Soviet Survival Suit by MrAgent (WebArchive)

Her job as a consultant to an international NGO took her all over the globe. This latest assignment had her operating in Dagestan in Russia. She dabbled in a bit of urban exploring on the side, so she was excited to see that she was close to Derbent on the Caspian Sea, where could be found the semi-abandoned remains of the USSR’s Lun-class ekranoplan.

This was a gigantic ground-effect vehicle, neither plane nor ship, a kind of hovercraft measuring 240 feet long and 65 feet high. Only this single one alone had been built to completion and put into operation, but it had subsequently been left derelict by the Russian military for years.

When she had a few days free to herself, she made her way to the site, telling no one of her plans because, while word was that security at the location was nonexistent, she didn’t want her coworkers to know about this little expedition. No sense putting them in an awkward position. They might feel compelled to discourage her from possibly stirring up mild trouble with the local officials if she got caught.

The ekranoplan was everything she had hoped, a vast and dilapidated hulk slowly moldering away, looking very much like a captured alien spacecraft. There was nothing else like it, as sometimes Soviet science had rocketed out to the very verge of the possible, cheerfully disregarding archaic notions of common sense and feasibility. Sure, it had actually worked, but only in defiance of cheaper and more logical alternatives. She easily could visualize an angered commissar pounding a desk and shouting “Comrade Sapoznikov, you’ve gone mad!”, while said designer laughed maniacally.