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THE OUTLAND 18
And as the lesser pantheon seized more and more power in the Western Habitat, rumors of the return of the Nameless grew ever more frequent.The creator of the discussion also attached two videos to the text without explaining what is there: in the first, some huge man with tattoos and a club fights with a detachment of machine gunners, ignoring their shots, and in the second, it seems that someone filmed the epic defeat of the older pantheon.— Darkness. I said as I moved away from the terminal. And how can an outsider understand this?Unclear.There was a knock at the door, and a very familiar figure appeared on the threshold. Thin, frail, with huge green eyes and freckles generously covering her nose.“I-excuse me, can I?”- Yes, yes, what can I do?- It's you Rob... Uh...Just Rob. And who are you?- My name is Rosa. Eduard Semyonovich didn't tell you about me?“You are our new intern, right? - It got to me.— Yes, from SHA.- I understand. Well, Rosa, let's go, I'll show you the w
THE OUTLAND 19
— Cunningly got out, well done. “Looks like they camouflaged the security update this way.Or maybe they really returned access to part of the Exod to the players? You never know. But who's going there now?Returning back to the forum, I was forced to state that they would turn up, and how - the topic swelled up to three thousand pages, people cursed, reviled the administration for what it was worth and sincerely wondered how it was possible to do this with the players. But for some reason no one wrote about leaving, goodbye.The Alien War must have had some inexplicable appeal, since they were ready to forgive her even that.“Rob… uh…” Rose peeked through the door. She held a cup in her hands.Just Rob. What did you want?- Would you like some coffee? I'm pretty good at doing it.— No, not really.“But I feel weird. Since I came to the internship, I just play with toys and write my impressions. It's strange somehow ... - The girl made a funny face, blowing a red curl from her eye. -
THE OUTLAND 20
Bauer passed out, and I leaned back in my chair, smiling stupidly. Looks like my nightmare is about to end? We would have to stand the night and hold out for the day, and then let Edik fight again with those who call, write and smile.And I will play with toys. Ugh, you're attached.However, it probably won't help me, will it? If "Aydab" has someone familiar at the very top, then they will press until they drive me into Wirth with a stick. No, I'm on my own. But first, let's learn everything we can.The next topic is one and a half thousand pages. Among the flow of obscene language, trolling and memes, we managed to isolate the most important thing - the cry of the player's soul. And, reading it, I understood the reasons for his indignation.Hmmm... Life didn't prepare me for this. That is, the online project, which does not care about the chronology of the connected players, was not going to stop at this dubious achievement. No. Online, ihu so, a project in which the death of a char
THE OUTLAND 22
The author of the stray turned out to be a genius. No, I'm serious: how can you fit so much into thirty kilobytes? First things first, of course, an emergency shutdown from the network and PP. True, there was a small problem ...The fact is that synthetics in itself allowed the players some liberties, because even if the player was completely immersed in the world, he still held controllers in his hands, and these are buttons and, as a result, their combination. But what to do if you are in the game almost physically while your mortal body is snoring in a chair? What buttons to press?- Think, head, I'll buy a cap!Stem would hardly talk about disconnecting from the direct connection modem if it were not possible. But how to press a keyboard shortcut if ...I looked at the rectangular window in the terminal solution in confusion. The four buttons at the top are "Connect", "Analyzer", "Viewer" and "Program Description". I definitely don’t need the last three, their functionality exhaus
THE OUTLAND 23
The registry was available directly from the window. But instead of understandable names, there were characters in the encoding that my terminal refused to play.- Ugh. I bit my lip, looking at the krakozyabry on the screen. What is this strange encoding? Who even made it? Koreans?Stop stop stop. Who is at the origins of "Aidab"? Any French or Americans?Search engine, wiki, "idab."— Idab. The speakers began to speak mechanically. — A joint Chinese-American firm founded in 2022 by people from…Chinese!- Terminal, download and install Chinese language support. - In Chinese, I, of course, am not strong, but it will always be possible to drive the names through a translator.And, while I went for coffee, the terminal managed to update itself, and the restarted Stema program drew me very beautiful and equally incomprehensible hieroglyphs.- Translation from the screen.The screen blinked, in a second the hieroglyphs were replaced by already quite readable lines. But it's still unclear.
THE OUTLAND 24
The system administrator who appeared on the call in a sweater with a tortured look immediately crawled under the table - apparently, to check the wires.- What's this? He pulled a wire from under the table with the crimp cap almost off.- How do I know? It looks like a network cable. They would have abandoned the archaic a long time ago, wireless communication is everywhere.“Uh-huh, they refused. How the hell did you know.Scratching his beard, he patted the pockets of a chic belt, which he apparently inherited from high-altitude fitters. The desired was found on the left thigh - it was from there that the system administrator took out a machine for compressing the network cable. Quickly cutting off an extra piece, he put on a contact cap and plugged it into the network connector of the terminal.- How did you manage to pull it out? Pulled, huh? I shrugged. - Okay, business for five minutes.The terminal turned on showed only the crossed-out antenna icon.“What the…” There was a sin
THE OUTLAND 25
But the phone, which, it seems, did not care at all, was found under the rubble of scraps of paper.— Rob.— Good morning, Rob. Soothing voice, impeccable manner. Bauer, who else. Though what does he care about—” “I suppose you've already discovered what your office has become. I want to reassure you - the perpetrators have already been found.- It's good that. How can I work now?- We have already ordered the replacement equipment, as soon as it passes the inventory at the supply manager, we will start connecting you."But what's wrong here?" It feels like Mamai has passed!I don't know all the details, unfortunately. You know, there are security protocols, only the monitoring service has all the information, and it says nothing to avoid leaks.- That is, it is useless for me to go to them and ask who is here and what they have done?- Useless. Bauer pissed off. “Most likely, they will oblige you with several more non-disclosure agreements. Don't tease the geese, Rob, just be patient
THE OUTLAND 26
“They say there were giants here.- Yura, I'm sorry, we all ... - Edik winked at me fervently, without completing the sentence.He got better though. Albeit not as fast as I would like, and warm April has already managed to smoothly flow into an almost hot May smelling of herbs, but still. Edik returned to duty. The inner yard of the hospital is overgrown with grass, so far short, dotted with whimsically walking paths, trees, bushes, where it is so convenient for patients to walk after the operation. Although, of course, "walking" is not really about us. A wheelchair, a rigid frame around the neck that makes it difficult to turn the head - and this is after almost a month under anesthesia.Nevertheless, despite the fact that I sometimes forgot about it, Edik turned fifty. And this is not twenty or even thirty years, when most of the sores heal almost instantly. He was not even considered elderly yet with an increased life expectancy, but without specific therapy, the incisions on his