Face it, Karpov, he chided himself. You are not busy here trying to save the world. You are only interested in saving your own skin, and the world be damned, eh? Another voice argued in his mind. No, it said, that wasn’t true. I have been fighting for Russia all along. I fought the British, Germans, Japanese and the Americans-all our enemies, all with a mind to exploit us and take from us. Now I fight for Russia, and not simply my own ambition. If no one here has the mind or will to pull this country together again, then I must do it.
Yes, he thought, give yourself a noble purpose, but look how it ends? What are you doing, you fool! You were once Captain of the most powerful ship on earth. The possibilities were limitless. You could have done anything. Now here you are flitting about in these antiquated old blimps, a self appointed Admiral of a phantom fleet of airships. What in God’s name do you think you are doing?
I’m doing this, the other voice answered. There’s more in my grasp now than the reins of this old airship, or even the entire fleet. No. I have more at my command than the hordes of Tartar Cavalry I threatened Volkov with. I’ve got that damn stairway under my thumb! Volkov doesn’t know what really happened to him. He never made the connection between this place and his movement in time, a connection that was almost immediately apparent to me. What a fool I was-I very nearly spilled the beans when I suggested that to him in our meeting. I can only hope he doesn’t put two and two together like I did and get curious. Otherwise he would likely move his entire air fleet to secure this place.
That is why I must secure it first! I’m here, now, and I have two airships and a full battalion of the 18th Siberian Rifles with me. That will be enough for the moment. I’ll offload that entire force here, and lock that railway inn down tight as a drum. I can make this a new regional headquarters and bring in more troops in the weeks ahead. This place is perhaps the most strategic soil in all of Russia, and it’s mine! Let Volkov and Kirov squabble over the rest.
He remembered how he had figured out what must have happened to Volkov. The man started at the top of that stairway and he claimed he was interrogated by NKVD at the bottom. That had to be in the 1940s. There were no NKVD operating back in 1908. The Tsar was still in power then. So how did Volkov end up in 1908? He must have gone down the stairs a second time! You go up those stairs and you move forward in time. You go down those stairs…
Now the full implications of what he had just worked out in his mind struck him. My god, he thought, I have even more power here than I realized! I could go back there right now, with Tyrenkov and some of his very best men. We’ll go up the main stairway and then the whole lot could follow me down that service stairway to the dining room-but to where? Would it work? Would we end up in 1908, or some other year?
If it did work… If I could go farther back… Why then Volkov was small potatoes, wasn’t he? Kirov would be no problem either. I could go back and get rid of them-pull the weeds before they ever get a chance to spoil my garden.
He smiled, thinking how easy it would be to do away with his enemies. Then I’ll handle the matter, won’t I? I’ll be the one who gets rid of Stalin, Volkov, Kirov and anyone else who gets in my way. Then I could just come back here and see what has developed. I’ll be the most powerful man in the whole world!
He passed a moment imagining it all. I was thrown off the back of Kirov for a reason, he now believed. That old Japanese fisherman did not know what he was doing when he pulled me out of the water, that he had fate himself in his fishing net! Look how they brought me home. Those few rubles the pilot of that steamer handed me will end up buying much more than he could imagine. Now I can be the one who takes control, not just here in Siberia. From 1908 I can manage everything. I’ll even be able to take an occasional walk up those stairs to see how the cake is baking, eh?
It was a heady toxin, and he seemed to delight in the thought of quietly eliminating his enemies. Yet now he was strangely drained by what he had experienced. So he decided to savor the moment, let it simmer in his thoughts for a time, and then go to bed.
There would be time enough tomorrow to reshape the world.
Chapter 30
More than one man was thinking that night. Ivan Volkov was also awake, turning fitfully in his sleep as he thought about the presence of Karpov here. The news he had received about the location of that ship- Kirov — had shaken him further.
So Kirov has hold of the ship they gave his name. Or does he? What was that ship doing at Murmansk? Clearly whoever is now commanding it must have had a mind to go home. Yet how did it get there? Karpov left to fight his battle in the Pacific. He claimed he was blown into the past, but still in the Pacific. My intelligence network is very good. I built it, and it has served me well. There was a squabble between the German navy and Russian ships in the Kara Sea some days ago. Now I learn that the Germans ran into trouble and got a nice kick in the pants as they tried to slink away. What Soviet ship could have backed the Germans off? Was it this ship?
Who would be in command there? Not fat old Volsky. He was stuck at Naval Headquarters at Fokino. So it must be one of the other officers, the Starpom — the ex-navigator. Yes, he was the one who was promoted so oddly, skipping three full ranks. I knew something was amiss with that. Is he working for Sergie Kirov now? Are they in league? That would certainly be a problem. That ex-navigator, Volsky’s resident historian… Yes, it all makes sense now.
My god… that seems so long ago. Yet I can remember it. Yes, it is as clear to me as if it were just yesterday, and when I saw Karpov’s face it all came flooding back. I wonder what really happened to Karpov. Was he lying? Did he really find himself in 1938 as he told it? Was he sent there to perform a mission of some kind? But he seemed genuinely surprised to learn I was still alive-that I was the Volkov at the heart of this Federation. Was that all an act?
Yes, Karpov seemed quite astonished to see me here and learn who I really was. He could simply not understand how I came to be here. That is no surprise to me. I still don’t know what really happened. What was it Karpov suggested? He asked me if I had ever considered that my strange movement in time had something to do with the place where it happened, that old railway inn.
The news he had received earlier that night pricked at him now. It was most unsettling. His intelligence network said that Karpov had taken his airships back to Novosibirsk, but two set out almost immediately and headed northeast. His operatives had spotted them overflying Krasnoyarsk, still heading northeast. Why?
He sat up in bed and reached for the lamp switch, squinting at the harsh light in the darkened room. Immediately he heard movement at the door, and a quiet knock. “Is anything wrong, sir?” came a muffled voice from the guard outside.
“No, nothing.” He said, shuffling to his writing desk across the room and turning on another light. He looked at the clock there, seeing it was five in the morning.
“Coffee,” he said at the door. “Hot coffee.” He had always had a taste for the bean, eschewing tea and needing something stronger to stimulate his thinking.
“I’ll send for it at once, sir.”
Back at his desk Volkov opened a drawer and took out a map and ruler. He laid one end on Novosibirsk, and then lined the ruler up on Krasnoyarsk, following it on to see what lay beyond on that heading. There it was! Of course! Kansk, the river, and then just a little ways beyond-there was the tiny hamlet of Ilanskiy! His operatives had been very specific. Two zeppelins continued northeast. They did not turn southeast for Irkutsk, so Karpov wasn’t running home to Old Man Kolchak to get another medal pinned on his chest.