In 1975, after a divorce with his wife, Lebkov left for Kunashir, one of the islands of the Kuril chain, in order, in his own words, to “recover from the fascinating family life.” Yevgeny Dmitrievich settled in the empty hut of a forest warden near the volcano Tyatya.
Missing for two weeks
On the morning of August 14, 1975, the writer went fishing to the river, which ran near the volcano. Approaching the place of fishing, Lebkov drew attention to a cloud of smoke that smoked over the Heights. The day before, he remembered, he had heard the forecast of volcanologists on the local radio: a sharp increase in activity of the volcano of Tyachi is expected in about two weeks, that is, at the end of August.
Yevgeny Dmitrievich is located on the river bank and … The last thing he remembered was how he threw the fishing rods. Next – a dip in the memory.
When the writer came to, he found himself lying on a trestle in a rickety hut, which Lebkov, coming to the river, noticed on its opposite shore. The clothes on it were all torn. The body ached, nausea rolled up to my throat, and my head splintered with hellish pain.
Lebkov glanced out the window and was surprised. Firstly, the evening twilight was gathering outside the window – and he, as you and I remember, lost consciousness in the morning. Secondly, there was a huge black cloud above the volcano Tyatya and a crash was heard clearly from his top. The volcano woke up!
In the hut sat three men at dinner. As it turned out later, these were poacher hunters. Noticing that Yevgeny Dmitrievich came to himself, they were delighted and invited him to the table. Poachers told the writer that a couple of hours ago he himself entered the hut, swaying from side to side, as if drunk, and collapsed to the floor in a state of unconsciousness.
Lebkov was very surprised by their story. Meanwhile, the eruption of the volcano Tyatya continued. Eugene Dmitrievich, glancing at the window of the hut at the living volcano, uttered thoughtfully:
“Look, what’s going on!” Volcanologists predicted that the eruption would begin in late August. And it started today.
The poachers exchanged glances, and one of them patted Lobkov on the shoulder with condescension. Then he said:
“You, friend, need to lie around for a long time.” You look all sick, yes, as I see, and your brains are very much on edge. Today, in fact, is the end of August.
– And what is the number now? Asked Lebkov, puzzled.
“August 29,” the hunters told him.
Loebkov lost consciousness on the bank of the river in the morning of August 14. Where was the writer for two weeks? He did not remember anything from what happened to him between August 14 and 29! Rather, almost nothing – except for some auditory, as he then decided, hallucinations.
Memories of these hallucinations tormented the writer for a long time. In memory there were some strange sounds, similar, according to Yevgeny Dmitrievich, to the syring of lizards. But Lebkov for some reason – he himself finds it difficult to explain why – was convinced that this sviristenie was a meaningful speech.
It is curious that the writer, who was not known where for two weeks, did not lose a single kilogram of his own weight. And on the cheeks did not appear, oddly enough, a two-week stubble.
Lebkov decided not to tell anyone about what had happened to him. He understood – he began to talk with his tongue, and at best he would be laughed at, no one would believe him, and at worst the case might end with a meeting with a psychiatrist.
But in 1981 he came on a ticket to the writer’s holiday home – the so-called House of Creativity of the Writers’ Union of the USSR, which is located in the suburban village of Peredelkino. One evening in the dining room of the House of Creativity, a warm friendly company gathered at the table, prose writers and poets.
With boredom, they began to poison each other with terrible stories. Well, about murders, fires, rapes and even about meeting with evil forces. Lebkov, after listening to others, decided to “secretly” share with his friends his own memories of the incident around the volcano Tyatya.
“MEN IN BLACK”
And then the second part of this story begins. The company, having consented to plenty, dispersed in its rooms around midnight. And the next morning – exactly at seven o’clock in the morning – Lebkov was awoken by a knock at the door.
Two brave young men entered the room, who showed off the ID cards of the officers of the USSR State Security Committee.
– Eugene Dmitrievich, – said one of them with a sincere voice, – how true is the story you just told in the dining room?
Loebkov was taken aback. Yes, and it was from what. Since the moment when he broke up at midnight with his friends, it took no more than seven hours.
Encouraged by uninvited visitors, he laid out to them in detail all that he remembered about the strange incident in the vicinity of Tyachi. The KGB officers listened to his testimony without writing anything down. When the writer finished his story, one of the officers said:
– According to disparate data, the KGB of the USSR is inclined to assume that somewhere on the Kuril Islands there is a large base of extraterrestrial “flying saucers”. We are sure that you were abducted by extraterrestrials!And we kindly ask you to agree to participate in the hypnosis session. The KGB has, for your information, experienced hypnotists. Of course, we can not force you, but if you wish, we are ready to hypnotize you.
– What for?! Asked Lebkov.
– So it is necessary, – the answer has followed.
“Come on, you know where with your hypnosis!” Cried Yevgeny Dmitrievich, furious. “I’m a writer, not your guinea pig.” Clear?
The KGB officers did not insist on their proposal. They only asked Lebkov not to tell anyone about this early visit.The request was formulated in a rather sharp form. It was more like an order than a request. In particular, it was said: “We advise you to keep quiet about our meeting with you. If you talk with your tongue, you will get into big trouble. “
After saying goodbye to the writer, the visitors left the room.
And here begins the third part of this story – the most entertaining.
Lebkov is an amazing thing! – I do not remember how the young people who sank under his nose looked like they were. No matter how he tried to restore the appearance of the visitors in his memory, alas, the faces were not remembered. As if they were erased from memory by an unknown force.
He really did not like the decisive demand of KGB men to keep quiet about their visit to Peredelkino.
“I do not serve in their espionage institution,” thought Lubkov. “So how dare they give me orders?”
Out of a sense of contradiction, Lebkov began to tell everyone about the visit in the same and in subsequent days, all to whom he did not meet only in the House of Art. Very quickly information about his stories reached the researchers of anomalous phenomena.
Later in Peredelkino managed to find a woman among the staff of the House of Creativity, who, apparently, was an unwitting witness to the visit to Lebkov. She was one of the maids.
On the day when the visit to Lebkov was made, this woman went to work early in the morning on the driveway to the House of Creativity. And suddenly he sees a car standing on the side of the road. And from the House of Creativity there are two young people. Quickly, almost running, they go to the car, sit down in it, and the car quickly breaks down.
The next day the maid heard Lebkov’s story about his meeting at seven in the morning with the KGB men in a free statement of his colleagues. Naturally, she immediately associated him with those two young people, whom neither before nor later never met in the territory of the House of Creativity.
– The car was black and foreign brand. And those young people who left the House of Creativity were also in black.I could not see the details of their costumes. And in appearance, like the Chinese! Eyes are narrow, like slits. And the faces are swarthy. I remember when I later heard a story about Kabebeshnikov’s attack on Lebkov, I was very surprised. I did not think that the Chinese work for our state security. And they leave for national pairs …
It is usually believed that the phenomenon of “People in Black” is common only in the West. In the US, they are posing as either Air Force officers or FBI agents. “People in black” also present relevant service certificates, indistinguishable from these.
In the USSR, they began to pretend to be KGB officers. And with the collapse of the USSR, they may now be represented by FSB officers or some other service.
Also published on Medium.