Free Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series) by John Schettler Page A

in
Siberia. As it happened, however, Krinov was working at the meteor division of
the Mineralogy Museum of the Soviet Academy of Sciences between 1926 and 1930,
when the intrepid Leonid Kulik mounted his first expeditions to the Tunguska
region to try and discover the cause of the event.
    It was very strange, but Kulik
had uncovered a number of key findings that could lead to the answer to the
enigma. The first were the awesome physical evidence of a massive explosion in
the Great Hollow. Thirty million trees were felled there, in a radial pattern
where each fallen tree pointed back to the epicenter of the cataclysmic event.
The second key finding had been thermal—the clear scorching of the trees, even
beyond the fallen zone which covered all of 1400 square kilometers. A blinding
flash of light had left its imprint in the dead wood, and searing flames left
their mark well beyond the Great Hollow.
    The next key clue was more
enigmatic, a magnetic footprint that seemed to lay on the land, ranging 1400
square kilometers. The soil itself exhibited the effects of some strange
magnetic anomaly, and it was later learned that disturbances in the earth’s
magnetic field had both preceded and followed the event. Auroras and strange
noctilucent clouds appeared for days after.
    This was not all. There were
botanic effects in the plants, mutations in the animals, strange genetic
effects that caused trees to enter a period of accelerated growth at the edge
of the event, while others were twisted and stunted into malformed shapes, some
flecked with small embedded nodules of glass. Exotic materials were found in
the soil, and there was a measurable radiation effect, ionizing radiation that
became thermo-luminescent at night, creating an eerie glow at times over the
land.
    Krinov got very interested in the
matter, and resolved to accompany Kulik on a return expedition years later, in
1930. He still bore the scars of that journey, and in more than one way. Braving
the Siberian winter was always dangerous, and he had suffered a severe frostbite
on his feet that compelled him to withdraw and spend a lengthy time in the
hospital. The doctors had been forced to amputate a big toe, and now Krinov
walked with a characteristic limp, though that was not the worst mark the trip
to Tunguska had left on him.
    Kulik was convinced that the site
he had discovered, that haunting swath of utter destruction in the Great
Hollow, was hiding the hidden remains of a meteorite, though no evidence was
ever found to support this claim. Yet Kulik’s ardor would not abate. He set
himself to draining and digging up one swampy bog hole after another,
disheartened to find a broken tree stump in his favored prospect, which proved
it could not be the site of an impact. Anything big enough to cause the
devastation that stretched for kilometers in all directions would certainly not
have left a tree stump standing at the bottom of its impact crater. Kulik had
forbidden any photographs of that stump, but Krinov had secretly taken several
to use as evidence in the heated scientific debate that he knew would soon
follow on the heels of the expedition.
    Kulik remained determined to
continue looking for the meteorite, and it was said that he eventually found
something very strange during one of his excavations. When questioned about his
findings one day the bristly Kulik just looked at Krinov from behind those dark
round eyeglasses of his, his eyes strangely alight. Then he did something that
astounded Krinov. He reached into his pocket and handed his associate a small
hand compass.
    “Find north for me please,” Kulik
had said quietly.
    Krinov blinked, but indulged his
colleague and stood in the center of the room, consulting the compass until he
could point himself north. Then Kulik got up and walked slowly to Krinov’s
side, a wry smile on his face.
    “Are you sure?” he said.
    To his amazement, Krinov looked
down at his compass and saw it spinning in mad circles. He