Part 8 (2/2)
”Except at the top, of course.”
”Commander-in-Chief West is one man I never expected to defend, but everything I've been told leads me to believe he's getting his forces ready in the same way as we.”
”Things must indeed be improved if you are this magnanimous.”
”They are, Comrade. Another tank division lost to Germany. Well, he needs it more than we. I tell you, we will sweep the Arabs aside like dirt on a smooth tile floor. In truth we always could. There are not so many of them, and if these Arabs are like the Libyans I saw three years ago-these have no mountains to hide in. This is not Afghanistan. Our mission is to conquer, not to pacify. This we can do. I estimate two weeks. The only problem I foresee is the destruction of the oil fields. They can use scorched earth as a defense just as we have, and that will be difficult for us to prevent, even with paratroops. Still and all, our objective is achievable. Our men will be ready.”
9.
A Final Look
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.
”There's something to be said for instant traditions, Chuck.” This was their fourth Russian movie via satellite. Toland handed over the bowl of popcorn. ”It'll be a pity to lose you back to the Corps.”
”Bite your tongue! Sixteen-hundred hours Tuesday, Colonel Charles DeWinter Lowe goes back into the Marine business. I'll leave the paper-shuffling to you squids.”
Toland laughed. ”And you won't miss the evening movie?”
”Maybe a little.” Half a mile away a satellite receiver was tracking a Soviet communications satellite. They'd been pirating signals off this satellite and two of her sisters for weeks now, to keep tabs on the Soviet TV news, and also to catch the evening movie. Both men admired the work of Sergey Eisenstein.
And Alexander Nevsky was his masterwork.
Toland popped open a can of c.o.ke. ”I wonder how Ivan would react to a John Ford Western? Somehow I get the feeling that Comrade Eisenstein might have been exposed to one or two.”
”Yeah, the Duke would have fit in pretty good here. Or better yet, Errol Flynn. You heading home tonight?”
”Right after the movie. G.o.d, a four-day weekend off. Can I stand the strain?”
The t.i.tles showed a new frame, different from the one on his personal tape of the movie back home. The original soundtrack dialogue had been retained and cleaned up somewhat, but the music had been redone by the Moscow State Symphony and chorus. They did true justice to Prokofiev's evocative score.
The film began with a view of the Russian . . . steppes? Toland wondered. Or was that supposed to be the southern part of the country? Anyway, it showed rolling gra.s.sland littered with bones and weapons from an old battle against the Mongols. The Yellow Peril, still a Russian bugaboo. The Soviet Union had absorbed a lot of Mongols-but now the Chinese had nuclear weapons and the world's largest army.
”The print is terrific,” Lowe observed.
”h.e.l.l of a lot better than my tape,” Toland agreed. A pair of VHS machines was recording this, though the Navy wasn't supplying the tapes. Each officer had bought one himself. SACLANT's Inspector General had an evil reputation.
All this happened pretty close to the Baltic coast, Toland reminded himself. The introduction of the main character was made through a song as he was evidently out directing some men with a fis.h.i.+ng net. A good socialist introduction, the officers agreed: the hero out doing manual labor. A brief verbal confrontation with the Mongols, then a musing about which danger to Russian integrity was greater, the German or the Mongol.
”Jesus, you know they still think that way?” Toland chuckled.
”The more things change . . .” Lowe popped open his own c.o.ke.
”I kinda wonder about this guy, though. When he went back into the water after the net, he ran like a girl, what with his arms flying all over.”
”You should try running in knee-deep water,” the Marine growled.
And the scene s.h.i.+fted to the German Danger.
”A bunch of out-of-work knights, just like the crusades. h.e.l.l, just like Indian movies from the thirties. Chopping people up, throwing babies into the fire.”
”You suppose they really did things like that?”
”Ever hear of a place called Auschwitz, Bob?” Lowe inquired. ”You know, in the civilized twentieth century?”
”Those guys didn't bring a bishop with them.”
”Try reading up on the crusaders' liberation of Jerusalem. Either they killed, or raped first and then killed, all for the Greater Glory of G.o.d, with bishops and cardinals cheering them on. Nice bunch. Yeah, it's probably true enough. Christ knows the Eastern Front in '41-'45 saw a lot of it on both sides. Nasty campaign, that was. Want some more popcorn?”
Finally the people mobilized themselves, especially the peasants: Vstavaitye, lyudi russkiye,
na slavny boi, na smyertny boi . . .
”d.a.m.n!” Toland sat forward. ”They really punched that song up.” The soundtrack was almost perfect, even accounting for the satellite transmission difficulties.
Arise, you Russian People,
in a just battle, in a fight to the death:
arise, you people free and brave,
defend our fair native land!