‘Stupid, stupid – !’ he gasped his rage at them. ‘That was nothing less than butchery!’
Andrei Roborov was so thin as to be almost skeletal. His cadaverous face was always pale, but never more so than now. There was no fat on him to shake, and so he simply rocked to and fro under Khuv’s assault, rapidly blinking his large green expressionless eyes, and opening and closing his mouth. When Khuv had first met him he’d thought: this man has the eyes of a fish – probably its soul, too!
Nikolai Rublev on the other hand was very much overweight. His features were pink and almost babylike, and even the mildest reproof could bring him to the point of tears. On the other hand his fists were huge and hard as iron, and Khuv knew that his tears were usually tears of suppressed fury or rage. His rages, when he threw them, were quite spectacular; but he had more sense than to rage at a superior officer. Especially one like Chingiz Khuv.
Finally Khuv let go of them, turned abruptly away and clenched his fists. Over his shoulder, without looking at them, he said: ‘Fetch a trolley. Take him to the mortuary . . .no! Take him to your own quarters. And make sure he’s covered up on the way. He can wait there for disposal. But whatever you do, don’t let anyone see him like . . . like that! Especially not Viktor Luchov! Do you understand?’
‘Oh, yes, Comrade Major Khuv!’ Rublev gasped. It seemed he was off the hook.
Still Khuv looked the other way. Then both of you will prepare and sign the usual accidental death reports and get them in to me. And you’ll make sure they’re corroborative in every detail.’
‘Yes, Comrade, of course,’ the two answered as one man.
‘Well, then – move!’ Khuv shouted.
They collided with each other, then made off down the corridor. Khuv let them get so far before calling after them: ‘You two!’ They skidded to a halt. ‘Nikolai, for God’s sake get – out – of – that – cape!’ Khuv hissed. ‘And neither one of you is to go near the girl, Kirescu’s daughter. Do you hear me? I’ll personally skin whichever one of you so much as thinks about her! Now get out of my sight!’
They disappeared in short order.
Khuv was still standing there, trembling with fury, when Vasily Agursky came hurrying from the direction of the laboratories. He saw Khuv and sidled toward him. ‘I was told you’d be seeing to the prisoners,’ he said.
Khuv nodded. ‘Seeing to them, yes,’ he answered. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I’ve just been to see Direktor Luchov. He has returned me to full duty. I’m on my way to see the creature – my first visit in a week! If you would care to accompany me, Major Khuv?’
Right now that was the last thing Khuv would ‘care’ to do. He glanced at his watch. ‘As it happens I’m headed that way,’ he said. Anything to get Agursky away from here before Roborov and Rublev returned with their surgical trolley.
‘Good!’ Agursky beamed. ‘If we can walk together, perhaps I can ask for your help in a certain matter. In the strictest confidence, you may be able to make a significant contribution to my – to our – understanding of that creature from beyond the Gate.’
Khuv glanced at the strange little scientist out of the corner of his eye. There seemed something different about him; it was hard to put a finger on “it, but some change had occurred in him. ‘I can make a contribution?’ Khuv raised an eyebrow. ‘In connection with the creature? Vasily – do you mind if I call you Vasily? – I’m here to protect the Projekt from, shall we say, outside interference? As a policeman, a spy-catcher, an investigator – as any and all of these things I already make my contribution. As for any other aspect of work at the Projekt: I have no control over the staff as such, no “official” knowledge of any facet of the scientific work that goes on here. I control my own handful of men, yes, and I protect the specialists from Moscow and Kiev; but outside of these routine duties it is difficult to see how I can be of any assistance to you in your work.’