I could believe it if it werent for the oddities in your behavior. Hence the question: when was the last time you took drugs? During the inspection, a toy elephant was seized from you. Why did you take him with you? Is that an identification mark?
The prisoner suddenly felt dizzy from excitement, but he answered with dignity, proudly raising his chin:
This is an ordinary toy, nothing more.
But you are not a child to carry toys with you. Well, you must agree its very strange! The word strange in his mouth sounded like a terrible accusation, Kalinkin noted to himself.
Who did you want to give it to? Isnt this a bookmark container? the investigator squinted. Witty. However, the examination will soon show whether there are traces of powder
Did you break the elephant? Pyotr Mikhailovich could not stand it. Galina will kill me!
Galina is your accomplice?
My wife, shes at the village now.
What happens, citizen? So, without your wifes permission, you seized common property from the apartment and wanted to transfer it to a third party without her knowledge? Listen: it is in your own interests to refute the suspicions that have arisen and to prove the absence of the sale and storage of prohibited substances. You are in the status of a suspect, the measure is up to five years! The man clearly enjoyed intimidating the unfortunate detainee.
I didnt have any drugs and I dont have any. Youre confusing me in vain, Kalinkin became emboldened, but the investigator has heard these speeches twenty times a day for the past ten years with a break for a short vacation once a year for a couple of weeks.
Pyotr Mikhailovich, the man looked into the questionnaire and changed his tone to almost affectionate, well, judge for yourself: what kind of person in his right mind would go to the metro station for no reason, without a purpose, and even with a package containing a plastic toy and a calendar sheet with todays date? So this piece of paper is a conditional sign?
Its just a leaf from the calendar, and I didnt break anything, Kalinkin fumed.
Firstly, you violated it: during a special period you appeared in a public place without a mask and a security number, and secondly, you are now in a place where people dont just get there We will check everything and wait for the results of the examination. I warn you about criminal liability for giving false testimony. Sign here and here and here.
Pyotr Mikhailovich nervously and illegibly signed each sheet at the bottom, leaving some kind of squiggle, and then asked:
What are the voluntary squads of the National Guard?
A-a-a, the investigator grinned. This is, so to speak, an initiative of active segments of the population in pursuance of the Decree on the further development of democracy during the Great Restoration of the Country
The policemans face became alien and impenetrable again.
And now follow the employee for fingerprinting, you will have to issue a detention for a couple of days until all the circumstances are clarified.
Seeing the mute question in the innocent eyes of the arrested man and after being silent for a while, the man sharply slammed his hand on the table and added softly, typing every word:
Pyotr Mikhailovich Kalinkin, whom you introduced yourself to, disappeared about five years ago and is wanted. Your appearance does not match the description and photo of the wanted person involved.
When the metal door of the detention cell screeched shut behind Pyotr Mikhailovich, he decided not to abuse the hospitality of the authorities and say goodbye to such a sad future, using a saving phrase:
I want to go back! However, there was no reaction. He broke into a cold sweat. Have you really forgotten? Ah! he remembered. I want to go back!!!
Time stopped, and the body, along with the sinless soul of Pyotr Mikhailovich, disappeared from the bullpen of the police department without a trace. When the loss was discovered in the evening, the police were surprised a lot, but due to the specifics of the service, they did not hesitate for a long time and it happens occasionally. They simply withdrew the protocol of interrogation and the act of detention, as if they were not in nature, and thats the end of it: who needs this Kalinkin, and without him, life is full of other worries.
When Galina Sergeevna Kalinkina returned home from the hospital a couple of weeks later, she found the elephant missing from the chest of drawers. Not that there is any value, but its just amazing: she remembered that the figure was always there, in the morning she dusted it with a rag. The elephant himself could not go anywhere! This iron argument and a womans insight made her take a closer look at the apartment, and on you: for some reason, a calendar sheet was torn out, there is the sixteenth of June and the eighteenth is in place, but there is no seventeenth. Some kind of devilry She did not call her friends, but went to consult a neighbor. And neighbor told her about the visit of a strange man: he pestered her with questions, pretended to be a friend. Maybe he is the thief who broke into the apartment? True, it was embarrassing: the things and jewelry dear to her heart were in place, but the fact of penetration alarmed her so much that Galina Sergeevna decided to go to the police tomorrow, without a shake-up, with a statement about the theft. Moreover, this is exactly how they recommend acting on TV.
A man in civilian clothes questioned her, clearly not interested in this small matter. But when Kalinkina gave the address and announced the missing elephant, something cleared up in the investigators head, he immediately perked up and clarified:
Is the calendar sheet missing?
And he was not surprised when he heard an easily predictable answer:
Gone, gone, for June 17, 2026
The investigator asked Galina Sergeevna to wait, and he went to the head of the department with a short report about the loss of a toy in the form of an elephant, a calendar sheet and a muddy man who disappeared from custody a couple of weeks ago. The chief instructed to send an investigative team to the victims address, and he picked up the secure phone and called the curator, following the instructions: to inform whom about all extraordinary incidents. The fingerprints taken at the police department from allegedly Kalinkin predictably coincided with the traces in the apartment, and thus the fact of his penetration into the dwelling and theft was irrefutably proved. Two circumstances were alarming: although the description of the criminal given by the neighbor coincided with the description of the detainee, Galina Sergeevna herself did not recognize her husband in him in any way. And most importantly: where did the criminal go?
CHAPTER 3. RETURN
Pyotr Mikhailovich woke up sitting in an armchair. In front of him is a monitor screen with the date: June 17, 2021, Moscow time 17 hours 43 minutes, at the bottom of the phrase:
The penetration into the future is over. Stand up and remove the hood. Turn off the device by pressing the red button!
The button was pressed, the structure with the monitor and the chair began to deflate and disappear into the air, and instead an iron barrel on metal legs reappeared. Kalinkin stood beside the time machine and was silent, gathering his thoughts. Have arrived And where, exactly? After looking around, the traveler discovered that he was in an unfamiliar place, in some kind of closed, poorly lit room, like a warehouse or utility room. Pushing open the unlocked door, he found himself in the trading floor of the store, where this morning (oh, a miracle!) he bought batteries. The saleswoman involuntarily shuddered from surprise when she saw a stranger coming out of the office, and with fright called the administrator. Pyotr Mikhailovich only managed to spread his hands as a sign of good intentions, show empty palms and take a look in the mirror on the wallThe administrator, an energetic middle-aged lady, jumped out of the next room, went for rapprochement and attacked a young man who had fallen from nowhere with a powerful body and tricky questions: from where? why? why?, subjected him to a light search and let him go in peace, gently pushing him out into the street. Kalinkin realized that he was back in a country village, not far from his own house. Well, if so, fate itself prompted: go to your wife and clarify the situation, which yesterday would have seemed complete nonsense and absurdity.
After leaving the store, Pyotr Mikhailovich stopped and carefully examined his clothes. He remember that he went to the Future in his usual outfit a work jacket and jeans, but he defiled at Butlerov street and the police in a brown suit. Now, after returning, he found himself dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit and short boots, and on his head was a blue baseball cap. There was, of course, no answer to the question of how and why clothes were changed and in which intertemporal atelier he was changed. But this circumstance is not so mysterious compared to the stunning change in appearance, and the age has decreased again! During the flight to 2026, he rejuvenated by twenty years and remained unrecognized by a neighbor who knew him like a flake from his student days. Did the reverse jump reduce (or did give him a gift) two more decades at least thats how Kalinkin looked now, walking briskly along the narrow village road, and felt like he matched his years. Apparently, this is the bonus from the barrel for bold experiments.
Pyotr Mikhailovich, or rather Peter looked with interest at the picture of summer spreading out before him, saw it in a new way, as if for the first time. By evening, the heat of the day finally relented and receded, cirrus clouds appeared high in the sky, stretching into white rag strips, daring from time to time to cover His Majesty the Sun. Suddenly the wind died down, and the orchestra of grasshoppers with crickets performed a concerto in D minor for the traveler, splashing their melodies in the fading nature. Here, around the corner, is his house with a dilapidated picket fence, a gate and a narrow path leading to a familiar door.
Galina Sergeevna was sitting in the kitchen and drinking tea alone, thinking about where her husband could have gone he had not been in the house or on the plot for an hour. Her husbands mobile phone was lying next to her, so she could only wait apparently, Pyotr Mikhailovich decided to take a walk around the neighborhood, to be alone with himself. A sudden noise from the courtyard alerted her, there was a knock on the door.
Whos there? The woman asked in a trembling voice.
Can I come in? An unfamiliar deep voice asked.
Come in! Galina Sergeevna allowed, and despite the external calmness, her soul sank into her heels: Pyotr Mikhailovich would not knock
There was a creak, heavy footsteps were heard on the stairs, and a young man of about twenty-five appeared on the threshold, wearing a blue overalls, short boots and a blue baseball cap with the inscription Reebok.
Excuse me, mistress, the guest began reassuringly, seeing the fright in the eyes of an elderly woman, Im going around the houses in the neighborhood, I suggest drilling wells. Do you have an old well on your site, as with drinking water?
There is water, but my husband and I havent decided anything about the well yet, and as if in justification, she added: We havent been here long, we havent looked around properly yet
Galina Sergeevnas sudden fear did not let go yet, but she tried with all her might not to show it some frightening implausibility emanated from the man. His visit from the point of view of common sense is also inexplicable and mysterious: its too late to go around the house, rather, its just an excuse. However, the guest was in no hurry to leave and closely followed the behavior of the hostess, and she intuitively, unmistakably felt that it was not the well at all.
What kind of day is this? First Pyotr disappeared somewhere, and now this strange guest? she thought, and aloud, in order to round off the strange conversation, politely suggested: And you come to us in a couple of days, talk to the owner
I will do that, the guy agreed, resolutely put on his cap and left without saying goodbye. When the door slammed and the footsteps in the garden died away, Galina Sergeevna, without feeling, slowly got up and walked stiffly to the open window, carefully closed the shutters and latched them on the latches. Her hands were shaking as if from exertion, her head was spinning, and her body was stiff with fright. She returned to the table, managed to drink water from a glass, then tried to get a bottle of medicine, but the floor swayed treacherously and went out from under her feet. Flying away into the darkness and piercing pain, she still thought about Pyotr.
The time machine played a cruel joke with Pyotr Mikhailovich. He appeared before his Galina as a young stranger full of strength and health. Shocked no less than his wife, assessing the situation as if from the outside, he intended not to injure his ridiculous explanations for at least another couple of days in order to save her from an imminent blow. Perhaps something will change during this time The game eventually presented the second side of the coin the reckoning for superpowers, which also needs to be comprehended and taken for granted. Having left his own house, burdened with the revealed truths, Peter had no idea where to go, and wandered aimlessly along the highway. Then, unable to think of anything better, he turned around and headed back to the store. At this late hour there were no more visitors, and out of desperation, he started a bold conversation with a pretty saleswoman about urgent needs: Im so thirsty that I have nowhere to spend the night There are practically no chances of success, but, surprisingly, the girl remembered and recognized him and, calmly measuring him with her impenetrable black eyes, asked:
And what were you doing in the warehouse?
Yes, I accidentally went there Kalinkin lied clumsily.
It was hardly true, but his helpless appearance confirmed better than any words: He is not from here, he have nowhere to go, even if a wolf howls after a little thought, the girl calmly said in a melodious voice:
If youre thirsty, buy a couple of beers, well, or stronger And the snack, so be it, Ill cook it myself.
Mein goth! Kalinkin almost jumped for joy and at first did not even believe what he had heard: what a surprise and contrast with the new self that had not yet fully formed! His eyes studied her expression and finally lit up with an inner fire of hope. The psychological swing swung again, the cave of Ali Babas treasures opened up before him: pleasant company, a warm overnight stay, and if he was really lucky, then a womans caress.
Whats your name, not Mother Teresa? he joked.
Daria. And you?
Carefully, so as not to scare away, not to dispel this mirage, Peter asked as politely as possible to choose snacks to her taste, and even in this she did not disappoint. Where he got the money in his pocket so conveniently turned out to be probably a mystery, on a par with new clothes When the store closed, the two of them walked leisurely side by side, shoulder to shoulder, occasionally looking at each other with interest. When she reached the gate, jokingly, or maybe seriously, a new acquaintance stopped and asked Peter:
Arent you a criminal?
Does it really look like? Peter retorted with a smile.
I dont think so. Married? thats how easily they switched to you.
I dont even know, Peter exhaled after a pause. But strangely enough, this answer was received favorably: everything happens, and she has already seen something in her life.
CHAPTER 4. THE NEW SELF
Jumping in time has opened another unique transformation associated with the change of age the renewal of the soul. Peters feelings were rejuvenated and cut on a sharp edge, painfully wounding the heart an unforgettable amorous adventure full of desperate, sudden passion. Peter had experienced enough shocks, but the intuitive female trust in him, a stranger, could not fail to amaze him. She was the first to reach out to the weak he found it simply humiliating to introduce himself as some fictional Alik it would be treachery towards the person who invited him to his house. After jumping through time, he became different, and not only physically, but undoubtedly transformed internally, as if somewhere there, in the portal, he was injected with the elixir of happiness. And a chance meeting turned into not only acquaintance with a beautiful woman, but also the process of studying oneself in a new guise, and this knowledge never ceased to amaze and delight.