Self-discovery

“ — we should palm off the case on the KGB?” The colonel finished his thought with a soldier's directness and shook his head. “Don't be in a hurry! If we, the police, discover a crime with, say, a foreign accent, it will bring society and us nothing but good. But if the state security organs discover a simple civilian crime or a violation of safety procedures, then… well, you understand. And in the last six months we've hit the bottom of the local list for percentage of solved crimes.” He gave Onisimov a good — natured look of reproach. “Don't give up! You know the saying that the most complicated crimes are the easiest: theses and projects, scientific mumbo — jumbo… it boggles the mind. Don't rush with your version. Check out all the possibilities and maybe it will be like the fable: 'The box had a simple lock. Well, I wish you luck and success.” The chief rose and extended his hand. “I'm sure that you can handle this case.”

Matvei Apollonovich got up too, shook hands, and followed the commander out with clear and bright eyes. Say what you will, but when the boss has confidence in you, it makes all the difference!

Chapter 3

People who think that human life has changed only externally and not radically since ancient times compare the fire, around which Troglodites spent the evening, with television, which amuses our contemporaries. This comparison is disputable, since a fire both warms and lights, and the television only glows, and then only from one side.

— K. Prutkov — engineer, Thought 111

The plump, blonde, middle — aged passenger in the express train between Novosibirsk and Dneprovsk was agitated by the fellow in the upper berth. He had rough — hewn but handsome features, a windblown face, dark curly hair with a lot of gray in it, strong, tanned hands with thick fingers and old calluses on the palms — and yet he had a gentle smile, charm (he had offered her the lower berth when she got on at Kharkov), and an intelligent manner of speaking. The fellow lay with his square chin on his hands, greedily looking at the trees, houses, streams, and road signs flashing by. And he smiled. “Handsome!” she thought.

“Probably familiar territory?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“You've been away a long time?”

“A year.”

He was recognizing things: they went under the highway where he used to ride his motorcycle with Lena. There was the oak grove where the locals went picnicking. There was Staroe Ruslo, a place of secluded beaches, clean sand, and calm water. There was the Vytrebenki farm — and hey! new construction! Probably a chemical plant…. He smiled and frowned as the memories came back.

Actually, he had never ridden a motorcycle anywhere with any Lena, nor had he ever been in the grove or on those beaches — it had all been done without him. It was simply that once there had been a conversation, and to be accurate, even that took place without his active participation.

“Here's an application. (The variants of human life!) Look: 'A Vladivostok shipbuilding concern is looking for an electrical engineer to do fitting work on location. Apartment supplied. Aren't I an electrical engineer? Fitting on location — what could be better? A Pacific wave lapping up against the fittings! You pay out the cable, lick the salt from your lips — you against the elements!”

“Yes, but.”

“No, I can understand. Before it was impossible. Before! You and I are men of duty — how can you just quit a job and go off to satisfy your wanderlust? So we all stay where we are — and the longing for places we've never seen and never will stays with us too, and for people we'll never meet, and for events and occasions that we'll never participate in. We drown this longing in books, movies, and dreams — it's impossible for a man to lead several parallel lives. But now — “

“But now it's the same thing. You'll go off to Vladivostok to lick your sea spray, and I'll remain behind with my dissatisfaction.”

“But… we can trade. Once every six months. No one would notice. no, that's nonsense. We'd be distinguished by six months of practical work experience.”

“That's just it! By heading down one of life's paths, a person becomes different from the person he would have been had he taken another path.”