There was no arguing with Mirsky when he used that tone of voice. Garabedian paled slightly, then pulled out a stick of stale gum and inserted it into his mouth, savoring the sugar.

Mirsky's radio clicked softly. He keyed the receiver and acknowledged. "Comrade Commander, this is Belozersky. 'Zev' wishes to speak with you. . . in person."

Mirsky swore and replied that he would be there immediately. "More shambles, I think," he said to Garabedian.

Twenty-six hours into the stalemate, the results of the survey were brought into Gerhardt's makeshift command post. The lieutenant who had conducted the survey, a thin-faced man with deep-set eyes, delivered his findings in an Appalachian drawl.

"We've peeped on every one of their positions and counted them from some distance—from the bore holes and from positions up the curve. They have six hundred or so men still alive and moving, maybe fifty or a hundred more we can't be positive about. They've lost a lot of senior officers—one general wounded or dead and several colonels. That leaves one colonel in the second chamber and two lieutenant colonels and a colonel in the first. There may be other generals—we've been hearing radio talk about 'Zev,' and 'Nev' and 'Lev.' Some of us think they're talking about three generals."

"Can you identify them?" Lanier asked.

"No, sir. They don't exactly have name badges on. But we think someone in the Russian science team might recognize a few. These troops have to be pretty highly trained, with lots of cosmonaut background, and they must have brushed up against some of the space people in the science team."

"Do you have photos of the officers?" Gerhardt asked the lieutenant.

"Yessir, most of them, pretty clear ones, too. Couple of good profile shots."

"Show them to the Russian science team members and see if we can get an identification. Garry, I think you should mediate. We'll talk to Pritikin on the Russian team—he's a straightforward fellow. We'll let one of those heavy-lifters dock—the one with Pletnev. If he or Pritikin can get through to their senior officer by radio, and if he can arrange a meeting, maybe they'll do more than just listen to reason."

"If I mediate then I should know how to speak Russian," Lanier said.

"One of our fellows can help. Rimskaya, or that German lieutenant, Rudolph—or whatever—Jaeger."

"Rimskaya's good, but perhaps not good enough for diplomatic nuances. Jaeger could be useful. But I won't take the job unless I work with the Russians directly, no insulation. I can take the ninety train into the third chamber and learn while you're arranging for Pletnev to come aboard."

"We don't have weeks, Garry."

Lanier shook his head. "It won't be that long. Hours, perhaps." He took a deep breath and leaned forward. "Do you see any reason not to put a stop to all the secrecy?"

Gerhardt thought for a moment. "Internally? I'm not sure."