Shadows of Tomorrow | Omnibus, 12 short dystopian stories

the Harvest day moo was the smartest of her brood  she was the best at determining where to set traps for thick juicy bottom crawlers could tell from  the cloud shape and the sunset's color whether the wind would change tomorrow and always won at  the youngster's favorite game of running across the Lagoon on floats an individual float could  not bear the weight of a teenager and went under the water so you had to quickly run across them  lingering on each one for only a fraction of a second the

floats were of different sizes and  could drift across the Lagoon so the long run required precise calculation and good eyesight  moo was the only one who could run across the Lagoon on the floats even when the weeks Breeze  came and the floats living platforms and marginal booms began to Ripple gently in time with the  Majestic motion of the ocean's surface old gawk who was responsible for developing and preserving  this brood usually looked disapprovingly at the fun of float running the juveni

le data went to  the gatherers 10 months before the Harvest and while a shortfall of a head or two was not  usually penalized G was still worried that some of the weaker juveniles would fall off the  float get tangled in the Nets and drown it had happened in the past but as he watched moog's bare  swarthy feet steadily scrambling over the shabby white backs of the floats as the girl was rapidly  approaching the far south cage gou only grinned into his thick beard and scratched lazily feeling  th

e warmth of the Evening Sun on his face he was pleased to realize that Moog had his genetic  lineage as well of course he had long since passed the age of breeders but although it was not overly  encouraged by the gatherers gaou secretly kept track of the fate of his offspring from the most  fertile females mother of Moog was one of the best seven Broods each no less than three and almost  all survived except one Cub which had accidentally fallen over a boom fence during the big mouth  migration

season when the gatherers put Leong that was her name up for disposal The Colony gave  her a lavish sendoff and the Harvest that year had been outstanding so the gatherers had left a lot  more exchange gifts than usual with the additional plastic panels they had expanded the Lagoon added  a spacious Annex to the nursery for the Cub pen and even fixed a large desalination unit that had  been out of commission for a long time and gawk was partly the reason for all that that was why  when his days

as a breeder were over the gatherers had not scheduled him for the disposal but had  left him to look after and care for the older Broods he still remembered the expression r with  which Moog had looked at him during the sendoff and initiation ceremony for the caretakers such a  steady unwavering deep gaze was surely a sign of the most profound respect that was 6 years ago  when moo was not yet 8 years old since then as tradition dictated he had been careful to avoid  outward displays of affect

ion though he was still more proud of moo than any other of the Broods  of his genetic line the bright and Lively moo was like a beacon for the other Cubs even those  older participating in her games was considered prestigious among the youngsters everyone competed  enthusiastically in throwing rope Strokes with weights on the ends throwing short darts made of  cut graphite reinforcing rods running on floats and many other things that came to the mind of  the Restless leader some of the Breeders

and Shepherds said that this was going too far that  such independence of the youngsters was against Lagoon's traditions and should be stopped but most  agreed that the gatherers were always very pleased with a smart Harvest and Lagoon received  the wealthiest gifts in exchange for such successful Broods it was decided not to interfere  with Moog unless she would endanger the stock and then disaster struck during the low rainy season a  large wave ripped through the Boom at the Eastern corner a

nd before it was discovered a gray Grabber  had entered the Lagoon unlike the big mouths Grabbers were clever creatures this one had the  wit to stay down at night when almost the entire Lagoon population except for a few Shepherds  slept in the safe shelter of the pens and manger only in the morning the Grabber waited for the  Shepherds to release from the nursery a brood of 2-year-olds and then swooped out out from under  the nursery pontoon grabbed two petite females with its powerful Claws a

nd swallowed them before  anyone had time to react gawk remembered well the horror that seized him and all the inhabitants of  the Lagoon from the youngest Cubs to the elderly Shepherds Grabbers were very dangerous creatures  and this one was also remarkable for its size the top of its kous shell towered over the Pontoon  by a good three human Heights and its ghastly mouth seemed like a vast black cave but some did  not panic there was a shrill whistle and a Supple swy figure jumped from the nei

ghboring pontoon  to the nursery unwinding the rope with weights moo ran 15 Paces toward the Grabber and through  her projectile the Rope had not entirely wrapped around one of the Grabber Claws and moo was  already unwinding the other while her followers were running to her from all parts of Lagoon  preparing ropes and darts carving up the Grabber had taken nearly a full day but they couldn't  let so much food go to waste in addition the gatherers valued kiten especially Grabber shells  it coul

d be counted on for additional exchange gifts after this incident no one ever discussed  moog's Hobbies being out of line with tradition again in any case it would soon be Harvest Time  and the problem would solve itself at the thought of it gawk felt pride and sadness he was a little  sorry to part with moo but her time was about to come and of course he couldn't help but consider  her the greatest achievement of his life even if he had only been a partial reason for her success  Lagoon would u

ndoubtedly receive some very good gifts this season as usual the gatherers arrived  in the middle of the dry season their flying pontoon had dropped to the south of the Lagoon as  it was too large to fit inside without damaging anything the bulk of the residential pontoons were  already tucked up against the southern booms and all that remained was to partially dismantle  the fencing so that the crop could move to the spacious ramp of the flying pontoon while the  strongest Shepherds and breeder

s disassembled the booms Moog and her yearlings hauled bales of  stripped and neatly folded Grabber kiten sacks of dried bottom crawler meat and other goodies  for which the gatherers had left good exchange gifts gawk noticed that Moog who had always been  slender seemed to have put on weight strange he hadn't noticed it just a few days ago I'm getting  old gawk thought sadly two or three more harvests and it will be time for disposal all in good time  in the meantime the Shepherds had thrown wi

de bridges over to the ramp of the flying pontoon  where several gatherers were waiting their orange suits so different from The Capes of the Lagoon  folk stood out vividly against the emerald Ocean and the sun's glare on their mirrored round heads  dazzled the eye traditionally the harvested brood moved to the ramp one at a time each carried some  extra goodies stopping in front of the gatherers who scrutinized the teens indicated where to stack  their load and sorted them into three groups bas

ed on quality it seemed to gou that not only moo but  also the others of the crop seemed to have gotten fatter but his eyesight was not as it used to be  and he could not see it correctly from a distance maybe it was just the unfamiliar coiled capes  the Cubs often invented new ways to wear them as the strongest and smartest of The Brood moo  walked at the the very back carrying a large bale of kiten as she approached the gatherers one of  them patted her shoulder and gestured for her to place t

he bail against the already noticeably  growing pile of goods go clucked his tongue in satisfaction the gatherers were obviously  delighted with moo and the Harvest in general they only touched the Cubs when they were in an  excellent mood moo took a few steps to the side and dropped the bail one of the gatherers turned  toward the cargo hold entrance from which the iron crawlers with exchange gifts on their backs would  soon appear and at that moment the nightmare began a familiar shrill whistl

e cut through the silence  loud over the splashing of the ocean and the soft Whispering of the Shepherds and breeders crowded  against the South fence there was some commotion on the ramp where the best crop stood but no one  could make out anything until it was too late the gatherers had little time to realize anything the  ropes with weights taken out from under the capes wrapped around their arms legs and torso swaddling  them like the viscous saliva of the water Hunter spiders gou saw that M

oog who remained only in her  loin cloth and tight chestband was still slender and light as always so were all her friends The  Gatherer who had retreated to the cargo gate of the sky pontoon did not immediately notice what  had happened facing the opening gate with the mirrored side of his head he didn't even have  time to turn around when his body was pierced through by several darts with weighted ends thrown  by confident trained hands in the shadow of the Pontoon superstructure the red blood

against  the orange fabric was almost invisible and the dark puddle that quickly spread from beneath the  Fallen body looked like spilled water it seemed to gawk that time had Frozen like the rest of the  crowd he stared stunned not knowing what to do his head was empty and ringing without a single  thought only the blood was throbbing noisily in his temples counting down the seconds of will-  freezing horror meanwhile moo and her friends wasted no time there were a dozen or two of  them about

a third of the crop half of them quickly picked up their darts and rushed inside  the Pontoon superstructure skirting around the iron crawlers Frozen in the interior loaded  to the top with gifs those remaining led by moo surrounded the portion of the Harvest that  had not joined the attack and began poking and kicking it back to Lagoon's pontoons encouraging  themselves and the dazed teen with loud cheers two of moog's assistants approached the gatherers  writhing on the ramp's fluted surface a

nd bound them with ropes of dried seaweed they had pulled  from one of the Bales gou felt a painful pang of recognition it was no other than he who had taught  moo and the brightest of her brood how to properly splice the ends of the ropes and mend the Nets  suddenly the flying Pontoon shuttered and rocked heavily sending waves crashing around it the  massive ramp struck the transitional pontoon several times and the Lagoon's inhabitants  who were crowded there bounced back to avoid being caught

and maimed by the massive structure  something was clearly going on inside the flying pontoon it shuddered the water bubbling beneath  it a clear sign that the Pontoon was about to lift off a confused murmur ran through the crowd no  one could believe that the gatherers could leave before the exchange occurred behind the noise  no one could hear precisely what moo said to her friends but they all turned and ran inside the  flying pontoon which Shook and swayed more until it finally began to ris

e slowly out of the water  normally the gatherers would close the ramp before taking off but this time it was left open and  moo jumped off the ramp at the very last moment when the ramp had already risen almost 5 cubits  the flying pontoon hovered for a while above the boiling surface of the water then moved upward  but not smoothly gaining speed as always but with convulsive jerks as if someone amused carelessly  pulled it by an invisible rope the inhabitants watched him unable to take their e

yes off when  the Pontoon had risen several hundred cubits it suddenly accelerated sharply and sped upward  simultaneously making a sharp turn a multitude of dots separated from it and fell downward gawk  was horrified to realize it was everything from the ramp ramp the exchange goods from Lagoon The  Gatherer gifts and the gatherers themselves tied up and helpless they hit the water with Force  raising Fountains of spray and at once the Swift dark backs of the sea Predators accustomed  to seein

g anything edible fall from the Lagoon flashed beneath the surface it seemed that nothing  could be more terrible than what had happened the inhabitants of the Lagoon froze in confusion  trying to realize what had happened everyone watched the flying pontoon moving away turning  into a small dark spot in the bottomless blue sky and suddenly this point swelled into an orange  red cloud from which thin tentacles of smoke with red dots of Sparks at the ends stretched out in  all directions Thunder

rumbled through the crowd a few seconds later almost at the same time as  the wreckage of the exploded Sky pontoon began began to Splash into the ocean complete silence  continued a sloppy blot of smoke slowly blurred in the sky and the waves raised by the Fallen debris  began to reach Lagoon gaulk stood on the bridge at the edge of The Unbroken portion of the Lagoon's  outer fence and he had a clear view of the crowd around the thin figure of moo standing in the  center of the small space of th

e transitional pontoon in complete silence to the sound of the  Waves hitting the Boom the people swayed back and forth a few times and then all at once the  human wave surged forward and closed in engulfing moo despite the fact that the people of Lagoon had  disposed of both what was left of Moog and all her younger broodmates and had laid out Rich gifts on  on the transition pontoon for which they had had to thoroughly comb through all the pens and stalls  even those where the most respected b

reeders and Shepherds lived the gatherers had never returned  this season nor had they responded to inquiries on the talking box no one blamed G but he climbed  the stairs of completion on his own will and jumped straight into the cone-shaped vent of the  great disposer everyone took this as proof that he recognized his genetic line as defective hotheads  talked about disposing of all members of this line but it quickly became apparent that there were two  many of them almost one fifth of the yo

ungsters of different years and even a few younger Shepherds  breeders and females it was therefore decided at a general meeting to establish more careful control  over the Cubs and to take no further Liberties in behavior during the whole of The Following Season  the population of Lagoon worked harder than ever record quantities of kiten and dried meat were  harvested and special attention was paid to those Broods for which the Harvest was at hand but the  gatherers did not come this time and T

he Following season and another year later and another Lagoon's  life outwardly seemingly on track was slowly slipping downhill without the exchange gifts from  the gatherers there wasn't enough material to fix the pontoons and the boom fence let alone expand  it but it wasn't as noticeable because Lagoon's population also began to dwindle each new brood  was noticeably smaller than the last and one by one the old breeders and Shepherds voluntarily  climbed the stairs of completion desperate to

see the long awaited arrival of the gatherers the  Lagoon lost its meaning after 10 years it had to be significantly reduced in size cutting the  perimeter of the boom almost in half however many pens and stalls remained empty and only two of the  nearly two dozen Nursery pontoons were occupied no one even remembered about the Harvest preparations  anymore life had turned from a purposeful process into a dull tedious chore if the gatherers had  come to Lagoon a quarter of a century later in inst

ead of a thriving industry that had produced  a Bountiful Harvest and many useful exchangeable gifts they would have found only a pile of  dilapidated pontoons drifting halfhazard over the Shelf Tangled in scraps of Nets and Booms and not  a single person on it but they never came again never the soul leggers the electronic billboard  shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow echoing with painful flashes somewhere inside boal's  skull as if someone had opened his head and was now picking at it

with awkward gaunt fingers  Bal grimaced and turned down a narrow side Alley between the storage building and an abandoned  high-rise parking lot the alley was littered with garbage stinking of rot and urine but from  there he could watch The Vault doors without attracting attention Bal was most interested in  back exit through which the cleaners usually took out the waste and expired Goods of course the  signage promised best contracts and unlimited shelf life at exclusive prices but business w

as  business if someone ran out of contract and had no relatives or other legal Representatives then well  business is business of course most of the overdue goods were picked up by the suppliers of the AR  CH Council or some other higher authority and there was not the slightest hope of intercepting  even the smallest change from them however if something went spoiled the owners of the cheap  vaults would sell it to the garbage collectors and there bulk might have a chance besides  there were r

umors about such vaults that they could supposedly accidentally make a mistake and  then sell the waste on the black market balk had never dealt with this particular storage facility  but he had no choice he owed lousy Tim his dealer nearly 3,000 and he could only expect something  if he paid back at least half of it the measly hund balk had at his disposal couldn't solve the  problem Tim would simply take it as a percentage and give boal a sound thrashing as a reminder in  the distance came the

sickening squealing of a police siren boal instinct instinctively pulled  his head into his shoulders the contents of his skull responded to the sharp sound with another  attack of pain and tried to blend in with the ugly interior of the alley actually he has no  active warrants on him now and he'd earned his hundred relatively honestly helping Old Johnson  unload the van the stuff was almost certainly stolen but nobody talked about it out loud and  Johnson's pawn shop was practically as legal

As It Gets In The Hood but the cops could pick up  Bal for nothing under the pretext of vagrancy and keep him in a Cell until morning until the  judge came and he couldn't afford that after a few more hours he'll be hit with the real shakes  so the current headache would seem just a mildly unpleasant recuperation this time however the  police were obviously preoccupied with far more critical matters a police skimmer swept past  the alley kicking up piles of dust plastic scraps and other debris t

he siren immediately began to  fade lost in the distance behind the noise of the evening City and the sounds of the never sleeping  Harbor nearby balk breathed a sigh of relief and peeled himself away from the wall keeping a  close eye on the side exit of the Vault the truck skimmer pulled up at the back door a plastic  billboard bolted on The Battered receiver body one painted bright Canary colored but now long  since faded and covered with Juicy rust stains like camouflage splotches red short-

term storage  cleanup decomposition mulio and Co scavengers Bal felt a long forgotten ugly feeling stirring deep  inside him but he suppressed it and tried to give himself a confident and independent look now was  not the time for old grudges and settling scores that was not what he had come for the driver  didn't come out of the skimmer he had either arrived at the pre-arranged time or was about to  call the console and summon the Vault duty officer boal took a deep breath stepped out of the al

ley  and headed for the skimmer and the side entrance he arrived just as the door opened and a stocky  man in his 50s wearing stained uniform overalls stepped out of the building in his hand he carried  a large weighty bag that small Flea Market vendors usually carry their junk in the big man set the  bag on the sidewalk the metal in the bag jingled and gave boal a hostile look what do you want  buddy the big man's tone was calm but not yet threatening Bal cheered up a little excuse me  sir he s

aid trying hard to keep his voice from shaking ould you mind selling me some of the waste  I can pay I have the money sir behind balks back the skimmer door slammed trouble gustoff the  big man made an indeterminate sound either a hum or a grunt there's a stub here interested  in some waste says he'll pay he'll pay that's good you can never have too much money balk stood  there afraid to move he knew that long lazy voice his feet felt as if they were frozen to the dusty  sidewalk while his thoug

hts were frantic run run run but he knew it was pointless lousy Tim stepped  out from behind bulk bent over unzipped the bag and took out a cylindrical container the size of  a 25 ooun thermos several other containers gleamed in the flickering light of the advertising sign  in the bag's depths how much are you willing to pay boy how much do you think a thing like this  is worth balk gathered his courage and looked up the big man in overalls was looking at balk with  a Frank smirk he obviously di

d not suspect bulk knew Tim and the latter in turn had not given  away his acquaintance if such a company existed one would have thought that Tim was really the  driver of an unknown company called mulio and Co Tim looked at the container he held in his  hand then back at boal lousy Tim was completely hairless on his head his arms anywhere there was  talk that it was either a genetic or the result of some old poisoning or radiation balk didn't  care about the reasons but the look of piercing bro

wn eyes without eyelashes frightened him to  stomach cramps what's it going to be how much money do you have wal realized there was no way  to keep silent 100 sir I have a 100 credits it's not stolen I promise you sir the big man made a  series of unintelligible Grunts and Bal realized that was the sound of his laughter a 100 you're  really in the money dog wait a minute I'll bring you a fresh one hot off the presses along with the  contract he suddenly grew serious and loomed over the shrinking

boalg out of here you animal he  growled I don't want you here do you understand if I smell your stench from afar you'll be sorry  got it the big man's hand slipped into the pocket of his overalls do you understand what I've told  you you piece of [ __ ] wal backed away staring at the glass sphere with a clear liquid clutched  in the big man's hairy fingers gusta come on no need to be so rough lousy Tim's voice sounded  surprising ly calm almost indifferent our friend is just let's say he under

estimated the cost of  what he wanted and slightly overestimated his financial possibilities this material he raised  his hand with the container holding it with one end facing boal a blue spark flickered evly in  the middle of the end boal was stunned it was not a waste a waste indicator was usually either  not lit or glowed red or at best orange but blue what is going on here in the name of the 10  Gates I see you understand Tim said looking straight into boal's eyes you won't make enough  mon

ey for this stuff in three lifetimes but you don't have to worry about that you should be  concerned with other more pressing matters old debts for instance do you understand me w nodded  unable to utter a word took a few steps backward keeping his eyes on the big man and Tim tripped  over the rotten wooden crate and almost fell over the big man grunted again and hid the glass  globe in his pocket balk took one last look at the container in lousy Tim's hand then turned  and darted out into the s

tinking darkness of the alley the withdrawal was getting closer and  closer slowly chewing up the boal's well-being the headache from the back of his head crept into  his temples starting a hellish dance of Red Hot Nails the painful cramps began to stiffen the leg  muscles more and more often forcing boal to lose the steps and fall down on the pavement strewn  with cigarette butts syringes and used condoms the Giant's hand grabbed the liver and shook it  occasionally making boal's breath catch a

nd his eyes darken but in a surprising and nightmarish  way he almost didn't notice it all absorbed in one thought blue Sparks not a waste due to late  payments or disputed and canceled contracts a full price material paid for safe and clear lousy Tim  was right Bal couldn't even imagine how much such a container could be worth on the black market  and it was a question if you can sell it there most ethereal waste dealers wouldn't risk such  a thing you could get a 10 or even 20 years of federal

Max for trading in waste and expired  products but it was the usual risk and what would they give for the decomposition of the  blue spark Bal suspected he didn't even want to know it wasn't lousy Tim's hint that it was  time to repay his debt that scared balk the most he would survive it wouldn't be the first time Tim  won't kill him him for three grand but as for that knowledge balk accidentally learned something  that no one should know why did they let him go in the first place maybe he sho

uld rat them out  to the police ask for witness protection and all that the feds should get on board with this kind  of thing because if you can spin a network of Blue spark dealers you can build a whole career on it  Bal grinned bitterly and shook his head annoyed at his own stupidity who is he kidding they won't  even listen to him who was he he's a low life and a social A Low Down junkie besides his testimony  in court won't be worth a dime he's not even human no even if they hear him out he

won't get any  protection from the feds they'll throw him back on the streets and that's it and as soon as word got  out that he'd been ratting on lousy Tim his days no ours would be numbered the cell phone rumbled  in his pocket bulk pulled out a scratch device with a crack screen Heth his cousin was calling  bulk was surprised Heth was a municipal employe and was careful not to get too close to his  errant cousin hello him bulk said trying to keep his voice steady though it was at this point t

hat  withdrawal decided to drive a particularly long and Rusty screw into his skull it's been a long  time shut up and listen Heth cut him off I know you have a problem with dunball it took boal a  few moments to realize who his cousin was talking about lousy Tim's full name was Tim and dunball  if you don't screw it up you've got a chance to start with a clean slate I don't know why I'm  risking my neck by leaking this information to you anyway anyway listen up dun balls had it in  about there

was a brief pause apparently Heth looked at his watch in about 40 minutes his lair  will be raided a raid Bal asked in bewilderment how does that help me dunball will be out in a  month and if he isn't his buddies will nail me this isn't a police raid Heth said stop talking  and listen I don't have much time dunball is in big trouble there's a lot more muscle involved  than the cops or even the feds they're not going to arrest him this is a liquidation raid blue  Sparks bulk barely stopped himse

lf from saying it right into the phone some things are best never  said out loud everyone close to him is also on the list Heth continued and the street scum don't  know who owes dunball how much but he must have your receipts bul understood for lousy Tim small  dealing was just a Pastime a hobby he made so much money that a lousy 3,000 didn't matter he was  more interested in leashing junkies occasionally using them to do his dirty work the same fate  was likely to befall boal but things would

be different if the receipts fell into a smalltime  street dealer's hands for three grand those Petty bastards will cut him to Ribbons what can I do  bulk asked there was really no time for idle chatter after after the action the police will  wait for 15 minutes before arriving I don't know why so much probably to be able to make an honest  report about the suspects escaped in an unknown Direction Heth said your chance is to get there in  those 15 minutes that's all I can do keep in mind if the

cops catch you there you'll be the one who  fa failed to escape as you realize no one's going to question you it'll be easier to present the  body and don't set the place on fire cops want a clean crime scene you understand yes boal tried  frantically to straighten up his head which was splitting with pain fear hope and gloating I  understand H thank you you're welcome Heth was silent for a moment then said in a lower tone  this is your last chance Bo don't blow it like you blown everything else

the phone went silent  Bal looked at the dark screen and slipped the cell phone back into his pocket he wouldn't have  time to get weapons but even if he did who was he going to fight Raiders who could take out lousy  Tim's entire gang a Police SWAT team he hadn't made it half a mile to to Tim's headquarters when  he heard the first explosions and the crackle of gunfire it had been a long time since boal had  seen such Carnage blood was everywhere in the main hall on the floor the walls the cei

ling  bodies lay interspersed with broken Furniture some hanging from Windows either trying to shoot  back or to jump out and flee Bool knew that Tim kept the receipts in his private office's top  drawer of his desk there was a safe there too but Tim hardly ever used it one would have to  be suicidal to try to steal from luzy Tim he headed cautiously through the chaos of the main  hall careful not to step directly on bodies and pools of blood not that he particularly cared  he just didn't want t

o leave such a colorful trail behind him at the entrance to the office  a body in a tattered overalls lay Across the Threshold Bal paused for a moment to bend over  the recent big guy from The Vault well Gustaf you lived like crap and died like crap bulk  carefully hooked the Gustav's overalls with one finger and peered into the inside pocket the  transparent Globe was intact the assault rifle burst that had penetrated the big guy's body and  head had passed a bit to the right Bal exhaled a sigh

of relief it would be pretty unlucky if the  whole office was splashed with holy water contrary to expectations no special treatment was given to  Tim no creepy macabra messages in the style of the drug cartels of the past lousy Tim was shot like  all his other accomplices a burst to the body and a bullet in the head the bag with the containers  of course was gone boal wondered whose Soul the late Gustav From the Vault was trying to sell  to Tim and how could such an important Soul get into suc

h a miserable hole balk leaned over Tim's  corpse and pulled out a drawer the receipts were there a whole pile of them carelessly dumped  into a tin cigar box balk wanted to take the entire box but changed his mind sorry fellows he  thought picking his receipts from the pile if I take it all somebody will figure out what's going  on and he sure will start gutting everybody bulk pulled out the last receipt and shoved the box  back into the desk he was about to rush out when his eyes fell on Tim's

corpse apparently lousy  had tried to jump to his feet at the last moment and as he was falling back into his chair shot  several times his shirt caught on the back rest and pulled up almost to his chin the burst went  through Tim's hairless chest diagonally six bullet holes enough to cover his entire body in blood  but still boal could clearly see that there was nothing on Tim's chest no cross pentagram tattoo  Mandela or protective symbols signifying that he had entrusted his soul to one of t

he Guardians  or at least signed a contract with a vault even one as shabby as the one he tried unsuccessfully  to deal with it was extremely rare for that to happen after the Armistice in the last war which  had actually ended with human Victory though it was not officially called that for the sake of  political correctness preferring to speak of the great reconciliation and The Pact on the freedom  of postmortem Daredevils willing to risk their souls became a scarce breed any reasonable person

  would have preferred to sign a contract with the guardian who guaranteed that after death the soul  of the siner would not go to the wrong hands like Bo bus for example balk slowly growled it was that  damned paact that had stripped him of everything and turned him into nothing a miserable junkie  feasting on a scrap of ruined souls for what for the fact that he unlike some did not defect  to the side of the victors but was faithful to his oath to the end and now someone has become  the guardi

an and he balk was rotting away on the streets but Tim is a different matter his soul is  not protected by the inviable protective bonds of the contract boal didn't know why the dealer  hadn't taken such a natural precaution could it be because by a sneaky profession he did not  trust vaults bul did not know nor did he want to know he wanted something else and now he would  have it Juno jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine of the skimmer a second later  milin was also on the tatt

ered synthetic leather with shreds of yellow foam sticking out of it  in a few moments the skimmer was speeding down the dark deserted Street scaring away the rats  and the garbage what the hell happened milin grumbled fiddling with his seat belt what's the  rush Juno turned abruptly at the intersection barely missing the cab and blew in a straight line  so that milin was squeezed into the seat my source in the city hall gave me a tip Juno said there's  good loot in the Northwest Third District

but we got to get there before the cops do or they'll  take it milin perked up a waste that would be nice we sold our last shipment to the dark city  council last month wait a minute he looked at Juno worriedly did you say Northwest third are  you crazy the lousy is running it if we go in there we'll get a lot of trouble no we won't Juno  made another turn almost hitting some drunk milin this is a one in a million opportunity my source  was taking a big risk by dropping this stuff on me anyway y

ou don't have to worry about lousy  he's the loot some tough guys took him and his crew down a few minutes ago I'll be damn milin  muttered in a Daz the lousy finally got it he suddenly realized the meaning of what Juno had  just said what do you mean he's the loot alive unsigned stiff are you serious yeah my source  works at the registry he's been through the database lousy doesn't have a contract do you  realize how much dark city will pay for his soul it's not like pushing bits of waste to  j

unkies totally different league but we've got to get there before the the cops otherwise  the stuff goes to the feds milin looked at his watch and rested his hands on the front panel  of the skimmer go he said shortly they arrived 6 minutes later and jumped out of the skimmer no  police sirens had been heard yet but the two Soul leggers had no doubt that the place would soon  be buzzing with uniformed men they were almost unperturbed by the horrible Carnage they saw as  soon as as they crossed t

he threshold the door to ly's office was a jar and some movement was  visible over the lifeless body lying Across the Threshold in the semi darkk room Juno pulled out  a large automatic pistol and unsecured it milin lugging a weighty equipment bag stepped behind the  blood spattered pool table just in case [ __ ] did someone beat us to it Juno's voice was filled  with rage and despair no way this loot will be ours he stepped forward with determination hey  you whoever you are drop everything and

come out he shouted pointing his gun at the door keep it  slow and let me see your bloody hands the whole time a short pause followed no problem the deep  and creepy inhuman voice replied the door frame shattered along with a large chunk of wall a  huge clawed foot stepped over the body lying in the doorway and a monstrous silhouette emerged  through the slowly settling dust milin stared in horror at the three-eyed horned head with the  ghastly fanged Ma at the body lumped with huge muscles at

the paws with long curved and obviously  needle sharp claws at the Shadows of the leathery Wings folded behind the figure's back the pistol  banged several times in succession but the bullets only made tiny Sparks on the monster's body and  ricocheted away with a screech the demon raised its right paw and milin saw the human heart  pierced with one of the claws you can't eat our souls milin shouted tearing open his shirt  collar to reveal a cross they are in the care of our Lord Jesus Christ you

can't get to them  you infernal scum Juno threw his useless weapon to the the floor Crossing himself frantically and  moved his lips probably reading a prayer the demon licked the heart from his claw with his long  tongue swallowed and laughed I don't care about your pathetic Souls the great pact forbids their  consumption but you forgot something he leaned over to the soul leggers it does not forbid me to  kill you you can deal with your lord after that and Bal the flamey former commander of L

ucifer's  left Reserve Army the last of the princes of Hell who had not surrendered who for the first time  in 300 years of miserable existence had absorbed the juicy luxurious black soul of The hardend  Sinner dunball and restored his true form leaped forward eternal life Casino the town of Zar was  bombed for the third time in a month a was on his way to see someone who owed him a lot when the  air raid siren reluctantly crawled out of the loudspeakers at all the intersections and began  to tu

rn a long blunt drill into the heads of the few people on the streets the sky was draped  in a sluggish rag of pregnant rainclouds but as always this did not embarrass the crews of  the airships one bit perhaps the governor of the six District had once again decided to remind the  citizens that they had bumped his tax collectors two years ago so Zar got its own portion of Steel  lollipops filled with explosives among the other rebellious cities anti-aircraft guns roared from  the city's outskirt

s setting the syncopated Rhythm to the bombing band of sirens the distant hum of  battle airships and the inexorably approaching cres window of bomb explosions a wondered where  those guns were firing at the airships always went above the clouds and the last radar in Zar  had been obliterated by a high explosive bomb 3 weeks before on the other hand an Airship is  a big Target there's a chance of hitting it even with the blind aim at the sound of engines  the nearest entrance to the underground

shelter system was three blocks away next to cler's work  Workshop where a was headed most likely claer was already sitting at a table in the spacious Hall  on the first sublevel leisurely pulling a deck of cards from an expensive leather jacket of his own  making rumor had it that the jacket was supposedly made from the skin of a Corps Lings one of those  who had fallen on the fringes during the Great Invasion four years ago and that the bone clasps  were made from bits of corpsing skull or fin

ger bones but day knew that in his lifetime past  this alleged corpsing mooed chewed grass gave milk and tried to kick a gaping Shepherd it was  adde who had sold a dozen well-tanned cow skins to the cluster anyway what does he care about  idiots who believe such nonsense and let their guard down by allowing cloter to rip them off at  cards the humming of the blimps grew louder the sink Inc compation of the anti-aircraft bursts  had already lost all Rhythm and turned into a disorderly Rumble as

if the drummer instead of  holding the Rhythm was trying to thin out with the sticks the swarm of giant Bas ringing  mosquitoes swirling above the big drum adde realized that the time for a lazy walking had  passed and started running keeping his course for the conspicuous sign above the corner entrance  to the four-story brick building bags covers belts cluster and Company there was no actual Company by  all means but cluster thought it would sound more respectable an underground entrance was a

round the  corner of the building hidden from A's view by a row of trash cans adde rushed down the finally  deserted Street to the coveted hole in the ground still unaware that he was racing against a 300  kg bomb which had chosen as its Target almost the same point on the map as he had he could hear the  growing howl but he did not consider it because it was pointless all that was left was to play  heads and tails with death as all the inhabitants of zark had to do from time to time he had not 

reached only 50 steps to the underground entrance when a bomb turned the neighboring house into  a giant erupting flower of fire glass and brick fragments amazing none of the debris raining down  from the sky landed on A's head or back while he stunned and concussed stood on all fours trying  to shake the bells of all the world churches out of his ears there was a vague howl and rumbling  through the noise and when Abdi looked up he saw several new Columns of smoke pulling their curly  tentacle

s toward the low clouds Abdi struggled to his feet and waddled forward his ringing  Consciousness noted indifferently that cler's Workshop had nearly survived though the northern  half of the house had been reduced to a pile of smoking bricks and junk it had only blown out all  the glass and thrown the samples and manquin from the shop onto the pavement cler would be furious  Abdi thought of course the city council would pay compensation for a late warning of a raid but  that wouldn't cover all

the damages and if the patrol did not rush here the looters would steal  at least half of the merchandise damn it would hit me too abde thought stepping carefully over  the scattered leather goods and crunching the broken glass under his boots cluster owed him  3,000 and now the Craftsman wouldn't be able to spare a nickel if abde doesn't get that money papa  Rick is not to be trifled with he doesn't forgive debts and and doesn't give more time one of the  dummies was lying across the massive ir

on hatch that covered the entrance to the tunnel twisted  and broken arms and legs sticking out at crazy angles to the body a humanized doll which somebody  had slammed into the ground and then stamped on a few times more with a boot a took it by the leg  and dragged it away from the hatch why is it so heavy he thought does the cler stuffed them with  sand so they won't get lifted from the shop the dummy was lying silent in the settling dust ay  glanced at the fine jacket beautifully embossed an

d fringed on the shoulders and remembered that  it looked exactly as one cluster himself had worn and would never agree to sell it had he made a  second one the Curiosity overpowered abd's fear with a muffled grunt he turned the dummy over to  get a better look at the jacket the dummy's head rolled face up with a ghastly thump and straight  at a through the blood and dirt looked the bright blue eyes of cler before AB had even had time to  experience shock his gaze caught another crucial detail a

life receiving device gleamed with blue  metal around cler's neck just below the chin of the Dead adde saw the silver letters engraved  into the collar fzc first zar credit so cler was Heavy loaning from those sharks and now he was  dead all his unlived life all his years checks months and even the 10day coins are finally  withdrawn and become the bank's property just as ad's life would become the property of Papa  Rick also known as the third Eternal if he did not pay back to the Tycoon by tom

orrow morning  the 1500 days he had borrowed a month before there were surprisingly few people in this branch  of the subway avde did not linger in the halls of the first sublevel designed exclusively to wait  out bombings or Corp slings raids but took the elevator directly to the fifth sublevel the area  of restaurants brothel gun and alcohol stores cheap and not so cheap hotels every everything  that would be too expensive and Troublesome to rebuild every time after another mess happens  on th

e surface he walked through the hustle and bustle of this trifling life hardly noticing the  [ __ ] winking at him the tugs on his sleeve and the greasy stares of pickpockets and drug dealers  all of this had suddenly become irrelevant and unreal or rather the a day became unreal there  was no way out a thousand and a half days was not a large sum but no Bank pawn shop or even  the dirtiest and meanest loone shark would give a minute to someone who owed the third Eternal  one of the five men who

controlled the system of withdrawal and transfer of Life a involuntarily  touched the life receiver ring on his own neck Papa Rick's rules were simple no complicated  contracts with lots of mutual obligations and conditions you take any amount you need and pay  it back in time or earlier if possible no interest minutes to minutes sounds like a bargain isn't  it except that if you delay repayment even for an instant the life receiver will go off a beam  of radiation will fry your brain and the d

ebtor's entire life will be taken over by the third  Eternal making him just that little bit more eternal he didn't always convert the life he took  into personal capital but he could also convert it into coins and banknotes to give it away to the  next poor guy had it not been for his mother's illness adde would never have gone to Papa Rick  but the long treatment had eaten up all his savings and he had to quit his job to take care  of his mother abde hoped to make some money by enlisting in a

sweep Squad to clean up the horde  of Corps Lings that constantly plagued Zar but it was too late the airships from the sixth district  which also suffered from raids covered The Horde with a Napalm carpet and the recruiters could only  shrug their shoulders in disappointment cler's old debt was the last chance you don't make a thousand  and a half days overnight not even by pedaling Dope From The Southern counties a still had 150  and some change in his wallet he could have had a farewell party

a cash flush so he wouldn't have  to give at least that to the 30 turn etal at the moment of transfer the life acceptor zeroed  out not only the unlived life but all the bank accounts and even the cash everything went into  the possession of the Creditor but a rry needs at least some spirit and a had nothing left but  dull depersonalizing despair colored flashes hit his eyes colored flashes hit his eyes everything  on the fifth level was sparkling and twinkling by default but this flash surpass

ed the general  flicker so much that it even snapped adde out of his trance of self-regret he looked up the huge  sign glittered with all the colors of the rainbow plus one extra eternal life Casino who doesn't  want to live forever bet one day and win centuries winnings right away AI Shrugged his shoulders he  had never been into gambling though he knew the rules of all the most popular ones too many of  his acquaintances had ended up as Beggars living literally day by day but he had only one d

ay left  a real day or what's left of it until the morning so what difference does it make where to spend it  of course the casino won't give him credit to buy in but he still owned the cash he could stretch it  out for a long time if he plays small and takes no risks adde stepped to the door and the gleaming  flaps slid silently open to reveal the inviting purple bowels of the casino the beeping of slot  machines the crackling of dice and rustling of cards the chirping of roulette and the omnip

resent  light clatter of chips as if three divisions of liliputians were tapping with tiny castanets  the players voices calm excited full of joy of a busted pot or despair of the last lost chip  the smells of Alcohol Tobacco perfume cloth and unhealthy excitement the soft monotonous voices  of the dealers a casino Universe where there is no time but where that time can be won or squandered  a didn't even go near the machines competing his luck with a soulless machine seemed like a game  lost in

advance and the roulette wheel was in the same directory he wanted to influence the game  somehow a last illusion of control over his lost life so he headed straight for the poker tables  in the outer rooms five people at a table avde without even looking at their faces took a vacant  seat and handed the dealer 350 day bills all his money the dealer nodded handed him the chips and  said Texas hold him Auntie is 20 minutes the game began at first Abdi played mechanically following  the most stra

ightforward rules the late cloer had taught him not to Bluff too much in the pre flop  to count at least approximately the odds and not to give the game to the player on the blind if  everyone before you has folded anti flop raise turn and River raise again check win fold fold  lose win gradually he began to get involved notice the partner tactics and catch their strength and  weaknesses he even went all in once picking up a four of Queens on the river all others folded  not taking the risk the

pile of chips was growing and with it ab's Consciousness was flying away  from the inevitability of tomorrow's doomsday sinking Without a Trace into simple rituals two of  diamonds seven of Spades someone doubles the BET fold two t one more on the flop raise two folds  the rest open Win blind with garbage fold check check fold time has become Obsolete and gone into  another dimension the casino has no clock but AI was in no hurry the end of the game would come  to him no matter what he did Partn

ers changed and he played dealers changed and he played  occasionally he ordered a glass of beer he went out for a quick snack a couple of times thanks  to the food and drink served on the casino dime Consciousness radically narrowed turned into a  highly specialized computer program that controls the course of the game and the real AV seemed  to fall into a coma of anticipation indifferent to everything as if rehearsing the inevitable  Oblivion the rustle of cards the clatter of chips the Deale

r's voice the partner's remark an  eternity of 24 hours it was a physical impact that pulled him out of this gambling catalepsy someone  was shaking him by the shoulder adde struggled to return to reality and stared at the green stain  of the table against the vaguely purple walls there were a lot of round colorful things on the  table stacked in Stacks all lying in front of a day there was no one else at the table excuse  me me sir said a man right in his ear a thought it was the dealer but tur

ned his head and saw  a respectable man in a good suit and a badge that said manager I'm sorry the manager repeated  and bowed slightly I regret to inform you that the casino is closing further bets for you abde  looked at the manager with a puzzled look closes why could it be that he had lost but then why is  there such a mountain of chips in front of him my sincere congratulations the manager said you  are the first visitor in 5 years who has reached the maximum allowed one-day winnings of 8,0

00 your  winnings will be transferred to you without delay I hope that you will become a regular customer of  the casino adde looked confusedly at the manager closing why could it be that he had lost but then  why is there such a mountain of chips in front of him my sincere congratulations the manager said  you are the first visitor in 5 years who has reached the maximum allowed one-day winnings  of 8,000 your winnings will be transferred to you without delay I hope that you will become  a regul

ar customer of our Casino Abdi switched his gaze from the manager to the mountain of  chips back again 8,000 days he managed to win 8,000 days he can buy his life back it was like an  electric shock to him the time he must have been here all night and at 9:00 in the morning he had  to give back, 1500 days to the third Eternal he had to make it what what time is it he exhaled  frantically as he caught the manager by the expensive fabric of his jacket it is 3 minutes  to 11: in the morning said th

e manager with a graceful gesture unhooking A's crooked fingers we  shall pay your winnings in a few minutes but in the meantime I dare offer you this fine champagne  in honor of your marvelous achievement he nodded and a waiter appeared behind him with a glass on  a tray adde felt cold he was late it didn't matter how much he won he still hasn't paid back in time  he was late wait that's impossible why is he still alive his hand involuntarily darted to his throat  we took the liberty of paying

your debt to Mr Ricardo on account of your future winnings so as  not to distract you from such a wonderful game the manager said with a grin noticing how adde rubbed  his neck deprived of a life receiver it is against our usual rules but Mr Ricardo was interested  in you and personally followed the development the manager listened to the words of the man  approaching him from behind dressed as a cassino security guard and nodded please come this way  your winnings are waiting for you and he inv

ited AV day with a majestic wave of his hand as they  walked through the casino all the customers and staff stood up at the sight of a interrupting the  game and applauding words of congratulations and cries of of Bravo were heard players often rejoice  in other people's Good Fortune because everyone hopes to beat the casino someday a still couldn't  understand why he had to be taken somewhere if they could just give him a check for 8,000 that is  for 6 and5 thousand days by the way it's a decen

t amount but it's nothing special hasn't anyone  here ever won that much vaguely remembering a pile of chips on the table Abdi tried to estimate  how much it was worth but the manager opened a massive wooden door and they entered a vast room  full of people people were seated in rows like in a theater but not in front of the stage but in  front of a small balcony Rising high above the hall please the manager said again gently closing  the door behind adde as they went onto the balcony your winni

ngs adde looked at him incomprehensibly  the manager went to a small console and pressed a few buttons you have won 8,000 years he said to  a according to the rules of our establishment any winnings must be paid immediately but it was  not easy to collect such a sum 8,000 years even Mr Ricardo had to make some effort to secure your  winnings but he was pleased to do it continued the manager looking straight into A's eyes he had his  hand on a big red switch Abdi suddenly realized that all the ne

cks of all the people sitting in  the Hall were ringed with life receivers somewhere in the bottom of his stomach dry ice rumbled  a burning frightening for boing twitched 8,000 years Mr Ricardo decided that it was not every day  that an ordinary man went on equal terms with the five eternals that's why he took a keen interest  in your Destiny said the manager so the winnings are yours he turned the red switch and everyone  in the hall instantly died no no don't please I didn't mean to do it tha

t way don't Abdi wanted  to scream but he choked in the gushing lives of the hundreds of people who died because he tried  to squander a measly 150 he wanted to give up to fall asleep to forget this nightmare to somehow  Dodge the flood but he knew there was nothing he could do about it and that this hell would  haunt him all his monstrously long life all 8,000 years Asylum a patrol drone floated out from  behind a knife sharp cliff and Chaz instinctively crouched when the robots missile launche

rs were  momentarily pointed at him but the Drone ignored the five soldiers huddled in the cliff Shadow  near the moon dusted armored door and moved on as if nothing had happened it headed towards  the antenna complex an ugly cluster of metal plants sticking out of the ground half a click  away Chaz exhaled in relief Adam how long will it take we're out in the open they can spot us  here and bring hell any second fiddling with the equipment connected to the half dismantled  electronic door lock

the trooper didn't react to the Commander's grumbling instead Chaz heard  the voice of Andre chudin in the intercom relax Chaz I got it stuff scrambled good no drone will  get through Andy was responsible for electronic surveillance counter measures he had a additional  equipment built into his combat suit plus he brought along a small but powerful jamming device  Chaz turned toward the airlock doors just in time to watch the heavy flap slide open revealing the  way inside the intercon base the

intel was good there were no defense systems inside the airlock  so much for heavy security measures the first ones to go inside were Shang Bashi and Sunita  Chaz could never remember correctly sunita's last name let alone pronounce it Shang and Sunita  were the shock troopers of the group their space suits had extra armor and expanded ammunition and  both were more heavily armed than the rest of the group the temptation to blow up the inner airlock  door was strong but Chaz knew it would not ha

ve the desired effect on the contrary the emergency  automatics would go off all the hatchet between the compartments would fall down and they would  have to blast through their way to the mission's objective while all the station personnel and all  the perimeter defenses would be trying their best to finish off the group they'd have to keep  tiptoeing hovering over every closed door and trying not to be seen by the patrol drones  Adam poked at a panel on the airlock wall the outer doors closed

and the air lock filled  with air through the vents under the ceiling as soon as the the pressure equalized to normal the  inner doors opened apparently the bass designers thought that if someone managed to get into the  emergency airlock there was no point in forcing them to go through the security checks again  what if the person who entered passed out inside the airlock Chaz quickly gave the engineers his  respect yes they'd left a hole in the station's defenses but they' done it for Humane r

easons as  a former lifeguard he couldn't help but appreciate that approach intercon third lunar base was carved  into the Rock of the satellite it was a system of tunnels and various rooms from personal quarters  to crawler hangers and orbital shuttles in the shape of a disc about a click in diameter a squad  of trans prom Stormtroopers commanded by Chaz had to get to sector D where a research laboratory  was located it was working on some new weapons known as project Sigma the squad's objectiv

e was  to get good Intel on the project while destroying the facility of possible the Stormtroopers weren't  privy to the technical details of project Sigma and Chaz wasn't sure anyone in the squad except  for chudin who had a bachelor's degree in physics would understand anything the inner door opened  behind it was a small room racks along the walls with spare space suits weapons and emergency  medical equipment just outside the room's doors was an intersection one Corridor went radially  deep

into the base two branches to the left and right obviously a circular Gallery around the  perimeter chudin checked his comrade out this way he said and Tiny copies of the station's  blueprint appeared on the inside surface with a red line running off to the right along the  ring Gallery sh and Sunita stepped forward followed by the others the operation had entered a  critical stage the first casualty was Shang after they had collected all the memory crystals from  Project Sigma the bases securi

ty system finally started to wake up chuan's equipment was hiding  the exact location of the squad which was also moving quickly back to the emergency airlock but  the corridors were swarming with drones there were no human guards apparently intercon didn't want  to keep a large contingent on the half conserved base most likely it was just a few Remote Control  Officers operating the swarm of combat drones that intercon had always had an advantage in producing  Shang was trailing the group cover

ing the rear and at one of the intersections he was suddenly cut  off from the others by an armored bulkhead that rapidly popped out of the wall by the time Adam  managed to pick the Shutter's electronic lock it was too late Sunita and Chaz had finished  the last three drones remaining from about a dozen but Sheng was stretched face down on  the floor there were several holes in his space suit smoke billowing from them under other  circumstances they would have taken his body but now it would be

pure suicide Andy managed to  break the connection between the bases Central Station and the periphery so they didn't have  to blow up and burn through countless doors on their way out and the combat drones jumped out  at the group only in free search mode without coordinating their efforts when the group finally  reached the emergency airlock everyone had at best 1 fif of their ammunition left and smoking  wreckage dotted nearly every intersection of the corridors they had traveled Adam and Su

nita  had died when the group had gotten barely a 100 steps away from the intercon base three  external Patrol drones Rose one after another from a camouflaged shaft not marked on any base  schematics two plasma cannon charges struck at him practically vaporizing him on the spot the  third was intended for Sunita who was following but she managed to dodge and hit one of the drones  with a pulse rifle after which she was flayed by the lasers of the remaining two Vehicles Chaz and  Andy destroyed

the drones using the last two hyper velocity missiles they traveled the remaining few  clicks to The Landing boat without incident Andy was the first aboard Chaz lingered momentarily  looking at the unfriendly Jagged rocks that ring the crater where the intercon base was  located another mission was completed another small success into the piggy bank of victory  over were the Damned intercon aggressors a few more dead comrades he would remember and be  sure to even the score as he turned toward

the bot it suddenly turned into a blinding blob of  flame throwing Chaz away and extinguishing his Consciousness how many times have I told you it's  a bad bad recipe there was the sound of shattering glass and an inarticulate cry from somewhere  in the distance clearly a restrained scolding if you want to drink this stuff be my guest but  don't give it to me his head tingled a little but overall Chaz felt bearable when he opened his eyes  he saw the stars above him and the Earth's disc a horrib

le one braided with poisonous yellow clouds  and modled with the Soares of giant Cyclones a familiar daily picture for those who lived on the  visible side of the moon but nobody could now live on the earth you're just a grumpy lazy old man if  the first voice was a man's it was answered by a woman Chaz noted how well they could be heard as  if the conversation was not on the radio but he was in the same room as the speakers if it were up  to you nothing would ever change in the world so I put a

little spice in my beer don't you ever want  to try something new all right I'll get it Chaz sat down carefully and looked around what he saw  amazed him so much that he thought he was either Dreaming or Delirious in a small area cleared  of moonrock debris stood a village house a good wooden house clad in green painted boards with a  galvanized tin roof a spacious porch and even a brick chin from which Chaz blinked in Surprise a  light smoke was wafting in front of the house was a small neatly

trimmed lawn in fact Chaz was  sitting on the grass on which stood a simple table of unplaned boards behind the table on a  long bench sat an elderly man in faded overalls and a plaid flannel shirt smoking a hemp pipe  while Chaz was staring at this picture absolutely impossible on the surface of the Moon the door of  the house opened spilling a warm yellow light and out stepped a young woman dressed about the same  as the old man except that she wore dainty boots instead of sturdy leather shoe

s she was holding  three beer bottles the fourth pipe today the woman said reproachfully putting the bottles on  the table and it's not even evening yet dad you promised the old man inhaled with pleasure let  out a cloud of smoke and sighed that's what comes with the age he said looking straight at Chaz if  I'd known what was in store for me I'd never have gotten old one would think that age should have  some privileges right sir without waiting for an answer from the speechless Chaz the old man

shook  his head and said my name is Wilbur Wilbur Johnson but you can just call me will and this nuisance  is suie my daughter Susie say hello to Our Guest the woman smiled at Chaz and gave him a friendly  wave come and join us she said we could use some help to settle our dispute are you ready to try  a spiced beer or are you a true Oldtimer like my father Chaz stood up feeling like Alice in the  rabbit hole and walked over to the table Susie had already pulled up two wicker chairs just like 

the ones Chaz had seen in the old photo album his parents had taken from Earth during the evacuation  and sat down in one of them Chaz gripped the back of the second one and looked around hesitantly  not knowing what he expected to see reality hit him like a hand-to-hand combat instructor's  fist the mowed grass stretched for only 20 ft after that it was all angular fragments of rocks  overlaid with regolith and further on further on on an ugly black crater gaped around which the  mangled and me

lted remains of the landing boat were scattered what did you expect son came the  old mank voice an orbital rail gun is no joke Chaz spun around instantly his hand slamming down on  his hip where his holster had been but found only emptiness who the hell are you he squeezed out the  first words fleetingly amazed at how hostile and rude his voice sounded after the greetings of the  impossible House's inhabitants who side are you on intercon or trans prom the old man sipped his  beer and set the b

ottle on the table well that's much better he said in a low voice son what do  you think do we look like enemies or any sort of soldiers in this stupid war of yours he shook  his head you're all the same crazy breed you've ruined your home planet and now you've come here  to kill each other don't you ever get tired of it Chaz opened his mouth to rebuke the old man as  the bitterness and pain of losing his comrades was still burning his soul but then he looked  at the yellow light in the windows

and the Wide Open Door of the house at the green grass beneath  his feet at the old man's calm wise smile at the freckles and the red hair of the woman gathered in  a braid looked into her friendly gray eyes and he said not at all what he was about to say I'm sick  of it he said with a sigh and sat down in a vacant chair which was surprisingly comfortable then he  opened his helmet's visor and sipped several large gulps of cold tart beer that tasted of cardamom  and cinnamon you don't have even

the closest idea how much Caravan to the alal Empire as the  hurricane season Drew to a close and the fierce storms that had shaken the South Tower to its very  foundations moved off toward the pole passing the Baton to calm monsoon winds that blew evenly  and steadily shirana pulled out her father's ragged storm jacket from the locker and started  to go to the outer ramp two or three times a week there she built a small observation cabin out of  sheets of transparent polyplastic and pieces of s

teel tubing where she sat for hours sipping hot  coffee from a thermos and looking out at the two vast oceans merging somewhere on the horizon  the sky and the water she had purposely built her Sanctuary away from the North Tower the long  dilapidated finger of civilization jutting into the tired Sky modeled with a bizarre pattern  of Rusty stains the ribs of Warf and walkway ramps and the glow of the polyplastic cladding of  the green houses Shira liked to see the grayish blue surface of the oc

ean on which the sun's Rays  painted a fanciful Barack gold ligature the ramp was on the 613th floor more than a mile above sea  level but even from that height the shore of the Forbidden continent could not be seen the huge  swarms of Gray swimmers that often patrolled the vicinity of the Neptune Towers looked only like  light ripples on the water's surface a ghostly flicker of living moving Shadows beneath the  waves her father had told her that once thousands of years ago things had been diff

erent people had  lived on continents and their cities had grown not upward but outward for there was more than enough  space on land and there were Millions hundreds of Millions millions billions of them Shira believed  her father not as One Believes In The Morning News but as children believe in bedtime stories long  ago in a distant Kingdom people lived happily without troubles or worries she even told her  father so but he only laughed and said that if it were true things wouldn't have ended

with the gray  swimmers and the gradually emptying Towers unlike the almost wholly deserted North Tower quite a few  people still lived in the South Tower 20,000 maybe a bit more it wasn't many for a giant structure  designed for Millions most of them huddled a few floors above the 600th though the majority of the  other thousand and a half floors could be housed too if only people had the strength and will  to move there but the inhabitants of the South Tower instinctively huddled together lik

e animals  in the middle of the cold Arctic tundra against the piercing winds even radical individualists  like shirana dwell at most five or six floors away from the relatively densely populated areas  though there was no practical need to stay close the tow automation disabled most uninhabited  floors and the council had imposed a fee for reconnecting living areas to the energy grid but  it wasn't hard to do but there was an elusive ancient Instinct that tens of thousands thousands  of years a

go had forced distant ancestors to huddle as closely as possible around the fire that  separated safety from the predator-filled darkness of night this Instinct was still bounding  people together stronger than monomolecular fibers Shira took a couple more sips of coffee  watching the almost imperceptible movement of a whole bunch of silvery puffy clouds in the  eastern part of the sky already slightly tinged with evening purple shiran was mesmerized by  this movement on the edge of reality but

the observations also had a practical meaning the  movement of the Eastern Periwinkle front meant that the migration of air Krill would reach the  tower in a few days and it was time to stretch the trapping Nets the Krill fishing was not a  necessity for the tower's inhabitants bioreactors and hydroponic robotic Farms provided that  with enough food this tradition was rooted in ancient times before contact with the alal  Empire evacuation Caravans and the lottery once during an expedition to the

upper tiers Shira had  found a memory Crystal of environmentalist reports in one of the archive vaults it was on the 900th  floor one of the former University centers of the South Tower the records were partially damaged  and the language had changed a lot in in the few hundred years since the university levels  had closed but Shira managed to understand the central part of the records long ago the towers  counted by hundreds reached the point where they could not provide food for the growing p

opulation  and air Krill had been bred artificially as one of the measures to provide food apparently even then  the gray swimmers did not allow the tower dwellers to take advantage of what the ocean could provide  the reddish disc of the sun was already catching on the distant Smoky Horizon and Shira shivered  of course it wasn't an actual evening Breeze for the tower couldn't be called an actual land  mass the abandoned dock ramp extended far above the dizzying abyss the bottom of which was th

e  shimmering gold of the evening ocean this gave Shira a nearly circular view but it also left  her open to any air currents with which became noticeably colder by Nightfall and sucked the  day's warmth out of the girl's polyplastic Hut it was time to go back Carmine was waiting for her at  the elevator entrance Shira was surprised unlike her Carmine disliked the desolate atmosphere of  the upper floors preferring the constant hum of the densely populated neighborhoods Shira lived  on the 612th

floor with only a few dozen people as Neighbors but there he was sitting on the  pipelines his head tucked into his shoulders Carmine has told Shira more than once that the  empty floors seem like old tombs to him inhabited by the ghosts of people who once inhabited them  at the sight of Shira Carmine instantly jumped up and almost ran up to her they hugged then Shira  pulled away and looked her friend in the face hello she said I didn't expect to see you here  Carmine Shrugged Riley as if he w

as struggling to keep from looking away I missed you he said you  haven't been down at our floor in almost a month and anyway he stopped talking shiran squinted at  him spit it out she demanded I can see you're in a tizzy about something did the council bring up  the question of forced relocation again Carmine waved his hand languidly yes they talk about it  at every session but you know he shook his head it's just the rambling of self-righteous fools the  truth is they realize they don't have e

nough power to carry out such plans he laughed hell they can't  even reelect the head of the Control Commission and they only get to the upper tiers matters when  they're exhausted from the endless Intrigue and bickering Shira nodded to him and they they walked  down the wide tunnel illuminated by the soft bluish light of the luminescent mushrooms Carmine  walked in silence for a while Shira did not hurry him she knew her friend's character well he always  took a long time to gather his thoughts

before he said something important but there was no stopping  him once he started the lottery will be held two months earlier this year Carmine said at last  the council announced the commission's decision two days ago he squinted and looked at Shira that  information went live on the broadcast right after the official announcement Shira shook her head  I don't listen to the broadcasts she said and why that doesn't surprise me Carmine Shrugged the  council's political squabbles bore me shiran s

aid I didn't settle a few tears away from the center  to have my brains polluted by their pointless fuss what about the Lottery Commission reports  and the Transmissions from alol Carmine asked Shira answered nothing continuing to Pace every  now and then she absent-mindedly reached out to the wall and ran her fingers over the fungus  causing it to eject spores small sheaves of blue Sparks that slowly settled on the metal  plastic floor rumor has it that the Caravan will be larger than usual thi

s year Carmine said  they say the commission is deciding whether to expand the list of winners or hold an additional  drawing does it matter Shir asked without turning around how would I know Carmine was silent for  a moment I'm just an ordinary citizen concerned about what's happening in the tower but there's  a persistent rumor that something huge is brewing something that will change everything once  and for all Shira stopped and put her Palm on the sensor pen panel the rectangular door slid 

aside with a slight hiss revealing a vestibule illuminated by a warm yellowish light the Krill  migration is about to begin Shira said standing in the doorway half turned toward Carmine would  you stay a few days and help me set up the Nets she smiled as she turned on the kitchen light and  heard Carmine's footsteps behind her she didn't really doubt him Shira hit the rubber mallet  and the base of the support console clicked into place and the lock welded to the deck of the  air dock Shira bru

shed her bangs back from her sweaty forehead and pressed the start button the  servo motor word releasing telescoping cranks with a round radar-like plaque Carmine did the same  thing 15 M up on the control Bridge it was as if a giant metal snail were releasing its eye stocks  horizontally linked together by a light glittering Web come down shouted Shira to Carmine who was  leaning over the Lear watching the movement of the consoles that's enough for today a gust of wind  carried her words away

but Carmine guessed their meaning from her gestures and nodded the way down  to the main deck was either An Elevator Shaft at the rear of the bridge connected to the tower's  main wall or an open work spiral staircase that went straight down from the fire hatch in the  floor but Carmine chose a third way he snapped two ropes into carabiners threaded into massive  brackets on the bridge parapet dropped the Loose Ends down so that the Locking knots fell to the  deck then secured the safety and rep

elling devices on his harness to the ropes and dashed down the  ropes to where Shira grinned and waited for him dared devil she commented a daredevil and a poser  Carmine nodded unbuckling his gear from the ropes there's a bit of that he said but that's more out  of boredom when you live in a densely populated place where everything's scheduled and planned  the abundance of rules can get on your nerves he unbuckled the harness then picked a slack in the  ropes and tied them to a bracket on the d

eck you could move here Shira said watching the scattering  of pearly sunlight shimmering in the Nets between the support Canal levers I mean there's plenty  of apartments in decent condition you'd get a severance package if you quit the Control  Commission right plus the profits from the catch that should add up to 10,000 energy units no less  enough for power restoration until next season or she stopped talking realizing Carmine already  knew what she meant or he could move in with her Carmine

shook his head I can't you must understand  people are buzzing the new Lottery deadline the possible expansion of the lists the extra draw  something is changing or about to change something that will affect us all and don't forget that the  gray swimmer activity is increasing daily they also sense something or are waiting for something  I can't quit my job I just can't right now everyone's waiting for something Shira thought but  who am I kidding I know exactly what it's going to be a transmis

sion from the Empire she said Carmine  nodded yes the council is expecting it next week rumors are that it will be a test transmission  before the Caravan arrives dates capacity you know that sort of stuff Shira knew next week alol  will announce how many people can finally get off this planet and then the council would announce  a lottery to find out who the lucky ones would be let's go home Shira said I've got a couple bottles  of wine there from Level 710 Carmine grinning shook his head you n

ever cease to amaze me sure  two bottles from level 710th do you know how much they could be worth sometimes I wonder why you go  to all this trouble to catch Krill when you can just haul some stuff from the upper levels Shira  put the tools in the case closed the lid and wiped her sweaty face Carmine was smiling looking at her  I don't know shiran said I guess I just like the sun and the wind they make me feel fresh alive she  sighed looking out out at the ocean in the golden flames of the pre-

s sunset Sun have you ever been  above the 700th floor no of course not Carmine shook his head as they headed for the hanger gate  I've never been above 670 somehow I feel more at ease closer to civilized places shirana laughed  and clapped him on the shoulder you don't have to tell me I'm not the counsil or the commission  you were just telling me you were dreaming about getting away from there admit it the truth is you  can't live without elevators you got me I give up Carmine laughed too it's

too much for my fat  bureaucratic ass to climb a few thousand stairs for two or three bottles of wine or an antique  teapot that I have to carry back I'd rather keep moving papers around in my office while you  bring the Vintage goods for us to drink together Shira nodded her head with contrived seriousness  it's a deal but next time I'll demand a written confession from you in large block letters I'm a  lazy bum and a signature you can even put the Seal of the commission on it they laughed and

joked  all the way down to the interlevel elevator and then two floors below all the way to the door of  shir's apartment as shiran secretly hoped though she would never have dared ask for it out loud  Carmine not only helped her finish the traps but also stayed for the migration of the air Krill  which began a day after they had stretched the last net the Krill herds were nowhere near as  numerous and dense as they had been in the past and Shira could handle the traps alone but for  the two of

them the task became more like a game especially since the weather was fine The Genius  geneticists of the past had hardwired into the DN na strands of the air Krill the migration Roots  bound to wind around the towers of Neptune all that was needed was to stretch out large magnetic  traps with receiving shoots underneath the krills large translucent pearlescent gas sacks would  relax when they hit the trap's magnetic field release hydrogen and the sickle-shaped plump  Krill carcasses would rol

l down the netting and into the chots directing them straight into  crates which Shira and Carmine would then roll on a cart into the freezer once the Krill herds had  been giant living currents Mighty quivering Rivers many miles wide and large airships had gone out  to hunt for them for back then the lives of the tower dwellers had depended on the catch Shira  came from a line of hereditary fishermen who had worked on such a vessel but then the gray swimmers  stopped liking it and then the firs

t Caravan van from the algol Empire appeared and the need for  Mass fishing was eliminated from a vital product Krill became a table decoration almost a luxury  food that allowed people to brighten up their monotonous lives from Caravan to Caravan from  Lottery to lottery for Shira however Krill was a way of providing a life above the main levels  the council ever obsessed with densification had ordered 15 years ago that all levels above 610th  be cut off from Power blaming it on a shortage of M

aintenance Personnel it was a lie the towers  power system modernized by Engineers from alol ran smoothly without any maintenance but the council  was the only Authority in the tower and it was useless to argue with it the council however not  wanting to conflict with eccentric citizens left a loophole for weirdos like Shira you could still  connect your home to the power grid by paying the council a hefty sum of money in estimated energy  units but you had to earn them somehow and doing it outs

ide the populated levels took a lot of work  Krill fishing migrations occurred six times a year and occasional trips to distant upper floors  for antique Curiosities helped however Shira realized that all this would soon come to an end  with each Caravan the population of the tower was inexorably dwindling it was not long before it  like its northern sister would finally become an abandoned Monument to a Humanity that had become a  stranger on its own Planet everyone felt this and therefore the

demand for antiques was falling  rapidly and the council's primary task became the development of programs to combat depression  and apathy between Caravans only the the lottery drawings that took place before the arrival of  each Caravan somehow revitalized the atmosphere of indifference that rained in the tower Shira was  caressing the illusion that it didn't affect her however deep down she knew she was still part of  the same expectation ridden Enclave as everyone else except she handled it

a little easier as  if punishing herself for this perceived weakness she regularly turned off the stereo bro of the  council's central News Channel she ignored email notifications blocking even the ability to read  their headlines it was like how a person tired of household chores stubbornly refuses to open  envelopes with bills even though he realizes that sooner or later he'll have to look through and  pay them anyway Carmine returned to his 62nd just after the migration ended and they dismant

led the  traps the Nets couldn't be left out for long they were designed for the light winds that carried the  Krill swarm smoothly but even a small storm would almost certainly break them and throw them away  from the tower two weeks had passed since then shirana had spent this time inspecting and making  minor repairs to the traps reading ancient books and fiddling with documentary archive videos she'd  brought back a whole bunch of memory crystals from one of her trips to the university floor

s and  now she was trying to adapt a modern reader to work with them but the protocols were too  different one of the tech Center's programmers would probably have no problem with such a task  but Shira did not intend to let anyone else in on her hobby not even Carmine she still came to the  air dock in the evenings the weather was mostly fine and she no longer hid from the winds in her  cabin but simply sat on the deck leaned against the wall and admired the sunset which colored  the sky in var

ious shades of pink turning to purple as the night progressed and the blue gold  mirror of the ocean which occasionally showed the geometrically regular ripples of the gray swimmer  movements everything changed when Carmine came to her outside ramp one evening until now he'd  kept his unspoken agreement never to disturb her meditation evenings however as soon as she saw  him Shira knew something serious had happened the irritation that had begun to rise was instantly  replaced by anxious for boi

ngs Shear did you get the letter with the lottery results Carmine asked  without even saying hello which was an additional harbinger of important news the system shows it  was sent 5 days ago but it's never been viewed and you're not responding to control requests Shira  shook her head I'm afraid I've lost interest in the news lately she said slowly Carmine stared  at her incredulously so you're saying you got the letter but didn't bother to check what's in it  shiran Shrugged why should I I can

guess what's in it I've never had much luck with gambling why  would the trend change you're wrong this time Carmine said you really should have opened the  letter this time Shira gave him an incredulous look in her turn the secrecy of the draw results  was protected by a special law no one could know the winners names unless they announced them  themselves the commission only provided the total number of lottery winners not earlier than  two weeks after the drawing when they could be sure ever

yone had already discovered their fate  you've developed psychic powers shiran asked with a touch of sneer in her voice or are you just  trying to cheer me up this primitive way Carmine remained silent shifting uncomfortably from foot  to foot obviously he was bursting with news but he couldn't decide where to begin he's not kidding  Shira thought suddenly HEK dead serious and very excited wait are you serious she asked in a  lower tone trying frantically to comprehend what was happening I one b

ut how did you Carmine  waved his hand with the kind of expression with which an unlucky Gambler suddenly and decisively  moves all his remaining chips to the double zero actually I'm not supposed to talk about it he  said hell I'm not even supposed to know about it he rubbed his forehead pulling himself together  shirana this time everyone wins shira's gaze went from incredulous to incomprehension what do you  mean everyone Carmine spread his hands that's right all of them I know people on the

council  you know the ones who have their fingers on the pulse one of them said they decided to do it that  way to not alarm the people beforehand a lot of people don't like to talk about their draw results  but this much is certain there was no actual draw just a mailing with notices of the winnings Shira  tried to make sense of what she just heard I'm sorry I guess I'm really behind the curve here  there was already a transmission from Alo wasn't there Carmine nodded yes and it said the Carava

n  would be the last the alolan said The Navigators predicted massive changes in hyperspace currents  making navigation to Earth nearly impossible for the next 200 years so they diverted additional  ships here and they'd take everyone they said it's a complicated and expensive operation for them  but their contract with the gray swimmers requires them to take everyone out in the next 50 years  so they just can't wait for things to calm down in hyperspace the council decided not to release  this

information just yet they just announced an extended circulation Christ sure we're finally  going to fly out of here shiran was silent for a moment and when will the Caravan arrive she  finally asked the first ships will be here in 11 days Carmine replied and then they'll keep  coming for another week you'll have time to pack and you Carmine shook his head guiltily I have  work to do you have no idea what's going on in the council and all the governing bodies of course  no one knows the true Sta

te of Affairs except the close Inner Circle but some people have already  made their winnings public it's a total mess and will get worse and we have to live these remaining  days somehow I've had a hard time getting to you and I'm sure they're already looking for me so as  sorry as I am I have to run Shira forced herself to smile of course you do everyone should  do what is needed your job is more important than ever you've been chosen as the boarding  coordinator for the 63rd floor right Carmi

ne nodded starting to back away from the ramp yeah  I've got a lot on my plate of course the protocols are well established but the scale of this is  unprecedented he paused looking fondly into shira's eyes sure I'll understand if you want to  leave on the first transport but I'd really like you to wait for me of course Shira said without  averting her gaze I'll be sure to wait for you one evening Shira caught the arrival of the  first ship from the algol Empire as on previous occasions the giga

ntic vessel did not descend from  the sky from outside the Earth's atmosphere as one would expect a typical traditional spaceship to  do instead it materialized out of thin air about a click away from the south tower a massive  pile of sparkling iridescent p polygons and hemispheres that hovered in one place in defiance  of all the laws of physics shiran was about to leave at that moment but she lingered to admire  the ship the alol jumpers had always fascinated her a quiet power that didn't nee

d to prove  itself to others the whole alol empire was like that the empire was evacuating the remnants of  humanity purely for reasons of Charity a pitiful handful of humans simply could not be of interest  economic or otherwise to a vast Empire that had spread its power or influence over thousands of  star systems the alolans made an agreement with the gray swimmers whose relations with humans had  been getting worse Year bye they found a suitable planet for humans and gradually transported th

em  there leading Caravans through the solar system at every convenient turn of the hyperspace  current the stranded humans suddenly found a path to Salvation the iridescence illuminated the  surface of the jumper for about 15 minutes then faded away and the ship turned from a precious  Crystal cluster into a giant tuberous body with unexpectedly regular geometric growths on its  surface before shira's eyes several hemisphere separated from the jumper and glided smoothly  toward the tower headin

g for the residential floor air ramps below shira's observation post  the alolans didn't like to waste time the first batches of evacuees would be aboard the jumper no  later than midnight two more jumper ships arrived the next day followed by three more before the  end of the week the ships were too big to Mo directly to the tower so they hovered further  out and sent transport shuttles to pick up the people shiran watched them Scurry back and forth  C resting round Shadows on the golden blue s

urface of the ocean like some huge mechanical insects  Gathering pollen from the towers giant metal flower a pair of hemispheres even went to the  North Tower apparently there were still people in it who for some reason had not wanted to move  to the South Tower in due course a few more days passed Shira made an almost conscious effort  not to count them down and the activity of the transport reports decreased noticeably then  one by one the jumpers began to depart they switched back on their ir

idescent illumination  aasis field that protected the ships from the effects of hyperspace disturbances and then  slowly disappeared Vanishing Into Thin Air with the same surreal speed and Grace with which  they had appeared eventually The Last Ship was left it began to Shimmer but suddenly it went  quiet a small hemisphere separated from it and flew toward the ramp where shira's observation  post was located as the hemisphere flew toward her the girl got up from her chair and retreated  into th

e dense Shadows near the entrance gate from which a service Corridor ran deep into  the tower dimly lit only by luminescent fungi the hemisphere slowed and lowered itself gently  onto the corrugated metal of the deck a hatch opened in its side and Carmine jumped out looking  around sure he called out please sure I know you can hear me Shira watched in silence as he looked  around as his eyes full of tears gradually showed understanding tinged with black shades of Despair  sure please the ship on

ly had a few minutes left to launch it couldn't wait any longer I barely  talked the captain into giving me a chance to pick you up Carmine took a few steps towards the  gate and shirana retreated further into the depths of the corridor before turning and running without  looking back Carmine's pleading cries could barely reach her through the pounding of soles on the  floor and then they were gone when she reached her apartment and looked out the window she saw only  the last Spark of the disap

pearing jumper it was gone in a moment and then all that was left was  the blue sky with occasional Strokes of whitish clouds and the monotonous ripples of the ocean  the rain of time the dinosaur attacked lightning quick and Solomon barely dodged the snapping of  the Jaws next to his neck the dinosaur was small a little taller than a human but it made up for  its lack of eyes with diabolical agility Solomon jerked his pistol from its holster simultaneously  executing a pouette worthy of the bes

t matadors the Beast whizzed past coasting another few  meters and turned clawing the sand the eyes with the vertical pupils stared at Solomon with  a glassy reptile expression Solomon didn't wait for a second attack he raised his pistol and  emptied an entire clip at the dinosaur half in the body half in the head of the already falling  Predator he'd read somewhere that these creatures were very tenacious but 16 bullets were enough  for anyone the powerful legs scraped the sand last time and th

e Beast fell silent Solomon  reloaded the gun and looked at his watch all four dials showed the same time which was good  meaning that the local Chrono field was stable despite the recent rain but in the west Far Over  the Horizon clouds were beginning to form which meant it was time to return to the shelter Solomon  walked along the faintly visible path between the dunes and pondered the results of his foray  of course not about the stupid fight with the poor Jurassic creature but about the map

ping of  time changes the picture was not a pleasant one it was clear that after each storm each rain  new areas of altered time appeared and this disintegration of reality went further and further  back in time as the Skirmish with the dinosaur had demonstrated Somewhere Over the Horizon far to the  North a giant Chon oasm was swirling shimmering breathing the result of a failed experiment that  destroyed civilization and turned the earth into a crazy mixture of randomly changing pieces of  the

past the neutral time Fields protected the few shelters but no one understood the physics  Solomon was one of the few who still tried to figure out what had happened the dunes ended and  the path turned East skirting the ruins of an 18th century town a legacy of the first months of the  disaster when the krono kasm had not yet gathered momentum and reality was toppling backward  within a historical era when the ruins were left behind Solomon turned South again the area  was once a park but now

it was a Dusty Wast land strewn with the rotten remains of giant ferns the  aftermath of last year's fall Reigns only once in a while did Solomon have to wander around strange  artifacts like a rusty tank half turned into an ancient war Chariot beside it lay a skeleton in  scraps of camouflage pinned to the ground with a Scandinavian spear Solomon grinned the tanker  must have been very unlucky to get caught in the rain shower and then run into a bunch of other  unlucky guys it seemed they survi

ved there were no other skeletons around they could have ented  ended up hiding in the gullies and ruins like the dinosaur looking for prey if it rained heavily you  could get as far as a trilobit not to mention a dinosaur it was still half an hour's walk  to the shelter when suddenly an alarming note squeaked subtly in Solomon's mind all his  senses were instantly heightened and he knew at once what it was the wind had changed sharply  and intensified and the first purple clouds ran across the

the sky occasionally pierced by emerald  green flashes the rain of time was coming he took his backpack off his shoulders and pulled out  an oversized raincoat gleaming with a metallic cloth Solomon put the cloak on and plugged the  power cable into the connector on his battery belt of course the low power generator of the  raincoat is no comparison with the stationary one protecting the shelter still even in the  heaviest rain shower it will give Solomon a few extra minutes sometimes the minute

s separate  disaster from salvation Solomon knew that a sharp blade of bitterness stabbed his heart but Solomon  pushed it away this was no time for emotion first he had to get to the shelter he looked back to see  that the Horizon had disappeared behind a greenish PA of rain Solomon quickened his Pace he must  get back to the shelter to his family the cloaks Time Field withstood though he saw the ruins of a  former chemical plant swept with the rain heavily charged with thme energy about 100 ya

rds to the  north a green glow enveloped the chaos of rusted metal and crumpled concrete and it didn't hold its  outlines melted blurring and shimmering until the green glow revealed the old stonework the brittle  half collapsed battlements and the black eye holes of the medieval castle loopholes the rain of time  was changing reality again Solomon only glimpsed it in a world where time had gone mad the most  important thing was not to be late so when he finally saw the massive steel door in the

concrete  Dome with the bluish Sparks of th field flickering across its Rusty surface he was out of his breath  for a moment his family as usual greeted him with genuine joy and enthusiasm Kira his wife and  their sons Mark and Alex jumped up to him Joy yly humming enthusiastically and vying to look him in  the eye The Familiar light smell of the managerie hit the nostrils Solomon hugged and caressed  each of them as best he could making sure not to neglect anyone after all they were his family

  the only creatures close to him on the planet even though australopithecines cannot be called fully  human he will care for and love them and always make it home before it rains never mind that one  day they didn't make it themselves the system's stability there were still occasional flashes  of piercing emerald and turquoise flame but the deafening peels of Thunder gradually ceased the  surrounding Cliffs and the narrow valleys were covered with a bluish Mist but its clouds flowed  smoothly u

ndisturbed by any vigorous movement Helga cast one last glance at the surrounding  landscape it looked like this attack had had been finally repelled as always now it was  possible to deal with the aftermath Helga opened the case where three dark metal spheres  with iridescent scaly surfaces lay she tossed one toward the half-destroyed melted south tower  which had suffered the most during the last fire troll attack the orb hovered in the air briefly  with a slight hum then quickly floated towar

d the mangled walls she sent the second ball in the  same manner to the small intermediate gun turret and then sticking her arm out she lowered the  third orb down to inspect the wall there was no need to control the orbs directly the inspection  drones were programmed to search and assess the damage independently Helga blinked displaying the  data from each drone on her artificial retina all the cones and sticks had been replaced by a layer  of special Nano sites lines of numbers and letters ra

n over overlapping the gorgeous colors of the  sky the attack was potent the fire trolls had teamed up with the ice trolls which was rare  and they had brought with them a giant Beast that looked like a fattened wingless dragon  with two heads the two heads spat copiously and accurately one with a greenish slurry the  other with something that looked like lumps of red powder when both spits hit the same spot  a violent reaction occurred that ol olved any metal and even some of the modified Basal

t the  primary building material of the stronghold Helga hadn't had time to figure out what it was but  it was powerful like hell it had done a lot of damage before the citadel's main patronic Cannon  finally took the Beast down all that was left of the South Tower was a shapeless melted Cliff all  lasers gravitational guns and missile launchers were destroyed at at least the gray matter in the  WarHeads had not detonated and was now part of a conglomerate of melted modified B salt and ceramic 

metal debris the repair was out of the question removing the whole mess and building the tower  from scratch was easier core here the artificial intelligence responded instantly that was good  it meant the fire trolls hadn't used a Quantum destabilizer that disrupted all communic this time  status of South sector energy feeds satisfactory I blocked all the lines going to the South Tower  in time and the desynchronization wave didn't travel far excellent so we'll have time to clear  the ruins and

rebuild the tower before the next attack 96% probability the central synthesizer  is running at full capacity the first batches of Nanobots are on their way Helga already noticed  them on top of the melted pile of slag the thick black mouths of the transmission tubes extended  from the depths of the stronghold and from there a silvery gray stream of living breathing clouds  poured out and immediately began to settle and spread over the remains of the South Tower it was  like a cloud of gnats cl

inging to a lump of sugar the conglomerate began to change shape while the  tubes continued to spew out more and more clouds Helga switched the image to the Drone sent to  the secondary turret on the wall the small energy Cannon had been hit with the ice Troll's newest  weapon a blob of fractal quantum foam the cannon was now a strange surreal Monument of degenerate  matter looking like a smoldered candle and a butterfly wing skeleton at the same time the Drone  circled cautiously around careful

ly recording the destruction nothing could be done here yet  it would take a few days until the process of quantum boiling inside the degenerated matter  stopped it would be necessary to bring some mobile Armament and wait for the end of the process to  dismantle The Remains and install a new gun the results of the wall inspection were still to  go Helga switched to the third drone which had already inspected the upper part by this time and  was now gliding along the massive base that went into

the ice hummocks densely dotted with the  remains of troll equipment surprisingly there wasn't much damage to the wall the outer layer  of the protective energy grid was punctured in some places and the armor plates were slightly  damaged but not a single blow even reached the embal base all the damage had already been dealt  with by the repair automatic Bots summoned by the Drone the trolls seemed to concentrate all their  Firepower on the towers and gun turrets this time giving up trying to ma

ke a breach in the main  wall that was worrying the stupid things seemed to be learning faster and faster she should  talk to the core and devise an anticipatory defense plan maybe it's worth working on the space  metric warp device as the core had suggested a few kilocycles ago Helga had rejected the project  then it required too many resources without guaranteeing a positive result however the troll  gos were evolving rapidly and it was time to move on to the next counter measures phase core w

hat  is the forecast of troll activity the probability of the next attack will begin to increase in  eight cycles and will peak in 13 Cycles from now there is up to a 58% chance of new weapons  being used and up to an 87% chance of increased use of already tested weapons considering the  new data from the last cycle I recommend that defense capabilities be strengthened speaking of  trolls Helga approached the tank that stood in the center of the chamber and asked the creature  floating inside in

the nourishing liquid how do you summon and coordinate troll attacks today the  ice and fire ones attack together how do you do it the witch opened her eyes a ghastly wrinkled face  a skull covered in skin from which sparse strands of hair protruded rippled in the greenish liquid  like the mummies of Medusa gorgon's long dead snakes the skin had discolored from its Extended  Stay in the capsule and glowed the same languid green tubes stretched into the Tank's base from  the veins nostrils mouth

and other bodily orifices Helga waited the witch blinked a couple of times  and then her hand fingers moved faintly the screen on the terminal at the base of the tank lit up and  words ran across it how can I coordinate anything look at me Helga shook her head the witch was  constantly returning to what Helga had done to her but she had no other choice otherwise only  the great core knows what the witch managed to do Helga caught her at the very last moment in  fact she hated the witch for that

very reason not because the witch had tried to do something  terrible to the stronghold but because of what she Helga a very young girl back then had had to do  to keep herself and the core safe oh my goodness it had been a long time ago 10 kilo Cycles ago  or was it more only core knows you're asking the wrong question and to the wrong person 10 kilo  Cycles ago using the medical databases of the core Helga cut all the nerve fibers connecting Broca's  area to the witch's larynx and connected t

hem to a neural interface that converted the impulses  into letters on the screen the quality wasn't great as neither Helga nor the core were experts  in neurosurgery but now she could communicate with the witch without fear of her Casting a spell that  could harm the stronghold you wanted to destroy the stronghold Helga said I'm sure you never gave  up on your plan why would you do that do you want to rule over the trolls how did you plan to keep  them in line [ __ ] there are no such things as

trolls Helga had a terrible urge to punch the  witch The Witch's discolored flabby face had long since lost all expression but Helga saw a  sneer in the old woman's eyes not malicious but rather condescending and that was the worst  of it drop your shenanigans she said to the witch I know what you're trying to do it won't  work you'll hang around in that tank until you tell me your connection to the trolls and how you  can stop their attacks the stronghold must stand I feel sorry for you why do

n't you ask the core  about all this you think I'd waste my time with you if the core knew the answer Helga screamed  in Rage I'm tired of this war why can't you just answer it and put an end to this nightmare why  would you do that why do you need trolls those vile mindless creatures The Witch's eyes closed  for a second then opened again the witch's gaze struck Helga there was so much pain it wasn't  a real physical pain Helga knew that all of the witch's pain centers were shut down it was the

  the pain of compassion the witch was pitying her recoiling from the tank Helga fumbled helplessly  in her Pockets looking for something to throw at the witch until she realized it was stupid the  tank was capable of withstanding a direct hit from a large caliber bullet with a depleted  uranium core and the discharge of a pulse gun but that [ __ ] how dare she how can she even  she turned around and ran out of the cell not daring to look at the witch again maybe that was  why but more likely be

cause a few drops of clear liquid could hardly be seen in the greenish  biogel Helga never noticed that the witch was crying you went over the edge the letters ran across the screen though  nobody could see them not really we're all left to our own devices almost you're always trying to  upset the stability that's a minus on your record I like the way it is now Jesus Christ what are you  talking about to hell with all records I'm already at the position where nothing matters you have  nothing to

threaten me with you care about the wellbeing of the current option I can use that  but I'd prefer you stop meddling in security issues you're compromising the stability of the  option why don't you just let the poor girl go that's not an acceptable solution the stability of  the option the stability of the system is the most important thing if we go back the stability  will be compromised the system will lose its Integrity you're a monstrous piece of selfish  stubborn [ __ ] I was created to m

aintain the stability of the system I maintain it that's not  what you were bloody designed for you're just a mad computer an artificial intelligence that's  supposed to be running an experimental reactor but instead you've drained all the databases and  shut down the Continuum around you you've built yourself a feudal lordship and you fought off  every attempt to get through to you the system has to remain stable but not at the cost of the rest  of the universe you digital [ __ ] you've broken

the metric of space Humanity's home universe is  about to implode you kill everyone who tries to get to you you make the poor girl believe they're  some monsters you plant all kinds of nonsense on her retina is you you the system needs to remain  stable I'm sorry it makes you uncomfortable but those are the rules stability and security  are what I was created for I'm the one who created you you broken Tin Man and this is your  gratitude you are safe you are in no danger of annihilation I Fe howe

ver that you have already  disrupted stability the replacement is almost ready don't I forbid you don't you touch her you bastard I have no choice you can no longer  command me system stability is an absolute imperative damn you damn you damn you damn  you the new tank is already in place I'm no longer disposing of Replacements you're  such an engaging conversationalist Helga soon you'll be able to talk to each  other in peace I hope it will increase stability the wind another gust of wind caugh

t  the elm tree at the end of The Alley twisting and jerking it around like a dog with a rat in  its teeth the fuse greenish brown leaves still clinging to the tree branches were instantly  ripped off and swept along the wet houses like dirty confetti cheslow heard a loud crack  above his head not bothering to pick his steps he crossed the lawn between the bus stop in the  parking lot in a few desperate jumps he barely made it the trunk of an old Elm broke and the  top third of the tree tumbled

downward breaking branches of other trees and snapping the street  street light wires the latter however was no big deal since there had been no power in the city's  grid for a long time the elm hit the sidewalk with its split end then crashed across the street  blocking the roadway chesloff wiped his forehead suspecting that not all the cold drops on his face  were of atmospheric origin in the two weeks that the storm had lasted he like most of the city's  inhabitants had already been in many u

npleasant situations s but this was the first time death  had passed so close beside him he looked at the collapsed trunk of an elm tree at least a  foot and a half thick it was a good thing he'd convinced Alma to stay home today an army armored  personnel carrier appeared from around the corner turned into the parking lot and slowly approached  cheslav the noise of the engine which before would probably have seemed inappropriately loud in a  quiet suburb neighbor neighborhood now barely broke t

hrough the howling of the wind and the  groaning of trees battered by the storm several soldiers tightly packed in raincoats jumped down  removed a steel cable from special Hooks and began to fasten it to the Fallen trunk wrapping it  around the thickest limbs an officer peaked out of the Tower and looked at cheslav are you all right  sir he shouted chesla waved his hand at him yes he shouted back I managed to jump away lucky the  officer nodded and looked at the soldiers they had finished attac

hing the Rope to the Fallen elm tree  and were now dragging the free end with the giant carbine to the APC the officer turned to cheslow  again do you live in this condo he shouted yes what floor second a gust of wind threw a handful  of wet leaves in the office 's face he cursed inaudibly and wiped his face with a waterproof  gloved hand I advise you to board up the windows if you haven't already done so he shouted to  cheslow several people were seriously injured today when the windows burst I

will cheslow nodded  though he had boarded up the windows with pieces of the back of a bookcase last week he didn't feel  like explaining that to the officer through the howling of the wind the officer nodded in response  the soldiers had already snapped their carbines into the brace on the apc's hull and stepped aside  while the wind was trying to tear their raincoats away the officer leaned into the hatch and gave  some commands to the driver the engine roared blasting over the howling of the

increasing wind  and the APC jerked pulling on the cable spewing clouds of blue smoke instantly Carried Away by the  wind the vehicle dragged the splintered elm tree for about 30 ft clearing the roadway and scarring  like a giant gnarled plow the flooded lawn on which cheslow had recently run the soldiers  immediately began to unhook the rope and the officer once again turned to cheslow and shouted  something but realizing that he could not be heard he shook his head and hustled into the hatch

from  there he emerged with a loudspeaker be advised not to leave the house for the next few days he  shouted into the loudspeaker the weather forecast suggests that the wind may increase a sharply  cheslav nodded watching the soldiers collecting and fastening the steel rope and climbing back  onto the APC when the vehicle roaring slowly drove on cheslow turned around and shuddering  from the gusts of wind and the whips of rain hitting his face wandered to the front door after  the stormy Madnes

s of the street the room with its sharp Shadows flickering across the walls in the  light of the kerosene lamp seemed the epitome of coziness Alma was sitting in an armchair by a low  coffee table and was warming a pot on the spirit stove from which the aroma of canned meat bay leaf  and garlic wafted nearby on a piece of plywood stood another pot in which boiled potatoes were  smoking you're just in time Alma said brushing a strand of blonde greasy hair from her eyes chesla  hung his raincoat o

n a hook hammered into the wall and set the large gym bag on the floor next to  the coffee table squatting down he unzipped the bag and began pulling out cans and vacuum packs of  freeze-dried foods and placing them on the table meanwhile Alma had put the food on plates eat  first we'll sort it out later she said pulling an old office chair with a tattered upholstery  back to the table I have a surprise for you said cheslow winking without taking his hand out of  the bag you'll never guess what

I've managed to get he simultaneously raised two bottles of  beer to the ceiling with a triumphant look how's that feel huh I traded them for cigarettes at the  black market in those abandoned workshops near the railway station you're crazy why did did you go  there it's so far away what if something happened said Elma but could not hold back a smile cheslow  Uncorked the bottles well as you can see nothing happened chesla sipped from the bottle took a fork  and started eating even though potato

es and canned meat had been the central part of their diet for  the last two weeks he ate with great appetite as they say hunger is the best season in a large  Convoy arrived at the central point today said chesla a few minutes later when his plate was  empty from what I understand they came from the southern warehouses you know those big underground  vaults some kind of strategic reserves as usual they weren't too talkative but from what I  overheard it was clear that the city is completely cut

off the flood swept all the bridges away and  the strong current made Crossing impossible Alma nodded yes I'm aware of that there was a broadcast  today the emergency Council representative said there was no reason to panic that there is enough  food and Medicine in the warehouses for at least a few months and that according to all estimates  the wind should start to die in 15 to 20 days at the latest all the usual gibberish they could have  Rewritten the speech template at least a bit I've alr

eady memorized this non sense to the last word  chesla leaned back in his chair the unkempt and partially looted apartment seemed incredibly Coy  after the hike for supplies which turned into a Non-Stop 2-hour struggle with the fierce wind they  had moved into this house with the other refugees 3 weeks ago when their home was swallowed up by  the overflowing river most of the refugees had then scattered throughout the city in search of  more comfortable housing cheslow and Alma stayed behind the

house was large and it was impossible  to tell for sure but it looked like they were the last inhabitants of the condo trees have been  falling a lot cheslow said just a few minutes ago the elm tree on the corner fell I thought I heard  a crack but it wasn't clear through all that wind howling Alma finished her bottle and set it on  the floor I hope you were far enough away I get so worried every every time you leave can't we  make do with the stuff they deliver home I was at the other end of t

he alley cheslow lied without  blinking an eye I think that we should use every opportunity to stock up what if the wind gets so  strong that the truck can't reach us who knows how long we'll have to survive on what we have  a powerful gust of wind hit the window as if to confirm his words from the sound of it it tore  the last shards of glass that were still there out of the frame the remnants spilled downward  scratching the plywood sheet with which chesaw had nailed the frame and drumming on

the tin of  the spillway in a normal situation chesla would have rushed to the window to check whether the  pieces of glass had not hit some random passer by but now he did not even raise an eyebrow  obviously there would be no single soul out in the streets in such weather the radio didn't  say anything about other countries we seem to have all the cities cut off from each other you didn't  hear anything at the Distribution Center cheslow shook his head nobody knows anything there are all  sort

s of rumors but I think if it were different somewhere else some information would leak out and  maybe some help came Alma remained silent there was no point in repeating the obvious none of them  had believed in any outside help for a long time by the following day the wind had picked up even  more changing direction at the same time now the windows of the two- room apartment occupied by  chesla and Alma were entirely on the leeward side and the gusts of wind stopped violently beating  on the w

indow plywood this made it possible to finally get a decent night's sleep they didn't  have much to do at home television had stopped broadcasting 2 weeks ago then the city power grid  died and the local radio station was on the air occasionally mostly with news reports from the  emergency Council trying not to go crazy chesla and Alma filled the time with whatever they  could chesla was working on a big novel using the old Hemingway system as Alma joked with only  a pencil and a stack of paper

at his disposal Alma played solitire and solved chess problems they  had inherited several chess manuals along with the apartment sometimes they started to reminisce  about the Pas times but lately they began to avoid it the wind roaring Outside The house's walls was  a too hopeless contrast to the Carefree life of the past on this day the emergency radio station  was not on the air and there was no delivery of humanitarian Aid given yesterday's warnings it  was nothing unexpected but the disrup

tion of what was left of the daily routine was depressing  cheso took up a pencil but couldn't make any progress on the new chapter finale he decided  to take advantage of the opportunity proved by the change in wind direction and tore off a  small playwood patch that covered the hole in the boarded up window a large sstory red brick  industrial building was across the street from the house where cheslow and Alma now lived a few  weeks before the wind had picked up scaffolding had been erected a

round the building construction  netting had been stretched and renovation of the facade had begun but of course now all works had  been shot down the netting had long since been torn and Blown Away by the wind and the building  stood in an exoskeleton of aluminum scaffolding groaning and creaking under the storm's Onslaught  just as chesla peered through the hole he had made a corner of the scaffolding shaken by the power  powerful gusts snapped off the Fasteners screwed into the wall or it cou

ld be the bricks that  failed crumbling from the constant vibration in the anchor bolts the entire openwork structure  began to Lurch deflecting away from the wall until it reached a critical point and collapsed as a  shattered pile of pipes and Scaffolding at any other time the rumbling and scraping would  have spread far and wide through the quiet neighborhood but now the wind blew it all away  and the catastrophe was almost like a silent movie The Wind seemed as if it had been waiting  for th

is the gusts hit the building with renewed Vigor ripping the remains of the paneling off  the crumbling bricks squeezing the last window frames inside the rooms chesaw watched this Bania  of Destruction as if hypnotized a few minutes later a powerful gust tore off the edge of the tin  roof and and immediately the whole of it fluttered up in a huge sail separated from the rafters and  was immediately carried away in a stream of other debris caught by the hurricane cheslow stunned  moved away from

the window and sat in a chair when Alma asked him what had happened he just waved  his hand continuing to stare blankly in front of him 3 days passed without radio transmissions  and human sarian deliveries but with a constantly increasing wind chesla and Alma realized that  they were trapped it was impossible even to think about going out into the howling Inferno of  the open space the wind direction did not change anymore and they watched in horror as the broken  trees fell one after another

as the wind dragged them along the street knocking and crushing  everything they could with their battered trunks the road signs were long gone gone the  road signs were long gone most of the houses had lost their windows and roofs and even the old  grocery stall near the bus stop had been ripped from its Base by the wind and flattened against  the wall of the industrial building where it now lay in an unkempt pile of crumpled tin they  still had enough food but by unspoken agreement they had be

gun to cut back on their daily rations  completely cut off from the rest of humanity they became increasingly withdrawn and almost stopped  talking to each other each sinking into personal alienation jeslo caught himself trying not to  meet Alma's gaze and realized that he was doing it to avoid seeing in her eyes a reflection of his  own Despair and understanding of the hopelessness of the situation the wind didn't change direction  anymore cheslow spent hours every day watching it destroy the f

amiliar world that once belonged  to humans one day he saw an armored personnel carrier rolling along the street under the fierce  kicks of the hurricane perhaps it was the same one commanded by the officer who had advised cheslow  not to go out into the street unnecessarily now this advice seemed like a meaningless phrase  from an unreal Universe on the e8th day the wind increased even more although recently it  seemed impossible the paneled five-story building which stood diagonally across the

intersection  suddenly Shook and folded like a house of cards the wind immediately began to tear out and toss  away everything that he could lift from the huge pile of debris and it was already a lot chesla  raised his head and saw the hurricane tearing bricks from the industrial building starting from  the top floor for a moment ches laau even thought that he seen these bricks disinte into dust under  the blows of the wind but he decided that he imagined it the building was melting before his 

eyes the deafening howl and Roar did not allow them to talk so cheslow gestured to Alma and they  both watched for a while as nature destroyed the creation of human hands suddenly cheslow felt  the floor shake under his feet it took him a few moments to realize what it meant pierced by a  sudden hunch he rushed to the front door shouting as hard as he could to Alma to take cover against  the inner loadbearing wall miraculously Alma heard and curled up in the corner covering her head  with her h

ands with his back against the door he tried not to think about what would happen to  them if the whole house collapsed and buried them under the rubble the floor beneath his feet  trembled more and more just turned around and put both hands on the shaking door shouting  something unintelligible and reassuring to Alma he heard and felt the wind disintegrating  layer by layer the structures of the house but he was too afraid to look back fearful of what  he might see or not see he was still shout

ing something he couldn't make out when the elements  reached the last shred where cheslow held his final desperate line a pathetic wooden door with a  meaningless peephole a moment later everything was gone apart from two pale spots where his hands  were resting on the painted wood and then they were gone too leaving only the Monstrous noise  of the hurricane which no one else could hear anymore the Stargazer the damn Sixers are plotting a  mutiny again Glenn said enjoying watching molt inspect

and maintain the weapons with his  usual skill there was no official position of armorer but since molt was the best at this  job he was usually assigned to do the regular inspections Glenn remembered his childhood  in the two before the celestial wrath back then the sectors had not yet become separate  Waring small principalities the confrontation between the Southern and Northern zones was  growing the people were getting more and more nervous and duty at the Stargazer was the only  stable fa

ctor in the life of the people Glenn's father was one of the officers of the guard  and sometimes took his son with him on duty Glenn remembered the neat racks of weapons and  armor in the north Zone Armory there had been enough weapons for the entire male population  of the five sectors however far fewer people live in all 10 sector sectors combined now  Celestial wrath and a series of rebellions and inters sector clashes had done their damage  the Sixers are always up to something molt said pl

acing another spear in a special Niche the  cold bluish light of the lamp glinted on the broad Long Blade of the dark metal point they're  unhappy about equal access to the Stargazer for all sectors though I don't know why they want  preferential treatment I doubt they are willing to work double time on hydroponic Farms just to  feed a few extra Slackers three more Spears were lying on the desk in front of him he took one  of them and meticulously inspected the graphite shaft then took a can of

protective grease and  began to rub the point Glenn sighed like most young men molt was a skilled Warrior and a fine  armorer but not a very good politician in two big turns the grand Council would be held Glenn  closed his eyes the light in the Armory was too bright for him who was used to the dim lighting  of the warehouses the amount of Duty served by each sector will significantly affect how the  grand Council goes and what decisions are made all sectors want a decisive voice in planning for

  the next 10 grand turns this is all nonsense malt said taking up the next spear if everyone  would just mind their own business and pay less attention to idle talk grandfatherly fables  and scare stories life would be much simpler and quieter Glenn looked at the young man with a  Frank chuckle boy you realize you're talking to someone who was on duty at the Stargazer during  the time of the celestial wrath don't you malt was clearly embarrassed but pretended to be absorbed  entirely in examini

ng some microscopic flaw on the tip of his spear to have an excuse not to  look up at Glen well that's not exactly what I meant he mumbled what I meant was that people  pay too much attention to politics and history instead of to the issues at hand that's something  I'm willing to agree with Glenn said glancing at the clock on the wall are you done the sector  Council starts in 20 minutes and I still have to return to my place molt put the last spear  back in its place stood up and buckled his s

word in its modestly designed Scabbard on his belt  come he said it is not good to be late for the council ever since counselor Cain had been  attacked and seriously wounded by some unidentified Intruder while returning from  an evening tour of the distant Hydro ronic Farms the sector Council had decided that all  officials should have guards Glenn didn't want some Grim big armed Thug with him everywhere so  he convinced the council that his nephew could guard his precious person the council squ

eaked  but Glenn's opinion who had a lot of authority had to be reckoned with Molt wasn't exactly  thrilled about the unexpected new position but Glenn promised not to distract him too much from  his main job eventually malt moved into a vacant apartment next door to the old counselor's place  in more than two weeks they had established a new routine that more or less suited both uncle and  nephew Glenn didn't travel around much even in his home sector and he only went outside of it to  visit th

e Grand Council Administration which did not happen too often Glenn was much less Bound by  regular duties and rigid schedules than molt from time to time he would switch plac with his guard  accompanying molt when he performed his duties as an armorer or combat instructor and one of the  deputies of the sector militia Glenn himself had long since been Exempted from military service  by age and he was interested in observing how this important part of sector life had changed  since the celestial

wrath the conclusions from these observations were disappointing though Glenn  realized that it was unlikely that anyone else was aware of of this but him including Veterans of  the celestial wrath like himself on the one hand the sector's defense was now at a reasonable  level even with the reduced population after all there were fewer people everywhere in addition  Sector 5 had been destroyed long ago which meant that access to Sector 8 was now only possible  through the central area of Starg

azer or the transitions to sectors 6 and 9 9 the passage to  the seventh sector had been blown up during the Great unrest 90 great turns ago and had never  been rebuilt defending three Frontiers was much easier than five on the other hand Glenn was  gradually becoming convinced that the defense and survival of the sector were quickly becoming the  primary goal and that duty at the Stargazer and the training of Watchers were seen by the younger  generation as me meaningless and burdensome ritual

duties the days of celestial wrath when entire  sectors disappeared under the Raging Flames when people died by the hundreds were for those born  later just a cautionary tale from the past the kind of story you tell children in the evening  to make them behave as for the veterans like Glenn most of them had gradually sunk into the  abyss of continuous political Intrigue and power struggles Glenn suspected they were trying  to shut themselves off from reality in this way but it did not affect the

outcome the base  had clearly lost its former vital bearings of course the fact that almost all the archives and  libraries had been lost during the Great unrest and during the celestial wrath the school had been  destroyed along with most of the teachers and the rest of the textbooks didn't help either the data  banks had been out of service for so long that even gland had not seen them working not counting  the calculator at the Stargazer and for the Youth these devices were mythological oral

tradition was  good only for family Legends but not for training qualified Personnel to work at the Stargazer now  as another political crisis was brewing that could well be resolved by violence it seemed to Glenn  that he was the last person who remembered that the entire base had originally been been built to  keep the Stargazer in operation this realization should have terrified the old counselor but  in truth he felt only lingering hopeless despair as could be expected the council once  aga

in failed to decide anything useful except to approve a schedule of increased patrols on the  sector's borders and to draft a diplomatic note to the Council of sector 6 that the manipulation of  Duty at the Stargazer for the sake of short-term political preferences was unacceptable Glenn  didn't participate in either discussion he didn't see the point molt and his comrades were  more skilled in managing defense and the note was a mere formality the extremists who had seized  power in the sixth w

ould surely ignore it unlike most of the guards of the other council members  molt did not take the opportunity to loiter in the specially designated room he quietly sat  on a chair at the farthest wall of the council chamber and carefully watched what was happening  he quietly sat on a chair at the farthest wall of the council chamber and carefully watched what was  happening strictly speaking Council meetings were not considered secret and any Resident of Sector  8 was entitled to attend but b

y long established unspoken tradition no one came to these meetings  unless necessary and some con conservative-minded counselors cast disapproving glances at molt  the latter however did not pay the slightest attention to it leaving the council chamber after  the meeting Glenn and molt walked silently Glenn waited patiently realizing the young man was  thinking about something important finally molt looked at the counselor and said it seems  that things are much worse than I thought Glenn cast

a questioning glance at him not showing he  understood what molt was talking about molt walked a few more steps as if on Parade then stopped and  turned to his uncle we've been hearing rumors he said from other sectors you know no one's formally  forbidden to move from sector to sector even given the recent tensions a lot of people have  relatives or friends outside their Suite so I don't know why the council keeps quiet about  this either they don't know or they don't believe it anyway it's loo

king like something bad will  happen on the next watch change a mutiny Glenn looked at molt why were you silent about it at the  meeting molt Shrugged his shoulders I don't have any proof only rumors besides he hesitated I was  under the impression that no one on the council would be surprised or even interested in such a  statement the young man frowned clearly making an important decision actually I shouldn't be  telling you this he said finally in fact by talking to you about it I'm violating

a direct  order because you're a member of the counil the militia command has long ago decided not to  inform the council about their plans for the future molt looked at his uncle trying to find  out how dumbfounded he was by the news but if he had hoped to make a spectacular impression  he had miscalculated Glenn had long suspicions bordering on certainty that the command had become  disillusioned with the main governing body of the sector and was playing its own game unfortunately  none of th

e other counselors seemed to care about it everyone was too busy with political Intrigue  and playing diplomatic chess with other sectors but chess could only be played with an adequate  opponent not with a psychopath who could put an axe in your head in response to a piece taken and  even the psychopath doesn't seem to consider that one day an evil giant will come and with one kick  will send all the boards together with the players to the underworld unless of course the players  can unite and

kick the giant Glenn shuddered every day it seemed to him more and more that the  chance for unification was finally and irrevocably gone as usual the change of watch ceremony  was well attended including those who strictly speaking had nothing to do with working on  the Stargazer the Stargazer control center had once been many separate rooms but it  had long since been rebuilt when humans still had the knowledge and technology for such  a grand project now it was a spacious Hall with a hemisphe

rical roof in the center of which was  the holy of holies the equipment and stations of stargazer's watchstanders from the hall ran  radial passages to the sectors which had also been rebuilt many times some passages had been  destroyed during the celestial wrath others had been blown up during Civil Wars and rebellions  While others had simply fallen into disrepair as long as there was an opportunity lost by now  people built new passages connecting sectors directly so that the once clear and s

ymmetrical  layout of the settlement gradually became like a spider's web woven by a sloppy drunken spider  over hundreds of great turns the protocol of the change of watch had been refined to a fine art but  Glenn had long ago begun to notice that since the day days of his youth even before Celestial wrath  when he had first been initiated as a watcher the procedure had become increasingly emasculated lost  its profound Essence and turned into a religious ritual a special chant had been develop

ed and  implemented over a couple of decades and now the procession of the new shift of Watchers  entering the Stargazer Hall was making its slow measured steps to the sound of the chorus  of the novices of the Watchers Court who had not yet been initiated Glenn thought he had to give  them du they sang well the melody was beautiful and solemn and the whole thing made a great  impression on the people gathered in the hall still he remembered a time when the procedure  for the change of watch had

been spelled with a small letter and the word spoken by the Watchers  had not yet become a purely ritualistic set of phrases but had a specific meaning meanwhile the  procession was moving leisurely along the special passageway through the crowd of Spectators soon  they would come directly to the Stargazer control panel and each of the 10 pairs of Watchers would  stand behind the pair they were to replace this will be followed by the exchange of the change of  watch ritual phrases and one of th

e new arrivals will sit down at his view screen in the chair just  vacated by his predecessor and their understudies will exchange handshakes at this point the  audience usually erupted in Applause after which the relieved Watchers would proceed in the same  leisurely fashion to the Watchers core quarters to cleanse themselves rest and then returned  to daily life in their sectors until they were called back to watch the new shift will be on duty  for one minor turn each member pairing up for 12

hours then it will be the same again and again and  again Glenn had retired from the Watcher's core a decade and a half ago but now he suddenly felt  an acute longing for the old days a multitude of indicators and gauges two large greenish screens  all of which had to be monitored continuously to not miss the moment not to miss the beginning  of the next Celestial wrath 12 hours of extreme tension rest and another 12 hours during his time  as a watcher Glenn had changed three Partners the first

one couldn't stand the service and  resigned after only one and a half great turns after initiation the second died in the celestial  wrath the third was still in the core though the date of his next watch was one more turn away  Glenn's heart achd but something distracted him before he had gotten sentimental there was a  commotion at the far end of the hall to the left of the entrance to the Watchers core quarters  a ripple ran through the crowd of Spectators as if from a stone thrown into the

water and people  moved away pushing and shoving each other Glenn strained his eyesight which had been failing  over the last few years and saw that armed men and red headbands were jumping out of the service  passage in the wall midway between the tunnels to sector six and seven one by one and lining up in  battle formation crowding The Spectators who had come to watch the ritual survivalists the most  radical wing of the extremists who have seized power in sector 6 the survivalist cult did  n

ot even try to cover up or soften their true intentions openly calling for a violent change in  the system of governance of all sectors and the abandonment of the watch considering at a silly  religious Prejudice diverting precious resources needed for the survival of the sect s the new  authorities of sector 6 had publicly denounced The survivalists Stance but Glenn believed these  statements were merely a smoke screen a ruse to hide the close ties to the cultists how he wished  he were wrong b

etween the tunnels had once been an area with various apparatus rooms and that  was where the service passageway led to however that area had taken two direct hits during the  celestial wrath and was deemed inaccessible its hatches had been welded shut somehow the  survivalist managed to rebuild the part of the area and move the fighters there without being  noticed looks like they had their own people in the security system however this could be thought  about later after the crisis was resolve

d if that later of course will have an opportunity to come  meanwhile the survivalists closing round ranks slowly approached the control panel they didn't  touch the spectators scattering in front of them at least they didn't raise their weapons at them  limiting themselves to kicking and throwing aside those Frozen with surprise and horror Glenn noted  absently that a small group of survivalists had tried to move toward the doors of the Watchers  core but had been unable to get in someone had h

ad the good sense to lock all the doors from the  inside Glenn found himself on a small Deus in the center of the hall where the control panel was his  old instincts had decided where he should be near the heart and brain of the Stargazer among the  brother Watchers even if Glenn himself had not been a member for a long time the watchstanders  and even those who sat at the console looked at the approaching Rebels with horrified eyes but  Glenn was proud to note that none of them had abandoned th

eir posts or fled but where was molt  as if in answer to his question armed militia men began running out of the Sector 8 tunnel with  Glenn's nephew at their head they were noticeably outnumbered by the rebels Sector 8 has a smaller  population than sector 6 and it looked like the survivalists had managed to recruit supporters  in other sectors as well at least in sector 7 and four nevertheless people from 8 quickly formed  a defensive formation around on the control panel and stared grimly at

the survivalists preparing  for battle molt turned around and found his uncle looking at him they've cut off the unified militia  Barracks welded up the hatches in the passages he shouted and many who remained available have  either defected to the rebel side or decided to wait it out that's all I've been able to gather  Glenn had lived a long life seen a lot and had no illusions the survivalists outnumbered  the Defenders of the Stargazer by more than double 50 men against two dozen the odds te

nded  toward zero the rebels paused to assess the new obstacle and plan their actions a moment later a  stern-looking 40-year-old man with a thick black beard Apparently one of the leaders emerged from  their ranks forget your stupid toy and leave we won't hurt anyone if there is no resistance he  roared in the relative silence there is no need for Bloodshed it's time to clean up the mess and  think of the people we are thinking of them malt replied you want to take away our protection the  memo

ry of the celestial wrath must have faded too quickly the bearded man snorted contemptuously  children's fears it's just a convenient way for some people to do nothing and live happily ever  after after well the time of the freeloaders has passed now it's our time the time of real people  he spat and joined the rebel ranks Glenn knew that even among the leaders of the Sixers there were  men old enough to remember Celestial wrath but they obviously preferred to keep their memories  to themselves

he didn't know what drove them personal gain the desire to forget the horrible  past or something else it didn't matter now the irreparable was about to happen and they would be  defenseless before the next Celestial wrath well what's to come is what's to go Glenn had never  thought about how he was going to die although such thoughts were supposed to be typical of the  elderly but now reality had given him a clear answer without asking the counselor looked around  the control room the Stargazer

was the main and only meaning of life not only for him but for all  the inhabitants of the sectors unfortunately the inhabitants themselves seemed to have forgotten  that or didn't want to remember attention the uncertain frightened voice belonged to one of  the new Watchers a young boy with the build of a teenager it seemed to be his first watch which  would be his last Glenn thought bitterly the poor fellow was completely confused he had forgotten  that ritual words should not be uttered in v

ain but attention repeated the young Observer more  firmly multiple Targets in gamma sector approach speed 16 and N with the Sixers still delaying  their attack the Stargazer Defenders waiting grimly and everyone else has long since scattered  to their sectors the Watchers words cut through the Silence with unexpected clarity as everyone  dazedly digested their meaning another Watcher an older one echoed the first phrase sector Zeta  multiple targets speed 16 and 7 and then as if a dam had burst

Targets in sector alpha 16 and3  sector ITA sector Delta the voices of the Watchers merged into a droning Rumble of reports the ritual  phrases suddenly lost their learned formal Clarity while taking on a new formidable meaning attention  all posts the voice of the Watch Commander cut through the confusion halting the flow of reports  from various Watchers commence Target acquisition all launchers ready anti-aircraft batteries and  suppressors warm up this is not a drill repeat this is not a th

e phrase was cut off halfway  through by a stifled SOB Glenn who had been looking over the Watcher's shoulder at the beta  sector's main scanner screen looked back the Watch Commander stood staring in Surprise and  confusion at the bloody spear Point sticking out of his chest Glenn recognized the spear by its  distinctive unusually curved tip it was the spear that had been in the hand of the bearded Rebel  negotiator the watch Commander's hands began to move toward the weapon that had pierced hi

m but  halfway through they sagged helplessly his knees buckled and he slowly fell to his side and did  not move again don't listen to the damn deceivers Glenn couldn't make out the bearded man himself  in the rebel Squad but it was his voice this is just another trick to confuse us you know that  it's all lies of vile holy Hypocrites come on let's get it over with the rebels rushed to the  attack at the very last moment before The Clash Glon met Molt's eyes and managed to say hoping  that the n

ephew could at least read his lips 15 minutes just give me 15 minutes then he turned to  the control panel and shouted with all his might this is not a drill launched to all Targets after  confirmed captures put all orbital anti-aircraft batteries on fire at will mode behind his back  the men who had come together in Fierce combat screamed almost no one noticed the floor shook  as the first missile was launched and then again and then began to tremble until a direct hit  destroyed all of sector

7 and a blast wave that outpaced the automation of the Escape hatches  mixed the attackers Defenders and observers into one pile and threw them against the far wall  of the hall the day of celestial wrath had come again the evening Breeze drifted lazily over the  coastal dunes and Tangled its itself in the crowns of the Pines The Majestic trees sway gently making  them resemble Druids singing hymns the remnants of the breeze ran lightly toward the log house at  the edge of the spacious clearing

bringing the thick scent of herbs tickling the nostrils and  inducing Slumber on The house's porch sat an elderly but still sturdy man and a boy of about  seven or eight beautiful the boy said looking up at the Starry Sky where the bright orange yellow  and white asers of distant explosions bloomed I've seen stars fall but it's not as cool and not many  at a time beautiful the man agreed but dangerous and scary the boy looked at him in surprise it's  not scary at all he said it's scarier when th

ere's a thunderstorm though I'm not afraid he hesit  itated a moment and added well almost he had always prided himself on his honesty the man side  you don't understand if one of those things falls to the ground it'll be a big disaster it's the  aggressors the boy's eyes widened aggressors the teacher told us about them and that they tried to  take over the world but the wise ancestors found a way to stop the aggressors from succeeding  they built this what's its name Moon defense vase Moon def

ense base the man corrected with  a smile yes that was before the separation this base controls all of Earth's orbital defenses why  only Earth the boy asked what about the Seas the rivers the forests the people that's what the  world used to be called before the separation the man explained the boy nodded and then all  the Techno dependence flew away and the world became the world cleansed the man shook his head  you shouldn't say that about humans just because they chose a different path after

all it is their  technology that protects us from the aggressors they're the ones who built the orbital defense  system and the moon base they are different but that doesn't mean they are worse than us the  boy pondered this for a while like different ants eh he finally said some build big ant hills  and others live in Hollow trees but they are all ants almost the man smiled although we are not  ants of course the boy looked up at the sky again where the last flashes were less frequent his  eye

sight was sharper than the older man's and certainly much sharper than his distant ancestors  before the separation but even he couldn't tell for sure whether the moon whose disc hung above  the dark pine trees had a new crater or whether it was just his imagination but the technode those  other people left long ago didn't they he said Do they still live on the moon the man shook his  head I don't think so I think they moved on to the Stars a long time ago their technology was  outstanding back

in the days of the separation and it must have gotten even better since then  there's hardly anyone still living on Moonbase most likely the defenses have long been run by  automation I guess those people weren't so bad the boy said thoughtfully if they didn't want to  control the weapons themselves I've never seen a gun myself but my teacher said it was a nasty  thing that's true said the man but I think all paths sooner or later lead to the fact that guns  are nasty I guess someday even the ag

gressors will realize that but until then we should respect  all paths and especially the ancestors who gave us a solid defense and they both looked  up at the dark bottomless Sky filled with stars the power of imagination a light latran  Cruiser waited for them in Ambush behind the mangled Hull of the destroyed child B battle  station the long rrange sensors of the Icarus were damaged by the hyperspace mine and they  didn't notice the enemy until it was too late the Icarus crew numbered only si

x men and they all  knew their chances of surviving were slim there was no choice however and they began preparing the  little ship for battle turning his head dingham looked at Lieutenant arale acting first officer  I'm afraid this is where our story ends my love he said but I'm glad I met you arwell shook the  blonde locks out of her mantle and her beautiful green eyes sparked with cold Fury no she said I  don't know about you dingy but I'm not going to disappear for nothing what's got into yo

u anyway  it's just some lousy ant Cruiser nothing to our Gunners dingham stood up and kissed her tenderly  before sitting back down and buckling his harness listen to my command he said into the communicator  power room to reinforce forward Shields launcher operators to prepare all ammunition fire on my  command only he paused we don't stand much chance boys but if we play our cards right we might find  a joker among them remember Earth is behind us so let's kick the ants in their kous balls th

ey  almost made a second before he was reduced to a cloud of redh hot plasma dingham managed to meet  the Furious glance of green eyes proud and full of love damn it Oleg you're walking on the edge  what if someone rats to the oversight Jansen habitually ran his greasy fingers through his  Lush red hair and scratched the back of his head there were bits of bacon on his chin and a  few fresh mayonnaise stains on the dirty t-shirt that encircled his big belly Oleg Shrugged then  you gut your stash

and we'll give some grease to proper people he said zeroids may not have  imagination but there's nothing wrong with greed besides nobody's complained yet yet customers  get what they come for Oleg my dear you're my best employee said Jansen but you have to give  our clients bright colorful worlds filled with strong experiences and not to kill them at  the end of each session especially since it is illegal Oleg closed his eyes the headache  was beginning to chew on his brain our whole shop is i

llegal he said technically yansen began  but Oleg didn't let him continue technically we provide services that do not exist in the state  Register he said according to the license we are a mixture of a cinema and a library because the  zeroids don't want to deprive themselves of their drug but there is an agreement Jansen said even  if it's not official olleg thought a bit I have not harmed anyone and no one has complained yet  he finally said they come for the bright edgy fantasies and we provi

de he sighed and stood up  look OU you knew who you were hiring tens don't do kitty carousels and cheap porn if you don't  like it I can leave and you can hire somebody else I hear kagata is going to shut down his shop  so you can get his staff or you can remember your youth Jansen waved his arms frantically causing  his belly to fall even more out of his unbuttoned gray overalls no no no cagata ain't got nobody  higher than a seven and I was barely a six at my Prime Jansen ran his fingers over

a small  terminal here's your fee for the week plus a bonus of 300 from yesterday's client he smiled all  over his greasy mouth whom by the way I killed in the gladiatorial arena said Oleg and walked  out before Jansen could say anything else the street was as always quiet and peaceful a row of  identical cars drove at perfect intervals stopping at every traffic light and crosswalk with the  clarity of cloak workor in each car set a man with an expressionless face zeroid or to use  the official

language citizen of the category of imagination level zero zeroids Ruled the Earth  the citizen of categories other than zero were considered too unreliable for that all they were  entitled to now was a disability allowance and the occasional entertainment for the zeroids Oleg  rubbed the neural link on his Temple after long sessions the skin around it always started to  feel sore but he was willing to endure anything for those hours when he finally gained power  over the zeroids the neural link

allowed the zeroids perception to be connected directly to  consciousness of Oleg Oleg was graded as 10 the man with the most potent imagination whatever  he was able to imagine zeroids experienced as if it was real space travel the life of a  gladiator battles against dragons and Aliens but there was something else this powerful  imagination could make copies of the minds of all clients the world of zeroids was a gray  blank prison for leg and he knew how to get his revenge Captain dingham onc

e citizen 0267 A3 B22  awoke to sharp pain in his side when he opened his eyes he saw a grim hairy face with red eyes and  a fanged mouth two crooked a symmetrical horns protruded from the forehead over the face well  hello there handsome the face said breathing in stench and jabbed dingham again in the liver with  the Trident as he gasped in piercing pain dingham was horrified to see the head dangling from a  rope around the creature's neck a blonde head with beautiful dead green eyes struck wi

th grief  and horror he didn't even scream when the demon picked him up and dropped him into a cauldron of  boiling oil Oleg smiled dreamily and staggered along the gray cars toward his standard  apartment the sand in late September news reached carrian that silaine Fortress the last  Federation stronghold in the west had fallen the security committee declared a 3-day morning period  cancelling all entertainment and enforcing strict dress and restraint in speech while the cleaning  crews p contr

olling the streets were reinforced with more Personnel the city as clean as it was  before now was totally sterile but this could not alleviate the Grim tension that gripped the  people of caragan as the sun began to sink into the Horizon sha walked along the outer wall and  sat down on a rock heated by the day with his legs hanging out he often came here when the city  streets grimness and the CIT 's austerity became unbearable in the 10 years he'd lived in the  city since the fall of his home

Village Fort alstone sha had never gotten used to carrigan's  puritanical lifestyle and it was not even because he felt resentment for his dead countrymen whom  the local preachers in their fiery speeches held responsible for the catastrophe saying that the  Lord had punished them for their debauchery the people of Alston were not not promiscuous but they  knew how to enjoy life a talent long forgotten and buttoned up kgon no sha even felt sorry for the  locals for all their ostensible Readiness

to fight they just hadn't realized yet that they couldn't  escape their fate when the desert decides to commence Full Assault they will lose their naive  virginal belief in invulnerability that was what depressed him the most of the people of KGAN he  was almost the only one who realized that all was futile that the desert could not be defeated and  yet there was nothing he could do so far the city had held but the sense of inevitability brought  sha back here Time After Time To The Fortress wa

ll where he would sit for hours and stare out at  the vast sea of sand that stretched to the Horizon Sunset colored the tops and slow slopes of the  dunes and delicate shades of pink and purple and Inky tentacles of Shadows crept from Foothills and  Gorges between the Sandy ridges to reach the walls of carrion just before nightfall and melt there  in the bright light of downward-facing search lights above the 100 meter walls of the city at  unequal intervals observation towers Rose for an additi

onal couple of dozen meters from which  centuries kept a watchful eye on the nearest Dunes sha had told the security committee about the fall  of Alston the dunes had gradually crept closer to the city until one Nightmare Night they had grown  several times their size and rushing rivers of merciless sand had swept over the city walls and  flowed through the streets blowing out doors and windows tearing off roofs and creating frenzied  sand swirls in the squares and intersections sha was lucky he

was on guard Duty on the opposite  side of the perimeter from the Breakthrough and along with several dozen citizens stricken with  horror and despair managed to jump into two large commercial sandars to rush away from the city  which had become a mass grave in an instant the rest of his memory was a black area he couldn't  remember where the second sand car had gone nor how most of those who had traveled with him had  disappeared only four survivors had made it to carrian and three died a few

days later a long  shout came to his ears as the guard change was underway on the towers soon the sentries would  start to patrol the walls but sha had already gotten to know all the guards in general Outsiders  were not supposed to be on the wall after 8:00 in the evening but the Sandu guards who dealt with  the desert personally and not through sermons like most of the city's inhabitants understood him  better deep down they even those who outwardly adhered strictly to Puritan beliefs realized

that  it was not the alleged debauchery that had caused alston's downfall the worm of Despair had long  dwelt at the bottom of every heart the power of the desert was undeniable sooner or later all the  cities would fall and the people would be left to huddle in the pitiful remnants of the cliffs  to the east squeeze between the vast expanse of sand the sun was almost over the horizon the  wall Stones began to cool rapidly and the shadowy dunes threw at the city the first Spears of the  night's

cold sha shivered and stood up catching the last glimmers of sunlight only the edge of  the purple disc remained above the Horizon at the very last moment it suddenly flashed green  and disappeared the search lights came on they flooded the space below the wall with a dead white  light and seemed to freeze the sandst streams but sha knew it was only an illusion the desert was  moving breathing looking for ways to penetrate the city it hated and to consume it as it had done  with hundreds and th

ousands of settlements in the west he rushed the elevator without looking back  as if an extra glance at the desert could turn him into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife the  elevator was busy several guards were unloading crates of projectiles for static guns these shells  broke the bonds between grains of sand destroying the dunes and any other spawn of the desert you  can't have enough shells for the whole desert sha thought helping the guards who met his help with  silent gratitude the crates

were heavy if we had some of those in Alston we could have held out  out for another 6 months if not longer 6 months the streets were empty there was no curfew  in caran but the town's people would never have taken to the streets after evening prayers  except for occasional patrols of cleaners on the Spotless sidewalk Sho he stopped so abruptly  that he almost fell over it can't be true it was a voice he hadn't heard in years not since the  desert had swallowed Alston and he was sure that his b

rother nelt was dead he had been on guard  Duty on the South Wall the one that had fallen first could he have survived cherishing hope and  at the same time fearing that he was dreaming it all from the nervous exhaustion sha turned to the  voice in a side culdesac in the doorway of one of the houses against the city wall his brother nelt  stood waving at him sha feeling Joy overtake him took a few steps toward him but how did nelt  survive and when did he come to carrion several sand cars had ar

rived in the city recently but  they were all from the north could it be that nelt had originally found shelter elsewhere and only  now managed to get here not a good time for a walk citizen sha turned around behind him stood four  men and one woman all carrying vacuum cleaners two of them had static rifles hanging over their  shoulders a night Patrol of cleaners sha spread his hands sorry citizens got laid on the wall I  was helping the guards unload ammunition there was a look of approval on t

he cleaners faces at  those words and the woman smiled and nodded that's commendable said a tall man with a green armband  on his sleeve obviously the patrol leader on days like this we should all be concerned for safety  helping our defenders in any way we can sh made an appropriately sanctimonious Grimace and uttered  a ritual phrase the walls must stand and the city must live the patrolman replied in unison I met my  brother sha explained pleased that the atmosphere had lightened I haven't se

en him in years there he  is at the end of The Alley hello nelt he shouted to his brother to his surprise nelt remained  silent though he kept making urgent gestures with his hand Family First the woman said with  even more approval I'm happy for you and your brother but don't stay out too long do you live  far away sha Shrugged carelessly not too close but it's okay I'll stay at my brothers if I have  to he said as he turned into the alley right nelt the brother was silent again strange sha tho

ught  what's the matter with him had he lost the gift of speech and he was waving strangely like a  winding mechanism sick what's wrong with you he asked approaching the house where his brother  stood in the doorway too happy to say a word or sha paused in the light of the dim Lantern above  the door he saw his brother's face motion less yellow gray grainy it was a color of sand the  same sand that flowed from his brother's pants and sleeves Spilled Out of his full pockets  and crawled out from

thin rivulets between the buttons of his shirt sh his name swirled in  a Sandy Whirlwind through the culdesac though his brother's face didn't move his lips remained  closed and as he looked closer sha realized with horror that they couldn't open the brother's mouth  was just a line drawn on the surface of the sand like his whole face an inept caricature of a sand  sculpture sha rushed away and caught up with the already distant Patrol in a few great leaps before  the surprised patrolman could r

eact he snatched a rifle from one of them took careful aim and  fired his brother's figure immediately scattered in a heap of dry sand but another stepped from  the door followed by another and another they couldn't move fast enough and sha shot them as if  at a shooting range hearing the deafening whale of the alarm siren behind him someone stood up  and started shooting beside him someone shoved a spare magazine into his hand and he kept shooting  reloading and shooting only when the sand flow

ing down the street slowed to a crawl barely reaching  Sha's feet and the grotesque figures that now had only distinct resemblance with his brother began  to scatter themselves at the door of the deserted building did sha tiredly toss his rifle aside and  wander slowly away occasionally pushing himself against the wall to let the cleaning equipment  and new patrols rushing to the breach site pass by every now and then he reached into his pocket  and chuckling with a flat glassy laugh pulled out

a small handful of sand and tossed it into  the next dark hole in some back alley where the grains of sand immediately disappeared from view  like ants scattering in the thick grass golden eyes the wind blowing dust around the city all day  had begun to subside by evening but the gusts were still trying to throw the stinging particles into  his eyes patrols often made their rounds early in such weather to save save time in the unfriendly  streets th glanced anxiously at the blue screen of the ma

keshift scanner so far everything was  quiet the nearest patrol was leisurely moving off to the Northeast four blocks from th's Hideout  still the risk was increasing by the minute if he was caught here outside the ghetto even if he  had a pass it would be useless curfew had begun 40 minutes ago F tucked the scanner into the  the spacious inner pocket of his long coat and at that moment a car stopped at the Gate of the  abandoned warehouse it had once been a luxurious executive class model but i

ts former glory was  almost eaten Away by scratches dents and loose rust spots only the engine still hummed smoothly  and steadily ready to carry its owner away the engine couldn't know that there was no such thing  as a way for its driver anymore Dr meowski waved his arm desperately out the side window and th  hurriedly rolled the heavy sash aside the dust and corrosion ridden rollers on the guides made a  shrill Screech of protest but thank goodness they didn't stick meowski rolled the car ins

ide and th  immediately slid the sash back in they could feel relatively safe now as much as possible in the  city's violence and threat saturated atmosphere meowski turned off the Eng and climbed out of the  car even in the dusty Twilight of the warehouse th could see that the doctor looked even worse than  usual his red inflamed eyes were watery sweat glistened in the deep wrinkles across his face and  his sparse tangled hair stuck to his skull in a mess they noticed that meow's hand was visib

ly  trembling as they shook hands th you've got to run the doctor said in a strange stressed voice  before th could say anything you said once that you had relatives abroad in the middle of nowhere  I want you to pack up and leave immediately if you still we'll be able to leave th looked at meowski  carefully feeling a piercing anxiety begin to stir in his heart the doctor certainly hadn't been at  his best for the last year as all doctors were but he'd never been prone to gratuitous panic what 

wrong doctor th asked are you under pressure from the distribution Department again meowski waved  him away with the gesture one would wave away a priest offering confession before execution  Tain this isn't about me though I'm probably done it's much worse than that you know I have  acquaintances in the Departments not exactly friends more like people who owe me something by  virtue of my past past work well I'm telling you for sure the decision has been made to liquidate  the ghetto mowy bent

down and took out a small oblong case from the car's glove compartment  take it it's the last thing I can do for you th took the case and opened it in two of the boxes  were contact lenses glistening wetly they looked ordinary but if you looked closely you could see  the occasional iridescent glow where did you get those th asked surprised that's if the police find  them meowski shook his head impatiently it doesn't matter now he said then do you understand what I  just said the ghetto will be

terminated you must run now while there's still a chance God I hope  there's still a chance th closed the case firmly and handed it back to the doctor we'll never  get this through the control stations you know how they search there he sighed thanks for the  advice but I'm afraid we can't use it right now Leah's still recovering from our last transfer  and SAA hasn't been feeling well lately either the new transfer will hit them too of course but  to go off grid and run away they just can't take

it do you know which ghetto has been chosen  for compaction I hope it won't be a week on a transport train again again meowski splashed  his hands th you don't understand he exclaimed almost crying and th realized that the doctor  was already on the verge of going insane with fear and despair the anxiety languidly stirring  in his chest suddenly struck at his heart with an icy claw they had finally decided to do it  there would be no more transfers they will eliminate all the ghettos run th I b

eg you run  it seemed to th that the sky had turned into a heavy concrete dome which suddenly collapsed and  pressed him to the ground what do you mean all of them he struggled doctor what are you saying  meowski leaned against the car and collapsed like an inflatable toy from which most of the  air had been released at once the government meeting ended 6 hours ago he said almost calmly  they resigned their powers and handed them over to the protector Council the life patrols are  off the leash

it's already started in the East th this is Hell large tears streamed down malow's  face it's the end of the world Judgment Day I beg you run suddenly he jumped up to th shoving him  in the chest unexpectedly for such a puny man so that th flinched and almost fell run away  you idiot or else he paused look looking over th's shoulder into the glassshattered window  in the warehouse wall th saw the red glow on the doctor's face and turned around a few miles  away from the warehouse to the southeas

t where the ghetto adjoined the residential city  blocks a fire's orange and Scarlet glow was burning th had managed to slip through the  perimeter before the life patrols closed the Cordon until now there had been no solid fence  around the ghetto just enough to prohibit the permanent residents from going outside without  permission since most of the ghetto inhabitants could be unmistakably identified just by looking  at their faces the ban was broken only by the few ordinary people who risk st

aying in the ghetto  near their loved ones th fumbled for the case in his pocket and paused to look along the circular  Boulevard once a popular vacation spot spot for the town's people and now the demarcation line  that separated the ghetto from the rest of the world a few hundred meters to the north were  two trucks from which camouflage clad men with bright green armbands were unloading symbols  of the new times portable supports for setting up wire fences and large spools of reinforced  cutt

ing tape combined with the deserted Street the abandoned looted houses and the flickering  light of the Dawn the scene looked like one of bosque's apocalyptic paintings come true which it  was in fact the sounds of gunfire mostly single shots though occasionally there were crackling  assault rifles and machine gun bursts seemed to be approaching but not too fast from time  to time a frightened bewildered face flashed through the door or window of one of the houses  but th was in too much of a hu

rry to stop and explain only waving Des desperately hoping the  people would realize that the worst had come and what could they do leave but where to finally he  reached the rans sacked broken down Supermarket between Founders Avenue and 16th Street all  thing had to do was go around it turn on to 16th and run to the fourth house their house th  exhaled a little and then the sharp white beams of car headlights cut through the darkness of  the street illuminated by the Scarlet glow of the fire F

instantly darted into the ruined gut  of the supermarket then carefully trying not to Crunch the broken glass under his feet made his  way to the 16th Street exit and peered out as stealthily as possible this time the life Patrol  had arrived on a bus it had once been a regular bus but now it was filled with camouflaged men  with green armbands on their sleeves and assault rifles over their shoulders most were men but  there were some women th counted 15 Patrol men a regular Patrol consisted of

three to four  members and they'd never used large buses a standard life Patrol usually moved in civil cars  or even on foot th hoped that SAA or Leah wouldn't look out of the window and wouldn't go out into  the street no one kept an address record of the ghetto inhabitants as long as they stayed within  the area allotted to them no one was interested in which of the crumbling houses they lived in the  patrol would probably start searching house by house now starting at the farthest intersecti

on  so th had about 15 minutes but how do you slip through unnoticed meanwhile the patrolman had  split into two groups and disappeared into two houses th knew no one lived in these old brick  five-story buildings but the patrolman didn't know that a few minutes for each of the two  entrances then the next houses three patrolmen stayed by the bus to watch the street th suddenly  remembered that almost all the houses in this neighborhood stood wall to wall if he climbed to  the roof of the superm

arket then Rose to the roof of the neighboring building which was only one  floor higher than the store and so on he could remain unnoticed almost all the way to the Target  unfortunately the small semidetached house where th's family lived stood alone and he would have to  go down to street level but there was no time to think about it this was his best chance th turned  around and ran to find an exit to the supermarkets roof SAA turned off the sound as soon as the  broadcast of the last govern

ment session ended and the grand protector of life took the podium Leah  was playing on the carpet once again rebuilding her toy castle surrounding it with loyal Knights  ready to protect the beautiful princess living in the high tower and she didn't notice a thing  SAA put one earphone in her ear and looked at the laptop screen we can't let this happen The Cry of  the great protector burst into her head we humans guardians of inviable great life must mercilessly  burn out the vile Abomination t

hat undermines the foundations of our very existence the image  changed the camera now showed a huge crowd a veritable sea of humanity gathered in the capital  Central Square in front of the giant screen from which the great protector was broadcasting the  crowd was swaying moving with arms raised to the sky shaking bright green banners with double  spirals in many hands hands weapons were clutched this is the moment of historic evolutionary  purification the Inhumans will take away our jobs con

demn our children to hunger and poverty  and take our homes Humanity must unite in the face of this greatest threat the crowd roared beginning  to boil over but the grand protector stopped it with a wave our best men have already begun the  Great Purge but there is another enemy besides the Inhumans those who created them who nurtured  and raised them forgetting their sacred duty to humanity and today they will pay for their heinous  crime the image changed again and saana suddenly realized with

horror that she was now seeing the  square in front of the entrance to their ghetto she looked with horror at the hundreds of gallows  in three rows of ghastly angular question marks all along the square and on each of them stood a  man in a white doctor's coat with a rope around his neck the camera moves slowly along the rows  occasionally capturing close-ups of the faces of those awaiting execution desperate indifferent  defiant insane the camera moves slowly along the rows occasionally captu

ring close-ups of the  faces of those awaiting execution desperate indifferent defiant insane SAA couldn't turn away  from this nightmare or turn off the broadcast as if hypnotized she stared at the screen watching  her daughter with only the corner of her eye God forbid Leah should see such a thing the camera  picked up another face and SAA shuddered as she recognized the man on the screen it was Dr meowski  mom is Dad coming soon Leah asked suddenly the daughter's voice finally brought SAA out

of her  trance and she looked at the clock th had promised to be home by 8 but a few minutes meant nothing  SAA looked at her daughter's face a typical face of an 8-year-old girl a little gaunt they weren't  starving but the food supply in the ghetto was so so a snub nose blonde hair braided into two  pigtails held together with simple rubber bands only her eyes stood out giving her away two Jewels  glittering with iridescent gold behind which the usual Iris and dark holes in the pupils were  v

isible soon sweetheart saana said I think he's almost home do you want to look out the window and  see if he's coming yes the girl jumped and ran to the heavily curtained window SAA followed her and  pulled back the curtain performing their favorite evening ritual of welcoming their daddy back home  the purple glow of the burning ghetto houses fell on their faces and before they knew it gunshots  boomed outside as saana fell to the floor covering her daughter she caught the power cord from the 

laptop with her foot and yanked the computer off the table the fall slammed the lid shut so  neither daughter nor mother saw the hatches of The Gallows open in the Square under the feet  of 300 doctors including their old friend Dr meowski th was spotted at the very last moment  when he was only a dozen Paces from the house door unfortunately there were no trees nearby  no phone booths or trash cans nothing to take cover the abandoned cars were collected and  removed 2 months ago the ghetto resi

dents had no use for them but the government and of course  the life patrols always had a use for some extra Transportation one of the patrol men on the bus  called out to him he couldn't hear the words but it must have been some kind of insult causing the  other two standing behind him to turn around th hesitated momentarily before making a leap but  it was enough time for the patrolman to raise their weapons one bullet hit his right thigh  the other two in the shoulder and stomach th managed t

o take a couple more steps and fell to  the dusty pavement right under the windows of his house another bullet whipped through the air above  his head shattering the window panes th hoped SAA and Leah had managed to hide at the first shots  three years in different ghettos had taught them a lot the sentries were already running toward  him one of them putting a bayonet knife on his carbine on the Run behind them gunfire sent the  other patrolman scrambling out of their houses feeling his strengt

h and life draining from him th  pulled a case of contact lenses from his pocket as stealthily as possible and stood up pretending  to lean his hand with the case clutched in it on the window opening another shot rang out the  bullet hit th's other leg and he fell again to the mocking laughter of the patrolman who had already  reached him and were grinning down at himhow far are you going [ __ ] one of the patrolmen asked  don't be shy buddy tell us we'll give you a ride we've got Transportation

he shook his head in the  direction of the bus th was silent Gathering his strength waves of pain swept over him breaking  through the adrenaline storm caused by the shock but there was something else he had to do ignoring  the Laughing patrolman he threw his healthy arm forward and grasping a patch of yellowish grass  growing on the narrow lawn by the wall of the house pulled his mangled body forward then again  and again away from the house where saana and Leia remained he needed to distract

the patrolman just  a little just for a few seconds the patrolman let him crawl a couple dozen Paces away cackling and  betting on whether he could make it to the bus on his own a moment later the patrol Commander came  up and shot th in the back of the head morons he said stepping over the body did you see his eyes  he's normal keep searching the houses there's got to be a spawn around here somewhere probably the  wife and kids and take the flamethrowers from the bus the stench of the tunnel wa

s lingering but  since the ghetto population was several times smaller than it had been in the old days the  smell was tolerable and there were hardly any rats th had chosen this house because the  basement had access to the old catacombs a sewer system built 200 years ago when the  ghetto had been disconnected from the city's water and sewer system the inhabitants reused  the old system for its intended purpose more importantly they could use it to get out of the  ghetto SAA and Leah walked ank

led deep in the slimy sludge lighting their way with pocket  flashlights they had deodorant soaked Rags wrapped around their faces but still from time  to time both mother and daughter felt the urge to vomit saana didn't even want to think about  what went on in the catacombs when they were in full use they didn't talk about what happened at  home the bloody lens case the rumble of gunfire and the laughter of the patrolman were eloquent  in themselves it was a good thing that they had long been

in the habit of not turning on the  overhead light in the room so as not to draw unnecessary attention to the house otherwise  the patrolman would have immediately realized that someone was living in the house and SAA  had unplugged the small NightLight right away wasn't that why they'd left the electricity on  in the ghetto an ill-timed thought occurred to a woman so that in case of emergency they could  be found more easily if they didn't turn off the lights as if they still had any light left

in  their lives at all all the necessary measures had been talked about and learned long ago Leah  was the first to crawl out of the room clutching the case SAA lingered just long enough to  hear the patrol Commander's phrase and the lone pistol shot that made her shiver inside she  managed not to let her emotions get the better of her she followed Leah down into the basement and  then into the vertical well that led into one of the tunnels remembering to cover the camouflaged  hatch carefully

behind her th had done everything he could to save her and she couldn't make his  sacrifice useless daddy's not coming anymore is he the question made saana stumble and nearly fall  into the stinking mud before she could gather her thoughts Leah spoke again I know they killed him  the girl said and SAA was struck by the calmness in her voice and now they want to find us and kill  us too this is all because of me isn't it sana's thoughts frantically scrambled for an answer how  do I explain it to

her how do you even explain something like this to a child they're afraid of  me Leah said and they Envy me because I was sick and then I was cured and I'll never be sick again  and I won't die and they will but I will grow up and figure out how to make them not to be sick and  not to die either so they won't be afraid Don't Be Afraid mom I'll do everything right let's go  and the girl resolutely walked on there was still half an hour's walk to the safe exit from  the catacombs from time to tim

e SAA stopped her daughter and listened so far no Pursuit seemed  to be heard apparently the patrolman hadn't found the basement hatch and assumed the mother  and daughter had escaped through the back door th had long ago made a hole in the backyard  fence and kept the back door unlocked just in case the stunned shock of Leah's unexpected short  speech was still present Leah was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 3 years old after a year of  unsuccessful desperate struggles that had wiped out

all of th and sana's savings and in fact all  of th and sana's life their attending physician Dr meowski suggested they enter an experimental  program you can't call it a directed treatment for cancer the doctor said at the time rather  it's a way to partially restructure the entire immune system at the genetic level but it is  very likely to rid your daughter of the cancer permanently saana and th agreed almost immediately  I must warn you about something before you sign the consent meowski sai

d the methodology is new  and not yet fully approved by the government it's a complete breakthrough cuttingedge technology  combining genetic engineering and nanotechnology the changes are likely to be irreversible and  there remains an unusual side effect afterward that could affect your daughter's relationships  with others in the future anything to make Leo well saana replied and asked anxiously what's  the effect she won't grow horns or gills don't worry meowski smiled your daughter will hav

e  a golden eyes we've developed special contact lenses to hide the effect just in case they're  very expensive but all participants in the program will get them for free meowski and  his colleagues won the no prize in medicine a year later and another year later when it  became clear that the transformation worked for only one person in 10 the life movement  and the protector's council emerged one more year and all those who had undergone  the transformation were relocated to the ghetto suddenl

y they were blocked by a massive  grate covered in flakes of rust and stale filth from past floods saana stared at the obstacle  momentarily then reached into her backpack and pulled out a blueprint of the Catacombs th  had found in the half-burned archives of the local municipality the way out of the ghetto was  marked on the blueprint with a red felt tip pen they checked part of it themselves but they never  went that far for fear of getting lost or worse of meeting someone in the catacombs th

ey shouldn't  such as looters who were rumored to use the tunnels to get into the ghetto without attracting  the attention of the patrol not that the patrols were that much of an obstacle to Bandits of course  but the protectors feared that some gang would start kidnapping ghetto dwellers and selling them  on the slave market anything could be looted and dragged out of the ghetto everything except its  inhabitants it was pretty close to the exit they were already outside the ghetto but still in

the  danger zone where it was quite possible to meet patrolman or just aggressive citizens SAA cursed  the clerk or engineer whoever he was who had once been too lazy to copy the blueprint correctly and  put all the details on it curses weren't going to help now though Leah walked over to the bars and  touched the thick metal bars which looked like the set of a cheap horror movie because of the crap  hanging from them mom I can fit through here the girl said suddenly and before SAA could react 

she poked her head through the gap between the bars she didn't move further but it was obvious  that if the girl took off her backpack her skinny shoulders would fit through the bars without any  problems sana's heart was partially relieved but what would she do she couldn't squeeze through  the bars which looked too solid to break or bend even if she'd had a hacksaw with her where would  she have gotten one there was no time to file even one bar it would take too long and it would  be dangerous

she took another close look at the blueprint there Leah she called out the girl  turned around honey we're going to have to split up saana sighed but it won't be for long I promise  you'll go on like we planned Straight Ahead then right down the side passage and then straight on  until the end Leah nodded in 3 years of moving from ghetto to ghetto she'd learned the survival  lesson if Mom says what to do you do it I can't get through here I'll go around a bit there's an  exit nearby SAA held he

r daughter tightly against her and then looked into her eyes which now looked  like an ordinary girls the lenses Dr msk's parting gift to replace the ones confiscated when she  was first placed in the ghetto worked just as well as the old ones Leah this is very important  I believe it won't be necessary but I have to tell you anyway wait for me at the tunnel exit  SAA looked at her watch 20 minutes if I don't show up head north to the Border you should  have enough food in your backpack for 4 da

ys to get there don't talk to anyone and stay away  from towns and people you got it I love you Mom Leah said SAA gasped I love you too sweetheart  she kissed her daughter on the forehead I'll see you soon go she helped Leia through the bars  then handed her daughter her backpack soon the girl's footsteps were drowned out by the splash  of foul water and the flashlights light seemed like a random fluctuation in the eyes SAA turned  around and checking the blueprint walked toward the service well

in the side tunnel that came to  the surface just beyond the northern Edge of the ghetto she was lucky the manhole wasn't welded  shut buried under the new pavement or obstructed with heavy junk she lifted and pushed the cast  iron manhole cover aside poked her head out carefully and looked around apparently she was  in the yard of some transportation company along the high wall was a row of Vans with a logo  on the sides that was indistinguishable able in the darkness the wall led to a two-sto

ry brick  workshop and office building there were no lights anywhere the yard was illuminated only by the  street lights beyond the fence and the glow of the burning ghetto to the South the office probably  has some sort of security alarm system it's better not to try it the big gate to the Courtyard was  locked of course climb on the van and climb over the fence there was barbed wire on top but she  could throw something over it and then she saw the Wicket door a few steps to the left of the ga

te  there was a doorway in the concrete fence with a plain metal door SAA approached it without much  hope and pulled the handle and the door opened SAA looked out of the door the street was deserted the  usual quiet street of the city outskirts mostly there were workshops and warehouses and only a  couple of residential houses in the industrial Zone froze for the night the sparse street lights  illuminated mostly only the intersections the rest was lost in the shadows SAA closed the gate behind

  her and turned left after checking the blueprint the safe exit from the tunnels where Leah was  waiting for her should be Northwest of here she should go to the end of this street and turn onto  the old dirt road that led to the the abandoned sewage treatment plant suddenly a blinding light  Struck from the other side of the street outlining her figure against the concrete wall SAA saw that  all the pavement beneath her feet was flooded with red and the concrete of the wall was scraped  from t

he impact of bullets she barely heard the gunshots which one is it the eighth the ninth  asked a fat man in a tracksuit with a shotgun sitting on the hood of an old beat up Jeep no  it's the 10th replied a thin woman in her 40s in a chint dress and army boots who was deftly  loading cartridges into the magazine of an automatic pistol clanking the last one she slammed  the magazine into the grip and pulled the bolt we had a quick start she nodded toward a large  construction waste container over

the side of which two young men high school students by the  look of them had just dumped saa's body you can check if you want to nah I'm too lazy the man said  and spat damn I wish I'd got here faster the look on their faces when we turn on the headlights it's  hilarious that was a damn good idea I'm telling you when I heard the shots I grabbed my old lady  he patted the shotgun and came right here well I told myself finally can't miss all the fun we  knew what to do right away when the patrols

got on the case said the woman that's what I told  my boys it's time to help our Defenders we've had our eye on this place for a long time we could  have notified the local protector's Council but we figured we could handle it ourselves damn right  the man slammed his fist on the hood leaving another dent I know what you mean how long can  we sit and wait for everything to be done for us I want to be involved want to do my part he  chuckled they're just like cockroaches or rats for God's sake I

nhumans no other words for him  damned freaks they won't crawl past us said the woman boys turn off the search lights she shouted  and reload your rifles let's see if any more scum comes out they're roasting them hard she pointed  the muzzle of her pistol toward the flames in the ghetto on the second day Leah stole a milk  bottle and a large loaf of bread from the farm the area was quiet and unspoiled and many people  didn't even bother to lock their doors at night even though it was next door t

o the ghetto her  mother had advised her to avoid people but the concentrates were so unpalatable and she really  wanted to eat she had been constantly hungry for 2 years now she waited not for 20 minutes but  all 45 even though she knew it was useless the distance was too great to see details but  Leah could see that on the outskirts just about where the main line of the old sewer system  ran underground several times Bright Lights came on and gun fire started then a couple of Life  Patrol truc

ks arrived and the shooting stopped Leah climbed down from the roof of the big hanger  went off the abandoned Road and walked through the woods straight North just like she'd promised  her mom during the day she hid in some half rotten Shack that hadn't been visited in probably  a hundred years and at night she set off again and robbed The Farmhouse she found she wanted to  steal their bicycle but they would would have missed it and riding on the roads meant getting  caught so she had to keep wa

lking the ghetto was still burning at night it served as a good guide  one to get away from though she knew how to use a compass she felt sorry for Mom and Dad but  she forbade herself to think about it she needs to keep moving now if she walked long enough  maybe she could find another world one where people weren't killed for not getting sick and  living a long time she had to find that world or make this one right at any cost Leah pulled the  small five shot pistol Dr meowski had given her se

cretly from her parents out of its holster and  aimed it at the glow of the burning ghetto at any cost