"And..." Polyakov punched in the commands on the keyboard. Behind him his commander and his comrades looked on expectantly. "Done."

"It works?"

"That's the miracle of passwords, sir."

Bondarenko smiled at the snark. "If only our job were as simple as typing some stuff on a computer. You look that up, on the double."

"Already on it, sir."

"Altunin and Volkov, set up the surveillance gear on the roof. Arkhimov, get our communications unit up and working."

"Yes sir."

The soldiers scattered to carry on their orders. Guide, behind the SBU commander at his behest, looked at them go. "Anything wrong, stalker?"

The gnarled veteran shuffled about, mildly discomforted. "The army has been one of my enemies ever since I first set foot here."

Bondarenko watched Polyakov as he investigated the scientists' computers. "Things change."

Guide had learned to live with that truth. "You wanted to talk to me, officer. What is it about?"

"I hear you were the first man to ever trespass here."

The choice of words did not escape the stalker. "There is some truth to that."

"That was about when?"

The veteran closed his eyes. "May 3, 1987."

Bondarenko blinked, perplexed, when his mind computed the date. "That is one day after the Zone was established."

"This land and I go back a long time." Behind that apparently obvious statement the soldier could sense the shadow of an ancient loss and a dogged reluctance to answer anything further on the subject. A date remembered so clearly can only mean either he lived here or a relative of his did.

"You surely know it like no one else then."

A frown. "I am loath to give myself that much credit, but I know it well, yes."

"That would include Pripyat itself?"

Guide stared at him in the eye. "If you are asking whether I could guide you through the city, the answer is no. The Monolith have fortified the town. Barricaded streets, sniper nests, minefields. The place is wickedly dangerous."

"But there is a way there."

"Not without being detected by the Monolith." The old veteran sighed. "Since you appear determined to go there, I will tell you how our last expedition fared. There were five of us... Doc, Ghost, Fang, Strelok and myself. The going alone almost killed us. What you experienced back at that lab-" Guide gestured vaguely in the way of the Yantar complex "-is a low-powered version of what is active beyond the warehouses. And there is not just that emitter to worry about, there are several, all encircling Chernobyl. We made it through almost blindly, skirting the edges of the fields and braving the areas where they overlapped.

"And once we were beyond, there was no respite. The Monolith knew we were around and harassed us all the way to Pripyat. We did make it to Chernobyl and inside the plant itself... but we could not go deep, the fanatics fought us for every step and we had to turn back. We lost Fang to a sniper on Pripyat. Your hired guide, that Boris youth, wears his exoskeleton." Does he? If he time-shifted back... "Strelok... was also lost to us there. We thought he had been killed, but your stalkers told us of what happened to him."

They did speak about a stalker who knew of a way through that had died there at the Duty headquarters... They had no helmets like the ones Sakharov was developing, though. His face betrayed nothing. "I will consider what you say," he replied neutrally.

Guide shrugged tiredly. "It is your funeral, soldier."

Bondarenko let him go back to their sleeping quarters without another word.

The morning would bring a shocking surprise: the moment Altunin and Volkov were done setting up the surveillance equipment and turning it on, the first feeds revealed that they had been working in full view of a controller staring at them. The mutant, some fifty-odd meters away from the fence surrounding the bunker, had remained completely passive, even if fully aware of the soldiers atop the metal building.

"Which one is that?" Polyakov asked Chasme, who was awake by now. The stalker had had a miserable night, plagued with nightmares he could not remember but that had drained him. He squinted at the screen:

"The... brain-messing one. I'm not sure... but I'd say... this is the same one we came across with your commander on our way back from the lab."

The elderly stalker mused, "This is very strange... I never heard of one of these not attacking on sight."

But you did meet one, Guide. Or, at least, your other self did. Chasme had recalled the encounter at the Dark Valley. "If this one is actually the same one... Hunter had said we let it be. It did nothing, not even projecting that miasma they usually do."

"Bondarenko mentioned it."

"I'm surprised that we did not see it..." Volkov, the gunner, shook his head. "It's impossible that we did not see it. We took turns to keep watch."

Boris stared at the controller on the screen. The mutant was looking their way... is it looking straight at the camera? "Where's Alexei?"

"Asleep," the SBU commander answered. He did not add that he had been keeping him under watch.

Acting on a hunch, he returned to the dormitory. The white-haired doctor, the mechanic and the one-eyed stalker slept. Nikolay and Svetlana were reading on their tablet computers and raised their eyes when he walked in: "'Morning, Boris," Screws greeted him. "You okay?"

"I've had better mornings." His eyes found Farsight. The young... telepath -he was certain he could call him that now- was still asleep. He shook him gently: "Alexei, wake up. I need you to see something."

Not even an ill-humored groan. Again he tried, more forcefully: "Hey, wake up!"

This time Alexei opened his eyes. They were glazed, as he had seen them on many a zombie corpse they had run across. Chasme felt ice in his marrow. "Kolya, find Bondarenko, Guide and Hunter and bring them here. Now."

Screws bolted out of the room. Sataida leaned in closer: "What is wrong with... omigod!"

"Fighting that thing inside the lab cost him dearly, apparently."

Nikolay came back. Bondarenko said, "What happened?"

"Look at him."

It took Hunter but a glance. "He is burned out." He turned to Chasme. "What is it that you want from him?"

Boris flushed. "A controller we met at the Dark Valley was responsible for jolting us back in time." He related to them everything that he remembered from that encounter and the events leading to it -haven't I already told them some of this?, he wondered, unable to remember it-, including having met Bondarenko back then. It spoke volumes of how quickly the soldier's mindset was adapting to the reality of the Zone to see how he merely nodded at the story, instead of gasping in disbelief. "Farsight had once said the next time we came upon a controller or a burer, he would deal with it. And... I don't know why. I've got this hunch. What if this controller is somehow related to the one we met in, er, that alternate timeline?"

Actually it was Guide the one who found it the hardest to come to terms with the tale. "I would not approach a controller for all the artifacts in the world... and yet you say..."

Screws raised an eyebrow. "And this relates to him how?"

"Bear with me, this is weird as fuck. I've told you before this kid is, or at least we believe he is, connected to some kind of disembodied giant mutant mind. You should have seen him sitting cross-legged on the floor right in front of a controller just like this one. What if that big-head out there is part of that, er, gestalt-ish thing?" Despondently he glanced again at Alexei's blank expression. "But it's kind of pointless now... I should have figured holding off that... thing... on his own was going to take its toll." But who could gauge his strength... he's not human anymore, nobody really knows what he can do or endure.

Hunter raised his head abruptly, as if he had heard a voice calling at him. "Unless exposing him to this controller could help him somehow."

Boris exhaled strongly. "Normally I'd put as much distance between myself and a controller as possible..." Not to mention a bullet between its eyes, but how to know if it's enthralled by C-Consciousness, a member of the gestalt, or neither? His intuition told him the silent stalker was right... he closed his eyes and committed himself: "I can take him outside to meet this head, if you think that could work."

Bondarenko, Guide and Screws exchanged glances, but before they could decide anything Arkhimov's head appeared through the hatch. "I apologize for interrupting, sir, but we have contact with HQ."

"Alright..." Bondarenko turned to the stalkers. "You have my... permission... " -the soldier uttered the word very carefully- "...to do whatever you deem necessary, as long as it does not endanger us or this facility, to deal with this... situation." Losing this kid now would be a catastrophe. The stalkers replied with nods and he left to make his report.

"How do you want to do this?" Guide asked.

"I'm going to need as many Controller Scalps as I can pack combined with stuff to take the bite off them." He reached for the helmet and put it on.

"We could keep you covered..." Screws ventured hesitatingly.

Boris shook his head. "I don't want to provoke it. Even if I'm wrong it's not going to kill me outright." If the emitter didn't, I don't think it can.

Farsight was quite light, or at least he seemed to be. Chasme was perplexed to find himself thinking that he needed to exercise without the armor to remain in shape... How can I find time to think about that in a moment like this?

Only Volkov and Altunin were on the workshop next to their dormitory. They had watched their superior officer go in, heard them talk, then go back out, and now the stalkers coming out. "What's happened to him?" the gunner asked.

"A fraction of what could have happened to you in there."

The hatch door closed behind him and he stood outside the bunker. The mutant raised its head almost imperceptibly, its beady black eyes scrutinizing him. Chasme felt its alien will reach at him and was suddenly filled with foreboding, certain that he had been again manipulated by Farsight in his uncanny way, but the creature was not attacking. He endured the relentless probing trying his best not to flinch.

Then the controller raised a hand, slowly clenching its fingers into a fist save for an extended index finger, and pointed to the north. That simple gesture dispelled some of its wrongness, reminding Chasme that it had once been human.

And then he heard the voice in his head, reminding him of another voice he had heard before being time-shifted: You... intend to go there, yes?

Boris did not know whether the creature could read his thoughts as Farsight did, so he ventured cautiously: Why do you want to know?

The mutant blinked slowly. For some reason that helped Boris feel more at ease. There is... one among you. That who brought the Zone into being wants him.

Chasme's mind went over everyone. The soldiers? Would they know something C-Consciousness wanted? Nikolay? Sataida? What could it possibly want from them? Guide? The Doctor? Pilgrim? Lukash...?

Hunter, he realized. It's him, right?

Along with the youth you carry, the answer came.

The situation was eerily familiar. You know the controller... from the Valley?

We all are... linked. Even... if not all of us know. Shackled as we are... free will is very stressful.

Boris dreaded to ask the question, but he had to. What does C-Consciousness want from Hunter?

The creature slowly shook its bulbous head from side to side. That I should not tell. You... need knowing he must not fall into its hands.

And Alexei? Alexei too?

He is not as important... though it would be good to... keep him away from it. Another blink. They... are waiting for you.

They? The Monolith?

A slow nod. Its thralls... await. They know of your going.

Then the best would be not to go at all... Boris' mind raced. He quickly discarded that idea: if they did not go, the Monolith would hunt them down. Could they go even outside the Zone for them? How far did the influence of C-Consciousness stretch? Besides, he had to go. I must go if there is a way back for me.

This time the answer he expected did not come. As it is now... the longer it endures... the bigger the Zone grows.

Boris wished he could think privately for a few minutes to decide on a course of action. We should find a safe way if we have to go at all.

There is no safe route, the negative came. If... it feels safe... the enemy is luring you in. Deeper in... fewer of us unbound you will find.

I will need to tell, er, free from controlled.

You will know. The creature turned left. Southwards. Your friend... he will recover. Wait for him.

Then the controller started limping away with its painstaking gait. Boris watched it go for a brief while, still holding Alexei in his arms, then slowly turned on his heel and walked into the bunker. Guide, Hunter and Pilgrim waited out of the decontamination chamber: "What's it?" the elderly stalker asked.

Chasme shook his head slowly and took Farsight back inside. Only when he had laid him again on his sleeping bag he turned to Guide. "Not here." He went back into the workshop at the time Bondarenko walked in through the opposite doorway. He looked dour and troubled.

"What happened?" the soldier demanded.

"The controller... it talked to me," he answered slowly.

"We guessed as much. It was bobbing its head and making gestures but saying no words. What did it say?"

Can I trust it? Boris pondered in anguish. How much of that is brainwashing or lies? He avoided Hunter's eyes for a while, hesitating, then looked straight at him. "Hunter, the controller said C-Consciousness wants you. Specifically."

The silent stalker was not surprised. He nodded. "It would." Bondarenko, Chasme noted, also nodded, not asking any questions.

"Why?" The Doctor asked in puzzlement. "What could it want with him?" The other soldiers were similarly intrigued.

It said, 'that I should not tell.' Do I oblige? "The mutant said... he... it... it should not tell that." As he expected, that response elicited intrigued looks. "And yet I think it's okay. We only need to know neither he nor Farsight should fall into Monolith hands."

The firmness of that statement did not dispel the doubting looks, though Guide agreed with a dry gesture. "Trying to elucidate that would be a waste of valuable time. What do we do?"

"If the Monolith has as great manpower as we believe it to have," Screws cut in, "we can't simply go to the Brain Scorcher."

"Neither can we wait for them here," Pilgrim retorted. "This place won't withstand a concerted assault."

"We could extract them," Polyakov ventured, his eyes still on the tall, silent stalker.

Hunter shook his head. "They will follow."

"Even outside the Zone?"

The silent stalker nodded. "They will."

Something in Hunter's voice told Sataida this was a familiar situation for him. "You've had to deal with being chased before, I take."

Unexpectedly the tall man half-smiled at her. "You could say that."

"But, sir... maybe we aren't supposed to know, but do you know if they have assets outside the Zone?" Arkhimov asked Bondarenko. The SBU commander shook his head.

"Trust me when I tell you that I know nothing of that. But I wouldn't put it past them. The Zone generates fabulous wealth."

"And they have some of the best artifact hunting grounds," Guide commented. "Though because of recent events, that may not be a factor anymore."

"Not for now, anyway, I've never seen such a, uh, 'bloom', so to speak," Max cut in.

"And we don't know how long it will last," the Doctor added. "Though that's irrelevant. We need to know what to do. We can't go north, we can't stay, and even if we leave the damn maniacs will follow us out. Is that it?"

"You've painted quite an accurate picture, I must say," Boris agreed. "In any case, we should not go anywhere until Farsight recovers. The Monolith expects us to go into their territory and their men are prepared. If we are to have a chance at all of sneaking past them and making it to the epicenter we need him."

"And we have to decide who would go," Polyakov added. "There are not enough helmets to go around."

That caused Max to snort. "You need not worrying for me."

"Not for us Freedomers, I must say," Pilgrim stated, "Though if needs to be..."

"Your goodwill is noted, stalker," the SBU commander said neutrally. "How may helmets do we have?"

"Eight, counting Chasme's own."

Bondarenko counted. Morozov, Pugachev, this Farsight kid, four more, and myself. "We'll figure that out later. We have work to do first. Corporal," he told Chasme, "get to work with Volkov and the, er, Freedom mechanic in preparing these contraptions. Pugachev, I need a word with you." Hunter followed the SBU commander to the small dormitory near the entrance. The soldier closed the door behind him.

"It's a rather unfortunate coincidence that I learn of all this when I receive orders from HQ to look for a man with your alias and matching your description too closely to be a coincidence."

Hunter was unfazed. "Notifying me of this is not an efficient way to fulfill that assignment."

Bondarenko chortled. "I had thought humor was beyond you." A deep breath, then he straightened up. "Have you done something that merits a criminal warrant?"

"Many things. But no evil deeds."

"You're not making it any easier."

"Almost everyone on the receiving end deserved it. Whatever crimes I committed, they happened hundreds of years ago."

How do you exact justice on a man that ignores age? In the short time he had known the immortal, he had been respectful and attentive, if also unnaturally cool and subdued in character. "I can't believe you. And I want to."

"I understand that. I would not be able to either. I'll say this much... The more years go by, the less eager you are to take a life." Hunter sighed, a rare gesture on his part. "I've grown to act on instinct, not on thought. Thinking evokes memories best left undisturbed. Have you ever heard that old people has to contend with consciences that rarely trouble the young?"

It was as if a puzzle piece had neatly fallen into place. "That explains much."

"Even if the worth of a life grows less and less important with every year that passes." The immortal closed his eyes for an instant. Again Bondarenko had a glimpse of just how unbelievably jaded and tired the man was. "I suppose your men know nothing of this new 'assignment.'"

"No, only I know for the time being," the soldier confirmed. He wondered why his superiors had not seized him when they had come to pick up the other Boris Morozov, the scarred stalker-soldier his fellows had dubbed Oracle. Probably they didn't know who he was?

Unless... The thought exploded in his head. He asked Hunter: "How many other people know of your... condition? In detail?"

A shrug. "My legend has trickled down through the ages. Some have managed to piece together enough to come after me. But now... last time I was in China I had to lay low to throw the Triads off my trail. There was a bounty on me. And I did nothing to warrant it. Not recently," he quickly corrected himself. He looked piercingly at the soldier and slightly tilted his head sideways. "You ponder whether your superiors have been bought off, correct?" A troubled silence answered him, which he replied to with a nod.

"There was no mention of you until now. Until after our underground raid."

"You believe the Monolith is responsible."

The soldier nodded in turn, disquiet gripping him. "Too much of a coincidence," he repeated. "You can't stay here. And you can't go out there on your own. And now I can't demand my men to follow me without telling them what's at stake." They looked at each other.

"So, we wait for Farsight to recover," Hunter said flatly. "Then we go to Chernobyl."

A nod. "I supposed you would say that." He raised his eyes. "We should prepare for an attack in any case."

"A healthy precaution, but I doubt any will come." Hunter frowned. "The intelligence behind all of this knows I can't allow my secret to spread. It knows we're coming."

Bondarenko held back a sigh. "Then I'll have to enlist Guide."

Author's note: Many thanks to Marinesnper for helping me overcome my creative deadend.