ГЛАВА 7 Сохранить тайну

n the morning, even before tea, the sovereign calmly and slowly read the telegram. I was in no hurry, as if trying to remember every word. The duty general of the General Staff Kondzerevsky, who was invited to Alexandria yesterday, was also sitting nearby. A detailed map of the Russian Empire was laid out on the table

Kondzerovsky, Peter Konstantinovich. From October 21, 1899 until he served in the General Staff: the acting head of the capital (from 21.10.1899), then the junior clerk of the office of the Military Scientific Committee (from 4.12.1901), the head of the 4th (from 4.12.1902) and 14th (from 1.5.1903) departments, member of the Economic Committee (3.2.1905—21.12.1906), head of the department (from 3.12.1904), acting assistant to the duty general (with 14.10.1907). And more recently, on 4.6.1908, he was appointed duty general of the General Staff. So, the sovereign considered it necessary to inform the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff.

– Here, Orlov and another report… Your messenger delivered? Today we have, the seventeenth of June?

“So it is, Your Majesty.

The general stood before the emperor. He noticed that he was worried, and reached for the cigarette holder. He reached for the telephone, but removed his hand, and touched his forehead with his fingers.

“It turned out as promised in that telegram dated the fourteenth of this year. And, I read the report from the Irkutsk Observatory, look for yourself, they write this:

“About a thousand eyewitnesses told the Irkutsk observatory that a sparkling body swept across the sky, leaving a bright trail behind it. In the area of Podkamennaya Tunguska, a ball flashed over the taiga much brighter than the sun. A blind girl from the Vanavar trading post saw the light of day for the only moment in her life. The pillar of fire soared into the cloudless sky. Black smoke rose up the crimson rod and broke into a blue mushroom cloud.”

– Another report from the station of the Trassibirsk Railway, from the head of the Einberg station:

“On the morning of June 17, at the beginning of the 9th hour, we had some unusual phenomenon of nature. In the village of Nizhne-Karelinsky (verst 200 from Kirensk to the north), the peasants saw in the northwest, quite high above the horizon, some extremely strong (it was impossible to look) body glowing with white, bluish light, moving for 10 minutes from top to bottom. The body was presented in the form of a ‘pipe,’ that is, cylindrical. The sky was cloudless, only low above the horizon, in the same side in which the luminous body was observed, a small dark cloud was noticeable. It was hot, dry. Approaching the ground (forest), the shiny body seemed to spread, but in place of it a huge puff of black smoke formed and an extremely strong explosion was heard. All the buildings were shaking. At the same time, an indefinite flame began to burst out of the cloud. All the inhabitants of the village fled into the streets in panic fear, women cried, everyone thought that the end of the world was coming.”

– Not only this, but the earthquake began, – Nikolai continued, – after all this:

“The seismic wave was recorded by seismological stations in Irkutsk. At the Irkutsk Observatory (970 miles south of the forest collapse), the beginning of the earthquake was recorded at about 0:19 GMT. 2—3 minutes after the main explosion, magnetographs of the Irkutsk Observatory recorded a geomagnetic effect consisting in local disturbance of the geomagnetic field. The indignation continues to be non-monotonic.”

– What do you say, Pyotr Konstantinovich? Nikolai Alexandrovich asked.

“A terrifying show of force, sovereign. Fortunately, not a military attack. They promised a blow, a force of twenty million tons of TNT? They fulfilled the promise. As you can see from eyewitnesses, a certain cylindrical object was launched, which then exploded. Their demands?

– A ban on visiting a number of areas near Novaya Zemlya and in the Northern Urals. No other wishes were expressed.

– So, their wishes should be fulfilled, sovereign. Send an expedition to Tunguska to study this incident?

“They’re clearly warning that the area isn’t safe to visit. People can die. They let us know that it was a matter of radiant energy. And the charge also uses the terrifying power of radiant energy. It is claimed to be radium. But, this is not entirely clear.

– However, radium is incredibly expensive, – Kondzerevsky said thoughtfully, – apparently they have their own reserves of this element.

– For them, apparently, everything is possible. Further, – Nikolai Alexandrovich said slightly thinking, – soon, and very, some very influential gentlemen from European countries, and from North America, will turn to me with a request for an expedition to study this phenomenon. No doubt about it

– It is necessary to refuse, sovereign. Yes, actually, what to explore? – and Kondzerevsky chuckled – and so everything is clear. Huge force explosion.

He did not go unnoticed. And, it is clear that they will begin to suspect us of testing new weapons.

– It’s simple enough, sir. We will organize three directions – some authors in newspapers will argue that this is a comet. Others, that, meteorite. Well, the third, the most odious… There is an idea, I hope you approve, Your Majesty.

– Speak, Pyotr Konstantinovich. I’ll listen.

– There is a researcher, Nikolai Tesla, who lives in the North American states. Here, several authors in foreign newspapers will write that these are his mysterious experiments with atmospheric electricity. So to speak, an incedent occurred. The genius made a mistake, which led to an unexpected explosion.

“Quite reasonable. Of course, within the framework of everything that happened. I will allocate ten thousand of my personal funds for this. That will do?

– More than, for scribes from the tabloid newspapers of Paris and London, sovereign. Let’s create a splash from such news, and the waves themselves will disperse, without our participation. Free, but with benefits for the state.

– And yet… – Nikolai Aleksanlrovich looked at the general with concern, – we should also start mining radium. Still, the enemies can get ahead. I mean the German Empire. It is better to prepare in advance.

– It should be entrusted to Ryabushinsky Peter Sergeevich. An entrepreneur with ambition, no stranger to progress. His brother is passionate about aviation, and helps Professor Zhukovsky, began to build the Aero Hydrodynamic Laboratory at his own expense.

– What about secrecy, Pyotr Konstantinovich?

“I assure you he already knows. There are existing communication channels between the Old Believers. He was undoubtedly told everything. At least the most important thing. That there was an incredible explosion in the taiga, a terrible fire.

– True, there is a certain plan for this family… The Kamchatka expedition, equipped with Ryabushinsky’s money, is already working. For example, three people loyal to your majesty will deviate from the route and penetrate Podkamennaya Tunguska. These will be the military from the General Staff.. At the station… will receive a telegram, and follow to the place of explosion. To see for yourself what happened, it is advisable to take photographic pictures.

– Sensible plan, it’s possible and just arrange everything, sovereign.

– Then both you and your 14th department of the General Staff need to start tracking possible actions of foreign researchers in this direction, especially German ones. Yes, you are right, and information could easily reach the governments of foreign countries.

– Nothing, let’s take action. And beyond the borders, and within Russia, we will be able to create a veil of secrecy and let fog in this case. The inhabitants are not too meticulous, sovereign. Both in Russia and around the world. Especially if what happened does not concern them personally.

– Thank you, gentlemen! – Nikolai Alexandrovich spoke calmly and clearly, getting up, and making it clear that the hanging was over – everything was discussed. And I, right, are already expected by breakfast. So, please forgive me.

Two generals left the sovereign’s office.

***

In the evening of the next day, in his house, in Pavlovsk, Pyotr Konstantinovich calmly studied the reports that came from the northern and Siberian cities of Russia. A completely consistent, but such a difficult and terrible picture came out:

“There was an explosion of incomparable force. For four hundred miles, glass burst in the windows. Repeated rolls were heard for a thousand miles. Near the city of Kansk, eight hundred miles from the crash site, the engine driver stopped the train: it seemed to him that a car had exploded in its composition. At a distance of two hundred and fifty versts from the place of the explosion, the hurricane tore off the roofs from the houses, and fences fell for five hundred versts.

In distant cities, dishes rang in buffets, wall clocks stopped. Apparently, trees were felled in the area of the explosion on an area of almost 2,000 miles of ², a huge forest fire occurred, deafening thunderclaps were heard more than a thousand kilometers around. In settlements and gorals, window panes in houses were knocked out several hundred kilometers from the explosion site. A strong night glow of the sky is observed at night after this event in Central Siberia. At night, June 18, heavy, incessant rain poured. People are very scared, slouches about the imminent end of the world bloom. In a number of observatories, including Irkutsk, astronomers noted difficulties in observing due to a decrease in the transparency of the atmosphere, due to dust rising into high layers, probably several miles in height. In Europe, the European part of Russia and Western Siberia, unusual atmospheric phenomena were observed after the explosion: silver clouds, bright twilight, solar halos. From Britain, it was reported that on the night of June 17 (30), the sky over Bristol was abnormally bright in the north. In Paris, on the Black Sea and in the Alps, there were never seen white nights.

Seismological stations in Irkutsk, Tashkent, Tiflis and Jena (Germany) noted a shaking of the earth’s crust with an epicenter in the Podkamennaya Tunguska region. In London, barographers noted an air wave. She went around the globe twice.”

Kondzerevsky began to fill out a work journal. I also brought here a couple of pictures of white nights from Penza and Kostroma. He wrote for a long time. Then I felt that my eyes were tired, and it was necessary to bleed my head. According to this habit, I removed the record from the table in an iron box and the lock on the key. Then he took cigarettes and matches and went out into the street. But, I had to hide under the visor of the entrance.

The sky was covered with a thick layer of clouds, raining, and at the same time unusually light. So light that Kondzerevsky himself was surprised. He took out a notebook from his pocket, and was able to read his small handwriting quite freely in an open place. The moon could not be, but the clouds were somehow strangely illuminated by some kind of yellow-green, sometimes turning into pink dead light. The general just sighed, seeing all this with his own eyes. And what about there, at the epicenter of the explosion? And it was scary to imagine. Yes, it’s one thing when you read all this, and the other when you yourself see it in reality, as Kondzerevsky thought now.

It was necessary to think about all the same, about those who could be connected to the task designated by the state. Pyotr Konstantinovich carefully extinguished the cigarette, took out his notebook, and wrote down several names on a clean page. Then, thinking, he began to cross out one after another with a bold line, until almost in the center of the sheet there was only one entry:

Staff Captain Nikolai Petrovich Losunov, clerk of the Fourth Office, Part of the First Chief Quartermaster. Head – Nikolai Avgustovich Monkevits. Kondzerevsky wrote this a little later.

PART 2 Journey to Siberia

CHAPTER 1 Planning of the Tunguska expedition

– Nikolai Petrovich, you to the telephone! ‘the batman shouted.

Yes, the day began very familiar for an officer of the General Staff. Losunov has already put himself in order, and fastened the buttons of an excellent new uniform. And, after all, sewn in Atel Monsieur Sanier. I had to part with a decent amount, but what can you do?

He decided to pamper himself, after being appointed to the General Staff, he was finally seconded from the Life Guards Semyonovsky Regiment. His superiors found his participation in the events of 1905 almost commendable, and requiring encouragement. Therefore, now the headquarters – captain Losunov, after studying at the Academy, was here, in the famous building of the General Staff, where he had a small apartment. And he was appointed clerk of the Fourth office work, that is, in the strategic intelligence of the Russian Army.

“One second, Philemon. Let them not hang up!

Filimon Kondratyev became a batman with Losunov ude a long time ago, back in 1906. The soldier was prominent and sensible, and did not want to return to his city of Pokrov after the service, so he became an orderly at the staff captain. He looked pretentious, in his uniform without shoulder straps, but in a Semyunov visor, decorated with stunning density of sideburns. No, without a doubt, Philemon was simply magnificent in appearance, and irreplaceable in everyday life. I knew where to get fresh dust, or, there, pies. What a laundress is more ceiling, well, a lot of important things. And now, in one hand he held the telephone receiver, and in the other – Losunov’s cap.

The officer picked up the phone from the clerk’s hand, nodded to Philemon, go, they say, and in a well-set voice said:

– Staff Captain Losunov at the apparatus.

Actually, I used to answer so immediately. The service is a service, and no one has telephoned him in vain.

– Nikolay Petrovich? This is General Kondzerevsky. Come to me now, it is necessary.

“That’s right, Your Excellency!

The voice in the microphone fell silent, and the staff captain hung up on the levers of the telephone. He quickly took out his leather briefcase, opened it, checked the contents – several notebooks for notes, and honed pencils. There was also a Parker pen in a special case. The staff captain did not risk carrying such a thing in his pocket, fearing to spoil the uniform with ink. Yesho once examined his unwise apartment, from three small rooms. And then, the situation was more than Spartan. Two iron beds, three closets for clothes, a dining table with four Viennese chairs. The bureau stood out, a writing table. This thing was just the pride of Losunov, a French work of the early nineteenth century, I remembered this table from Napoleon Bonaparte himself. At least, Nikolai Petrovich himself thought so.

Losunov once again went to the mirror, corrected the silver badge of the Semenovsky regiment on his chest, cap, and again praised himself for his well-sewn uniform. He sat just great, perfectly tailored, made of excellent material. But, time was running out, it was necessary to go.

– Well, that’s it, I’m in the service, Philemon. You are for the elder!

“That’s right, your nobility! – the answer was brief and on the case.

***

“To his Excellency! Staff captain Losunov, General Kondzerevsky called me.

– So it is, you are appointed, – answered the officer on duty, the still young second lieutenant, after checking the notes, – come through, staff captain! – and pointed to a solid oak door with a bronze handle.

Losunov, out of habit, taking his cap under his left hand, entered the office. Actually, there were two doors here, and a vestibule, so that no one would hear too much. The general was sitting in a chair at a long table, at which, oddly enough, there was no one else, and he was recording something. When he saw him enter, he got up and said hello by the hand, and said:

– Sit down, staff captain. And, simply contact, by name and patronymic.

– Got it, Pyotr Konstantinovich!

– That’s good, Nikolai Petrovich. An important business was formed, and it was decided to entrust it to you. Go to the map.

Losunov stood next to the map of the Russian Empire. Actually, he knew geography very well.