Бесплатный фрагмент - Reality mirror

Note from the author

Dear reader, thank you for choosing my work, I hope reading it will bring you a lot of positive emotions and arouse interest in it.

For a more complete understanding of the events taking place in this universe, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the first part of this trilogy: The Mirror of Reality. Book 1. Fragments of the future.

The action of the novel takes place in a fictional version of the future and does not claim to be scientific and factual authenticity. Any coincidence with reality is random and created for a deeper immersion in the plot.

Happy reading!

Prologue

It was the twenty-second century of the human era. Sixteen years have passed since the fateful siege of the «Castle» for the entire «Resistance». The blow that the rebels suffered became heavy, but reparable, since Alex survived an unsuccessful approach to the portal and was not ready to retreat from his goal of taking revenge on Borovitsky. Together with Sergey, they revived the rebellion, but in a new world thanks to a storehouse of discovered technologies.

Catastrophes multiplied, the number of dissatisfied only grew until it reached a boiling point, and then, just in time, the Resistance turned up. Dyatlov helped to transport new rebels through the portal with the help of his device, and Ponomarev became their first unspoken, and then full-fledged leader, completely replacing Pythagoras, who tragically died under a missile attack from a fighter, in this position.

More and more intellectual and financial elite moved into a new reality, because Borovitsky promised «mountains of gold» here, and the entire Government apparatus finally moved here, which could not but affect the centers of attraction for people who want to bite off a piece from the common feeder, especially when it was originally created with a gem cut. At the same time, the situation on the other side of the barricades was getting worse every year: poverty, unemployment, despondency, high crime and a large number of homeless children — that’s all that the authorities achieved.

Anthony, too, did not waste time in vain and tried to develop a new world, based on the technologies kindly left by Dyatlov before his escape. Surprisingly, the inventions created in captivity were even ahead of modern ones, and not one of the «court» scientists could approach Sergey’s intellect in terms of level. The only thing they were capable of was adaptation and improvement. No news was to be expected.

After the terrible death of his wife at the hands of the rebels, who, although they did not plan to kill her, caused him incredible pain, scratching like cats on his heart, leaving deep, uncovered and unrecoverable marks for the rest of his life. He found consolation in alcohol and other women, but for Anthony, his daughter remained his main joy. Maria grew up too fast, so that her father did not have time to follow her growing up. Perhaps this was hindered by involvement in governing the country and an attempt to keep all power solely in his hands, or maybe this was due to his inability to establish healthy and human relations, but communication did not work out between them, and Borovitskaya moved further and further away from Anthony, fencing off annually with a large imaginary fence, through which it became more difficult to break through even the smallest gap. At sixteen, she was developed beyond her years, understanding the processes taking place in the world much more accurately, even better than many adults, which became the trigger for further events that changed her life before and after.

Chapter 1. Morning on high

Today, Maria woke up unexpectedly early, because she was awakened by a sudden strong knock on the window. Opening her eyes and turning her attention towards the frame, she noticed how a large ladybug the size of an earthly seagull spins around its axis, after which it turns around and flies off somewhere to the side.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Borovitskaya felt for one of the buttons to the right of the bed, and the blanket immediately curled up and went down to her feet. The girl, without thinking twice, immediately threw her feet on the floor, threading them into oversized home sneakers. Feeling the presence of the owner, they quickly narrowed to the desired size and automatically laced up. These were exactly those gravitational shoes invented by Sergey Dyatlov to overcome the atypical gravity for the Earth, which did not allow walking without jumping a few feet up after each step. It was a different gravity that became the reason why the ladybug that flew by coincidence into the glass was of such huge size. At the same time, Maria spent almost her entire life in a new reality, so such forms of animals did not surprise her at all.

Throwing on a silk robe hanging from a beautiful carved metal chair, she took a deep breath and went to the window to open it. Decreasing the degree of dimming and reflection on the side of the menu, which caused such an unfortunate morning flight for the insect, she opened it wide.

A warm summer wind blew in her face, blowing through her chestnut curly hair. The girl was thin, of medium height, moderately beautiful, but she never tried to stick it out. Borovitskaya turned sixteen a month ago, and every year she looked more and more like her mother. From her father, she got only a proud and purposeful look, as well as a strong-willed chin. It was these physiological data, coupled with character traits, that made her behavior unbearable for Anthony, since he could not stand the young version of himself.

Maria’s gaze rushed far beyond the horizon, it was there that the enchanting and untouched nature that interested her was located. In front, on the contrary, there was a bored technological quarter of skyscrapers. They appeared relatively recently, about five years ago, and were basically regular geometric shapes made of glass and dapium — a new metal discovered in this world, which, after a few months, finally acquired its name. It was from him that the «prototype alpha» was made for the battle with the rebels, which could not be penetrated by ordinary laser beams.

This block of skyscrapers is located exactly on the site of the demolished palace of the «Council of Kings», which, after the murder of its members, completely lost all its functions, as well as several other neighboring land plots, from where the best view of the distant and green expanses opened. Anthony’s apartment, which was more like a whole house, was located in one of these buildings on the site of his first dwelling in this world, also destroyed, since over the years Borovitsky’s ambition to look down on everyone took on more and more ridiculous and strange forms. From the entrance to the roof, his property, as well as himself, was guarded by the same «Gamma group», which significantly expanded its staff and became the most formidable punitive force in both worlds.

Glancing out the window again, Maria pressed the side switch, and it immediately slammed shut and darkened to medium settings, after which the girl went to the bed and turned on the cleaning function. The berth immediately smoothed out and folded into a vertical position, hiding in a special secret hole in the wall, freeing up additional space in the room. After that, Borovitskaya went to the shower, and then to the pantry with things, so that a special robot would dress her and pick up today’s outfit.

Chapter 2. Prioritization

Anthony woke up from a signal that meant a knock on the door, but modulated synthetically with the help of a special button. His head was pounding, he had been seriously drunk yesterday, so any sound, even the quietest, could unbalance him.

Borovitsky slept right in his clothes, so he did not change clothes. Breathing heavily and catching his breath, he grabbed his head and headed towards the entrance. Opening it, Anthony saw Maria in front of him in a beautiful snow-white dress with red protruding buds of fresh flowers collected in the vastness of the new world, she hastily entered, closing the door behind her. After examining the room, she made a displeased face, assessed the state of her father, after which she said, «Was it necessary to get drunk like that?» Borovitsky again grabbed his head and, barely breathing, whispered, «Please speak more quietly, otherwise I will die». «Good», daughter answered him especially louder, additionally rattling a metal spoon on the table.

«And what is the reason for this action?» Maria still decided to clarify Maria. Anthony gritted his teeth in pain, but replied: «Yesterday was the anniversary of your mother’s death, I grieved.» «And she, as I understand it, consoled you?» — shouted Borovitskaya, prying the prostitute’s underwear with the nearest found cane of her father, after which she threw it in his face. He grimaced even more, but still said: «You don’t understand, you didn’t know her. She died almost as soon as you were born. And I was there that day, I saw with my own eyes how a photon charge explodes under her feet. Those rebel freaks took her from me. But I took revenge, I killed them all to the last, not even leaving their shameful trace in the history of our country!

There were tears in the girl’s eyes. «How dare you talk about her like that, thus denigrating my only childhood memory. I remember how we played with her that day, after which she abruptly packed up and left with you to die. It was you who was supposed to be in that car, it was you who was supposed to blow up the „Resistance“! It was you who did not provide her with proper protection, although you knew about the danger! And yesterday, on the day of her death, I trampled on the memory of her even more!» At these words, Maria sobbed and ran out of the room.

Anthony didn’t even try to stop her. This conversation was far from the first, but this did not prevent, in addition to the general disgusting state, an unpleasant lump in the throat from settling. Borovitsky walked up to the wall with the computer and asked his artificial intelligence assistant to give him some hangover pills. Almost instantly, a tray came out of the wall, on which lay two white capsules and a glass of water. Anthony quickly drank what was offered, after which the device drove back into the wall, Borovitsky sat down on the bed, pulling off all the remaining crumpled clothes. A couple of minutes and the headache is gone.

The ruler went to the window and pressed a button similar to the system set up in his daughter’s room, but with a slight difference. Instead of a skyscraper view from her room, he had a medium-sized cannon portal suspended from the ceiling like a projector. Scientists were able to assemble this device according to Sergey’s drawings, so a small revision for the existing tasks was not difficult. Anthony was well aware of the consequences for the Earth of the work of tools, especially in large quantities, but he had long ago become indifferent to the fate of any person, except for himself and, perhaps, his daughter. The cloud opened up a bird’s-eye view of the «Castle», since Borovitsky always liked to watch his capital from the sky. The only difference from Sergey’s design was the two-way force fields, which completely blocked the passage through the portal in both directions, because Anthony continued to worry about his safety no matter what.

Having once again looked at the dilapidated and partially lifeless city due to the action of a large number of cannons, the ruler went to change clothes.

Entering the robotic dressing room and choosing a business suit, he asked the assistant to set up a meeting for Gamma-1 in the throne room. A second, and artificial intelligence reported on the bracelet that everything was done. During these sixteen years after the extermination of the beginnings of the «Resistance», according to Borovitsky, peace has come. Somewhere in the background, the rebels attempted to unsettle him, but the Ruler considered the issue actually resolved. The need for so many mercenaries began to fall away. However, the chief of them was a cunning fox. He convinced Anthony of the need to save his team in order to maintain security from external threats, and later was able to significantly expand his staff, creating an alternative army with impeccable soldiers, each of whom was given Alpha Prototype armor, almost invulnerable. «Gamma-1» regularly and consciously inspired Borovitsky about imminent danger, about possible future assassination attempts, which dulled his mind and drove him crazy. That is how, ten years after the siege of the «Castle» by the rebels, the mercenary became the chief adviser to the Ruler and was, surprisingly, appointed by him to the position of the new prime minister. An unprecedented career growth from a militant in «hot spots» to the second person in the country, but his sharp mind and Borovitsky’s significant dullness did their job. Moreover, once «Gamma-1» noticed Anthony’s conversation with an imaginary friend — the deputy who died from his own hand — Boris Spassky, which prompted the mercenary to think about the opportunities opening up to him.

Borovitsky wanted to talk to him about affairs in the country, about what to do with members of the Government who, even after so many years, continue to poke their nose into the «GraviScrap» project, somewhere in which in the archives of the research institute there was a file with the destructive effect of his work. Anthony ordered to search the entire institute a long time ago, but found nothing. However, the knowledge of the fact that Pythagoras had somehow obtained this information even before Sergey’s escape made him nervous, although there was comfort in the form of bones found near the «Castle» that matched his DNA.

With these thoughts, Anthony finished dressing with the help of robotic arms, put on a sky-satin dream-blue suit and set off with a proud gait to the throne room to meet with his deputy.

Chapter 3. Friend

Maria ran down the long corridors of the skyscraper in tears. She could not believe that her father could not only be insensitive, but also indifferent to her mother’s heritage. Under the guise of love for her, he continues to do terrible things, and this does not only apply to the rebels.

Borovitskaya was aware of how Anastasia died, and what followed for the terrorists then, as on the orders of her father, everyone who was involved in blowing up her car was killed. This could be justified by a thirst for revenge, but what happened then was already difficult to explain. After the destruction of the «Resistance», Anthony searched for its remains for a long time, searches were carried out in all the apartments of its members, in the found abandoned premises of the research institute, which served as their headquarters, but not finding a source where anger could be released, the Ruler threw it out on ordinary citizens.

Under the pretext of fighting the rebels, a scattering of laws was issued that finally changed the political regime of the state from democratic to totalitarian. Repression of the disaffected became commonplace. For just one word addressed to Borovitsky, recorded on eavesdropping devices built into bracelets, more than a million citizens were arrested. Indiscriminately they were classified as members of the «Resistance» and included in the list of terrorists. However, they were not sent to ordinary prisons. All political prisoners were transported to a new reality, where they were engaged in the construction of a new city for the elite. For disobedience, the guards, who were later replaced by the Gamma group, which significantly expanded its powers, because their boss understood well how to make money on government contracts, immediately shot them. The work of prisoners turned out to be much cheaper than robots, although less efficient, therefore, without significant costs, a technological and logically designed city with a population of several million people was built from scratch on the site of scattered factories and houses of the former kings of this world.

With these thoughts, Maria ran into the elevator, trying to wipe her tears with her fingers along with the flowing makeup. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she wasn’t alone. A young man, her age, rode down with her. «Masha, what happened?» he asked, looking surprised at the tear-stained face. She turned her head and pulled away abruptly, immediately blushing in discomfort. «Hi Misha, no, everything is fine» Borovitskaya replied, trying to quickly put herself in order. «Really? It doesn’t look like it» her companion decided to ask again. It turned out to be Michael Pisarenko, the son of Paul, a student friend of Anthony, who told him about the betrayal of Boris Spassky, and then sent him to the research institute, opening this wonderful new world for him at the most necessary moment for this. The young man also recently turned sixteen, but his tall stature and physique could easily have been more than twenty. A pleasant appearance, combined with a good-natured and understanding character, always bribed Maria, with whom they had known and been friends since childhood.

Pisarenko and his father lived in the same building, but several dozen floors lower, since he was one of the few people whom Anthony still trusted. Michael’s mother died ten years ago from a stroke, but at that moment there was no one at home to save her, so she and Maria were relatives by common misfortune.

«Well, what happened anyway?» once again, hoping to hear a sane answer, he asked again. Borovitskaya breathed heavily and said, «Father drank again, and we again quarreled because of mother.» Michael became sad and tried to comfort her, but she continued to stand aloof and not react. At that moment, the elevator stopped and opened its doors to the first floor. «Where are you now?» Pisarenko decided to ask. «Wherever my eyes look, I don’t want anything, just a walk» Maria answered indifferently, heading towards the exit of the building. The young man caught up with her and decided to try again to defuse the situation, «You know what, I have an offer for you!»

The girl stopped and raised one eyebrow with interest. «You always wanted to get outside the city and get to know better what the real, pristine nature is like. I can arrange it,» Michael proudly declared. «How? You know that the capital is surrounded by a high energized fence around the perimeter, all the more guarded,«Maria objected, heading for the exit again. «Wait,» Pisarenko caught up with her, grabbing her hand, «yesterday at one of the construction sites near the border, a prisoner fell asleep at the wheel of an excavator and drove into the fence. He immediately fried, but damaged it, and now construction has been stopped for several days until the border is restored. If we want to get outside without permission, it’s today or never».

Borovitskaya thought. She had long wanted to see what was happening outside the city and daily looked into the distance from her window, but never had such an opportunity. When she asked her father to take her on a tour, he refused and strictly forbade anyone from trying to get there, because he believed that uncharted territories were dangerous.

«My dad will kill me if he finds out,» she said smiling to her friend. «And we will make sure that he does not find out,» Michael objected to her pleased.

Chapter 4. Conversation with deputy

Anthony confidently walked towards the throne room in his house. He simultaneously served as a meeting room, and a hall for solemn ceremonies in the presence of journalists, and a room that can amuse his ego inflated with power. While he did not reach the wearing of a crown and a scepter, but the gilded throne stood in splendid isolation between marble columns at the end of a long hall stretched along large panoramic windows. Against the backdrop of the general modern style, the echoes of the period when the king ruled in the «Castle» looked even stranger than they felt.

At the end of the room in a sad pose stood «Gamma-1» — the new prime minister. Seeing Borovitsky from afar, he straightened up to his full height and made a fake smile. «Anthony, how glad I am to see you,» the former mercenary began with sycophancy. The ruler gave him a menacing look, after which he replied: «Simon, let’s do without it, it’s already sickening.» «As you wish,» Gamma-1 persisted, «what is the meeting about?» «Members of the Government worry me,» Anthony said with a heavy sigh. «What’s wrong with them? — the former mercenary asked, — it seemed to me that everything had already been decided, the dissatisfied were working for the common good, and the rest joined the common idea that was beneficial to us. «That’s just the point, I’m worried about the group headed by Samoilov. They are already very actively digging into the affairs of the research institute, especially in the project called ««GraviScrap»om». I suppose they are trying to find compromising evidence on me, but there is nothing there anymore, I ordered everything to be found and destroyed a long time ago, «said Borovitsky, obviously a little nervous.

Noticing this, Simon went to the table next to the throne, found a bottle of alcohol and two glasses, poured twice as much into one of them as into the second, and then handed it to Anthony. He had been drinking the Ruler for many years, forcing him to do what was convenient for him. «Well, then maybe there’s nothing to worry about?» asked the prime minister with a mock smile. Borovitsky drank some more, after which, already clearly formulating his phrases worse, he replied, «But I am worried that for some reason I am telling you this information, and not vice versa. Why then such a large staff of spies, if they do not cope with the work assigned? At this moment, the Sovereign jabbed his finger into the chest of the former mercenary with an effort. This obviously touched him to the core, because these actions as a whole raised the question of competence, although he knew very well before that about the information communicated to him. «I know, but I decided not to tell you until I find out for sure,» he decided to try to somehow justify himself. «Nonsense», Anthony said in a half-drunk voice, «do not forget your place and where you got out from. One more slip like that and I’ll regret lifting you so high. You’re free for now, I hope I don’t have to repeat this again».

After that, not so confident gait, he headed towards the exit. «Wait», Gamma-1 called out to him. Borovitsky abruptly turned around on its axis and headed towards him. «I’m listening», the Governor asked. «This conversation also applies to Pisarenko» the former mercenary began. «And what about him?» Anthony raised an eyebrow. Making a picturesquely sad face, the prime minister replied, «I don’t even know how to tell you, my spies reported that he often communicates with Samoilov, and they were also together in the research institute building. Apparently he also wants to sniff out something and set you up.»

Borovitsky, in anger, with a tiger jump, shortened the distance between them, after which he pressed the former mercenary to the column and slightly raised him: «Once again I will hear slander against Paul, fly out of here, I will not allow my best friend to be slandered, to whom I am ready to entrust everything that whatever. I know that you had a conflict, but this is not a reason to try to blame him unfounded. «Did you hear me?» Anthony shouted. «Yyyess», Simon answered in a stuttering voice. «Well, that’s great», the Ruler said, pleased with himself, releasing him, after which he shuffled towards the exit from the throne room.

Chapter 5. Walk around the new capital

Michael and Maria were confidently heading towards the construction site. The young man always knew how to find the key to her closed heart, and today was no exception. Leaving their common house, they found themselves on a huge square with hundreds of different fountains. They hit from everywhere: from sculptures, from stones, from improvised walls and even from the floor. Shrubs were planted between the rows of paths from neatly laid mosaic tiles, stylized in the antique style — a whole garden of all kinds of plants. Many of them, including bergenia, iris, fir, thuja, were brought from another reality, but they took root perfectly in the new conditions, growing even large. However, the lion’s share was made up of shrubs and dwarf trees, bred already here from their «wild» counterparts growing in local forests.

From the square, precise and straight, as if along an attached ruler, three roads diverged along the ray architecture, along which other skyscrapers were located, but clearly lower and poorer in rank. The main idea of building a new city was that Borovitsky’s house, the most majestic and tall, decorated with a superstructure in the form of a decorative crown of the monarch, was the center of a new universe, from where all life in his country began, and the roads, one way or another, led to it. At first glance, everything was done monumentally and ideologically. There was a clear handwriting of the architect’s idea, but looking closely, one could find a large number of flaws or incongruous elements that self-respecting designers would never use. Everything is magnificent, rich, pretentious, but tasteless, to match the ambitions and inner aspirations and convictions of Borovitsky after a long period as Ruler.

The structure was invariably guarded by mercenaries from the Gamma group, dressed in armor, which was previously called «prototype alpha», and now simply became «alpha-1». Teenagers often went to school or for walks, so their appearance outside the building did not raise any questions.

Drones scurried around every now and then, cars were flying and hurrying and swarming people in business clothes were moving somewhere. On one of the billboards placed on the skyscraper to the right of the main fountain, a commercial began. A man appeared on the video: «Tired of hiring cleaning companies? Are robots not cleaning well enough? Do not pick up a vacuum cleaner yourself!» At that moment, he took the compact device in his hand, looked at it with a sad look, grimaced, and threw it aside. «There is another solution! — the advertiser exclaimed pleased, — ask us, and we will send you a prisoner! Only ninety credits, and he will lick your house to shine!» «But most importantly!» he proudly declared, raising his hand with a remote control and a round voluminous collar, «as a gift, we will give you a collar for them, as well as a remote control to control them. Worried about your safety? Do you think he can attack? Boom! And the explosive device in the collar is activated!» Several entries appeared on the screen, as this happens. «What an abomination!» Maria said. «Don’t worry — in this case you are also insured, and we will send a certified specialist free of charge to remove this disgrace. „Cleaning New“. A new era of cleaning. Our services are cheaper than robots and ordinary people!»

Glancing with contempt at this advertisement, the young people went further towards the intended goal. The sun, or rather the star conventionally named in this way, gradually rose to its zenith, touching the roofs of skyscrapers with soft rays. The air temperature also began to rise so much that Michael had to unbutton his denim jacket to keep from sweating a lot. There was about a kiScrapeter left before the construction site. «What is your plan? How do we get to the other side?» breaking the silence, decided to ask Maria. «I have already said that construction has been stopped for today, most likely tomorrow they will start fixing a hole in the fence and restart the electricity. A couple of people protect it from the force, and even then it’s not a fact, there’s not much to take there, the prisoners were taken back to prison, but they live here, you know, a person who can buy half of the old capital with his account along with people is unlikely to climb over the fence to the construction site», Pisarenko said, smiling broadly. Borovitskaya laughed, clearly amused at times by the strange and somewhat absurd manner of her companion’s narration. «Therefore», he continued, «we only need to go through the entrance for transport, having previously checked for the presence of security, and crawl through a gap in the fence».

Maria was still not sure of the thoughtfulness and correctness of the undertaking, but the thirst for adventure and the long-standing craving for the unknown automatically made pluses out of all the minuses in her head.

At that moment, they just approached the construction site. It was a large fenced area with a half-built dapium -concrete structure, which then had to be transformed by glass panels. There was no talk of landscaping the territory at the moment. Michael looked inside through the checkpoint, waited a bit, and then returned to the girl. «It seems to be clean, we can advance,» he proudly declared. With stealthy movements, the couple reached the desired place. There was a huge yellow and black excavator with its bucket stuck into the metal wall. It was badly mangled in this place, and below, next to the point of contact of a part of the construction equipment, there was a gap about six feet in size, into which several people could easily pass.

Looking up, Maria only now realized how huge the wall on the edge of the city was. In height, it reached more than fifteen meters, and the width reached two or three. From the window of the house, the perimeter barrier seemed tiny, but up close it evoked diametrically opposite feelings. The design was clearly reliable, but even it was not insured by being rammed by a huge machine at maximum speed, capable of digging a foundation pit for several giant skyscrapers alone in one day. Defensive gun mechanisms protruded from the wall, facing the field, cut off along with the electricity supplied to it.

Mihachiel l approached the hole, which served as a road to the unknown world for them, and asked, «Well, are you ready, or are you going to be scared?» «Ready!» Maria confidently answered him, slightly pushing the guy with her shoulder, first entering the crevice. Pisarenko smiled contentedly and followed her.

Chapter 6. Oh brave new world

Teenagers slowly walked through the endless expanses of meadows with a malachite greenish tint. From a distance, it seemed so unattainable, so desirable, and now every blade of grass and spikelet could be touched with hands, felt with feet if gravity boots were removed, and the incredible aroma of herbs spicy from dew could be inhaled deep into all lungs.

The sun had passed its highest point and was now heading towards sunset, touching with its still warm rays the tops of skyscrapers, casting long shadows on the pure and untouched expanses of nature. Maria and Michael walked slowly, but the hated city, which had become a kind of prison for them in a beautiful modern glass wrapper, was gradually left far behind. Only the roofs of some houses reminded of the place from which they came out through a hole in the wall into this primeval paradise.

Another twenty minutes passed. The guys were silent for almost the whole road, because all their attention was absorbed by a hitherto unseen spectacle. Giant birds, huge insects were flying around. Here is an eagle-sized gull sitting on crystal clear and mirror water in a small pond. Moreover, here is the chirping of grasshoppers in an unusual bluish color for earthlings, sorting out with their paws, each of which could move a soccer ball with only a small movement. However, the most important thing is air, it is a pure breath of a light breeze in absolute emptiness. No foreign smells, no inviting and intoxicating coffee in the morning, no street food fried on impromptu fires, and, especially, sewage on the outskirts of the city that has not yet been transported to a landfill in a neighboring dimension. Fortunately, they guessed not to start polluting this world, still untouched by garbage. Now only the tasteless superstructure in the form of a crown on the building belonging to Borovitsky testified to the gigantic metropolis on the horizon.

Having measured it with a sad look, Maria turned to the place where Michael had just stood, but there was no one there. Looking around sharply and looking around, she also could not find him. «Misha, where are you?» the girl asked in a slightly nervous voice. However, there was no answer. Borovitskaya, with a frightened look, began to look for at least some traces that could tell her where Pisarenko could have gone, when suddenly a young man jumped out of the nearest tall bushes in the grass with a cry, «Boooo».

Maria jumped in surprise. The source of the sound turned out to be Michael himself, who is now bowed three deaths from laughter. «Fool», the girl scolded him, defiantly waving her small hand towards his shoulder. «You’re so funny scared, I can’t stop!» the young man continued to laugh. Borovitskaya made an offended face and went one further in the opposite direction from the setting sun.

Several hours had passed since they left the aggScraperation, and they were increasingly moving away from their home. Pisarenko caught up with the girl, putting his hand on her shoulder, but she, offended, defiantly threw it off, after which she silently continued on her way. The new world for them, which was right before their eyes all this time, but to which they had no way to get, so impressed them that the teenagers completely lost track of time. So, slowly, they finally made their way to the end of the meadows, which smoothly turned into a dense and dense forest.

Turning around, they saw in the fog the edge of the highest skyscraper as thick as a match. «It’s time for us to return, it will soon get dark, and they will miss us», Maria said sadly. Michael once again looked towards the forest, after which he said, «We have been watching these fields through the window for so many years and dreamed of getting there, we didn’t even see trees in the east of the city, only in the south, and then rare thickets. Imagine how beautiful it is, there will be no other chance, tomorrow the fence will be repaired, and we will not be able to get here soon. Let’s take a look at least one eye and immediately back. Sunset is still far away, a couple of hours for sure.» Saying this, his gaze took on such an interested, intriguing and at the same time pitiful look that the girl simply could not resist, struggling with her inner thirst for adventure with her last strength and not at all thinking about responsibility in an adult way.

«Only one», she declared with relief, heading into the depths of the enchanting and mysterious forest, not even understanding what consequences their still childish curiosity could lead to in the future.

Chapter 7. Secret games with the opposition

Paul Pisarenko by the evening was already in a depressed mood. This day exhausted him greatly, and his old friend, Anthony Borovitsky, concurrently the Ruler of the country and the new world, apparently decided to finally finish him off.

From the very morning, Paul wandered around the old capital, starting from «Borovitsky Technology», ending with orphanages. The student friend became director of the company again after Spassky’s death, which the court decided was suicide, although knowing that Anthony had gone up to the roof that day to meet him, Pisarenko wasn’t so sure.

Then there were no less strange deaths of Medkovich and Zubiev, and then the kings of the new world, and then Paul understood everything. He guessed that Anthony could be capable of anything for the sake of power, this was evident from his student days, when he wanted to be the first everywhere and everywhere, and when he conceded, he tried to fix it in every possible way. But a murder, a lot of murders, no, he resolutely refused to the last to admit to himself that this was true, and this is what actually happened.

The combination of the position of director of the company and the Ruler of the country weighed on Borovitsky, so he found a sophisticated way to get rid of it. Having left the main post in his own offspring, Anthony retained a majority stake, legally retaining the right to manage, but in fact transferred all his powers to Paul. This turn of events was much unexpected for him at first, but after a few months, he realized that it could not be otherwise.

Pisarenko had full carte blanche to manage the company, he could appoint any employees he liked to the positions he needed, spend unlimited resources, and create any projects that he personally considered promising. Anthony even ordered that only he could intervene in the process of decisions made by the new director, and, as his student friend later guessed, he simply intimidated the shareholders through his mercenaries, because every person has something valuable and dear to him, that he is the strongest in the world is afraid of losing.

Then events happened in the Parliament, the siege of the «Castle» by the rebels, and Borovitsky finally pulled away from his old friend. You can understand him — he lost his wife, he had to raise his daughter. And this is in addition to his duties to restore order in the country, as the Ruler. It’s hard not to go crazy and lose your head.

But gradually, seeing what atrocities were taking place in both worlds, Paul was no longer so sure of the decency of his comrade. He began to learn more and more, and gradually this knowledge became his curse. Pisarenko every day wanted to thoroughly understand the situation, tried to understand where the truth was hidden, but the further, the worse it was. It is for this reason that he contacted the main oppositionist today — Samoilov. He was not particularly interested in the whole quintessence of contradictions between the politician and Borovitsky. The main thing is that he owned the last thread on Paul’s path to the final and irrevocable awareness of the motives for Anthony’s actions.

It was the realization of the fact that the information that Pisarenko had been collecting for so long was within easy reach, and made him gather his strength in the evening and go to one of the abandoned warehouses.

The warm summer evening breathed the aroma of peace and tranquility. The sun sank below the horizon, finally dousing the last landscapes in the distance with a crimson sunset. Paul stood in the middle of a huge platform with dozens of abandoned hangars. Some of them were blown away by a hurricane a couple of years ago, but one that collapsed from a rocket hit stood out from the total number of nondescript metal boxes. It was a «PD hangar» owned by «Borovitsky Technology», more precisely, it belonged, because after the siege of the Castle, its functionality was completely exhausted, and they did not rebuild it, because, as it turned out, it was completely unnecessary according to Anthony’s assurances.

There was still not a soul around. This made the task easier, but it had a strong effect on Pisarenko’s nerves, since he was sure that the loud beats of the heart, which became more frequent, could be heard several meters away. At that moment, the man noticed how a black truck drove up from afar and stopped right in front of him. Several men in black suits with blasters emerged from it and took up positions. A minute passed, and one of them raised his hand with a bracelet and said, «Clean, you can go out». The back door then opened and a middle-aged man in a sweatshirt, hood pulled over his head, climbed out of the van. With quick movements, holding the folder in his hands, he headed towards Paul. «Good evening, glad to see you», Pisarenko greeted him. «Good man», the interlocutor replied in a dry, very quiet voice, «did you bring it?» «Yes, Matvey, I brought it», the director of «Borovitsky Technology» said vividly. «Shh», his guest snapped, «don’t call me by my name, show me». «Excuse me», Paul apologized, pulling out of his pocket a box with ten ampoules filled with a thick green liquid. «First, a folder», he snapped, holding out his hand to Samoilov. He made a disgruntled face, cursed, but handed over the documents. «Where did you get it?» the businessman asked, looking at the leather frame with the symbols of Borovitsky. «As it turned out, some of the scientists currently working for the Ruler can be very accommodating», Matvey said, carefully looking at his interlocutor. With every second of observing the object in his hand, his eyes became more frightened and wild, like those of an animal that sees prey in front of it and is ready to pounce on it right now. «My daughter is sick, please hurry, I got what you asked me», he was already babbling. Pisarenko was an honest man, so he handed him the box without deceit and new demands. The deputy quickly hid it and jogged towards the truck, which in a minute was already rushing away from the warehouses, leaving the business partner in splendid isolation.

Smiling, Paul finally opened the folder with the document that they had not been able to dig together at the research institute yesterday afternoon. It was signed by their old acquaintance — Sergey Dyatlov on the day of Zubiev’s death.

Chapter 8. Dense forest

Young people willingly rushed into the thick of the forest, clearly realizing that they had criminally little time before sunset and the need to return home. The farther they went, the denser the arrangement of twisted and thin trees became, despite their gigantic size in height. On average, each instance reached more than 131 feet in its span. From the state of the bark and the general impression, one could say that they are ill with something, but it is impossible to judge this with certainty.

Having traveled about five hundred meters, the sun finally disappeared behind Michael and Maria, hiding behind the heaped trunks, as if they were landed by an impressionist artist in a random order in large strokes so that the overall picture could only be seen rising high above them.

There was no smell, but for some reason my head started to hurt a lot. Moreover, the further into the forest, the hotter it became. Pisarenko felt a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. My legs were getting heavy and walking was getting harder. A windbreak and a large number of tree roots bulging outward and intertwined with each other also did not give much pleasure from an «easy» walk. Michael felt his pulse quicken, a slight turbidity appeared. A trickle of sweat from his forehead began to flow into his eyes so that he finally stopped seeing anything. Taking off his T-shirt, the young man wiped himself dry, which slightly corrected the situation.

A little cheered up, he decided to look at Maria. She, too, was clearly out of her mind and walked, staggering a lot. Suddenly, above her head, Pisarenko noticed a huge spider, slightly larger than the local ladybug, descending on a thick cobweb. The distance between them was rapidly shrinking, and at the moment when Michael called out to the girl, the insect, having heard a sharp and unfamiliar sound, got frightened and crashed right into her hair. Borovitskaya screamed at the top of her voice, trying to throw off the intruder, while he, sensing the danger, shot her in the face with a piece of cobweb, jumped down and rushed to the leak.

Pisarenko quickly threw off his backpack, unzipped it, took out a blaster he had kept in case of danger, aimed and fired. The beam flew within a couple of centimeters from one of the paws of the insect, after which it rushed into the nearest bushes and disappeared. However, this fact did not at all calm the girl, who, screaming at the top of her lungs and not understanding anything on her way, with a face wrapped in cobwebs, rushed to the leak in an unknown direction. The young man tried to call out to her, but it did not work, so he had to rush after her. «Stop, there is no danger, stop,» Michael shouted after her, but she did not react. Surprisingly, completely blind, Maria ran for several minutes, until she finally accidentally cut herself into a tree. Hitting her head hard, Borovitskaya immediately fell to the ground, holding her forehead with both hands. At that moment, Pisarenko also arrived, starting to tear off a dense layer of slimy cobwebs from her face, but unexpectedly met with resistance from Maria, who began to beat him with her hands and feet. «Calm down, it’s me, don’t make sudden movements,» her best friend shouted at her, but she did not react exactly until the moment when her eyes appeared under an unpleasant consistency. Seeing a familiar face, the girl stopped screaming and fighting back and finally relaxed.

Michael was quickly able to unravel the rest of the web, after which he helped his friend to her feet. They were silent for about a minute, after which she said a short «I’m sorry». «Nothing, I understand how scared you are», Pisarenko answered her, putting his hand on her shoulder. «What was it?» she asked, clearly embarrassed. «The spider fell on you from a branch, it was a little larger than those that I saw on Earth», the young man told her smiling. «A shot, I heard someone shot», she continued to ask. «That was me», Michael replied calmly, showing off his weapon.

«Why did you take a blaster with you», Borovitskaya turned away from him, not believing her eyes. «Well, of course, we are going to unknown places, you never know what can happen», Pisarenko said absolutely reasonably, «only where are we? While I was running after you, I completely lost sight of where they came from». «That is, it’s also my fault», the girl got angry with him, pushing him in the shoulder. «No, of course not», said her best friend, smiling. Proudly lifting up the strong-willed chin inherited from her father, Maria stood up and moved on. Without thinking twice, Michael followed her. He clearly felt that the more they were in this forest, the worse his health became. There was an incomprehensible lump in my throat, which did not allow me to breathe normally, my legs tangled more and more, dark dots «ran» in my eyes, gradually increasing in size. Suspecting something was wrong, he shared his feeling with Borovitskaya, and she, immediately realizing what he was talking about, confirmed the symptoms. «We need to get out of this forest, and the sooner the better», said the young man, trying to check the map on his bracelet. However, the geolocation away from the towers in the city was clearly not working properly, due to which their location constantly moved within the forest with a difference of several kiScrapeters. «No, it’s useless», he thought, lowering his hand.

So, at the behest of their hearts, they walked for about twenty more minutes, the condition became worse, but an even sadder fact was the realization that they were clearly going the wrong way and got lost. The legs began to sink into the ground. Water oozed from under the moss after each step. Somewhere nearby, a swampy area clearly began. Suddenly, unexpectedly for both of them ahead, the forest broke into a large clearing. «Let’s get closer to the center and check the map, we should get a better signal here», suggested Borovitskaya. The idea was clearly reasonable, so they quickly headed there, since after their appearance in the clearing, it immediately became easier to breathe. Having reached the middle, the young people raised their hands in the hope that the bracelets would determine their geoposition and their theory was justified, this time the point showed with a spread of several hundred meters and it was possible to roughly determine in which direction they should move. Satisfied, they screamed and embraced. Now it was up to the small, go in a straight line in the required direction and get to the city.

Suddenly, a strong crunch and breaking of trees was heard from behind. The guys turned around and saw in front of them how high and long jumps from the forest, destroying all the trees and bushes in their path, a huge likeness of a mixture of a tiger and a black panther comes out. The overall dark shade of the coat echoed with a variety of smoky stripes. Giant fangs, like those of saber-toothed brothers, were provocatively demonstrated to everyone present. His height reached about 6 meters at the withers, and apparently weighed like a truck. In the teeth of the animal lay motionless, seized by the neck, the body of a lifeless partridge the size of an eagle. Seeing young people from afar he stopped, opened his jaws, and the victim fell on the grass from his bloody mouth.

Chapter 9. Old friend

Paul stood on the square all alone. Only the howling wind was next to him, bringing back memories of the events of sixteen years ago. In his hands, Pisarenko held a printed document signed with the electronic signature of Sergey Dyatlov, as the author of the research request, made on the day of Zubiev’s death. The results were clearly visible on it, which directly testified that all the troubles: earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes — everything was caused by the operation of the device, code-named «GraviScrap», which, in fact, is a portal to the new world.

Paul knew about the existence of this document. On the day of the siege of the «Castle» by the rebels, he saw in the recording the address of their leader, where he stated exactly these facts, and promised to place this file under the video. However, the Government quickly fussed, and only a few were able to download it, but the program, which was implemented along with the tracking system in the bracelet of every citizen, did not allow it to be distributed. It was at this point that freedom of speech died. Therefore, Pisarenko wanted to get access to this file in such a way, he tried to find out whether Anthony was really involved in everything that had happened in recent years. However, he himself would never have shown this document, even to his best friend, because, already clutching his throne in a death grip, he was afraid to lose it.

Closing the folder, Paul raised his hand with the bracelet and said to the voice assistant, «I need to meet with Anthony, very urgently, right now». «Okay, I’m connecting via video link», the assistant replied. The Ruler, already quite drunk, picked up the phone: «Hi, what do you want?» «We need to discuss something, right now», Pisarenko told him upset. «Well, come to my office, we’ll talk,» Borovitsky replied, cutting off the connection.

Half an hour later, old friends were already standing in Anthony’s office. He was as detached from reality as possible and looked at one point. «Before I tell you why I came here», Paul began his speech, «tell me, dear friend, why the hell are you drunk again, what is happening to you, what are you doing, what are you turning your life into?» «I do exactly what I want, I am an independent person, and it’s not for you to teach me how to live properly», Borovitsky objected to him, stuttering. «Yes, what are you talking about? Even when you felt bad, when you found out about your illness, when your wife died, when you lost everything! You were restrained, self-confident, purposeful, and most importantly, you knew what you wanted and achieved your goal. What now? You get drunk every day! Look at yourself in the mirror, what kind of scarecrow is this, sitting on a throne in a crown that has come off its head! Yes, your own servant is already laughing at you! Where did that tough and self-confident Ruler go, who was ready to kill for any mistake? Pisarenko was already yelling at him. Anthony seemed to understand something in the depths of his soul and tried to tuck his shirt into his pants and straighten his jacket. After that, he cried. «Pasha, every day I remember her, every day, I feel very bad without her, before I didn’t give a damn, it didn’t matter, even when she was alive, but now for some reason I can’t stop. I dreamed about her a few months ago, asked me to look after our daughter, from that moment I fell apart», Borovitsky murmured in a trembling voice.

«I understand everything, but think about it, this is all for a reason, it started as soon as you appointed „Gamma-1“ as prime minister, and not a few months ago. He is trying with all his might to get you drunk and set you up against his main allies, and then take your place!» Pisarenko continued to shout at him. All this time, he did not even take out the document with which he came, because he understood that the time was clearly inappropriate, first he had to bring his friend to his senses. «Here,» he said, handing the Ruler a glass of dissolved hangover remedy, «we need to get together». Borovitsky drank it in one gulp, and it became clear before his eyes how much better he felt. A couple of minutes, and the sobered-up Ruler, already calm and reasonable, as usual, said in a voice, «You are wrong about Simon, we have been through a lot together, I can trust him. Moreover, he collects dirt on you, and you on him. Mind your own business, and leave the strife for me, I’ll figure it all out myself, don’t even hesitate». «I’m glad you’re back. Now listen, maybe what he says about me is true, but I do it in order to learn more about his dark deeds, so today I …», Paul began to say, but he was interrupted by a sharp movement Anthony, raising his index finger up.

«Wait, you’ll tell me later, I want to call my daughter first and apologize, this morning I told her so much too much», Borovitsky said calmly, including the bracelet. «Anna», he called the governess Maria, «call Masha, I need to tell her something urgently». «But she is not at home», the house cleaner answered as if nothing had happened. «How not?» the father was indignant, «eleven PM, where is she?» «I don’t know, I didn’t come, and I don’t answer calls», the woman answered calmly. «And you’re only telling me this now? Pray that nothing happens to her, otherwise you will go to the mines, to extract stones, understand me?» Borovitsky shouted at her, losing his temper with anger and blushing all over. «Seeds here quickly!» he continued to yell at the voice assistant. «And I’m already here,» the former mercenary declared, immediately appearing from behind the door. «Eavesdropped?» Paul asked him sarcastically. «Well, how could I, I just happened to be passing by», «Gamma-1» also feignedly answered him.

«Enough, otherwise both will fly away from here!» Banging on the table with his fist, Anthony said, blushing even more with anger, «Where is my daughter?» The former mercenary took out an old walkie-talkie for negotiations between his employees and said, «„Gamma-8“, where is the daughter of Anthony?» He immediately answered without delay, «When I last saw her, she left the house with her son Pisarenko, then did not return». «Where are the coordinates for her bracelet?» the Prime Minister continued to extract information. «In the forest, twenty kiScrapeters north of the city border, I am sending the coordinates», the mercenary reported.

«What the hell are they doing there? Equip my ship, we urgently fly there! If even a hair falls from her head, I will kill you all, and Pasha, first of all, for your negligent offspring!» the Ruler shouted with all his might, pointing his finger at his chest, and with a quick step went towards the floor with all the ships, from where it was possible to immediately fly out of the building.

Chapter 10. Run

Young people stood still, frozen with fear. Directly in front of them, five hundred meters away, was an unknown beast the size of a truck, which, judging by the size of its teeth, clearly could have tasted them as a snack before the main course. The blood of the previous victim dripped from his fangs onto the grass.

«Don’t move», Maria whispered, taking Michael’s hand. He tried to pull his blaster out of his half-open backpack without drawing attention. Finally, he managed to find the handle, after which the young man pulled him closer to him, so that at any moment he could grab it and shoot at the target. «Calmly, the main thing is not to move, so he will think that we are not a danger», Pisarenko also quietly answered.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a drone flew out of the clearing behind them. Having rounded them in a semicircle, the drone stopped abruptly, and then turned to the side towards the tiger, approached, soared up with lightning speed and disappeared from view. The animal clearly did not like this movement. It roared with all its might, showing the guys from afar the size of its mouth.

From the other end of the clearing, similar sounds of several individuals were heard, but obviously quieter and more like a squeak. Hearing the cry of its cubs, the tiger ducked, preparing to jump and attack.

«This is his home, he will protect his children!» Maria screamed, immediately twitching in the opposite direction from him. The beast let out another displeased and frightening growl, after which it headed towards the teenagers with lightning-fast long jumps.

Michael took out a blaster from his bosom, hoping to shoot the enemy. «I won’t miss such a big one», he thought, not moving at all, aiming at the animal right between the eyes. A shot rang out, and a laser beam lit up the already quite dark clearing with its bright red tint, burning through the air on the way to the target. Having hit the tiger in the head, it unexpectedly bounced along an oblique trajectory in the opposite direction, hitting the nearest tree and cutting off a large branch. Pisarenko froze in amazement. Before that, he had never seen anything that could reflect a laser beam, except for armor made from dapium.

Already running to the edge of the forest in the direction of their house, Borovitskaya stopped abruptly and turned around. In disbelief, she screamed again, «Run!!!» Michael woke up from his shock, turned around and, with all his strength, rushed towards Maria. However, during this time the beast had already managed to overcome half the distance between them.

— — —— — —— — —— — ———

Anthony, accompanied by Paul and two mercenaries from the Gamma group, led by their chief, flew on a hypersonic ship over the endless fields outside the city. This shuttle was created from the same universal dapium, which surprisingly included in its properties the strength and anti-allergenicity of titanium, as well as the lightness of aluminum. Moreover, as it turned out, underfoot in the ground, it was contained in such monstrous and unimaginable quantities that they began to spend it on making trinkets, if only they could put the surplus somewhere.

The ship was something like an egg with a cockpit in front and two hypersonic hydrogen engines leaving to the side in the back. Power units were also installed from below, which were responsible for takeoff and climb. In addition, on the front side were their «brothers» with reverse thrust for braking and lowering. All this wonderful and modern development of scientists from the same research institute where Dyatlov once worked was stored in a specially designated floor for this in the Borovitsky skyscraper next to eight of the same devices, but without high-speed units, as well as one «eighth generation» fighter. On the roof was an emergency escape pod made from a single-seat half-glass balloon that could be flown a short distance to fly out of the city.

After flying over the wall installed on its border, Gamma-1 launched a reconnaissance drone, which was supposed to head into the forest and quickly find the lost teenagers thanks to its territory scanning system using a thermal imager.

As soon as they reached the edge of the array, the former mercenary happily declared, «Found them!» «Where are they?» Borovitsky asked at once, moving closer to him. «Here in that clearing right on the course. Only there is a problem, they are not alone there», the Prime Minister replied, peering attentively at the screen.

— — —— — —— — —— — ——

Michael fled with all his might. His breathing quickened, oxygen was critically lacking. The condition, relieved after entering the clearing, began to deteriorate sharply. Again, black dots began to appear before his eyes, he could barely stand on his feet and struggled to fall, his head was very dizzy. He felt like he was running only at the expense of the forces that the adrenaline playing in his blood gave him, otherwise they would have left him long ago. Ahead of him, Pisarenko saw Maria run to the edge of the forest, but her movements staggering from side to side clearly indicated a similar condition. Suddenly, the young man felt as if some huge piece had got into his throat, clogging the entire passage. What is urine, he breathed air into himself, but nothing happened. The image finally floated in his eyes, after which he fell like a dead weight on his face into the damp earth with moss.

Turning around, Borovitskaya saw that her friend was lying motionless. «Misha, get up, just not now!» she shouted to him, but the young man did not react. Maria immediately rushed to him, practically falling exhausted next to him. After the start of the chase, she experienced all the same feelings, as, indeed, in the forest. «Get up!» she shouted with all her might, starting to beat hard on the back, but to no avail. Tears of helplessness rolled down her cheeks. And ahead, two hundred meters away, a hungry and angry beast flew at them, at the moment when a white ship jumped out from behind the edge of the clearing over their heads.

— — —— — —— — —— — —— — —

After the words of the head of the mercenaries, the chat tl accelerated even more. Borovitsky stood at the edge of the platform, clutching the handrail and opening the side door. He peered down into the woods with an effort, hoping to see his daughter alive and well. And then, finally, the ship overcame the array and surfaced over a huge clearing. Beneath him, Anthony noticed two young people lying on the ground, and at a short distance from them, with incredible jumps, a huge tiger in an unusual coloring practically flew. «Fire on that target! Urgent fire from all guns!» shouted the frightened Governor. The ship braked sharply, and then several cannons came out of its bottom, directed towards the beast. A second, and a cannonade of laser volleys began, which did no harm to the animal, bouncing in all directions and burning trees in the area.

«What the? Set aside, otherwise you will hurt them», Borovitsky yelled at the top of his voice. «Formaldehyde,» Paul told him, «we won’t break through». «From where?» Anthony wanted to ask him, but remembered that they were flying over swamps with a large amount of methane emissions, which, through catalytic oxidation with aluminum phosphate, at high temperature can become formaldehyde used for tanning leather. Apparently, its incredible amount, plus the unknown composition of underground rocks that can enter into unique chemical reactions with earth, as well as proximity to underground hot lava sources in this area, combined with evolution, gave these animals such unimaginable abilities. «It won’t work, we need another way», Borovitsky agreed with him with a tremor in his voice.

At that moment, the distance between the teenagers and the tiger became thirty meters. The thoughts of the Ruler at the sight of his daughter in the paws of the beast rushed at lightning speed. From the side, he saw a compact version of «GraviScrap» attached to the wall, assembled according to the drawing of Dyatlov, who used it to escape from his imprisonment. With a sharp movement, Anthony tore it off, turned it on and sent it down.

— — —— — —— — —— — ———

Maria saw the tiger approaching them. Then, half-delirious, she noticed how the ship opened fire on him, but he seemed to have nothing to do with it. Michael never got up, although Borovitskaya tried with all her might to bring him to his senses. Breath was hit, legs were not felt. I didn’t have the strength to run. In the depths of her soul, she accepted that now she would die, and no one could help her. The distance to the predator was rapidly decreasing, he was already within the radius of his final jump, a few meters from the teenagers. So he bent down, abruptly bounced back with his hind legs, stretching his claws forward and opening his mouth wide. Suddenly, the clearing was lit up by a sharp flash of light from the side of the ship, after which an expanding funnel spun right before my eyes, where the beast landed, hitting it with its jump exactly in its center, after which it began to rapidly close. Maria felt the force of attraction so that she, along with Michael, was pulled towards the portal, but suddenly it slammed shut, leaving the teenagers in place.

Casting a last glance at the place where the danger emanated a second ago, and finding the emptiness of a lifeless wasteland, Borovitskaya looked up towards the ship descending to the ground, after which her head began to spin violently, and she fell unconscious.

Chapter 11. Resuscitation

As soon as the tiger was on the other side of the portal, Borovitsky quickly turned off the «GraviScrap». «Let’s get down», he commanded. «Anthony, it’s still swampy terrain, viscous soils, can we check first? And then we may not take off», the Prime Minister said. The ruler roared like a wild beast, grabbed the former mercenary by the breasts and lifted him up, pressing him against the wall of the ship. «Did I express myself incomprehensibly?» he asked. «We’re going down», «Gamma-3» reported at the helm immediately without waiting for further commands.

The shuttle began a gradual descent, fixing at a height of about a meter above the ground just in case, so as not to push through the watery soil with a large mass. A gangplank rolled out from under the open side door, inviting passengers to step onto the marshland. Without waiting for a complete stop, Borovitsky and Pisarenko jumped off it, running towards their children. They lay unconscious and did not respond to any cries and calls. Anthony was the first to run up to his daughter, immediately shaking her, but to no avail. Approaching his son, Paul got the same result. Looking at him evilly, the Ruler immediately attacked him with his fists. «It’s your fault, your son brought her here. Without him, there would be nothing now!» shouted Anthony, trying to beat his friend, but he fought hard. «Calm down, that’s enough!» Pisarenko tried to reason with him, but in vain.

«Gamma-45» ran past them with a medical couch floating on an air cushion. Bending down to the teenagers, he said, «The girl is still breathing, the young man is not, but the heart is beating. We urgently need to load and fly away from here. Hearing this, Borovitsky stopped abruptly and got down from his friend. «Sorry», he said, «I got nervous, we pick them up and fly away».

Together they put both teenagers on the couch, ran into the ship with her, after which the gangway drove in, the engines started, and the shuttle lifted off the ground, leaving two scorched circles below. Inhaling fresh currents of air, Maria got up, her head was incredibly spinning, everything swam before her eyes, only the silhouettes moving around were barely distinguishable. «Where am I?» she asked in a barely audible hoarse voice.

«Don’t move, lie down, it will get easier now», Anthony began to calm her down, immediately being there. «And Misha, what’s wrong with him?» the girl immediately asked in the same plaintive voice. «He lies until he breathes», the father replied, stepping aside. «Severe suffocation with methane in high concentrations», Paul summed up, standing next to his son, «Anthony, please tell me that you have selenzium with you». Digging in his pockets, he found nothing. «Is there a first aid kit here?» he asked at once. The prime minister searched through the drawers in the walls and found a small suitcase. Opening it, he found tourniquets, a bandage, and one vial of a greenish liquid in a syringe. It was the exact substance that was made from the extract of the metal that gave this world regenerative powers. «There is one capsule», he said, holding up his hand with the syringe. «Give it here», Borovitsky commanded, pulling his palm and heading towards his daughter. «Anthony, wait», Pisarenko stopped him, «my son is dying, and Maria has come to her senses, let’s split the dosage, he’s all I have left».

The ruler stopped, holding medicine in his hand. «I have it too», he replied, starting to inject the medicine into the girl’s vein. Suddenly she jumped up as if nothing had happened, saying, «Daddy, stop. I’m already better, leave it for Misha». Stopping halfway, Borovitsky froze, «What if this isn’t enough for you?» «I’ll live to see home, but he won’t, dad, please, I don’t want him to die». Anthony blushed with anger, and saying: «Damn!» He took out the needle and handed the syringe to Pisarenko. Tears of hope rolled into his eyes, and the only thing he could squeeze out of himself was a timid and quiet: «Thank you,» after which he administered the remaining dose of medicine to his son.

He abruptly opened his eyes and jumped up, starting to cough. Everyone in the cockpit breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as the young people caught their breath a little, Borovitskaya asked, «What happened?» «The fact that you walked for a long time in the swamps and inhaled methane in a huge concentration, which led to suffocation», Pisarenko answered, folding his arms over his chest and making a serious look. His son continued to cough. «Fortunately, we arrived on time», Anthony continued.

«And what kind of animal is this, and where is it now?» continued to be interested in his daughter. «By the way, where did you send him?» Paul decided to ask. «Now he is somewhere in the forest area behind the ring road of the capital, almost a natural habitat. It will be necessary to send your group there, catch him before he devoured all the inhabitants of the surrounding villages», Borovitsky answered, referring to «Gamma-1». «Enough questions, have a rest, we’re flying to the hospital, we need to drop you off for a day to lie down and recover, especially since I don’t know how much an incomplete ampoule will work», the Ruler finished the conversation, heading to the cockpit to inform him of the landing site.

Chapter 12. Invitation

Anthony, very tired, went into his room and flopped down on the bed with a flourish. He didn’t even take off his clothes, just took off his gravity boots. Today he was incredibly exhausted, especially since he had to be nervous for the life of his daughter. But there were serious concerns about whether she would survive after methane poisoning or not, but, fortunately, everything worked out. Now she, along with her son Pisarenko, for whom he experienced more and more negative feelings in connection with the fantasies and the young man’s ability to get Maria into trouble, were in the hospital for treatment. Tomorrow they should have been discharged, since there were plenty of selenzium, as well as other means of modern medicine in the institution.

Borovitsky did not set the alarm, because he decided that all tomorrow’s business could wait, and today he needed a good night’s sleep. A distant clock on a wall-mounted screen struck midnight. Anthony took off his jacket, soiled in clay from the swamps, and threw it to the other end of the room, after which he pressed the button and a blanket pulled out from under the bed along the runners, completely covering the body. After lying like that with eyes closing from sleep, the Ruler dozed off. However, the dreams were by no means joyful.

At about six AM, Borovitsky jumped out of bed from a sharp pain in his back in the lumbar region. Cursing to himself and biting the blanket to hold back the incredible scream, Anthony got up from the bed and headed to the next button. There was a portable first-aid kit in the form of a metal black suitcase measuring thirty by thirty centimeters. Having opened it, the Ruler found five cavities inside for ampoules with syringes. Two of them were already empty. The three remaining occupied cones with the already familiar green liquid — selenzium. Taking one, Borovitsky assembled the structure, pulled up his pants and thrust the syringe into his thigh with a flourish, after which he pressed the button, and the liquid began to be pumped into the tissue. The back immediately felt relief.

Sitting on an armchair in the living room, Anthony exhaled calmly and stretched his legs forward. For sixteen years, he forgot what the disease is, but, to his great surprise, she overtook him in this world a couple of months ago. At first, these were single bursts, but gradually appeared more and more often. To his great relief, so far the serums have completely leveled this unfortunate situation. However, the question remained open, how is this possible? After all, metal particles released into the air should give miraculous regeneration, but for some reason this does not happen.

Immersed in his deep thoughts, Borovitsky decided to call his doctor. After long and lengthy calls, he still picked up the phone. On the screen of the holographic image from the bracelet, Schultz, already fairly aged, had acquired gray hair and bald patches. «German, I apologize for such an early call», the Ruler greeted him. «Anthony, I’m glad to hear from you, as I understand you about the tests, I was just about to call you in the morning». «What’s the news?» Borovitsky immediately got down to business. «Everything is sad, the disease has returned, and we can’t do anything about it», the doctor said with a sad look. «But how is that possible, especially in this world?» Anthony shouted in bewilderment. «Perhaps», Schultz replied calmly, «the air analysis you sent directly screams that the content of selenzium in it is rapidly decreasing. People who moved there in large numbers breathe it in too actively, and they do not have time to form a new one in the required amount.

«And now what I can do?» Anthony asked, closing his eyes from disappointment. «So far we can extinguish the symptoms with the help of sera, but this is not for long, a year or two at most, then we will return to the point from which we started. I’m afraid you’ve already cheated death, but it won’t give you a third chance».

«I understand you», Borovitsky replied, cutting off the call. He sat for a couple of minutes in absolute devastation and silence, after which he jumped up abruptly and shouted, «Aaaaaaaa!» He picked up the chair and slammed it against the wall with all his strength. Guards rushed to the roar. «What’s happened?» asked «Gamma-23», who had flown into the room. «Nothing, go out and close the door», the Ruler said, looking at him with a murderous look. «Sure, do you need help?» did not let up the mercenary. Anthony grabbed the nearest blaster on the table and fired over his shoulder. «I said GET OUT», he shouted at the top of his lungs. The guard bowed and walked out the door.

Exhaling, Borovitsky went to the kitchen. Opening a bottle of whiskey and pouring himself a glass, he smoothly sank to the floor and began to cry. For a long time there was no such hopelessness, even when he remembered the death of his wife. Closing his eyes with his fingers, the Ruler began to massage them vigorously in order to come to his senses. Then, opening them, he saw Spassky in front of him. «But he didn’t pour me anything», Boris asked, taking the second glass in his hands and sitting down on the floor next to him. «Go away, it’s not up to you now», Borovitsky tried to drive away his imaginary friend. «Oooh, not today. Right now you really need me, and you know why», the former deputy objected to him. «Enough with alcohol to solve your problems look at yourself, you almost drank yourself, a little more, and we will start begging on the street, do you want this?» the chief adviser began to read lectures. «And what? What’s the difference to you? I do what I want», Borovitsky objected to him, taking another sip. «Have you forgotten my dear? I am you. And where would you be without me? Oh yes, probably in the dustbin of history, I completely forgot», Boris began to think.

«You know, I don’t need you anymore, I can handle it myself», Anthony objected to him. «Good, good, great», Spassky got up from the floor, clapping his hands, «only my advice to you is to start dealing with Pisarenko and «Gamma-1». Their graters get in the way. Also, watch out for the second one, he’s getting too suspicious. When you need it, call me, you know, I won’t go anywhere and I always look at the world through your eyes. After that, he smiled and vanished into dust before his eyes, as if it had never happened.

Anthony continued to sit, pondering the words of his former assistant, after which he got up, put a glass of unfinished whiskey on the table and called Paul. «Good morning», he greeted, «what happened?» «We urgently need to talk today», Borovitsky told him without a greeting by order. «Okay», Pisarenko answered with a shrug, «but I have a counter offer, I want to invite you on a guided tour». «Where?» Anthony asked with interest. «To our historical homeland», the head of «Borovitsky Technology» replied, smiling.

Chapter 13. Excursion

Pisarenko stood at the entrance to the portal, waiting for Borovitsky. They agreed to meet immediately there, so as not to waste time on meaningless moving around the city. Paul specially found an inconspicuous sweatshirt with a hood so as not to stand out from the crowd with his expensive suit. For the same purpose, they chose a portal on the outskirts of the old capital, so as not to appear directly from the «Castle».

Finally, Anthony appeared on the horizon, dressed in a special suit, in which needles were mounted with selenzium, and which became an inseparable part for him during the exit to the «Old» world from the moment of the events around the Parliament. Usually, during public speaking, he hid this armor under voluminous jackets and shirts, and put on a mask with a protective hermetic shield through which his face was visible. Over the years of taking the serum, the burned areas of the skin were tightened, the retina allowed to see again, but scars and scars remained a reminder of those events.

But this time, Borovitsky did not close the suit, but held a helmet in his hands, completely hiding his face, in which he participated in the siege of the Resistance headquarters. Surprisingly, no matter how conspicuous and attention-grabbing this image was, it provided complete privacy. Moreover, after a series of massive destruction of the city, Anthony had a completely objective reason to fear for his life.

Having come close to Pisarenko and greeted him, Borovitsky put on his helmet and asked, «Well, let’s go?» «Come through», Paul immediately invited him to the portal, making an appropriate gesture with his hand. A second and together they moved to the other side. The room in which «GraviScrap» worked was a kind of fortified bunker, guarded by a dozen soldiers from the «Gamma group». Anthony took into account the mistakes of the past, when the «Resistance» was able to find out about the purpose of the «Hangar PD», get into it, and then practically invade the new world. Now Borovitsky hid his secrets much better. The bunker was dug in secret, as a branch of one of the subway lines, and for the builders it was declared as a building for the subway employees. The project was compiled by one of the affiliated scientists at the Research Institute, who is developing personally for Anthony. Moreover, unlike the hangar, the bunker was guarded by twice as many mercenaries, dressed in the flawless and proven effectiveness of «Alpha-1» — the crown of Sergey’s creations immediately after «GraviScrap».

After going outside and taking the earthquake-proof elevator to the surface, the old friends looked around to see what had changed lately. A depressing landscape opened before their eyes: a dilapidated gray city, water with floating debris under their feet, an incredible stench of rot and stench, a tornado walks in the distance. Even the building of the «Castle», as a symbol of power, turned out to be partially collapsed in the right wing, where one of the towers slid into a dried-up moat.

«Do you smell sulfur and burning?» Paul suddenly broke the silence. «Yes, what is it?» Anthony answered suddenly saddened. «According to my data, this is a harbinger of an imminent catastrophe», Pisarenko answered, stretching his hand to the east towards the ancient volcano, which appeared long before the foundation of the city. There were legends that once he had already destroyed an ancient civilization that had located its capital in the same place. Moreover, archaeologists found its remains, but no traces of a large settlement were found, only the walls of a couple of dozen houses. Perhaps the rest was hidden by lava and ash deep underground. However, it was no longer possible to verify this, since no one was clearly going to build the metro in the direction where finds valuable for the culture of the country were discovered.

In the part of the city where the volcano was located, one could see massive shifts in the layers of the earth, which, like abscesses, swelled in places, ready to break through at any moment. «Now pay attention to the sea», he turned Borovitsky, pointing towards the port. Anthony could not believe his eyes, «Wait, where is the water? Why is she so far away?» He glared greedily at every place that represented a horrifying event. «A sad sight», the Ruler declared with a swallow. «I agree», Pisarenko already habitually answered. He saw this picture almost every day. And most importantly, now more than anyone else knew what was causing it. «Did you bring me here for this?» decided to ask Borovitsky. «Not quite», Paul said, hesitating, «you see the cause in front of you, but I want to show you the effect». Then he made a gesture inviting for him, and Anthony, immersed in his sad thoughts, followed him.

It didn’t take long, about five minutes. Borovitsky realized this, sharply crashing into the back of Pisarenko who had stopped. «Here we are», he suddenly announced, pointing to a rickety barn with a roof falling inward. «And what is it?» dissatisfied asked the Ruler. «Well, how can it be, not to recognize the place where I went every day for almost ten years», the head of Borovitsky Technology said with a sneer. Anthony continued to shake his head in disbelief. «Well,» Paul decided to give him a hint, «imagine that this building is five stories high, there are two wings with columns on the sides, carved figures at the top, a massive staircase, a gold clock above the entrance, baroque from all the cracks, under our feet a monument to Pirogov» «Wait a minute», Anthony suddenly interrupted him, «is this our medical university? But this cannot be, where is he, where has everything gone?»

«And this, dear friend, is all that you see before your eyes, the consequences of the „GraviScrap`s“ action, which Dyatlov warned you about,» Pisarenko said proudly, taking a folded piece of paper from his pocket with research. Looking at him carefully, Borovitsky said, «Where did you get it from?» «From an anonymous source», Paul answered with a smile, «do you bother to explain?» «You yourself know everything very well, and about my illness too, and here, let’s say, a side effect, a small accompanying cost», Anthony said, continuing the obviously difficult and unpleasant topic of conversation for him. A thought flashed through his head, about which Gamma-1 had warned him, «Is Pasha really collecting dirt on me and wants to take my place?»

But suddenly his thoughts moved back to current events. «Wait, what is that shed?» he asked, looking at the rickety building. «Let’s go inside and you will find out everything», Paul told him, putting one hand on his shoulder, and with the other making a gesture inviting him to visit the so-called «exposition».

Chapter 14. Shelter

In bewilderment, waiting for answers, Borovitsky, accompanied by Pisarenko, was heading to the building of a dilapidated barn. As soon as they entered the threshold, a strong smell of waste and decay hit their noses. Almost complete darkness reigned around, only in the distance one light worked on a gasoline generator, emitting incredible squeaks and sneezing black smoke every few seconds. To the right of the entrance to the bathroom, if you could call it that, water was dripping from one of the faucets. Light tapping on the tiles created a slight echo. In the depths, children’s din was heard, despite the fact that the barn before that seemed abandoned and completely lifeless.

Looking around with horror, Anthony said, «What kind of place is this?» Paul did not answer and made only a characteristic gesture, inviting them to follow him further. Along the way, they met several dozen double beds, standing in places on the bare ground. In patches one could notice how children no older than ten years of age were dozing in these places. They lay almost on bare boards, only a few had leaky mattresses with springs sticking out. There was no need to talk about personal things, they were dressed accordingly. Pisarenko walked without stopping, although it seemed to the Ruler that he had seen enough.

As soon as they reached the farthest room, where the only source of light burned, Borovitsky was even more horrified. This room can hardly be called such. The walls were assembled from what was: wood, pieces of slabs, metal beams. To the side of the window was a large gap through which the wind blew. Glasses were also absent, there was only one name from them. The floor was a mixture of dirt and cobblestones. All these conditions were not even in any minimal comparison with what even the closet for washing supplies in Anthony’s apartment was like. For robotic vacuum cleaners, more comfortable conditions have been created than for children here.

As soon as the guys saw the guests, they immediately ran up and surrounded them. «Uncle Pasha», one joyful, curly-haired, toothless boy shouted, throwing himself into his arms. Having lifted him up, Pisarenko lifted the baby and stroked his head. «Well, that’s all», he said, lowering the one, «I’ll talk to you and all of you a little later, first you need to give an excursion to Uncle Anthony». The children clapped their hands happily. Borovitsky grabbed his old friend by the shoulder and pulled him aside. «Do you want to tell me what this place is?» he asked. «Patience, now I’ll tell you everything», Paul tempered his ardor. He took out a folder with documents with the initials «Borovitsky Technology» from the desk drawer. «What is this?» without waiting for an answer, Anthony asked. «And this, my dear friend, is one of the shelters financed by the charitable foundation of our company», Pisarenko answered, spreading his arms. «And you, without asking me how much you separated from the company?» the Governor asked angrily.

«Twenty percent, but that’s what I’m the director of, right? Moreover, this shelter is only one of the network deployed throughout the country», Paul said, pacing around the room and examining the holes in the walls that had recently appeared and the broken glass. «So this is where such fabulous sums go», Borovitsky said with an understanding look, «then why is everything in such a terrible state, as if this building was built by homeless people to rebook at night, and not one of the largest medical companies in the whole world?» «And because they don’t exist for more than a month, a maximum of two, under the influence of „GraviScrap“, each of the shelters built by the charity fund has already been destroyed more than ten times, we simply don’t have time to rebuild them qualitatively anew, we have to be content with what we have», Paul answered with sadness in his voice. Even through the mask, he felt how heavy his soul became to his friend. Now Borovitsky, like no one else, was aware of all the pain and severity of the problem, the cause of which he himself was. «I’ll go outside and breathe, I can’t be here, I’ll wait for you there», he said to Pisarenko, patting his shoulder, after which he headed towards the exit.

The head of «Borovitsky Technology» once again examined everything, greeted the kids, after which he took out a box of chocolates from under his sweatshirt, proudly lifting it into the air and loudly asking, «What do I have here?» The smallest, seeing a delicious gift, immediately rushed to meet him. «Be careful, share with each other, don’t be greedy!» Paul said, putting the box on the table, after which he stepped aside and called Peter to him. He was sixteen, and he, as the oldest of them, looked after everyone, acting for them as something like a foster father.

«Everything is fine?» Pisarenko asked him. «Yes, the day before yesterday there was a strong hurricane, a piece of the wall was torn off, the glass in the window shattered, but in general no one got hurt, only Stepan had a small cut from a fragment», the young man answered confidently. For them, this phenomenon has become quite familiar, almost daily. «Well», Paul said with a heavy sigh, «tomorrow they will come to you from the fund, fix the wall, put in new windows, bring heaters, food and medicine, divide everything equally so that everyone gets it.» «Let’s do it», Peter said. «Well done», Pisarenko shook hands with him and headed for the exit.

Borovitsky was waiting for him there. As soon as the companion caught up with Anthony, he asked the main question that worries him at the moment, «You said this is an orphanage, but who are the children who are here, where are their parents?» Paul sighed heavily, after which he answered, «All their parents died from tornadoes, floods, earthquakes — in general, the consequences of the work of „GraviScrap“, they are orphans, and the charitable foundation helps them to endure the pain of loss together». Tears welled up in Borovitsky’s eyes, only the mask made it possible to hide them from a friend. «So you mean to say that I am to blame for all this, and you are paying for my sins?» he asked in a heavy voice. «Well, you can say that», Pisarenko answered him.

Then he continued, spreading his arms around: «I called you here not only to show all this, but also to warn. According to the forecasts and what is visible right now, that volcano will begin to erupt within a week. The capital will be completely destroyed, if not by lava flows and ash, then by the tsunami that covered it from the sea. People won’t survive. And even if they can go a sufficient distance, then this is not life. Now they exist as parasites, nothing more. Help me, at least take the children to the new world, give them a chance for a brighter future!»

Anthony sighed heavily, on the one hand, he understood that the way things were happening now could not continue, he should not allow children to live in such conditions. But on the other hand, I found out that a large crowd of people in a new dimension reduces the concentration of selenzium in the air, giving it a chance for a long life. Throw in an extra few millions and the pain-free period becomes even shorter. «I’m sorry», he answered sadly, «if I take them there, I’ll die, and I can’t let that happen, that I’ll leave Maria behind, she’s all I have, I can’t lose her». «You have already deceived the disease, your daughter is an adult, the more you will have time to talk with her, and these children, they have no future, no chance, step over yourself, sacrifice one life for millions of others!» Paul shouted. Children looked out the windows. After a few seconds of pause, Anthony declared, «Forgive me, but no, I can’t, the only thing I’m ready to offer you is to send a group of mercenaries tomorrow, they will help evacuate the city, and we will send fifty percent of «Borovitsky Technology’s» income to a charitable foundation for their worthy life. After that, he, without waiting for his friend’s answer, headed back towards the portal. Pisarenko stood all alone for a few more minutes, realizing that Anthony, whom he once knew during his student life and the founding of the company, is no more. Taking a deep breath of the air, smelling of ash and sulfur, he quietly said, «And thank you for that», after which he also went to the portal.

Chapter 15. Change of course

Borovitsky returned to the capital in a completely different mood. Excursion Paul put him in a stupor. On the one hand, he was very angry with him that he was spending his company’s money without warning that he was working with the opposition, trying to dig up compromising information on him, which reproached him with the lives of other people whom he saw for the first time. But on the other hand, there was some truth in his words. Anthony perfectly understood that the portal would not exist, these children would never suffer and would live and be brought up in families in warm and comfortable apartments, but such is the price of life, and, unfortunately, they had to pay for it. The only thing that the Ruler has sacrificed at the moment is his wife, however, this blow was not easy either.

Borovitsky entered the new world and immediately took off his mask. Taking a deep breath of the local air, he immediately felt a cardinal difference in ecology. Taking a deep breath, Anthony tried to calm down after what he saw, but his heart continued to beat the rhythm, as if it wanted to jump out and run away from his chest. Climbing up from the underground floor to the street, he noticed how light dawned in his eyes. The warm rays of the newly risen sun could not be compared with the dark and gray, oppressive and depressing atmosphere of the old world.

Raising his hand, Borovitsky called for a car. A minute passed and a snow-white mirror hovercraft descended from the sky. The driver was habitually absent, one had only to give the address. Of course, his house could not be located on any other street than Borovitskaya. The ego has always been a sore spot, but it only got worse over the years, especially after taking office as prime minister.

On the way, Anthony set up a meeting with «Gamma-1» — it was necessary to discuss the promises made by Pisarenko, especially the issue of funding. The ruler understood that the fund was eating up too much money from the company, which for many years had gradually become unprofitable without a clear understanding of the further plan of action and a significant reduction in the sales market. It was necessary to allocate public money, but where to get it: either to raise taxes that would go to the same people would be strange, especially in such a difficult life situation for them, the second option is to reduce spending, primarily on the military sphere, which have grown to unprecedented proportions after Simon’s appointment as prime minister. Anthony wanted to talk about this.

The meeting was scheduled for lunch, so there was plenty of time to find the right words. Borovitsky decided to pass the hours in his office, lying down on the sofa. Closing his eyes, he relaxed into a comfortable position. The ruler was so tired in recent days that he dozed off in a matter of minutes. Before my eyes was the spacious hall of the Parliament. Passing by the panoramic window, Borovitsky stopped, not believing his eyes. The bright sun shone behind him. Soft clouds, lightly touching each other, floated across the sky, reflected in the river. The beginning of spring greenery on the trees was pleasing to the eye. No earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and other horrors that he faced. The volcano in the background was sleeping in a deep sleep.

Passing by people in expensive business suits congratulated him on his recent full-fledged post-election appointment. The status of the Acting Ruler is left behind.

Smiling at those present, Borovitsky made his way through the crowd to the exit. Something was pulling him there. Having finally reached the desired door, he opened it, went out into the street and inhaled the pleasant aroma of spring warmth. The red carpet lay underfoot, flanked by insatiable journalists who wanted to make a good shot, no matter what it cost them. The crowd was held back by security, trying not to let anyone in. Suddenly, Anthony’s car landed at the entrance, the door opened, and from there, in a chic burgundy dress, Anastasia put her foot in high-heeled shoes onto the path. Borovitsky smiled broadly when he saw his wife in her beautiful form, after which he looked a little lower, under the wheel of the car. «Nooooo!» he shouted, rushing towards, after which there was an explosion, and Anthony woke up.

«What is not?» asked sitting next to the table «Gamma-1». «Yes, I dozed off, I had a nightmare», the Ruler answered, sitting down and rubbing his eyes. After that, he also sat down at the table, actively sorting through the papers, as if he was looking for something. Suddenly he looked up sharply, saying, «I have a conversation with you, it’s an important matter». Then he saw behind Simon Spassky walking around the office with a shuffling gait. Anthony raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Boris, noticing this, made a characteristic gesture of gratitude, after which he approached the former mercenary, strongly pointing his finger at him, then with his hand he depicted a gun that shoots him in the head. But the dead deputy did not let up, stood behind the Ruler, strenuously drawing attention to himself. Anthony sharply waved it away, splitting it into atoms.

«Do you drive away insects?» «Gamma-1» asked smiling, immediately realizing the reason for such strange actions. «Yes, they interfere», Borovitsky decided to play along with him, «well, actually, shall we start?» «Let’s go», the Prime Minister replied, settling himself comfortably in his chair. «This morning», the Ruler began, «I had a chance to walk around the old world. What I saw there horrified me. Orphans live in terrible conditions, and most importantly, it’s all the fault of the guns and portals. Therefore, I have decided that I will cut the funding of your army and send mercenaries to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters and evacuate the population.

«Gamma-1» made a surprised face, and then asked, «Let me know, did Pisarenko conduct the tour for you?» «Yes», Borovitsky replied shortly, «but what does this have to do with it?» «No, I just warned you about his intentions, and now he has made a theatrical production so that you give up part of the protection. After all, Paul understands that there is nowhere else to take money quickly and in large quantities, and so he kills two birds with one stone — weaken your security and earn money in order to take the place of the Ruler later», the Prime Minister told him. «Be quiet», Anthony roared, «I warned you about your quarrels and unfounded accusations, I’ll hear it again, and I can’t vouch for myself! Do what they say and don’t ask unnecessary questions. My people are in the Parliament and the Government, it is not a problem to inspire them with the idea of the need to resign the prime minister».

«Okay», «Gamma-1» reported, «I understand everything, can I go?» «Go on», Borovitsky replied dryly, «I hope you make the right choice». The former mercenary defiantly bowed and walked out the door. Anger and displeasure were clearly visible on his face. «It’s time to end this, it can’t go on like this for a long time», Simon thought, moving along the long and narrow corridor towards his office.

Chapter 16. New attempt

The day after the conversation with «Gamma-1», Anthony had a public event scheduled. Today is the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the reorganization of the state from a democratic republic into a limited monarchy. All this was done in order to finally usurp power in the country, and after death, successfully pass it on by inheritance to an adult daughter prepared for this by fate itself, so that she would continue her father’s work of exploring the new world. And the main obstacle was the old form of government. Of course, formally the powers of the monarch who was placed on the throne were limited by the Parliament and the Government, but in fact the power was absolute. A long time ago, the state had to deal with a monarchy, as kings ruled in the «Castle» for several centuries, but then there was a revolution that established a new order, similar to what happened in France at the end of the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, similarly to its neighbors in the geopolitical branch of historical development, the republic did not last long, and a new Napoleon Bonaparte of his time was found.

Borovitsky with confident steps, beating every movement with a firm step, moved towards the exit from his house, there a car was already waiting for him, ready to deliver him to one of the central squares of the new capital. Considering what Anthony saw on the other side of the portal, and also assuming the general disposition of the inhabitants of the old city towards him, this time he decided to celebrate the anniversary in a new place. Moreover, the symbolism went off scale, «a new capital — a new state — a new device — a new life». Scrolling through this phrase in his head, he was especially amused by how, with the help of repetitions, he would emphasize that the country does not stand still, but develops and renews itself, becoming better, that all their sacrifices and sufferings do not occur in vain, but are for the good the whole society. Moreover, as a screensaver before the broadcast, he wanted to start a video from a drone flying over the city, but he considered this move too pretentious, and was afraid to cause excessive dissatisfaction at the sight of the riches and delights of the new dimension.

Going out into the street, a fresh summer breeze blew in my face, always creating a feeling of pleasant and comfortable warmth, but at the same time significantly refreshing the hot heated air. A few meters away was already a mirror-white bean-shaped car with a huge compartment for passengers, since it was fully automated without the possibility of interception of control. As soon as Borovitsky came closer, the doors swung open on their own, a small step-ramp came out of the side part for more convenient entry into the cabin. Climbing inside, Anthony said the address, the doors closed, the engines started working from below, after which the car took off from the ground and flew towards the square. The city was not big, so a couple of minutes, and the transport was already landing next to the impromptu stage. The ruler here did not fear for his life, so security was at a minimum — the audience from the first row could calmly shake hands with him without any extra effort. From the car window, you can see that the area, which occupied about a hectare of space and was surrounded by snow-white skyscrapers, was completely filled with people who obviously began to applaud when they saw the approach of their king.

As soon as the car landed and Borovitsky stepped onto the stage, people thrashed around in ecstasy, clapping non-stop. Such a number was not even present at the ill-fated celebration of Independence Day, when a double assassination attempt was immediately made. True, it is worth noting that at that time there were no people on the square who owed him health and such financial success against competitors due to their technological and exclusive superiority due to materials inaccessible to them.

Approaching the microphone, Anthony made a gesture with his palm, meaning a request to be silent. The sound of applause immediately stopped. Behind him was a huge translucent screen, on which a large image of his face was broadcast. Speakers were placed in the distance to increase the sound. «Dear fellow citizens», Borovitsky began, «I am very pleased to see here not only those who came personally, but also the eyes of others who clung to screens and holographic images from their devices. Today the whole country is celebrating the day of the formation of our state in a modified format. Of course, a lot has happened during this time, we have faced a large number of both external and internal threats. The „Resistance“, recognized as a terrorist organization, does not sleep and continues to put sticks in the wheels of our independence and security, let me remind you that the nuclear explosion in the center of the capital, which destroyed a good half of the city sixteen years ago, was their work, therefore, it is necessary to make every effort to combat them. Over the years, we have built a new society with a radically different structure and ideology. Now I am in the renewed capital of our Motherland, because the new capital — the new state — the new device — the new life. Yes, let me repeat myself, but I do it consciously, because nothing old is left! From today we begin to move towards our confident and happy future!» Suddenly, the Governor abruptly fell silent, forgetting what he wanted to say next. After all, unfounded promises and populism are good, but it is necessary to at least outline real guidelines for development.

But apparently that was enough for the crowd. A rumble and thunderous applause arose throughout the square. Having examined the people who had become even more hypocritical and unpleasant to him, Borovitsky nodded his head and began to turn in the direction of the car, when he suddenly heard the sound of a shot. Instinctively, he fell to the floor, closing the podium. The crowd screamed and began to scatter to the sides, after which another shot rang out. Raising his hand, frightened Anthony called «Gamma-1». He immediately replied, «Don’t worry, we found and removed him, we are examining the surroundings for accomplices. Don’t get out, wait for the signal». Borovitsky huddled in fear behind a small stand, afraid to move. This time, there was no protective armor at hand, and he clearly did not plan to die today.

A minute and there was a new call from the former mercenary: «Anthony, it`s clean, you can get out, he was alone». The ruler immediately replied, «Where is he? I want to see the attacker».

Chapter 17. Fateful Decisions

Anthony, brushing himself off, got up from the floor of the stage and looked towards the screen, which was behind him during the performance. In it, exactly in the middle, about thirty centimeters from Borovitsky’s head, a hole burned by a laser beam gaped. Apparently, this was the first shot, fortunately for the Ruler, unsuccessful. Then, turning around to the square that was quickly emptying in panic, Anthony headed to the side, where he noticed «Gamma-1» and two more mercenaries bending over the body. Coming closer, Borovitsky noticed that the victim was holding a blaster in his hand and was wearing the old uniform of the Gamma group even before the appearance of the «Alpha-1» armor. «Recognized?» he immediately asked, not waiting for information from the former mercenary. «Not yet», he replied, «we want to track down in hot pursuit whether his accomplices are trying to get as far as possible». Then a message was heard in the Prime Minister’s bracelet, «Searched everything within a radius of a kiScrapeter — no alleged co-perpetrators were found». «Good», Simon replied, removing the mask from the attacker.

It turned out to be a young man with red curly hair, about twenty-five years old. «Recognize?» Borovitsky asked him. «Yes», «Gamma-1» replied, «one of ours, they fired a couple of days ago, apparently decided to take revenge». «So why didn’t you eliminate him?» Anthony asked with claim. «We ferried him to another world, and said not to let him in again, but it looks like he found a loophole through the cordon», the prime minister said, scratching the top of his head.

«Interrogate everyone who is in charge of guarding the portal, for sure he is connected with the „Resistance“. I’m expecting a full report on today’s incident on my desk in two hours. You can handle this, since my guards can’t do it», Borovitsky said with a grin, heading towards his car. As soon as he turned around and left, Simon made a displeased face, clearly mimicking the Ruler and continued to study the evidence and traces of the crime.

An hour and a half later, the report was already lying on Anthony’s desk. «Well, you can do it whenever you want», he said, opening the folder. Not to drag out time, the former mercenary stated, «The attacker went through a portal on the outskirts of the city this morning». «And how did they let him pass», Borovitsky asked, glancing from under his brows. «The most interesting thing is that they say that they received an order to let him through», continued the story of «Gamma-1». «So, and from whom?» the Ruler asked further questions. «From you», Simon answered with a grin.

Anthony laughed out loud, after which he added, «Cunning, dog. What else did you find out?» «He shot from the crowd, from his service card, which for some reason was not taken away from him. Obviously, someone pushed during the shot, I doubt that a professional in such a situation could miss, at worst, a little mow, but completely by — nonsense», the former mercenary said, almost without stopping.

«Any connections in the «Resistance»?» Anthony suddenly asked sharply. «I think not, the picture does not add up differently. They usually act as a group, but never alone. These times have passed, now they have grown up and become insolent», «Gamma-1, obviously thinking about every word he said, said. «However, there is a more interesting point», he continued, «digging through the transcript of the last calls, we found one number». «And who is he?» Borovitsky asked impatiently, moving closer to the table. «I’m sorry, but the last few of them were with Pisarenko, even one long one — more than an hour», the former mercenary answered, making a very sad face. «Show me», Anthony said rudely.

The Prime Minister handed him a printout, on which it was clear that the attacker called Paul several times. «It’s clear», the Ruler continued dryly, swallowing the lump in his throat, «I didn’t think it would turn out like that. But I don’t believe that he could hire this killer, I just couldn’t!» «Surely you had a misunderstanding about the old world, and he decided to get rid of you by taking the place of the Ruler», «Gamma-1» tried to convince him of the opposite. But Anthony could not imagine such a thing in his thoughts, he could not even imagine that his student friend was capable of such a thing.

After a silent pause, Borovitsky suddenly declared, «It’s time to finish with him». These words were not easy for him, but he did not put into them the meaning that the former mercenary understood. Seeing his smile, the Ruler could immediately upset him. «I am removing him from all positions in this world and the director of „Borovitsky Technology“. Let him do charity work, but I don’t intend to help him in anything else. Additional funds will not be allocated, you can take your people from the fund where I sent them».

The Prime Minister was obviously more dissatisfied than after the phrase he had heard before, but he smiled and nodded. «By the way», Anthony suddenly continued, «did you catch the beast?» «What?» «Gamma-1» asked not quite understanding what he was talking about. «The tiger, which I threw out through the portal into the forest beyond the district and ordered to find and piss off», the Ruler answered him, clearly becoming more dissatisfied. «Ah, you’re talking about him», Simon began to get out of the situation, considering the look of his interlocutor, «not yet, they searched everything, he didn’t appear in the city either, it seems he headed in the opposite direction, deep into the massif». «Well, it’s good», Borovitsky unexpectedly declared, «stop the search, enough extra money to spend on this, far from the city, he won’t gobble up a lot of people, he’s free!» The former mercenary nodded approvingly, after which he left the office, leaving Anthony completely alone, immersed in his thoughts.

Chapter 18. When a random phrase changes everything

After a tense and memorable entry into the forest with Michael, Maria spent several days in the hospital. Gradually, her condition was getting better, to a greater extent, an injection of selenzium immediately after poisoning with methane helped. Pisarenko was still in a mediocre condition, apparently the swampy air had a stronger effect on him.

Each of them was in an individual modern ward with all amenities, so that the stay in the hospital practically did not differ from home. Today Borovitskaya was supposed to be discharged, tomorrow they promised to do the same with Michael. This fact made the girl very happy, so right in the morning she began to collect her few things that were brought to her from her father’s personal guard. Moreover, at the entrance, he assigned two mercenaries from the «Gamma group» to her, either to protect her from danger, or to prevent her from escaping from supervision. Maria heard rumors that Anthony had sent her governess to prison to the arrested citizens in the mines, and personally shot the mercenary who was supposed to accompany her everywhere. For Borovitskaya, such actions were unacceptable, and she did not understand how people could be punished with such cruel methods, but in her life the girl had heard that these atrocities were still flowers in the performance of the Ruler. The most juice was contained in the berries.

As soon as she changed from a hospital slip-on shirt into a gray sweatshirt and jeans, a doctor in a snow-white medical gown with a tablet in his hand entered the ward. «Maria, how are you feeling?» he began with a question. «Fine», Borovitskaya replied, not looking up from her bag. «I plan to discharge you today, you need to do another examination and fill out the paperwork», the doctor continued. «Thank you is not worth it», the girl interrupted him, taking her bag in her hand and heading towards the exit. «Wait», the doctor stopped her, «I didn’t let you go anywhere». Maria raised her narrow eyebrows in surprise, after which she answered, «I am absolutely healthy and I am stuck here aimlessly all day, you can fill out the documents without me, then send them to your father. I don’t intend to stay a minute, can I go or call security?»

The doctor sighed, grabbed the tablet with his other hand, after which, looking at the door behind which the two mercenaries stood, he said, «You can go». The girl made a demonstrative bow, after which she went to the exit, and the door slid to the side, hiding inside the wall, opening the passage to the long-awaited freedom.

As soon as Maria was on the street, she was surrounded by security from two sides, waiting for the arrival of Anthony’s personal car. A minute, and the car landed on the roof of the hospital. And so, hydrogen engines started working, the transport took off and headed from the eastern part of the city, where the modern medical center was located, to the tallest skyscraper in the new capital. On the way, the girl decided to turn on some kind of transmission in order to restore the gap for the time while she fell out of the information space over these few days. A screen popped out of the front panel and the day’s news came on. An image of a young pretty girl from a spacious studio appeared, who said, «I remind you that an hour ago, during the celebration of the day of the formation of our state, an attempt was made on the life of the Ruler Anthony Borovitsky». «What?» Maria asked aloud, not believing and clinging to the display. «To everyone’s joy, the king survived, nothing threatens his health», the presenter continued, «the administration has so far refused to comment on the situation, they are conducting an investigation. As soon as something new becomes known, we will definitely inform you. At these words, the news release was interrupted.

«What happened?» Borovitskaya continued misunderstanding. At that moment, the car landed on the roof of their house. As soon as the door opened, she immediately ran like an arrow towards her father’s office, immediately breaking away from her guards, who could not keep up with the girl’s young and energetic agility. Maria quickly went down the elevator to the penultimate floor and got to Anthony’s office. Behind the door, she heard his voice loudly. «Fuh, everything is fine with him», Borovitskaya breathed.

«However, there is a more interesting moment», the voice of «Gamma-1» was heard, «digging through the decoding of the last calls, we found one number». «And who is he?» the father asked impatiently. «I’m sorry, but the last few of them were with Pisarenko, even one long one — more than an hour», the former mercenary replied. «Show me», Anthony said rudely. Then there was a pause, after which Borovitsky raised his voice, «I didn’t think it would turn out like this. But I don’t believe that he could hire this killer, I just couldn’t!» «Misha’s father hired a killer? No, It is immpossible!» the girl thought quickly.

Then the prime minister’s voice was heard again, «Surely you had a misunderstanding about the old world, and he decided to get rid of you by taking the place of the Ruler». «Conflict? It looks like a father, but it doesn’t fit with Paul at all, he simply couldn’t do something in a cut!» Maria thought. After a short pause, Borovitsky said, «It’s time to finish with him». This phrase was for the girl, like a bolt from the blue. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming and abruptly stepped away from the door. Tears welled up in his eyes, «How can he talk like that about his best friend? How can one dare to kill Misha’s father, whom he has known for so many years, and with whom they have gone through a lot together! No, you need to warn him of the danger!» Borovitskaya rushed towards the elevator and, having missed her guards in a fraction of a second, went to the middle of the skyscraper, where Pisarenko’s office was located.

He sat quietly in his office in glasses, studying papers for a charitable foundation. At that moment, without knocking, out of breath Maria flew into his office. Paul looked up at her, looking at the girl through the eyepieces that had slightly moved down on his nose. «Masha, what happened?» he asked with a surprised face. «Paul, I have urgent news for you, I must warn you», Borovitskaya said, barely breathing. Pisarenko jumped up from his chair, immediately asking, «Something wrong with Misha, did he get worse?» «No, everything is fine with him, they will be discharged tomorrow», the girl answered, breathing heavily. «Fuh, don’t scare me like that, please, I almost had a heart attack», the frightened head of «Borovitsky Technology» told her, sitting down on a chair again. After a short pause, he continued, «What then?» «Paul», Maria began the story, stamGeldingg slightly, «I just heard my father’s conversation with «Gamma-1», they said it was time to finish with you, because you had a conflict with dad, and the alleged killer found your phone number». Surprisingly, Pisarenko reacted more than calmly. Taking a cup of drink, he completely drained it in one gulp, after which he said, «Everything that you are now saying is not true, this actually did not happen. The only conflict I have is with the prime minister, and it looks like he put the squeeze on your father to get rid of me. There’s nothing to be done, if they decide so, then my fate is determined, wherever I am, they will do what they have planned. Tears streamed down Maria’s cheeks. «Is there nothing that can be done? I’ll talk to my father, it’s not right!» she said, crying. «It’s not worth it, dear, don’t be upset, these are our questions and problems, not yours, I myself will decide everything today and talk to him, don’t waste your nerves on an old man like me. Everyone, go, I must have time to finish my business. Thank you!» The girl dried herself, nodded to him and left the office.

At that moment, Pisarenko leaned back in his chair and thought hard, «Well, that’s all! This moment has come, the moment of the end, I did not have time to do what I planned, but what now. We need to have time to arrange everything for Misha, while there is still time. Oh yes, I completely forgot. He immediately took out a device that looked like an upgraded version of «Message-1» from a desk drawer and began to write down a message, «Hi, I have been waiting for the day when I will talk to you about this issue, but apparently I don’t have long. Do not reproach yourself, space and time are such a thing, you don’t know where it will turn with a previously known result. Well, by the time you’re watching this, I’m no longer alive, but I hope you’re doing well. Borovitsky will not stop, and people in the old world are suffering from hunger and the devastating consequences of «GraviScrap». Help them! Do your best. Stop this madness! I believe that you can do what I lacked the courage for the sake of all humankind! I love you!»

After that, he turned off the recording, took the device and headed to the elevators to the roof to send a message through the antenna.

Chapter 19. Victim

Pisarenko the next day already managed to visit the old world to check how things were going at the shelters in the capital. The walls were successfully patched up, the wards had adequate and uninterrupted sources of light and water, so far they were not in danger of further destruction. According to forecasts, the volcano slowed down its eruption, so the main threat from it now came from a more distant perspective, which could not but please Paul. Moreover, today he visited his son in the hospital and took him home from discharge. Michael was in high spirits, nothing threatened his health, since they arrived in time in time, and selenziy did his job. Now Pisarenko was busy talking with his deputies about the fact that Borovitsky promised them to allocate additional funds for the fund in the near future.

Just at that time, there was a knock on the office door, after which it drove off to the side, and «Gamma-1» appeared on the threshold. «May I come in?» he asked, leaning on the jamb. «Yes, I’ll call you back later», Paul said, ending the conversation, after which he answered with a mockery, «What do I owe to your high presence, Prime Minister?» Simon also playfully folded his hands in gratitude, after which he said, «Anthony wants to see you right now». For Pisarenko, after the words of Maria, this was an unkind sign, but he nodded, collected all the printed papers in a folder on the table, closed it, and then got up from the table, answering, «Well, let’s go». The former mercenary made a characteristic gesture with his hands, clearly letting his companion pass in front of him as a sign of courtesy, and then they both left the office, sealing the door behind them.

While the men were riding in the elevator, enjoying the monotonous two-beat music, Paul decided to look at what «Gamma-1» had recently become like. He changed the usual equipment of a mercenary for a business suit comparable to his new status. Instead of a smoothly shaved head — long bangs, laid with varnish. The complexion also became visibly more vibrant and healthy, reflecting more relaxation than tension as before. Of the old attributes, only a holster with a blaster on the belt, as well as two laser knives attached to the area of military boots from the inside of the leg, betrayed the absence of deep changes in character. Noticing that Pisarenko was examining him, «Gamma-1» asked, «Is something wrong?» «No», Paul replied, after which he unequivocally quipped, «I thought the post of prime minister adds weight to the belly, but it turns out to be only a hair on the head and an amount of business clothes». The former mercenary was furious, wanting to say something worthwhile, but at that moment the elevator doors opened, inviting companions into the corridor, from which many doors radiated to the chambers and working rooms of Borovitsky and his daughter. Noticing that he did not have time to properly answer him, Paul left the elevator, smiling broadly, with the words, «Nothing, another time». «Gamma-1» followed him, thinking that another time was not in sight.

The company went through the entire corridor, finally entering one of the doors that opens Anthony’s office. He was already sitting at the table, obviously waiting for the guests and bored. «Oh, here you are», Borovitsky jumped joyfully from his chair, «Pasha, come in, sit down, there is an important conversation». Pisarenko was no longer so sure of himself, but, without showing any sign, he sat down on a chair opposite. The former mercenary sprawled out on a sofa in the corner of the room. «And I’ll ask you, Simon, to leave, this is a personal conversation, bring Misha and Masha here for now, I want to chat with them about their going outside the city», Anthony said, sitting down. He made a puzzled face, but nodded, and headed towards the exit. At that moment, the Ruler opened a secret cupboard in the wall, taking out a bottle and reaching for the glasses. «Wait», he suddenly said to the already departing prime minister, «where are my crystal goblets? What is this glass thing?» «Anthony, the cleaning lady broke them yesterday», the mercenary turned around answered, «I ordered new ones, while only these were brought from the warehouse». «Okay, you can go», Borovitsky hurried him, opening the bottle and pouring the contents into glasses. Simon bowed and left.

«So, you understand that I called you to talk for a reason?» Anthony asked, handing the drink to his friend. «Well, of course», Paul answered, swallowing. «The other day there was an attempt on my life», the Ruler continued, pacing around the room, «and so, the alleged killer found several long calls to your number». «Some kind of stupidity, who is he?» Pisarenko asked, not understanding the connection. «This is our former mercenary from the „Gamma group“, who was fired a few days ago. When Simon told me about this, I didn’t believe that you could hire him, I just didn’t believe it, and even now I don’t think it’s true, most likely someone wants to frame you», the Ruler said.

At that moment, Boris Spassky materialized out of nowhere in the office, smiling at Borovitsky. He turned away to the other side, so as not to pay attention to the former deputy. «So, moreover, someone was able to forge my voice and let the mercenary pass through the portal, so this is clearly one of my own, whom I trust», Anthony continued. Then he looked at Spassky, who was pacing parallel to him in the office. Suddenly he stopped abruptly, pointed a finger at Pisarenko and made a gesture with his hands, meaning a cross. Borovitsky waved him away, which caused a surprised expression on his friend’s face. «Actually, I don’t believe it’s you, so for the sake of appearance, I demoted from all positions and cut funding for the charitable foundation. Therefore, a traitor who clearly wants to set you up will be very pleased and will start to make mistakes. Please help me find him, and I promise that I will do everything you ask me for your orphans», Anthony finished his speech.

Pisarenko was initially upset, but then he realized that now to fulfill the request of his friend is a real chance to help children suffering from troubles in that world. «I agree», he said curtly, rising from his chair.

«Very well», the Ruler said happily, coming closer, «let’s drink to that». The old friends clinked glasses, after which Borovitsky glanced at the liquid, which had taken on a strange foamy consistency. «Noooooo!» he heard the cry of Spassky running up from the side, when Paul completely drained the contents of the glass. Still holding the untouched drink in his hand and turning to the deputy, Anthony noticed how he was dissolving into dust with a sad face.

Suddenly Pisarenko dropped his glass from his hands, holding his head. «Something is not good for me», he said in a hoarse voice, rubbing his throat vigorously. «Pasha, what happened?» Borovitsky shouted, grabbing his friend who had begun to fall. He began to cough, clearly out of breath. «No, no, don’t die, what happened?» Borovitsky shouted. Pisarenko grabbed his throat and wheezed heavily, his face turned gray-blue. «Nooooo!» the Ruler yelled at the top of his lungs, pounding his friend on the chest with all his might. At that moment, «Gamma-1» entered the office, accompanied by Maria and Michael.

Chapter 20. The escape

Maria and Michael stood on the threshold of the office, their mouths open in surprise. Before their eyes, Father Pisarenko fell to the floor and suffocated. Now his eyes were staring at one point, the convulsions stopped, and his face took on a deathly pale hue. Borovitsky stood over the corpse, shouting something and trying to restart his friend’s heart.

Noticing the presence of children, he turned to «Gamma-1» and said, «Not now, get them out of here». At that moment, quickly summing up the dialogue she heard yesterday and what was happening before her eyes, Maria snatched a blaster from the former mercenary’s belt, stepped aside and pointed it at her father. «Bastard!» she screamed. «You killed your best friend!» «No Masha, wait, it’s not me, put down your weapons, let’s talk calmly!» Anthony answered her on the nerves after the death of Paul. Then Michael ran up to the body of his father, trying to revive him. Feeling the pulse and pounding on the chest, without any result, tears rolled into his eyes. «Dad! How!» shouted the young man throughout the room. «He got in your way and you killed him so conveniently when you were left alone!» Borovitskaya continued to accuse her father. «No, it’s not me. Especially why I invited you to the crime scene, it’s just illogical!» the ruler said. Maria did not lower her blaster, keeping it aimed at Anthony’s head. «Misha, get out of here, run to the portal, I’ll catch up with you», she declared with a formidable and resolute look. Pisarenko took one last look at his dead father, wiped away his tears, turned purple with anger, and, directing a murderous look at the alleged murderer, ran out of the room. At that moment, «Gamma-1» had removed the laser knives from their boots and was sneaking towards Maria. Seeing this, Borovitsky shouted, «No, don’t touch her!» The former mercenary made a displeased face, but retreated. «Listen to me, daughter, I swear to you with everything that I have that this is not me. I swear on your mother’s memory that this is none of my doing! I had no reason to kill him!» Anthony continued to yell at the top of his lungs.

«How dare you drag in the memory of your mother! I do not believe you, you have left nothing sacred in yourself and are capable of it! I heard your conversation yesterday that „it’s time to finish with him“, and today is like that. An amazing coincidence!» Maria answered with a tremor in her voice. Her hands shook violently. Noticing this, «Gamma-1» without weapons began to move towards her. «Let her go!» the Ruler pulled him back. «Daughter, you didn’t hear what I said next, this is a coincidence! It’s convenient for someone to set me up! We will find and punish those responsible!» Borovitsky assured her. «Punish yourself! You won’t see me again!» Borovitskaya summed up, firing from a blaster just above Anthony’s head, after which she ran out the door. The dumbfounded Governor looked at the hole in the wall above his head, after which he shouted, «Catch them, why get up, don’t use brute force!»

Maria ran as fast as she could towards the elevator, from behind she heard approaching footsteps. Having reached it, she hit the button with all her might with her fist, and the doors of one of the two cabins that had successfully remained on the floor opened, opening the passage. Borovitskaya flew into it, also quickly pressing on the minus floor, where one of the portals was located. In the distance, she saw «Gamma-1» approaching, wielding laser knives. The girl hit the floor button again and the doors closed, sending the elevator down to the underground floor at high speed. Maria breathed a sigh of relief.

As soon as she reached the underground part of the skyscraper, she saw Michael standing right next to her and waiting for her. «Let’s run», said Borovitskaya, pointing towards the portal. Anthony’s voice was heard in the speakers, «Detain Pisarenko’s son and my daughter, do not use brute force!» The mercenaries standing in front suddenly perked up, putting up a defensive stance. The young people were already at a distance of ten meters from the target, meeting resistance in the person of the «Gamma group» that surrounded them from both sides. «Step back», Borovitskaya shouted at them, pointing her blaster and spinning around her axis, «otherwise I’m not responsible for myself!» Those thoughtfully look at each other, the Ruler forbade them to use any means of physical restraint. «Now you step aside, and we will freely pass to the other side, and no one will be hurt», Maria said. A vein in her forehead bulged from the strain. The guards continued to look at each other, until finally one decided to step aside, lowering his blaster. The rest followed suit. The girl also lowered her weapon, looking around coming close to the portal, Michael followed her.

Suddenly, one of the mercenaries crept up behind Pisarenko and grabbed him by the neck, holding him in place. «Misha!» Borovitskaya shouted, raising her weapon again. «We have a son, your daughter is surrounded», he said on the radio. «Close the portal», came from the other end of the wire. The speaker headed towards the cannon, trying to turn it off. «Just try», Maria roared, turning in his direction with a blaster. However, he just chuckled and pressed the off button. The sound of the device stopping spinning was heard, and the portal began to rapidly close.

Quickly glancing in his direction and realizing the hopelessness of her situation, Borovitskaya, closing her eyes in fear, shot the mercenary holding Michael in the leg. He roared in pain, releasing his prisoner. «Faster, jump!» Maria shouted to him, running into the already small funnel. Pisarenko accelerated. In front of his eyes, the mirror spinning circle was closing too quickly. There was a small gap of forty centimeters at chest level. Behind him he heard the elevator doors open, from where Borovitsky came out, accompanied by «Gamma-1».

Michael watched through a small window as the girl’s face on the other side took on an increasingly frightened look, gradually dissolving into the fog. Through the remaining unclosed piece of the portal, the underground floor of the skyscraper was already visible. «Was-was not», the young man thought, jumping into the window that had decreased to an unimaginably small size, pulling him towards it and after a fraction of a second it collapsed with a roar.

In the place where the mirror of another world had just been, a basement was visible without a single trace of young people. «Noooo!» Borovitsky shouted, slamming his fist on the elevator door with all his might.

Chapter 21. Technical difficulties

Right in front of Anthony’s eyes was a cellar. A moment before, the portal had closed, dragging his daughter and son Pisarenko with it. And most importantly, he was again let down by mercenaries from the Gamma group, who could not detain them, although it would seem that it could be easier for professional killers than to intercept two teenagers. But no, they couldn’t do it.

Approaching the turned off «GraviScrap», Borovitsky shouted, «Turn it on quickly!» One of the mercenaries ran up to the device, pressed the button, but nothing happened. After waiting a couple of seconds, he tried again, but the effect was the same. «Stop digging, turn it on faster!» the Ruler hurried him, but the cannon continued to maintain a lifeless state.

«Whoever recruits you, give it here!» Anthony roared again, approaching the «GraviScrap», pushing the employee away. But the device never worked. «Aaah!» shouted Borovitsky, throwing the gun to the floor from the bracket. «Bring another one here quickly!» he commanded, sitting down on the floor. A few minutes, and another sample was in the hands of the Ruler. He immediately pressed the power button, «GraviScrap» turned on, staggered, but nothing happened. «Damn!» the king shouted, throwing him against the wall. «Why does not it work?» he asked a question to one of the mercenaries, who was responsible for the operation of the device. «It looks like the son of Pisarenko got stuck in the portal at the moment when it was actually closed, so he ended up between the worlds», he suggested. «And now what I can do?» Anthony continued to ask. «I believe that until it comes out of there, and this space is something like a black hole, we will not be able to open a new window», one of the «Gamma group» said, scratching his head.

«And how long will this continue?» clearly ferocious, said Borovitsky. «At the moment it’s hard to say, time flows differently there, maybe five minutes, or maybe years», the mercenary said. «Years!» Anthony shouted, grabbing him by the throat. «If something happens to my daughter, I will not just kill you, but I will separate you piece by piece, and then grind you into minced meat!» He began to choke, his eyes rolled up, but he managed to say, «There are other opened portals, and our colleagues from the other side, you can try through them». «Exactly!» the Ruler remembered, sharply releasing his victim, «Simon, quickly call those closest to the „Castle“, and direct them to the portal, Masha should be there, it is unlikely that she will go somewhere without Michael!»

«It will be done», «Gamma-1» replied, calling his subordinates by bracelet. «Eighth and twentieth, attention, leave your post and blow quickly towards the portal in the „Castle“. Maria is there, it is necessary to detain her urgently and painlessly. All clear?» he commanded. «That’s right», came the other end of the wire. «Done», said the former mercenary, moving closer to the king.

However, he did not pay any attention to the Prime Minister. His gaze was fixed on the guards of the portal. «And who among you admitted that Michael was able to escape, and the teenagers fled? Oh yes, I see», Anthony said smugly, looking at the leg of one of the group. «„Gamma-30“, come to me», he said smiling. The mercenary hobbled closer. Taking out a blaster from the dance, Borovitsky said, «Thank you for your service», after which he fired a laser beam into his forehead. Eyes frozen in a questioning state of approaching horror, after which the lifeless body fell to the concrete floor. «What are we standing for? We are working!» the king immediately shouted to his colleagues. Those quickly fled to different corners, starting to imitate violent activity.

«And one more thing, Simon», Anthony said, addressing him, «I want to know everything about what Pisarenko was poisoned with, do tests of the drink and glasses, I’m sure it’s poison. We are not making a press release yet, we are waiting for the results». «Okay», «Gamma-1» answered him, heading towards Borovitsky’s office to collect tests. At this time, the Ruler measured the weapon he had fallen down with a sad look, after which he thought, «Oh, Sergey, where are you when your genius is so needed!»

Chapter 22. Not the best memories

Sergey was sitting at his desk at the headquarters of the «Resistance» thoughtfully. Years of nervous, but fruitful work did not spare his health: gray hair appeared on his temples, and his forehead became significantly bald, leaving exactly in the middle a good lawn where one could roam. The former head of the Mirror project looked towards the window, behind which a tornado walked, shaking the shutters, so that they beat against the frame with all their might, and plunged into memories of sixteen years ago.

After he escaped from Anthony’s captivity, the regime was restored almost immediately, sleep returned to normal, Dyatlov stopped suffering from sharp attacks of headaches and dizziness.

As soon as the scientist was on the outskirts of the square next to the «Castle», he could not believe his eyes: hurricanes, earthquakes, destruction — all a consequence of the work of his offspring. The day he was going to go to the football game but figured out how to deflect gravity is written in black letters on the pages of both his history and all of humanity. The only thing that came to mind at that moment was a phrase that is usually attributed to Robert Oppenheimer, translated by him on one of the TV shows from the Bhagavad Gita — ancient Indian literature, and said in response to a question about the creation of an atomic bomb, «I am death, the destroyer of worlds». Indeed, they had a similar influence on the future history and the danger of the existence of all humankind, but Sergey, unlike his colleague, when creating his tool, could never have imagined what harm it could do to people. After that, Dyatlov headed to the city center in order to assess the expected consequences, but the shock that overtook him was hardly less frightening.

Sergey was interested in the embankment, from where you can trace the path to the Government, as well as a little further to the Parliament. But only one name remained from the embankment — the water completely dried up, exposing the bottom of the canal, littered with a large amount of human waste. There was also construction debris, and a table from some street cafe, a couple of dozen bicycles, hundreds of empty bottles, and much, much more. However, that was not the worst. All the fish, whose place of residence all these years was the same channel, did not have time to adapt to the circumstances and swim away in time, being trapped. Deprived of the ability to breathe, their lifeless bodies lay all over the bottom, reminding Dyatlov of the severity of the burden he had invented.

Turning away from the sad sight, he continued down the alley. The Government building was left behind, and for some reason today it was absolutely lifeless, and also without protection. Not giving due attention to this circumstance, Sergey continued his way towards the Parliament. He especially liked this building in the spirit of classicism among the historical buildings of the center of the capital. On the way, the scientist came across houses with broken glass, broken shop windows, slate sheets torn off the roofs and lying underfoot, but all these were flowers compared to what was seen next.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, in front of him, at the place of the T-shaped intersection and the house that was supposed to block his path, a huge pile of stones, concrete and brick caught his eye. Coming closer, Sergey finally realized that this pile of rubble was the same house that he met on the way while walking around the capital on the weekends. Under one of the large pieces of the wall, Dyatlov noticed a protruding arm of a deathly blue color. «No, let him be alive», flashed through the mind of a scientist who ran close to the discovered lifeless body. Putting his hand to his wrist and measuring the pulse, he realized that this man was already dead.

A bitter lump appeared in my throat. «No, you need to go further, you can’t stop, otherwise I’ll have an attack», Sergey thought, running to the Parliament building. It was about a kiScrapeter before him, but unexpectedly, at one of the turns, he ran into a police cordon. Its employees completely blocked the street, preventing the crowd of citizens from passing through. «I have a family left at home, skip it!» shouted a middle-aged man in a cap. «Please, I have a sister at school, freaks, let me through!» bellowed a woman next to him, trying to push the policeman away. In the end, he could not stand it, pushed her back and raised the electric shock, turning on the toggle switch so that current tongues shone at the tip. This movement clearly convinced the disgruntled crowd more, as it took a few steps back.

«What’s going on here?» Dyatlov asked in confusion. A clearly drunk swollen man of about forty years old, but looking at all fifty-five, approached him, and, stuttering and poking his finger at him, answered, «Are you retarded or what? Telly not boom-boom at all? You need to watch the news!» Sergey was a little surprised by such familiarity from a stranger, but since Anthony took the bracelet from him almost immediately, there was no connection with the outside world, much less access to the news. «Tell me please», Dyatlov said, referring to the drunkard. He made a displeased face, then thought, clearly formulating a thought heavily, after which he showed his index finger up, depicting a gesture asking him to wait a minute. Sergey nodded, because there were no other options, and began to observe the picture of how the alcoholic stepped aside to the trash can and emptied the contents of his stomach obtained with such difficulty. Then he wiped his mouth with his elbow and hobbled back to his interlocutor. «So, what are we actually on, but, for sure, an explosion. There was an explosion», the man continued his little coherent speech. «What explosion?» the scientist asked again not understanding what it was about. «Well, explosion, boom!» the stranger began to communicate in kindergarten terms, waving his arms strongly.

Suddenly, movement was heard from behind, the policemen were heading towards them. «We all disperse, today the territory will be cordoned off, we won’t let anyone through!» one of them declared. First, bewilderment appeared on the face of the drunkard, then anger, and he, turning on the berserk mode, shouted, «I’ll fill up!» attacked one of the policemen. A single shock was enough to send him to sleep for half an hour on the side of a cobbled road. Realizing that he was not going to have a tour of the city today, Sergey, raising his hands up as a sign of his humility, decided to leave this alley, when he suddenly noticed a bracelet on the hand of his interlocutor. Now I really needed a means of communication, but naturally there was no money to buy it with me. Having overpowered his sense of decency, Dyatlov took a couple of steps towards the unconscious body and, removing the device from his hand, headed in the direction from where he came here. Fortunately, the guards of the law were not up to it now, and they did not notice anything.

First of all, having opened the functionality of the bracelet, Sergey decided to go online and find out what kind of disaster had occurred in the area. However, it would have been better if he hadn’t seen it: a huge crater on the site of the Parliament building, mountains of burnt skeletons and burned-out cars, formed like the houses of cards of the building nearby. The news reported that this happened as a result of the actions of the then unfamiliar «Resistance» to him.

Then Dyatlov called the only person who could shed light on this horror — Pythagoras, who told him about the activities of the rebels, and in exchange received valuable information about the locations of the portals, which, unfortunately, led to his death.

Having finished indulging in memories, the scientist pressed the power button and looked at the transparent screen of his computer — half an hour ago a strange report came in: in the area of «Castle» a powerful emission of particles from a black hole was recorded, which is its radiation. «What? How is this possible? Stop. If I’m not confusing anything, there can only be one thing here!» jumping up from his seat, shouted aloud Sergey.

Chapter 23. Fall into the abyss

Michael would never have thought that his jump into the portal could lead to such consequences. Seeing the narrowing window of the mirror in front of him, he noticed on the other side the frightened face of Maria, after which the picture seemed to become more transparent and out of focus, and it was at that moment that the ill-fated jump was made.

Behind him, Pisarenko felt the portal close, but instead of Borovitskaya, he saw only an endless dark abyss without a single source of illumination. The pain that he experienced after that could not be compared with what happened to him at the time of his father’s death, oppressive and frightening, unbearable and cruel. But now all thoughts were about something else.

The lower he fell, the stronger the attraction and acceleration became. The lungs were squeezed so that it became impossible to breathe, and the skin seemed to be scraped with construction sandpaper. In the depths of his soul, he realized that he would soon die, but at the same time, there was a glimmer of hope for some kind of miracle. However, minutes passed, and he was more alive than all the living, and as if he began to slow down. At the same time, Michael was getting better and better. At the same time, the chances gradually faded away. There was not a single light source in front or around, as if his eyes had been gouged out, he could not even see what was happening under his nose, only to touch his own parts of the body.

A mess began in my head, upbringing from childhood suddenly appeared, then recent events in the forest, then childhood again, and so on in an endless circle in various variations of random events. Pisarenko felt that he was very sick, it was felt as if everything around him was spinning at an incredible speed, but he could not see it in any way.

Michael assured himself that he was delirious, that he had hit his head on the floor, and now he was lying unconscious in the basement of the Borovitsky skyscraper, but with every minute he believed in it less and less. He felt how he began to lose consciousness, and the cry, published by him at the very beginning of the fall, remained on the vocal cords, not escaping from his throat. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through the middle of the body, as if one half had been separated from the other. Horror and incredible suffering flashed in his eyes, after which everything abruptly passed, no matter how it happened. Pisarenko felt billions of tiny dots cling to his legs, after which the fall stopped and he began to move in the opposite direction. There was a pop from above, the light of the rounded shape of a small window appeared, and an unknown force threw Michael out of this circle towards the sun, under the cry of Maria.

Chapter 24. Portal protection

As soon as Maria jumped out to the other side, she immediately turned around to see how far Michael was from her. He ran as fast as he could, but the portal closed faster. Fear appeared in Borovitskaya’s eyes, «What if he doesn’t make it in time?» From a large circle with a diameter of several meters, no more than half a meter was already left, it hung like a ball above the ground and continued to close at an incredibly fast speed.

Maria could hardly see the basement of the skyscraper, as the funnel twisted more and more, fog appeared, shining through the wall of one of the rooms of the «Castle». From separate vague features, the girl saw how Pisarenko jumped into the mirror with acceleration, after which his reflection was close to the exit from it, but then suddenly collapsed and disappeared.

«No no no no!» shouted Borovitskaya shouted, rushing to the place where the portal had just been, but found there only a couple of bricks that had fallen off the wall and a large amount of dust. «Misha! Where are you?» she continued to yell so that the dilapidated historical walls trembled. Moisture-wrinkled whitewash rained down from the ceiling. The girl ran from side to side and continued to call her friend, but in response to her there was only silence.

With a heavy heart and trying to calm the hysteria that covered her, Maria plopped down on the floor and covered her head with her hands. A «Gamma-1`s» blaster fell from his hand in the corner. «And what should I do now?» she asked herself questions. «I can’t just take it and return to my father, who killed the elder Pisarenko. Moreover, even if I wanted to, now the portal is closed, but I don’t even know how to get out, and where exactly am I», she continued to reason aloud in a voice that was barely audible and trembling from nerves, cold and dampness. «We need to wait for Misha, but I saw how he gets to the mirror. Moreover, he was already at the exit, which means he managed to enter it. But if the portal closed, and he did not have time to get out, then where did he go? No, he should definitely appear, I have to wait for him!» Borovitskaya has already minted more confidently every word. As she thought about it, she became more and more confident in her assumptions.

Suddenly, voices were heard from the back about thirty meters deep into the building, «„Gamma-1“, this is the eighth and twentieth, we are entering!» «I hear you», a less distinct metallic voice answered them, «be careful, do not shoot, bring the girl alive and untouched, is everything clear?» «That’s right», the third interlocutor replied. «These are mercenaries, they came for me, I need to hide», Maria thought, picking up a dusty blaster from the floor and heading for the nearest large column of old red brick. As soon as Borovitskaya found cover, footsteps were heard right in front of her, and two from the «Gamma group» ran into the room with blasters at the ready. After examining the premises, one of them said, «Where is she? Nobody’s here». «Looks like she ran away somewhere. „Gamma-1“, this is the twentieth, there is no girl in the room with the portal», the second said on the radio. «Look, she couldn’t go far», a programmatically changed voice was heard again, «and take a good look around for a start, she is more cunning than you think».

Maria’s heart beat with a vengeance, she gripped the blaster handle tighter with her fingers, putting one finger on the trigger, something, and without a fight she was definitely not going to give up. Behind, I heard one of the mercenaries begin to walk around the room. The other one seemed to be in place. Taking a deep breath, Borovitskaya flew out from behind the column and, seeing a catcher standing in the middle, fired a burst of laser shots in his direction. One of them overtook the target, and he staggered and fell dead. The second turned sharply and hid behind the nearest cover. The girl pointed her weapon at him, looking at her victim in parallel. He was wearing a mask and the old uniform of the «Gamma group» — no advanced armor, apparently he did not have time to put it on in a hurry. Apparently, the second one was the same. «Maria, give up, your father sent me, I don’t want to harm you, but if I have to, I will forcibly follow the order», the mercenary shouted from the shelter. Borovitskaya was angered by this turn of events, but for the sake of safety, she quietly returned to her old position with a slight movement. «He won’t get me, you can give it to him, and at the same time grab a friend as a gift!» Maria yelled at him caustically. At this moment, the mercenary was already changing its location, without answering, bypassing the girl from the flank. Seeing the hem of her dress sticking out from behind the cover, he smiled and began to sneak in to grab her from behind. The main thing was to knock the weapon out of his hands, and he would be able to cope with a sixteen-year-old teenager.

From the drawing of Maria’s cardiogram at that moment, it could be assumed that this was a model of the drop of the highest mountains into crevices, but the pulse was over two hundred, he said that after all, the work of the heart. The knuckles holding the blaster were white with tension. A trickle of sweat ran down his forehead. It seemed to her that somewhere nearby she heard a barely perceptible breath, when suddenly from the same direction there was a sharp roar and a flash of light.

The mercenary turned to an unexpected phenomenon next to him exactly at the moment when the girl jumped out from behind the cover and, seeing her opponent, screamed loudly, firing the same burst of laser beams at him. After walking forward a couple of meters, the mercenary fell dead.

At Borovitskaya, it was as if a mountain had fallen from her shoulders. From nerves, she began to laugh and cry at the same time, dropping her deadly weapon from her hand. Collecting her thoughts, she looked sideways, from where the roar appeared, noticing Pisarenko lying in the bricks in the corner. «Misha!» she screamed, running up to the young man. He was barely breathing, holding his head. He flew out of the portal and hit the wall hard. «Where am I?» he asked in a hoarse voice. «Everything is fine, you are with me, we are on the other side», Maria answered, «where have you been for so long?»

«I, I, I fell in the dark for a couple of minutes, then a portal opened and I was thrown out here», the young man replied. «A few minutes? You’ve been gone for almost an hour!» the girl shouted back.

Chapter 25. Walk through the old capital

«How is it almost an hour?» Michael asked incredulously. «This simply can not be! I stayed there for a couple of minutes at most, jumped into the portal, and then fell in complete darkness until something carried me out». Suddenly, he noticed two lifeless bodies of mercenaries around. «What happened here?» Pisarenko continued not to understand what was happening around. Maria took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, her hands still shaking. «This is from the „Gamma group“, their father sent them here to pick me up, but I will not return there anymore. It was some kind of obsession that covered me, I don’t know how it happened», Borovitskaya answered, a little hesitant.

«Anthony, he is a murderer who destroyed my father, for no reason, out of a thirst for power», the young man answered, stuttering and hardly pronouncing the words. «I will never be able to forgive him for this, and I will not. I will kill him and avenge the pain that I experienced and continue to feel with my heart! I don’t have anyone left, you know? Nobody! Mom died a long time ago, and today he too. I’m all alone now! The only person I have is you!» Michael practically shouted, choking in tears. «Calm down», the girl answered him, putting her hand on her shoulder, «revenge is not the best way out, but he will receive a well-deserved punishment, I promise you!»

At that moment, a light lit up on the bracelet of one of the mercenaries, and the metallic voice of «Gamma-1» appeared, «Well, what do you have there?» After a silence of ten seconds, he asked again, «I repeat, answer». Not having heard what he wanted, he turned off the connection, but before that it was noticeable how the Prime Minister was telling Borovitsky that several more people should be sent to the zone.

«Hurry», Maria lifted the young man from the floor, «we need to get out of here right now!» Realizing what was happening, Pisarenko got up, and together they wandered towards the exit.

For many years of inactivity after the administration of the Ruler moved to the new world, the «Castle» was completely abandoned. Moreover, hurricanes, earthquakes did their job. The walls were badly dilapidated, water dripped from the ceiling, rats and large insects ran in the corners in the dark, the remnants of luxurious furniture were covered with mold and a thick layer of dust. Walls were blown off in places, and a cold, howling wind blew through the corridor. Leaving the emergency building, the teenagers saw that one of the towers had collapsed into a dry moat, leaving behind a pile of bricks and beams. «A sad sight», Michael declared, looking around. The young people quickly moved on through the city, exploring the surroundings. It immediately became incredibly cold. An icy wind pierced Pisarenko’s T-shirt so that he felt as if his bones were freezing. What can we say about Maria’s light cocktail dress, who crossed her arms over her chest and walked, trembling like an autumn leaf, ready to fall off a tree branch at any moment.