“Andrey Andreyevitsch is ready. You got two minutes, so don’t doddle but get straight to the point”
Homer sighed. “Two minutes aren’t enough”
The officer on duty shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve
warned you”
Even five minutes wouldn’t be enough, Homer didn’t know where to start and where to end. Nor did he know for what he should ask or plead. Except for the boss of the Dobryninskaya there was nobody to who he could turn anymore.
Andrey Andreyevitsch was an of malice dripping fat man with an open uniform and didn’t listen to the old man for long.
“Are you crazy? This station is on alert, eight of my men are dead and you come here with your epidemic! There’s none! Stop, you’ve stolen enough of my time! You leave now or …”
Like a whale that jumped out of the water the commander of the station raised up his body and the desk almost fell to the ground. The officer on duty looked into the room trough the door.
Homer rose as confused from the hard visitor’s chair.
“I’m going. But why did you order men to the Serpuchovskaya?”
“What’s it to you?”
“They say at the station …”
“What, what? That’s enough. Spreading panic …
Pavel, into the ape cage with him!”
Another moment later Homer was being dragged out of the room. The officer dragged the struggling old man into a narrow corridor while telling him to calm him down and hit him right in the face.
Homers respirator flew away. He tried to hold his breath but he got another punch into the stomach so that he started to cough cramped.
The whale appeared on the doorstep of his office.
He filled the entire door. “And there he shall sit for a while. We’ll so us later …” Than he barked at the new visitor. “And who are you? You got an appointment?”
Homer looked back at the stranger. Not even three steps from him hunter was standing, not moving and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was wearing a new uniform and you couldn’t see his face under the shadow of his opened visor. It seemed to he didn’t recognize the old man or he that he didn’t want to get involved. Homer had expected that he was dripping with blood from head to toe like a butcher but the only dark red stain on his clothes was the blood of his own wound.
Hunter looked at the commander with his stone hard look and suddenly he was moving straight to him as if he wanted to go through him into the office.
At first Andrey was angry, mumbled something but retreated and made space for Hunter. The officer who was still holding on to Homer’s collar stopped unsure.
Hunter followed the fat man into the office and him silenced him with a predator-like hissing sound.
Then he whispered something into his ear which sounded like an order.
The officer who had let go of the old man had stepped onto the doorstep. One moment later he flew through the door, followed by dirty curses and the voice of the commander almost screamed. “And let the provocateur in peace!” It sounded as if he had been hypnotized.
With a red head the officer retreated through the door behind him, dragged himself to his place at the entrance and put his head onto a newspaper. When homer was approaching the door of the commander, the man lowered his head even deeper into his newspaper as if this was no longer his concern.
Only after he gave the guard-dog another triumphal look, he looked at the telephones a bit closer. On one of them, the one that was flashing all the time was a small piece of paper where somebody had written with a blue pen the word:
TULSKAYA
“We’re in contact with the order.” The sweating commander at the Dobryninskaya crackled his knuckles and didn’t leave the brigadier out of his eyes for even one moment.
“Nobody has informed me of this operation. I can’t make this decision alone”
“Then call them.” Answered the other. “There’s still time for them to vote on it. But not for long”
“They won’t approve. Such an operation endangers the stability of Hanza. You know that that is more important than everything. Also we have the situation under control”
“What stability by the devil? If you don’t do anything …”
Andrey Andreyewitsch remained stubborn and shook his heavy head. “The situation is under control. I don’t understand what you want. All exits are guarded. Not even a mouse can slip through. We can wait it out until it takes care of itself”
“Nothing is going to take care of itself!” Yelled Hunter. “You’ll only get them to go to the surface and get to other station from there. The station has to be cleaned. I don’t understand why you haven’t done that already”
“But there could still be healthy people there. How do you imagine it? That I’ll order my boys to burn the Tulskaya to the ground? And also the people from the sect just to be sure? Maybe the Serpuchovskaya too? Half of them have their whores and bastards there! No, you know what?
We are not fascists. War is war, but this here … massacring sick people … Even as at the Belorusskaya a similar epidemic happened, they brought the pigs into different corners of the station, so that the sick could be killed and the healthy could live on. They didn’t just kill all of them”
“That were pigs. Here it’s about Humans.” Said the brigadier in his indifferent voice.
“No, no and again no.” The commander shook his head so that sweat was flying through the room. “I can’t. It’s not humane. How could I have that on my conscience? So that I get nightmares later?”
“You don’t have to do anything. For that there are people that don’t get nightmares. Nothing more”
“I’ve sent messengers to polis. They’re looking around for a vaccine.” Andrey Andreyewitsch wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “We are hoping that …”
“There is no vaccine. And no hope. Stop putting your head into the sand. Why aren’t there any paramedics here?
Why are you refusing to answer the telephone and give the green light for the legions of the order?”
The commander of the station was silent. He tried to close the buttons of his coat, fumbled around with his wet fingers and finally gave up. Then he stepped to the scratched cupboard and put a strong smelling liquor in a small glass and drank it with one sip …
Hunter realized. “You haven’t said anything …
They have no idea! At your neighboring station there has been an outbreak and the order knows nothing of it …”
“It is about my head.” Answered the other with a husky voice. “An epidemic at the neighboring station, that’s the end of me. Cause I let it happen … Because I didn’t do anything to prevent it … Because it has endangered the stability of Hanza”
“Neighboring station? You mean the Serpuchovskaya?”
“Up until now everything has been quiet, but I reacted too late. How should I’ve known …”
“And what have you said to your people? That you’re sending military units to the neighboring station? And close the tunnel?”
“Bandits … A riot … That happens everywhere.
It’s common”
The brigadier nodded his head. “And now it is too late to tell them everything”
“No it’s not just about me stepping down.” Andrey Andreyewitsch filled another glass and drank it as fast as before. “That means the death sentence”
“And now?”
“I wait.” Said the commander and leaned on his table.
“Maybe something happens …”
“And why aren’t you answering the call.” Said Homer suddenly. “The telephone is ringing all the time, that’s the people at the Tulskaya. Who knows what’s going on there”
“No it doesn’t. Not anymore.” answered the commander. “I switched off the sound. Only the small lamp is still flashing. As long as it does that there are still people alive there”
“Why aren’t you picking up?” Repeated Homer angry.
“What
am I supposed to tell them?! That they should be patient? Tell them to get well soon? That help is on its way? That they should put a bullet in their heads? Talking with the refugees was enough for me”
“Shut up already.” Ordered Hunter silent. “Listen up. In 24 hours I am back with a unit. I want you to let us pass freely at all guard posts. You keep the Serpuchovskaya closed. We go to the Tulskaya and do our job. If necessary we’ll do the same thing at the Serpuchovskaya. We wage a little war. You don’t have to contact Hanza. You don’t have to do anything. I’ll see to it myself that … The stability is brought back”
The commander nodded his head weakly. Exhausted he sank into his chair like bicycle tire with too many holes.
He filled another glass with the snaps, smelled it and before he emptied the glass he asked silent: “You are going to wade in blood up do your elbow. That doesn’t scare you off?”
“You can wash off blood with water.” Answered the brigadier.
When they had left the office of the commander of the station, he took a deep breath and yelled for the officer on duty with his thundering voice. The officer flew through the door and it closed behind him with a creaking sound.
Homer had waited for Hunter. He let him make a few steps and then the lowered himself over the desk of the officer, took the receiver of the blinking apparatus and put it onto his ear. “Hello! Hello! I hear you.” He whispered into it.
Silence … but the silence wasn’t like if the cable had been cut but more like somebody had picked up the receiver on the other end but wasn’t there to answerer Homer anymore. As if the person on the other end had waited for a reaction for a long time and run out of patience. As if the old man with his broken voice was talking into the ear of a dead man.
Hunter had turned around at the doorstep and gave homer a disapproving look. He carefully put the receiver back and followed the brigadier.
“Popov! Popov! Get up! Fast!
The powerful lamp of the commander shined through his closed eyelids and burnt his brain. A strong hand shook him on his shoulder and slapped Artyom in his unshaven face.
He struggled to opened his eyes and rubbed his burning cheek. But he jumped up from the stretcher, straightened up and saluted.
“Where’s your weapon? Get it quickly and then follow me!”
He had been sleeping in his uniform for days.
Artyom took out his Kalashnikov which he had wrapped into a piece of clothe that had served as his pillow and tiredly walked behind the commander. How long had he been sleeping? An hour? Two? His head hurt and his throat felt dry.
“It has started.” Yelled the commander over his shoulder. Artyom could smell his breath.
“What has started?” He asked fearful
“You’re going to see that soon enough. There you have a spare clip. You’re going to need it”
The roomy and pillar-less (<- in German it’s one word) Tulskaya that looked like the upper part of a big tunnel was plunged into almost complete darkness. Only at a few places a few weak rays of light hit the ground. They moved senseless from one side to the other as if children or apes were playing with the lamps. But where should those apes have come from?
Suddenly Artyom was awake. He realized immediately what was going on and started to gain full control of his assault rifle. They hadn’t been able to hold stand! Or was it still not too late?
Two husky and sleepy fighters emerged out of the guard’s house and joined them. The commander gathered all reserves, everybody who was still standing and could hold a weapon. Some of them were already coughing.
Through the heavy, used up air a strange and terrible sound came to their ears. No scream, no howling, no order, just the moaning of hundredths of throats, tortured, full of hopelessness and horror. A moaning framed by a metallic sound that came from two, three, no ten different directions.
On the train platform was as giant barricade of ripped and fallen down tents, fallen down cabins, parts of wagons, wood and all kinds of furniture. The commander cleared the way through this junkyard like an icebreaker.
Artyom and the others followed him. On the right, out of the darkness they could see the not totally complete train. The light in both wagons was gone; the open doors had been hastily nailed shut with metal grids. Inside, behind the dark windows was a cooking and terrible crowd of people.
Dozens of hands held on to the bars and ripped on them and made the noise. At every door snipers with gasmask had been posted, where from time to time black mouths opened and raised their rifles, without beating or shooting at them. At a few places the guars tried to calm down the masses. Did the people in the wagon even realize what the soldiers were saying? They had imprisoned them in the train because some had tried to flee from the isolation into the tunnel. They had been to many, more than the healthy. The commander ran past the first wagon and Artyom finally understood why he was in such a hurry: At the last door a pus bubble had exploded and strange creatures flew out of the wagon. They almost couldn’t stand on their feet and their faces were covered in tumors so that you couldn’t recognize anybody. Their arms and legs were bloated and sickly.
All remaining marksman had been gathered at the door. The commander broke through the ring and stepped in front of them. “To all patients! Turn back immediately to your seats! That’s and order!” With a strong move of his hand he brought the Stetschkin from his belt.
The sick people who were standing closest to him needed many tries to raise their heavy heads. Then one of them went with his tongue over his bloody lips and asked:
“Why do you treat us like that?”
“Like you know you’ve been infected by an unknown epidemic. We are currently searching for a cure …
You have to be patient”
“You’re searching for a cure.” Repeated the sick man.
“I think I am going to laugh”
“Return to your wagon immediately.” The commander unsecured weapon. “I am counting to ten, and then we open fire. One…”
“You give us hope so that you don’t lose control.
Until we die on our own”
“Two …”
“It has been 24 hours since we have gotten any water. Why should you give water to death candidates …”
“The guards are afraid to go near the bars. Two heave already been infected … Three”
“The wagon is full of bodies. We are stepping on human faces. Do you know how it sounds when a nose breaks? If it’s a child’s then …”
“We have no room for them, we can’t burn them … Four”
“At one part there is so few room that the dead are standing next to the living. Shoulder to shoulder”
“Five”
“Damn it, just shot! I know that there is no cure.
At least I’ll die fast. It is like somebody is rasping my insides with a tool and then covers it with alcohol …”
“Six”
“… In the end burn me. As if my head was full of worms that slowly chewed through my brain and soul …
Nom, nom, crack, crack, crack, …”
“Seven…”
“Idiot! Let us go already! Let us die like humans!
You don’t have the right to torture us! You know as good as I do that probably we’re all …”
“Eight … All of this is for our own security. So that other can live. I am ready to die but none of you pest bubbles is getting out of here. Take aim!”
Artyom raised his assault rifle and aimed for one of the sick that was closest to him. God in heaven, was that a woman?
He looked into her eyes and put the barrel of his gun on an old and tumbling man. The group of creatures retreated moaning at first, trying to press itself back into the wagon but more and more sick came out of it, like fresh pus from a wound. Moaning and crying.
“You sadist, do you know what you’re doing to us?
We aren’t zombies!”
“Nine.” The voice of the commander had broken. It sounded like a wh
isper.
“Let us go!” Screamed the sick man while he reached with his arms after the commander. As if he was the director the crowd followed his movement and raised their arms.
“Fire!”
As soon as Leonid had put his instrument against his lips the people started to gather around him. Even after the first sparse and unclean sounds the first people started to smile, clap and were happy. And when the voice of the flute got stronger their faces transformed. It was like all dirt had fallen off them.
This time Sasha had a special place: Directly next to the musician. Dozens of yes were only on Leonid but even a few looks were on her. At first she had felt uncomfortable because she didn’t even deserve their attention. The melody, like a good book that didn’t let people go and let them forget anything around them, had carried her away from the granite floor as well.
It was the same melody, Leonid’s own, nameless one that flew through the white room. He started and ended his performances with it. With it he straightened wrinkles in the faces of his listeners, wiped away dust from their eyes and lit small lights.
Even though Sasha already knew it, Leonid was able to open small and secret doors on his flute so that the music still sound differently. She felt like she had been staring at the sky for a long time and suddenly between the clouds she had seen an endless green distant land for a second. Suddenly she felt a sting. She winched and was under the earth again and turned around fearfully. There it was: A head bigger then all others in the publicum, a little bit further away, his chin raised. Hunter.
He had put his hard look on her and it only went to the musician form time to time. Leonid didn’t even look at him. Even if something was bothering him while he was playing he didn’t say anything.
Strangely hunter didn’t leave immediately and made no effort to take her with him or stop the concert. Only after the last sounds had stopped he retreated and disappeared.
Immediately Sasha left Leonid standing where he was and made her way through the crowd, To catch up to the bold one.
He hadn’t stopped far way, he was sitting with Homer on a bench. He had also lowered his head.
Dmitry Glukhovsky - Metro 2034 English fan translation (v1.0) (docx) Page 24