Brian Lumley - Necroscope - Invaders

Suvorov has led an alleged "expeditionary" party of soldiers and scientists through the Perchorsk Gate into Sunside/Starside, Nathan Keogh's world.'

Now it was Gustav Turchin's turn to smile wrily. 'Ah!' he said. 'The Opposition! And sharp as ever. Yes, and you are correct: that is my problem. But, alas, it's also yours.'

'Probably more than you suspect,' said Trask. 'But perhaps I should hear your side of the story first.'

'My side is simple,' said the other. 'Five years ago, when Turkur Tzonov escaped justice in Perchorsk by fleeing into Starside, some of his dupes were taken prisoner. That was a mistake on my part; I should have had them shot for mutiny, conspiracy, desertion of duty, sabotage… oh, half a dozen charges. But I didn't, and one of them talked to Mikhail Suvorov. Not the best possible move, for fehad them shot! Or rather, he saw to their disposal. There were several very unfortunate accidents.'

Trask understood, and said, 'Which left General Suvorov as the sole heir to whatever he could steal from Sunside/Starside. He knew that the Gate would lead him into an alien world, knew about the gold, and wanted it for himself

'The gold and whatever else he could find there,' Turchin answered. 'A whole new world, which he would annex and rape for its riches. And he would have control of the Gate. Why, in retrospect it seems perfectly obvious: if Suvorov had wanted these things for the good of his country, for Russia — which was what he told me — then surely he would have explained his purpose to everyone; to his military colleagues and the whole country, and not just… not just to me.' He turned his face away.

'He told you he was going through the Gate? And you didn't try to stop him?' Trask believed he understood something of the predicament Turchin must have faced, but wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.

'How could I stop him?' Turchin threw up his hands. 'After the Perchorsk Complex was flooded, a task force of military engineers was sent in to strip and salvage lead from the shielding in the ravine. That was what I was led to believe, though later it turned out that wasn't all they were there for. Anyway, many of these men were long-term criminals from the punishment garrisons at Beresov and Ukhta. Hand-picked by Mikhail Suvorov, they had been given the choice of serving out their sentences or serving him: his first step towards securing Perchorsk. In return, and after the job was done and everyone else had moved out, Suvorov let them stay on and turn the dry upper levels into living quarters serviced by hydroelectric power from the dam. They had vehicles, and documentation that allowed them to resupply themselves from Beresov. From then on they were the "official" team of engineers, responsible for servicing and running the dam. As for the dam's continued existence: that was easily justified in that the bulk of its electrical power had been re-routed to the service of local logging camps and other communities…'

'And you were in the dark about all this?' Despite Trask's respect for the other — and the fact that so far the Premier's every word had been the truth — still he was relentless in his pusuit of all the answers.

'I was kept in the dark about it!' Turchin told him. 'Ben, I don't control the armed forces and I never have. If they want me to know something, then they tell me. And if I require their services, I tell them. And that's it.'

'Bringing a democracy to life isn't easy,' Trask said. 'Neither is killing Communism!' said the other, then went on to explain: 'Oh, they are still there, the hard-liners. And so we're — how do you say it — between a rock and a hard place? The old guard on the one hand, and all the greedy opportunists, like Suvorov, on the other. Do you know what happens to a Russian bank if it runs out of money?'

Trask shrugged. 'It goes bankrupt?'

'No, they turn it into a pizza house! Huh! Among the Muscovites, that is currently a "joke." Here's another that's not so funny: what does a General do when there's no money

to fund his parades or pay his troops, and his pension's only good for cheap vodka and cabbage soup?'

And Trask nodded. 'He goes gold-prospecting. But you know, no one lives forever. Not me and not you. Somewhere there must be documentation on the Perchorsk Project, the Gate, the complex, and everything that happened there. While we're alive, of course we'll do our best to protect such records, such secrets. But when we're dead or no longer in office — what then? If not Suvorov, sooner or later someone else would have tried it.'

'I thought of that a long time ago,' said Turchin. 'Also, I liked Nathan and I'm sure I would like his people. There was something about him that was very Russian, you know? And in my way, well, I'm a humanitarian, too… you'll just have to take my word for that. So, I took what precautions I could.'

'Precautions?'

'Long before Mikhail Suvorov found out about Perchorsk, I was destroying everything I could find on that place. Every bit of documentation, records, reports, you name it. Not the experiment, you understand, not the Projekt itself — for it's better that men should learn from their mistakes — but the horror that came after it, the very knowledge of a vampire world. And I was quite successful, perhaps even too successful. For now… why, even the so-called Opposition knows a lot more about it than I do, and certainly more than anyone else!'

'We always did,' said Trask.

'Of course you did, yes — and of course you do — for you have even been there, to Nathan Keogh's world in an alien parallel dimension. But isn't that a peculiar circumstance in itself, since Perchorsk and the Gate lie deep inside my homeland? And if you were me, wouldn't you feel… left out?'

'Not really,' Trask shook his head. 'No one who saw what I saw, experienced what I experienced, would ever want to go back there. Believe me, you must consider yourself fortunate. And as for General Mikhail Suvorov: well, you can consider him unfortunate. He's dead, Gustav.'

'Oh?' And Turchin lifted a great bush of an eyebrow. 'Does that explain it, then? The accident or vandalism or whatever it was at the Romanian Refuge? Was that Suvorov?'

'You know about the Refuge?'

'I have my sources.' Turchin shrugged.

For the moment at least Trask let that one slide and said, 'No, it wasn't Mikhail Suvorov — but it was as a direct result of his "invasion" of Sunside/Starside. That was what brought it about' And he quickly told the Russian Premier everything that had happened, including the fact that three Great Vampires were now at large in the world, and that he and E-Branch were trying to hunt them down.

'And that is why you're here?'

'We believe that one of them is here in Australia, yes.'

And Turchin said, 'Ah! Then that would explain why initially you were on the other side of the continent, and not here in Brisbane. And so it's a pure coincidence that the trail has led you here: you think that he — your "man," shall we say? — is close by.'

'He's not far away, that's for sure,' said Trask. 'And now I have a question for you.'

'Go ahead.'

'If you knew we were in the west, in the Gibson Desert on the other side of Australia, why did you ask my headquarters if I'd be attending the conference? Also, how did you know we were in Western Australia in the first place?'

'That's two questions,' Turchin smiled.

Trask nodded. 'Yes, but please don't spoil things by lying to me on either one of them.'

'To you?' Turchin raised that eyebrow again. 'Do you think that's likely, Ben?'

'No, because I know it isn't possible,' said the other. 'I was reminding you of that fact, that's all.'

'I don't need reminding,' the Premier told him. 'And I say again, I'm not here to lie to you but to ask for your help. And now you ask how I know so much. Very well, then listen: