“Fifty years of guarded enmity with the West. They never trusted Stalin, and soon we had the terror weapons they developed in the war, and so we sat, like two men on opposite sides of a great stone wall that had been built between us, and we never knew real friendship. Russia was strong, Russia was powerful, but they worked to undermine us, a death of a thousand small cuts. We were never really welcomed as a European state, always mistrusted. In my day we were a provider of the oil and gas-the energy they needed to build and run their glittering cities. And just as the oil will eventually bring Hitler’s armies to the Caucasus, so the wars for control of that energy began in earnest in the 21st Century.”
“Another great war?”
“Unfortunately,” said Karpov. “I reached an accommodation with Admiral Volsky, and put to sea as the Captain of the battlecruiser Kirov in 2021. I fought the opening rounds of that third great war-for Russia! Then that slippery fish of a ship displaced in time again. It is too complicated for me to try and explain it all to you here. Suffice it to say that the ship took its own journey, all the way to the time of the bottom floor-the time of your youth, Kirov. There I found myself in a most interesting position! I could start anew, and re-write the pages of the history that has been so cruel to our Motherland. That was what I planned, but Volsky, Fedorov, they had other plans. They are always scheming, those two, and they found a way to stop me and regain control of the ship. I need not go into all the details now. Perhaps they have already told you all this.”
“Somewhat,” said Kirov. “Well I will tell you that I have also extended my hand in friendship with Volsky, even as I do so with you here. Will that become a problem for you?”
“I cannot say. They will not think fondly of me, nor I of them just now. Both sides feel they were betrayed, and that is a hard fence to mend.”
“Consider trying, Karpov, for the Motherland you say you are so dearly hoping to protect. You know as well as I do that we would all be stronger together as one. If I could persuade Volkov to join us, I would do that as well.”
“That would be a fruitless venture,” said Karpov. “Volkov has made his choice in the matter, He makes it each time he orders his guns to fire on your forces, and on mine. If there is any man I might wish to eliminate from the world stage, it would start with Volkov. Who knows. I just might go down that back stairway and collar the man before he can cause all this mischief.”
“And what about Hitler. Have you considered that?”
“Of course. But one must be very careful here, Kirov. We had no intention of causing these changes in the history-at least that was the way Admiral Volsky and Fedorov tried to play it. Yet Volkov slipped through, probably by sheer coincidence, and here he is now, a boil on our backside and the undoing of the Russian State. Perhaps I was rash and thoughtless in believing I could deliberately re-write the history, and have it all come out they way I might choose. I have learned a few things, Kirov-learned the hard way. Loyalty means something. Power is one thing, but it is not something one can wield thoughtlessly, and it is sustained and nurtured by those the powerful hope to lead.”
“Or so I have learned as well,” said Kirov. “So then you will think long and hard before you rebuild that back stairway at Ilanskiy, or ever think to walk those seventeen steps again.”
“Seventeen? I hadn’t taken any notice of that.”
“I did. I counted them every time I went up those stairs, and every time I walked back down. It is dark there, Karpov. There is a frost on that stairway that chills one to the bone, to the root of your soul, the cold breath of infinity. Rebuild it, if you must, but be cautious. Fear that place, Karpov. You may think it is the stairway to heaven, Lucifer, but it can also be the stairway to hell, just as you said earlier.”
“I understand what you are saying. That said… Have we reached an understanding here? Do we stand together as allies and friends?”
“I will draw up a formal accord, if you wish, and we can make it a diplomatic reality. Hitler will take notice, as will Ivan Volkov. Who knows, this news may even compel them to move against us sooner, so there is some risk in all of this.”
“Yes, but you know they would come one day soon in any case. Perhaps now they will take pause, and know that they will find stronger opposition than before. There is much we must do, Kirov. Build those tanks! I can send you my engineers with plans for new weapons that I believe your industry could bring to life.”
“These terror weapons you spoke of earlier?”
