A Dead Man's Letters (Pisma myortvogo cheloveka)

My dear boy,

I am working, can you imagine that?

And what's even more surprising,

I'm working for common good.

I've counted off another day.

7200 minutes in the old scale.

It's not as pointless as one might think

for the twilight is monotonous

and even God when He created the world

needed to have some notion of time.

He created day and night

which imply the diversity.

I propose a different unit of time:

One twilight

because there is no more diversity in this world.

Your mom and I

are staying in the shelter beneath the museum

together with its staff.

We will wait for you here

and then we'll go to the central bunker together.

The side street entrance is free

but we'll need to climb up the wall.

Good morning.

What time is it now?

I don't know.

Why wake me up then?

I feel it's daytime.

- Did you turn on the ventilation? - She is suffocating.

Then put on a bandage.

Yes. Thank you.

I'll turn it off.

Dear Eric,

Before all of us - you, mother and I - become grains of the universe,

for each of us is mortal,

we'll have a lot of happy hours and days, even if we use my notion of time.

Mom is much better today.

We haven't talked that much in a long time.

LETTERS FROM A DEAD MAN

- Have you had the inspection yet? - They are here right now. I am nervous.

Holy God, save and protect me.

Take off your clothes and come inside. I have to go.

- Who's in charge? - Me.

Come here.

- How many people are here? - Twelve.

- Is everyone in here? - Yes, everyone.

- This is our guest. - No-no, I have a permit.

- Whose children are these? - They are what is left of the orphanage.

There was an orphanage here, 40 children. Almost all of them are dead now.

- So they do not have parents? - No parents.

They never talk. I think they are in shock.

I see. Stuporous state.

They understand everything. Almost everything. But they don't talk.

- You... Yes, you. Go behind the screen. - Maybe it's better to start with children...

- No. ...as they should go to sleep soon. Why?

Because!

What is your name?

Look here.

Do you hear me?

I see.

Children don't count.

Turn around.

Move your hands up.

Move them down.

Turn around.

Put on your clothes.

- Should I call the old man? - No need.

- Listen, doctor, these children... - Step aside, you are in the way.

Do you want... to leave the children here?

I don't want anything, I'm just following the instructions

which say the children should be healthy and with parents.

But that's not possible.

You understand what happens if you leave them here, don't you?

It's outside my competence. Everybody should mind their own business.

You're a doctor! That is your business!

They will die anyway. They're ill.

We can't support the lives of the healthy, and you want to save the ill!

Even if I issued a permit for them, they would be anyway

stopped at the check point. Children without parents and in catalepsy!

I would be shot for issuing a false permit! We have martial law!

That's final! They will be taken care of by the special service.

- And who will take care of you? - What's the problem?

You will leave them here and hide yourself in the bunker

But they will come to you anyway, they will come to you dead,

and they will sit before you just like now. How will you look in their dead eyes?

How will you live after that? Which special service will help you then?

- How old are you? - What difference does it make?

Great difference. For you. Because we don't need old men either.

So you better go find your birth certificate and shut up.

You're interfering with my work. Everything you want to say,

I've already heard. Ten, twenty, a hundred times!

Come here!

You should go the day after tomorrow. Take nothing unnecessary with you.

Clothes, blanket and food, if any. That is all.

I won't go anywhere without children! You can't...!

Don't go then. That's your choice.

By the time of the disaster every field of human activity

had been in a state of grave crisis.

Scientific efforts were focused on weapons of mass destruction,

each of which could eliminate the life on the planet.

Technology had been destroying nature and environment.

Full stop. New paragraph.

Political relations had become unduly ambitious and paranoid.

Full stop. New paragraph.

Art had become inhuman and had been pandering to the vile tastes.

Good morning.

I feel like a different person.

I feel a wonderful lightness. A complete adaptation.

I just need to get used to the cold.

Oh, I forgot: How is your wife?

Bad.

Stand still.

The doctor mentioned some lists in the central bunker.

When I came close they stopped talking. They didn't want me to hear.

I am nervous.

We've decided to go today.

What about you?

I don't know.

I haven't decided yet.

Here are the pills from the headache. Water-soluble.

Thank you very much.

- Don't laugh at crazy people. - He's no more crazy than you or I.

Where did that junk come from?

I'm asking you.

I was trying to read seismograms.

If the war is ongoing, they should show the explosions.

And if not...

- Then what? - Then it is a proof.

A proof?

You think if you find proof, the world will come back alive?

Can't you see what's going on around you?

Can't you see what's happening with me?

Do you know when you've gone crazy?

When?

Before everything started.

After you had made your discoveries.

After the Nobel prize.

That is possible.

Take your medicine.

My son thinks we should go to the central bunker tomorrow.

After lunch.

We should take into account possible problems at the check point.

What do you think?

That is possible.

To be honest, everything seems so unreal.

There was a book called "Mole Man". Has anyone read it?

How do you imagine underground mankind?

I agree, it is a profound moral challenge.

But what can we do?

That's our only chance.

I don't think so.

I don't believe that there is no outside.

- Are you serious? - I am.

I've formulated a logical theory.

As of now I have 25 hypotheses

but each of them can be checked

in time, not right now.

I've read a science book

it said that evolution of mankind happens quickly

and a man can get used to anything, anything,

if the body is breathing.

The body should be naked.

I've decided to try it.

I've already started breathing exercises.

Excuse me...

- Am I talking nonsense? - Yes.

Here, drink this. It's a painkiller.

Drink it.

Drink a bit more.

Do you have a photo of Eric?

Of course I don't, there is no such thing.

He died outside. Burned.

- How do you know? - I saw it in my dream.

Try to sleep.

You better go.

ATTENTION, ATTENTION

Going outside during curfew hours is not allowed.

Individuals with curfew passes should always carry it with them.

Attention, using internal tunnels during curfew hours...

A week ago it was possible to buy a painkiller on the black market.

One ampoule for one can of food. I'll try to go there now.

Be careful, it's curfew time. You'll be shot on sight.

That's all we can do for Anna.

What about escatomone?

It's not a medicine, just a stimulator.

Any news?

An order arrived to evacuate to the central bunker.

We'll go today.

- What about the soldiers? - What about them?

They should know something by now.

They know nothing. They have their instructions.

What instructions?

The same. Evacuate to the central bunker.

Deep conservation, and so on.

Conservation? What's that?

Thirty years underground. Or fifty.

Or ever.

That's the end.

Uninhabited planet.

That's impossible.

You can call it intuition