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OUTCAST 29
- All right, I'll give you the opportunity to talk to the two detainees. Only without a camera. They look bad. Don't look at me like that. There is a war, and they are prisoners of war. My counterintelligence worked with them. No one will accuse me of anything, I did not break the law, but there is no need to show it.Major Kloss was sitting on a cot in his tent, wearing a T-shirt, rubbing his thick chest hair with his hand. His boots beside him, topped with wet socks, rested his bare feet. On a stool next to the cot was a glass of tea and a tray of sweets.- I should not let the press go to the prisoners, but I respect Fadir and trust you. These guys - captured militants can no longer be helped. But I would like you to have the intelligence and professionalism to bring their stories to others. To those just like them. There are billions of them in the galaxies. They were not brought here by faith. She brought a dream of justice and that they have the right to happiness. It was only l
OUTCAST 30
This library seemed dark last time, but now there was normal light from the lamps in the ceiling. It was clear that this was a rather spacious hall, connected by an arch to the next one, and then to another one - it was not known where these rows of shelves with books, folders and individual sheets in files stretched.A middle-aged woman librarian, with blond hair tied in a bun, in a strict skirt just below the knees and in a blue blouse, climbed down the ladder, carefully stepping on the floor with her feet in shoes with low heels. She smiled at me, I smiled too.“I wanted to take you something for tea, like cookies and jam, but somehow it turned out that I came without everything,” I said guiltily.“If you wanted, you brought it,” she said. And on a small low table appeared a jar of some dark jam and a plate of cookies. She reached behind a nearby rack and pulled out a boiling electric kettle.She poured boiling water into transparent faceted glasses in copper coasters, where the bl
OUTCAST 31
She used to walk her big black dog here every night. The dog was already running and calmly sat at her feet. She - again in a long black coat with silver patterns, in black boots with metal stilettos, in soft leather gloves - looked into the distance of the dark city, to where the outlines were lost and trees were only guessed, and behind them were the walls of houses. We stood together, she looked at me with interest, but was silent. They were silent together, because they liked not to break this silence, they liked just looking at this darkness, feeling each other and the dog next to each other.It seemed that we communicate with her not even exchanging thoughts, but communicating mood to each other. She was calm, well, and at the same time she remembered and dreamed. I suddenly had an understanding that she knows everyone in this city in general, remembers everything about everyone. And she loves them, and loves to fantasize about their future. Now it was clear that she knew everyt
OUTCAST 32
Three dozen women sat in two rows on chairs on the stage, playing some local stringed instruments like harps. Something soft and vibrant. The acoustics in the hall were not bad, the sound hung well under the spherical vaults, where hot sunbeams played among the blue windows. Beautiful maidens with amphoras of wine, bunches of grapes, and fruit trays were painted on the walls. And also snow-white birds, fluffy lions, huge kind elephants.The "virgins" on the stage were dressed somehow - some in torn rags, some in jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers, some in a local long dark dress. The performers were of all ages - young, adults and old. Everyone diligently pulled the strings and rejoiced at the sound of some kind of light melody.In the hall, children were sitting on tattered red seats, frightened, obviously hungry. The boys looked around anxiously, looking incredulously at the film crew. The girls jumped up from their seats and rushed to the journalists in a noisy crowd. They asked for sweets
OUTCAST 33
One shell hit the water and gave only a tall gray tight fountain, and the second turned the edge of the swamp and solid earth, raising a cloud of mud and slurry, groaning deafly in the ears and falling asleep with small branches, foliage, sticky pieces of soil. Breaking branches, a hopelessly dirty schmuck fell out of the bushes onto Ratmir. The face, streamlined with brown strokes, was recognizable as a lieutenant - the platoon commander, in whose stronghold it all happened. There was always almost nothing to see here because of dense shrubs and a solid wall of treetops above, which did not let in sunlight. But now, in the clouds of dirt raised by the explosions and fine suspension of water, plucked leaves and small branches, it was now completely impossible even to determine where anyone was. Instead of all landmarks, the only noticeable points were bright short erratic flashes of breaks. The sound was also not clear - it was impossible to determine the range and strength of the cla
OUTCAST 34
A cold autumn wind was blowing on Cathedral Square, the October sun did not warm the whole space, but roasted it pointwise, economically - aiming with a beam who you like, and giving a hot, tender kiss. The leader of the political opposition, Hammer, tall, relatively young, broad-shouldered and broad-browed, stood with me, hiding behind a bus, one of those with which we fenced off the square from the avenue. In general, we have frayed everything that is needed. He brings his supporters (three thousand were already here), all the time of the confrontation around the Cathedral, his people follow my orders regarding the defense. He takes all the political consequences and, if any, the benefits for himself. I don’t need anything further than the Council, he will speak to the press and then apply for the presidency.His people - young people, half under 20 years old, stood in a loose line along the line of buses and trucks, from which we made the first barrier against possible assault atte
OUTCAST 35
The filmmakers, all five of them, were sitting not far from Kloss's tent. It was amazing to feel with your asses how quickly the sand cools in the evening. Just hot, frying, and after fifteen minutes it is pleasantly warm, and after another fifteen minutes - chilling, drawing heat from the body, like a pump. The sun in these parts was setting quickly and it was getting dark just as quickly around. Crimson reflections on the horizon were already in a completely black sky, and in the battalion camp, lighting lanterns burned with juicy balls, searchlights searched the surroundings from the towers with tight white beams.There was an unusual bustle in the camp for this hour. Dinner was crumpled, the soldiers quickly choked on porridge and bread from plastic bowls right on the street, without going inside the dining room. They quickly washed down with tea, lined up and fled, another platoon ran in their place, huddled at the delivery window. The weapons hung on everyone's shoulder, or stuc
OUTCAST 36
Heavy trucks of the Guards hooked several of our buses and jerked them away, tearing them out of the chain. Two hundred equipped soldiers of the city guard went into the resulting rather wide passage, covering themselves with shields, rhythmically rattling rubber sticks against these shields. Rushed!The political, together with the ardat drug addicts, showed themselves steadfastly, not moving under the onslaught of the armored detachment. Clasping hands, they held the chain, the back ones held the front ones, the whole crowd yelled “Down with!”. The guards used sticks, the first blood flashed on someone's face, the chain broke, the people retreated a little, leaving five meters of empty space between themselves and the shields. The ultras of the blue-whites ripened to the place of the breakthrough, a cloud of cobblestones and bricks rained down on the soldiers. Stones banged against helmets with a clatter of bones, clinking loudly against shields. The guards backed a little, fans, po