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THE OUTLAND 147
“Another single target, two kilometers. - Said the younger. — It radiates in our range.And here comes the traitor. The elder chuckled a little. What are we going to do, Commander?- Think. I answered. Where are the first two targets?- Take cover. he answered.Yes, in an open battle, one Poisk operative is worth two or even three Conquest fighters, but still you should not discount their commander: with his knowledge, skills and with the rituals and other mystics of the Conquest, he can arrange this - the sky it will seem like a sheepskin.And once upon a time, all mysticism and magic were considered the fiction of overworked and-people, eh ... Why didn’t it stay like that?- Tags?— I can't find the corner. he complained. - They sit too well, the detectors do not catch.Cursing, I ran another fifty meters and froze in a crevice between icy stones. The armor was warming and protecting for the time being - I didn’t want to think what kind of dog cold was going on out there."Commander
THE OUTLAND 148
Shot!TASK COMPLETEDRating: SLead Time: SReport to your officer on successful completion.- But this is nonsense! I complained, pulling off my helmet. “You don’t have to be an intuitive, but some kind of prophet!” How can I know that...“But no one knows. The civilian answered. - She just went for broke, made a bet that everything was in the same position, on the same plane. And won.- She is?- Yes, she will study with you on the same stream.Coupe shuddered.- Arrived. Take your things, let's go to the gateway. Don't forget your tablet.- But it's not mine!- Now yours. The civilian nodded.I have always dreamed of going to space! But the space, to be honest, disappointed - there were no huge space liners, no aliens, not even an atmosphere that spoke of some kind of cosmicity ... The most ordinary compartments, a corridor with a round section with a rattling metal flooring-platform and a room that looked more like - a provincial station, with burning panels of arrival and departu
THE OUTLAND 149
As the high authorities threatened, it nevertheless forced me to work - on the server in my working daddy an archive was formed with the intriguing name aimbotter.rar, containing a tiny file almost smaller than the attached instructions in a text document. People from the upper internet tasted "Alien War", people from the lower internet tasted "Far Search", and they got into it. And this always leads to the generation of various projects on the theme of a favorite project - starting from a simple replacement of some structures with your own as part of the creation of modifications, ending with such rather complex code solutions.Although the demon knows how people managed to change something not even in the game - but in a separate living world! But somehow they managed. So it is with this "botter". In fact, this is the same stray as my crawler, it works with a network connection and replaces some variables just a little, without affecting the game as a whole.I cringed apprehensively
THE OUTLAND 150
But why did he choose to partner with Gary? Worth asking at the next meeting. For some reason, I had no doubt that a very soon meeting.And meanwhile the shore was approaching, even without a spyglass, tiny houses clung to the coast, whimsical ribbons of streets running down from above, fuming chimneys filling the air with barely noticeable smog, could be distinguished on the shore.“You promised me something. I reminded.“No problem,” the goddess shrugged. “I have no prejudice against this particular slave trader and his crew. But if it's so critical for you...- Critical.- Understood. She lowered her voice to her familiar, already soft accent of a foreign princess. “Then show me to my cabin, please.” We need to pick up things.And yet the captain was not such a bastard. Or rather, of course, a separate cauldron in the local version of hell had already been prepared for him, but he knew the matter clearly, he kept his word firmly - despite the sidelong glances of his hunters, he too
THE OUTLAND 151
It's all about the rough stone sculptures carved by an unknown master, facing the sea - heartless time has hewn the stones so well that it is already impossible to make out who is carved - men, women, gods - and yet the petroglyphs deeply carved on the soles of abstract figures remained readable .“Okama ordered to pay the road,” I read without surprise. “He ordered to collect taxes from the people in money and iron ingots, and took every tenth from the lands in order to make an incomparable warrior. Brotherly blood was shed here for the first time, and only the most faithful, we're going west!"- Smells like Ware. the girl muttered, looking warily at the shapeless stone figure. "The elemental isn't here?"- Not.- Good. She unfolded the map, traced a new route with her fingernail. “We can’t get to the mesa from here, but if we go along the coast, we can get to the ridge and the pass.- No supplies.We only need two days. she cut. “I don't intend to live here for six months.Without a
THE OUTLAND 152
No, I'm not against smiles, especially when performed by a beautiful girl, but ... It's somehow strange to smile like that out of the blue. Unusual, unusual. We don’t have the mentality to smile with or without it, it’s immediately clear that “Alien War” was still made by foreigners - if the development had remained in Edik’s hands, and the heroes wouldn’t have thrown positive emotions like fish eggs, they would have stood with complex, harsh persons. And all in essence. Unsociable, unfriendly, gloomy Russians, yes."You don't like that I smile?" - The girl immediately extinguished her smile, turned away to the sea.- I like it, but ... You know, everything that I have ever read or watched teaches me that only the closest and dearest person can smile like that. Understand?“But you are my closest and dearest person. Agnis frowned in confusion. “Father was tried and hanged for what he did to Chief Dex, you left the village and disappeared without a trace. And I don't know anyone else.
THE OUTLAND 153
“Nothing,” I thought encouragingly, “you'll get used to it.Finally, she controlled herself, calmed down, the monologue ended - and a plastic tape slowly crawled out of the printer against the wall with a report on the project she had just been working on. She finally opened her eyes.- Good morning. I winked, meeting her gaze. - Today is a particularly interesting world?- Well no. She was embarrassed, blushed again, but desperately looked straight ahead. - Just a world in which everything works on the technologies of variability. Quantum-punk, as the inhabitants themselves call it.- But…- You're right. She faked a smile. - The development was carried out by a company that previously produced only virtual brothels, so there is too much ... specific.“So we don’t let you?”- Of course we won't! - She blushed even more, as only redheads can, and I did not ask again what it was connected with. - Such games are prohibited!She probably happened to be in a couple of, as she put it, "spe
THE OUTLAND 154
I glanced at the timer - according to his testimony, I had been working here for two and a half hours, although subjectively, of course, it seemed much more. But nothing, now there is no hurry, now we ... Ignoring the scattering of lines and commas, I leaned my shoulder on the boulder that I liked, braced my legs, sat down - and gritting my teeth from the weight, I pushed with all my might. One time, two, three. He was not here, he could not gain a foothold on something, shake it, shake it.- And - time! And - two! Startled, the boulder swayed. - And three!Yielding to my efforts, the stone nevertheless started to move, fell forward. I barely managed to get out from under the falling debris - and right there behind me, with a barely audible sigh, the ceiling settled.— Yes to you! I spat. “Damn builders, couldn’t they have done it right?!A pile of dirt, sand and clay looked mockingly at me, as if these two and a half hours of work had never happened! Just in case, I even looked close
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- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
180
- 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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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
- THE OUTLAND
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...-
