An hour later I gave up. Packed in a canvas cover theodolite. I arranged and drove into the hard crust the sharp tips of a metal tripod. I put the theodolite logbook in my pocket and put my feet into the ski mounts.

I was annoyed. More than an hour – stood! The guys during this time managed to go three kilometers ahead. If not more! And CUB dragged to the end of the breakdown. Now they are standing on a small pond and waiting.

Snow on the Taimyr Peninsula is not at all the same as on the mainland. This snow is hard. Shoveled a hundred times, endless blizzards. Caked and frozen from frost in a strong crust. Skis do not slide on the crust. Because crust is very hard, like sandpaper.

In a topographic detachment they don’t ski like athletes. We work without ski poles. Carrying everything you need for work. Sawn logs for hanging profile. Batteries and bulbs for brand lighting. Pickets.

I always wear a theodolite with a tripod. I measure horizontal and vertical angles. I write the results of measurements in a special journal. Noting in this magazine pickets of brands and the distance between them.

It was getting dark. I went down the gentle slope of the hill. I tried to stay closer to the tractor track. A sharp wind – sec, the skin of my face. I had to hide from the wind – a mitten. Feeling my face periodically. In order not to miss the frostbite that has begun.

– Ahhhhhh …

I heard a subtle and slurred scream. This sound rang out to the limit of audibility and I stopped. New scream. Weak and barely distinguishable. I heard it, as if to my right. There was no more screaming – groan. A faint moan? Women or baby. Maybe I hear it, only inside my head? It seemed?

I cursed mentally and still decided to check. Does it scream me or not? I climbed to the top of the next hill and went around a group of large boulders. Now I had to go against the wind and I went down to a ravine with steep slopes.

At the bottom of the ravine lay a teenager half-buried in snow. I managed to make out. He was dressed in the national clothes of the peoples of the Far North. From deer fur, with the name – pajik. On their feet were dressed, embroidered with beads – untaikas. The teenager did not see me and sobbed quietly. When he noticed me, he stopped crying. He waved his hand, calling to himself.

What happened to you? I asked. How did you get here?

– Help, man! – answered me a thin, slightly hoarse voice – The deer was frightened of something and threw me off! My leg is broken. Help!

Girl, or what? I thought. Since when, local nationals began to ride deer? How did it get so far from human habitation?

I answered her – Of course! I will help! Now I will take you to our CUB! I'll call the helicopter on the radio, which will take you to the hospital.

Saying this in a soothing voice, I carefully lifted the girl in her arms. Trying not to hurt. Since her right leg was twisted and stuck to the side. As soon as I turned in the direction of the tractor track, the girl hid in my hands.

– No, man! Only not in your self-propelled beam! She vigorously protested. Bring to another place. Get over there! To the hill!

– There's nothing there. Boulders alone! – I objected.

– Everything's there. There is a doctor and a hospital!

The blizzard continued to intensify and began to howl already. There was no time for altercation.

– Okay – I succumbed to the stormy pressure of the girl – On the hill, so on the hill. Only – an agreement. If there is nothing there, I carry you to CUB!

I turned around. The wind now began to hit my right cheek. I went to the next hill the girl was pointing to. The top of which, at times completely disappeared, behind the dense jets of the blizzard that began.

– And now where? – I asked. We were on top of a snowy hill. Dotted with huge boulders.

– Over to that stone, please drop me down there too.

I lowered the girl next to the boulder. She leaned on her healthy leg. I held her. Just in case, for the belt. Here, at the top, gusts of wind hit especially hard. The stubborn right shin, for sure, was – broken.

The girl moaned softly, holding on to me with one hand. With her other hand, she reached for the stone. What happened then. Made me doubt my sanity.

The girls barely touched the surface of the boulder, which had been corroded by time. How a thin, rapidly expanding crack appeared in it. The top of a huge boulder silently slipped to the side and hung in the air, as if it did not weigh anything.

– Well, what are you, man! – the girl whimsically called – Do not stand a pillar. Help!