Fedorov was silent. When it was only Kirov and Kazan, the task they had before them seemed a doable thing. Now Karpov had laid out the cold logic of it all. Even if they could remove Takami and Kinlan and all the other ships, there was still Ivan Volkov to deal with. Karpov pressed his advantage.
“We leave, and then Volkov rules the roost. You’re already worried that the Allies could still lose this war. Well, if they do, it won’t be here in the Pacific. Japan loses here whether or not I beat them senseless. The American Navy will not be defeated, not unless the Axis finds a way to shut down US production sites. No, if the Allies lose, it will be because Russia is defeated, and right now, this very minute, Ivan Volkov is doing everything in his power to see that that happens. In fact, I would go so far as to say that our little club, you, me, and Volsky, are the only real counterfoil to Volkov’s tampering here. If we leave, let me tell you what is likely to happen. Sergei Kirov has managed to hold on this long, but Volgograd will fall soon, and the Soviet Winter Offensive of 1942-43 has already run out of steam. This year the Germans go for Leningrad.”
“I’ll admit I hadn’t thought about all of this,” said Fedorov. “But Kamenski might be able to sort it through—once we get home.”
“No, Fedorov, he won’t, because home may not even be there from what I’ve already seen. Yes, I’ll let you in on a little secret. As you know, that stairway at Ilanskiy goes both ways. Well I took a little stroll one day—and I went up instead of down. In fact, I got back to 2021 just in time to see the show, like a man slipping into the theater after the movie has already started. You know what I saw from the upper landing of that stairway—a mushroom cloud over Kansk.”
Karpov let that sit there, and neither man spoke for a good long while. Then he inclined his head and continued. “Let me tell you a little joke from that American comedian: ‘A guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says, hey doc, my brother’s crazy! He thinks he’s a chicken. Then the doc says, why don’t you turn him in? Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs.’ Well Fedorov, we can get all our chickens lined up here, but you’ve forgotten one of the eggs. You see, Kamenski aside, you and Volsky haven’t really thought any of this through—but I have. I ran all this through the mill long ago, before I made my decision to stay here and fight. But giving you the benefit of every doubt, suppose we even hatch a mission to kidnap Ivan Volkov and get him home with us, or kill him instead. There’s still one egg that’s fallen from the nest, and you have no idea where it is—Orlov.”
Part XII
As You Like It
Chapter 34
Orlov… Where the hell was Orlov, thought Fedorov? One moment he’s right in front of me on that staircase, the next moment he’s gone. Why? Where did he go? I just haven’t had time to try and sleuth that all out in the history. It was only sheer luck that I stumbled upon that journal entry he wrote that so clearly gave me a time and place for him. To do that again, I would at least need a better vantage point on the history. I won’t be likely to turn up anything here in the 1940s—unless he reappears here and makes his presence known somehow. I’m relying on Tyrenkov for that.
Think!
“If Orlov did appear somewhere, it would have to be beyond the year 1908, because we were going up the stairway when he vanished.”
“Logical enough,” said Karpov.
“Alright… We also know that there seems to be linkage to your point of origin when shifting through a fissure like that. I don’t know how it works, but perhaps you still harbor some residue, or even a vibration on the quantum level that associates you with a given period in time. All I know is that every time I traveled that stairway, I was returned to the time and place I was before. That’s how I got back here safe and sound, along with Troyak and all the Marines I had with me.”
“But not Orlov,” said Karpov. “Why is he an exception to the rule? I suppose it doesn’t surprise me on one level. Orlov was a loose cannon.”
“Yet he would get somewhere,” said Fedorov. “In fact, he should have reached the top of that stairway—the upper landing on the 2nd floor, but perhaps at a different time.”
“He hasn’t shown up since you arrived,” said Karpov. “I’ve had men posted there round the clock, and my brother has ringed that inn with three concentric circles of security. Speaking of him, there’s another little fly in your ointment. How could both my brother and I shift forward together? I’m willing to bet that was never considered by this Kamenski either.”
“I’m beginning to see your point,” said Fedorov, still thinking about Orlov. “What if he went much farther forward. We already know he can’t reach a time where he already exists, and he’s been here since the ship arrived in late July of 1941—the Second Coming.”
He remembered trying to explain that to Tyrenkov when he asked him to keep his ear to the ground for any sign of Orlov… this particular fissure through time has been very consistent. The connection it makes to 1908 has persisted over decades. Orlov was going up the stairs, and any movement in that direction has always produced a movement forward in time. Who knows where he may end up, but I think it will have to be a time after the arrival of our ship, and after the time we vanished over the hypocenter of Tunguska…
“And as I told you, Orlov remembers the first arrival as well. I asked Tyrenkov to use his intelligence network to look for him. Any luck with that?”
“Not yet,” said Karpov. “This argues that he’s ahead of us in the chronology, correct?”
“That would be my best guess,” said Fedorov. “But where? We won’t be able to discover anything about his whereabouts from here if that is the case. Everybody leaves an impression on history—everybody. The record glorifies some, deprecates others, but we all leave a mark somewhere. To search for evidence of his existence and whereabouts, we would have to reach a time beyond the one where he arrives. That is, at least, one more argument for moving forward now, and not remaining here.”
“Perhaps,” said Karpov. “I wouldn’t worry too much about Orlov just yet. As you say, he’ll blunder in sometime, and probably fall right into my security on that upper landing one of these days. Forget about him. We’ll eventually apprehend him, but that still won’t solve all our other problems, getting everyone else forward with us, including Ivan Volkov.”
“No… I suppose it won’t.”
“So you see, trying to run off on another wild bear hunt for Orlov is yesterday’s news, Fedorov. We’ve already done that, and trying to do it again won’t bag us Volkov. Frankly, the only way we’ll get to him will be in the here and now. He’s the real threat. Mark my words. Tyrenkov has already discovered that he is passing plans for advanced aircraft designs to the Japanese, including assistance for their Okha Rocket program. He knows the entire future, at least as it was once written. So he knows how and why Japan loses. What if he starts assisting other weapons programs? What if he tries to give Tojo, or God forbid, Adolph Hitler, the bomb?”