Arkady Strugatsky: Prisoners of Power

"Yes, sir, captain!" said Guy. He was very fond of Captain Tolot, an educated officer and former high school teacher. The captain had singled him out.

"You may sit down, private." The captain went behind the counter to his desk. Still standing, he scanned some papers and picked up the phone. Guy turned toward the window tactfully. Nothing had changed outside. His buddies were marching information to dinner. Guy watched them sadly. Any minute they'd be entering the mess hall, and Corporal Serembesh would order them to remove their berets for "grace." Thirty throats would bellow while the steam was rising from the pots, the bowls were glistening on the counter, and old man Doga was getting ready tore lease one of his prize jokes about a soldier and a cook. Too bad he had to leave. True, it was dangerous here and the climate was unhealthy and the rations were monotonous – canned stuff – but. Here, at least, you knew you were needed, that they couldn't manage without you; here you took the ominous pressure of the forest on your own shoulders, and you felt it. Lord, how many of his buddies were buried here. Beyond the settlement stood a whole grove of poles topped with rusted helmets.

On the other hand – the capital. Not just anyone was sent there. And once you got there, you were constantly on the move. They said all the capital's parade grounds were visible from the Creators' headquarters, so that every formation was observed by one of the Creators. Not every formation, really. But they did spot-check. Suddenly imagining himself being summoned from a formation, Guy was thrown into a panic. He takes two steps and slips and falls on his face at the commander's feet as his submachine gun clatters on the pavement. Damn, what a clumsy ox. And his beret flies off to God knows where. Phew! Guy took a deep breath and looked around furtively. God forbid. Yes, that was the capital for you. Everything was under watchful eyes. Oh well, never mind – others were serving there. Besides, his sister Rada lived there. And silly old Unc with his prehistoric bones and antediluvian tortoises. Damn it, how he missed both of them!

When he glanced out the window again, his mouth dropped open. Two men were walking along the street toward the CO's office. One he knew – red-bearded Zef, sergeant major of the114th Sappers' Detachment, a condemned man who earned the right to remain alive by clearing roads through the forest. But the other was weird-looking. At first Guy took him for a degen, but then reasoned that Zef would hardly bother dragging in a degen to headquarters. He was a healthy young man, almost naked, deeply tanned, strong as a bull, and wore only a pair of odd-looking pants made of shiny cloth and cut well above the knee. Zef had his gun with him but he didn't appear to be escorting this fellow under guard. They were walking side by side, and the queer-looking stranger kept waving his arms absurdly. He was attempting to communicate something to Zef, who was panting from their rapid pace and looking totally lost. "Some kind of savage," thought Guy. "But where did he come from? The road through the forest? Maybe he was raised by animals. It's happened before. Damn, what muscles!"

He watched the pair approach the sentry. Zef wiped his face as he attempted to explain something, but the sentry, the recent re-emit, didn't know Zef and thrust a gun into his ribs, ordering him to withdraw to the distance specified by regulations. The naked fellow entered the conversation with his arms still flying. The strange expression on his face was as elusive as quicksilver, and his eyes were expressive and dark. "Oh, now the sentry's lost his cool. Going to raise a ruckus." Guy turned around.

"Captain, permission to speak? The sergeant major of the 114th has brought someone in. Would you mind taking a look?"

The captain went to the window. His eyebrows went up. Opening the window, he stuck out his head.

'"Sentry, let them pass!"

Guy was closing the window when he heard tramping in the corridor. Zef and Ms savage companion entered the office. Close on their heels and crowding them, the chief sentry officer and two other men on sentry duty burst in. Standing at attention, Zef coughed and fixed his impudent blue eyes on the captain.

"Sergeant Major Zef, One hundred and fourteenth Sappers' Detachment, reporting, sir. This fellow was arrested on the road. Captain, from all outward signs, he's insane. He eats poisonous mushrooms, doesn't understand a word, speaks unintelligibly, and, as you see, walks around nearly naked."

While Zef was delivering his report, the prisoner scanned his surroundings and presented a strange smile to everyone present. His teeth were even and as white as sugar. Folding his hands be-hind his back, the captain went up closer and inspected him from head to foot.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The prisoner smiled even more strangely, slapped his palm against his chest, and pronounced something that sounded like "Mac Sim." The chief sentry guffawed, the sentries sniggered, and the captain smiled. At first Guy saw nothing humorous in his response; then he realized that "mac sim" in thieves' slang meant "I ate the knife."

"He's probably one of yours," said the captain to Zef.

Zef shook his head, throwing out a cloud of dust from hjs beard.

"Definitely not. Mac Sim is what he calls himself, but he doesn't understand Moves' language. So he's not one of us."

"Probably a degen," suggested the chief sentry officer. (They gave him an icy look.) "Naked," explained the sentry officer as he retreated toward the door. "May I go now, captain?"

"You may. Send for our staff physician. Dr. Zogu. Where did you catch him?" he asked Zef.

Zef explained that his detachment had been clearing quadrant23/07 during the night, had destroyed four self-propelled ballistic missiles and one device of unknown function, and had lost two men in an explosion; everything was in order. Around seven in the morning this stranger came off the road from the forest to their campfire. They spotted him from a distance, followed him unnoticed by taking cover in the bushes, and captured him at an opportune moment. At first Zef had assumed he was a fugitive, then decided he was a degen and was about to shoot him, but changed his mind because this fellow… Zef, embarrassed, ran his fingers through his beard and concluded: "Because I realized he wasn't a degen."

"How did you reach that conclusion?" asked the captain. The prisoner stood quietly, arms folded across his powerful chest, glancing alternately at him and Zef.

Zef said it would be rather difficult to explain.

"In the first place this guy wasn't afraid of anything. Further-more, he took the broth from the fire and ate exactly one-third, as if he was entitled to it, as a good friend. But before eating, he shouted into the woods, probably because he felt we were near-by. Next point: he wanted to treat us to mushrooms. The mush-rooms were poisonous, and we wouldn't eat them or let him, either. But he tried to treat us – 1 suppose to show his gratitude. And last: as everyone knows, no degen is better endowed physically than a normal weakling. On the way here he kept up a wild pace, walked over fallen trees as if he were on level ground, and skipped across ditches and waited for me on the other side. And for some reason or other – maybe to show off – he actually picked me up and ran two hundred steps."

The captain listened to Zef attentively. But scarcely had Zef finished his story when the captain turned sharply to the prisoner, stared at him hard, and barked in Khonti: "Your name? Rank? Assignment?"

Guy admired the captain's clever approach, but it was obvious that the prisoner did not understand Khonti. Again he revealed his beautiful teeth and thumped himself on the chest, saying "Mac Sim." He jabbed his finger into his captor's ribs, saying "Zef," and then began to speak slowly, with long pauses, pointing alternately at the ceiling and the floor, and waving his arms, Guy thought he caught some familiar words in this speech, but the words had no bearing on the matter at hand. When the prisoner stopped talking. Corporal Varibobu spoke up.