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OUTCAST 83
He sat smiling in his chair, looking around the cleanly tidied white with a matte tint interior of his ship, silvery walls, plasma with elegant Polina (he came up with a new outfit for her, having downloaded it from a fashion site). She said with her pleasant timbre that the flight was proceeding normally, five more days to the destination. For two weeks of the flight, I was in high spirits. It turned out that in such a state it was even more difficult to endure the flight and forced inaction in a confined space without communication with the outside world than if you were flying in melancholy and sadness.Sanya played chess as best he could, but this, of course, could not distract from worries about a future trip through time and, possibly, a meeting with Chernaya. Changing musical tracks, I turned in my hands a carved medieval golden key on a leather cord, looked at cast patterns on it and intricate hieroglyphs. I remembered day after day, evening after evening, moment after moment,
OUTCAST 84
Turntables, ripping up the blue summer sky with smoky jets of NURSs, plowed a section of the track in an open area near the edge. Having gained a little height, they went to the circle, so that in a minute they would return and hit again. Ratmir with officers and guards in three jeeps noticed two black circles approaching from behind the clouds in time, turned off the asphalt into the forest, hiding under the crowns of trees. This saved them from the first blow. But the pilots of the Antean pair of fire support helicopters had already seen these three machines and bit the bit, imbued with hunting excitement. Their rumble over the forest began to grow again, now they will beat at random, covering the green sea under them, they will feel below with thermal imagers and metal detectors, look out with their eyes, reflections of the painted sides of the car or, maybe, dust from under the wheels. Abandoning the cars, the Ramirs scattered and a loose flock of saigas ran deep into the thicket,
OUTCAST 85
“The diamond coffin that Seth lured Osiris into was cheaper than this box,” Daniel Fogg touched the luminous blue case of the medical capsule and freezer in one bottle with his finger.- Do you feel sorry for the money? Powell asked, solemn as before a prayer, in a strict black suit, with a neatly trimmed gray beard, standing at the control panel of this wonderful machine, a unique apparatus, his brainchild.- Too big risks. It has never been tested on humans, and immediately on such a patient. And the donor is doubtful.- She was checked from all sides, she fits exactly.- I'm not talking about medical indications. Psychologically, you may not be ready. The fact that she went through an initiation through Death does not mean that she will go through Love as well. Without verification, it is dangerous to immediately put into action.- Wagner passed, and they are from the same test.- OK let's see. Such stakes, and it all depends on one girl.- She loves him. Here, she’s already coming
OUTCAST Epilogue
We were again alone on the same sidewalk of a narrow street in a seaside town. Indistinct music was heard from the cafes along the coast, and there was a wall of cypresses and tall yellow grass all around. We ended up at that point and second at which we parted many, many lives ago, in that August, when the local sea is the hottest, and the nights are warm, like fresh milk, and the smell of flowers is dense, like a wall.It was us, but not us. She had visibly matured, it was no longer the same young girl with electric sparks in her black eyes. Wrinkles, bitterness and memories of many years and destinies were written on her face. I, too, felt like an old doll taken out of the closet, faded and dusty.- I love you, I've been looking for you all these years, I could not calm down, I've been looking for you century after century - in all galaxies. I can't live without you, I traded everything for this moment to bring you back. I can't be happy without you, let me come back to you.I spok
OUTCAST 1
I do it sometimes. I'm crazy, what do you think? - may be. Not often, but sometimes I want to - and I do it. If you turn everything off and turn nothing on. I mean turn everything off. And then there is silence and darkness. At first, it's stressful. I can’t believe that, really, nothing will now burst through some sense organs into your brain. You need to sit in this for a couple of minutes to believe, to make sure that in fact absolutely nothing is seen or heard, nothing touches you, does not impose itself and does not take your attention.The clock is turned off and it is impossible to understand how long the buzz of emptiness lasts. But it feels like it's short. Then the fear begins. No need to be afraid, you need to continue to sit and listen to yourself. The fierce horror from the emptiness grows quickly and suddenly it already seems that something is about to burst from animal fear. From that momentary joy of freedom nothing remains, nothing frightens as much as nothing. It doe
OUTCAST 2
Realizing that the program would now be buggy for about five minutes, I was distracted by the news bulletin on the air. An hour ago, Argun fighter aircraft took off from the airfields in Urga and Morabon. Despite the expectation of a strike, 30 "hawks" caught the Horde by surprise. They suppressed part of the air defense, lost 5 vehicles and retreated to the east, meeting the Horde fighters, who raised the alarm and flew to rescue Kaulnin. After 30 minutes, 10 heavy bombers approached Kaulnin, at the same time strategic silo-based complexes reached the target. The air defense of the Horde shot down 2 complexes out of 4. The surviving 2 hit the power plant and the communications center, cutting down the light below and, accordingly, communications. 5 bomb carriers plowed the airfield, turning the runways, all ground buildings, planes and helicopters standing on the ground into a mess. Another five bombers marched west of the city on the location of the 22nd division, covering Kaulnin,
OUTCAST 3
Do you think he was able to pass 20 wagons like that? - could. From the third car, he simply stopped distinguishing people in front of him - he walked, as if pushing through thickets or swam through some kind of viscous muck. This was not invented in any computer shooter. Three soldiers who were with him this march, having left the last car, collapsed exhausted into the mud. Ratmir came across a wooden pallet and lay down on it. An electric locomotive whistled ahead, Ratmir waved his hand, and 600 lucky evacuees slowly crawled eastward in a cheerful string of lights. Their savior got up from the pieces of wood to meet the next echelon, surprised that for some reason his lower jaw and eyes were tired the most. He didn't feel his arms or legs at all.Yesterday, almost simultaneously with the air raid on Kaulnin, the Argunians went on the offensive with their ground units, surprisingly and shamefully easily, using the surprise factor, crushing the Horde troops covering the border. The Ur
OUTCAST 4
I have several rules for playing the stock market.First, I am a classic conservative player. So I play slowly and carefully. Of course, those who do not take risks do not drink champagne, but I do not like champagne either. I saw risky guys - they very quickly switch to vodka, and then disappear, leaving debts and suicidal remarks in the chat.Second, my personal. I don't play the stock market where I do something else.Therefore, I am now immediately looking for something to play away from the Apollo Z system, although there are now jumping rates because of the war, like announced ones, and you can earn money. There's a reason I'm not going into Zera's system right now.First, I looked at the interest rates on time deposits. The dictatorship in system X Harpies on the 7th planet gets government loans at 5(!)%. It's a well-known fact, this is not good, the budget there, most likely, will collapse soon, their business smells like a revolution, a civil war or the collapse of the empire