“ЗАБЫТЫЙ ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТ”

Summary: Two physicists and a driver enter a restricted zone, with a diameter of about 200 kilometers. The zone is restricted because an incredibly large explosion took place about four decades ago, which seemed to have irradiated the surrounding area. But radiation is not the reason the physicists are there, they came to look for an experimental “eternal engine” that draws power from time, as if time was an actual physical force. The radiation zone is not the only place this type of experimental engine was built, but it is the only one that is actually producing energy in significant amounts. The physicists make their way across the contaminated zone, crossing paths with a disfigured deer and hearing strange calls from mutated animal life. They experience the effects of the blue fog, byproduct of the energy production, on themselves even while in the highly protected vehicle and watch how their exploration robots are frightened by the fog. Eventually they make it to what little was left of the place where the time engine was stored and climb underground. There they confirm that the engine is functioning and is in fact the source of the blue fog and the strange mutations. They return to the armored vehicle and make contact with the outside world, calling in scientific reinforcements.

I could not detect any serious theme in the short story. Aside from feeling an uncomfortable chill at the description of the mold growing on the deer's eyes this story was all straight forward. The idea of time as a physical force that could be harvested is really interesting. From my super limited understanding of dimensions I believe the fourth dimension would be time, and beings that exist in four dimensions would be able to move in time as easily as we can move in our physical three dimensional space. Don't quote me on that, as I may not know what I am talking about!