Nicholay Nickolaevich, is it true
that the place where you are going
…well, it does not exist?
STUDENT 2
And there is no gold there.
KOVALEV
There are mountains of gold there.
STUDENT 2
How do you know?
9
STUDENT 1
So when do you sail away to Kolyma?
YURSKY
First of all, it’s not Kolyma, second
of all it’s not all about gold.
NASTYA
Who else is going?
The CLASS turns to her. NASTYA – a beautiful young girl with big brown eyes – looks at YURSKY – smiling.
YURSKY
Artemiev – the head of the expedition
and I.
Students begin to shout GOLD. GOLD. GOLD
KNOCKING AT THE DOOR
It is ARTEMIEV
ARTEMIEV
Do you have a minute?
10
YURSKY
All right, the class is over for today.
You can go.
Students leave.
ARTEMIEV
I’ve been told you want to see me.
YURSKY
Severkov moused out something.
ARTEMIEV
OK, we will show them the smallest
deposit. Especially since the mines
are located so close to each other.
Only you and I know about the Rapid
River.
YURSKY
Severkov requested a preliminary
assay, which I made, but then the
data is now incorrect, if we show
only the smallest deposit.
In addition, you know, the rumors
will spread if there will be less
gold than expected, meaning that
someone has appropriated it. They