Grigory Dobrygin
Sergei Puskepalis
in a film by Alexei Popogrebsky
HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER
- Where have you been? - Checking the isotope beacon.
lt radiates like hell.
It's already at 400 roentgens.
- I tied the Geiger counter to a pole... - Hand in the cartridges.
Tell it to the bear.
If you get the chance.
Right.
You don't leave the station without me.
You'll be home soon. Do your role-playing there.
Just let me finish this shift properly.
Without incident.
lt was a scheduled check-up.
What's that building on the cape?
On the cliffs to the west?
The fog station.
They were all evacuated in 1982.
- Who was? - The hydrographers.
ln 1981 one of them was killed by a bear.
It's sync time.
Archym calling Fairy.
Good evening, Sergei Vitalievich.
Hi there, Volodia.
- This is Stas. It's my shift today. - Whatever.
Hello, Stas.
Sergei Vitalievich, there's an SMS for you from your wife.
Shall I read it to you?
Tell your buddy this is not the way to do things.
So shall I read it to you?
Go ahead.
''Flying out to Mom's tomorrow. Will await you in Hislovodsk.
Hisses. Masha and little Matvei. Smiley.''
Do you read?
Loud and clear.
Except for the ending.
''Hisses! Masha and Matvei. Smiley.''
What do I reply?
A smiley is a graphic symbol. Like a smiling face.
Write this...
''Hisses. Give my regards to Mom.''
Right. Dictating from the index mark:
32-999.
70-503.
10-013.
20-001 .
30-087.
40-094.
87-030.
The threes:
50-112.
The fives:
11, slash,
70-00, slash. Out. Please confirm.
Confirmed. Until the next sync.
Telemetry has been transmitted.
Corrections:
for the threes it's 55-140.
I知 sleeping until the next readout. There's some walrus meat.
Hey!
Let's go to the barracks!
Hey, get over here!
Sergei Vitalievich, there's still two months' worth of fuel left in the tank.
Come on.
The ship is on its way.
You never know.
Sergei Vitalievich, why do you always treat me like...
Spit on it.
Go get some sleep.
50-026.
Out. Please confirm.
Confirmed, Sergei Vitalievich.
Has the telemetry come through, Stas?
This is Volodia.
Right, Volodia. Has it come through?
lt has. In auto mode. Everything's okay.
What's up with Pasha?
Your Pasha's asleep. I gave him permission.
Say hi to him. Until the next sync.
Had enough sleep?
I did the sync. Your telemetry got through okay.
Listen, do you never get backaches?
With all that hunching over the screen?
It's time to do something useful.
Will you do the next 10 readouts?
We'll check them later
and do the corrections together.
Here's a present for you.
I致e got one in my watch.
This one will wake the dead.
Ever tried fresh arctic trout?
Don't sleep between the first five readouts.
Between the next three readouts you sleep for three hours.
Set the alarm half an hour earlier or you'll sleepwalk.
And never leave without a gun, you understand?
And don't forget the bullets! Here, take the sleeping bag.
Let's give it a push.
There's no need to tell anyone I went fishing on the South Lagoon.
- If they ask, make up some story. - All right.
Archym calling Fairy.
Pasha, hang on.
Danilov, get Gulybin.
Nikolai Petrovich, he's asleep.
Wake him up. I値l wait.
Right away.
He's not there, Nikolai Petrovich.
What do you mean?
Right. Danilov, find him after the sync.
Tell him to use the emergency frequency. I値l be waiting. Is that clear?
Perfectly.
So get to work.
Pasha, I知 standing by.
Dictating from the index mark...
Archym calling Fairy.
Danilov, get me Gulybin.
He's at the barracks.
Danilov, don't bullshit me.
I知 not bullshitting you.
He's getting fuel.
Right.
Danilov, take down this radiogram.
Go on.
''To the head
of the Archym Island weather station
of the State Meteorological Network
of the Chukotka Autonomous District,
Sergei Vitalievich Gulybin.''
Got that?
- Danilov! - Almost there.
''... S. V. Gulybin.
Due to an accident
your wife and son were...''
You'd better write...
''...were taken to the hospital in grave condition.
We will take all necessary steps
and immediately send
the vessel Academic Obruchev to you.
Prepare the station for conservation.
Signed:
N. P. Safronov, head of the State Meteorological Network.''
- Have you got that? - I have.
Listen, Danilov,
give him this radiogram
and then leave him be, do you understand?
I値l see to it that the vessel sets course for your island right away.
They'll be there in about five days.
Got it.
When Gulybin gets back, he is to contact me right away.
If I知 not here, have him pass on what he needs.
Understood.
So get on with your work.
RADIOGRAM
Pasha, I知 standing by.
Look at that.
See? You hold it like this
and you cut it up from the tail to the head.
You cut it up all the way to the lip.
And then, look carefully, you take out all this stuff...
and cut it off just like that. You with me?
Two years ago in the fall there were so many arctic trout
we salted at least three barrels full.
They taste best lightly salted.
They're very tender then.
My Masha loves them, too.
ln February...
yes, it was February two years ago.
She never said anything, and I never guessed at first.
She had a sudden craving for salted trout.
She kept hanging around the barrels.
Careful with those gills. You'll cut yourself.
Cut all the way through the lips.
She kept saying, ''I love this salted trout!''
I wondered what was going on.
Then it all became clear.
Wonderful!
When she was evacuated in June two years ago,
it was too early for trout, so she had to make do with smoked fish.
But it wasn't the same. She craved the salted fish.
They're visiting her parents in Hislovodsk.
Sergei Vitalievich...
Oh man, you've ripped that poor fish apart!
You have to hold it like this. See? Look, you hold it there.
And then you take it out.
Everything all right?
Good.
I値l go and do the readout.
You take a rest, maybe have a nap.
Your telemetry will work without you.
Archym calling Fairy.
Hello, Sergei Vitalievich.
Hello. Stas?
Yes.
I can even tell you apart now.
Safronov isn't here right now. What do you want me to pass on to him?
What do you mean?
Stas?
Right. Dictating from the index mark...
Turn it on.
Go to the session before last.
Now the next page.
Listen, Danilov...
This house, right,
has been occupied since 1935.
Later they built that blue house.
That's where we lived with our families.
Life was always prem tough.
The years pass, but this will always remain the Arctic.
We went to the readouts on foot,
and wrote everything down by hand.
A few times things were so bad that no one went out of the house.
But never before has anyone out of sheer laziness...
written down such crap.
It's not crap. It's the telemetry data
It's crap!
None of this is valid! The thing hasn't been calibrated yet.
You're here to see if it's reliable.
If this telemetry goes haywire,
all the work goes down the drain!
All those years of continuous readouts.
All thanks to some tourist who came up here
just to write some swanky essay, ''How I 'ended' this summer''!
People have died out here.
Speaking of graves...
once there were two geophysicists
who lived and worked here.
One of them cheated the other.
Over work, over the supplies.
One day the other one had enough.
All that remained of the cheat
was a hole in the ceiling
in the smoking room.
This is not a playground.
Careful!
What about the heliograph?
Take the old one out.
- Sergei Vitalievich! - What?
I understand that...
- Why did you do that? - Go on, get back to work.
Archym calling Fairy.
Hello, Pasha.
Hi, Vova.
How are you?
All right.
Hang in there.
And how's Serg
Dictating from the index mark:
42-997.
50-909.
10-058.
20-034.
40-160.
54-000.
80-001 .
The threes:
911-14.
Out. Please confirm.
Confirmed. So, until the next sync?
- Until the next sync. - Hang on.
Hi there, Volodia!
Good afternoon, Sergei Vitalievich.
Volodia, do me a favor. Send my wife an SMS.
Volodia, please send my wife an SMS.
Have you got her number?
Yes. Go ahead, Sergei Vitalievich.
''I'm bringing barrels full of presents.
Give my little boy a kiss.
Sergei.''
Got that?
I got it.
Volodia, at the end put a
What was that thing called?
- Smiley. - Volodia, put a smiley at the end.
That's all. Thanks.
Until the next sync...
Until the next sync.
We'll check the telemetry and have a sauna at 2:00.
What are you doing out here?
Why so bashful all of a sudden?
Afraid I値l have my way with you?
Come on, get in!
- So, will you diddle ever again? - No!
- Will you? - No!
Go on! Hurry!
Go on, get in!
Ah well...
time for the readout.
I値l do the readout and the sync.
I値l be very accurate.
No problem.
Then you can stay here.
If you say so.
Thanks.
Archym calling Fairy.
Fairy, come in, this is Archym.
- Fairy... - Is that you again, Danilov?
Yes, Nikolai Petrovich. I知 doing the readout and the sync.
Where is Gulybin?
ln the sauna.
Listen, Danilov...
The radio operators say that Gulybin...
isn't reacting adequately. Is that true?
How did he take the radiogram?
Danilov! How did he take it?
I don't know.
Were you with him when he read it?
Weren't you going to talk to him yourself?
Gulybin never contacted me.
Danilov, have you shown him the radiogram?
Nikolai Petrovich, maybe we shouldn't tell him...
before the ship arrives. It'll be here soon.
The ship's arrival hasn't been confirmed yet.
Danilov, you must understand, it's a very serious matter.
Go and get Gulybin.
Get Gulybin!
Understood.
But I can hardly hear you.
The interference is getting worse.
On the other
on the other frequencies there's a lot of interference too.
Nikolai Petrovich!
Get Gulybin!
All right.
Nikolai Petrovich.
I will go and get Gulybin now.
Do you read me?
Archym calling Fairy.
Calling all stations. This is Archym.
You see?
Archym calling Fairy.
What did Safronov want? Was it something urgent?
I couldn't make it out.
Something about the Academic. It'll be here soon.
Then we'll have to take action, right?
The trout will enter the lagoon now,
and I致e just enough fuel for one round.
Let's fill one more barrel for our loved ones, okay?
Hand me the net.
If there's a storm, I値l wait it out in the lagoon.
Will you manage for two or three days?
If somebody asks for me tell them I致e gone AWOL. I can afford it.
Let's give it a push.
Game over.
Shit!
Fairy calling Archym.
Archym, this is Fairy, come in, please.
Archym, come in, please.
Fairy calling Archym.
This is Archym.
Where's Gulybin?
He's gone to the South Lagoon. He'll be back in two days.
Did you tell him I want to speak to him?
Yes, I did, but there was too much interference.
Danilov, did you give him the radiogram?
Yes.
I didn't hear you. Repeat!
I showed him the radiogram.
And he went out to the Lagoon?
There's lots of trout at this time.
What trout, for God's sake? Don't you get it? Gulybin's family
It's completely...
- I know. - Then why is he
Did you tell him like that?
I didn't tell him anything. I gave him the radiogram like you said.
And then he goes off to the Lagoon?
Danilov, what's the matter with Gulybin?
Danilov...
Just so you understand the situation
the Academic is icebound in the strait.
It's unlikely an icebreaker will get to it.
So it's unlikely we'll be able to get to you during this navigational period.
Now what's the matter with Gulybin?
Are you listening?
- Danilov! - Yes.
Stay with the radio. Same frequency. And don't go anywhere.
- Understand? - Understood.
Nikolai- Nikolai Petro
Fuck.
Danilov, change to 8/27.
Danilov!
Change to 8/27...
Changed.
We're sending out a helicopter to you. What's the meteo?
What?
How's the weather over there?
Westerly wind, about 14 mls.
Westerly wind, about 14 mls!
It'll be quieter by the lagoon. Find Gulybin and wait there.
Mark the landing site with flares. They won't start looking for you.
They'll be low on fuel, the terrain is tricky. Got that?
Yes.
You've got 24 hours. After that the forecast gets nasty.
Go on, get going.
Over here!
Stop!
Hey!
Shit!
Do you feel sick?
Put a fish to your head. It's cold.
Sergei Vitalievich!
We have to go to the South Lagoon.
Why?
A helicopter's waiting there.
By order of Safronov.
Sergei Vitalievich!
Wait!
I have to... tell you something.
Well...
Sergei Vitalievich!
I never got the chance.
Sergei Vitalievich!
It's all because of your fucking trout!
Sergei Vitalievich, your family is dead!
What?
Stay back, please.
Sergei Vitalievich, please
Pasha!
Pasha, we have to talk.
Pasha, are you there?
Pasha?
Pasha!
Fuck!
Fairy, come in.
Fairy! Fairy!
Asshole! You asshole!
You're such an asshole!
Asshole...
Sit down.
The Academic made it.
It'll be here in three days.
Go on, eat.
Can't eat the fish.
I contaminated it.
ln the isotope beacon.
No need to tell anyone.
We still have to sign it.
Take care.
I知 not leaving.
Go on, don't be a fool.
You have to go back to the mainland too.
For a medical checkup.
I will tell them everything!
Don't you get it?
I have to stay here.
Alone!