Post by LUDMILA ILYUKHIN on May 15, 2011 11:36:18 GMT 1
1961, Exact Date Unkown
Island of Nova Zemlya, Arctic Circle:
She had to do it. The fate of the Soviet Union, and maybe even the world depended on it. Ludmila took several deep breaths and reached for the gas mask she'd been given before leaving for the frozen reaches of Nova Zemlya. She was the only one left. The others were dead, all by their own hands. The thing outside had taken them all, using its heinous influence to crush their wills and drive them to suicide. By some incredible miracle of will and luck, Ludmila had resisted the thing's influence and had taken refuge several miles away, in the Tretiak Meteorological and Radio station. The place had been abandoned for several years, ever since the island had been designated as the USSR's testing ground for its nuclear weapons.
The thing itself was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was a huge entity, a heap of throbbing biomass over two miles wide and a mile high. The reports she had read before leaving for the island stated that a meteorite had come through the atmosphere and had crashed into Nova Zemlya. A team of scientists had been sent to retrieve the object, but none of them had ever come back. Two other teams had been sent, the last one being composed entirely of soldiers. Only two men from the last team had returned, their minds gone. All they had been able to talk about was the Thing and its Voice. The Committee had decided not to take any chances regarding the Thing. A team of highly trained agents had been assembled and sent. Their mission: to neutralise the Thing.
Unfortunately, the mission had gone horribly wrong. Ludmila and her team had tried placing explosives around the Thing, but It had retaliated before they could do anything. And now Ludmila was alone and hiding in an abandoned radio station. The temperature outside was several degrees below zero, but that didn't bother Ludmila. She couldn't feel cold. What terrified her was the Thing. For some unknown reason, It couldn't reach inside the building she was hiding in, but if she stepped outside she would hear Its voice again, and see Its treacherous visions.
But no, she had to do it. She had the team's radio with her, which was powerful enough to reach the nearest base on the mainland. From there, they could order a missile strike on the island and wipe the Thing from the planet before it grew stronger. If she failed, her country would suffer, the world would suffer because of her. She had to act. She put her gas mask on and screwed a new filter into it. Since the fifties, Nova Zemlya had been the theatre of several nuclear tests, and so certain areas were heavily irradiated. The air also probably contained radioactive particles, so Ludmila and her team had all been given gas masks with filters designed for filtering such dangerous particles.
With the heavy radio strapped onto her back, her gas mask in place and her will and mind set on the task at hand, Ludmila went to the door. She hesitated for a few minutes before finally forcing herself to push it open and step outside into the howling, glacial wind. It was very dark, but Ludmila could see a reddish glow on the horizon. The sun was rising, and dawn was near. She had to hurry lest the Thing took advantage of any momentary weakness she had. She took a few steps back and looked upwards at the tall metallic radio tower of Tretiak station. She'd have to climb to the top in order to get the signal over the island mountains, and judging from the state of the tower, it was highly unstable.
...come...come to us...
Ludmila froze. It was the Thing. It had sensed her presence and was now trying to pry into her mind. Gritting her teeth, she stepped determinedly forth, towards the base of the tower, towards possible victory over the evil that dwelt on this desolate Arctic island.
Surrender...a new world awaits you...
Ludmila grunted in effort. Her head was throbbing and her vision was getting blurry. She HAD to get to the top of the tower. She HAD to. She could not fail. Failure would be the bell toll for Mankind. She forced herself to reach for the frozen and slippery old metal ladder. One foot on the first rung, followed by the other on the second rung. Up we go. Can't stop now, must go on. She made her way up as fast as she could. Ten metres up, the ladder groaned and shuddered threateningly. Ludmila gasped, her breath whistling through the metal filter and the plexiglass lenses of her mask clouded by condensation. The ladder, however, did not collapse, and Ludmila continued her precarious ascension.
Stop...you cannot do this...we will not allow it...[/b]
Ludmila stopped and swayed slightly, almost slipping off. She regained her balance just in time and swore. The Thing was doing its utmost to stop her. It knew what she was planning, and It did not like it one bit. How could It comprehend such a thing as a radio? Nuclear warheads? Did the world It came from have those things? Or had it seen these things in the minds of those it had destroyed? Or maybe it was out of the human comprehension of what Knowledge was, and it understood and knew everything.
"Enough nonsense, Mila, we have to get up there", said the Rusalka to herself. Determinedly she continued, drawing ever closer to the summit of the radio tower. Suddenly, the ladder groaned and shuddered again.
"Please don't let go, not now", moaned Ludmila. She could feel the pull of gravity now, tugging at her body like a nasty beast.
And then there was another groan, followed by a loud crack. Ludmila saw the ladder's top half detach itself from the rest of it and swing off to the right. She felt the icy metal tremble as it gave way to gravity, dragging her down with it.
"NIET!", she yelled, feeling her stomach lurch. As the ladder toppled sideways, she threw herself off it, arms outstretched and desperately aiming for the upper half of the ladder. Only one hand grasped it, and she yelped as she felt her muscles and articulations get violently yanked by her body's mass. She heard the deafening crash below her as the ladder smashed into the ground, and, groaning between gritted teeth, she managed to grasp the upper half of the ladder with her other hand before dragging herself up.
Your companions...have joined us...they have become One...come to us...join us...[/b]
"Fuck off!", said Ludmila as she struggled up the slippery ladder. Her booted feet and gloved hands struggled to find purchase on the icy rungs, and her muscles were beginning to ache. She ignored the growing pain and continued until the ladder groaned again and gave way, more suddenly and violently than the first time. This time, instead of going sideways, the ladder simply fell downwards. Ludmila hurled herself off it and grabbed hold of the tower's old metallic frame. Again a resounding crash. As Ludmila tried to stand, she slipped and almost fell off while a violent gale of icy wind blew straight in her face.
"Now to get to the top..."
The climb was even more difficult now. However, Ludmila was closer to the summit now, and after much panting and climbing, she finally reached the small, circular platform that surrounded the top of the radio antennae. Panting and gasping for air, Ludmila unstrapped the radio from her back and set it down on the ground. As she reached for the headphones, there was a violent flash, and the world around her vanished. She blinked, and saw that the desolate iceland had been replaced by a peaceful orchard. Children's laughter could be heard in the distance.
As Ludmila looked around her in disbelief, she noticed a thin, dark stranger nearby. Before she could say anything, however, the stranger spoke in an oddly deep voice.
"Welcome to Eden, Ludmila Ilyukhin."
"-Eden?", said Ludmila.
"-Yes. This is the world that has yet to come. It is the world that We wish to build in this world. All pain and sadness will be gone, and your woes will be at an end, Ludmila Ilyukhin. Join us, help us bring this new world about."
"-You're lying...", said Ludmila, backing off.
"-But why would I lie to you, Mila?", said the entity in a voice that could only be Antonov's.
"-Get away from me! I will not listen to you, I-"
YOU LEAVE US NO CHOICE, MILA, roared a voice in Ludmila's mind. The entity before her extended a long, wispy and dark arm, and she found herself dragged brutally forward. Almost at once, like a sleeper awakening from a nightmare, Ludmila found herself back in the normal world, right at the edge of the tower's top platform. She hung precariously over the void for a few minutes, struggling to keep her balance, before falling backwards and landing heavily on her backside.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck", she swore as she crawled towards the radio. She put the headphones on and immediately contacted the closest base. "This is Agent Niva on Nova Zemlya! The mission is a failure! Requesting an immediate missile strike, over!"
"-Ural here, a missile strike? Over."
"-Yes, Ural! Requesting a missile strike on Nova Zemlya, code 1-8-2-7-4 at the following coordinates..."
Ludmila groaned after she finished giving the radio operator the target's coordinates. Her head felt like it was about to explode. She heard her interlocutor talk to her, but didn't make out what he said.
"...I beg you. It is a matter of life and death!", she said desperately, forgetting radio protocol.
"-Very well, Niva, contacting Moscow, over and out."
Now all Ludmila could do was wait and hold on. All was now in the hands of generals who hopefully trusted the Committee enough to take action. Ludmila put her back against the old radio antennae and massaged her temples. Her head was throbbing horribly, almost as if her brain had swelled to four times its normal size.
Why do this to us...why...[/i]
Ludmila shook her head. If she had known how to pray, she would have been praying furiously for the missile strike to come soon. Suddenly, she felt the urge to just give up. She could just stand up and walk over to the edge of the platform before letting herself drop down to Terra Firma. The end would be swift, and her liberation almost instant. She would fly free of her body's shackles and go to join the wondrous being who had deigned come to Earth on such a noble mission. Paradise was at hand, so close...so close...
Ludmila shook her head again and blinked. She'd gotten up and was only a few centimetres away from the edge. She hastily got away from the platform's edge and returned to the antennae. Another powerful gust of wind buffeted her body, almost pushing her back, and for a moment it seemed like the elements were also controlled by the Thing. Ludmila became desperate. She knew she couldn't hold much longer. Descending the tower and regaining the station was nigh impossible now since the ladder was gone. Descending would take too long, long enough for the Thing to finish her off. All she could do was stay here, but how could she resist the Thing's hateful influence?
Ludmila suddenly reached for her knife, pulling it out of its sheathe and bringing it to bear. The steel was cold and sharp as she applied the blade to the back of her arm. She bit her lip and moaned in pain as she cut her own flesh. Instantly, the throbbing in her mind seemed more bearable, the physical pain pushing the Thing's whispers away. After cutting herself once, she cut herself twice, and then three times. Blood trickles down her arm, and tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't cry out. The pain seemed marvellous, a solid anchor to what was good and real, almost pleasurable in comparison to the Thing's lies.
And then it came. Ludmila looked up, and through the foggy lenses of the gas mask saw a luminous streak shoot through the cloudy sky. She had time to put her arm in front of her eyes before the warhead erupted in a blinding flash of light several miles away. A few minutes after the thing struck, the tower shook violently from the blast, and Ludmila's teeth chattered against each other. She allowed herself to look and saw a single mushroom cloud in the distance, but she was genuinely surprised when a second streak slashed through the sky, and a second nuclear blast followed. Ludmila feared for the tower's integrity, but the old steel structure held despite the second blast wave that shook it like a piece of straw.
And then Ludmila felt it. A horrendous scream that ripped through her mind, setting her brain on fire and bathing her very soul in agony. And then, nothing. The Thing was dead.
"Niva, this is Ural, come in, Niva", said the radio. Ludmila reached for the headset and spoke sluggishly.
"-Niva here", she said, her voice hoarse.
"-Two nuclear warheads launched at target, what are your observations? Over."
"-Target was obliterated. Over."
"-Excellent. We'll send a rescue team to pick you up. Where are you? Over."
"-Tretiak station, on top of the radio tower...I...I think I'll stay there and wait for you...Over."
Ludmila put the headset down and looked to the East, away from the ugly afterglow of the two explosions, towards the dawn. The sun was rising, a big orange orb on the horizon, illuminating the clouds above it and giving them an orange red glow. As the wind blew, Ludmila watched the sun rise. Had she saved the world? Maybe. What she had done here was no small deed. Evidently, the government would never let any of this leak out and everything would be covered up. If someone found out about the missiles, the government would simply say it was a nuclear test. And so, Ludmila's deeds would go unsung, and probably unremembered save for the a file stored away somewhere in an archive under the Kremlin.
However, Ludmila couldn't care less. She was alive. She felt life flow through her body, through her veins and arteries. She felt free, so wonderfully free and confident. Life, her existence seemed to stretch before her like an endless tunnel.
And who knew? Maybe there was a light at the end of it.
