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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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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.
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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
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“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
THE OUTLAND 27
For some reason, I was very frightened by the fact that I didn’t even think to hint about the magic wand waiting in the wings on the boss’s modem. Where did such secrecy come from in me, unwillingness to share my plans, trump cards with someone?"It seems that I am becoming more and more like Edik," I thought with incomprehensible bitterness.But now was definitely not the time for such talk. Not a place. It was not worth telling the authorities that I had made contact with my past: they let me out on bail, as well as arranged to work under Edik, with the condition that "never again.""Nothing. There is always a chance that Edik will just take his place, watch the game, and then the crawler will remain unclaimed, no one will know about him, and so on. On the other hand, if Edik fails, then I will have to use the program during the game process, then no one should know about it for sure.Ed, are you done? Bauer approached us inaudibly from the direction of the lilac bushes.- And then.
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"Welcome to the world of Alien War. Warning: To avoid network latency issues, please select the closest local cluster to you!"I hovered over a huge map of the world, made as if by a medieval cartographer - parchment yellow with age, puffy cheeks of the wind and, of course, the obligatory "dragons live here" somewhere in the western part of the map.Most of the map turned out to be inactive, in fact, the choice was between the continent, which occupied the entire eastern part, a tiny island in the northwest of it, and an archipelago in the southwestern part of the ocean, uninventively named Western."Recommended Clusters:Western HabitatOshtaniaLimbo"— Eh… Well, let's go first.The map of the continent unfolded, approached, filled with conventional icons, rivers stretched from the mountains, and scary monsters inhabited the forests."Please choose a starting location. Warning: the starting location determines your future class!Available locations:Khaang's handSuburb GaryGreat C
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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
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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
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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
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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...-
