where Gorky Streetdebouched into Red Square. First destination was the mausoleum, backedagainst the Kremlin wall, which centered that square and served as acombined Vatican, Lhasa and Mecca of the Soviet complex. Built of darkred porphyry, it was the nearest thing to a really ultramodernbuilding Hank had seen in Moscow.
As foreign tourists they were taken to the head of the line whichalready stretched around the Kremlin back into Mokhovaya Street alongthe western wall. A line of thousands.
Once the doors opened the line moved quickly. They filed in, two bytwo, down some steps, along a corridor which was suddenly cool asthough refrigerated. Paco, standing next to Hank, said from the sideof his mouth, "Now we know the secret of the embalming. I wonder ifthey're hanging on meathooks."
The line emerged suddenly into a room in the center of which werethree glass chambers. The three bodies, the prophet and his twoleading disciples flanking him. Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev. On theirfaces, Hank decided, you could read much of their character. Lenin,the idealist and scholar. Stalin, utterly ruthless organization man.Khrushchev, energetic manager of what the first two had built.
They were in the burial room no more than two minutes, filed out by anopposite door. In the light of the square again, Paco grinned at him."Nick and Joe didn't look so good, but Nikita is standing up prettywell."
Trailing back and forth across Red Square had its ludicrous elements.The guide pointed out this and that. But all the time his charges hadtheir eyes glued to the spaceship, settled there at the far end of thesquare near St. Basil's. In a way it seemed no more alien than so muchelse here. Certainly no more alien to the world Hank knew than thefantastic St. Basil's Cathedral.
A spaceship from the stars, though. You still had to shake your headin effort to achieve clarity; to realize the significance of it. Aspaceship with emissaries from a Galactic Confederation.
How simple if it had only landed in Washington, London or even Parisor Rome, instead of here.
They avoided getting very near it, although the Russians weren't beingostentatious about their guarding. There was a roped off area aboutthe craft and twenty or so guards, not overly armed, drifting aboutwithin the enclosure. But the local citizenry was evidently welldisciplined. There were no huge crowds hanging on the ropes waitingfor a glimpse of the interplanetary celebrities.
Nevertheless, the Intourist guide went out of his way to avoidbringing his charges too near. They retraced their steps back toManezhnaya Square from which they had originally started to see themausoleum, and then turned left through Alexandrovski Sad, theAlexander Park which ran along the west side of the Kremlin to theBorovikski Gate, on the Moskva River side of the fortress.
Paco said, "After this tour I'm in favor of us all signing a petitionthat our guide be awarded a medal, _Hero of Intourist_. You realizethat thus far he has lost only two of us today?"
Some of the others didn't like his levity. They were about to enterthe Communist shrine and wisecracking was hardly in order. PacoRodriquez couldn't have cared less, being Paco Rodriquez.
The _stilyagi_ girl had been correct about the Kremlin being anovergrown museum. Government buildings it evidently contained, butabove all it provided gold topped cathedrals, fabulous palacesconverted to art galleries and displays of the jeweled wealth ofyesteryear and the tombs of a dozen czars including that of Ivan theTerrible.
* * * * *
They trailed into the Orushezhnaya Palace, through the ornate entrancehall displaying its early arms and banners.
Paco encouraged the harassed guard happily. "You're doing fine. You'vehad us out for more than two hours. We started with twenty-five inthis group and still have twenty-one. Par for the course. What happensto a tourist who wanders absently around in the Kremlin and turns upin the head man's office?"
The guide smiled wanly. "And over here we have the thrones of theEmpress Elizabeth and Czar Paul."
Unobtrusively, Hank dropped toward the tail of the group. He spent along time peering at two silver panthers, gifts of the first QueenElizabeth of England to Boris Godunov. The Progressive Tours assemblypassed on into the next room.
A guard standing next to the case said, "Mr. Kuran?"
Without looking up, Hand nodded.
"Follow me, slowly."
No one from the Progressive Tours group was in sight. Hank wanderedafter the guard, looking into display cases as he went. Finally theother turned a corner into an empty and comparatively narrow corridor.He stopped and waited for the American.
"You're Kuran?" he asked anxiously in Russian.
"That's right."
"You're not afraid?"
"No. Let's go." Inwardly Hank growled, _Of course I'm afraid. Do Ilook like a confounded hero?_ What was it Sheridan Hennessey had said?This was combat, combat cold-war style, but still combat. Of course hewas afraid. Had there ever in the history of combat been a participantwho had gone into it unafraid?
They walked briskly along the corridor. The guard said, "You havestudied your maps?"
"Yes."
"I can take you only so far without exposing myself. Then you are onyour own. You must know your maps or you are lost. These old palacesramble--"
"I know," Hank said impatiently. "Brief me as we go along. Just forluck."
"Very well. We leave Orushezhnaya Palace by this minor doorway. Acrossthere, to our right, is the _Bolshoi Kremlevski Dvorets_, the GreatKremlin Palace. It's there the Central Executive Committee meets, andthe Assembly. The same hall used to be the czar's throne room in theold days. On the nearer side, on the ground floor, are the_Sobstvennaya Plovina_, the former private apartments of NicholasFirst. The extraterrestrials are there."
"You're sure? The others weren't sure."
"That's where they are."
"How can we get to them?"
"_We_ can't. Possibly _you_ can. I can take you only so far. The frontentrance is strongly guarded, we are going to have to enter the GreatPalace from the rear, through the Teremni Palace. You remember yourmaps?"
"I think so."
They strode rapidly from the museum through a major courtyard. Hank tothe right and a step behind the uniformed guard.
The other was saying, "The Teremni preceded the Great Palace. One ofits walls was used to become the rear of the later structure. We canenter it fairly freely."
They entered through another smaller doorway a hundred feet or morefrom the main entrance, climbed a short marble stairway and turnedright down an ornate corridor, tapestry hung. They passedoccasionally other uniformed guards, none of whom paid them anyattention.
They passed through three joined rooms, each heavily furnished inSeventeenth Century style, each thick with icons. The guide broughtthem up abruptly at a small door.
He said, an air almost of defiance in his tone, "I go no further.Through this door and you are in the Great Palace, in the bathroom ofthe apartments of Catherine Second. You remember your maps?"
"Yes," Hank said.
"I hope so." The guard hesitated. "You are armed?"
"No. We were afraid that my things might be thoroughly searched. Had agun been found on me, my mission would have been over then and there."
The guard produced a heavy military revolver, offered it buttforemost.
But Hank shook his head. "Thanks. But if it comes to the point whereI'd need a gun--I've already failed. I'm here to talk, not to shoot."
The guard nodded. "Perhaps you're right. Now, I repeat. On the otherside of this door is the bathroom of the Czarina's apartments. Beyondit is her _paradnaya divannaya_, her dressing room and beyond that the_Ekaterininskaya sala_, the throne room of Catherine Second. It isprobable that there will be nobody in any of these rooms. Beyond that,I do not know."
He ended abruptly with "Good luck," turned and scurried away.
"Thanks," Hank Kuran said after him. He turned and tried thedoor-knob. Inwardly he thought, _All right Henry Kuran. Hennesseysaid you had a reputation for being able to think on your feet. Startthinking. Thus far a
ll you've been called on to do is exchangelow-level banter with a bevy of pro-commie critics of the UnitedStates. Now the chips are down._
* * * * *
The apartments of the long dead czarina were empty. He pushed throughthem and into the corridor beyond.
And came to a quick halt.
Halfway down the hall, Loo Motlamelle crouched over a uniformed,crumpled body. He looked up at Hank Kuran's approach, startled, afighting man at bay. His lips thinned back over his teeth. A blackthumb did something to the weapon he held in his hand.
Hank said throatily, "Is he dead?"
Loo shook his head, his eyes coldly wary. "No. I slugged him."
Hank said, "What are you doing here?"
Loo came erect. "It occurs to me that I'm evidently doing the samething you are."
But the dull metal gun in his hand was negligently at the ready andhis eyes were cold, cold. It came to Hank that banjos on the leveewere very far away.
This lithe fighting man said tightly, "You know where we are? Exactlywhere we are? I'm not sure."
Hank said, "In the hall outside the _Sobstvennaya Plovina_ of the_Bolshoi Kremlevski Dvorets_. The czar's private apartments. And howdid you get here?"
"The hard way," Loo said softly. His eyes darted up and down thecorridor. "I can't figure out why there aren't more guards. I don'tlike this. You're armed?"
"No," Hank said.
Loo grinned down at his own weapon. "One of us is probably making amistake but we both seem to have gotten this far. By the way, I'mInter-Commonwealth Security. You're C.I.A., aren't you? Talk fast,Hank, we're either a team from now on, or I've got to do somethingabout you."
"Special mission for the President," Hank said. "Why didn't we spoteach other sooner?"
Loo grinned again in deprecation. "Evidently because we're both goodoperatives. If I've got this right, the extraterrestrials aresomewhere in here."
Hank started down the corridor. There was no time to go into the whysand wherefores of Loo's mission. It must be approximately the same ashis own. "There are some private apartments in this direction," hesaid over his shoulder. "They must be quartered--"
A door off the corridor opened and a tall, thin, ludicrously garbedman--
Hank pulled himself up quickly, both mentally and physically. It wasno man. It was almost a man--but no.
Loo's weapon was already at the alert.
The newcomer unhurriedly looked from one of them to the other. Thendown at the Russian guard sprawled on the floor behind them.
He said in Russian, "Always violence. The sadness of violence. Whenfaced with crisis, threaten violence if outpointed. Your race has muchto learn." He switched to English. "But this is probably yourlanguage, isn't it?"
Loo gaped at him. The man from space was almost as dark complected asthe Negro.
The extraterrestrial stepped to one side and indicated the room behindhim "Please enter, I assume you've come looking for us."
They entered the ornate bedroom.
The extraterrestrial said, "Is the man dead?"
Loo said, "No. Merely stunned."
"He needs no assistance?"
"Nothing could help him for half an hour or more. Then he'll probablyhave a severe headache."
The extraterrestrial had even the ability to achieve a dry quality inhis voice. "I am surprised at your forebearance." He took a chairbefore a baroque desk. "Undoubtedly you have gone through a great dealto penetrate to this point. I am a member of the interplanetarydelegation. What is it that you want?"
Hank looked at Loo, received a slight nod, and went into his speech.The space alien made no attempt to interrupt.
When Hank had finished, the extraterrestrial turned his eyes to Loo."And you?"
Loo said, "I represent the British Commonwealth rather than the UnitedStates, but my purpose in contacting you was identical. Her Majesty'sgovernment is anxious to consult with you before you make any bindingagreements with the Soviet complex."
The alien turned his eyes from one to the other. His face, Hankdecided, had a Lincolnesque quality, so ugly as to be beautiful in itsinfinite sadness.
"You must think us incredibly naive," he said.
Hank scowled. He had adjusted quickly to the space ambassador's_otherness_, both of dress and physical qualities, but there was anirritating something--He put his finger on it. He felt as he had, somedecades ago, when brought before his grammar school principal for aninfraction of school discipline.
Hank said, "We haven't had too much time to think. We've beendesperate."
The alien said, "You have gone to considerable trouble. I can evenadmire your resolution. You will be interested to know that tomorrowwe take ship to Peiping."
"Peiping?" Loo said blankly.
"Following two weeks there we proceed to Washington and following thatto London. What led your governments to believe that the Sovietnations were to receive all our attention, and your own none at all?"
Hank blurted, "But you landed _here_. You made no contact with us."
"The size of our expedition is limited. We could hardly do everythingat once. The Soviet complex, as you call it, is the largest governmentand the most advanced on Earth. Obviously, this was our first stop."His eyes went to Hank's. "You're an American. Do you know why you havefallen behind in the march of progress?"
"I'm not sure we have," Hank said flatly. "Do you mean in comparisonwith the Soviet complex?"
"Exactly. And if you don't realize it, then you've blinded yourself.You've fallen behind in a score of fields because a decade or so ago,in your years between 1957 and 1960, you made a disastrous decision.In alarm at Russian progress, you adopted a campaign of combatingRussian science. You began educating your young people to combatRussian progress."
"We had to!"
The alien grunted. "To the contrary, what you should have done was tryto excel Russian science, technology and industry. Had you done thatyou might have continued to be the world's leading nation, until, atleast, some sort of world unity had been achieved. By deciding to_combat_ Russian progress you became a retarding force, a deliberatedrag on the development of your species, seeking to cripple andrestrain rather than to grow and develop. The way to win a race is notto trip up your opponent, but to run faster and harder than he."
Hank stared at him.
The space alien came to his feet. "I am busy. Your missions, Iassume, have been successfully completed. You have seen one of ourgroup. Melodramatically, you have warned us against your enemy. Yoursuperiors should be gratified. And now I shall summon a guide toreturn you to your hotels."
A great deal went out of Hank Kuran. Until now the tenseness had beengreater than he had ever remembered in life. Now he was limp. Inresponse, he nodded.
Loo sighed, returned the weapon which he had until now held in hishand to a shoulder holster. "Yes," he said, meaninglessly. He turnedand looked at Hank Kuran wryly. "I have spent the better part of mylife learning to be an ultra-efficient security operative. I suspectthat my job has just become obsolete."
"I have an idea that perhaps mine is too," Hank said.
* * * * *
In the morning, the Progressive Tours group was scheduled to visit aco-operative farm, specializing in poultry, on the outskirts ofMoscow. While the bus was loading Hank stopped off at the GrandHotel's Intourist desk.
"Can I send a cable to the United States?"
The chipper Intourist girl said "But of course." She handed him aform.
He wrote quickly:
SHERIDAN HENNESSEYWASHINGTON, D. C.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
MORE SATISFACTORILY THAN EXPECTED.
HENRY KURAN
The girl checked it quickly. "But your name is Henry Stevenson."
"That," Hank said, "was back when I was a cloak and dagger man."
She blinked and looked after him as he walked out and climbed aboardthe tourist bus. He found an empty seat next to Char Moor
e and settledinto it.
Char said evenly, "Ah, today you have time from your amorous pursuitsto join the rest of us."
He raised an eyebrow at her. Jealousy? His chances were evidentlybetter than he had ever suspected. "I meant to tell you about that,"he said, "the first time we're by ourselves."
"Hm-m-m," she said. Then, "We've been in Russia for several days now.What do you think of it?"
Hank said, "I think it's pretty good. And I have a sneaking suspicionthat in another ten years, when a few changes will have evolved,she'll be better still."
She looked at him blankly. "You _do_? Frankly, I've been somewhatdisappointed."
"Sure. But wait'll you see _our_ country in ten years. You know, Char,this world of ours has just got started."
THE END
* * * * *
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