A Prayer to Saint Strelok: a tale from the Exclusion Zone by Patrick Todoroff

Author:Patrick Todoroff [Todoroff, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PTodoroff
Published: 2017-12-15T18:30:00+00:00

4. how such things were back then

Iosif rummaged through the musty cardboard boxes lining the plywood shelves. “Special Project 57,” he said distractedly. “I was a Junior Researcher.”

Yuri swigged from his canteen and nodded like he knew what the hell that meant. He spat tepid water and motioned for Iosif to continue, trying for the ‘strong, silent’ attitude - not merely to appear tough but really because thinking made his head hurt. His ears were still ringing, he had a rancid metal taste of blood and bile stuck in the back of this throat, and the headache wasn’t leaving fast enough. His thoughts were sluggish, muddy as dishwater swirling around a clogged basin.

I did not charge enough money, was the main one that kept surfacing.

They were inside the bunker at some sort of supply closet in a hall near the entrance. Yuri had propped himself up in the doorway and was watching the scientist paw through stacks of mold-furred boxes and dusty crates. Part of Yuri was surprised; the scientist had acted like a mute on the way in. Shy. Now it was all snap and business.

Devils live in a quiet pond, his babushka used to say.

His babushka… Yuri shuddered, remembering outside and suddenly another part of him had a deep urge to punch the scrawny man in the face.

Iosif slapped one of the boxes onto the floor. “Damn it.”

Yuri spit again and eyed him suspiciously. “Just what are you looking for?”

“It’s a – Ah ha!” A grin like a knife blade split Iosif’s skeleton face and he held up what looked like a battered, black lunch box. “Here’s one.”

Yuri peered at the scientist’s find and recognized an old military flashlight. “You risked the Zone for army surplus?” he laughed bitterly. “Because I can buy that Cold War shit for kopecks from Vanya.”

The scientist had pulled the lip off the top and was busily inserting the batteries he’d pulled out of his backpack. “I hope we don’t need this, but just in case.”

“Just in case what?” Yuri asked.

Iosif’s response was to flick the old flashlight off and on several times. The beam was harsh, bright with a purple tinge. Yuri’s headache reemerged.

Sasha was slung across his back and it occurred to Yuri to include her in this little Q and A session, seeing as he was all Q, and Iosif, while talking more than he had the entire hike out here, was very cagey with straight answers. But there was the little matter of his final fee. And, Yuri had to admit between bouts of nausea, some curiosity. All this effort, there must be something valuable tucked away in here. Better to play nice… for now

“Tell me more about this Special Project 57,” he said instead.

“Bioenergetics research,” Iosif answered.

“Which means…?”

“Which means we were analyzing bioplasma dynamics.”

Yuri bit back the urge to shout. “Bioplasma? And what is that?”

“A theoretical energy field that, under certain conditions, is capable of emitting charged coherent radiation beyond the body surface in the form of electrons and possibly protons.

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