...In one agonizing national moment, Bella’s memory recalled her old and smart friend, Zahar Olovsky, who had taught her to look deeply into surrounding events, between their layers, and analyzed before making full judgment. And now strangely, it seemed to her like history was repeating itself. Her mind brought up some children’s book where the author wrote about a big family who stayed strong as they remained together; and, how vulnerable they would become apart.

     The USSR’s crumbling situation mirrored that cynical story when a once strong unit scattered away, facing both internal and external conflicts. On top of that, all fifteen republics suddenly forgot their history and accused Russia of domination, as if they ever could have really been strong independently, and had a better life on their own.

     Forced by the political extremists, national groups began moving, people’s attitudes changed, families divorced, economies declined, and aggression increased. Outside the borders, Russians were harassed, and republics that not long ago had sworn their loyalty, began to brutally push them out.

     Hungry, impudent, remorseless, and ambitious new young politicians showed up out of nowhere. A wave of migrants surged into Russian regions, but the authorities weren’t ready to provide them with aid or legalize their status. And poor people, especially families of mixed nationality, left their belongings and became outcasts inside the Russia. They were ready to do farm work, and they went to the countryside, but without being registered in those regions, nobody would give them land or allow them to build a house.

     People were agitated. They gathered at meetings, shouted, and created all kinds of demands. The authorities listened to them, cited different obstacles, but didn’t change anything except to increase their own safety. So far, the army was shattered and disorganized, too.

     Troops from abroad were sent into the middle of nowhere, and the generals weren’t brave enough to buck the new establishment and reshape the army. Conversely, they allowed their officers and soldiers to fall into starvation and homelessness, instead of leading them to get up from their knees, and protect themselves and their nation.

     The stress was added by media, where people read the naked truth from newspapers and watched the horror stories unfold in the TV reports which were causing frustration and panic. Finally, the decaying effects of economic and political amnesia crept into Bella’s North Pole city...