wipes his eyes, a horn honks. he looks toward the sound.
the ashes of a colleague, i'm taking them to his family. if you wish to open it, please be careful.
seems intent on the map, its changing times and distance. he checks his watch - the countdown has gone from 20 to three hours and 32 minutes as nekhorvich is mesmerized by the descending seconds whipping by.
well, yes. i suppose i am a bit anxious.
i'm with an old friend now, dmitri.
yes, i'm sorry too.  'you're sorry and i'm sorry' - you do know gradski thought the world of you.
yes, he knew. just.
no. after you've lived with chimera for twenty hours, nothing can save you. not even. bellerophon.
yes, and you'll get us to a safe place with them, thank god!. left to my own devices, i'm an old fart too inept to read a railroad timetable!.
it seems we have a problem, dmitri.
you're not dmitri?
well, dmitri! how are you?.
i'm fine.
i'm fine too.  i'm fine and you're fine - do you remember, dear fried, how you got sergei and i to repeat those lines from dr. strangelove and we gave you the name of that silly soviet premier because we didn't know your name?. in those days, you not only saved our lives, you saved our sanity. 'now, then dmitri - we have this little problem': every search for a hero must begin with something that every hero requires; a villain. therefore, in a search for our hero, bellerophon, we created a monster chimera. i beg you, dmitri, come to sydney and accompany me to atlanta immediately. however we travel, i must arrive at me destination, within 20 hours of departure. forgive this fanciful explanation, but for now prudence dictates that i communicate nothing but the gravest urgency. i fear i can entrust this to no one but you, dmitri. as we say, 'i'm sorry and you're sorry'.
therefore in a search for our hero, bellerophon, we created a monster, chimera.
therefore in a search for our hero, bellerophon, we created a monster, chimera.
a shimmering blur coming in and out of focus.
a visit from an old friend.
fatigued, certainly. but dead is a little extreme. on the other hand, when me dear gradski had your pulse and blood pressure he has less than ten hours to live.
you are infected with chimera, my friend.
no use, my friend. the medical staff wants no part of this. doctors don't fancy the idea of dying any more than anybody else.
that's exactly what gradski said - 27 hours before he died. with chimera, the most minute exposure can be fatal.
but then you shouldn't be feeling to ill. not for another three of four hours anyway.
do i?
'if?' my, my, my. the five hundred people on bruny island that you deliberately infected with chimera needed it as well.
by asking me.
you wanted the disease in order to peddle the cure.
you know, i think it's a little late for that. do give my regards to gradski if you see him.
who turns the barrel from the hyper-thermal chamber and releases into his wrist.