Episode 44

(Bulgaria, April 30, 2001)

[Author’s note: we're now around two years after episodes 42-43 and around a week before episode 41.]

It hadn’t been nearly as easy as Sree pretended, but eventually they managed to narrow the search to a fifteen square-mile area. This wasn’t the one square mile they had hoped for, but it would do. In retrospect, Daryl was astonished they even had gotten this far. As much as he grumbled about the size of the remaining area, he had to acknowledge their remarkable achievement — all the more impressive given the series of missteps involved.

Neither of them was a trained archaeologist and, even with Sree’s memories to help, they had proved surprisingly inept. The early promise of a simple scavenger hunt quickly gave way to reality as they hit a number of snags. Despite their apparent advantages, the pair quickly found themselves floundering.

Sree could translate from the old language, but nothing was written in the old language. Or at least nothing had survived. Well, something had survived. A lot of somethings in fact. That was the problem. She remembered local details but there was almost no way to place that locality on a map. In her day, there had been no maps. By the time such things were available, Sree had wandered too far to have any idea where she came from.

Worse, all the skills which had seemed so germane at the outset quickly proved worthless. Daryl had plenty of experience finding something (or someone), but finding where something (or someone) had been was an altogether different process. Every place they stepped, a dozen civilizations had existed. How could they possibly untangle which went where and when? Or, more precisely, how could they figure out where a specific one had been at a specific time? It was like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack, but long after the hay had been burnt and the needle stolen.

Fortunately, they had time and luck and a great deal of patience. Sree’s astronomical observations had been very helpful, but the rumors of the communist spill had not. It turned out that there were many rivers contaminated by many communist facilities during that era. In fact, the site would have been more remarkable if there hadn’t been a spill. Other rumors and memories proved equally unenlightening. It was only by examining the confluence of a great many such things, each inconclusive and imprecise in itself, that Daryl and Sree managed to stitch together a credible theory.

That theory soon became a likelihood and then a near certainty. However, it was a near certainty spanning fifteen square miles. Such an area could be searched on foot — if one was tireless and one’s target was stationary. Daryl was not confident in either of those suppositions. Though he certainly didn’t relish the prospect of a long and tedious search, there nevertheless was something gratifying about having come this far. The goal was within reach, and he could manage the remainder the hard way if need be. However, he was not convinced that all other options had been exhausted yet. If she felt differently, Sree had given no indication of it.

One small boon was that four of those fifteen square miles were home to various inaccessible government installations. Of course, that wouldn’t stop Rin if she wished to meet there. Daryl had expressed concern about this, but Sree didn’t share it. Rin probably would not lead them to such a place, she explained. At the very least, she would offer a clue to that effect. A game which is too difficult would be no fun for either side. Besides, they always could check those sites last if nothing else panned out.

It had been a week since they rented the apartment, right outside the zone in question. The local search nominally was underway, but both Daryl and Sree were half-hearted about it, and little progress had been made. Mostly, they just wanted some rest from the work of the past few months.

Unfortunately, this unacknowledged respite was short-lived. Despite her best effort to do little, Sree noticed some stones of the right type. These had turned out to be surprisingly easy to spot, being of a lighter hue than other materials used in local construction.

This discovery lent new energy to their efforts. Sree and Daryl soon found that stones of that type appeared sporadically in homes and buildings all over the area. However, it also became apparent that their prevalence varied. No doubt the stones had been moved around quite a bit over the years, but the variations were noticeable as one walked in certain directions.

With poor grace and high hopes, the pair set about meticulously mapping the stone’s presence. Though there was no clear epicenter, the distribution clearly formed an elliptical cluster away from which the stone’s frequency declined significantly. Sree had little doubt that Rin was waiting somewhere in that ellipse. Unfortunately, it was a five square-mile ellipse.

Daryl wanted to continue mapping occurrences in an effort to further narrow down the area, but Sree was conversant with statistics and concluded that they had gained as much precision as was likely by this method. In fact, she announced that the analytic phase of their work was altogether complete. They had come as far as they could based on her existing knowledge.

There was little Daryl could do but grumble and groan and offer increasingly far-fetched proposals to stave off the inevitable. He knew this was pointless. Sree was the only reason he had any hope of finding the place at all, and she understood the limits of her own knowledge better than anyone.

If she believed they had done all they could, he would have to accept it. Without her, he would have thousands of square miles to search, not just five. Acceptance did little to sweeten the prospect of scouring five square miles by foot, but five sure as heck beat fifteen. Or thousands.

Seeing his downcast expression, Sree smiled. “You don’t really imagine we will manually the whole area? Well I suppose I could, but you have limited time.”

“Because I’m mortal?”

“Because Rin gave you five years, of which less than two months remain.” She leaned in and looked him in the face. “Or haven’t you been counting?”

Daryl couldn’t say why, but he blushed at this.

Sree clearly mistook this for concern, and offered an encouraging smile. “I doubt she will be that fussy. After all, it is Rin.”

A moment later, sympathy filled her eyes. “She’ll probably wait as long as it takes. Keep in mind that she wants you to find her. Women love to be chased, but we also love to be found. Don’t worry, you’ll get your love back.”

“She’s not …,” Daryl grumbled.

Before he could finish, Sree burst into laughter. “You really thought we would have to do this the old-fashioned way? You’ve spent too much time thinking about ancient civilizations. We do have modern technology, you know. Let me make some arrangements, and I’ll show you.” With that, Sree disappeared outside.

Daryl knew better than to follow and proceeded to take a nap. Even if it wouldn’t be hard work, it was sure to be tiring. To his relief, there was no work that day or the next.

A few days later, a group of loud Russians appeared in two beaten old trucks. Sree spoke with them for nearly an hour but did not introduce Daryl. At one point the men looked at him, and she began giggling as they yammered on in Russian. After the crew left, she and Daryl returned to the apartment.

“I told them you were my Bulgarian lover,” she explained between giggles and before he could ask. “That way they won’t try to drag you into anything since you don’t speak the language.” When Daryl just stared at her, she shrugged. “It’s a Russian joke.”

A moment later, Sree was all business. “We should hear back in a week.”

Daryl didn’t know where to begin. “Who are they? I thought I was the only one working with you on this.” He didn’t sound hurt, just concerned.

Sree laughed. “They’re not working with me. They’re working for me. For us, in fact. Though I’m paying them, since you’re broke.”

He hadn’t given it any thought before, but was she rich like Rin? It occurred to Daryl that they probably all were. You’d have to be pretty incompetent or unlucky not to end up rich after thousands of years. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help feeling inadequate.

Sree smiled. “Don’t take it so hard. You can have my money if Rin kills me.”

“Don’t say that,” Daryl snapped. “You promised she wouldn’t.”

“No, I promised that she didn’t want to.”

Daryl knew better than to argue. It was no fun arguing with Sree because she was too mature, too kind. It never went very far, and he always felt bad for offending her. Rin had a certain fire. He wondered how screwed up he must be to prefer her to someone like Sree, someone who — by almost any standard — was the perfect woman. Daryl realized he was allowing himself to become distracted and decided to push such matters to the back of his mind.

“Ok, what are they doing for us?” he asked pointedly.

Sree gave him a pleased smile. “Oil. They are a geo-surveying crew.”

“How does finding oil help us?”

“It doesn’t. But using the same technology, we can probe for dense pockets in the substratum. Guess what the buried ruins of a monument look like.”

Daryl suddenly understood. “But do they think they’re looking for oil?”

Sree shook her head. “No, they need to know exactly what to look for. I told them I am an archaeologist. They clearly were disdainful, but kept it to themselves since I’m pretty and paying.”

“How do you know —” Daryl began.

“They assume I only speak broken Russian because that is all I used, so they groused freely about me. I actually lived in Tsaritsyn for twenty years.”

Seeing no glimmer of recognition in Daryl’s eyes, Sree elaborated. “Stalingrad? No, I think they now call it Volgograd. It has been a while.”

“Will they give us trouble? If they don’t respect you —”

“They respect my money, and they’ll respect my Bulgarian lover. I told them you are involved with the mob. I doubt they believe me, but they won’t take the chance. This way we will be spared any unpleasantness. I also let slip that you are wanted for war crimes.”

“Thanks,” Daryl offered dryly.

Sree smiled. “Well, you are. You did declare war on my kind by serving Rin.”

A moment later Daryl was out of his chair and two feet from the table, his hand where a gun should have been. Unfortunately, it was well-nigh impossible to smuggle a gun through customs. Besides, what good would a gun do?

“I suppose that did sound ominous,” she observed, unperturbed by the commotion. “Calm down, I’m just pointing out a fact. I have no more or less desire to kill you than before.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Daryl snorted, eyeing Sree as he returned to the chair.

“What exactly were you planning to do? If I wished to kill you, I could have done so at any time.”

“Well, thanks for not slitting my throat in my sleep,” Daryl replied coldly.

Sree gave a mischievous grin. “Don’t forget to thank me for not slitting your throat during the day too.”

A moment later, she bounced out of her chair. “Let’s see if there is anything fun to do in the area. The survey probably will take a few weeks.”

“What about Rin?”

Sree looked at Daryl. “What about her?”

“What if she spots us? Shouldn’t we hide?”

Sree gave a light laugh. “We’re trying to find her, remember? You’ve mixed that up with running from her. Let me explain. In one case you move toward the person, in the other away.”

Daryl cringed at the sarcasm. It had been one of the most difficult things for him to grasp when learning English, and he still didn’t appreciate its nuances. Besides, that wasn’t quite what he had meant, though he couldn’t articulate this to Sree without regurgitating the same tired old concerns.

The problem wasn’t just finding Rin, it was how they found her. Daryl needed a chance to speak with her and make his case for Sree. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to do anything for her. But if he told this to her, she would dismiss the notion. After all, ‘Rin didn’t want to kill her.’ Daryl didn’t believe that for a minute. When had there been anyone Rin did not want to kill?

With improbable dispatch the crew submitted its findings a mere week later. Sree managed to pay the men after more than a little flirtation and a few obligatory attempts to foist extra expenses on her. Once they had departed, she brought the assay report upstairs.

The whole affair had been oddly uneventful, and Daryl was surprised the crew hadn’t caused trouble. They certainly seemed like the types who would cause trouble. Maybe they had, and Sree attended to it out of earshot? Daryl decided he didn’t care. The important thing was the information. Hopefully, it would prove helpful.

When Sree returned to the room, she eagerly tore open the folder and spread its contents on the table. Daryl didn’t know what to make of the numbers and pictures, and Sree was too engrossed to explain. After analyzing the results for a few minutes, she cheerfully announced that their destination lay within a quarter-square-mile area. Daryl was about to leap into action, but she motioned him to remain seated. This was the point at which care must be exercised, she warned.

There only was one property involved, and it precisely encompassed the relevant area. Sree was certain this was the place. She read the name of the business aloud twice. It was something-and-something enterprises and had no meaning to either of them.

Daryl waited patiently as Sree pored over the report looking for more information on the company. That certainly would be salient and could affect how they approached the next step. She found what she sought on the very last page. The Russians had been thorough, even listing the owners and tax history of the property. A junkyard, she announced. The latest incarnation of Rin’s prison was a junkyard. That was where they would find her.

“How apropos,” Sree murmured. “A place where old things go to die.”