He switched on the radio. Through the strains of a brisk march, a hoarse-voiced announcer was shouting: “…time and time again the infinite wisdom of the Unknown Fathers has been clearly demonstrated to the whole world—and on this occasion it is their military wisdom. It is as if the strategic genius of Gabellu and the Iron Warrior had come back to life! As if the glorious spirits of our invincible warrior ancestors had risen once again, racing into the action to take their place at the head of our tank columns! The Hontian provocateurs and fomenters of conflict have suffered such a crushing defeat that henceforth they will never again dare to poke their noses across our borders, never again will they covet our sacred land! The woefully inept Hontian military launched a massive armada of many thousands of bombers, rockets, and guided missiles at our cities, but here too the victory went not to the strategy of brute force and predatory aggression but to the wise strategy of infinitely subtle calculation and constant preparedness to repel the enemy. Yes, it was to good purpose that we endured deprivations, contributing the final coppers in our pockets to the consolidation of our defenses, to the creation of an impenetrable antiballistic shield! ‘Our ADT system has no equals in the world,’ retired field marshal and recipient of two Golden Banners Iza Petrotsu declared only six months ago. And you were right, old warrior! Not a single bomb, not a single rocket, and not a single missile fell on the sacred ground of the Land of the Fathers! ‘The insuperable network of steel towers is not only our indestructible shield, it is a symbol of the genius and preternatural astuteness of those to whom we owe everything—our Unknown Fathers,’ writes today’s edition of—”
Maxim switched off the radio. Yes, the war seemed to be over. But then, who could tell what else they were concocting now… Maxim turned off the main street onto a narrow side street between gigantic skyscrapers of pink stone, drove over the cobblestones past a long line for a bread shop, and pulled up at a dilapidated, blackened little house. Boar was already waiting, smoking a cigarette and leaning back against a streetlamp. When the car stopped, he flung his cigarette butt away, squeezed in through the little door, and sat down beside Maxim.
He was as calm and cool as always. “Hello, Mak,” he said. “What’s happened?”
Maxim turned the car around and drove back out onto the main street. “Do you know what a thermobaric bomb is?” he asked.
“I’ve heard about them,” said Boar.
“Excellent.”
For a while they drove in silence. The traffic was heavy and Maxim switched off, concentrating on how to cut in, work his way forward, and squeeze his way through between the immense trucks and old, stinking buses without scraping anybody or letting anybody scrape him so that he could catch the green light and then catch the next green light without sacrificing any of the pitiful speed that they already had, and eventually their car broke out onto Forest Boulevard, the familiar highway lined with huge, branching trees.
It’s amusing, Maxim suddenly thought. I drove into this world along this very road—or, rather, poor old Fank drove me into it, and I didn’t have a clue about anything, I thought he was a specialist in aliens. And now maybe I’m driving out of this world along the same road, and maybe even out of the world altogether, and I’m carrying a good man away with me… He squinted sideways at Boar. Boar’s face was absolutely calm; he was sitting there with the elbow above his false hand sticking out of the window and waiting for when he would be given an explanation. Maybe he was surprised, maybe he was agitated, but it wasn’t obvious, and Maxim felt proud that a man like this trusted him and relied on him without the slightest hesitation.
“I’m very grateful to you, Boar,” he said.
“How’s that?” Boar asked, turning his dry, yellowish face toward Maxim.
“Do you remember, at one of the HQ sessions you called me aside and gave me some sensible advice?”
“I remember.”
“Well then. I’m grateful to you for that. I took your advice.”
“Yes, so I noticed. You even disappointed me a bit by doing that.”
“You were right back then,” said Maxim. “I listened to your advice, and now as a result of that, things have turned out so that I have a chance to get into the Center.”
Boar gave a sudden jolt. “Right now?” he quickly asked.
“Yes. I’ve got to hurry, I haven’t had a chance to prepare anything. I might be killed, and then it will all have been in vain. That’s why I’ve taken you with me.”
“Tell me.”
“I’ll go into the building, you’ll stay in the car. After a while the alarm will be raised, and maybe shooting will break out. But it shouldn’t involve you. You keep sitting in the car and waiting. You wait for…” Maxim thought for a moment, calculating… “You wait for twenty minutes. If you get a jolt of radiation during that time, it means everything has worked out fine. You can pass out with a happy smile on your face… If not—get out of the car. There’s a bomb in the trunk with a synchronous fuse set for ten minutes. Unload the bomb onto the road, activate the fuse, and drive away. There’ll be a panic. A very great panic. Try to squeeze everything you can out of it.”
Boar pondered for a while. “Will you just let me call a couple of places?” he asked.
“No,” said Maxim.
“You see,” said Boar. “If they don’t kill you, then as I understand it, you’re bound to need men who are ready for a fight. If they do kill you, then I’ll need them. That’s what you took me along for, in case they kill you… But on my own I can only make a start, and there won’t be much time, and the men have to be warned in advance.”
“HQ?” Maxim asked in a hostile tone.
“Absolutely not. I’ve got my own group.”
Maxim didn’t say anything. A five-story building with a stone wall running across its pediment was already rising up ahead of them. That building. Somewhere inside it Fish was wandering along the corridors and the infuriated Hippopotamus was yelling and sputtering. And the Center was in there. The circle was closing.
“All right,” said Maxim. “There’s a pay phone at the entrance. When I go inside—but not before—you can get out of the car and make your calls.”
“OK,” said Boar.
They were already approaching the turn off the highway. For some reason Maxim remembered Rada and imagined what would happen to her if he didn’t come back. Things would be bad for her. Or maybe, on the contrary, they would let her go. But anyway, she’ll be alone, with Gai gone, and me gone… The poor little girl…
“Do you have a family?” he asked Boar.
“Yes. A wife.”
Maxim bit his lip. “I’m sorry things have turned out so awkward,” he muttered.
“Never mind,” Boar calmly said. “I said good-bye. I always say good-bye when I leave the house… So this is the Center, then? Who would ever have thought it? Everybody knows that the television center and the radio center are here, and now it turns out that the Center is here too…”
Maxim stopped in the parking lot, squeezing in between a dilapidated little old car and a luxurious government limousine.
“Well, this is it,” he said. “Wish me luck.”
“With all my heart,” said Boar. His voice broke and he started coughing. “So I’ve lived to see this day after all,” he murmured.