nearly twice as long, with two half-dismantled storage tanks lying on their sides.

“Is there another way out of this room?” I looked around. Sometimes I get nervous for no reason in dark, unfamiliar places.

“Only through those hatches on the floor.”

“Leading where?”

“These were the waste tanks used for the chemicals that treated certain components. At the bottom of each tank is one of those discharge hatches.”

“Big enough for a person?”

“A person? Not normally, they’re pretty narrow. It would have to be a very skinny person.” He shrugged. “Not normally, but these days, yes.” I hadn’t expected irony from him. “You need to see anything else?”

I followed him outside.

“That pair of buildings, over there.” We had crossed a small field down to a point near the river. “They look interesting. Why are they so close to the water?”

The general shrugged. “Good for discharging chemicals, I guess.”

“What’s in front of the shorter one? From here I’d say it looks like a band saw.”

“It will look the same when you get closer, because that’s what it is.”

“To cut metal?”

“No, to cut wood. You’d be surprised what went into these missiles.”

Missiles, he said. What else did I expect?

We turned a corner and walked down a path lined with shivering, mangy poplars. Most of them were less than two meters tall, and more than a few of them had been stripped of most of their branches. “This may be the closest thing to a forest in the province. These trees would be gone in a day if I opened the gates. As it is, I have to make sure none of my men accidentally knocks one over. Because after that, they will accidentally sell the wood on the outside.”

We came to another pair of buildings on either side of the path, both four stories high. They were joined by a trestle bridge that looked like it had been used to move small, narrow carts between the upper floors. Scattered on the ground in front of us were rusted steel beams.

“These were the assembly buildings. The one on the right is a complete wreck. When I got here last year, it was already in this state.”

“And the other one?”

“Only a partial wreck.”

“Does anything still function here?”

“That’s not my concern. If it’s inside the fence line, I guard it.”

“I suppose the vegetables are worth something.” I walked over to a small plot that showed signs of having been cultivated a few months ago. The rows were uneven and the soil was rocky. “I don’t think they got much of a harvest, though.”

“Did you need to see anything else? Or have we exhausted your curiosity?” The general stopped to retrieve something from under one of the steel bars. He held it up for me to see. “Cigarette butt.”

“I recognize the species.”

“My men don’t smoke these.”

“Cigarettes?”

“Not these.” He sniffed it. “French. Agitates.”

“If you say so. I never smoked a French cigarette, so I’ll take your word for it.” I’d also never run across a cigarette butt that still smelled after sitting most of the winter in the snow, but there was no use pointing that out to a general. Besides, what a French cigarette was doing in his compound was his business.

He put the cigarette butt in his pocket and then reached for his pistol. “I’m going to escort you back to the hut, Inspector. It will look better if we don’t seem to have become fast friends.”

“Have we?”

“Put it this way: When you finally walk out of here, my men should not see you again.”

Back in the hut, the general pulled off his gloves and threw them on the table. The last portion of food was gone.

“This is my headquarters. That is my headquarters staff.” He pointed at the two guards who had moved from the gate to stand by the door. “After the incident with that corps on the east coast—” He stopped suddenly. “You know what I’m referring to?”

“I try not to pay attention to military matters, especially those outside the capital. It overloads my circuits.”

“Someone in the Fifth Corps went crazy, or maybe they came to their senses. Anyway, it looked like the beginning of a rolling coup.” He watched my eyes. “Don’t pretend you hadn’t heard. It was crushed, and the rest of us had to readjust to fill in the blank spots. My division has twice the area to cover and half the staff. I am to guard these facilities and a few others close by. They moan to each other at night across