Men of War (2013) (40 page)

“I
don’t understand,” said Volsky. “Nexus Point?”

“The
way he explained it was that time flowed like a river. So then think of a
whirlpool in that stream. This is the Nexus Point, the place where different
streams of time merge and flow together and then resolve to some new direction.
In that whirlpool anything might happen. Imagine a leaf caught up in it, swirling
about. When it finally returns to the river it might have moved to a different
place, taken a different course.
Kirov
was a leaf in the stream of time
sir, but I don’t think our journey is over yet. I think we are still caught up
in the maelstrom. We still have Rod-25, and the power to use it and, as long as
we do, then nothing is decided and we cannot return to the normal flow of the
river.”

“You
are saying that our possession of Rod-25 is the problem?”

“Both
the problem and the solution, sir. Rod-25 caused this dilemma, but it is also
the only means we have of redressing it. With it we have the power to change
the order of events again—to change the flow of time and all the history from
1942 to the present. We can rewrite the headlines we read in that newspaper. We
have already edited the story, but now we can make it new.”

Karpov’s
eyes were alight as he listened, for he had heard that same Siren song and been
tempted by time and fate long ago. “Yes, we
do
have that power,” he said
in a low voice. “This Rod-25 business. It worked it’s magic at the test bed
facility just as it did aboard
Kirov
.”

“Exactly,”
said Fedorov. “As long as Rod-25 remains viable, it enables time displacement.
Rig it up in a low power twelve rod reactor as Dobrynin did at the test center
and we get missing magazines, teacups, chairs, and Markov. Put it back on the
ship with its twin 24 rod reactors and we get a battlecruiser making visits to
the high seas of 1942!”

Volsky
raised his eyebrows with astonishment. “You never cease to amaze me, Fedorov.
You bring this insanity into the room and actually make it sound rational. What
you are saying is that your discovery of that letter makes it possible for us
to do something about Orlov, yes?”

“Correct,
sir. We now know exactly where he is on a given time and place. We have the
equivalent of his GPS coordinates in the history, and we have the means of
going there ourselves, finding him, and bringing him back. We have the power.”

“But
only if we use the ship….” Volsky frowned. “This is correct what I say, yes? If
we use the test bed facility we have a one way street. There is no reactor at
the other end with Rod-25 to send us home.”

“Right,
sir. That facility does not seem to have the power to move anything but loose
objects within a limited range of the core. Yet as we have seen in a more
powerful reactor setting Rod-25 can move an entire ship! We then have options.
We have helicopters, men like Sergeant Troyak and his Marines.”

“Men
of war,” said Volsky, remembering Orlov’s last plaintive letter. “So what you
are suggesting is that fate is waiting on
us?
That until this
possibility no longer exists, the world will never rest at ease and settle down
again?”

“Something
like that, sir.”

“And
if we were to do such a thing as you suggest, undertake a kind of rescue
operation, what then?”

“Then
we will have at least packed out our trash,” said Karpov. “Forgive my speaking
of Orlov in those terms, but we will have recovered the man and his damn
Computer Jacket and cleaned up the last of the mess we created.”

Fedorov
seized on that point. “After all, sir, didn’t you find it strange that we
appeared here at the precise moment necessary to either kill or spare the
Key
West?
It’s as if time was forcing us to make that choice so she could get
on with her business. Now we have this letter, and yes, more unfinished
business. Don’t you feel it? The moment seems breathless. Things are building
and building to some climax, but time is waiting—waiting for us to make
another
choice.”

Volsky,
took a long breath, settling into his chair, thinking. “Then we have two
options that I can see. One is to get this Rod-25 back aboard
Kirov
, and
hope that perhaps we might do something one day, presuming this strange
displacement ever happens again. And the other choice is to utterly destroy
that control rod and close the matter here and now, and then we live with what
comes next, and forfeit the power to change it ever again, except by means of
blood and steel in the here and now.” He had a distant look in his eyes, as if
seeing the days past or perhaps peering into some unknown future and seeing it
as a real place and time in his imagination.

 “So
what do we do, sir?” said Karpov. “What do we do with the greatest power anyone
has ever seen on this earth—the power to change everything, the entire world?
There’s a great dragon out there, and it’s about to start a war. We’ve already
seen the end of that story. What do we do about it?”

Volsky
smiled, still thinking. “This reminds me of the old Chinese proverb,” he said at
last. “If you ignore the dragon, it will eat you. If you try to confront the
dragon it will overpower you. But if you
ride
the dragon, you will take
advantage of its might and power. Gentlemen… We can’t ignore this, and I’m not
sure we can win this war by confrontation on our own, or prevent it from taking
place. But by God, yes, we
do
have power, Karpov, and we can ride the
Dragon’s back.”

Part XI

Siren
Song

“This
is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret? …”

—
Margaret Atwood: Siren Song

Chapter 31

Admiral
Volsky’s eyes shone with new light now. He was no longer that old Admiral,
sitting at the desk of another old admiral, and looking longingly at the
retired hulk of
Admiral Lazarev
down in Abrek Bay. There the ship sat,
the image of
Kirov
from without, but nothing more than a gutted, empty
hulk within, powerless and forgotten. But not so for
Kirov
, he thought.
There was power to take to the seas again, real authority to strive and contend
and decide. And they also had Rod-25, a mysterious magic wand with power unlike
anything the world had ever seen. They had discovered it unknowingly,
blundering into a distant age and time to wage war on war itself. And though
they fought there to preserve their own lives and fate, they had also unwittingly
decided the lives and fate of many others. What they did before, they could do
again.

The
red telephone sounded an insistent tone on his desk. It was Talanov:
“Excuse
me sir, but I think you had better bring up your news feed.”
It was the UN
General Assembly this time. The Chinese ambassador was completing a lengthy
speech and making a formal demand, and ultimatum, for the passage of a
resolution in the Republic of China renouncing independence.

“They
are asking Taiwan to surrender before the shooting has even started there,”
said Karpov.

“Always
a good move, but not one likely to produce any results,” said Volsky. “This is
mere formality. Moscow informs me that they will move on Taiwan no later than midnight
tomorrow. Their submarines are already deploying from the major bases at
Sanya
and
Yulin
on Hainan Island
to form a picket line in the South China Sea, and their new aircraft carrier is
preparing to move into those waters. There is activity all along the coast from
Shanghai to
Dailan
, Guangzhou, Shantou,
Beihai
and even Hong Kong. Air units are being moved and
the entire navy is ramping up for deployment. We must do the same. I am going
to call Admiral Shi Lang and see if I can buy us a little more time. He may not
have any choice in the matter, but at the very least I will know more of what
to expect in the days ahead. We have less than forty-eight hours to decide what
we must do with
Kirov
.”

“The
ship is ready, sir. We can sail within that timeframe.”

Volsky
considered, looking at Fedorov and seeing the concern on his face. They had
three weapons now, time, blood and steel. The problem was that there was all
too little of the first, even though eternity was within their grasp in Rod-25.

“Mister
Fedorov,” he said at last. “If you have any last thoughts on this matter, then
let me hear them. What do you propose?”

Fedorov
looked at Karpov, then set his jaw. He explained that there were two possible
ways to get Orlov—one by using the ship, and the other by simply following
Markov’s ill fated route. “I understand that using the ship may be impossible
at the moment, sir. So I’ll go, with your permission. I’ll go to the test-bed
facility and follow Markov’s route. It moved him to September of 1942, right where
we need to go to find Orlov. He thinks they were taking him to
Bayil
Prison in Baku. If so, he’ll be in one place for a
good long time. We could try and find him there.”

“How
will you get there?”

“The
Trans-Siberian rail.”

“That’s
a long way, and very dangerous.” Karpov pointed out the obvious. “Getting back
out east to the coast here with Orlov would be even more dangerous. I assume
that is your plan, yes? We’d still have to run the procedure aboard
Kirov
again to bring you home, Fedorov. Taking time out to excuse ourselves from
World War Three will not be easy. Even if we could do such a thing, how will we
know when you are ready for extraction? And suppose we do this and the ship
ends up in 1944! You could be left at the coast for a very long time waiting
for our helicopters to show up. In fact, you could be left there for a
lifetime.”

 “I’m
afraid I must agree,” said Volsky.  “It would seem complete madness to
send
Kirov
off into the ether under these circumstances. That ship is
the heart of the fleet now. We have
Admiral Kuznetsov
at sea just south
of
Beringa
Island, our only existing aircraft
carrier, and it is escorted by three old
Krivak
Class frigates. We’ll have to do better than that. On the other hand, we have
the greatest weapon imaginable at our disposal if we dare to use it again, and
if it has the slightest chance of preventing this war, then we must try. Have
you thought about this, Fedorov? If it works as with Markov, and you vanish as
he did, how will we know what has happened to you? How could we possibly come
back for you?”

“I’ll
let you know if I get back to the target date safely, sir.”

“What?
How will you do that, Fedorov? I don’t think there’s a secure telephone line
anywhere in old Vladivostok to the year 2021.”

“No,
but there are secure locations here in Vladivostok that go back centuries. I
happen to own one that will come in very handy.”

“I
don’t understand.”

“The
old Naval Storage Depot, sir. Cellar number five. It still has old storage bins
dating back to WWII, some even earlier. My father was a navy man, and so was my
grandfather. He had one of the bins there, and it passed to my father and then
to me. I just went to check it yesterday. It’s still there, completely
untouched for decades. My grandfather’s old uniform is tucked away in a steamer
trunk, and I’ll slip a note into the breast pocket.” He held up an old,
weathered key, smiling.

“Nobody
has bothered them at all these years,” he said. “Just have a man waiting there
with this key, and as soon as we vanish he can open the bin. My letter should
be right there waiting for him. I got the idea that we could do this when I
found Orlov’s letter.”

“Astounding,”
said Volsky.

“So
you’ll know if I’ve made it back safely. Then I’ll head for Kizlyar via the
Trans-Siberian rail.”

“That’s
a huge distance,” said Karpov. “What if you
don’t
make it back safely?
Look what happened to Markov! You said he was shot dead by military police on
the quay within minutes of his arrival there.”

“That
won’t happen to me, Captain.”

“How
can you be so sure?”

“Because
Sergeant Troyak will be with me.” He folded his arms.

“Troyak?”
Karpov raised his eyebrows. “You’ve spoken to him about this?”

“He
volunteered this afternoon, and two of his best Marines will round out the
team. In fact he showed me comm-link devices you can use to track us on
extraction. They use them for special operations.”

“You
told him everything? He and his men know the risks?”

“And
they also know what’s at stake.”

Volsky
smiled. “Well, well, well… Yes, if you take Troyak back we will definitely get
your letter, and I think you will get to Kizlyar as well. I have little doubt
of that. But make no mistake, Fedorov. This is still going to be dangerous.
Troyak and his men are among the best in the fleet, but they are men
nonetheless, not robots. A bullet will kill them, and you, easily enough.”

“I
understand, sir. It’s the risk we’ll have to take.”

“I
admire your courage in this, but I must tell you that
Kirov
may not be
able to come back for you.”

Fedorov
knew this was the one weak link in his plan.
Kirov
might soon find
itself in battle, and there was no guarantee that the ship would survive or
ever find a way to extricate itself and use Rod-25 to return for them. But he
had a plan.