“Molnija?” I asked as I picked up the watch to inspect it.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Fred answered. “You know them?”

“Soviet company. They started in 1947and operated for several decades after that.” I turned it over, opening up the back, and my heart skipped several beats. I looked up at Fred, but he was lost in some detail in one of the many folders on his lap. One of these days, I was going to have to insist that man join the modern age.

“You found this on his corpse.”

Fred nodded. “When we removed him from the old memorial. We didn’t want to open the casket, but it was in such bad shape that we didn’t have a choice. That’s when I found… that.”

“Did you read the inscription on the back?”

Fred nodded again. He did that a lot. Fred was a quirky guy, but a good one. “Ma’am, we have to make this public. It would change all of history.”

“I snapped the watch closed. “Go grab something period correct from Stores. Reinter him with that. Do not breathe a word of this to anyone, you understand?”

“But Ma’am!”  

“Not. A. word.”

Fred nodded and left. I reopened the back of the watch, and re-read the inscription. Спасибо, Борис Ельцин  “Computer,” I said into the air. “Translate this.” I held the watch back up to the ceiling monitor.

Thanks, Boris Yeltsin.

“Abe Lincoln, you old dog. You were way more than just a vampire hunter, weren’t you?”