Chapter 36
Three weeks after the first discovery of New China III, Vladimir, Jurgen and Natalie returned to Novograd after a two-day trip with their hunting party. Almost as soon as the hunting party got to the main encampment, Svetlana Chernenko walked up to greet them.
“Welcome back,” Svetlana said, directing her greeting at Jurgen.
“Mmmm,” murmured the German.
“How was the hunt?” Svetlana continued.
“Three RiverDeer and a dozen smaller animals,” Jurgen said. “I’m hoping that one of the RiverDeer was brought back yesterday?”
“Yes,” Svetlana replied. “Definitely a good looking animal. Torben and two of the New China III colonists carried it into camp yesterday evening.”
“This was actually a more successful hunt than I imagined it would be,” Jurgen said. “What with nine of us from Novograd and six from New China, I was convinced we would scare away anything long before we saw it.”
“New China three,” Svetlana said.
“What?” replied Jurgen.
“New China three,” Svetlana repeated. “You said New China, but didn’t complete the full colony name.”
“I never saw the first two, so this is New China to me,” Jurgen said with a mildly annoyed tone.
“Well, I’m sure the New China III colonists were a big help,” Svetlana said.
“They didn’t stab themselves, and they carried the heavier animals, so I guess they did ok,” Jurgen replied.
Svetlana turned to Natalie. “Then we’ll be looking forward to them helping lead the next round of hunting trips, eh?”
Natalie looked at Svetlana without showing any emotion, saying “We need to skin these animals.”
Svetlana stepped to the side, and the group made their way across camp to the small stream on the other side where most of the kills were cleaned.
“She seemed happy to see us, didn’t she?” Natalie said to Vladimir.
“Yes, she seemed to be,” Vladimir agreed. “Or maybe she just wants to make sure her new Chinese friend remembers our faces.”
“You mean her bodyguard,” Natalie said.
“Yes, I suppose that is what he is,” Vladimir replied. “So perhaps she doesn’t feel safe around us. To me, he is a, um, a mean, not caring person.”
“Der Verbrecher?” Natalaie said. “A thug?”
“Yes, thug,” Vladimir repeated. “I recognize him from the day they arrived. Except she’s been feeding him, so he is fatter.”
“You don’t give your trust in people very easily,” Natalie noted.
“Correct. You have to show me it can be earned,” Vladimir said.
“So you distrust most people?” she asked.
“Correct. But some more than others,” he replied.
This made Natalie giggle.
“Did I not say it correctly?” Vladimir said.
“Oh, you said it fine,” Natalie replied. “It’s just funny how you are very certain about it.”
“That is one thing I am thankful for,” Vladimir said as he pulled the skin off the leg of the RiverDeer he was cleaning. “I have always been very certain about my beliefs. Except for a short time right before and after we left Earth.”
“And why was that?” Natalie asked.
Vladimir didn’t answer right away, but focused on cutting off the hoof of the animal, allowing for a clean edge at the animal skin.
“I’m sorry,” Natalie said, “I don’t mean to pry into your private life.”
“No, it isn’t a problem,” Vladimir said. “I wasn’t seeing clearly then. But I’m able to understand what I’m seeing again now. So that is good.”
Both people were quiet for a bit, while they worked on separating their individual animal into usable parts, tossing the very few bits they didn’t want into the stream.
Vladimir broke the silence. “I wonder if Katrin has returned yet?”
This made Natalie’s head pop up with a smile, as she looked around. “Yes! Good question. I was thinking as we walked back through camp that she must have returned by now, but I didn’t see her.”
“Why does she keep going back to the Chinese colony? If she is still convinced she can tempt Ursula to return to Novograd, I believe she is fooling herself,” Vladimir said.
“Katrin’s heart is almost as big as Ursula’s,” Natalie said. “But Katrin is more like you in that she doesn’t always trust people’s best intentions are being offered, whereas Ursula can’t see anything but good in people. So Katrin will probably never stop worrying about Ursula as long as she is living with strangers.”
“Hmmm,” Vladimir chuckled. “People that we’ve known for a little over two months are now our intimate friends. I remember when they would still qualify as almost strangers back on Earth.”
Natalie gave a wry smile and nodded.
“But there are over 100 other Novogradan’s spending time with the Chinese,” he continued. “Why doesn’t Katrin just ask them for news about Ursula?”
“It’s not just about how she is doing,” Natalie explained. “Katrin still gives her reasons to return here every time they meet.”
“As I said, I don’t see that happening,” Vladimir responded. “Especially since she has taken that Chinese man as her husband.”
“I think Ursula is calling him her partner,” Natalie said. “But yes, I would agree with you. She isn’t likely to return here. Katrin has even tried the argument that 200 New China III colonists have come down-river to Novograd, and Ursula and Li Yilin could live among them here. But Ursula says the consistency of her remaining in the New China III camp helps show we’re committed to a long term relationship between the two colonies.”
“I am not sure I want a long-term relationship between the two colonies,” Vladimir said.
“Perhaps it may come as a surprise to you, but I feel the same way” Natalie said as she stood up. “But that is a secondary concern for me at the moment.”
Vladimir glanced at her with a surprised look on his face, “Really?”
“Yes,” Natalie said, a grin spreading across her face. She picked up the three small animals she had finished skinning. “Right now I want to get back to camp to see if anyone has a food spit still lit, to see if they’ll cook up one of these for us.”
Vladimir returned her smile. “I’ll be back as soon as I finish this RiverDeer.”
“I’ll send someone out to help carry back the other half,” Natalie said as she walked away.
Not long afterwards, Vladimir and one of the other Novograd colonists that came out to the cleaning grounds returned to camp, each carrying a portion of the skinned, halved and cleaned RiverDeer. As Vladimir came around the front of the smoke house, he could see a large crowd gathered further down the row of wood buildings. He gave the deer meat to one of the people tending the charcoal pit, left the smoke house and walked towards the group of people.
“No!” he heard Natalie wail. “That can’t be! How do you know for sure it was her!”
“It was her,” Eva Baueregger, one of the Council Representatives said. “They asked me to come down to the river to identify the body.”
Natalie saw Vladimir approaching. Her face was drained of any color. “It’s her!” she said, her voice emptying as she wobbled and then fell to her knees.
“Who?” Vladimir said, quickly walking over to her and knelt down to catch Natalie by her shoulders.
“Katrin,” Natalie said barely louder than a whisper. “They said her body was found floating down the river.”
Vladimir looked up at the Council Representative. “What happened?” he asked.
“She had a nasty gash on her head,” Eva answered. “It looked like she fell into the river and hit her head on the rocks in the rapids when she was returning from her visit to New China III today.”
“Did anyone see it happen?” Vladimir asked.
“No one was with her,” Svetlana answered. “She was by herself. The poor girl should have traveled with someone. I remind people that it’s never safe to be alone.”
Vladimir stood up and faced Svetlana. “I don’t believe it. She wouldn’t be walking that close to the river to fall in like that. Besides, she is an excellent swimmer.”
“Believe what you want, but she’s gone,” Svetlana said dismissively. “I already requested a group take her body out to the burial grounds.”
“Who made you the commander so you could give orders?” Vladimir said.
“I don’t give orders at my whim,” Svetlana said firmly. “I was elected Council Chairperson yesterday. It’s my duty now to ensure we have a safe functioning colony. So I requested the body be dealt with before it could cause any health issues for others.”
“There isn’t another election scheduled for another month,” Vladimir replied.
“A plurality request was presented by the Ukrainian contingent two days ago,” Svetlana said coolly. “Nominations for Council were presented yesterday and I was honored to receive the majority vote in the third round.”
Vladimir looked at Eva who nodded her head.
“This is too much,” Natalie said as she began to push herself off the ground. “I need to get out of here and sort all of this out.”
Vladimir helped her up, and steadied her as they left the group of people. “Where do you want to go?” he asked.
“Anywhere, just not around all those people,” Natalie said. “Let me rest at your cabin, if that’s ok.”
They walked in silence til they reached the hut that Vladimir had built to replace the lean-to he had initially constructed after they first arrived. The hut was on its own, a few hundred meters from the main camp.
“Can I just go in and lie down for a bit,” Natalie asked when they got to the cabin.”
“Yes,” Vladimir said. “I’ll start a fire and get something ready to eat for us.”
Natalie didn’t reply but simply walked into the darkening hut, with the sun beginning to settle below the trees.
Vladimir was adding a couple of bigger logs to the flame pyre of sticks and bramble when a loud voice called out “Allo, Vladimir, it’s Jurgen!”
Vladimir stood up to see Jurgen and two others, a man and a woman, emerge from the trees into the small clearing for his cabin.
“Hello, Jurgen.” Vladimir said.
“We heard the news about Katrin and Natalie’s reaction just now and we wanted to see how Natalie is doing. I thought she might be out here when the people in camp said she needed to get away,” Jurgen said.
“You weren’t in camp earlier?” Vladimir asked.
“No, we were out on a day hunt,” the man said. “It was useless. We stayed on our side of the river, but all of the animals have been chased away around here. But no matter, is Natalie here?”
Vladimir looked at the man, neither smiling nor frowning.
“Do you remember Klement and Heidi?” Jurgen asked.
“I’ve seen them around,” Vladimir said.
“Excellent hunters both of them, but they usually are in their own group. Walter, the third of their party, got hurt a few days back and they asked if I wanted to join them today,” Jurgen shared. “Um, and Natalie?”
“Yes, she is resting inside,” Vladimir said, nodding his head towards the cabin. “She was very shocked by the news about Katrin and she just laid down. She probably needs to rest.”
“I’ll check on her,” Heidi said, moving towards the cabin.
“I said she needs to rest,” Vladimir said, stepping in the path.
“It’s ok, my friend,” Jurgen said. “Heidi met Natalie before we even came to Nova. They worked together on the Green Party Executive Committee in Leipzig about seven years ago.”
Vladimir stepped back, and Heidi continued into the hut.
The Russian went back to tend the fire.
“So what did they tell you at camp?” he asked the two Germans.
“That Katrin fell into the river, hit her head on some rocks and drowned,” Jurgen said.
Vladimir poked a few more sticks into the flames.
“And what did you think?” he asked.
“They don’t know Katrin,” Jurgen said. “But what I really think is that some of them are lying. I went to find Svetlana when we heard the news. She had the same story, but she didn’t seem all that concerned. I wanted to see Katrin’s body, but she said it had already been buried. When I asked where the body had originally been found, she said it was floating along the river and the people manning the ferry were able to row out and catch it.”
“Did you know Svetlana is now the Council Chairperson?” Jurgen asked.
“Yes, she told us it happened yesterday,” Vladimir said.
“Too many changes are happening in the past few days,” Jurgen said. “No one seemed to have any problems with Robert, and all of the sudden the Ukrainians are calling for his departure. Or, more to the point, they are calling for Svetlana to take his place.”
Heidi walked out of the cabin and over to the fire. “She’s resting comfortably,” she said to the three men.
“That’s good to hear,” Jurgen said. “Thank you for bringing her here, Vladimir. It’s nice of you to share your cabin. We know you appreciate your own space.”
“I don’t mind having people I like come to visit,” Vladimir said. He went over to a tree to cut down two small skinned mammals hanging from a vine. “I only have two of these, but you’re welcome to share. Natalie and I haven’t eaten much today.”
“Thank you,” Heidi said. “Natalie needs it more than we do. We’ll get something back at camp when we return.”
“We also came out to see you,” Jurgen said.
Vladimir looked at his German friend. “I’m doing well. Katrin’s death was a surprise, but not as much for me as it was for Natalie.”
“Well, it is more than that,” Jurgen said. “The three of us have been talking all day. We’re tired of how things are changing and we don’t see it returning to the way we feel comfortable. We’re planning on leaving Novograd and want to know if you want to join us.”
Vladimir turned to Jurgen. “You’re leaving the colony?”
“Yes, and . . hey, be careful with the bush-squirrel!” Jurgen said.
Vladimir had not paid attention to the animal, and the meat was dipping into the flames. He quickly pulled it up and finished tying the stick to the supports about the heat.
“Yes, we are leaving,” Jurgen continued. “We think there are probably twenty others that want to go as well. Most of them are other Germans we know, but we think the Belgian, Jean-Marc Flanders, and the Polish couple, Petyr and Ilsa would also be interested.”
“Why leave now?” Vladimir said, as he tied off the second rodent about the fire.
Jurgen started listing the reasons. “Hunting is much better on the other side of the river, but we’re being told we need to stay on this side so as not to intrude on the Chinese. Other Novogradans are too focused on ferrying food and weapons and tools to the New China colony, so that food we do get is being rationed among us here. And did you realize that within the past two weeks, more than half of the weapons and tools we made are at the New China colony. And yesterday, Svetlana gave the ferrying responsibilities to the Chinese, saying they have more people that can do that work so those of us that have been here longer can help the new arrivals learn other, more valuable skills. And I don’t like that Svetlana always has that Chinese colonist with her. He carries a knife and spear, although he isn’t in any hunting detail. Is he afraid one of the flying cats will swoop down from the sky to carry him away for a meal?”
Klement spoke as Jurgen was catching his breath. “During the colony meeting yesterday, some of us advocated for more separation from New China III. A few people began to agree with us, especially the Greeks and Spaniards. But then Svetlana started talking about the benefits of the two colonies actually growing more integrated. More people to share duties and establish a firmer foothold. I replied there were more Chinese colonists than those of us in Novograd, and we risked becoming an extension of New China III and losing our independence. But Svetlana ignored me. She convinced the majority Ukrainian’s to go along with the new arrangement, saying the Chinese have made it much easier on Novograd by supplying food and now even labor to improve and expand on housing and other structures. She made part of her argument in Ukrainian, which most of us couldn’t fully understand or counter her argument.”
“What about Natalie?” Vladimir asked.
“We came here to find both of you,” Jurgen said. “We want both of you to join us.”
Vladimir continued rotating the rodents. “If Natalie goes, I’ll go also,” he said.
“Then welcome to the group,” Heidi said.
“Why do you say that?” Vladimir asked. “No one has asked Natalie yet?”
The three Germans glanced at each other with awkward looks.
“She was the one that initially put the idea about leaving in our minds a week ago,” Heidi said.
“Mmm,” Vladimir nodded, focusing on the cooking meat.
“So, when are you leaving?” he asked after the pause in conversation.
“Tomorrow morning,” Jurgen replied. “We were hoping people could meet here, since it’s a nice distance from the main camp and …”
“Zdravstvuyte!”, a female voice called out from the trees.
Vladimir looked up in the direction of the voice. “Zdravstvuyte”, he replied. “Please join us, Katya.”
Katya Litvak walked into the firelight. “Hello, everyone,” she said, switching to German. “I wasn’t expecting others. My apologies if I’m interrupting.”
“No interruption,” Jurgen said. “We came out to check on Natalie. She seems to be in good shape, so we can be going now.”
“Please don’t leave because of me,” Katya said. “I can come back.”
“Please stay, all of you,” Vladimir said. “This meat is done cooking, so you might as well share some. I’ll save one for Natalie when she wakes up.”
“We really should get back to camp,” Heidi said.
“I’d like you to stay,” Vladimir said, standing up, pulling both cooked carcasses away from the heat. “I’d like all of us to hear Katya’s opinion on current events.”
The three Germans looked at each other nervously, and Katya gave a confused look to Vladimir.
“You mean about Katrin?” Katya said. “It’s very sad, of course.”
“Thank you for saying that, but I’m talking about something different,” Vladimir responded. “How do you feel about the new neighbors and the new leader of our Novograd Colony Council?”
The confused look did not leave Katya’s face. “What?” she asked.
“How do you feel about the new …” Vladimir started.
Katya interrupted, switching to Russian. “I heard the question. What are you trying to do to me, Vladimir?”
Vladimir replied, also in Russian, “I’m not trying to trick you. We have had a lot of change lately, and I’m genuinely interested in your opinions on it all. I trust Natalie and Jurgen on this planet as much as I trusted you and Aleks in battle back on Earth. So I trust them to listen to what you say and keep it in confidence.”
Katya looked at the three Germans.
“And those other two?” she asked.
“Jurgen vouches for them, so therefore I trust them as well,” Vladimir answered.
Katya took a deep breath. “Every day it seems like something has changed ever since the aliens first arrived on Earth, however long ago it was now,” she said in German. “But this past week has made me uncomfortable. I agreed with the statement you made at the colony meeting, Jurgen, about having some separation between the two colonies. I also thought that Svetlana was planning something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. By the time I determined she wanted to be the new Council Chair, I realized it was too late to challenge her. I think she has been planning this since the day she met the first Chinese colonist and thought she could work with them.”
“Yesterday I discovered some very disturbing news. As I was approaching the smoke hut, I overheard Svetlana talking to one of the Chinese colonists on the far side of the building. But instead of speaking in Chinese, they were speaking in Russian. Of course, this caught my attention. I stopped before going into the hut, and listened. They were talking about how New China III was able to keep order among their colonists, and I heard them talk about one-third of the colonists were former prisoners from Chinese state prisons. Those people are being used to enforce the pace of work by the other colonists. Svetlana said she was happy with the work being done by what she called her bodyguard, so I guess he is a former prisoner also. So, no, I do not like at all how things are changing in the past two weeks.”
“Then come with us,” Vladimir said.
Almost simultaneously, Katya again asked “What?” and Klement said “No!”
Vladimir waved off Klement’s comment.
“Come with us and leave this camp,” he said. “A group of us are leaving and you would make a good addition.”
Katya looked at the three Germans again. Klement was fuming, Heidi looked worried, but Jurgen looked her in the eyes and nodded his agreement.
Katya turned back to Vladimir. “I don’t know. I’m not fond of making it harder to survive, and starting over again. My fighting spirit seems to have disappeared.”
“Think about it,” Vladimir said. “If you change your mind, come back early tomorrow morning.” Then, in Russian, “There is still a fighting spirit within you.”
“Spasiba,” Katya replied. Then, turning to the others, she said “I promise to keep this conversation between us. But now the events of the past three days have made me tired. I’m going back to camp to try and sleep for tonight.”
After she disappeared back into the trees, Klement spoke up. “So do you plan on inviting everyone you know to come along with us? That was ridiculous!”
“I trust her more than I trust you,” Vladimir responded. “And I vouched for you to her when I asked her to share her thoughts about the colony. If you are worried, feel free to meet somewhere else tomorrow morning and don’t tell me where. You can leave without me. My feelings won’t be hurt.”
“Enough, please!” said Jurgen. “We can’t start arguing among ourselves already. If we do, Svetlana and her new friends have already beaten us.”
He turned to the other two Germans. “We should also return to camp and get some rest.” Then, looking back at Vladimir, “Take good care of Natalie tonight, my friend. She is relying on you, and so are we.”
And the three of them followed the direction Katya took to head back into the trees.
Vladimir watched them leave, then took the cooked bush-squirrel hanging from a tree branch, gently pushed open the door to his cabin, and stepped inside.
“Your new girlfriend is still sleeping,” a female voice whispered harshly to him in Ukrainian.
Vladimir centered on the voice, reached out with his free hand and grabbed the intruder, yanking her outside the cabin.
“Dasha! What are you doing here!” Vladimir said.
“I heard you returned from your hunt, and thought you might want some company tonight, since you usually seem in a good mood when you come back,” she said. “But I guess you’ve already found your company for the evening. Did you two already have a go together before the other friends showed up, or did you have a six person orgy and she agreed to stay behind for more fun?”
“When did you get here?” Vladimir asked.
“Not too long ago,” Dasha said, yanking her arm from Vladimir’s grip. “I wish I was learning German instead of Polish, so then I could understand what you all were talking about. But it sounds like you like your Russian fly-girl as much as your German hunting bunny.”
Dasha switched to Russian, mimicking Vladimir’s voice. “‘There is still a fighting spirit within you.'”
Then, back to Ukrainian, she asked “Did she resist you a bit during your fun time?”
“You have no idea what you are talking about,” Vladimir said. “And besides, I asked you last week to not come back when you showed up uninvited then. There is no benefit for either of us with you continuing to come here. There are many sturdy buildings for you to sleep in, and probably many others that would prefer to sleep with you.”
“I thought I’d give you one more chance to change your mind,” Dasha said, with what was meant to be a teasing voice, but tinged with sadness.
“I haven’t changed my mind,” Vladimir said. “You can go now.”
Dasha looked at him, then pushed past him with her shoulder, grabbing his crotch as she passed. “I hope she’s as much fun for you as you said I was!”
Vladimir watched her walk into the darkness. His heart was pounding, and he realized he was hardening quickly. He turned when he heard the creak of his cabin door.
Natalie was coming out.
“Who was that?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
Vladimir looked in the direction Dasha had just left. “No one of importance,” he said. Then realizing he was still holding the cooked animal. “Let me warm this up for you a bit. You’ll need this to keep your strength for the other news I’ve got to share.”
The next morning, Vladimir was carrying two stone knives and a stone axe out of his cabin and placing them next to his pouch and a rolled-up RiverDeer skin lying beside a tree. Standing up against the tree were two spears, one his height, and the other about half that length. He was about to go back into the cabin, when he heard people approaching.
Jurgen, Heidi, Klement, Jean-Marc Flanders, Petyr and Ilsa Smolanski appeared. Jurgen made introductions of those people that hadn’t met before.
“We will have a bit of a language challenge, even in our small group,” Jurgen told Vladimir. “Jean-Marc knows some German, but Petyr and Ilsa do not. Their common language is English. So it appears the habits of the old planet have followed us to Nova, and most of us will be speaking English as our ‘shared’ language. At least you’ll still be in on the jokes we tell in German.”
“Where is Natalie?” Heidi asked.
“She went back to her lodge house at the main camp last night,” Vladimir shared. “She said the sleep here did her well. And when she heard you had taken her suggestion, she was very excited. She went back to get an extra tunic and leggings she had made, and also to gather other supplies.”
Almost as if on queue, Natalie came out of the woods and into the clearing, along with three others.
As introductions were being remade for the new people, and they began comparing the supplies everyone had brought, a third and then a fourth group of people appeared from the trees.
Vladimir looked around at the group that had emerged from the forest into his clearing. “Well, you were correct, Jurgen. Twenty people.”
Jurgen, looking over Vladimir’s shoulders at the trees behind him, said “You may need to count again.”
Vladimir turned around to see a familiar face stepping into the early morning light.
“Katya!” he said. “I’m glad you decided to join us!”
“No, I’m afraid I won’t be joining you, Vladimir,” she said. “But I did want to thank you for consideration and wish you well.”
“You would bring a good balance to the group, Yekaterina,” Jurgen said to her.
“My future remains here,” Katya replied. “But I will admit the adventure is tempting.”
Vladimir’s attention was drawn to the trees. “Did you invite others to join us, Jurgen?” he asked.
“No,” Jurgen said.
Vladimir ran to the tree where his weapons were stacked, while a large group of people emerged from the forest, led by new Council Chair Svetlana Chernenko. She was flanked by her bodyguard on her right, Patrick Beller on her left.
“Good morning, fellow citizens,” Svetlana said. “And what is the purpose of this gathering this morning?”
As she spoke, another fifty Chinese colonists came out from the trees surrounding Vladimir’s cabin clearing. Each of them had a knife, spear or axe in their hand. They encircled the group that had gathered to leave.
“It is of no concern to you,” Jurgen said.
“As Council Chair I am concerned about the welfare of all Novogradans,” Svetlana said with an ingenuine smile.
“You don’t need to worry about us any longer,” Vladimir said, walking forward with his spear in his hand, the tip pointed skyward.
“As I said, I look after all the people of Novograd, including you,” Svetlana said.
“And as I said, you don’t need to worry about us,” Vladimir responded. “We’re leaving Novograd.”
“I thought you might be planning that,” Svetlana replied, slowly shaking her head. “I’m afraid that can’t be allowed.”
“Why did you say anything to that Russian?” Klement yelled at Vladimir. “I said she couldn’t be trusted!”
“I didn’t tell anyone!” Katya said urgently, as the others glared at her.
“She’s telling the truth,” Svetlana said. “At least, she didn’t tell anyone that I know of. But your secret society didn’t do too good of a job keeping your secret. Dasha, dear, come here please.”
Dasha Chenkova moved from behind some of the Chinese colonists and stepped beside Svetlana.
“Tell them what you told me, please,” Svetlana said in Ukranian.
Dasha looked nervous. Svetlana gave her a reassuring nod, and then said to the group “Her German isn’t what it should be, so I’ll translate.”
“I was going back to my lodge hut before dawn when I saw her sneaking around camp,” Dasha said, pointing at Natalie. “She’s not to be trusted, based on how she has been talking ill of our colony. So I followed her. She went to the smoke hut to grab some of the colony’s food, and then went to the tool depot to grab some knives. While she was there, those other three joined her. They also grabbed weapons. And then they left camp in this direction. I know the path well, so I figured where they were going. It didn’t make any sense to me, so I went to find the Council Chair.”
Svetlana finished the translation, looked at the informant and said to her in Ukrainian, “You did the right thing, dear.”
Vladimir spoke, in German. “We have a right to the portion of the supplies allotted to us. We’re claiming them and leaving.”
“You are mistaken, Sr. Lieutenant Vladimir Nikolaevich Anikeyev. The food and tools are property of the Colony. They belong to no one individual.”
“I made or gathered everything outside my cabin,” Vladimir said. “I decide what is done with them.”
“Again, you are mistaken, Sr. Lieutenant,” Svetlana said, motioning to her bodyguard. “They belong to Novograd. And you’ll hand over that spear to Citizen Yuzhuo right now.”
“Idi k chertu!” Vladimir replied, taking the spear in both hands and pointing it to the approaching Chinese colonist.
Ma Yuzhuo moved much faster than the first day he and Vladimir met three weeks back. He countered Vladimir’s thrust and was able to get a hand on the shaft.
The two men began pulling at the spear to get control of it, getting closer and closer to each other. Vladimir yanked the weapon towards him, pulling it free from Ma Yuzhuo’s hands, but falling on his buttocks because of the force. Vladimir’s right hand immediately went to his chest, while his left hand lost its grip on the spear.
“Vladimir!” Natalie shouted. She and Jurgen ran to his side. Blood was now pouring out of his chest, and his breathing became labored. The spear had punctured a lung.
Vladimir’s senses began to fade.
The last view Vladimir had before passing out was of Svetlana’s bodyguard picking up Vladimir’s spear and walking back to Svetlana’s side.
“You stupid pilot,” he heard Svetlana speak, her voice sounding like it was from behind a closed door. “You could never follow orders.