Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37 07: ‘Iurenkovo’

*“In which Lieutenant Fyodorov, Major Kopolev, and Captain Triepinov visit a nearby Kolkhoz and examine its rusty infrastructure, while Doctor Liubimova puts his equally rusty medical skills to the test…”*

## Iurenkovo

### Players

Dominic Allen as Adm. Maj. Kopolev
Joseph Chance as Sr. Sgt. Dr. ‘Beo’ Liubimova
Danann McAleer as Sr. Lt. Fyodorov

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

### Intro

The episode opens again with quotes hinting at what’s to come. The board of inquest summarizes the previous story elements, emphasizing the doctor’s “listless” state, the investigation of the pyre, and the plan to visit Iurenkovo.

### Scene 1: The Listless

We are thrust into the action immediately as three of the four men drive to the kolkhoz of Iurenkovo. Kopolev notices the absence of plant and animal life before they arrive at the village. Iurenkovo is a burnt shell of a typical small kolkhoz, with about a dozen huts, barns, outbuildings like a windmill and water tank, and a central hall with a large swath of disturbed earth clearly visible in front of it.

Meanwhile, Beo finally recognizes why he kept coming back to the word “listless”: it is in the lab notes, describing the condition of a goat that had been experimented on. He feels a bit better, and thinking it is because Kopolev and Triepinov are away, sets about to his work at the tractor station tending to the sick. He finds dysentery, as expected, but also some symptoms similar to his own, described as a kind of agoraphobia. He wonders if there might be mass hysteria in play, and splits the camp into segments by symptom, putting them on a rota to keep their minds and bodies occupied when possible. Remembering Kopolev’s anxiety, he also ensures the lights will be kept on before going back to the chemistry textbook, suspecting something otherworldly may be at work.

### Scene 2: Investigating Iurenkovo

Kopolev reminds Triepinov to look out for OGPU agents, despite the apparent abandoned nature of the village. Triepinov thinks looking around at the kolkhoz is a waste of time, but is overruled. They send Kovalevskii and his men to knock on doors while they investigate the central buildings as well as the disturbed earth. Finding shovels, they dig in to the disturbance and immediately discover it is a mass grave. Dugov continues digging up some of the site while they look at the other buildings, and he eventually uncovers the body of someone who had been executed.

At the barns there is clear evidence of a firing squad; they are otherwise empty, seemingly never used. The water tank is partially submerged, and when investigated more closely starts to seem eerily similar to the damaged silo at the machine tractor station. Triepinov volunteers to look inside, and he finds human and animal bodies before momentarily breaking his composure. They discuss the possibility of draining the tank before stepping briefly in to the hall, which is damaged but barren.

They decide they will drain the tank despite some fears of contaminating the water table. It releases a horrific smell that overcomes most of the soldiers almost immediately. Fyodorov, moving past his discomfort, looks at the bodies inside; he sees about a dozen humans and many animals of all kinds. He considers opening the tank further and removing the bodies, but looks closer at them first. They are quite pale and gaunt, a bit disfigured, and not quite what he expects from bodies decomposing in water.

> “I’m gonna tie my reading glasses ‘round my head tighter, almost like a shit pair of goggles.”
>
> Danann

### Scene 3: Theories

Fyodorov reports his findings back to Kopolev and Triepinov, confirming the presence of bodies in the tank. The three are confused about why both animal and human bodies are present, especially with the burial pit close by. Kopolev still believes it was an experiment gone wrong, and puts forward the idea that this was a way to dispose of and cover up the failure. Fyodorov wonders whether it was an attempt to reduce contamination, but notes that this theory doesn’t work with having a gravesite in soil as well. They all try to add up the clues but come up short. Additional men start falling ill, and they decide to go back to the machine tractor station. They debate checking on the other kolkhozy and ultimately decide it would be a waste of time. Kopolev has a moment of sudden horrified understanding as they leave the village: it isn’t a site where bodies have been dumped, but rather a lair of some creature, a liquid larder.

> “I can assure you that everything inside is dead, at least as far as I understand the word.”
>
> Fyodorov

As they make their way back to the machine tractor station, Kopolev spots a trail not marked on their map.

## Important NPCs

* Kovalevskii: one of two sergeants in charge of a division of men; he goes to Iurenkovo along with a portion of his soldiers.
* Blochinstev: the other sergeant in charge; he stays back at the tractor station with Beo.
* Dugov: a junior “telegraph officer”

## Places

* Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37
	+ Soldiers’ camp
* Iurenkovo (a small kolkhoz in the area of influence of MTSKh-37)

## Quotes

”FYODOROV” (DANANN): “Why do you like [Triepinov]? He’s so rude.”
”KOPOLEV” (DOM): “Who said I like him? I’m scared of him!”

DANANN: “Triepinov is six feet taller than all of us put together.”

DANANN: “Whatever the fuck is storing its food in these things is something that can burn through solid metal.”
DOM: “It’s a giant cigarette.”
DOM: “This is where we see the giant cigarette from the old Nicotin adverts just roaming ‘round the countryside, burning holes into silos, sucking up the tar inside.”

## Trivia

* Joseph notes that something “hits him square in the face” right at the beginning of the episode; he seems to be referring to the nature of the central horror, which he mentions Dom likely picked up on much earlier in their playthrough.
* The conversation about the hall (“perhaps it’s a wardrobe?”) is a reference to *The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe*, specifically the wardrobe itself and the scene in which the White Witch plies Edmund with Turkish delight.