Dmitry Glukhovsky [Metro 2033 Metro 2034 (epub)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.And they also made it impossible to blow up the superfluous, unused side tunnels, from out of which hordes of nightmare creatures advanced on Sebastopol Station like an endless millipede creeping into a meat grinder.The inhabitants of the station, the crew of this ghostly frigate hurtling through the nether regions of the Underworld, were doomed eternally to seek out and patch over new breaches in the hull of their vessel.It had begun springing leaks long ago, but there was no safe haven where it could rest in peace from its labours.And at the same time they had to repel attempt after attempt to board their vessel by monsters from the Chertanovo and Nakhimov Prospect stations, creeping out of ventilation shafts, percolating through drains with rapid streams of turbid water, erupting out of the southern tunnels.The whole world seemed to have ganged up against the Sebastopolites in a bitter determination to wipe their home off the map of the Metro.And yet they clung to their station obdurately, as if it were all that remained of the universe.But no matter how skilful the engineers of Sebastopol Station were, no matter how experienced and pitiless the soldiers trained there might be, they could not effectively defend their home without ammunition, without bulbs for the floodlights, without antibiotics and bandages.Yes, the station generated electric power, and Hansa was willing to pay a good price for it, but the Circle had other suppliers too, and resources of its own, whereas the Sebastopolites could hardly have held out a month without a flow of supplies from the outside.And the most frightening prospect of all was to be left without ammunition.Heavily guarded convoys set out to Serpukhov Station every week to purchase everything that was needed, using the credit arranged with Hansa merchants, and then, without delaying a single hour more than necessary, they set off back home again.And as long as the World kept on turning and the underground rivers flowed and the vaults erected by the Metro’s builders held up, the order of things was expected to continue unchanged.But the latest convoy had been delayed – delayed beyond any reasonable limit, long enough for the realisation to dawn that this time something terrible and unforeseen had happened, something against which not even heavily-armed, battle-hardened guards and a relationship built up over the years with the leadership of Hansa had been able to protect it.And all this would not have been so bad, if only the lines of communication were functioning.But something had happened to the telephone line that led to the Circle.Contact had been broken off on Monday, and the team sent out to search for the break had drawn a blank.The lamp with the broad green shade hung down low over the round table, illuminating yellowed pieces of paper with graphs and diagrams drawn in pencil.The little bulb was weak, only forty watts, not because of any need to save electric power, but because the occupant of the office was not fond of bright light.The ashtray, overflowing with stubs from the atrocious local hand-rolled cigarettes, exuded an acrid, bluish smoke that gathered in viscous clouds, stirring lazily under the ceiling.The station commandant rubbed his forehead, then jerked his hand away and glanced at the dial of the clock with his only eye, for the fifth time in the last half-hour.He cracked his finger joints and rose ponderously to his feet.‘We have to decide.No point in putting it off any longer.’The robust-looking old man sitting opposite him in a military camouflage jacket and threadbare sky-blue beret, opened his mouth to speak, but instantly started coughing.He drove away the smoke with a sharp flap of his hand, frowned in annoyance and replied:‘Then let me tell you again, Vladimir Ivanovich: we can’t take anyone off the south side.The guard posts are already struggling to hold out under this kind of pressure.In the last week alone they’ve had three men wounded, one critically – and that’s despite the reinforcements.I won’t let you weaken the south side.And apart from that, they need two teams of three scouts to patrol the shafts and connecting tunnels.And as for the north, apart from the soldiers from the reception team, we don’t have any men to spare, I’m sorry.You’ll have to find them somewhere else.’‘You’re the commanding officer of the perimeter, you find them,’ snapped the station commandant.‘And I’ll handle my own business.But the team has to set out in one hour.What you need to grasp is that we’re thinking in different categories here.We have to look beyond solving the immediate problems! What if it’s something really serious out there?’‘I think you’re getting ahead of yourself, Vladimir Ivanovich.We’ve got two unopened crates of 5.45 calibre in the arsenal, that’s enough for a week and a half, for certain.And I’ve got more lying around under my pillow at home.’ The old man laughed, baring his strong, yellow teeth.‘I can scrape together a crate, for sure.The problem’s not the ammunition, it’s the men.’‘I’ll tell you what the problem is.We’ve got two weeks to get our supplies in order before we have to close the hermetic doors in the southern tunnels, because we won’t be able to hold them without ammunition.That means we won’t be able to inspect and repair two-thirds of our mills.A week after that they’ll start breaking down.Nobody will be happy about disruptions in the power supply to Hansa.If we’re lucky, they’ll just start looking for other suppliers.And if we’re not [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne