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THE OUTLAND 9
The midshipman turned over his right shoulder and, without looking back, hurried somewhere deep into the port, past the creaking beams of supporting structures where automatic loaders were working. And they say that people used to do a lot here, with their hands. To be honest, it didn’t fit in my head how a person could do at least something with a five-ton container. But perhaps they managed somehow?— We to "Flying"? - I asked the broad back, covered in black cloth.Without turning around, he shook his head and turned a few times. It seemed that he was either winding, covering his tracks, or…It finally arrived. Cameras! Well, of course. If you work here long enough, you will learn both the location of the surveillance devices and their sectors of view. And if you wish...As if guessing my thoughts, the midshipman chuckled approvingly and quickened his pace, sped up. “Keep up, boy.And he jumped out through the half-open gate at the checkpoint. The attendant, as if by magic, was no
THE OUTLAND 10
Household, household. The most terrible delusion of any person is the belief in the temporality of something. Even from the very moment when my parents left me to be devoured by the system and monsters in the dark, existence was overgrown with dust, became cloudy and became less and less clean. Dust creaks on the teeth, gets into the eyes, ears, nerves. It should be a temporary solution, but it became life.And you tell yourself that a little more, you just need to be patient - and everything will definitely work out, change for the better! It won't get better and it won't change. Any temporary part-time job threatens to become employment for life, because there is nothing more permanent than temporary. And then - as usual: you do not have time to wake up at the age of eighteen, and the anniversary is already looming on the horizon. Honor and praise to you, if by this age you have not lost the remnants of passionarity, even if periodically wiping your perception is not tea with lemon
THE OUTLAND 11
From under the thick cardboard, a crookedly drawn logo was looking at me, apparently, of some kind of game.— Wars of the Immortals. — I read it. - What is it?— My dream game design document.- Clear. And why is he?“No, don’t think, I’m not at all going to force you to do what I once didn’t have the courage to do. Eddie laughed. - I just climbed the forums here, read a little about this project "Aydaba", and I really did not like what I found there.- For example?— Do you know that each developer has his own style, his own clues inside the world, by which he can be unmistakably recognized?“Like the constant quarrels in the Poisk squad?”— Like a crowbar and an orange suit, like a binaural sound, like a story in which everyone inevitably dies — each developer tries to stand out in his own way. So, what I found in the screenshots, in the description of the world, in the dialogues - it is too similar to what you can read in this folder.- But how?“Rob, now is a different time. Eddie
THE OUTLAND 12
In the tube, ahead of seconds, long beeps ran, each of which heaped an increasingly heavy burden on my shoulders.— Hello? - They yawned into the phone. — Frames listen.- Hello. This is Mashko's deputy, Rob. Can you tell me the home address of Eduard Semyonovich?“Actually, this is classified information. Anything else?What does "closed" mean? Damn it, he didn't just show up for work!- Listen, young man, leave a request ...- No, you listen! I yelled with an anger that surprised me. - Your Mashko, perhaps, is now lying at home with well-baked brains, while you are breeding bureaucracy here!— Yes, sorry. I will transfer you to my direct supervisor.If he can help me.— Bauer. - A well-placed male voice answered in the receiver. - We do not provide information about the place of residence of employees, this is illegal.- Do you know why Mashko went on sick leave?- Not. But we are not interested in this. And generally speaking…- Mashko went on sick leave to go for the implantation
THE OUTLAND 13
"Hi, Rob. I don't know if I'm saying hello to you - from the psychiatric ward or from the other world, but I still decided to take a chance! Yes, at fifty it's too late to indulge in such nonsense, but ... You yourself understand. The fact is that having dispersed everyone from the office on my birthday, I stayed at work until the morning. I decided to shake the old days, so to speak. I climbed into one file storage on the servers of "Aydaba" and found something interesting there! Be sure to look, you will like it! No, this not the slag they released, it's something completely different!But I won't spoil the surprise for you.I want to warn you right away: the product is damp, there may be bugs, so don’t even think about connecting directly, got it? Only through glasses, with an accompanying screen. You'll figure it out there.PS: Rob, I trust my intuition, and for the second week she keeps telling me that I shouldn't get into this business. So if my intuition is right, finish what yo
THE OUTLAND 14
- Enable voice recognition. Reply to the last letter. Hello, in accordance with the federal law on the protection of the feelings of believers, please send a more detailed document with the cosmology and pantheons of the project.It is unlikely that they will send something like that - I stroked daddy - because they run the risk of being too similar to one interesting document.- To send a letter.The answer was not long in coming.- Yeah. Unfortunately you can't because it's a trade secret? Lovely, lovely! Reply to the last letter: what preventive measures can you suggest in order to avoid a repetition of the situation with our specialist? If your game is capable of bringing a person to such a state, it should be recognized as dangerous and banned altogether!"Dear specialist Rob! You yourself understand that our project has almost nothing to do with what happened to specialist Mashko. He ended up in the hospital solely due to incorrect implantation. As for your question: there are n
THE OUTLAND 15
Analysis. It turned out to be difficult to concentrate without a tactical interface, but reflexes are reflexes - every time the universe throbbed with pain, I automatically turned off my sight and hearing, remaining a blind computer interacting with the world at a level that was incomprehensible even to me.I-man in action.The rods are rusty, but this is just an external coating, there are no structural vulnerabilities, they simply cannot be broken or damaged somehow, even in the state of the "red corridor". For too long, Conquista had hunted our operatives, knew too well who we were and what we were capable of.She was too successful, and now I could tell exactly why. If they recruited at least half of the tactical commanders into their ranks, there was nothing surprising in the superiority of the savages on the battlefield.— Bingo!Here the rod, which went into the concrete, was not held as firmly as the others. Of course, in a normal state, he would have turned out to be an insur
THE OUTLAND 16
- Fey, snipers to the loopholes and to the roof.- There is.“Froz, what’s on the door?”- They took shelter on the street, the enemy was eliminated, two units, standard weapons.- How about ammo?- As long as it's enough. Pomegranate would.- I have a couple. - Antey responded, holding the passage at gunpoint.- Froze, send a fighter to us, we have it.- Yes sir.“A detachment of inquisitors has been spotted, six units, a distance of two hundred and fifty!” Fei screamed.- Let it go two hundred and mow everyone.From above, sniper rifles clapped, and the howl of the bugle gave way to overflowing alarms - Conquista woke up. I didn't know how many fighters they could bring against us, but I knew one thing for sure: no more flight, only fight to the last fighter.Or…- Fey, the percentage of the charge?- Eighty!Can we take everyone?- I dont know! Never had to spend more than three. Oh you, damn!- What happened? Fey? Fay!“Commander, they have their own tactician-analysts! I eliminat