‘I’ll tell you something interesting. Only a few people know about this at the station. They’ve already blown up one tunnel. But above us, above the northern tunnel, there is a stream of ground water. And, when they blew up the second northern tunnel, we were almost flooded. If the explosion had been just a bit stronger – goodbye my dear VDNKh. So, if we now blow up the remaining northern tunnel, then we’ll be flooded. We’ll be covered in radioactive swill. Then that will be the end, not only for us. Therein lies the real danger to the metro. If you start an inter-species battle now and in this way, then our species will lose. As they say in chess: check.’

‘What about the hermetic gate? Surely we can simply close the hermetic gate in that tunnel?’ Hunter said.

‘The hermetic gate was already dismantled along with the rest of the lines gates fifteen years ago by some smart guys – and they sent the material to fortify one of the stations. No one remembers which one anymore. Surely you knew about this? There you go, check again.’

‘Tell me… Have they increased their pressure recently?’ Hunter, it seems, was conceding and shifting the conversation to another tack.

‘Increasing? And how! It’s hard to believe that it was only a little while ago that we didn’t know they existed. And now, here they are – a major threat. And believe me, the day is near when they will sweep us away, with all of our fortifications, searchlights and machine-guns. It’s impossible to raise the whole metro to defend one good-for-nothing station… Yes, we make pretty good tea, but it’s unlikely that anyone will risk their life even for such excellent tea as ours. In the end, there’s always competition with Pechatniki… check again!’ Sukhoi grinned sadly. ‘No one needs us. We ourselves will soon not be in any condition to handle the onslaught. We can’t blow up the tunnel and cut them off. We also don’t have the means to go to the surface and burn them down, for obvious reasons… Checkmate. Checkmate to you, Hunter! And checkmate to me. Checkmate to all of us in the near future, if you see what I mean.’ Sukhoi grinned sourly.

‘We’ll see,’ Hunter snapped back. ‘We’ll see.’

They sat there a little longer, discussing all kinds of things. Many of the names mentioned weren’t familiar to Artyom. There were references to bits and pieces of stories. Every once in a while an old argument would spark up, of which Artyom understood little, but their discussions had clearly been going on for years, abating if the men hadn’t seen each other in a while and flaring up again when they met.

Finally, Hunter stood up and said it was time he went to bed because he, unlike Artyom, hadn’t slept since his patrol. He said goodbye to Sukhoi. But before leaving he suddenly turned to Artyom and whispered to him: ‘Come out for a minute.’

Artyom jumped up straightaway and followed him, not paying attention to the surprised look on his stepfather’s face. Hunter waited for him outside, silently buttoning up his raincoat and lifting the latch on the gate.

‘Shall we go through?’ he suggested and he quickly stepped forward onto the platform towards the guest tent where he was staying. Artyom hesitantly moved to follow him, trying to guess what this man wanted to discuss with him, a mere boy really, who had done nothing significant or even useful for anyone so far.

‘What do you think about the job that I do?’ Hunter asked.

‘It’s cool… I mean if it wasn’t for you… Well, and the others like you – if there are such people… Then we would have long ago…’ Artyom mumbled uncomfortably.

His tongue was twisted and he felt hot suddenly. As soon as someone like Hunter paid him attention and wanted to tell him something, even just asking him to come outside for a minute, to be alone, without his stepfather, he blushed like a virgin and started agonizing, bleating like a lamb…

‘You think highly of it? Well, then, if people think highly of it,’ Hunter grinned, ‘that means there’s no point in listening to the defeatists among us. Your stepfather is being a coward, that’s all. But he’s really a brave man. In any case, he was once. Something horrific is happening here Artyom. Something that can’t be allowed to continue. Your stepfather’s right: these aren’t just the goblins we’ve seen at dozens of other stations, these aren’t vandals, they’re not just degenerates. This is something new. Something meaner. There’s a chill in the air. There’s death in the air. I’ve only been here two days and I am already being penetrated by the fear here. And the more you know about them, the more you study them, the more you see them, the stronger the fear, as far as I understand. You, for example, have you seen them often?’

‘Only once so far. I’ve only just started on the northern patrol, though,’ Artyom confessed. ‘But if I’m honest, once was enough. I’ve been tortured by nightmares ever since. Like today for example. And it was a while ago that I saw them!’

‘Nightmares you say? You too?’ Hunter frowned. ‘Yes, it doesn’t look like a coincidence… And if I live here a bit longer, another couple of months, and go on patrols regularly, then it’s not out of the question that I’ll turn sour too… No, my lad. Your stepfather is mistaken. It isn’t him speaking. It’s not his thinking. It’s them thinking for him, and it’s them speaking for him. Give up, they say, resistance is futile. And he’s their mouthpiece. And he probably doesn’t even know it himself… And it’s right, I guess, that they tune in and impress themselves on the psyche. Fiends! Tell me, Artyom,’ Hunter turned to him straight on, and the boy understood: he was about to tell him something really important. ‘Do you have a secret? Something that you wouldn’t tell anyone on the station, but that you could tell a passer-by perhaps?’

‘Well…’ Artyom hesitated and for a perceptive person that would have been enough in order to understand that such a secret existed.

‘And I have a secret too. Why don’t we swap. I need to share this secret with someone but I want to be sure that they won’t blab. That’s why you give me yours – and don’t let it be any crap about a girl, but something serious, something that no one else should ever hear. And I’ll tell you something. This is important to me. Very important – you understand?’

Artyom wavered. Curiosity, of course, had got him, but he was frightened of telling his secret to a man who was not only interesting to talk to and who had seen many adventures but, by the looks of things, was also a cold-blooded murderer, who wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest to remove any obstacle in his path. And what if Artyom happened to have been an accessory to the incursion of the dark ones…

Hunter looked into his eyes reassuringly. ‘You have nothing to be afraid of in me. I guarantee inviolability!’ And he winked fraternally.

They had walked up to the guest tent that had been given to Hunter for the night but they remained outside. Artyom thought again for the last time and decided what to do. He took in some more air and then hurriedly, in one breath, laid out the whole story of the expedition to the Botanical Gardens. When he was finished, Hunter was silent for a time, digesting what he’d heard. Then, in a hoarse voice, he said, ‘Well, generally speaking, you and your friends should be killed for doing that, from a disciplinary point of view. However, I already guaranteed you inviolability. But that doesn’t extend to your friends…’

Artyom’s heart jumped, he felt his body freeze in fear and his legs falter. He wasn’t able to speak and so he waited in silence for the verdict.

‘But in light of your age and the general brainlessness of that event, and also the fact that it happened a while ago, you are pardoned. Go on.’ And so that Artyom could be brought out of his prostration sooner, Hunter winked again at him, this time even more reassuringly. ‘But know that you’d be shown no mercy by your fellow inhabitants at this station. So you have voluntarily given over to me a powerful weapon against you yourself. And now listen to my secret…’