Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty Six

Beanie, the astronomer, appeared in the corner where they were, blocking the light from entering the house.Schelling looked up and gave him an unnatural glance. "Hi, Beanie." "Talk to you guys, okay?" he asked. "My camera is set up. I have nothing to do until the total eclipse." Beanie paused and glanced at the devotee.He had just taken out a small leather-bound book from his sleeve, and had been reading it intently. "Hey, aren't we going to deal with him?" "We've decided to leave him alone," said Theremon. "Do you know where Severa is, Benny? I saw her just now, but she doesn't seem to be here now."

"She's upstairs, in the roundhouse. She wants to use the big telescope. There's not much we can't see with the naked eye." "How is Kargesh Second?" Theremon asked. "What to see? Darkness in darkness. As darkness moves in front of Dovim, we can see the effects due to its presence. Kargash the Second itself...is nothing but a great expanse of darkness in the night sky That's all." "Night," said Schelling thoughtfully, "is a strange word." "It's not surprising," said Theremon. "So you didn't see that satellite wandering in the sky at all, not even with a multiplier?"

Beanie looked ashamed. "Our telescopes aren't very good, you know, they're okay to observe the sun, but it's a bit dark now..." He shook his head, trying to pinch his shoulders back, as if it was very difficult to breathe in, "However, Kargesh II does exist. That strange dark place between Dovim and us...that is Kargesh II." Schelling said, "Benny, are you having trouble breathing?" "It's a bit difficult." He sniffed. "I think it's a cold." "More claustrophobic." "Do you think so?" "I'm sure. Any other weird feelings?"

"Well," Beanie said, "I feel like my eyesight is failing, and everything's blurry... Yeah, I can't see anything, and I'm cold, too." "Oh, it's not a hallucination, yes, it's very cold." Theremon made a grimace, "My toes are cold, as if being transported in a refrigerated truck." "What we need at this moment," said Schelling excitedly, "is distraction from the influence of feeling. Let the brain move, that's the business. I was just going to tell you, Theremon, that Fa Why did Nuo experiment with drilling holes in the ceiling without any result."

"You've just started." Theremon replied very cooperatively.He curled up to one side, wrapping his arms around one knee and resting his chin on it.There is not much time left before the total eclipse, he thought, and what I should do is forgive myself and go upstairs to Severa.But he found that he didn't know why he was not very interested, and he didn't want to move.He doesn't understand, am I just afraid to face her? Schelling said: "I would say they were misled by taking Revelation literally. It probably doesn't make sense to attach any real meaning to the Star faction. Perhaps in the face of total darkness, What the mind actually needs is light. Illusions of light may be real stars."

"In other words," said Theremon, beginning to interject, "the stars are the effect, not the cause, of people's madness? So what's the use of astronomers taking pictures tonight?" "Perhaps to prove that the stars are illusions, or, as far as I know, to prove the opposite, and then, again..." Beanie drew a chair closer to them, with sudden enthusiasm on his face. "I've been thinking about this myself while you've been studying the stars," he began, "and I've come up with a very interesting Opinion, of course, is nothing more than a wild guess. I'm not proposing it in a serious way, but it's something to think about. Would you like to hear it?"

"Why not?" Schelling said, leaning back. Beanie looked a bit reluctant, and he smiled shyly and said, "Well, suppose there are other suns in the universe." Theremon couldn't help laughing and said, "You say it's bold, but I can't think of..." "No, it's not that crazy. I don't mean a few other suns that are around us that we can't see. I'm talking about suns that are far away from us and they don't shine bright enough so we can't see them at all. If They are very close to us, and they will be as bright as Onas, maybe Tano and Sisar. But because of this, the light they emit is just a tiny spot of light in our eyes, and more light is completely lost Overwhelmed by the uninterrupted glare of our six suns."

Schelling said: "But how do you explain the law of gravitation? You don't ignore it? If other suns do exist, don't they interfere with our trajectory like Kargesh II? And, don't you observe this kind of phenomenon?" "That's a good idea," said Beanie, "but let's say that these suns are really far away, maybe five light-years away, or even more." "How long is a light-year?" Theremon asked. "Not how long, but how far. A light-year is a unit of distance... the distance light travels in a year, and it's a huge number of miles. The speed of light is so fast. We measured it to be about 185, 000 mph, I doubt it's a perfectly accurate figure, and with good equipment we would know that the speed of light is actually much greater than that. But measuring the speed of light at 185,000 mph gives us Onas is about 10 light-minutes away, Tano and Sisar are about 11 times that distance away, etc. So a sun is a few light-years away, and this distance does

not near.We'll never get a sense of the impact they might have had on Kargash's trajectory, because they're so small.Well, let's say this: Outside of us, in the universe four to eight light-years away, in other places around us, there are many suns... a dozen, maybe two dozen suns. " Theremon whistled. "The idea would be good news for the weekend supplement of the newspaper. There are two dozen suns in a universe eight light-years from our planet! My God! This would make our universe smaller and lose its importance! Think about it... Kalgesh and its suns are nothing to worry about in the vast universe, but for a long time we have always believed that we are the whole universe, and only us and our six suns exist in space! "

"It's just a bold idea." Beanie grinned and said with a smile, "But I hope you can understand my intention. Day During an eclipse, these 20 or so suns will suddenly appear because there is a brief moment when there is no real sunlight to cover them.Because they are too far away from us, they will look very small when they appear, like many pebbles, but you will find that they are stars, and the little lights that suddenly appear are the stars that the Flame School promised to appear. " "The believers talk about 'countless' stars," Schelling said. "I think it's not just a dozen or two, but millions of stars. Do you think so?"

"That's an exaggeration," Beanie said. "There's no place in the universe that could hold a million suns . "Besides," Thelimon went on, "once there are a dozen or two dozen suns, can we really know how many they are? Two dozen suns seems like a 'countless' number, I bet... Especially if there happens to be a solar eclipse and everyone looks into the dark and goes mad. You know, there are some tribes that live in the jungle and their language only has 3 numerals... '1', '2' and 'Many.' Our language is a bit more complicated because we have numbers from 1 to 4 and then 'numerous.'" He was shaking with excitement. "A dozen suns, suddenly appearing at the same time! Just think!" Beanie said: "That's not the end! I have another weird idea. Have you ever thought that if the structure of the solar system is very simple and efficient, gravity will be a very simple problem, right? If in the universe A planet has only one sun, and the trajectory of the planet around the sun is a complete ellipse. The effect of gravity is very obvious and accepted as an axiom. Astronomers living on this planet may have lived on this planet before the invention of the telescope. Gravity was discovered, because visual observation alone was enough to solve the problem." Schelling asked in puzzlement: "But is such a system stable from a dynamic point of view?" "Of course! It's called a 'one-to-one' system. Mathematical calculations have demonstrated the possibility, but I'm interested in the philosophical implications that arise from it." "It's really interesting to think about that," agrees Schelling. "It's an abstract concept . . . like the concept of pure gas and absolute zero." "Of course," Beanie went on, "there's something puzzling about it. There can't be life on a planet like this, because there's not enough heat and sunlight. If the planet were spinning, then half the day would be dark." Remember, Schelling? This is the planet you asked me to imagine, where the local inhabitants are perfectly adapted to the alternation of day and night. But I've been thinking about it. There wouldn't be any inhabitants living there, you Life cannot be expected...life that depends primarily on the sun...to survive in such extreme conditions without sunlight. Half a day of each rotation is night! No, under those conditions, nothing will There will be. But you can make a hypothesis, a 'one-to-one' system..." "Wait," Schelling said, "you can make it up and say that life couldn't survive and reproduce there. But how do you know that life can't evolve and develop at all in a place where the night is half the time?" "Let me tell you, Schelling, everything grows on the sun. However, on a planet..." "Everything here depends on the sun. What does this have to do with a planet..." "That makes sense, Sherin!" "It is reasonable to prove circularly." Schelling retorted, "You defined life based on a certain phenomenon that appeared in Kargesh, and then imposed this definition on a planet that is completely different from Kargesh... ..." Theremon couldn't help laughing out loud. Sherin and Beanie stared at him angrily. "What's so ridiculous?" demanded Beanie. "You guys make me laugh. You two, an astronomer and a psychologist, have a heated debate about biology. This is the best interdisciplinary conversation I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, Sarah. Luo University is famous for the passion of intellectuals." The reporter stood up, feeling a little uneasy for some reason.He was further impatient with Beanie's grand discourse on abstract objects. "Sorry, I need to stretch my muscles." "The total solar eclipse is coming soon," Beanie said, pointing out the window. "You don't want to miss this great opportunity." "I'm just walking around and I'll be right back," said Theremon. He had taken five steps before Beanie and Schelling resumed their argument.Theremon smiled, telling himself it was a way of relieving the tension.Everyone is under tremendous pressure at the moment, after all, every time the alarm clock ticks, it means that the whole world is getting closer to darkness... closer... close to the stars? ...near madness? ...fall close to Skyfire? Theremon shrugged.In the past few hours, he has experienced countless back and forth emotional changes, but at this moment he is strangely calm, almost like a fatalist.He has always believed that he is the master of destiny and has the ability to determine the direction of his life.That's why he's managed to achieve things that other journalists simply haven't had the chance to achieve.But now he knew that there was nothing he could do.Darkness will come, and stars will come, and fire will come, and all will come uninvited.There's no point in destroying yourself in fearful speculation, just relax, sit back, wait, and watch it all happen. Then, he told himself... whatever the commotion that ensues, trust you to make it through. "To the Roundhouse?" asked a voice. He kept blinking in the semi-darkness, and the person who spoke was that short, fat astronomy graduate student...Fano, that must be his name, right? "Yes, to be honest, I do want to go up," Theremon replied, although in fact he had no idea where he was going. inside. "I'm going too, come on, I'll take you there." A spiral metal staircase winds its way up to the high vaulted top floor of this massive building.Fano stomped and creaked the stairs as he went upstairs, and Theremon followed closely behind with long strides.He had been to the Observatory's roundhouse once a few years ago, when Beanie was going to show him something, but he didn't remember much of the place now. Fano pushed open a heavy sliding door, and they entered together. "You came up because you wanted to see the stars from a closer distance?" Severa asked. Slender archaeologists stand inside the door, watching the astronomers at work.Theremon's face flushed red.Severa is not the person he wants to meet now, and he just remembered that this is where Beanie said she went, but it was too late.Although she seemed to give him an ambiguous smile at the beginning of the eclipse, he was still afraid that her reproach would sting himself, Fear of making her angry for his betrayal of the astronomy team. But she didn't express any displeasure now.Now that one end of the world was plunged into a black hole, she might feel that nothing that happened before the eclipse would matter, that all mistakes, quarrels, and sins would be wiped away when disaster struck. "It's a nice place!" said Theremon. "Don't you wonder? I don't know much about what's going on here. They got a solar telescope pointed at Dovim... It's more of a camera than a telescope, they say. Looking at the sky with squinted eyes alone can't see things clearly...the lenses of these small telescopes go deeper to see the signs of stars slowly appearing..." "Have you seen any stars?" "No one has told me so far," Severa said. Theremon nodded.He looked around. This was the heart of the observatory, where the actual work of monitoring changes in the sky took place.It was the darkest room he'd ever been in... not really pitch black, of course.Along the curved wall are two rows of bronze lampposts, but the light from the lamps above is extremely weak.In the gloom he saw a huge metal test tube go up, through the open partition of the roof, and disappear.He could see the sky through the partition.The sky at this time took on a terrible deep purple.The dwindling celestial body Dovim was still visible, but the little sun seemed to have receded into the distance. "That looks weird," he muttered under his breath. "I've never seen the texture of the sky, it's so thick...it's like a blanket." "A blanket that will suffocate us all." "Scared?" he asked. "Of course. Are you not afraid?" "Afraid, or not," said Theremon. "I mean, I don't want to be told I'm a brave man, believe me. But I'm not as impatient as I was an hour or two ago, I'm just numb." "I know what you mean." "Arthur says there's a commotion in town." "That's just the beginning," Sephora replied. "I can't get that ashes out of my mind, Theremon. The ashes of Mt. Tombo, those great boulders, the vast urban base ...a charcoal-covered base." "Layer by layer, there are even older charcoal ash." "tell him. He felt a slight improvement in his relationship with Severa, and felt that the hatred she had felt towards him for months seemed to dissipate, and...somehow...Sevra seemed to respond to his frantic pursuit, He could see the signs.He is proficient in this way, and he will not fail to understand. That's good, Theremon thought.The end of the world is approaching, and Severa is finally willing to shed her ice beauty mantle. A queer, shy, and unusually tall figure came up to them awkwardly and quietly, giggling, and saying hello. "Still no signs of stars emerging," he said.This is Yermott, another young graduate student. "Maybe we won't see them at all. Like the experiment Fano and I ran in that dark house, it was a failure." "Most of Dovim is still clearly visible." Theremon said, pointing outside. "How far are we from complete darkness?" "Sounds like you'd love the sky to get dark soon," Sevra said. He turned his head and said to her, "I want to get through the long wait quickly." "Hey!" someone yelled, "My computer is down." "Light!" came another voice. "What's going on?" Severa asked. "There's a power outage," Theremon said. "That's exactly what Schelling predicted. There must be trouble at the power station. It's the first onslaught of the madmen running around the city out of control." In fact, the dim light in the hearth looked as if it was going out.At first, it seemed as if an electric current had rushed through it, and the light suddenly became extremely bright, then dimmed; then brightened again, but not as brightly as before;Theremon felt Severa's hand tugging tightly at his arm. "The lights are out," someone said. "Computer is dead... Backup power on, anyone? Hey, backup power!" "Quick! The solar telescope can't track the movement of the object! The shutter of the camera can't open!" "Why didn't they do some contingency preparations?" Theremon said. However, they were clearly prepared.There was a booming sound from the base of the building, and computer screens flickered here and there, but the lights in the hearth remained off.Apparently the emergency generator in the basement didn't keep the lights on either, due to a different wiring. The observatory was plunged into almost total darkness. Sephora's hand was still on Theremon's wrist.He wanted to slide his arm over her, wrap his arms around her shoulders to comfort her. Then came Arthur's voice. "Come on! Help me! It'll be here soon!" "What did he have?" Theremon asked. "Arthur brought the lamp." It was Yermot's voice. Theremon looked back, the light was dim, and it was not easy to see anything.It took only a little while, though, for his eyes to get used to the darkness.Arthur cradled six fuel rods a foot long by an inch wide and glared at the other crew members. "Fano, Yermot! Come here, help me!" Two young men trotted up to Arthur and helped him lower the stick. Yermot raised the sticks one by one, and Fano struck a big original match without saying a word, with an expression as if he was performing the most sacred religious ceremony.As he lit the tip of each fuel rod with flames, a feeble flame faltered at first, and suddenly, there was a crackle, and the flames lit Arthur's wrinkled face in a yellow light, and everyone couldn't help it. A cry of joy spread throughout the room. The flames flickering from the fuel rod tips are a full 6 inches high! "Fire?" asked Theremon, puzzled. "Here? Why no emergency lights or something?" "We talked about it," Severa said, "but the emergency light was too weak for a small bedroom to help you fall asleep and stay with you through the night. But such a big one place……" "How's it going downstairs? Are the torches lit, too?" "I want to order it." Theremon shook his head. "No wonder the city is burning tonight. Even you people are using something as primitive as fire to resist the darkness..." The light was dim, dimmer than even the faintest sunlight.The flames flickered fiercely, and the shadows cast by everything around It is constantly swaying, like the world seen in the eyes of a drunk.There was nasty smoke from the torches, and the room smelled like a kitchen on a cloudy day.But the torches glowed yellow. The yellow light brought joy, Thelimon thought, especially after Dovim had dwindled for nearly four hours. Severa was roasting her hands on the torch next to her, and she ignored the fine ash that fell on her hands.She murmured to herself, ecstatically: "How beautiful! So beautiful! I never thought yellow could be so beautiful." Theremon looked at the flames suspiciously. He wrinkled his nose, sniffed the air that smelled of stale fat, and asked, "What is burning?" "Wood," she replied. "No, not the logs, they didn't burn out, the tops were blackened, but the flames just went up." "That's the beauty. It's a very useful artificial torch. We made hundreds of them. Of course, most of them went to the hermitage, you see." She turned and wiped the black spots on her handkerchief. Soot, "dry the thick reed stalks in the sun, and then soak them in animal fat. When the fire is lit, the fat will slowly burn. The torch can burn continuously for half an hour. It's amazing, right? "Brilliant!" said Theremon darkly. "It's so new! It's exciting." But he could not stay in the room any longer, and the restlessness with which he had come began to torment him again.The acrid smell of the torches was too strong, and on a night that chilled your fingers, a chill came through the partitions of the roundhouse into the room.He was shivering with cold, regretting that he and Schelling and Beanie had finished the whole bottle so quickly. "I'm going back downstairs," he said to Severa. "I don't know astronomy, and I can't understand anything here." "Okay, I'll go with you." In the flickering yellow light, he saw a smile appear on her face.The smile was clearly written on his face, and he couldn't mistake it.