Исай Лукодьянов - The Black Pillar

"Mikula Selyaninovich," said Olovyannikov.

"Aye. His bag and H. G. Wells' Cavorite. Eh, gentlemen?"

"Now I'll tell a story," announced Ali-Ovsad, fingering the black smudge of moustache in the hollow above his lip. "Long ago there lived a certain Rustem-bahadur. When he walked, his feet sank deep into the ground."

"Was he so heavy?" asked Olovyannikov.

"Why heavy? Did I even say 'heavy'? Simply he was a little too strong. So strong that when he wanted to tread softly, his foot sank half a metre into the ground. So Rustem went to a devil one day and said, 'Take half of my strength and put it away, and when I'm an old man I'll come back for it.' "

Kravtsov got up and started pacing up and down the cabin; the shadows on the walls fluttered and danced.

"What can we do," he said, pausing before Will's bed, "what can we do to make the pillar's own force compel it to sink back into the ground? Only its own force can cope with it."

"You want to overturn the black pillar?" laughed Ali-Ovsad. "Good lad!"

Kravtsov stood fretting outside the saloon. The usual conference was in progress there, and a hum of voices rose and fell. At regular intervals a shadow passed across the opaque glass of the door as one of the scientists paced back and forth in the saloon.

"What the devil am I doing here?" thought Kravtsov. "They're not interested in me. The ablest geophysicists in the world are gathered here; all the brains, the winners of every prize there is. And I'll go in to them with my half-baked idea? To use the pillar's own force-that's my idea!"

Deep down in his heart Kravtsov knew quite well that he only wanted a pretext for a talk with Morozov. This waiting and uncertainty were beyond endurance. Yes, he would summon up courage and ask Morozov point-blank: how much longer they were going to wait?

A steward with a tray laden with bottles and siphons slipped into the saloon. Through the half-open door Kravtsov caught a momentary glimpse of someone's great bald head and someone's hands holding a sheet of drawing paper; and he heard a few words said in broken Russian: "You won't have room for such an installation…"

An installation! So they're already talking about some installation!

Kravtsov threw himself into an armchair, then began pacing up and down again in the dimly-lit lounge. Time dragged tediously, and it was getting on for 2 a.m.

At last the door opened and the scientists, still talking, began to come out of the saloon. Tokunaga, looking tired, was listening to Stamm, who was endeavouring to prove some point. Fat Bramulla stalked out, mopping his bald head with a handkerchief. Professor Bernstein, tiny and grey-moustached, was surrounded by several scientists Kravtsov did not know, one wearing an Indian turban. And finally, out of the clouds of tobacco-smoke, there emerged the tall upright figure of Morozov, with a huge folder under his arm.

His keen eyes immediately caught sight of Kravtsov, standing modestly in a corner, and he nodded and said to him, with a smile, as he passed, "So it's an atom bomb, is it?"

Kravtsov went up to him.

"Victor Konstantinovich, may I have a word with you?"

"No time, my dear chap. I've been wanting a chat with you myself for a long while-but no time. Still…" He put his arm round Kravtsov's shoulders and went down the passage with him. "If it doesn't take too long, tell me what's worrying you."

"You see," said Kravtsov, nervously, "we've been thinking… Wouldn't it be possible to use the pillar's own force?… Or rather, to change the direction of its field…"

"I understand, I understand," and Morozov burst out laughing. "Better tell me how you fought the Texans."

"What's there to tell? We had a bit of a row, and then made it up. Victor Konstantinovich, forgive me for bothering you like this. I really wanted to ask you how much longer we've got to wait?"

"Not much longer, I hope, my dear chap. We've got to be very very quick about it, because…-Anyhow, we've got to anticipate every kind of unpleasantness. Actually, a plan is ready; it only remains to check the calculations."

Kravtsov felt greatly cheered, "So very soon…"

"Yes, soon." Morozov paused at the door of his cabin. "You want to cut the pillar with an atom bomb?" he asked again.

"McPherson thought of it," Kravtsov said. "But the pillar would continue to grow just the same and re-enter the iono…"

"Come in," said Morozov, interrupting him, and showing him into his spacious cabin or rather study, with its tables covered with drawings and plans. "Sit down," he said, and sat down himself on one of the tables. "Tell me, Comrade Kravtsov, are you thoroughly acquainted with the rig and its rooms and passages?"

"I am. "

"Look at this diagram. Do you recognize it?"

"It's the middle deck," replied Kravtsov.

"Right. How long would it take to build a circular passage here?" and Morozov described a circle round the rig with his pencil.

"A circular passage?" repeated Kravtsov, frowning and scratching himself under the ear.

"Look. Take this drawing and think it over properly. A closed circular passage six metres wide and no less than four and a half high."

"I'll think it over, Victor Konstantinovich."

"Fine. Come tomorrow evening, as late as you like, with your answer."

"My darling Marina,

The day before yesterday two letters arrived from you by air, and it was a good thing they did, because I was beginning to get worried. You ask why I don't come home since there's nothing for me to do here. To tell you the truth, I don't know myself why I've been stuck here for a whole month doing nothing. All the time I was waiting and waiting-today, maybe, or tomorrow, at any rate… Well, it's come at last. A plan has been drawn up and approved by the International Commission. It's called 'Operation Black Pillar'. You'll probably read about it in the papers before this letter arrives. In a nutshell-an apparatus has been designed to stop the black pillar. You'd probably like to know the details of the plan, as a physics teacher. But to tell you the truth, it's so complicated that I don't understand it all myself. The scientists have apparently solved the mystery of the pillar's field and the apparatus will exert a definite combination of powerful fields of force on it. Their interaction with that of the pillar is expected to stop its upward movement.

Of course, the pillar will have to be cut first of all, in order to eliminate the short circuit, restore the normal structure of the magnetic field, and produce electricity; then the apparatus will begin to function.

The apparatus will be set up on the rig, and for that we're building a circular corridor inside it. That's what I'm doing now. It's pretty hot on the rig, I must say, but it's bearable. We've long ago got used to the thunderstorm, and to the fireballs and lightning. But don't worry: the pillar acts as a sort of lightning conductor.

How long will the operation take? I haven't the least idea, dearest. You'll know I'm dying to finish it all as soon as possible and return to you and Vovka. You are my darlings, and 1 miss you both very much. Write to me as often as you can, won't you? And let Vovka scribble something too. I'll take every opportunity to write, of course.

Oh yes, you'll ask me how we intend to cut the pillar. Well, this is what we…"

Kravtsov did not finish his letter. There was a knock at the door. Chulkov put his head in and said, "Alexander Vitalyevich, the third shift's just leaving."

Kravtsov put his unfinished letter into the drawer of his deck and hurried to the launch.

So, 'Operation Black Pillar' had begun.

A whole flotilla of ships lay round the rig. There were the aircraft carrier "Furious" with its huge runway, the floating mechanical base "Ivan Kulibin", self-propelled barges, and floating cranes. Big steam launches, puffing coal smoke, flitted incessantly between the rig and the ships and, as before, the headquarters for the operation was the "Fukuoka Maru".