2023-01-19 04:02:42
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Corporation 52
Comunidades Rocinha woke up in the morning like a patient coming out of a coma - not so much waking up as returning to life, slowly receding from the black edge of the night, behind which is only the impenetrable darkness of eternal silence.Even the cold glare of the wandering electric light penetrating the human anthill in the night did not brighten up the deathly lifelessness into which the communidades plunged after sunset. In fact, this swarm of fireflies, scurrying between luridly built on top of each other, half-abandoned self-made human colonies, remained the only tribute to the life that once boiled around, which remained noticeable to an outside observer. Otherwise, only the bluish Cherenkov glow of the sky on a rainy night could diversify the dreary silence of the extinct favela.No, people still lived here, the bowl-shaped valley at the foot of Ponta das Andorinhas still enjoyed its once infamous, attracting biohackers, crypto-farmers and other rabble from all over Rio, wh
Corporation 53
Eleanor frowned. She liked what was happening less and less. You have to be blind not to see a heavy power holster with a retract-return mechanism under the arm of a deconesido. If desired, the barrel could be in the hands of a stranger in a split second. Madre mia, what diabos is going on here at all?“Hey, kid, stop siphoning, you’re not at your checkout.Eleanor sighed, Pita would no longer mind his own business, I also found a defender, his snot can be beaten. However, Desconesido did not pay the slightest attention to all the invectives.“So, señora, can I count on a little help from you?”“Depending on what we are talking about, our capabilities are very limited.- Business conversation, respect. You have on board,” the deconesido nodded in the direction of the Abrigo, “you have a third-class universal bioreactor that is quite capable of covering our current needs.- And what kind of drug do you need? Perhaps we have it in stock in the refrigerator, synthesis is not a quick busi
Corporation 54
The descent took place regularly, on five kamees in a corridor specially allocated for that, which, as if in itself, already caused a nervous itch in Kovalsky's palms. How many thousands of hours it takes to fly along black tracks to completely lose any idea of how it is in general to calmly, following the instructions of the dispatcher, enter from the halo orbit to the finish arc of the Lissajous orbit. Most navigators in the Sol systems, when you think about it, didn't feel anything else. Ever since the once-precious triproton began to sell on the inter-corporate market at the price of platinoids, even such a banal thing as a gravitational maneuver was now mentioned exclusively by old-school tracers that exchanged the second ten turns in the Kuiper belt. The youth habitually shuttled along the inner orbits on the active back and forth in comfortable conditions under gravity.With such skills, youngsters simply would not be smart enough to disobey the navigation cabin or, say, fa
Corporation 55
Here Kowalski almost stumbled. This conversation was clearly not intended for other people's ears, so why is the commander broadcasting all this to him? She could not turn on the channel by accident, she did not make such mistakes, it was simply impossible.Meanwhile, the egg-headed baby answered:- The reasons of Romulus are generally very few people understand, but yes, I know my goal. And I'll try to finish the job; I don't need to look back at my own sense of self-preservation. After all, I am no less interested in the successful outcome of our experience today. Behind him is much more than all the plans of Romulus or his Companions, behind him is our scientific career with my brother, and this for us is much more precious than life.- And it’s not scary to put all of it on a single experience?Scary is not the right word. But what are my options. The emitter exists in a single copy, it just so happened. If there were at least two of them in stock, we would have tried to play it s
Corporation 56
The outer edge of the hollow ended here as abruptly as night falls in deep space - once, and as if cut off with a knife. Just a second ago, the cone of the running searchlight rested against an even series of obliquely lined beds, where mechanical "argonauts" worked around the clock, and now under you, as far as the eye can see, there is only viscous blackness, in the bowels of which rare sparkles of deep "snow" only emphasized the deadly the lifelessness of this dense, terrifying nothingness.Divers of the old school called this view of the empty open space "blue", as if as a kind of mocking allegory for the state of nitrogen anesthesia - whoever caught it at least once will understand that, of course, the blue color did not spend the night so deeply. Five "ka" from the surface of the hydrosphere, here, even in the near-IR range, the sensors far from the rifts gave a uniform illumination of the background temperature of one and a half centigrades, and solar photons had not penetrated
Corporation 57
But Petra remained deaf to his sarcasm. Opening the door to the inner airlock, she waved him through. While the decompression was going on, both were silent. Just as silently and without saying a word at the exit, both turned into the second hatch to the left.It was quiet in the cabin-company, the usual twilight reigned there, and only in the corner quietly fiddled, rattling glasses, the robotic cleaner.— Now, probably, all flights will be canceled. The Argonauts will be lured there to wait.- Nothing, your "Argonauts" will not rust. They have a reserve resource for three months. Their cargo has been waiting for them for a million years, and it will still wait. The microtome does not go out at zero.- Yes I know. It's just infuriating that all this secrecy interferes with work.- Whom hinders, whom and does not hinder. You don’t think that all this colossus was built here for the sake of exploring the depths, in such and such a distance?“The Hamza Estuary is a natural phenomenon, a
Corporation 58
Following was its basic function.Following as an instinct, as behavioral mechanics, as an algorithm hardwired into basic motor skills, from which you can’t get rid of, you can’t deviate.So the Danaid butterfly, having barely left the diapause, is immediately ready to set off along the most difficult route many thousands of kilometers to the north, which will take four generations. Focusing on the ultraviolet radiation of the sun, geomagnetic lines and traces of pheromones of other butterflies, a lone danaid is able to unmistakably and tirelessly move forward, overcoming oceanic expanses and mountain ranges without landing.Butterfly-danaid cannot be called smart, strong, accurate or hardy. She was simply born for this in the chain of generational change of living navigational instruments like her.In the same way, he could not be called fully alive, he could not be overly smart - at times, extra intelligence only hinders the achievement of the goal, but he could well be considered a
Corporation 59
I would like you to be specific. Because you know perfectly well what we are preparing for. You, like all people on this planet who have experienced the Time of Death, are familiar with the Warning.The target's face was literally contorted with rage at this point.— Do not fool me with this prophetic nonsense of yours, Urban, you perfectly understand what I mean. Heavy weapon conflicts are on the rise throughout the Sol system, the blockade of Muna last year required the in-person attendance at a convention of the super directors of five Big Ten corporations to resolve it, and what it cost to Mother's economy still cannot be calculated, and you ask me "specify"?“We have nothing to do with these conflicts,” the doll snapped.- To a massive capture of deep-sea rifts and coasts too?“You know very well that since the end of the Corporation War, we have not interfered in their affairs. In a sense, we no longer exist for them. If you had less contact with various conspiracy theorists...
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Epilogue
Deprived of the present - does not live, deprived of the past - was not even born. I don’t remember who said so, all these books merged into one mess for me during the flight. But, returning in my thoughts to my life on Earth, I cannot help but think about the Corporation, and I cannot help but think about the fate that brought me to the Corporation. The place where I grew up has long ceased to be a sleepy town far from the big and noisy world, the suburbs of the metropolis have moved in on it, comparing hills and raising faceless towers of cheap high-rise housing around. The black cubes of factory buildings, lined with light-absorbing tiles, seemed to be the focus of secrets in the dark and musty chaos of thousands of people who were not interested in anything; no one thought about it. I hardly remember when Corporations appeared in our lives. Sometimes I feel like they've always been there. The faceless masters of the world, at first they were somewhere far, far away. Not here. Per
82
The roof breathed a thick smell of hot metal, the sun was so hot that even the familiar tropics of the lower levels seemed like a resort from the coast of the Northern Ocean. In such places, in the middle of the realm of dusty iron and a web of wires creaking in the barely perceptible wind, a normal person will not linger. And if you remember the composition of the local air, full of carbon monoxide rather than oxygen, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking - why did you get here, run away from here, run ...There was little use for these thoughts. The introduction says clearly - the "patient" will try to break through here, and you should not worry about his plans, sweat between your shoulder blades and dry concrete crumb under your tongue. Whatever he is looking for here - he should not pass by. Neither alive nor already dead. If you do your job, you will head north, or even south, across the sea - it is dry there, there is no eternal smell of rivers rotting in the concrete bowel
81
The drowned city was empty again, and did not really have time to become a new home for immigrants from the Megapolis, which surrendered under the pressure of the Glacier. Until quite recently, life was in full swing here, shuttles took the last pax from the gravity well, heavy trucks delivered here and unfolded giant cubes of fabricators, but now everything was quiet, and only the quiet lapping of the waves of the Tethys Sea beat against the metal-polymer supports of the newly erected towers here.- Are you happy? she asked that day with what he thought was sincere curiosity.- Satisfied with what?“Because we leave this world alone.“Ah, that,” Romulus shrugged, “I will be pleased when they leave me alone. And Mother, she still does not hear us. She doesn't care what we think about her.- Stupid humanity tired even the all-powerful Romulus.- Don't bother with words. You have only lived with this for a quarter of a millennium, but I have been dealing with people for more than four h
80
Romulus climbed along the ridge with a measured step, from time to time looking back at the stone labyrinth of the Megapolis slowly plunging into the blue haze.Here, fifty kilometers from the edge of the Glacier, it looked quite familiar, if you do not remember how deep into the multi-year snow layers these stone skeletons now go. Towers, Bauhaus and palazzos sink deeper and deeper into the compressed ice pack every year. Go get it.Nothing, the fabricators have already reached the product capacity, releasing a million of their hardworking rats a day to the borders of the agglomeration.Romulus watched them work with his own eyes yesterday. Three individuals fiercely fought for a kilogram stub of monothread steel, zealously grinding their diamond cutters on it, only sparks flew around.These mechanical laborers will open any deposits of debris, make their way into the very hodgepodge of ceilings, dig their way into the depths of permafrost, but in the end they will wipe this abscess
79
We have seen a new humanity. People are weakened, divided, they will be even more crushed by the Age Outside, but sooner or later, one way or another, they will begin their expansion. But until that moment they cannot be left alone with Romulus. They need to be kicked in the ass into the Galaxy and locked up within the boundaries of the Barrier as much as possible.The guest thought, now for a long time. The clouds grew darker, the sunset faded, the snowflakes hit her cheek more and more painfully, and she stood still and was silent. Finally, when she spoke again, her voice was cold and formal.“I will speak to the soorn-infarh. But I don't promise anything.The redhead bowed again.“We couldn’t have hoped for more, wise one.” But I can see that something is bothering you.“Romulus confuses me. Will he fall into such a trivial trap?- Who knows who knows. Perhaps they themselves want to be deceived.The guest gave a short nod and moved away, through the oncoming gusts of a piercing no
78
The three from the chest were comfortably seated at the very edge of the cliff. One of them, a tall, desperately red-haired old man, waved his arms all the time, trying to jump up and run, in every possible way depicting general excitement. The other two, on the contrary, reclined comfortably in hammocks, pulling their blankets up to their chins, and hardly moved. A slight, but at the same time filled with internal contentment, a smile wandered on the face of both.All three would look very suspicious to an outsider's eye - what fate brought them to this windy land and what was the purpose of their today's observation, even the most desperate detective could not figure out, even if one happened so far south of Maharashtra.But in fact, there was no one here for a long time and reliably. The Goan land lay empty, and only the cold winter wind carried dust whirlwinds along these once populous lands, throwing handfuls of sand in the face of a random oncoming one.But these three were not
77
And what, it's even reasonable on their part. Less emotion, less stigma, less inevitable exophobia. It makes less sense to talk about something.Inside the makeshift conference room, to which the gateway led, already gathered, meanwhile, quite decently people. Apparently, their shuttle did not arrive first.It is necessary to get out somewhere far away to the side, very few people here would like to see him alive, let alone face to face. However, he was lucky, there was still a pleasant exception.- Companion Urban.— Ilmari Olsson.Both nodded briefly to each other, but not at all in the way that Lilia nodded to him when they met. Two intense gazes, clinging for a second in the surrounding crowd, managed to show each other enough emotions to immediately calmly part. Unlike the Companion of Ulysses, they always knew how to disperse peacefully with Urban. Of all the Companions, only Jean Armal still retained a certain amount of humanity. After all, only he knew what it was like to phys
76
The evacuated moon domes were far more depressing than he had expected. Live on Krasnaya for a couple of dozen turns, and you will no longer be surprised by its lifeless expanses. The lifestyle there was such that everyone seemed to be afraid of both this sand and each other. For a thousand sols you can not meet a single living soul, only chains of heavy copters stretching in the bloody skies remind that this world is inhabited by someone. But Muna... Muna in his memories was always a grandiose covered anthill, where everyone was in a hurry somewhere. The main staging post of the Sol system has remained the true heart of the Sol system since its inception.So it was before Ceres. And so it was before the Arrival.Now, looking at the empty galleries inside the domes and the cleared launch pads beyond, he only thought about what they had missed.What happened to the people who once set foot on the gray lunar regolith in the hope of developing a new frontier? The easiest way was to say t
75
The onboard observatory of the flagship, although it was focused on tracking objects located no further than a hundred kilometers from the Sun, nevertheless, gave a background image rich in details and colors, enriched with spectra outside the visible range from microwave to hard X-ray inclusive. The resulting composite panoramic banner only at first glance resembled the familiar picture of the starry sky - the former tracer did not need to be reminded of what deep space usually looks like to the naked eye. The white pupil of the distant Sun and the barely noticeable points of the brightest stars plus the planets, that's the whole poor visual range. Immediately at the disposal of the navigator, free from other activities, was given the multi-colored world of the contours of the Galaxy and entire star placers of the nearest cluster.When looking at this rich panel, made up of billions of stars, gas clouds, globular clusters and nebulae of the nearest galaxies, for once it became clear
