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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
THE OUTLAND 166
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
THE OUTLAND 169
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
THE OUTLAND 170
So I distribute debts and go to surrender to engineers. And doctors. And to everyone who understands this matter. Otherwise, I will not see sleep as my own ears.I felt in my pockets—the holographic aquarium on the left, Bauer's gift on the right. If they don't let me into the PP, I'll have to use glasses. And, perhaps in the future, only them, until they fix me. I'm tired of these lucid dreams. Edik said that lucid dreams are a direct path to conscious death, which opens the way to choosing the next rebirth.Yes, I'm starting to rant. The modem squeaked, signaling the completion of the download.Direct connection. Refusal.So, okay. The situation is not entirely hopeless. You need to draw up a plan of action.Now I'm jumping into the "Distant Search", there I'm looking for Avdeyka in the closed world and, therefore, Shelly - his meadow aunt.Next is the weak point in the plan. I really need to talk to her. A difficult task for several reasons at once: Rob beat her, defeated her and a
THE OUTLAND 171
Time-time-time echoed like invisible arrows in my skull as I stared blindly at the spinning loading circle. It's hot in glasses, my forehead was sweating, and my eyes were very tired from a constantly directed light source in just a couple of hours of playing. In addition, the hardware installed inside the interface device left much to be desired: everything loaded extremely slowly, forcing you to stare at a still picture. What made the eyes even worse!However, it may be for the best that I did not go to Wirth through a direct connection. Chuyka invigorated better than coffee, making its way even through the intoxicating alcohol snare, and informed that one should remain on the alert. I will play and listen to what is happening. Strongly, of course, this will not help - when I hear the squeal of brakes, most likely it will be too late to run somewhere.However, it's better than nothing at all! In general, I would have driven off to the region if I didn’t know that even electric trans
THE OUTLAND 172
"Marshal?"I remembered the anecdote about the chauffeur-general, but the little piggy who jumped out into the frame in no way resembled the eyebrow-like cupboard-like grandfathers from the General Staff. A girl of about twenty-three, shaved bald, which did not spoil the narrow face with a heart with huge eyes and a sensual mouth. Only here is her look ... Definitely, she received the title not for her beautiful eyes.Marshal-Marshal... I clicked on the tooltip, and the stepper immediately spat out a certificate. Police rank level of our sheriffs. So, not from the warriors.“Hello, cadets,” A dry, almost lifeless voice hurt his ears.The girl carefully, slowly looked at each of us. We, in turn, stared at her - her clothes looked as if the chiseled figure of the marshal had been doused with some kind of liquid and extremely elastic material - we could not see any seams or fasteners. However, the costume didn’t show too much either, but there was still something to see.“I am from the w