Free Kirov Saga: Darkest Hour: Altered States - Volume II (Kirov Series) by John Schettler Page A

are.”
    “Tenth
of June… did you say thirty-eight? You mean 1938?”
    “Of
course that’s what I mean. Are you daft or still groggy? Doctor says you’ve a
clean bill of health. They watch for fevers and such. No sense shipping in a
plague, eh? Well, you’re clean, he says, and you’re here. But now you’re a
landlubber again mate, unless you can find another ship to jump. You’re lucky
that old fisherman found a steamer like this one to turn you in, and not a
military ship. Otherwise there would have been a good many more questions than
the lot here would care to ask. As it stands, I’d think twice about parading
about Urajio in that uniform. Russian military comes under a good deal of
scrutiny here these days. There’s a war on, you know.”
    Karpov
did not understand. The news he had already heard was jarring enough—1938? What
was this man saying now? “War? Here? The Japanese and Russians?”
    “The
Japanese and whoever they damn well take a dislike to. No, they’ve finished
with us—at least for the time being. Now it’s the Chinese they’re after. Troop
ships coming in and out of Urajio every week now and shipping out on the rail
line through Harbin into Manchuko. You want out and can’t find a steamer here,
then you might try that. You can get all the way down to Ryojun from here, but
it will be risky.”
    “Ryojun?”
    “Port
Arthur. Get used to calling it that way too, Captain. Jappos hear you speak of
Vladivostok or Port Arthur and they get damn foul tempered about it since they
took the place. Best be watching your manners here, if you know what I mean.
That uniform of yours is going to be trouble, I can tell you that much. If you
want some good advice, throw on an overcoat and be less conspicuous here. Then
head inland if you’re trying to get anywhere where one good Russian can speak
to another. Siberia is the same as it always was, but there’s Jappo military
all the way out to the Amur river now, and don’t you forget that. They find you
wandering about in a uniform like that and you could be shot out there. That’s
mean wild country out on the river zone. Then again—if you are a sea faring
man, you might get lucky like I did and get work on a steamer here. You’ll need
to learn some Japanese now, and how to bow and scrape and all, but it isn’t a
bad living. I’m seven years at it now and they gave me a new ship just last
year—Pilot of the Nagata Maru , eh?” He thumped his chest, smiling
through his bristly black beard.
    “What
do you mean—The Japanese have invaded here? Their army is on the Amur River?”
    “What,
have you had your head in the sand the last thirty years—or maybe in that jug
of rum? Japanese kicked us out of Vladivostok long ago and we never got it
back. You know that. In fact, we may never get it back now with another war
brewing. It’s too damn important to them now, right at the heart of their
empire. Some say Ryujun is a better port—warmer waters there and not so much
trouble with the ice in winter. But the Sea of Japan is well named now, isn’t
it? It’s nothing more than a Japanese lake, and the route here is a whole lot
safer than in through the Yellow Sea to Ryujun. Chinese haven’t much of a navy,
but pirates and Wakos still raise hell between Shanghai and Ryujun along the
Chinese coast. Jappos have to escort most shipping there in convoys with
military ships to keep watch, but not on the run up here. No sir. From Urajio
you can throw a stone six hundred miles in any direction and it will still land
in Imperial territory.”
    “Six
hundred miles?”
    “You
must be European. You ship in from Kirov’s lot? I suppose they’re too busy with
the fighting on the Volga to worry about what happens out here. Well, there’s a
lot happening, and you’ll soon find out.”
     
    Chapter 8
     
    Karpov seemed startled at
the mention of Kirov, but the man went on, and it was soon clear that he wasn’t
talking about the ship, but the man.