Descendants of the Scythians - Страница 34

Ivan Semenovich listened impassively to this and replied:

“You have probably misunderstood me, Dmitro Borisovich. I’m far from suggesting that any Scythian tribe ever preferred living in a cave to life in open areas or that one tribe chose to live underground of its own accord. Absolutely not. I have in mind quite a different thing: one of the tribes took refuge here, trying to escape some great peril, perhaps a strong enemy force. Is this idea acceptable from a historical point of view?”

“Yes, it is,” the archeologist conceded reluctantly.

“Good. Then, quite by chance, pursued by its enemies, a tribe finds itself in front of a big opening in the ground… Now, tell me, is it too far-fetched to imagine it might enter in an attempt to hide from its enemies?”

“Well, yes, that is plausible…”

“So, our tribe moves further and further away from the opening, seeing wide vistas opening up before it… probably that was not as difficult for the tribe as it was for us to get here. There must have been a shorter and less hazardous way, otherwise the steppe-loving Scythians would hardly have proceeded all the way into this cave. What happened next is evident: a sudden rockfall prevented the tribe from returning to the surface, and the Scythians stayed underground. And, cut off from the rest of the world as they were, they naturally preserved all their customs, life style, and so on — all those traits and features we now observe. That is the way I see it.”

Nobody said a word, pondering what had been said. It was, indeed, the only plausible explanation they could think of, albeit it was a somewhat fantastic one. The immense vastness of a subterranean cavity, cut off from the outside world? A Scythian tribe that had wandered into it thousands of years ago with its slaves and remained because it could not find the way out?…

“Of what size, then, must this underground cavity be if it contains forests, fields, and valleys?” Ivan Semenovich asked aloud. “It must stretch for dozens, if not for hundreds of kilometers. That is not a phenomenon entirely unknown in geology. We do know of subterranean cavities of considerable size, though, of course, not as large as this one.”

“Yes, it has forests, a steppe and even mountains,” Artem said.

“I don’t think that the cliffs we have seen are real mountains; rather, they are the walls that run around all sides of the cavity. If it is a cave, consequently it must have walls which probably rise dozens or hundreds meters high. From a distance, they seem to be the cliffs of very steep mountains. We can’t see the ceiling of the cave because of the ever-present cloud cover, probably due to high humidity.”

“Ivan Semenovich!” Dmitro Borisovich suddenly said in a voice much too loud. “Now I remember! Your hypothesis may indeed be supported by some statements in Herodotus. A passage from the work of this Greek historian has just come to mind. He says that the Scythians were mortally afraid of earthquakes which they regarded as the greatest possible calamity, probably because tremors were an extremely rare but devastating phenomenon in their lives. Then we must make a further step in our analysis of the situation and try to determine what could have caused such a considerable rockfall to cut a whole tribe off and bar their way back? It could have been caused by an earthquake, couldn’t it?”

“Yes, it could,” Ivan Semenovich agreed. “But where does that lead us?”

“Ah… the Scythians, who had seen one of their tribes disappear from the face of the earth, could easily have connected this disappearance with the earthquake which had swallowed so many of their people. What do you say to that?”

“It is not impossible,” the geologist said, shrugging his shoulders.

“This event must have increased the Scythians’ natural fear of earthquakes. So, Ivan Semenovich, your supposition finds some parallel in Herodotus, and I accept it.”

“I’m most obliged to you for that, Dmitro Borisovich,” said Ivan Semenovich, some irony creeping into his voice. “Do you have anything more to add?”

“Well, only one thing. Since we have discovered a Scythian tribe that has survived to our day thanks to a most unusual chain of coincidences which you have brilliantly delineated, we now face a task of paramount scientific importance.”

“What task?”

“To study in a most thorough manner the life of this Scythian tribe. It is an absolutely unique case in the history of archeology! Not to make use of it would be a serious crime. I think that even you, Ivan Semenovich, with your perennial scepticism toward archeology, must agree with me on this point. I don’t ask the opinion of Lida and Artem on the matter because I’m sure they support me fully. Am I right, Artem?”

The young man nodded his head: the life of the Scythians was, of course, a most exciting thing to learn about, and in this respect, Dmitro Borisovich was surely right. But they had yet to see what the dawn would bring. What if Dorbatay really intended to carry out his threats? In that case, their field trip might be a short one. But Artem did not voice his apprehensions.

“Count me in, too,” Lida said; she was so tired by now the only thing she craved at the moment was sleep. Were they going to talk much longer? But the indefatigable Artem had another question ready for the geologist:

“Ivan Semenovich, there’s something else I don’t understand.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Well, if we accept your hypothesis as correct in explaining all that we find here, and if we’re in fact in a cave, what about the light? The sun can’t be the source of it, nor the moon. And it’s not electric light of course. So what is it then?”

“You expect too much of me, Artem,” said the geologist. “Unfortunately, I don’t understand it either. I could put forward some conjectures to explain it, but they would remain unsubstantiated guesses. We could assume, for example, that it is some radioactive elements in the ceiling that are the source of light here. Or perhaps constant fluorescence. Could either of the two be the source of the observed phenomenon? Yes, I believe they could. The light we see in this cave is diffused and reminiscent of early dusk because the source of it remains hidden by these heavy clouds.”

“Yes, we could accept those as plausible explanations,” Artem said. “But what about the night then?”

“Oh, will you let me be for a while, Artem? How can I possibly know the answers to all these questions? I’ve been here for exactly as long as you.”

“Oh, Ivan Semenovich, I’m only asking you to give us another of your hypotheses,” Artem insisted. “Even if it’s just a supposition, you know, it’ll still make it a little easier for me…”

“All right, I’ll try to put forward another of my ‘suppositions,’” the geologist chuckled. “There could be periodical fluctuations in the intensity of radiation from radioactive materials. For example, we could assume that our radioactive substance — if, of course, we’re right in citing radioactivity as the source of light here! — radiates light only under the influence of the sun’s rays. It gets charged up like some special paints, for example. But I must warn you I don’t insist on my explanations, and if you chance upon something more convincing, I’d be happy to hear them. The way things are going it looks like we’ll have plenty of time for everything… Lida, do you want to ask something?” Ivan Semenovich turned to the girl, hearing her restless movements. “I’m not a walking encyclopedia, mind you. So go ahead and fire away! But I warn you, it’s going to be the last one for now!”

As a matter of fact, Lida was not going to ask anything as she was overwhelmed by fatigue. But now that Ivan Semenovich had mentioned her name, she might as well ask something. Was it only Artem who had the right to ask questions? After all, there was something that Lida intended to ask about. It had been on her mind off and on, but then something always interfered.

“Ivan Semenovich,” she said sleepily, “I wonder why the plants here are such unusual colors. How can the leaves and grass be pink and yellow and not green? Why should they have developed this coloring?”

“Oh, well. All right, now we’ll try to find some reason for that. It must be easier than the rest of the things that we discussed. What causes the plants on the surface to be green? Chlorophyl. What is chlorophyl? It’s a green substance that absorbs the energy of sunlight and turns it into chemicals without which no plants could live, right?”

“Of course! That’s from the textbook!”

“Good. But we are talking of conditions where sunlight is present, and there is no sunlight here. What were the plants to do? Die? No, living organisms always try to adopt to whatever conditions they find themselves in. Instead of sunlight, they use the local source of light, and they have probably developed a new substance to take the place of chlorophyl with similar properties, though of a different color. It is not green any longer but pinkish-yellow, adjusted not to the bright sunshine but to the mild light of the underground radiation. This adjustment to new conditions is the only thing that I can suggest now. Do you accept it, Lida?”

But Lida did not reply: the geologist heard the even, measured breathing of the girl which meant that she was sleeping peacefully. Ivan Semenovich smiled to himself gently and said, lowering his voice:

“Artem, Lida’s falling asleep shows that we should stop our scientific discussions. It’s time to go to sleep; everybody’s tired and we must be in shape for whatever awaits us on the morrow. There’s only one more thing that we should settle now — our general line of behavior.”