Struggle. Prisoners of Darkness

Residento dissidento

It is not a problem to imagine what a person living at home who "disagrees" with something is like – as a rule, outwardly he does not differ from the "agreeing" person; maybe he even thinks the same way, only in the "other" direction.

But if this "dissenter" took up arms, not because he is so used to it, but because he was brought to it, his appearance changes to "indefinable recognizability". And that means the following:

The first is escaped slaves (and from completely different places: sawmill, mine, rig – anything) becoming themselves within the framework of free runaway;

The second is people from different places, mostly arriving on their own, entering the established subculture there, while acquiring qualities they might not have thought of before;

Third, having escaped from slavery, people who fall under the influence of a new charismatic leader unknown to themselves, striving for the one and only true, first of all for himself, goal – the freedom of all mankind without exception.

In general, all separately taken groups of maquis are united on energies of certain persons – leaders. There were not a few cases when after the death of the leader the group collapsed, and already separate particles merged into those where there was a "similar" leader: in fact, in general, the people, if they are the people and not a mass unbridled on politics, do not care how tall the leader is, and what his views on the structure of the World, as long as he led to the goal that is vital for them – to free the Earth from the plagues.

This was the case with the "Wolf" group, which not so long ago joined the "Bohdan Khmelnitsky" group. Now the total pressure territory of this association extended to the entire former Eastern Ukraine plus the Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions.

There was a lot of talk about their leader Viktor Khmelnitsky. First, whether he was a descendant of the national hero of Ukraine, in whose honor the group was named. Secondly, where he was from, i.e. from what mining zone and what kind of occupation. Thirdly, what contacts he had and whether they existed at all.

Victor did not engage in dialogues on any occasion, and the third point caused him bewilderment. "What kind of a fool would I be," he answered sharply but calmly. – if I told you about my connections. Or do you consider the Chums to be outright inept, incapable of planting an agent in our group? No… Even if they were, it would still be foolish to talk about it.

He addressed the rebels frequently, each time giving them strength by his steady and firm voice alone, which perfectly matched his stout figure and imperturbable face.

Here's a brief example of his speech (July 2, 2168, after the attack on the railroad train carrying the 22nd Imperial Chum Storm):

"Three hours ago, I gave the order to attack a train of chums traveling from Volgograd to Donetsk. An hour later, I watched thirty-five of our brothers fight for freedom. Now they're dead. Dead every last one of them. But free… God gave for this opportunity. One way or another, by staying alive or dying, but fighting, we will still be free.

Our brothers died as heroes fighting for freedom… our kin dying now in the mines and mines. I have never hidden the truth from you. Nor will I do so now… Only two plagues were killed in the attack. Just two… Yes, some will say, "Our brothers died for nothing. They only killed two." But they didn't. Because this is war. And you can't win a war without casualties. And without great losses there will be no great victories – in the last attack, having lost three, we destroyed forty. And that's not the only example.

To minimize the cost of today's losses is to be blind. One of the chums killed was Rumhir. Does everyone know him? My first task for this group was to destroy him. And they did it. Vladimir Krasnov, having climbed into the train, blew it up with him. Our brother died, but he accomplished the task. Who will now say that the feat of thirty-five sons of the Earth means nothing? I, like all of you, am sorry for those who died. But this operation was necessary as air… Our time will come soon. The dead children of Earth have brought it closer than ever, and we will not forget their lives and their deaths.

Don't look at the numbers. They mean nothing when freedom is so close."

After this speech, the rebels believed in victory not only because of Khmelnitsky's charismatic personality. In his speech the name Ruminhr was mentioned. This is one of the best specialists of the Black Stone Empire in organizing security and defense. Such chums can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If he arrived in Donetsk, the sector would turn into a fortress.

On the evening of March 25, 2170, Victor received a message from one of the commanders of the soma working in the Donetsk-7 group through a new channel ("thread") that had just been created.

After being ordered to study the "thread," Victor took up the message:

"Personally and top secret to Viktor Khmelnitsky.

I, Commander Soma, have decided to bring to your attention a number of the following factors.

One. The active treasury theft of our group's karak Manhra has been uncovered, and he has been asked to return the stolen raw materials and pay a fine. According to our information, he is short of funds, so instead of a fine, he intends to destroy the Maquis group, apparently yours.

Next. In order to increase coal production, Manhir has reduced the rest time for all of us to four hours.

And finally, and most importantly. He foresees an uprising, so, according to our sources, he summons several additional drills to the Donetsk group.

I cannot give my name for obvious reasons of the possibility of this letter being intercepted."

"Sanya!" -called the leader to his assistant. He showed up fifteen seconds later.

"Sanya, I need all the information on Manhra by tomorrow morning. Including his disagreement with the Center.

Second. Get me Orlov."

Vasily Orlov, commander of the special elimination squad, arrived forty-six seconds later.

"Vasya, you have a special assignment. Actually, as always. Tomorrow you have all day to prepare. If I give you an order after tomorrow, Manhr must be dead."

Three people were sent up from the 381st Soma: Evgeny Severa, Sergey Bolshakov and Ivan Tikhomirov. Gora was particularly hopeful about the latter. He had been preparing this man for quite a long time (about seven years) and especially carefully. It was through him that the letter to Khmelnitsky passed.

On March 26, Tikhomirov was assigned to work as a janitor of the main corridor. On the one hand, it seems like nothing, but on the other hand, the main corridor is the main corridor, and if we take into account the contents of, for example, just garbage cans, the picture changes to the opposite.

The corridor itself was so long that by mid-afternoon only three-quarters of it could be scrubbed.

At 3:32 p.m., a man walking down the hall stopped two steps away from Ivan and whispered to the side, as if not to him, "I'm from Maki. Khmelnitsky. I need to get in touch with yours."

The time for such conversations looked as good as any – exactly half past four in the afternoon the plagues went to lunch until five.

In fact, this man could be as many as one of the four, and that's the minimum.

Option number 1.

The simplest and most failed. He serves the Imperial Black Stone Defense Service (BSDS).

Option number 2.

He is amateurish, that is, he wants to turn someone over to the plagues for possible help or reward (few people knew, but such plagues, after receiving information, were usually shot together with the accused; exceptions were in cases when they were used several times, but then killed anyway – well, who can sympathize with a traitor?).

Option number 3.

He was sent by someone like Gora from the mine to check on training or something.

Option number 4.

He really is who he says he is.

The first thing Gabriel taught his disciple when contact arose was to never "play his part" at once, that is, to check and make up his mind before performing the true task.

"It's better to miss some information than to bog down half the network on nothing," Gabriel used to say. That's what Tikhomirov did.

"In my opinion," Ivan replied. – you've come to the wrong place."

"How could it be wrong? Hey, everybody's making a lot of noise. They say it's going to be hard…"

Gabriel was not out of his head with his admonitions: "Constantly. Constantly try to determine who you are talking to. Sometimes it doesn't even matter what side he's on, it's who he is. Maybe he's a weakling… What would it take to make a weakling change sides? And if he's strong in spirit, look at how firm he is in his own convictions. How much confidence he has. Where are his traits of limit… All this, of course, will have to be felt, sometimes there is no time to analyze."

From the first appearance the stranger was a very uncontrollable person and unaware of his own desires. But after the second phrase I could feel his trained ability to exert pressure by putting the interlocutor in front of an immediate choice.

The only thing that Tikhomirov could unmistakably do now was to evade answering by understating his own importance: "I told you. I can't do anything. I don't know anyone at the mine… I know the chums and I certainly don't want to bother them. Ask someone else.

"Who else? I have an urgent matter."

"Well, you've got an emergency, and I've got a floor to mop. There's a lot of work to do. God willing." "In short, yes or no?"

BCC. He's from there and that's for sure. For one thing, he's completely unconcerned at this moment in time, as if it's a game and not a matter of life and death. He's under the nose of the plagues, who will tear him apart if anything happens, and he feels relaxed and at ease. The main thing is relaxed, as if he knows that no one will come out of the corner now, he will not be killed or something worse, as if he is doing what he is officially authorized to do. Ivan should be mopping the floor at his job, and he should be talking about rebellion.

Tikhomirov now even sensed the pallid dim odor that emanated from him, and decided at last to completely rid his enemy of suspicion: "No, I have already said. You want to be shot, you can be, but without me."

The stranger grinned and, spitting to the side, strode away.

In the middle of the day Gavriil Zheleznov received a letter from Khmelnitsky through the outside channel, namely through Bolshakov. He was not asked leading questions, as Tikhomirov had been, but the parcel was slipped to him at once. The Maquis had their own well-informed people in the mine itself, and who could be trusted was known to them in advance.

Gora printed the envelope without notes on the front side and saw the document, which was not clean (the Maquis used to dirty such things on purpose to confuse the chums; this time it was covered with brown earth and a little sawdust, just a little, and an expert examination would show that the document was written in the area of the town of Krasny Luch, in fact they carried earth from different places with them, it was just a little bit – even if it was small, but still a deception of the enemy).

"Secret. From the Maquis.

Your letter has reached me. I will not hide, its content interested me very much and even excited me. Therefore, I think you will understand my request to you to provide concrete evidence.

I hope to have your support."

Mountain's combination and was to provide no evidence for his version. "Let them be scared to death out there. – he thought. – Usually in such situations facts come to light that in their own right mean nothing, but in the aggregate take on a clear and tangible form."

In his reply Gabriel referred to the difficulty of obtaining "additional" confirmations, and his refusal to provide the ones he already had was motivated by the possibility of exposing his own people. Of course, all this is nonsense: there are no facts, and there are only three "his people", and they are not deep in the system at all.

At 16:48 Tikhomirov, while continuing to scrub the floor, again noticed a stranger approaching him. This time he couldn't help but look him in the eyes.

Ivan's eyes flickered to one prominent outward feature: arrogance. Such brazen and arrogant arrogance. It glowed with an incomprehensible gray self-love.

Of the other features of the facial structure, its absolutely triangular shape stood out.

Ivan decided that this time he would be killed, and as he continued his duty, he remembered Gabriel: "Many. A great many times it will seem to you that this is the end. That it's over. You're just going to be killed, and that's the end of it. Remember like your comrades. Remember how they work underground, how they live here, how they suffer here.

Remember your parents. Remember how they raised you, how they starved you for weeks so that you could live. And most of all, think of Earth. You've been to the surface many times, you've seen how beautiful it is, how good it is. When it gets hard, think about the bad, the good, but the main thing, the most important thing is that everything you do is for the best.

"Remember me?" – The triangle-faced stranger asked.

"I haven't finished the job," Tikhomirov replied, relentlessly continuing to drive the rag from side to side. "So you're going to help the Maquis?"

"No, I'm not going to." "That's a good one."

The last words thundered over Tikhomirov's heart. He had been prepared for them, he knew that something like this was possible, but at the very moment his heart pounded with such force that his eyes darkened.

As if on cue, two chums came out from around the corner and headed towards the people, and the arrogant SSchekist finally revealed himself: "You're good for not helping the Maquis. Now you will help the SCK. My name is Dmitri, by the way.

Ivan stopped the cleanup and turned entirely toward the traitor: "I'll be with the SCK…? Only if they give me food… over and above the norm."

Dimitri laughed, "Rest assured, they'll give you something to eat. And over and above the norm. And as much as you want." Then he switched to a more serious and businesslike tone: "Just turn in a couple of your friends. You'll get it all."