Chapter 52

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AN: And I am back. An on we go.

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The whole group looked on. Rustim and Pyotr Kozlov; Igor the argali and the saiga antelope and bactrian camel he'd walked in with; Androvna the tiger with the smirk on her face as she looked on at Nikolai the white horse, still not sure what was so funny; Alex the brown horse, Yuri the musk-ox and Simeon the long tailed goral with smirks the their faces… And Zinadia, the object of their attention, on the floor practically screaming with laughter, the reindeer almost struggling to breathe.

There was a slight snort and laugh from Rustim. "Okay," he smiled, looking between her, Nikolai and the Saiga antelope. "That one really is..." He began laughing too.

The antelope turned his eyes to Nikolai. "Are you trying to do the counterrevolutionaries work for them?" he asked, all as Pyotr, who'd stayed silent and watched the adults talking like a good big bear, walked up to the new mammals and introduced himself.

"I am Pyotr Kozlov, Rustim's little big brother. Mama is in a chicken queue. You are all very sensible mammals. That is the truth-truth."

A new round of laughs came out, the white tigress walking across as she wiped her tears. "Let me just save Zinadia from killing herself," she said, pausing as she helped the hysterical reindeer back up. "Or rather stop you bears from killing her." She smiled, looking over to Nikolai. Igor had taken away the chewed up whale meat and thrown it into the nearest bin, leaving the white horse to look over at her in return. "Eh," she smiled. "Seems our genetic abilities are still working strong," she said, smiling.

If anything, the white horse looked slightly appalled. "You can't joke about genetics. Don't you know how destructive that capitalist pseudoscience is?"

The tigress just mimed a few words, Nikolai's tail flicking as the Saiga antelope walked to his side. "I mean, he has a point," he said, looking back to her. "Hidden traits lying dormant and coming out? Explaining sudden boosts in talent, experience, justifying superiority?"

"It is very troublesome," Rustim said, as the tigress glanced at him.

"Is that a truth or a truth-truth?"

"Truth I guess. I don't know biology stuff."

Simeon shook his head. "There's an understatement."

"Either way," Nikolai said. "Leapardenko rightly denounced that backward mysticism and the counterrevolutionaries who try to promote it to bring our farms down." He stomped a hoof. "Just like the workers of the world will grow stronger from their work and rise up over the generations in the great class struggle, plants growing across our great land will grow stronger against the environment and pass that strength to their descendents."

The antelope nodded. "By abandoning that capitalist geneticist nonsense, within our lives we could see formerly tropical plants growing in great plantations outside of our city. Bountiful food greater than we could ever hope for. And…"

"-And my white coat is white as my two red and black parents really strove to be like you, Nicky," Androvna said, gesturing down at her fur. "Makes me wonder how vivid red my future kittens will be."

The white horse gave a snort, crossing his paws. "How dare you."

"-And this is why we don't talk politics," Igor said, the argali cutting them all off. "Okay, all bets are now null and void. Though, Nikolai Valentinovich, Androvna here gets moral victory if your stomach gets clogged up and vice versa, okay?"

There were a round of sighs and nods. Finally, the argali turned, eyes fixing for the first proper time on the smallest member of the group. "And who are you?"

"Pyotr Kozlov!"

Igor snorted before freezing, looking up at Rustim. "The shops didn't get a load of toilet paper did they?"

He shook his head, about to speak.

"-Soap?"

"Chicken. And chicken derivatives."

Pausing, the argali shrugged and moved over to a worktable, the camel following behind him. "I suppose we can have the little one helping out a smidge. Yuri Dvugorbyy here has something very special."

The brown horse threw his paws up. "I thought we could just relax here. Hammer out a few things with the hike and…"

"No, this will be fun Alex, trust me," the camel said, hopping slightly as he went over to a worktable, excitedly dropping down a wooden apple crate. The crowd gathered around it, Rustim picking up Pyotr and placing him on the table so they could have a look.

He peaked over, watching as a hoof gestured over a bunch of items. All as the camel let out a breath in excitement. "As I am sure you all know, our home, our city, played a great and important part in finishing our workers revolution against the tyrants that came before."

Pyotr blinked before jumping up. "We killed the Tsar and his evil family! Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!"

"Yes," the camel said, smiling. "And while the main family was killed, all the gems they had on them taken away and all that, a bunch of relatives were also executed for their crimes. Thrown down a mineshaft, a few grenades and some burning bushes. Serves them right. BUT, a bunch of the whites found them and took their remains to Beijing of all places, thinking they'd be safe from the workers."

Nikolai laughed, the white horse braying.

"Either way," the camel said, smiling on. "I met a few mammals who met a few mammals. They explored that mineshaft and collected a few things that were left over. They might just be old junk or rubbish, but who knows. Something valuable might still be there."

"So," Igor said smiling, the argali beginning to empty the crate out. "I thought that we could have a little fun practising with our knowledge or equipment. See if one of these burnt up things is old gold or something!"

They looked at each other and nodded in approval, eagerly getting to work. Pyotr meanwhile looked on, not sure what to do. And as he looked at the bits of bent or broken metal, his eyes lingered on a small coppery pendant. "-Hey, little one," the muskox, Yuri, said, catching his attention. "Let me show you how to measure its volume with water."

"Huh?"

He leant in. "We work out how big it is, measure how heavy it weighs. We work out its density and if that matches with the density of gold, which is…" He raised his voice at the end, pointing at Rustim.

"-Nineteen point three two grams per centimetre cubed," he answered back immediately.

There was a smile from Zinadia. "Your brother is basically a walking science textbook Pyotr. Very useful. It's why we keep him around."

"Da," the older bear said, standing up and smiling. "I am useful like that."

The reindeer began walking off only to pause, turning back to him. "And we quite like him too."

The bear relaxed a bit. "And I like you guys too."

"Uh-hu," she said, as the musk ox began to take Pyotr over. "Oh, Rustim. Pi?"

"I… Oh. -Three point one four one five nine two six five three five nine…" On he carried as the mammals got to work.

The musk ox filled a large beaker with water, all while Pyotr happily carried along a second, smaller, empty one. Then, bringing out a measuring jug, the black and white tiger helped them on. The little polar bear cub watched as, taking turns, they dropped items in the water. With each one, a certain amount of water would flow out of the spout and into the marked measuring jug.

The musk ox would read the measure on the side off.

Simeon, the long tailed goral, would note it down in a sketchbook, all while Pyotr would empty the water from the measuring jug into the empty container he'd brought. They'd then place the jug underneath the spout, add in the next item, then carry on.

A few items in, Nikolai tilted some more water out of the beaker and into the jug, letting the little polar bear cub then lean in and pull out the items, handing them over to Zinadia. The reindeer then went and started measuring their weights, calling them out for Simeon to note down again. The beaker was then refilled and the process repeated for the next set.

Slowly but surely they worked through the trinkets, measuring the volume and the mass, going through it all and joking as they went. Pyotr had fun at first, but was getting a little bored as time ticked on. Still, it was much better than waiting in a shop line, and the little bear happily began placing in the last set of items. A bent bit of metal went in, it was measured off. Something that looked like a nail went in. Androvna said that silver nails were all the rage amongst the Tsars… Which the laughter from the others quickly told the cub was a joke (though when Nikolai said that they might well try and smuggle out metals in things like this, the bear realised that would be one of the really clever evil things they might think up to steal from mammals like them). And then, picking up the small coppery pendant, Pyotr paused. For a moment, a brief moment, something felt… Magical about it. But not really in a fun magical way. Like a spooky Ratsputin or Baba Yaka way.

The cub paused, only for a quick word of encouragement to have him drop it in regardless. It was just a silly thought after all.

So in it went, an amount of water was displaced out and measured, they then emptied the bucket and Rustim gathered the items for Zinadia to weigh up. And, with that, the bear wandered over to Simeon and his notebook, the brown horse coming up next to him and the goral too. Each item was given a name, and had the amount of space it took up and the amount it weighed written out. The goat-like mammal quickly began writing out complex long division methods, as he explained it, working out how much they'd all weigh if they were the same size. As he noted it out, doing lots of small sums to break it down, the brown horse quickly did them, almost instantly.

"Your brother may be a textbook," the argali said, "but Alex here is a calculator."

"Which is why I get dragged around to things I don't want to," he huffed, pausing to give Simeon a new figure, finishing off one set of calculations. "Because these mammals are too lazy to do math."

"No, it's because you're so lazy we had to drag you into the Young Pioneer meetings for your own good," Nikolai snarked, the others nodding in agreement.

"Hey, I'm going on all these hikes just like you do," Alex said. "Because I enjoy them. I'm not lazy. I just don't like doing things I don't like doing."

"Ah, but you enjoy this," Androvna snarked, putting a clawed finger on his shoulder and rapping it a little.

"No, somehow I'm very good at it. There's a very big difference there," he huffed, breaking out to do another quick set of sums. All as Rustim walked over, looking through the end results. "Iron," he said, pointing at one. "Iron. Iron. Steel. Tin. I think bronze, but could be a different alloy." They quickly went through the items, ticking most of them off as normal metals that they'd just drop off at a scrap heap. There was one though that gave them pause.

"This is strangely dense," Igor mused, the argali holding up the coppery pendant that Pyotr had dropped in.

Simeon nodded. "Almost as dense as lead."

"N-no," Rustim said, cutting him off. The bear shook his head. "Lead has a density of eleven point two nine grams per centimeter cubed. Far, far below that. That is almost twice as dense, that…"

There was a grinding shriek as a chair was pushed back across the concrete floor, Rustim shuddering down and grimacing, paws covering his ears. Over walked Yuri the camel, laughing a little. "Haha! We were right!" he said, picking the small pendant up and tossing it around in his hoof. "How do those greedy Americans say it. We stu-ruck Gu-old!"

The group's eyes lit up and they raced around it, poking and laughing, cheering at their discovery. Pyotr began bouncing too, only for a gruff call from his brother to make him pause. "Is not gold…"

They kept on jumping and laughing.

"IS NOT GOLD!" he yelled, voice strained as he pulled the others away from their reverie. They looked at him, mouth strained and frustrated, eyes closed and starting to water. "Why did you interrupt me? I was gonna say…"

Igor slipped to the front of the group, gesturing them back. "Hey, Rustim?"

"-I was going to tell you…"

"It's okay friend," he said, holding a paw of the frustrated bear and tapping the top of it.

He paused a little, stifling an almost-sob.

"It's okay, we shouldn't have done that. Just take a second to calm down."

He yanked his paw back, but the argali remained silent, holding up a hoof to forestall any non-coming interjections by those behind him. Pyotr though slipped through and hugged his brother's leg, something the bigger bear responded to by pulling his little brother up close and hugging tight as he calmed down.

Taking a few calming breaths, the big bear wiped at his eyes before finally calming down with a huff. And with that, he dropped his brother down and tapped at the notes. "Density of lead, eleven point two nine grams per centimeter cubed. As I said, this is almost twice that. Twenty two point three one grams!" He paused a bit, paws coming out, before restarting with a jolt. "Gold? That is nineteen point three two.

There was a pause, the mammals walking over, Simeon taking the pendant and holding it studiosly. "So, what? It's got platinum in it?"

"Platinum is twenty one point four five," Rustim recounted.

And awkward silence filled the air, finally broken by the musk ox. "So what is denser than that?"

"Only Iridium and Osmium, " Rustim explained. "Iridium is twenty two point five six. Osmium twenty two point five nine. Both silver in colour, and would not look like that in any alloy with enough of those two to make it weigh that."

There was a long pause, the group gathering around and placing the item back down on the table. Pyotr just looked on, not understanding what they were talking about.

"Well," Zinadia mused. "Maybe it's an alloy that does have a higher density than its constituents. Like steel."

Rustim looked up, nodding a little, only for Nikolai to cut them off. "Or, it was one of those two metals. I mean, I know that Osmium doesn't have many uses, but Iridium is very useful in alloying. Makes things hard and is expensive, hence it's the kind of thing a noble might have had to brag about. And of course, to try and disguise it, they electroplated it with copper or brass…"

"Yes," Androvna snarked, her paws crossed. "Because mammals are far more likely to think a dull metal is far more expensive than a goldy coloured one."

"But how do you know one of those metals is just a dull metal," the saiga antelope cut in.

The tigress shrugged before pointing at Rustim. A few seconds later he nodded. "Just look like normal metals," he said.

There was a pause before Igor gave a laugh. "Well, one way to test that theory," he said, the argali scooping it and walking over to a heavy drill mounted to the wall. Fixing it in a clamp, they all gathered around as, with a heavy whirr, the drillbit began spinning faster and faster. Hoof on the handle, he lowered it down, further and further until it touched the tip of the small pendant… And began sparking off. Igor pulled harder, nothing happened. Growing frustrated, he gave the handle to the musk ox, Yuri putting his full weight into pulling it down. It squealed, it smoked and, as an odd smell began to emerge from the drill motor, Igor called it quits.

They turned it off, jolting back at what they saw.

The previously pointed end of the drill had been sanded down into a flat, blunt circle.

The mammals looked at each other in shock and confusion, apart from Pyotr. He just looked around in confusion.

"What the…" Nikolai began, before Zinadia cut him off.

"Cub present."

Simeon shook his head, huffing. "Okay, it has to be an alloy. But of what, Iridium and gold? Why would someone do that?"

"Well for whatever reason," Nikolai said, a smile growing on his face. "It works. I mean, just look at that." He gestured over at the drill, beginning to kick his arms about. "Now imagine it was the drill tip. Or the tip of armor piercing shells on battleships. Or… I mean…" He began waving his hooves about, before gesturing at it. "Do you know what we've discovered?" There was a laugh as he looked around, turning down to Pyotr.

The little bear didn't know much, at all, but he knew a few big words from when Rustim had talked about his studies, his works, and the things his big brother's hero Medvedleev had done. "You… You found a new element."

The white horse shook his head dismissively, chuckling, only to freeze, still. He looked down at the little cub, then at the others. "He has a point," he said, voice stunned.

Simeon shook his head. "The only elements that are discovered now are made in a lab, we all…"

"Yes," Nikolai said. "But, I mean… There's a gap between most stable atoms, you get a bunch of unstable ones, then elements like uranium. Maybe, if you go beyond, far beyond, you get…" He gestured back at the item and, together, all the mammals turned to look at it.

Nikolai walked over, undoing the clamp and slipping it out, balanced between the tips of his hooves. He looked at it for a second before smiling, dropping it down into Pyotr's paws. "Who knows," the horse chuckled, rubbing the bear's head as he held the small warm object close. "Little Pyotr's first memory might be the discovering of… Lemmingium!"

There was a collection of groans, the horse going on about what else they'd call it (especially, when looking at Rustim, stating that there already was a Medvedleevium).

But Pyotr didn't hear it. Holding the item, he was suddenly hit by an awful, terrible, cold shiver. A dreadful feeling in his gut and a thought… A thought… like what he'd know much later, if driving along in a car and imagining turning the wheel fast, but also something else.

Something worse.

Almost like a warning, an order, a demand with infinitely more authority than Mama or any of his teachers or anyone or anything.

He held the item out, trying to speak, trying to get his thoughts out. Only to feel his emotions crash up and out.

Nikolai, conceding that it likely was just some new alloy but that they could still win the Gnubel Prize in chemistry for it, froze, turning with everyone else to the now crying and screaming bear, hysteric sobs coming out of the little cub.

Zinadia put her hoofs over her heart and walked forward. "Oh dear," she cooed. "Oh dear. Come on little one…" She quickly pulled the item out of his paws, despite his screams and protests, placing it on a table where his reaching paw couldn't get it. And then, with a grunt, she pulled the bawling kit up into her chest, kissing him on his head and saying she'd take him away. And with that, as he screamed at them to leave it alone, that it was dangerous, she took him into a small break room.

Slowly, surely, he calmed down as she bounced him on her leg and sung him a lullaby. Rustim came in to help, nodding as the little cub blubbered and tried to explain how scary it felt and how it might have nasty stuff coming off of it.

Eventually though he was brought back in to be shown something. The item was on a table and as Pyotr squirmed and tried to get away, Rustim said that it was okay and held a wand next to it. A few tiny clicks came out, but moving the wand closer or further away did nothing.

"See," Igor said, smiling. "No radiation. Perfectly safe. You probably just heard things here and there, didn't you?"

Slowly, surely, Pyotr calmed down, though he still didn't trust the item. It didn't matter though as they locked it up in a storebox with a combination lock. It wasn't like they had the time to do much experimentation, though they talked about passing current through it to test its electrical properties, heating it to see when it melted, and all sorts of other tests to work out what went into it (or if it was its own thing) and then replicating that.

Either way, they explained, things that would take time, need experiments to be created, tested, run. Lots of planning, all for the new year. After all, they'd originally come here to plan something else, something important.

Rustim had told him of how Igor had led them on long winter hikes before, the big bear showing his little brother the pictures of them on their trails and narrating how the expedition had gone. And, come the new year, they'd be on their biggest one yet. One that would get their little group fully accredited to grade three, the highest level.

A map out, they discussed the route, talked about provisions, how to get up via train and then truck to their base camp, a village far to the north. They needed to get the planning done to get approval, which would take time. Likewise, they also had their own studies in the early months of the year, ones which would mean they might only get back to the item in March or April.

Either way they discussed, they joked, they laughed. After much insistence, Igor wearily agreed to Nikolai's request to name it all in honor of the 21st Congress of the Party, which would help pull in some support from the other Komsomol mammals if there was an obstructive bureaucrat or anything.

Things ticked on, the group put things away, and at the end they went home. Mama asked about their day, which they eagerly talked about, Pyotr even forgetting much of his worry. After all, they'd tested it for radioactivity or whatever, which was what Rustim explained he might be worried about.

Taking some fresh chicken, Mama Kozlov had worked hard and made something very special and fancy for them. Chicken Kiev. Together they enjoyed the rare and luxurious treat, and not much else happened.

Kozlov only had a few time-blurred memories of the time after, with only one standing out as clearly as the rest.

Androvna coming around in early January, trading a few things with Rustim and the pair laughing. They doted on Pyotr, and she said that she'd had some spare time and done some basic electric testing on the little pendant. With… Odd results. She waved it off, the machines must have been faulty. They could try again after their hike.

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"Do-svidaniya! Do-svidaniya!"

Pyotr waved off his brother as he and the others loaded up their skis and hiking equipment into the train's caboose, before walking across the snow covered platform to reach their carriage. There were hugs and waves, different members of the group giving their goodbyes to their families as they moved along. The little bear watched as his older brother came over, paws out, and hugged him tight. "I'll take lots of pictures," he said, smiling.

Pyotr stepped back, looking down at the camera bag hanging off of him. "Will you take a picture of a Menk if…"

There was a laugh, Igor walking over. "Menk are just silly stories," the argali sheep said, smiling as he walked over and rubbed Pyotr's head. The small cub grumbled a little as he stepped back, paws on hips as he pouted.

"Y-yeah," Rustim nodded. "Besides, even if scary baba yaga monster is out there… I am BIG BEAR!"

He let out a playful roar, Pyotr doing the same, paws out and wide. Just as the train horn blared, the rattling sound of the diesel engine picking up. Rustim saw it and his friends getting on before pulling his family into one last hug, his mother and brother holding him tight. Even his father, standing off a little, walked forward and gave his oldest son a pat on the shoulder. "Enjoy yourself," he said, as the bear turned, jumping onto the train with the rest of them.

He looked out the window as the train slowly began pulling along the rails, waving as they picked up speed. Pyotr ran after them, waving all the while as Igor's parents said they looked forward to receiving the telegraph that they'd completed their track and Zinadia laughed at something.

The little cub came to the end of the platform, still waving out, his brother waving back as the train turned the corner, pulling off into the distance.

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The car slowly crawled down the road, Carmelita looking around cautiously. While the bears who'd attacked the temple had been left fleeing, no plan or aim made to try and intercept Kozlov if he too tried to flee, they'd certainly made it difficult for him to leave.

If inadvertently so.

Crashing down the slopes, they'd brought rocks and boulders with them. In some cases, the road was pulled down to a narrow strip that vehicles had to carefully maneuver around. Some local panda bears had tried to shift the largest stones where they could but many still remained.

The traffic was coiled back, Carmelita's finger dancing around the button for the siren. Put it on, they might speed their passage up somewhat, but with these conditions she was doubtful. They'd also be making themselves a target. She grit her teeth a little, she should have got on the line and demanded Bogo let them use the helicopter. Zorro tonto.

Seeing a car up ahead flash their lights, she slowly began moving the car downwards again, the silence permeating the vehicle continuing as they crawled along the edge of the road, bamboo forests falling down below. Keeping her eyes on the mirror, the vixen finally pulled them around, back onto the main road and into a small bit of free tarmac, letting them pick up some speed before joining the next queue.

"What… Happened next?" Judy asked in the back. She looked up at Kozlov, the bear sighing.

"As I say, that memory… Is like island of clarity. Like that island of stability that was talked about. Everything remains so clear to me, even if I understood so little at time. Instead just… Given numbers, to paint onto as I grew older, wiser." He sighed, turning down and back to the bunny behind him. "Tell me," he said, "what would you think would happen next?"

The bunny looked back, her nose slowly beginning to twitch. "That… That was the last time you saw him, your brother, wasn't it?"

Kozlov slowly nodded. Judy, her ears drooping down, leant forward a little, not that she could reach him even without the barrier between the front and back. Instead, she let out a quiet whisper. "I'm sorry."

"Not long after we left, we heard from Yuri Dvugorbyy. He'd… Had some health issues that had started flaring up just before the trip. I suppose he thought that they might have been just a bad day. Instead, as they went north by train and then truck to the last town on the road it just got worse and worse. He still tried to trek, but after the first day." He shrugged. "He knew it would not work, so went back. Wise camel. Lucky camel. He made his way back home as the others went on their route. And we waited for them to get back, to send telegram that they had made it. The day pass. No problem. These things can be held up a little. Two days pass. Again, no problem. Three. Four. Five. I remember none of these, so I do not know how the worry built up. As we confirmed the lines were still intact, as any time for them to come back having forgotten to send the message was whittled away. As Mama and Papa and others went to authorities, to ask for help, to locate them. Maybe they got lost, maybe they were injured. And so planes and helicopters were sent. Other trekkers took route they took, to the northernmost town and then beyond. Into the woods, into the mountains. Searching amongst endless wilderness."

"I'm guessing they never found them," the Panda King said.

A short bitter laugh cut out from the front. "No," Kozlov said, turning back to face them. "They found them. Not at first. They found their tent first. Standing on a mountain but cut open from the inside. Hoof and paw marks running down into forest. And there, after searching and digging. They found them." He shrugged. "I wouldn't know it until I was older, until I could ask my mother. I didn't even remember their funeral, just knowing that they were gone, that something had gone horribly wrong. That the big brother I remember so clearly was not coming back. And, like little cub, I did what I was told. Worked through school, joined Young Pioneers, an ordinary bear in ordinary city in ordinary country. One who just lost relative in hiking accident."

He snorted. "It was only when I was older. At age where kits and cubs see world through black tinted lenses and tend to ask too many questions, that I began to wonder. My Papa? Long dead, if anything I remember more of Rustim than him. But Mama? When I ask, it was accident. But how an accident? Why accident? She tells me best to not ask questions. I could imagine Rustim then, telling me 'be happy with Truth-Truth.' But I was not good little 'Big Bear' anymore. So I start asking around. Not dangerous questions, no. Just simple ones, easy to answer. Go to public records, look at death certificates. Find and ask those in rescue party. Talk to Yuri Dvugorbyy himself."

There was a sigh as he worked his paw over his face. "He had a toy, you know. Little stuffed thing. Present from Androvna. I met him there and could smell her scent on it. Snarky tiger. Playful tiger. Heh, naughty tiger. His tiger. Dead tiger. And I listen to him talk about how they had good spirits, but also… Feelings, of being watched. Ever so slight when they went up. But we were evolved society, past predator and prey. Was just dumb animal instincts, ticking in background as they all went north, together… Screaming, all around him, on short trek back to village after, alone. Make him feel like little mouse, about to be silently ripped off ground by owl. One moment, alive. Next, dead. And then, as Yuri head back down south on truck and train. Went. Gone. Letting him return back. His field wasn't in chemistry or metallurgy. He knew some, from his friends, but was an economics student. By time I met him again, he was good professor. He remembered them so clearly… But when he talk about dread, I remember little item before that winter. Our newly discovered element. After all, I had feeling of dread then and his talk of fear, it nudged me to put two and two together. I ask, what happened to it? And he realise he forgot all about it. Not his department after all. Probably still locked in its box. Something I file away, just a stray connection at time. Not what I was there for. Indeed, was far more interested as he give me his copy of report about what happened." There was a long silence.

"Pictures, of what happened. Of where they were, what happened to them, to Rustim. Of carnage, terror, confusion, mystery of why. Of what was left after they were all killed, scattered ruined in snow. And of shadow on state that they leave, in forms and documents, emotionless records of how loving mammals had lives taken from them."

He let himself catch his breath before carrying on in a cold tone, enough to make the mammals in the vehicle feel what they assumed his brother and his friends had felt when they'd met whatever fate they did. "They say it was an avalanche. Or terrible howling winds that spooked them. Made them think they were going to be buried under oncoming wave of snow, so they cut their tent open in panic and raced down in little more than own fur. Slipped, fell, slided. Bruised and dazed themselves in forest, stripping off clothes as they got so cold it felt like burning heat. And then? Hypothermia," he hissed, shaking his head. "Hypothermia!" He pointed at himself, holding his thick fur and blubber out before throwing it down, paw crashing against the console as he roared. "HYPOTHERMIA!?"

Breathing in, breathing out, he shook his head. "The truth-truth is it was tragic accident." He scoffed. "But I was silly bear who wanted to find out covered-up truth of what really happened. To my brother. To his friends. To all of them, on ill fated expedition. What force really hunted them, tortured them, killed them. Who or what made authorities write down 'hypothermia' as cause of death." He spat. "For some, maybe. But for polar bear? Reindeer?" There was a scoff. "Not even fell into lake, not as if that would do anything to my brother. No… Something else did. And so I vow to get answers. But I knew how world works. Mammals who asked questions, soon found themselves not able to."

He turned back, looking almost pitiably at Carmelita, then at Judy. "I am not proud of what I did next. If I just go around, ask questions like these… Give time, and mammals would come. So I chose only path I could to get answers. Become mammal who come. Be the terror in night, be doorknock of dread, be ones to be feared, to answer questions to. Be ones who hunt down enough enemies of state to fill quota, get bonus, make sure enough lives are ruined to get promotion. To rise up, gain power, so that when you ask question, mammals answer. And when you ask about what happened. Who did what? Why things that could not happen happen? And who order silly truth-truth's like polar bears dying of hypothermia? You get answers. You can learn what happened to big brother and all his friends, when an argali named Igor Dyatlov had them camp on that mountain so many decades ago."

Judy's nose began to twitch, Nick scratching his head a little, something so close to the tip of his tongue yet out of grasp. And then Po spoke. "Dyatlov."

"Cursed name," Kolzov muttered. "You will hear it again."

"-You mean," the panda carried on, paws coming up around his head and shaking around. "Like the Dyatlov pass!"

"No," the polar bear said, turning back. He noticed Nick's eyes widening in realisation, Judy looking between them like a bell was ringing in her ear, the Panda King closing his eyes and breathing out. "Not 'like.'"

Po's mouth opened wide.

"I told you all at the start," he carried on. "Three times. Suspend your disbelief."

Nick began to form a word with his mouth only for him, and the others, to be cut off as the polar bear held up a sole, single, digit. "One."