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.When he woke up in the embassy infirmary later, he was screaming."Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!"The infirmary nurse attempted to calm him."Be a man, Comrade Major," the nurse admonished.She was a hulking blond whoknew nothing of what had transpired in the office two floors above."I live," Yuli breathed.It was more of a prayer than a question.134"Da.Comrade Brashnikov will survive too.He had a nasty fall.It wasfortunate that you were there to throw yourself under him to break it,otherwise he would have been severely injured."Yuli Batenin turned his head.In the next bed, Rair Brashnikov lay with awhite sheet pulled up to his sharp chin.His ferretlike profile was peaceful.He snored contentedly.Major Batenin's nervous reaction to the sight of Brashnikov was so violentthat he had to be sedated.A calmer Batenin himself debriefed Brashnikov the next morning.Brashnikov'sstory was disjointed and Batenin did not believe much of it.He was certainthat Brashnikov was holding something back.He did not know what.Brashnikovhad spent much more time in North Dakota than had been necessary.What had hebeen doing there? Brashnikov insisted that penetrating underground launchfacilities had been very difficult.Later, Batenin conferred with the technician on staff who maintained the suit."He claims he was in North Dakota, making call to this embassy when he wassurprised in hotel room," Batenin explained."He turned on suit.He remembersrushing through dark tunnel.He thought himself dead.The next he knew hecrashed to floor of my office.Tell me, how can this be?"The technician considered."This tunnel," he asked, "was it a long straight tunnel?""No.He said it twisted and turned.""Hmmmm.We do not fully understand the suit's many properties," the techniciansaid slowly."But as you know, when it is on, the atoms of the body are in anunstable state, as are the component protons, neutrons, and electrons.""Yes, of course.I know all that.""Electricity is composed of electrons.It is possible135theoretically possible-that teleportation might have been achieved.""I do not know that word," Batenin had admitted."A theoretical fantasy," the technician supplied."One that postulates that ifit were possible to disassemble a person or an object on the molecular level,it should also be possible to transmit those elements, as electricity istransported through wire or cable, to another place, there to be reconstitutedinto its original form.""I fail to-""Imagine a fax machine," the technician said."One which, instead of producinga duplicate copy of a document at another site, transmits the originaldocument, which ceases to exist at the point of origin.""Are you saying that Brashnikov faxed himself through telephone?""I do not think it was intentional.How could he know? As he said, he wastalking into an open-line receiver.He turned on the suit.Somehow hisfree-floating electrons were conducted into the receiver, taking his otherPage 59 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlatomic particles with them, and transmitted out the other end."Batenin shuddered at the memory of the incredible white light that had blindedhim."And the tunnel he described?" Batenin prompted."Wire or fiberoptic cables," the technician assured him."The Americans useboth for voice transmission.""This accident.Might it be duplicated?""If it worked once, it should work again.But I would not advise a repetitionof the experience.It obviously had a traumatic effect on the agent.He wasnot breathing when he emerged from the receiver.""Perhaps he will become used to the experience," Batenin said thoughtfully."Thank you for your analysis."Yuli Batenin had already made his decision when he visited Brashnikov in theinfirmary.The Russian was already sitting up, eating ice cream.136He had developed a suspect addiction to American foods."I am returning to Moscow, captain," Yuli told him stiffly after explainingthe technician's theory to the interested thief."I will be here when you get back," Rair said, spooning out the nuts in thebowl of pistachio ice cream.He liked pistachio, but hated the nuts."I may not be coming back," Yuli told him."I am going to ask for a newassignment.While I am in Moscow, see that you behave yourself until myreplacement arrives.Then you will proceed with the operation."Surprised, Rair Brashnikov had put down the bowl of ice cream."I am sorry to see you go," Brashnikov said, his black eyes shining like afawn's."You have been a good man to work with.And you saved me from badfall, for which I am grateful."Touched in spite of himself, Yuli Batenin nodded."Da, I will miss you too,Brashnikov."And when Rair reached out his arms to give him a farewell bear hug, Yulireturned the gesture, even though he had never liked the tiny thief.Yuli had to struggle to extricate himself from the sentimental gesture.With a stiff "Farewell, Tovarich Captain," Major Yuli Batenin exited the room,quickly picked up the diplomatic case, and entered the waiting limousine.And now, as the limousine pulled up at his terminal at Dulles InternationalAirport, Batenin was pleased and relieved that he would no longer haveresponsibility for such a high-risk operation as this.With the big case still handcuffed to his wrist, Yuli Batenin strolled to theairport lounge.He ordered a C-breeze, and stared at his watch, while awaitinghis departure time.He did not want to be seen in the waiting room, the caseso obvious on his wrist.There137were many thieves in America who would be attracted to the case for that veryreason.Yuli hated thieves of all kinds.When the boarding call finally came, Batenin drained the last of his drink andwalked casually to the X-ray station.There was an armed guard in uniformstanding by the metal-detector frame.Another man was operating the X-raymachine.Yuli barely noticed him.It would be the guard he would have to dealwith.This shouldn't take more than a few moments.Ignoring the metal detector, Batenin walked up to the guard and fixed him witha bold stare
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