He almost succeeded in making good his escape, when he inadvertently stepped on a fallen branch, making it snap in half with a loud, cracking crunch. This was all the buck needed, to spot the retreating human between him and his current beloved.
Instinct instantly took over, and the creature lowered its massive rack and charged.
Andrei could think of no better defense than to turn tail and run for it. He hadn’t moved so fast in years, as he frantically crashed through the forest, with the persistent elk ever close on his heels.
He broke out of the underbrush like an Olympic sprinter. This put him back on the relatively clear footpath, and the retired septuagenarian did his best to lengthen his weary stride.
As he passed back into the birch wood, he realized that his pursuer had finally given up the chase. Andrei immediately halted at this point, and his first priority was to catch his breath. Sweat matted his forehead, and a familiar pain suddenly shot up his left arm and once more left him dizzy and breathless.
Yanking off his mittens, he fumbled in his pants pocket for his pill case. His hands were wildly shaking, yet he still managed to snap open the compact metal container and slip one of its tiny, yellow pills under his tongue. The medication took a full minute to take effect, and even then a dull pain continued to course through the entire left side of his upper torso.
An icy gust of wind swept through the tree limbs, further adding to his discomfort, and Andrei realized that it was beginning to snow. And then he heard the distinctive, muffled chopping whine of a helicopter in the distance. He could tell merely from this sound’s deep pitch that it was a military vehicle. And this observation proved true when a dark green, Mil Mi-8 utility helicopter, with the red star fuselage markings of the Russian Army, roared almost directly overhead, only inches from the swaying tree tops.
Because there were no military bases nearby, Andrei wondered what this vehicle was doing here. It seemed to be headed straight for his dacha, and this could only mean that it had come for him.
Andrei had expected this day to come, and he did his best to gather his physical composure and continue homeward.
Sure enough, as he broke into the clearing where his dacha was situated, the helicopter could be seen parked beside the wood pile. A lone soldier stood beside its elongated fuselage, with a lit cigarette between his lips. A column of thick white smoke poured from the dacha’s stone chimney, and Andrei prepared himself for the worst as he walked up to the front door and stepped inside.
Waiting for him beside the crackling fireplace, was a short, bespectacled, middle-aged man, dressed in an ill-fitting brown suit. This steely-eyed visitor needed no introduction. Dr. Stanislaus Bolimin had been the head of the Kirov Polytechnic Institute on the day that Andrei was forced into retirement. It was Bolimin who coldly notified him that after five decades of loyal, unselfish service, he would no longer be needed. That very afternoon he was escorted out of his laboratory, never again to be allowed to set foot inside it.
“Good morning. Comrade,” greeted Bolimin, his nasal tone sharp and irritating.
“Your fireplace is a most welcome sight after my long, cold flight up from Kirov.”
Andrei was saved from having to reply by his wife’s entrance into the room. Anna held a steaming hot mug of tea, which she proceeded to give to their guest. “Thank goodness that you got back before the snow really began falling, Andrei Sergeyevich,” said Anna as she walked over to help her husband remove his coat.
“Are those thorns all over the back of your jacket, husband? I thought that you promised me that you would always remain on the trail.”
“So you’re still straying from the path, even in retirement,” observed Bolimin with a sardonic grin.
“Some things never change.”
“I guess they don’t. Doctor,” returned Andrei disgustedly.
“I hope that I’m not being too blunt, but to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
Bolimin took a sip of his tea and directly responded to this question.
“Your bluntness is most appreciated. Comrade. For you see, a matter of great urgency brings me here, and I have no time for pleasantries. Though I must say that this tea is certainly delicious.”
“I’m glad that you’re enjoying it,” said Anna, who turned towards the kitchen and added.
“Andrei Sergeyevich, warm yourself by the fire before you catch pneumonia, and I’ll bring you some tea and honey.”
Quick to follow her orders, Andrei joined his guest beside the brick hearth. There was a look of defiant anger in his blue eyes as he opened the fireplace screen and attacked the burning embers with a poker. The kindling crackled and spat, and Andrei threw in another log before closing the screen and readdressing Bolimin.
“So what exactly is this urgent matter that brings you here, Doctor? I thought that the state no longer had need for a senile old man like myself.”
“You underestimate yourself. Comrade,” returned Bolimin in a condescending tone.
“In the five years that you’ve been gone from the Institute, not a day goes by without your name being mentioned. Your textbooks still grace our classrooms, your many theories are still the subject of intense debate.”
“Don’t stand here in my own house and patronize me, Bolimin!” spat Andrei.
“Or have you already forgotten that you’re the one who sent me packing from the Institute without so much as an explanation.”
“That’s not true,” countered Bolimin.
“You know well why you were asked to leave. The choice was yours. Comrade. And when you continued your anti-state remarks to the Western press, we had no choice but to let you go.”
“Antistate remarks,” repeated Andrei bitterly.
“No one loves this country more than I. And what you mistook for dissent was only my way of sharing with the world what I considered to be the greatest threat to humanity since the development of the atomic bomb!”
Bolimin took a deep breath and replied as calmly as possible.
“I haven’t come here to argue with you. Comrade. Rather to ask your help in a matter of grave importance to this state that you say you love so.”
Before he could further explain, Anna returned with her husband’s tea.
“Is there anything else that I can get for you?” she politely asked.
“Perhaps you’d like some herring?”
Finding no takers for this offer, she shrugged her shoulders and returned to the kitchen. Only when she was completely out of earshot did Bolimin continue.
“What I’m about to share with you is to be held in the strictest confidence. Comrade. Five years ago, on the very day that you were asked to leave the Institute, the Ministry of Defense gave us the go-ahead to begin construction of a full-scale magnetic resonator. We utilized the original plans that you yourself created, and had a working degausser ready to test, twelve months later.”
“You’re not going to tell me that you went and actually built the antimatter device after all I warned you about?” retorted Andrei, his face red with disbelief.
“That we did. Comrade. And as Lenin is my witness, except for a few unexpected side effects, it worked just as you said it would.”
With gathering enthusiasm, Bolimin added.
“If I hadn’t seen the incredible results with my own eyes, I would have never believed them. This went for the representatives of the Defense Ministry as well, whose daily reports to Moscow generated nothing but doubt and skepticism at first. That was until the Minister himself paid us a visit. Needless to say, he left us a full believer, and even went as far as to suggest nominating you for a Star of Lenin.”