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THE OUTLAND 162
A long time ago, almost ten years ago, there was a breakthrough in the field of information technology - and we stepped out of the world of neural networks and adaptive algorithms to something that already had the right to be called a semblance of artificial intelligence. Of course, science fiction writers long ago predicted the emergence of machines with self-awareness, but the reality again outran all forecasts, being both more amazing and more ruthless than any human dream.We have always followed the path of least resistance, looking for the shortest and fastest paths. But in fact, it turned out that the universe is arranged differently, the most important processes never happen suddenly and instantly. Gene therapy and CRISP cured most of the ailments, extended life, but acted slowly, unhurriedly, throughout the life of the owner of the implant. The cloning of living beings did make it possible to grow exact likenesses of the donor - but at the stage of the embryo, which had yet t
THE OUTLAND 163
— I guess. He answered evasively. - Guilt? Vodka? Or intravenously?- I have no time. Can you deliver it to the right world?“It’s not so easy to get out of there, do you remember?- He doesn't need to. I just want the Umbra idiots to stop pissing the kid off.- I will. Anything else?- I do not know. Are the cultists closed here?“And Conquest too!” God giggled. “This is my throne room, everything here is subject to my will.— Stairway to the sea?“Sorry, laying out carpets and arranging armor was somehow lazy. he winked. - You swear, swear. Let's talk. And drink all the same, otherwise ...A goblet was woven from the air in my hand, and I took a sip of some strange green effervescent liquid from there, which, nevertheless, hit my brain like it should. Immediately it became a little easier to live, released the twisted tension."It's not real, wow! I'm not even on PP, it's just glasses!Convince yourself.- Do you want to ask something? - Carefully specified the Spider, settling next
THE OUTLAND 164
Further contact, service, obtaining military medical certificates - in general, before the last reform, there was no time for games. Now I have much more free time, that's why I came.I chose a random character, a random world - I was even more surprised. I remember: has intelligence mastered several worlds since the end of the trilogy? And so, I am standing at the base, clutching a tablet with documents in my hand, running on alarm to the portal, fleeing from the attack. The last attack of the Conquista, as I remember now.Okay, this is all the preamble, a fairy tale ahead. I don’t know if the game itself chose the role for me, or if I filled out the initial survey so successfully, but even in virtual I turned out to be a shrink in a military organization. The fighters were trained according to an unusual program, teaching them to survive and act exclusively alone, and not as part of the OGRP, as scouts of the "Search", the main tasks are reconnaissance, elimination, sabotage. Nothin
THE OUTLAND 165
The Christmas tree, no matter how incredible the way she managed to get to me and leave her gift on the windowsill, brought it for a reason. Maybe in her family this little thing is used just to calm the nerves or relax when nothing else helps? Or, if you believe in the terrible theory of Astrix about the difference between the worlds - in the world where Tael exists, such projectors were invented specifically for therapeutic purposes.One way or another, and watching the holographic fish dancing in the aquarium little by little brought the state of mind in order, combed the "disheveled brains", restored the balance in the mind and allowed to exhale. Yes, in addition to doctors, five more remote specialists are working on my problem, trying to figure out the reasons for the outbreak of psychosis, but it seemed to me that such a state was caused solely by overload. I hardly slept normally, I was always hanging in the virtual, trying either to get Mekon out of trouble, or to save my Oud
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Of course, this is not the main entrance and not a turnstile for visitors - that's where the elderly Luddites from among retired warriors who despise "all these newfangled virtual toys" may well live. The drawing of the hospital territory showed four entrances and exits, two of which fell away for obvious reasons, another one, most likely, is also guarded ironically, since the authorities call in there. This means that there was an automatic barrier at Northern Avenue: from there, trucks drove into the territory, supplying sealed containers with food concentrates and medical consumables, plus garbage trucks picking up waste. It is unlikely that a guard is sitting there, no one wants to watch the garbage being taken out.So we are on our way there.The automatic barrier, depicted on the plan as the most ordinary folding stick, in fact turned out to be a dead gate with an archaic thorn at the top. Like at a secure facility, by golly! Nothing, I'm still in the system. A request for the r
THE OUTLAND 167
The bottle was slowly emptying, and with it the viscous stupefaction receded, which seized from the moment of awakening - praise to Ware, I performed most of my "exploits" on the machine simply because once upon a time the mechanisms of hacking and bypassing systems were brought to automatism and the complete exclusion of mental process. Even writing a batch file was once a big problem, but now...Was the game worth the candle? Was the risk worth the time? Unknown. But the security forces’ carriage didn’t fly up to the cafe doors with a screech of brakes, they still didn’t tie me up, the handcuffs didn’t click on my wrist with an almost paralyzing clang. So the bet was justified? Odie was tried, sentenced, but because of the deal with the investigation, all the sins, it turns out, were written off?Here was a smart move. When my loss is discovered - and it will happen sooner or later without any doubt - they will start looking for Rob and his trace in the city, and not a proxy identit
THE OUTLAND 168
The thaumaturge sat at his desk, seemingly out of place gold-rimmed spectacles perched on his nose, burrowing into his papers. Every now and then he dipped his pen into the inkwell, corrected something, shook his head, and began to crack his abacus.Rob is here. Looking up from his papers for a moment, he gave a fleeting smile, but Jane shuddered perceptibly. — Jane, honey, we have a holiday set.- All right, sir. - The girl said colorlessly and silently closed the door behind her.- Sit down, sit down, there is no truth in your legs. Ware dimmed the scarlet glow in his eye, took off his glasses and wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. Who would have known it would be so tiring...- What are you doing?- Things to do, buddy. I'm a villain by the standards of your friends, a real antagonist, remember? And evil is supposed to be exactly what you demanded - ugly rich and frighteningly law-abiding.- Really accounting? I couldn't hide my chuckle.- Balance and grandmas. Of course, Okama
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I put my riches back in my backpack, and my fingers prickle painfully - it could have bled, but ... - the third little thing, memorable. A gift from Agnis. It just so happened that all my things are in one way or another connected with my girls. I remember, I remember how Spider laughed at me.Shaking out the steel-framed jewelry, I stared thoughtfully at it, remembering: racing against time and fatigue, trying to either save everyone or myself. What came of it?Nothing good.I screwed up again, there's no doubt about that. He vowed - no, no more, not a step into the terrible creation of his superiors. I don’t know what the NextNgine engine really was: either a surge of genius in an otherwise mediocre young man, or a self-consistent loop, when the inevitable stretches out its hand from the future, or the devil still exists, but he is not interested in souls, but here human suffering in itself... The fact remains that both projects on this engine cost my psyche too much."I would work
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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
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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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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...-
