For some reason his most extreme irritation was aroused by the commanding officer of the corps, Colonel Novikov. He had yet to meet this colonel, but everything that he had found out so far was profoundly displeasing.
Getmanov's friends understood his mood; all their remarks about his new posting were very reassuring.
Sagaydak said that the corps would most likely be sent to Stalingrad; that comrade Stalin had known General Yeremenko, the commanding officer of the Stalingrad Front, since the Civil War, even before the First Cavalry Army; that Stalin often talked to him on the telephone and received him in his own house when he came to Moscow… Not long ago Yeremenko had been at comrade Stalin's dacha outside Moscow and Stalin's conversation with him had lasted for two hours. It would be good to fight under the command of a man who enjoyed the confidence of comrade Stalin to such a degree.
After that someone said that Nikita Khrushchev remembered Getmanov's work in the Ukraine, and that if he were lucky he might be sent to the Front where Nikita Khrushchev was on the Military Soviet.
'It's not just coincidence,' said Nikolay Terentyevich, 'that comrade Stalin should have sent Nikita Khrushchev to Stalingrad. It's the key Front – who else could he have sent?'
'And is it just chance that comrade Stalin should post my Dementiy Trifonovich to a tank corps?' Galina Terentyevna asked provocatively.
'Now come on!' said Getmanov. 'For me to be posted to a corps is like becoming secretary of a raykom. After being first secretary of an obkom, it's nothing to write home about.'
'Far from it!' said Sagaydak very seriously. 'Your appointment is an expression of the confidence of the Party. It's not just some out-of-the-way raykom, but the raykom of an industrial centre like Magnitogorsk or Dneproderzhinsk. It's not just any old corps, but a tank corps.'
According to Mashuk, the commanding officer of this corps had only recently been appointed – he had never before commanded such a large unit. He had been told this by an official from the Special Section of the Front, who had been in Ufa not long before.
'There's one other thing he told me,' said Mashuk. He paused. '… But there's no need for me to tell you, Dementiy Trifonovich. You probably already know more about him than he does himself.'
Getmanov screwed up his narrow, shrewd, eyes. 'A lot more.'
Mashuk gave an almost imperceptible smile that was nevertheless noticed by everyone at the table. Although he was related twice over to the Getmanovs, although at family gatherings he always seemed a kind, modest fellow who was fond of a good joke, the Getmanovs always felt a certain tension as they listened to Mashuk's soft, insinuating voice and watched his calm eyes and long, pale face. Getmanov himself did not find this in the least surprising. He was well aware of the power behind Mashuk; he understood how much more Mashuk often knew about things than he did himself.
'Tell us about him,' said Sagaydak.
'He's just someone who's jumped up during the war,' Getmanov explained condescendingly. 'He didn't do anything much before.'
'He wasn't in the nomenklatura?'[13] asked Galina's brother with a smile.
'The nomenklatura!' Getmanov gave a disparaging wave of the hand. 'But he's a useful fellow. I've heard he's a good soldier. And his chief of staff is General Nyeudobnov. I met him at the eighteenth Party Congress. He's very competent.'
'Nyeudobnov, Illarion Innokyentyevich?' exclaimed Mashuk. "Well, well. He was the first man I worked under. Then we went our different ways. And before the war I once met him in Lavrentiy Beria's reception room.'
'Different ways,' repeated Sagaydak with a smile. 'You should approach the matter dialectically – look for the identity and unity, not just the contrast.'
'Everything goes crazy during the war,' said Mashuk. 'Some colonel or other is the commanding officer of a corps and General Nyeudobnov is made his subordinate!'
'He's got no wartime experience,' said Getmanov. 'That does have to be taken into account.'
'I don't believe it! Nyeudobnov! Why, there was a time when one word from him could decide anything. A Party member since before the Revolution, with a vast experience of both public and military service! He was expected to go right to the top.'
The other guests all agreed with Mashuk. Condoling with Nyeudobnov was the easiest way for them to express their sympathy for Getmanov.
'Yes, the war's turned everything upside down,' said Galina's brother. 'I hope it comes to an end soon.'
Getmanov pointed towards Sagaydak. 'Did you ever meet Krymov, a Muscovite? He once gave a talk about international affairs to the lecture group of the Kiev Central Committee.'
'A few years before the war? A deviationist? Used to work in the Comintern?'
'Yes, that's right. Well, this corps-commander of mine intends to marry his ex-wife.'
For some reason this piece of news made everyone laugh, although no one present had met either Krymov's ex-wife or the corps-commander who intended to marry her.
'Yes, it wasn't for nothing that our friend received his first training in the security organs,' said Mashuk. 'Is there anything he doesn't know?'
'There are no flies on him,' said Galina's brother. 'That's for sure.'
'Of course. The High Command's got no time for scatterbrains.'
'Yes, our Getmanov's certainly no scatterbrain,' said Sagaydak.
In a serious, matter-of-fact tone, as though he were back in his office, Mashuk said: 'Yes, that Krymov… I remember him from his visit to Kiev – a dubious character. He's been mixed up for years with all kinds of Trotskyists and Bukharinites.'
He spoke straightforwardly and openly, seemingly as straightforwardly as the manager of a knitwear factory or a teacher at a technical institute might talk about their work. But they all understood that this openness and freedom were only apparent – he knew better than any of them what could, and what could not, be talked about. Getmanov, who also loved to shock people by his boldness and candour, was well aware of the depths concealed beneath the surface of this animated and spontaneous conversation.
Although normally very thoughtful and serious, Sagaydak now tried to restore to the conversation its earlier note of lightness. Turning to Getmanov he said: 'That's why his wife's left him – she thinks he's an unreliable element.'
'I hope you're right,' said Getmanov. 'But it seems to me that this corps-commander of mine is marrying an alien and unreliable element himself.'
'Well, let him!' said Galina Terentyevna. 'What strange things you worry about. What matters is whether or not they love each other.'
'Love, of course, is fundamental,' agreed Getmanov. 'Everyone knows that. But there are other matters that certain Soviet citizens tend to forget about.'
'Absolutely,' said Mashuk, 'and we should be aware of everything.'
'Right. And then people wonder why the Central Committee hasn't ratified a new appointment, why this and why that… But what have they done to deserve the confidence of the Party?'
'You are a strange lot!' interrupted Galina Terentyevna in a sing-song voice. 'Anyone would think you'd quite forgotten about the war. All you seem to worry about is the ex-husband of the future wife of some corps-commander. Who are you fighting against, Dima?'