2022-07-15 15:49:35
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THE OUTLAND 128
The torch died just as I found the second staircase leading to the level where, judging by the bracelet, the very spider I came to hunt should live. I hope it's not too big and not very poisonous.Something crunched under my foot, and I forcefully forced myself to take the next step. I really did not want to know what crushed just now. It will be easier to sleep later. The second torch lit up easily, quickly, the darkness receded again.And at that moment, on some reflexes, I staggered to the side, put the stick in front of me - and someone's jaws immediately closed on it. Or chewed. Or pedipalps—hell knows what the biting organs of arachnids are called. One way or another, he was waiting for me at the very stairs.- Oh, you!I pulled the stick out of the monster's grip by force and swung it hard. The stick hit an empty place - nature also did not offend the reaction of the spider. He jumped back, sat down on his hind legs, preparing to throw. I too froze, studying my opponent. It's o
THE OUTLAND 129
- Opa. Hello…Then I noticed a familiar stick out of the corner of my eye, lying right there, at the very feet of this ... This ... In general, the weapon was found. Not the fact, of course, that the same thing, but it will come in handy. You have to get too close to hit with a torch, and I'm not sure I want to get close to a creature of this size.As if having heard my thought, the creature took the first step, entering the illuminated space, and with difficulty I suppressed the very first urge to ask the rattle. To say that the creature was standing in front of me is huge - it's nothing to say! Taller, bigger and obviously heavier than me, the boss spider still had the same inhuman reaction! I barely had time to roll to the side when terribly huge, terribly sharp biters ripped the air above me."What are they called? - Flashed through my head. - I'll finish the session, and the first thing - on the wiki!"I waved the torch, but there was no one there. Silence and loneliness. Just dr
THE OUTLAND 130
Monday November gave way to August - also Monday. I don't know how people used to live when they had to go to jobs they didn't like just to avoid starving to death, but damn it I would stay in one place for more than a few days if it didn't meet some of my needs, did not reveal me in one way or another. Labor should ennoble a person, crush the monkey in him, and not reduce him to the state of a voiceless and brainless creature with trembling paws and a tunnel muzzled perception. That's why I'm here, having slept at six in the morning, only fifteen seconds ahead of Bauer's punctual as clock - he bowed his head politely in response to my greeting, went to his department. And I, of course, went to self-actualize in my own. There were the only people whose opinion meant anything to me, thoseAnd it's not even that I'm counting on the same from them - it never occurred to me to think so, honestly. It's just… In addition to our trinity, there were a dozen more absolutely passing personaliti
THE OUTLAND 131
Gritting my teeth with anger, I ordered my implant to break down the alcohol right now - something painfully pricked in the kidney area and slight intoxication was replaced by absolute sobriety, even something unpleasant. This will come back to haunt me a little later, but for some reason I did not want to spend this evening drunk, even if there was no one to look at reproachfully. It's just... I didn't want to.From somewhere there was a clear confidence that our gatherings with the boss would never happen again. One to one - do not smoke, do not ask uncomfortable questions ... Do not drink. Be an ideal person with reinforced concrete motivation to live and be.And there were plenty of such people around, despite the fact that I limited my social circle with all my might. Only the scandalous Stem got out of the circle of endlessly identical Bauers, but I can’t communicate with him for another year under any sauce - my own network in the neocortex will betray me with giblets, somewher
THE OUTLAND 132
Putting the accumulator cube aside, I take out my second treasure. The same scroll with a seal, as in old films about musketeers and guardsmen - the plastic is specially aged and resembles paper in texture, the seal is almost real, except for the broken point - it is held on by strong neodymium magnets.Grinning, I unroll the scroll and read the letters: "Citizen! Congratulations!"The second wave was not officially recognized, despite the depressing statistics. This is too inconvenient, unprofitable decision for the authorities - they may start asking unpleasant questions: how they say so, where were you, what were you watching, since you missed such an event? And yet, the news continues to be full of headlines, more and more people connected to the network directly decide to stay there permanently - fortunately, a small DLL for the implant is easily found on the network, and among the developers of virtualities, not everyone was as reverent about their players as , such as IW Corpor
THE OUTLAND 133
Hello red-eyed! - Edik greeted from the threshold. “I see you are already blooming and smelling like May… ahem…- Hi. I waved my hand. - Today there are three projects, which one should I take?- But none. I skimmed through them, there is a frank exploitation of ideas from "Alien War", let the robotics deal with them.- Okay. And then what should I do?- Rest today. He winked. "You'll need it after yesterday."And hid behind the door.“Yesterday?” I repeated in confusion.He's not talking about those unfortunate three mugs? I remember that he used to drink more himself, and he forced me. No, something is wrong with Eduard Semyonitch, definitely, something is wrong. He changed after the hospital - either the attitude towards alcohol changed, or something else.But do not argue with the authorities. I perched on a chair and ordered:- Alien war, direct connection.Another moment of falling from incredible heights, and I opened my eyes in Mekon's body. This time, apparently for a change,
THE OUTLAND 134
A chat was connected to the topic, an old one, text, and I, having called the virtual keyboard, climbed up there ...... the clock showed noon, when I was again able to regain control over myself and, by an effort of will, closed the chat tab. That's trashy, rubbish fun! And how time eats up.- Alien war, direct connection.And then he rolled to the side, missing a wide, fan-shaped swing of the sword! The sword is crappy, with rust and crevices, and the tetanus shot is probably not known in this world yet. Who is it?Jumping to my feet, I put the fettered end of the staff under a new blow, and only now could I see my opponent. It turned out to be a middle-aged man in familiar leather clothes - a kind of uniform of low-ranking soldiers. An abyss yawned on the left, a slushy path was on the right, and in the background a brutal granite building reigned behind the enemy. Presumably a Toltec temple.Mekon was in order, he did not allow himself to be wounded, and the attacker, whoever he w
THE OUTLAND 135
Like a conveyor - a false swing, a block shield, an armpit poke, a swing, a block ...Poke... The blade rebounded with a clang.Surprised, slave? - An outwardly unremarkable officer with strange stripes on his shoulder grinned maliciously. “You cost me too many people, so I won’t kill you. I'll just mess up a little.He threw a typical sword, which I have already seen dozens of today, to the side and slowly pulled a thin needle of a sword-sword from his belt, threw off his jacket, slightly sprung his legs ... And I realized what was about to happen. This is exactly what Karem did as he prepared to teach me a lesson."Now it will hurt." - I thought with doom, and just in case I took a stronger shield.The officer became a blurry whirlwind, moving so fast that the eye could barely keep up with his movements. During the time that I was thinking, he made a heel of injections, fortunately, fell on the shield and only one slightly scratched his shoulder.Watch your feet, Karem said. For mus
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Epilogue
And then ... Everything went - as it went. And may there always remain worlds where people are lonely, where it is dark, and icteric palms of maples fall from the sky. One day Avdeyka and his mother... Aunt? The devil will break his leg in their difficult relationship. One way or another, they will definitely get there. Maybe one day they will get to the chair where my reader is bent from loneliness. Who knows, the universe is merciful and loves its children. But it is not exactly. But it is known: today the very first seven testers-gods got up from sleep. Eduardo, Shelly, Alexey, Umbra, Erebus and Nyukta, Selina. Alive, absolutely. Skinny, of course, like a spring rook, but quite sane. Shelly even tried to pick up her son from the distributor, but she was quickly explained that he would definitely be better there. Astrix also did not go away, although he got out from under the dropper. From time to time he walks into other people's dreams, treats him to strange drinks and cigare
181
Rob, hurry up! Astrix's voice called. We won't be able to hold him back for long!The scarlet bloody whip in the air was overwhelmed by several multi-colored energy flows at once, trembling with tension. The thaumaturge, gaping, stopped bombarding me with new spells for a change and stared at the doomsday reigning in the sky.Who are you boy? Why did you decide that to treat you the same way as everyone else is the greatest injustice? Where did the thoughts in your head come from that people should be connected by feelings and affections, and not by common interests?I understood what all this battle was about, what the road had led to until now. The boy remained alone all his life, believing that he was just very unlucky, and that somewhere there must be friendly hands, a warm smile and hope for tomorrow - you just need to look properly. About the fact that the world is dying of loneliness, he learned much later, becoming much older.A world that didn't need a boy. A world that aband
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- Un-life. Why don't you rein in your robbers then? - I almost believed it. Nearly. “The corruption is preparing for a massive raid on the lands of the living, which means…- I know. But I'm still an avatar, my abilities are limited. And I can't go anywhere from here. To become a goddess in the fullest sense of the word, I need...— Believers! I slapped my forehead. - Well, of course. Followers, believers, own church.“We can start with the first knights. So... How do you look... - She blushed, looked away. - Well…“Become one of those ugly strategists?— Rob! You are to blame for their appearance! You can look whatever you want!- Nevermind. But you yourself understand - there is some complexity. If I'm next to you on Limbo right now, it most likely means that I'm dead. And a corpse cannot be turned corrupted. An undead connecting rod - you can, but not with Filth.- It's true. But something has changed.- Yes?“You see, two people from the same account came into this world. And one
179
"I look into my eyes ... I'll touch my lips. And what to say when I'm gone?" - Asked guitar picks over the black Icelandic beach, and the night was surprisingly warm, not at all suitable for November in the northern latitudes of Limbo.Night again, beach again. Another terrible headache.“Rob, Rob…” Nervous, sensitive fingers stroked my head. “You never get used to the fact that the body is a weapon. Relaxed, believed in the brothers on opposite sides of the barricades. That's what I got. Did you get it?- I cant. I complained without opening my eyes. - I'm tired. Why do they keep killing me? We almost agreed, almost resolved the issue.“We haven’t decided, stupid Robushka. And they couldn't. Understand that from the point of view of Warcraft, it is he who overcomes fifty years of captivity, cut off from his loved one, overcomes obstacle after obstacle, trying to reunite the family. Or at least avenge their deaths. And when he wins, there will be a happy epilogue and everyone will be
178
He dissapeared."Spider, come on!" I pleaded.A silent prayer burst out of my chest and spread throughout the Oikumene, and when there was no space between me and the fury of the avenging god, a huge black sword, literally a millimeter above my head, was stopped by a blade of sand.“You should look for an opponent in size,” Astrix smiled white-toothed.So you helped him. Ware said slowly. "It's good that both of you are here!"- And what will you do? Ban me too?- Not.Ware waved his hand, and the glow of the font parted, releasing the already familiar crystal, which contained the powers of the defeated gods. Only this one was much larger, and not empty. Zhdan froze inside him with his mouth wide open from a tearing cry!- Oh, you're a creature. Spider said softly. “You do understand that after this you won’t leave here with your own feet?”- Don't care. I don't care at all! I will kill you both!The clapping of his hands fanned the blood around him, and the magician's body seemed to
177
Closed tightly, I almost completely stopped relying on the light, leaving only my new outlandish vision. It gave the picture with spots, intersecting lines, but the brain quickly adjusted itself, and from the flickering in front of the inner gaze, it independently completed a completely three-dimensional picture of the environment. The steps underfoot seemed new, almost untrodden, although the temple itself is definitely more than two thousand years old...However, this is logical. Only a couple of dozen people have walked this road. The senior pantheon came to the Font when it was still an ordinary cave in the mountain, and, of course, no staircase had yet been built. So consider it an untrodden path.Turn after turn, the levels went past - the sacrificial altar, administrative premises, the household unit, the barracks ... Soon, according to the sensations, the ground level also passed. This was told to me by my vision, since nothing has changed in all other parameters. There were n
176
The Christmas tree backed away, and I, sinfully squeezing past it in half, stared thoughtfully at my avatar. A savage Amri, a slave by birth, a pacifist by conviction - it was necessary to manage, in such and such a world, to get a lowered pain threshold! Laughter and sin, in general, are obviously cannon fodder, which usually does not survive even the first serious battle.But they survived. And they didn't even get scars. Unless, of course, do not count those inside. And, of course, a snowflake peeking out from under the undergarments. But this is not a scar, but rather a protective mark. Okay, good time to pull, it is already in short supply.- Hey, get up! I called.The spider said something about the reunion of soul and body. But damn, how to implement it? God somehow forgot to mention the technical details - either he really didn’t know, or for him such tricks are so in the order of things that they are not worth clarifying.No answer. Of course."Get up, motherfucker!" I shook
175
- What?! I barked. - What nonsense! Xolotl is alive, I personally...- Killed her? Astrix raised an eyebrow. “Finished off what little was left of her?”But you are all alive. You, Ware, other scumbags. What happened to Shelly?- She was already unstable at the time of digitization because of the child, you understand? One and a half consciousness, working out of tune. Technique then simply did not provide for such a situation ... And now, you yourself understand. Pregnancy is a vanishingly rare phenomenon these days.“But she gave birth in those two thousand years.- Both in real life and in virtual, yes. But in real life, the process of childbirth is simply the separation of one from the other without any sacrifice on the part of the psychostructure. In the virtual, everything turned out a little differently.And who did she give birth to? Gary?The spider chuckled.- Does not give you a dream of rest, I see. No, not Gary. Who cares. The main thing is that the rejection mechanism at
174
Agnis exhaled convulsively again, but said nothing.— In general, it all started with Haang as the very first. He went to the abyss, where he deposed the archangel. Now all the Filth is in his hands. They do not touch people yet, but they destroyed one cemetery. Guess which one.“The same thing, without the ankh!” I gasped. “So there is no longer any protection between humans and the Filth!”- Right. Khaang's troops catch all living things and turn them into Filth - they accumulate strength. As soon as they accumulate enough, they move on. We have no idea where, but it is clear now: Haang will not be the only corrupted god at the head of this army. Soon the rest will realize where the game is fatter, and against the seven demons, I'm afraid even I can't resist.- Good. What we can do?- Restore balance. Astrix shrugged. — Return the ankh to its homeland, restore the lich of the plundered cemetery. Even one lich can hold back the Filth indefinitely, and if he summons a bone dragon...-
