John Schettler: Devil's Garden

“Waiting for something?”

“I should say some one , the person the outcome of these complex events truly depends upon.”

“Who do you mean, Karpov? That man has always had a devil on his shoulder, Kamenski.”

“Yes, he is certainly in a time and place now where he might change everything, and the moment he does do something irreversible, then our time here may finally run out. But I do not think it is Karpov the world now waits upon.”

“Not Karpov? Who then? Orlov? Does he have something more to do with this?”

“Perhaps he has already done his work in the garden, Admiral. No. I think we are waiting now for that Antonov to get those control rods to us here. We are waiting for your Mister Fedorov, and so is fate and time.”

Volsky thought about that. Fedorov was rushing here with all the control rods they had collected. “I see…But can’t we just find out how all this ends by consulting your library?”

“No, I think we must simply wait. Your Mister Fedorov has some kind of plan, just as he told us, but until he actually works it we cannot know the outcome in our time here. There may come a moment when my old books change, and then we may read about it. But that moment will not occur until Fedorov gets here and actually leaves us again…in time. Only then can we know what might happen. On the other hand, you may wish to accompany him and actually take part in the story that is yet to unfold. That may be a little more satisfying than simply reading about it. So for now, we will have to wait for him and see how the story plays out.”

“My God…Fedorov…with another plan. I wonder what it is this time?”

Kamenski sat down quietly, a wry smile on his face now. “Don’t look so dejected, Admiral. It won’t be very long before we know how all this turns out. In the meantime, suppose you and I have a nice cup of tea.”

* * *

“Soyou got your way with the Admiral, Fedorov?” Chief Dobrynin gave the young officer a clap on the back. “But I still have no idea what you plan to do. How can you possibly stop Karpov from doing all these things you fear? What good will a ship do you, if the Admiral even has anything left afloat at Vladivostok? You forget the Americans are still at war with us. Getting it out to sea may be difficult.”

“Not a ship, Chief. You are correct. The Red Banner Pacific Fleet doesn’t have anything left that could pose any threat to Kirov . I should have been more specific. What I really need now is a submarine . You told me you suggested this to Admiral Volsky when he first proposed the operation to you with the Mi-26. I came round to that as a better solution myself. We’re home, Chief, and now we get ourselves a goddamned nuclear powered attack submarine, that’s what we do! We install the control rods there, and then you have a good long listen. If you could get the reactors on the submarine to sing that same song that you recorded on the Anatoly Alexandrov , then we might just return to 1908. It may be a long shot, Chief, but we have to try. If we do make it back, this time I won’t be sitting on a floating power plant in the Caspian Sea. No! This time I’ll be right there in the Sea of Japan aboard the one nemesis Karpov has always feared and respected-a nuclear attack submarine! Then maybe he’ll listen.”

“A very good plan, Mister Fedorov, but what if he won’t listen?”

Fedorov gave him a long look, but said nothing more.