Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37 06: ‘Comrade Doctor’

*“In which bones are examined, bowels are moved, a day trip is proposed, and the Doctor awakes feeling…listless.”*

## Comrade Doctor

### Players

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

### Podcast Link

MTSKh-37 06

The men decide to go visit the kolkhoz of Iurenkovo, but first explore the barn and pyre; Beo is not quite himself.

## Synoposis (Spoiler Warning)

### Intro

We are brought in to the scenario once again with quotes from the upcoming episode. Aside from recapping the events of the previous episode, the investigative panel scene notes the four men’s current state of cautious cooperation.

### Scene 1: Studies

Beo retired the previous night with an initial study of the annotated chemistry textbook he found during the previous day’s investigation. He sees it’s been altered and corrected, not just added to. Kopolev went to bed with the agricultural report, similarly studying its contents. While Kopolev and Fyodorov feel normal and well-rested after their night’s sleep, Beo wakes up lethargic. They find other men across both divisions feeling similarly unwell and sluggish.

Kopolev remarks on the agricultural report he read and recommends they go to a kolkhoz nearby, based on the information it contains. The report itself, he says, is an overview of the station’s output; initially the production was bad and there was a resistance to collectivization, responded to with force via mass arrests and executions, followed by a forced resettlement of the kolkhoz Iurenkovo to install “volunteers.” Production skyrocketed, the station was awarded with the experimental dairy farm, but output subsequently decreased. Kopolev suspects that any OGPU agents might be hiding in Iurenkovo, and that the thing in the silo might be the result of experiments gone awry.

### Scene 2: Stay or Go

Kopolev recommends they take a small contingent of men to Iurenkovo to try to determine whether there are any OGPU agents or other clues in that kolkhoz. Beo offers to stay behind at the tractor station to tend to the unwell men as well as finish reading through the annotated textbook, and they debate who of the two division sergeants should go with the away team. Beo opts to have Blochinstev and his division stay with him at the station camp, having Kovalevskii and his division accompany the others to Iurenkovo. Beo also wonders aloud if they should have a plan for retreat, should it become necessary. They plan for the trip to Iurenkovo to be brief. Before they take off, Beo mentions they have not looked closely at the pyres and asks if he should set the remaining men to work looking through them. Instead, they go to take a look prior to leaving for the kolkhoz.

### Scene 3: The List

The four officers decide not to take any of the soldiers with them to check the barn and pyres. A list of a hundred or more names written on the side of the barn catches Kopolev’s eye. While there are cattle bones clearly visible, a closer inspection at first unnerves Beo as he sees pleading faces asking him to heal them. As he shakes off this vision, he realizes that the majority of the pile of bones is in fact human, likely from over a hundred bodies.

> They burned them. They burned them all.
>
> Dr. ‘Beo’ Liubimova

Kopolev, reading the names on the list, realizes they are all civilians, including female as well as male names, written periodically in several hands. Kopolev asks Beo his opinion on why their bodies would have been burned, and the doctor offers a handful of plausible explanations. The trio debate whether to sift further through the remains and determine that if they were to do so, they should lead the attempt rather than leaving it to the men alone. They talk again about leaving, making Beo feel especially weary.

### Scene 4: The Movement

The other men inquire after Beo’s health, in particular his bowel movements, and enlist Dugov to inspect his latrine leavings. Dugov obliges, also giving Beo a cursory physical exam. His analysis does not uncover anything specifically wrong with the doctor. Beo still decides to stay despite a relatively clean bill of health. The other three head out to Iurenkovo.

Alone with his thoughts, Beo remembers his personal history, when as a younger man wearing a white uniform he traded lives with a dead Red Army officer.

## Important NPCs

* Blochinstev: one of two Sergeants in charge of a Red Army division.
* Dugov: a junior telegraph officer.

## Places

* Machine Tractor Station Kharkov-37
	+ Barn and pyre

## Quotes

DOM: “I don’t know where I’m from. Somewhere near the Avignon region, I think.”
DANANN: “We’re all Eurotrash.”

DOM: “Did you all just say hello to each other?”
DAN: “It’s the only thing we know how to say.”

DANANN: “I’m going with Dugov mainly to flush his head down the toilet for being such a nerd.”

JOSEPH: “He’s gonna spend luck on my shit?! Oh my god, we’re all gonna die.”

## Trivia

* Based on his reactions and utterances, Dom clearly knows what the Horror of this scenario is by this point, though his character of course does not.