Marsiana 2-11
CHAPTER 11
Stakhov was questioned by the special FSB investigator Captain Krivosheev in the ward of the military hospital, where after landing of the landing module was brought all the injured crew members. The investigator's visit unpleasantly surprised Kirill, as if he was suspected in something.
‘How do you feel?’ Krivosheev asked sitting down on a chair near the bed of Stakhov. ‘Thank you, okay. Hand only hurts, and the ribs, too,’ Stakhov couldn’t help and complained. ‘What happened to your hand?’ Krivosheev asked seriously. ‘Do not believe Captain, the alien broke. Right on our station,’ Stakhov said, making a feeble attempt to smile. Information about the alien Captain Krivosheev took quite quietly. ‘We know. We have already enough information about them. What happened to Gushchina?’ At the mention of Lena Kirill frowned. ‘It was an accident. It’s my fault,’ he said. ‘The stranger was going to capture her. I was trying to free her, missed, and the plasma damaged her helmet. I am ready to be punished,’ Stakhov paused. Krivosheev waved. ‘We’ll talk later about punishment. There are more important things now. You only tried to save her. It was not your fault in what happened. Plasma’s weapons are not very reliable, especially in the space and in extreme situation. Anyone could miss in your place.’ Consolation was weak, but Stakhov did not object. ‘What do you think about the aliens?’ investigator asked. ‘What was their purpose of appearance on board the station?’ Kirill shrugged at first, but then he remembered the girl whom the aliens were looking for. ‘They are looking for some girl. It seems her name is Marsiana,’ he said. Did you see her?’ investigator asked. ‘Where?’ Kirill surprised incredibly. ‘Well I do not know. Maybe somewhere in the cosmos,’ investigator answered. ‘Are you seriously?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘No. I did not see. The alien showed us her picture. I do not remember what happened next. In a head a failure. No matter how much I try to remember, it is impossible,’ Kirill said in despair. ‘Do not worry. Memory returns. At least so say the doctors,’ the investigator hesitated. ‘I’ve got one more question. Do not you mind?’ Kirill in response sighed. As if it had some meaning, he protests or not. ‘What do you personally think about the whole situation?’ the investigator asked. His question caught Kirill in surprise. Up to this point if he thought about all that had happened only in the light that he failed to complete the task before him. It was his first serious failure. ‘For me the appearance of a stranger at the station was a complete surprise,’ Kirill admitted. ‘It's because of him that I could not do the job. And in general,’ he gently waved his good hand. ‘If not a creature Lenka Gushchina would still be alive. Oh, by the way captain how the crew of the station? And, Captain, how I’ve got here?’ Investigator Krivosheev carefully, and with some curiosity looked at him. ‘Crew is here in hospital. The station exploded,’ the investigator answered. Kirill tensed, then relaxed. Wow! What news! ‘How Exploded!’ he exclaimed. ‘Are you kidding?’ ‘If it be so,’ Krivosheev shook his head. ‘All crew evacuated Vadim Koloskov. When the landing module entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, there was an explosion in the engine compartment of the station. There you have it, Major Stakhov. If not his actions, you now would not be here.’ ‘This is exactly,’ Kirill said slowly understands nothing. The interrogator stood up. ‘It’s enough for today. I wish you soon recovery. If you remember something, call.’ ‘Thank you. I’ll do,’ Kirill was shocked. The interrogator left the room, and Kirill heard him talking about something in the hallway with his doctor. “Gee,” Kirill reflects. “It is necessary contact with Commissarov and find out everything about it,” with these thoughts Major Stakhov reached for his cell phone. Acute pain in the broken ribs immediately reminded of itself. Kirill groaned, swore under his breath, he began to dial the general’s number. In the corner of the chamber he stood motionless the alien and followed closely all actions of Stakhov. But Kirill didn’t see him. * * * At night Kirill was awakened by the feeling that someone was staring at him. He opened his eyes and literally froze in horror. On the edge of the bed sat Lena Gushchina. As then in the space she had a suit with melted helmet. ‘Lena, you?’ Kirill breathed out slightly rising on the bed. He felt as if his dream a nightmare. ‘I,’ she said. At this moment Stakhov got only one wish. That she remains in the same place and did not approach him, but the best of all to disappear from the chamber. ‘But how, how?’ he said hoarsely. ‘You're... you ...’ ‘Dead?’ That what you're trying to say,’ Lena asked. Kirill nodded. ‘In some ways I'm really dead. The truth is, I do not understand what's happening to me,’ she held out her hand. Kirill recoiled as far as him allowed the gypsum and headboard. He felt how on his head began to move his hair and all over his body ran goose. He was scared. Very scary. “And no one will come! As if on purpose,” he thought angrily, trying to figure out what all this might mean, and what to do in this situation. He hoped it was a dream or some hallucination. But nothing good in his head did not go. ‘You must excuse me, for the case in space,’ he said, trying to find some kind of contact with a ghost. To believe that sitting in front of him really living Lena Gushchina Major Stakhov, of course, could not. Real Lena Gushchina died before his eyes. After all it was his fault. Even if she died by accident. ‘I came for you,’ Lena said. Stakhov from fear felt dizzy. ‘For me?’ he breathed out. ‘Yes, for you. You must come with me.’ “Death. It's Death!” flashed through Stakhov brain. But he was not going to die. “Is the Death talking to those for whom it has come? I doubt it. No, it's something else.” ‘You must help me,’ Lena kept talking. ‘I need your help.’ Stakhov exhaled with relief. Thank God! As far as he knew, Death never asks for help from the victims, but then it turns out that before him really sits Lena. “But what if it's alien in the image of Lena?” Stakhov thought suddenly. ‘With you? Where?’ he asked. ‘There,’ Lena nodded her head to the side. ‘Fine. But how? You see, I am not in good shape,’ Stakhov nodded to gypsum. ‘Oh, yes. I can see,’ n the voice of Lena or pseudo Lena one could hear the frustration. In the corridor near the chamber heard voices. Lena alarmed. Stakhov was happy. Somebody is coming,’ he said, knowing that Lena must disappear. He was not mistaken. Gushchina vanished like a ghost. Stakhov without power fell on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Nervous tension completely exhausted him. Voices in the hall began to recede. No one came to see him. Lena, too, didn’t come back. Kirill was left alone with his thoughts. He took with his good hand from a bedside table a glass of water and took a small sip. Then he put the glass back. ‘Well, well, stuff,’ he said, closing his eyes. He did not want sleep any more, and could not. Really he was completely out of sleep. Kirill tried to analyze what happened and decide who is better to talk about everything with, but at the same time not to be taken for a madman. ‘Kostya! He’ll understand me for sure and won’t send to the yellow house!’ he suddenly exclaimed, then got out under the blanket his cell phone and started to dial his friend, with whom they not only served together, but also studied at the military academy. At that time, Kirill was convinced that his friend, too FSB Major Konstantin Bagrov surely will find a way out of this situation. Tell him what to do. ‘Kostya, it’s you? Hi! I’ve got some case for you,’ Stakhov said when his friend took the phone on the other end. ‘Is it emergency?’ a man's voice asked. ‘Highly.’ ‘Okay. I'll be right now.’ ‘Fine, I’ll wait for you,’ Kirill threw the phone on the bed and waited for the arrival of his friend. His mood improved markedly. ‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘We'll see who will come for someone.’ He waited patiently for the arrival of his friend. * * * Exactly half an hour later, Konstantin Bagrov was already in the chamber of Kirill. ‘Hey. How are you here?’ he asked, sitting down on the bed of his friend. ‘Are your feel better?’ ‘Hey, Kostya. Normally,’ Kirill said, responding with his left hand to a strong grip of his comrade. ‘I did not expect that you'll come so quickly.’ ‘Why wait? As agreed. What happened to you?’ Bagrov with a quick and appraising glance looked around the ward in which lay Stakhov. ‘How do you like here?’ he asked. ‘Fine.’ ‘Nurses are beautiful?’ Bagrov smiled slyly. ‘A hadn’t enough time to look at them yet. A had a lot of different thing to do,’ Kirill answered, making it clear that he was not in the mood to talk about nurses. Major Bagrov understood this, and his face immediately became serious. ‘I understand that you have some important information for me or need help. Am I right?’ ‘Yes, but I myself do not really know,’ Kirill said slowly, wondering how the best to inform his friend about the unexpected visit of Lena Gushchina. Intellectually, he knew it was a hallucination, but something prompted him, that it was really Lena. ‘Do you know Lena Goushchina?’ he asked. ‘Yes. He studded with you on the same course,’ Bagrov nodded. ‘So here she died because of me. There ...’ Kirill nodded at the ceiling. ‘In space.’ ‘It happens. No one is immune.’ ‘Well, yes,’ Kirill agreed. ‘Just But I don’t feel better from this…not easier.’ ‘You want to say that you just dreamed of her, and you called me to share your dream? Bagrov asked shrewdly. ‘Almost guessed. She was just here. She looked like then in space. With a broken helmet,’ Kirill said. Bagrov noisily exhaled, looked at him. ‘You don’t look like a shell-shocked as well as crazy. What is it can be?’ he said thoughtfully, as if to himself. ‘Well, yes, you can mock of course,’ Kirill said with hurt in his voice. ‘I just told you that as a friend but you ...’ he waved his hand. ‘Sorry, Kirill, but you have to understand me. The information that you have just told me unbelievable. You killed Lena, and now she has come to visit you in the hospital. How do you think I should respond to this message?’ ‘Well, yes, you are right,’ Kirill noticed some movement in the corner of the room. Night lamp on the bedside table lit only very small space around it. Behind it was twilight. He looked closer and froze. In the ward was the same creature with which he met in the space at the station. ‘Behind you. In the corner,’ he whispered. ‘But you keep telling me here,’ Bagrov said loudly and, without turning around from under the elbow, fired several shots from a gun at the creature. For a moment nothing happened, then in the ward there was a blue glow, and Bagrov had been torn to pieces. The side wall of the ward with a crash and a bang collapsed. In the hallway, he heard shouts, the noise, the sound of breaking glass and running footsteps. Kirill shocked was lying on the bed covered with the blood of his friend and watched as the unknown creature was making some manipulation. The next moment in the air around Kirill as if thickened, darkened, and he lost his consciousness. When he awoke, he found himself lying on the ground and over him was bending anxious face of Lena Gushchina. ‘How do you feel?’ she asked sympathetically. Kirill did not answer her. He was literally speechless. Just lay there and looked at her. ‘Have more patience,’ Lena said. ‘All will be well,’ she held out her hand in a thick glove and stroked his hair. Kirill wanted to dodge, but could not. His body didn’t subdue to him. Major Stakhov groaned and closed his eyes. He lost his consciousness again.
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