The hospital in Semipalatinsk...

The EIS team have arrived in Novosibirsk, Russia, on route to liberate Albert Einstein. The EIS team consists of Alfie Baldrick, the one man rifle section; Mimi Dubois, maîtresse of skills; Madeline Forsyth, the living shadow; and Sven Hyse, the Norwegian shapeshifter.

Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk Oblast, USSR, January 1950

Over a breakfast of oladyi, small pancakes served with fruit much to the joy of Alfie and Sven, Mimi pours over the maps that she had managed to grab and works out that the next leg of their journey is about a days travel by road. Assuming that they can get a car and that the roads are passable at the time of year. After breakfast the team split into pairs to search the city, with Alfie and Madeline heading one way and Mimi and Sven the other.

As they walk around the city in the biting cold and visibility impairing snow Sven spots an industrial site tucked down a side street. As he and Mimi approach the area opens out and it becomes apparent that it is a working vehicle parking lot, servicing the buildings on two sides of the lot. There is very little lighting and a number of the vehicles are covered in snow evidencing that they do not regularly move. Mimi assesses the conditions and the vehicles themselves and tells Sven that she believes that one of the cargo trucks would be better suited to the journey. Sven also spots several drums that could be used for extra fuel as well as a pair of fuel tanks, one for petrol and one for diesel.

They head back to the hotel and meet up with Alfie and Madeline, with the British agent looking like she had only just thawed out after her walk around the city. Having agreed their plan Mimi books the team in for another nights stay at the hotel, convincing the hotelier that they were waiting to catch a bus out of town. They rest up for the day and stay warm and once the sun had set Sven slipped out of the hotel and transformed into an arctic fox before heading off to scout out the vehicle park that he had spotted earlier.

He finds that all is quiet, and as he had thought, the lighting in the area is bad and so there are lots of deep shadows for a small canine to slink through. He carries out a circuit of the plot and confirms that if there is a guard, they are tucked up safe and warm inside and so he heads back to the others and lets them know that the plan is a go. The team pack up their meagre belongings and stow them in secret near the rear exit of the hotel before Alfie and Mimi head out into the cold night air.

Once the pair have made it to the vehicle yard Alfie takes a while to examine a few of the trucks before selecting one that he believes to be mechanically sound. While he is doing that, Mimi locates a mostly empty diesel barrel and gets Alfie to shift it over to the diesel pump. Making sure that the coast is clear Mimi opens the valve on the pump and is pleased to discover that it is virtually silent. She stops filling the barrel and she and Alfie head back to the truck where Mimi uses the skill that she had borrowed from Madeline back in America to pick the lock. Once inside she the hot wires the ignition and the truck starts up first time. Alfie drives it to the diesel pump and they start to fill it up. While they are busy working they hear the sound of footfalls crunching in the snow towards the yard and so Alfie crouches down in the foot-well of the truck while Mimi transforms into a shadow and slides into the deep shadows.

A big man, bundled heavily against the cold, walks along the edge of the lot towards the stolen truck. He slows down as he draws closer, but doesn't stop and continues on his way into the night. Mimi breathes a sigh of relief and then carries on filling the truck while Alfie lifts the half filled barrel into the back of the truck and lashes it down. Mimi finishes filling the truck and the barrel and then with Alfie at the wheel they head off and park a short way beyond the hotel. Mimi gets the others and they throw their luggage in the rear of the truck before climbing into the cab, with Mimi slipping into the small sleeping space behind the three cab seats, and Alfie drives them south through worsening weather and heavy snow.

And the weather isn't the only thing that gets worse the further south the team go, the road becomes nothing more than a farm track hidden beneath a blanket of white. Just before eight in the morning the truck pulls into the outskirts of Barnaul where they stop for fuel. Mimi borrows Alfie's ability to drive and climbs behind the wheel of the truck while Alfie slips into the sleeping compartment for some well earned rest. They continue to push south and stop for fuel in a small village called Aleysk, where Madeline is able to convince the attendants wife to cook the team a meal. Over dinner Madeline chats with the wife and discovers that they sometimes feel rumblings through the ground and that her husband claimed to have once seen a mushroom cloud on the horizon to the southwest. Madeline nods wisely and responds:

We need to defend ourselves against the American aggressors.

But when the women looks confused, Madeline is forced to explain the oppressive nature of the American war machine. The wife appears to understand and says:

Is that why the hospital in Semipalatinsk has so many disabled people? Because of the American aggressors?

Madeline nods, but her mind is already racing as to why there are so many disabled in the hospital in Semipalatinsk. The team thank the wife and her husband and head back onto the road. They stop once again in Rubtsovsk for more diesel and by ten in the evening they can see the lights of Semipalatinsk in the distance. Just after midnight they are driving passed the regional hospital looking for a hotel, they find one not far from the hospital just as the engine splutters and coughs because of the cheap fuel bought on the road. Madeline secures them two twin rooms and the settle down to sleep.

The following morning over breakfast they once again begin to formulate a plan for the next stage of their mission. Mimi studies the maps and declares that it is approximately ninety miles to the walled city of Kurchatov to which Sven replies:

To far to ski then!

Madeline suggests that they get the lay of the land in Semipalatinsk and see what type of vehicles travel in the direction of Kurchatov. They also agree to check out the hospital and see if they can find out what is behind the mysteries there. The team splits into pairs and head out to scope the area. Alfie and Madeline realise that the majority of traffic heading in the direction of Kurchatov is military in nature, mostly trucks, but with the occasional staff car as well. Mimi and Sven walk by the hospital and as a precaution Mimi pushes out with her senses and stumbles when she is surprised by a return. She turns to Sven:

There is an enhanced in there!

The pair loop around the surrounding streets allowing Mimi to triangulate the enhanced within the hospital buildings and when she is sure that she has a rough location she attempts to push deeper and gain an understanding of what the enhanced can do. She discovers that the enhanced has but a single power, that of retrogression. The team regroup in a small cafe and agree that the enhanced needs to be investigated to see if the Russians are creating, interrogating, or oblivious to the nature of enhanced biology. And so, just after midnight, Madeline and Mimi slide as shadows under one of the hospitals rear doors and find themselves in a well light corridor.

Mimi pushes out with her senses once more and gestures to Madeline that the enhanced is on the floor above. The pair slide up onto the ceiling where the shadows from the gas lighting gives them some cover, they slip quietly along the corridor and find themselves approaching a reception desk. There are a few people moving along the darkened corridors, nurses, doctors, and porters, but the pair avoid being spotted and slip into the elevator shaft and up a floor. Mimi pushes out again and leads Madeline in the direction of the enhanced, they locate it three quarters of the way along the corridor in ward five. Looking through the window of the door they can see eight babies cots, all with little ones moving within them.

They slide in under the door and Mimi confirms that it is only one of the babies that is enhanced, she moves towards the child and begins to un-swaddle it, discovering that the baby is slightly misshapen and is showing obvious signs of radioactive contamination. It is then that she locks eyes with the child.

Mimi stares into the child's eyes.

The child stares at Mimi.

Mimi finds that she can't tear her gaze away and her vision starts to darken at the edges.

The child stares at Mimi.

Mimi finds her vision blurring and slipping away.

The child stares at Mimi.

Mimi finds herself staring at her own face.

Madeline watches on as Mimi collapses to the floor crying and whimpering to herself. Madeline's jaw drops and then she hears footsteps in the hallway outside. Realising that there is very little that she can do to help Mimi, Madeline slips back into the shadows and hides just as a nurse looks in through the window in the door. The nurse fumbles with a set of keys and lets herself in looking shocked to see a crying woman laying on the floor of a locked nursery. The nurse rushes to Mimi's side and tries to help her, but soon realises that there is nothing that she can do and so she runs back out into the corridor and starts to shout for a doctor.