At first, Besonova thought that the players were robbers who came out of nowhere. However, they didn't rob her of any belongings. Although they did secretly pry open the doors of many shops at night, they only took some emergency change. Most of them were daily necessities that might be of use, and they didn't take much.
In addition, they all looked like Ukrainians or Russians, but the strange thing was that no one could speak Ukrainian or Russian. Besonova thought she could infer their identity from this point.
These people were most likely Americans or Europeans of Russian and Ukrainian descent living in the Western world. They had been specially selected to infiltrate the Second World to carry out secret espionage activities. However, Besonova thought about it again. It did not make sense. How could a spy infiltrate an enemy country without learning the enemy's language? What kind of infiltration was that? Moreover, these people didn't speak English. She didn't know which language they spoke.
However, they were indeed very interested in the nuclear power plant. They even pretended to be experts to talk to the nuclear power plant's engineers. Then, Besonova realized that they didn't seem to be interested in the nuclear power plant's technology, but the accident that happened last night. In other words, these guys who pretended to be experts were actually doing what the Moscow experts were supposed to do.
Besonova was completely confused. She had no idea where the players came from. She even had an illusion that the players were on the same side as the residents of Pripyat. On the contrary, the nuclear power plant seemed to be hiding something.
Although Besonova knew nothing about nuclear physics, she was a nurse in the medical center after all. She knew a little about radiation sickness. She could see that the players had suffered different levels of radiation. When she first met the players, the players rushed into the ward wearing the clothes of the nuclear power plant workers.
It happened not long after the Chernobyl accident. Besonova remembered very clearly that the young nurse on duty with her pulled her to the window to see what happened at the nuclear power plant. Not long after that, they all became prisoners of the players.
In other words, when the nuclear power plant exploded last night, these people were probably at the scene. They must have discovered something, so they began to investigate. But Besonova didn't know what the results of the investigation would do. She could see that some of the players weren't in good condition. Although the doctors could provide some treatment, it was mainly to relieve the pain.
Especially Coconut, her physical condition was worse than some of the nuclear power plant workers who were sent to the hospital. What she needed most now was formal treatment, not to force herself to carry out some investigation.
But Besonova also knew that her words had no effect on the players. She didn't forget that she was still a prisoner.
Besonova followed Coconut's request and called Akimov after Dyatlov. The latter was the foreman on duty at Reactor 4 last night. He was 33 years old, had thick curly hair, and looked quite strong. But now, he looked extremely weak. His skin was completely burned by the radiation and had turned dark brown. His face, hands, and even his tongue were swollen. Even speaking was a little difficult.
His radiation condition was much more serious than Dyatlov's, because according to his own statement, after the accident, he ran to the reactor with Toptunov to try to restore the water supply.
When he said this, Besonova interrupted him. Just as she had questioned Dyatlov, Besonova asked the foreman on duty, "Are you sure the reactor is still intact?"
Akimov obviously hesitated, and his body began to tremble. At the same time, he kept repeating the words he had been repeating since he entered the room. "Everything we did was correct. We followed the rules of the operation manual. We didn't make any mistakes, really …"
"Calm down, Comrade Akimov. We are not here to hold you accountable, at least not now. We just want to know the specific situation of the reactor to provide scientific basis for the next decision. So, you just need to tell us what you saw."
"I …" Akimov opened his mouth. "We experienced a serious radiation accident … but fortunately, the reactor is still safe."
It took a lot of effort for him to say this, but he felt a little better after saying it.
"What was the radiation value at that time?"
"1,000 micro roentgens per second." Akimov pushed the glasses on his face. "After the explosion, our top priority was to fill the reactor with water to prevent the reactor from melting due to the high temperature. So, we followed the instructions of Chief Engineer Fuming and prepared to open the No. 2 emergency water pump to start injecting water into the reactor.
"But because we lost power, the gate valve could only be opened manually. So Toptunov and I followed the circuit to turn the handle. It took us a few hours to open the regulating valves on the two branches, but for some reason, the reactor seemed to be leaking. By then, we were completely exhausted. We were sent to the medical center by ambulance, and Smakin replaced us."
Akimov's narration was full of guilt and self-blame.
Besonova could see that the man in front of her was really upset about the trouble he had caused, but he didn't seem to know what he had done wrong. So, he could only repeat that he was right, and everything was in accordance with the regulations, trying to make his conscience feel better.
At one point, Besonova couldn't bear to ask more questions. She continued to pressure the poor man, forcing him to recall all the details of the incident. But Besonova only said that it wasn't up to her to decide. Zhang Heng and the others had no intention of interrupting or pausing the conversation at all.
But they did learn something. At least from Akimov's answer, they found something different from what Diatlov had said. For example, when the power dropped, Diatlov was also in the control room at the time. He was furious and cursed at the senior reactor control engineer, Toptunov. After that, he ordered Toptunov to increase the power, but Toptunov refused.
So Diatlov brought up the safety regulations and said that according to the safety regulations, if the power decreased from 80%, the power could only be increased again after 24 hours. But now that the power had decreased from 50%, the safety regulations did not say that the power could not be increased immediately.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
