Wide Open Anomaly episode 4

Absence has only sought to make the heart grow fonder now Commander Bob is back with his tales of the adventures of his eponymous hero Arthur Morgan: how has our hero fared? read on dear reader prepare to be amazed!

Reprinted by permission of Commander Bob

Originally presented on
Victor Sierra Official Facebook page

9-Wide Open Anomaly (The Boys from Potemkine-02)
by Commander Bob

"He wasn't a commander at all but we called him that because of his behavior, ha ha ha! He was an apprentice sailor at the time as we all were but yet he wanted to direct everything deep down in the bowels of the big ship. Ha ha.."
The driver keeps on laughing and speeding in the night.
Trying to curb his panic, Arthur Morgan doesn't understand how he can keep the car on the glistening icy road at this insane pace and he could barely see through the windscreen.
"But…"
"No more questions before we meet the boys, please Mr Morgan!"
All right, thinks the reporter, everything is fine, I live this kind of nightmare everyday…
"At least, can I know your name?"
"Yes, call me K, Joseph K."
"Okay, Mister K."
After half an hour of bumping and hopping in the Zim, they arrive at what Morgan makes out as a port because of the vague sound of waves hitting the wharf and the heavy smell of salt, when the young man stops and kills the engine and says: "Do you see it?"
The reporter strains to see something in the dark through the dirty frosted windscreen.
"What are you talking about?"
"Get out of the car and you'll see it."
He struggles with the door-handle and pushes the door with difficulty, suddenly he freezes at the echoing noise the grating has produced. Looking around he finally makes out the black painted side of an enormous ghost-like ship in the night.
"But… but it's…"
"Yes it's a ship!".
He shines the flashlight onto the ship's prow and big letters appear between patches of rust on the eroded black metal: "Потёмкин" (Potemkine).
"You're speechless Mr Morgan huh?"
"But is this the real battleship Potemkine?"
"What else? Yes it's the real one and Commander Bob was aboard with us when shit happened, believe me I wouldn't have risked bringing you here if it wasn't worth it. Come on, the boys are waiting for us."
They climbed a half-burned wooden ramp and Morgan moves forward very cautiously step by step for the creaks are amplified by the deafening reverberation on the side of the ship. Once on the deck, looking around him he realizes how the ship is decaying, boards are missing on the floor and he can't see any metal parts free of rust. There are still traces of harsh combats on walls and one of the chimney shows a big hole in its middle. No way this ship can sail, thinks the reporter, as he follows the man who leads him towards a metal door that clangs loudly open to a poorly lit gangway. Everything seems dirty and burned and he's overcome by the heavy smell of grease and petrol floating in the confined atmosphere. Morgan and K walk through several other gangways and security doors and as they pass by a cabin bearing a copper plate: "радиоприёмник"
("Radio"), he makes out the operator's back, headphones on his head in the feeble light, manipulating a model 1939 communication device's switch and rotary buttons saying: "Calling center… This is Battleship Potemkine calling center… requesting instructions please…over".
"Don't panic", K whispers, "some of us are partly living in parallel worlds!"
Morgan feels totally at lost wondering in which lunatic asylum he is, and after having stumbled one more time, he begins to hear shouts and laughs and the muffled sound of a radio… and someone singing:
"… Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler, if you think we're on the run…