Tin Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

gold-brown SA blouse, radiated both optimism and a busy man’s problem-solving attitude. Asking Bora what he might have for him only revealed his trust that officers would spontaneously turn in captured goods or civilians for labour. They’d met a week earlier on account of the mounts Bora still needed to bring his unit to full strength, Stark displaying an impressive knowledge of the horseflesh yet available in the Kharkov Oblast.
    Bora said, “I actually have a couple of questions for you, District Commissioner.”
    Stark gestured for him to sit down while he continued to converse with someone on the telephone. “Not the insecticide again, Colonel… I’ve got your requests here. I read them; I understand. But we’re strapped for it; we need it for other hospitals. Believe me, if I could, I would. I shipped it all out last week. Well, bricks we do have; I got a load straight from Nova Vodolaga. If it’s bricks you want, and nothing else, I can favour you.” Covering the mouthpiece, Stark looked over. Hesaw that Bora remained standing, and took it to mean he was in haste. “Yes, Major?” he enquired.
    “I need five women —” Bora began to say.
    “ Five women?” Stark lowered the receiver, smiling in a friendly way. “That’s the cavalry for you. You need five women?”
    “— to do the washing and cleaning for us, Herr Gebietskommissar.”
    Stark grunted a “Yes, goodbye” into the mouthpiece, and returned the receiver to its cradle. Looking over the top of his glasses, he leafed through the typewritten sheets in a neat folder of his. “Well, if that’s all you horse boys need them for, Major, I’ve got five babushkas your grandma’s age.”
    “They’ll do.”
    “Have them picked up tomorrow morning sevenish at the Merefa station, and then stop by to sign the paperwork. What’s the other question?”
    “Well, it was insecticide until I heard you a moment ago. I did try to remedy things on my own, but – I brought along a list the medical corps gave me. I think it’s a crescendo, in terms of efficacy. Pyrethrum, for example. I don’t know where to find it, even though I have access to three out of the four other components – coal oil, ether and turpentine. Naphthalene I think I could scrounge from maintenance if they have some to spare.”
    “Pyrethrum? We’ve got none.”
    “Potassium arsenite was my next bet. Other ingredients: ten parts of milk is fine, but where do I find molasses?” (Stark shook his head.) “So, I’m down to sulphur dioxide, even though without pressurized bottles we’d have to burn it on a gas cooker for – what, seven hours or so? With wooden huts and straw roofs, it’s not a great idea. For best results, hospitals recommend hydrocyanic acid, better if Zyklon B, poured on floors and sealed off. But the ventilation time —”
    “ Please !” Stark raised his hands in an alarmed gesture. “Leave the hydrocyanic acid alone; don’t even think of it! You’d kill yourselves and your mounts. I’ll see if I can get you bottledsulphur dioxide. You’ll have to ration it like water in the desert, though. For a closed room, 100 grams per square metre will do, in about five hours.”
    “When may I send for it?”
    “I said I’ll see if I can get it. Send someone on Friday if I don’t call you back.” The phone rang again as Bora left, and Stark picked up the receiver while shaking his head. “ Zyklon B ,” he muttered. “What are they thinking?”
    Bora thanked him and left. As golden pheasants went, District Commissioner Stark was better than most. Physically, he’d have resembled a sturdy pheasant even without the administrator’s telltale brown-yellow blouse. The fact that his office had just been set up here within the bounds of militarily administered Ukraine represented an escalation in the infighting among the Party, the SS and Rosenberg’s Ministry for Eastern Occupied Territories. The Army steered clear of the tiff, but Bora’s “new