– That's right, – Vadim and Bashkalo said discordantly in chorus, and the Senior Ensign took out his pack of royal “Rodopi” and offered one to Bashkalo. Petrovich continued, while smoking:
– But however, Alex used up about ten exercise books, ninety-six pennies each. And you see, you cannot even get them now… – Petrovich coughed. – They were in his backpack… We used to stay here for two-three days. Alex would carry his folding chair with him.
Vadim noticed the chair: a folding structure of steel wire with a wet canvas seat.
– He died and I fell under investigation. I had to bring an officer from special Department here, so as not to go to jail for the murder of one of our leading scientific employees. Half a year ago still, you could have been imprisoned for the loss of a warrior in the Zone, do you know that, cub? That officer drinks now… Drinks a lot, till blackout. They say, right up to the dismissal of the officer's status by the court. And he writes the reports on the upholstery of the room. With his finger.
– Well, that's clear, Nikolaich, – said Bashkalo, who had got bored. (“Interesting, does his mustache smell of vomit?”, thought either Vadim or Mumbler. His nose was itching because of Bashkalo's presence.) – We had admired the view, – continued Bashkalo, cleaning the ash from the cigarette with his little finger. – Rest in peace, soft-boiled bones. So why did you bring us here? To frighten our goose? I heard everything, how you promised him five thousand. And filing for a madman. Makarenko151.
– You say you heard? – Petrovich asked again. – Well, if you heard then you heard. It happens in the Zone. A whisper, like in a church. That's why being delicate is so important. You know, Vasya, like in a prison cell?
He suddenly slammed Bashkalo on the shoulder, squeezed the shoulder with his rake and pushed it towards himself, almost reached his eye with the cigarette.
– No, Vasya, we didn't come here for this, not for fear. We're going to make science, you understand? What Alex could not do, but we will. This is not about heaviness, it's about other thing. Something valuable. You will understand.
Ensign Bashkalo did not try to escape. He didn’t even seem frightened. He was smoking, lifting the cigarette to the side of his mustache and blowing the smoke away, and he did not take his eyes off the boss.
– Alex the Candidate made one calculation and explained it to me, I want to check it, finally, – said Petrovich. – If he has come up with the right thing, we will make money. Scientists will hang themselves. And you, screwy Vasya, will help me. To check.
The sound of the engine was heard. From the other side of the mound, from the concrete. Vadim gave up watching the theatrical scene “who's going to overwhelm whom” and even stood on his toes, trying to see the moving mechanism.
– Comrade Senior Ensign!.. Someone is coming!
The LiAZ bus, the passenger transport serial number 20224, had driven past them during its five-hour trip exactly three years ago, in the summer of 1987. On this bus, next to Doctor Vyatkin, was Vadim himself, sitting with his arm broken and hurting so much that he could even see the white dots. He, an ordinary scoop, was being taken to the hospital, and he did not remember now, but then it appeared to him through the pain, that three armed figures were standing behind the mound. Then the bus jolted, the figures disappeared, his arm hurt, and Vadim forgot, forgot, forgot about them…
