They went to workplaces, he – to his computer, she rose a floor above, sat down at the table and opened a laptop, brought from the warehouse.
The plant – the most common, like many hundreds of other plants, became for Lucy Uvarova a second home. She realized that to find out all the work should be worked out not one year and, perhaps, not one decade. She, as a young specialist, was impatient to be at the forefront. But she did not know much and, as a young specialist, and did not understand.
Nina Vasilievna Korbutova – deputy head of the workshop – gave many years to the plant. She has developed her own style of work and constantly kept Lucy under her control, was a very strict and categorical mentor; it was easy and curious to work with her. A tall, bright brunette, always dressed in the latest fashion, but not flashy, but elegantly and simply, without unnecessary jewelry. She also demanded from Lucy neatness in clothes.
“They are equal to us, we are the face of the plant,” she loved to repeat.
Nina did not have a personal life. She was lonely, she had no children of her own, but she found her vocation at the plant not only as a first-class engineer, but also as a wonderful mentor, an assistant to the youth. The chief of the shop was respected for these qualities, with whom he had already worked for ten years.
In the beginning, he grew up to a senior engineer, and then, after joining the trade union, was appointed head of the shop. Nina helped him in everything. The educational work in the shop lay entirely on her. She was the second mother of the assembly shop. Young technicians came for advice to her even home. She lived not far from the factory, ten minutes walk. She liked the role of the second mother. She was always happy to solve any problems that arise with young professionals. No wedding, no celebration took place without Nina. She was the pioneer of all intriguing undertakings.
“In the shop, the combat leaf is issued by the post of people’s control, where they criticized the scammers and loafers. They were few, and the combat leaf with the weapon of satire and humor struggled with them and not without result. So it helped to get to his feet completely drunk Sergey Levin. He even got into the forefront of production and was repeatedly awarded with the badge ‘For excellent work’, ” explained Nina Lucy, considering the main indicators of the brigades.
“To every holiday in the shop, I noticed, a wall newspaper is always posted. They are all on the site of the enterprise. There are reflected the events of the assembly shop: trips to the sponsored farm for harvesting potatoes and tomatoes, weeding out beds, working on building a hostel and school.
“That’s right,” Nina patted Lucy on the shoulder encouragingly. “The factory is the chief of the school of this microdistrict. A sports hall was built. Funds for construction released the plant. The specialists built themselves, because their children will go in for sports there. They are growing generation, new working hands, which are so necessary for us.”
“I know that there is a college on the basis of the plant,” Lucy remembered her studies.
“So do I, our current chief of the shop graduated from it. Then, of course, there was an evening university and an army. The main products of the plant are intravenous batchers, medregistrators, iPads, iPhones, calculators, plasma TVs, monitors, computers, air fresheners, air conditioners.”
“I’m amazed at such a huge number of household items and assortments,” Lucy put in caution.
In fact, in a specially designated place there were already ready-packed products. Gradually ready made items of production were sent to various cities and even abroad, their place was occupied by others. Engineering staff worked without white gowns, but if they went to the workshop they also put on white robes, because they demanded a clean workplace for associates.
“Once a week, usually on Saturday was sanitary cleaning of the premises. Every cooperator washes his place,” the deputy chief told.
Once Lucy had been appearing in the workshop, she was standing and wondering at everything. She had imagined the factory not so immense. Someone accidentally pushed her. She turned around. Before her stood a tall, light-haired girl in a white gown and a hat. In her hands she had an open laptop, where drawings and diagrams appeared. The girl looked then at the drawing, then on the already made circuit and checked whether the product was correctly executed. So it’s no surprise that she did not notice Lucy.
“Hi, you can call me Lucy. I’m your manager.”
“Hi, my name is Sveta Erengeld.”
The voice of Sveta was low and melodic with a slight accent. Lucy later found out that she was Latvian. With the husband they have arrived on a factory after the graduation of the Riga technical university.
“I would like to know what I need to do,” asked the newcomer.
“Now I do your work, that is, I check the correctness of the manufacturing and packaging.”
Sveta began to tell how to do it. Sveta’s husband worked as a replacement foreman, but in another shop, they had two children. She loved them very much. She often told about her little ones: a boy and a girl. Sveta’s children visited the “Sunny House” kindergarten near the plant. After the shift the girlfriends went to the children’s educational combine – for the kids almost the same age. Seeing their mother from the window, they jumped and laughed. Lucy befriended Sveta. By nature, she was calm and balanced, worked well, with knowledge and also helped at first. She was engaged in the manufacture of circuits, and Lucy watched that these schemes and drawings were introduced into production without defects, connected reality with the drawings. Prior to Lucy, this work was performed by Sveta, but with the advent of the girl, she could directly engage in engineering work, that is, with the construction, the invention of a new one. All the drawings made by Sveta were tested by Razumov, the senior engineer, whose workplace was in the room where Uvarova’s desk was. When they returned home on the first day after the end of the shift, Sveta asked a friend:
“Lucy, are you married?”
“It’s a strange question, no.”
“Why? Are you against marriage?”
And then, for the first time, Lucy was seriously thinking, and after all, she is already twenty-six, she has a higher education, she is cute, intelligent, she knows how to cook and wash, and even sew and knit and thoughtfully said:
“Once I get a family. Is it possible to live alone all my life? Father is not eternal. Maybe he has ten years left, or even more, but the years go by and you can miss them.”
“It’s logical,” Sveta agreed. “Then it will be difficult to find a person for the role of husband.”
Lucy suggested that it would not be bad if Alexey invited her to marry him. She knew him well enough. Especially she used to him and remembered Alex, and not someone else.
“In the end, I will make up my mind. Whoever Alexey will be a true companion and helper in life will understand and calm at a difficult moment,” Lucy mused aloud, looking at the nearby Sveta.
“Yes, you must decide. And if he talks about marriage, do not push him away, but give consent and get to know with your father if you have not yet introduced them.”
6. Father
Tanya, a private detective, phoned Kiryanov, hoping that the lieutenant-colonel would free himself from analyzing current affairs.
He was after his duty and was sitting at the table in the pose of the “Thinker” by French sculptor Rodin, trying to make the right decision to take the hostage in the face of private entrepreneur Ivanova, finally to put an end to all the crimes of the world. Her concerns were enough for all the confusion of this cunning crime.
“Glad to hear. How are you?”
“Take a couple of your guards, come to arrest Skripal. I found a private