CHAPTER 11. LOVE COMES UNEXPECTEDLY

“Don’t hide it, my daughter. What is your greatest sin?” he asked, getting into character.

“I’m ashamed to say, Your Holiness,” she began confessing. “My thesis project became widely known in narrow circles and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, which I now have to clean up here. I’ll tell you in exchange for mutual frankness. Let’s go to the secure room.”

They settled on a small sofa, and she began the genetic material collection procedure, while his mouth remained unoccupied, so he began telling:

“I served at a post not so distant from the city, and once was ordered to pick up a newbie. On the way, he told me he was a soccer player and was very afraid they’d beat his legs. I advised him to warn the soldiers about his concerns in advance. I was a simple man and didn’t guess he was testing for hazing at the post. The next day—hands to feet and he bolted. When caught, he claimed he was frightened by my answer. In reality, he turned out to be not a soccer player but a piece of shit.

When digging a trench where the soil was mixed with asphalt and work had to be done from fence to lunch, he declared that in his Ust-Zhazhopinsk he’d attended technical college, so this menial occupation was beneath him. For me, who’d studied at universities in Leningrad and Moscow, it was normal to be like everyone else, but not for him. So he took the last place in the unit hierarchy.

Wow, you’re doing amazing!”