Self-discovery

“Of course! There were many who argued against it. Ah, you should have heard how crudely Valentin Vasilyevich answered them. It was totally unforgivable. Poor Professor Voltampernov had to be tranquilized afterward. Can you imagine? The board recommended that Krivoshein be reprimanded for his rudeness, I wrote out the decree myself. But the topic was passed, of course. A man proposes new ideas, a new approach — why shouldn't he try it? That's the way it is in science. And besides, Arkady Arkadievich himself supported him. Arkady Arkadievich is a wonderfully generous soul; in fact he set him up in his own lab because Krivoshein could never get along with anybody. Of course, the lab was a joke, unstructured with a staff of one… but the academic council had discussed the situation and voted yes. I voted for it myself.”

“What was the it you all voted for?” Onisimov wiped his brow with a handkerchief.

“What do you mean? To include it in the plan, to allot funds for it. You know, planning is the basis of our society.”

“I see. Tell me, Harry Haritonovich, what do you think happened?”

“Hmmm… I must make it clear to you, my dear Matvei Apollonovich, that I would have no way of knowing. I'm the scientific secretary; all my work is paperwork. They've been working together just the two of them since last winter. The lab assistant is the one who would know. Besides, he's an eyewitness.”

“Did you know that the assistant is not who he says he is?” Onisimov demanded. “He's not Kravets and he's not a student.”

“Really? That's why you arrested him, I see.” Hilobok's eyes grew round. “No, really, how would I know? That was an oversight in personnel. Who is he?”

“We'll find out. So you say the Americans are doing the same kind of work now?”

“Yes. So you think he's the one?”

“Why be so hasty?” Onisimov laughed. “I'm just exploring all the possibilities.” He glanced over at the paper with the questions. 'Tell me, Harry Haritonovich, did you notice psychiatric problems in Krivoshein?”

Hilobok smiled.

“You know, on my way over here, I was debating whether or not I should mention it. Maybe it's a trifle and there's no point? But since you ask… he had these lapses. I remember, last July, when I was combining my duties with heading the laboratory of experimental setups — we couldn't find the right specialist to run it — we needed a candidate of science — so I was doing it — so that we wouldn't lose the slot for the position, because, you know, they can take away the allocation, and then you can never get it back. That's the way it is. And so, just a while back, my laboratory received a request from Krivoshein to prepare a new system for encephalographic biopotential sensors, like that SEP — 1, Monomakh's Crown, that you have on your desk, but of a more complex construction, so that it would fit in with all kinds of his schemes. Why they ever accepted the order from him, instead of doing their own work, I'll never know.”

This submersion in scientific data brought on a deep drowsiness in Matvei Apollonovich. Usually he cut through any tangential deviation from the topic that interested him in an interrogation, but now — he was a man with a Russian soul — he could not overcome his innate respect for science, for learned titles, terms, and situations. He had always had this respect, and after his last case at the institute when he also learned the salaries of scientific workers his respect had doubled. And so Matvei Apollonovich did not try to stem Harry Haritonovich's free — flowing mouth; after all, he was dealing with a man whose salary was more than twice his own, as a police captain, and legal at that.