//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 Witness // Story: Nueva-Delhi and the Snow Catastrophe // by oranzinispegasas //------------------------------// Vasilly and Nueva-Delhi ventured deeper into the room and noticed a cat sitting against the wall. "Max?!" exclaimed Vasilly, taken aback. "Hey, Vasya," replied Max glumly. "Did he trap you here too?" "Who's 'he'?" asked Nueva-Delhi. "Alex Vetrov," Max responded, sounding slightly encouraged. "Vetrov?" Vasilly repeated, astonished. "What does he have to do with this?" Max hesitated, then glanced away sheepishly. "Well... I didn't mean to... It just happened..." "What are you talking about?" cried Nueva-Delhi, shivering from the cold. Indeed, the longer they stayed there, the colder it got. "He's the one who broke the reservoirs," Max said seriously. "What?" exclaimed both Nueva-Delhi and Vasilly simultaneously. "But why would he do that?" Vasilly asked. "And how do you even know this?" "I saw Vetrov breaking the reservoirs," Max replied. "And he noticed me and put me here. Said I'd stay here until the plant closes."Max hugged himself, releasing puffs of steam from his mouth. "No food, no water." Nueva-Delhi was simply astounded. This plant never ceased to amaze her. A manager breaking reservoirs with a hammer, then locking a worker in the freezer until the plant closed! Unimaginable cruelty! "You know," suddenly said Vasilly, "the day before that ill-fated excursion, Vetrov let me off work early. There was a faulty water pipe I was supposed to fix, but Vetrov approached me and said my work here was done and I could go. I wanted to argue, but he insisted I needed some rest." "And you left?" asked Nueva-Delhi. Vasilly grinned wryly. "Yeah," he replied. "Who wouldn't want to leave work early?" "That's so irresponsible," shook her head Nueva-Delhi. "Oh, spare me," rolled his eyes Vasilly. "Besides, the responsibility was no longer on me, but on Vetrov." "Interesting, how were you going to justify yourself if he suddenly decided to throw you under the bus?" observed Nueva-Delhi. "I... Um..." Vasilly faltered. "I didn't think about that." "There it is," replied Nueva-Delhi. "But what foolishness!" interjected Max, even standing up. "Why would Vetrov want to frame Vasilly? What did he do to him?" "Yeah," echoed Vasilly. "What did I do to him?" Nueva-Delhi looked embarrassed and smirked. "Well," she said, "apparently, nothing. But if you had stayed, perhaps disasters could have been avoided." "If only," mocked Vasilly. "Let's focus on the present, not what's already happened. We're all animals, and we all make mistakes." "Fine," replied Nueva-Delhi. "I have a hypothesis as to why Aleks Vetrov did this. After all, we didn't gather various pieces of evidence for nothing. Now we can piece together the whole picture." "Oh?" said Vasilly skeptically. "And what might that be?" Nueva-Delhi cleared her throat. "First, we met with Lapa," she began, "who made it clear to us that there's mass layoffs happening at the plant. Ivan further confirmed this idea, mentioning that Aleks Vetrov is behind all of this. Vetrov wanted to reduce the workforce to solve the plant's financial problems." "Right," nodded Vasilly. "But why did he need to destroy the plant in the end?" "Remember the conversation we overheard?" Nueva-Delhi asked. "You eavesdropped?" scolded Max. "Well..." Vasilly chuckled nervously. "It just happened," replied Nueva-Delhi, equally embarrassed. "But that's not important now. Vetrov was displeased with Agatov's behavior and the overall slow pace of modernizing the plant. It seems Agatov sided with the workers and didn't want such rapid modernization, while Vetrov insisted on full automation of the plant." "I still don't understand," shook his head Vasilly. "Why did he break the reservoirs? Why wait for the plant to close?" "It's all crystal clear," replied Nueva-Delhi with a smile. "Agatov and Vetrov often clashed, and these conflicts didn't help solve the financial problems. Obviously, Vetrov grew tired of bankrolling the plant. And if we recall, the plant has been struggling financially for the past few years. Besides, Vetrov can't just terminate the contract with the plant. Their families have worked together for many generations." "And he decided to just destroy it?" asked Max. "But isn't that so foolish? Damaging the plant won't just lead to its closure!" "Well, it's a bit more complicated than that," replied Nueva-Delhi. "You're right, Vetrov isn't that foolish. He didn't intend to permanently shut down the plant. He just needed a small break." She paced back and forth thoughtfully. "If we think like him— not about the well-being of the workers and the community, but about ourselves— then Vetrov's main problem was the workers." "The workers?" Vasilly echoed, exchanging glances with Max. "Is it because we weren't meeting his schedule?" "Yes, you're reasoning correctly," nodded Nueva-Delhi. "The workers were falling behind his schedule. And, based on the statistics, the situation had only worsened in recent years. So he decided to mechanize everything. Machines wouldn't fail him like the workers did. But, as you can imagine, quickly replacing all the workers with machines wasn't feasible. Ivan was creating them slowly, and Agatov was slowing down the process even more, unwilling to dismiss the unfortunate workers who already saw him as a villain. That's when Vetrov's patience ran out. He decided to frame the rebellious workers and slow down production. That way, he'd kill two birds with one stone. He'd get rid of the workers once and for all, proving the harm they caused, and buy time to mechanize the remaining plant departments." For several minutes, Vasilly and Max stared at Nueva-Delhi, gaping in astonishment. Nueva-Delhi shivered from the cold again, releasing clouds of breath from her nostrils. "It's so cold here," she protested. "Brrr..." "But if he had just released Max," Vasilly pointed out, "everyone would have known the truth." "Tell me," said Nueva-Delhi seriously, "who would the people believe more: a simple worker or a wealthy, famous sponsor?" Vasilly fell silent. "That's it," replied Nueva-Delhi, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Shouting about it now, as Max suggested, might have had some impact and seriously tarnished Vetrov's reputation. But when it all comes to pass, it'll be too late. Max's words will fall on deaf ears, as Vetrov will have already spun a more calculated and logical narrative." Finally, Nueva-Delhi sat down. Vasilly and Max also settled in different corners, feeling bewildered. Max let out a deep sigh. "That's the way the cookie crumbles," said Nueva-Delhi sadly. "How despicable of him!" exclaimed Vasilly angrily, pounding his fist on the floor.