been established, which claims that Berrimot It was the first urban center, and if you go back thousands of years, you don't find any civilization at all, just primitive jungle tribes."

"But how do they justify the periodic cataclysms of Mount Tombo?" asked Theremon. "Scientists who think they know what's going on can justify anything that threatens their beliefs," Schelling said. The Flames are very similar, only they dress differently." He took the wine bottle that Theremon had been holding casually, and poured himself a sip. The discovery of Mt. Twisted the contours of our prehistory. The question is not whether there have been periodic fires over millennia, but why." "Recently I've seen multiple explanations, and they're more or less unbelievable. Someone at Quattro University argued that there are periodic rains of fire every few thousand years, and we got a letter in the newspaper , the writer, who claims to be a freelance archaeologist, says he has 'proved' that Kargash also sometimes crosses one of the suns. I think there are even more absurd proposals." "There's only one point of view," Beanie said calmly. "Remember the spell of the Sword of Targora. To make it clear, you have to discard assumptions that require extra bells and whistles. Fire rains from time to time. In us, there is no reason at all; talk of passing through the sun is nonsense. But the mathematical data of the orbit of Kargash under the action of gravity give an accurate explanation for the theory of solar eclipses." "The eclipse theory may stand, no doubt it does. We'll see that soon, won't we?" Theremon said, "but the sword of Tagora's spell was applied to you just now. Nothing in the eclipse theory tells us that there is bound to be a big fire anytime soon." "Not really," Schelling said. "The theory says nothing about it, but common sense says there will be a conflagration. The eclipse brings darkness, darkness brings madness, madness brings fire, and it all makes the two A millennium of struggle has been destroyed. Tomorrow, nothing will exist, and all the towns and cities of Kargesh will be destroyed." "You sound like a believer," Theremon said angrily. "I heard the same thing from Fremont 66 a few months ago. Come to think of it, at the Six Suns Club, I put this I told you about it." He stared out the window, his eyes shifted from the verdant green hillside of the Observatory Mountain to the distant horizon of Saluo City, where the spiers were densely covered, and the spiers were shining with a scarlet light.The reporter glanced at Dovim quickly, and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of tension in his body.Dovim was glowing red in the sky at this moment, glaring at the sky, making people shudder. Theremon continued stubbornly: "I don't agree with your way of reasoning. Because there is no sun in the sky, I have to go crazy? Even if I go crazy... Yes, I haven't forgotten those poor people in the mysterious tunnel. Bugs...even if I go mad and everyone else goes mad, what harm does that do to the city? Are we going to blow them up?" "That's what I said at first," put in Beanie, "because I didn't sit still and think through the whole thing. If you were in the dark, what would you want most of all . . . What do you need most instinctively?" "I think it should be light." "Yes!" Sherin let go of his voice and shouted, "Light, yes, light!" "What's wrong?" "How can you get the light?" Theremon pointed to the power switch on the wall. "Just flip the switch". "By the way," Schelling said mockingly, "only the gods would be merciful and supply enough electricity to meet your needs. Because of course the power company can't do that. All the power plants will stop generating electricity, and the staff will be in The darkness is stumbling around and talking, and so are the people who control the power lines, you know what I mean?" Theremon nodded numbly. Schelling said: "The power plant stopped generating electricity, where will the light come from? When? I think there are only emergency lights, and they all use batteries. You can't carry emergency lights with you. When the darkness comes, you may be outside. On the street, and the emergency lights are by the bed at home. When you need light, you have to burn something, right, Therimon? Ever seen a forest fire? Cooked food over a wood fire while camping? You know Well, heat isn't the only thing that wood emits when it burns, it also glows, and everyone knows that. When darkness falls and light is needed, people will find ways to get it." "Then they will light the wood." Theremon said lightly. "They'll burn everything they can get their hands on. They've got to get light, and they can only get light by burning things. There's no trees in the street, it's impossible to get. So they burn whatever they can get their hands on. A stack of newspapers? Why not? The Chronicle of Salo City can make do for a while. The newspapers stacked high on the newsstands, burn! Clothes, books, roofs, all burn! The light is on... In this way, every residential area There will be a sea of ​​fire! This is your conflagration, Mr. Reporter, and this is the end of the world you live in." "If an eclipse comes," Theremon said, with a stubbornness in his voice. "If, yes," Schelling said, "I'm not an astronomer, and I'm not a believer, but our money is spent watching eclipses." He looked directly at Theremon.The two looked at each other, as if the whole thing was just a contest of individual wills.theremon first The light moved away without saying a word.He was short of breath, put his hands on his forehead, and squeezed hard. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the next room. "I think I heard Yermott's voice," Beanie said. "He and Fano are finally here. Let's find out what made them late." "Yes!" Serimon muttered in a low voice, taking a deep breath, as if his whole body was trembling.The tense atmosphere was temporarily interrupted.