"With respect sir, you always warned me against questions like that." Said Suslov with a small smile.
Durov returned it, "I'm glad you remember Sergei! But what did I tell you to ask instead?"
"What and how, sir."
"Exactly. Exactly!" said Durov, "So then… Comrade Basin, will you begin?"
Basin nodded and turned to Igor. "Comrade-Doctor Diakonoff," he pronounced, "Please will you answer some questions for me regarding the early years of the romans here?"
"I will certainly attempt to Comrade." Replied Igor, "But as you may know, records from that time are very confused."
Basin nodded, "I understand," he said, "firstly, is this map accurate?" and he turned his pad toward Igor, who examined it and nodded.
"Broadly." The archaeologist shrugged.
"Then my questions are ones of logistics. The ruins we passed yesterday are those of the first city they built no?" asked Basin.
"'Castrum' they called it, yes." Replied Igor, "It seemed to essentially be a continuation of the first camp they build one they got here, which is where the name comes from."
"And the manner of its destruction?"
"Fire, a great light in the sky, Vulcan's wrath… accounts vary, the city was destroyed after all. It could have been built on a fault line and an earthquake is responsible for all we know."
"Let us imagine it was Vulcan." Said Durov.
"As the Comrade-Colonel says," continued Basin, "which means, that if so, Vulcan's weapons cannot reach far past that city!"
"I don't understand." Said Igor, "How would-"
Durov shook his head, "We're getting ahead of ourselves. Igor, what's the rest of the early history, go over it again."
Igor shrugged. "Well there was a great exodus, all that they'd build in the century of peace had been lost, and everyone relocated to the current site of the city now. Various signs and portents were read to show that that was the right place to go."
"They could hardly go further…" chimed in Ivanovich, "When we went up all we saw was desert to the south and the marshes to the west."
"Yes I spoke to some of the Thracians, they sent expeditions across the large salt lake on the other side but found nothing." Said Igor.
"Konovalov, you'll see to getting us something with more range." Ordered Durov.
"Yes Colonel, I've already got it noted, though we'll need runways for anything bigger. The Kukuruzniks are good for the rough terrain but they haven't got the range." Replied Konovalov.