Part 2: Chapter 16 Epilogue Summary

Gordon, now a second lieutenant and just coming off a service assignment in Moscow, cleans up in a river with a man named Dudorov, a major. They cannot identify the river, but guess it may be the Christina, named after a war heroine that had infiltrated the German lines and blown up a fortification. She had died during the mission and is considered a war martyr. This leads to reminiscing about World War II and the sufferings while being prisoners of war. The conversation turns to collectivism as being the wrong thing to do, but also a mistake to which nobody could admit.

The two soldiers remember the horrors of the World War II. As it turns out, one of the soldiers had taught Christina while she was still young and during a time when students reeducated teachers in...