Il Zamar-8 was noticeably worried: each of the limbs was wrapped in a spiral in its own dimension.
«I tried to tell him several times, but he didnt want to hear,» Derek said. You know, my probationary period is coming to an end soon. Orson gave the Word. And if there was a Word, then there must be Peace, you know the rules. Otherwise theyll kick me out, Ill be some kind of firebrand of the stars or the spirit of the river.
But the order given to you cannot be fulfilled! Il shouted, moving most of his limbs.
What if we make at least the appearance of a completed project, and then correct all the inaccuracies? Derek lit a cigarette and was now releasing fifth-dimensional puffs of smoke.
For example?
Well, for example, lets create only 3 dimensions. Il, sit down, dont worry so much.
Where are you going to put the rest? Youll curl up into a ball, or what?
Yes, Il, good idea! 3 dimensions, and the remaining 7 are folded so that none of the inhabitants of the world can look at a short distance.
Derek, but that wasnt the idea! It was sarcasm! Do you know what sarcasm is?
Dont be so stuffy. Ha-ha, thats a pun: stuffy spirit! Isnt it funny?
Not funny at all! Derek, imagine, Im not funny at all!
Il clutched the bowl with one of his limbs, drinking small sips of quark soup from a Klein bottle.
But no one will look into the details! All 11 dimensions are used, one of them is for time, and 10 for space. Who will unravel the tangle?
And if you are entrusted with creating a 26-dimensional world, will you also reel in the excess?
Il, dont pick on words. I will hand over the project, and then after receiving the position I will finalize the remaining measurements.
Derek, do you have any idea how precisely you need to adjust all the parameters so that your 3 dimensions do not crumble into dust from any blow of the cosmic wind?
Yes, Im unlikely to become a watchmaker who creates the world and then forgets about it until I finish the Creation.
Can you imagine how much the demiurges will have to pay if they turn out to be fools and even agree to work in such a short time?
Dont be a pessimist, Il, buddy! Of course, the reserves of karma in my vaults are not that large, but we will definitely come up with something.
¬Derek, what can we come up with? Ils middle limbs disappeared into one of the higher dimensions.
Il, dont be angry! Here, I came up with it! We dont have to hire demiurges, do we? Lets hire someone from the lower ones, for example, cherubim or seraphim. They will receive their first entry in the work book and work experience before graduating from the Academy. And they wont have to pay a lot of karma.
And what can they do? They still dont know how to do much! All they can do is kick their wings while no one is looking and drink wormwood. Workers for me too.
This is how we will do everything. And they will be ordinary moderators. They will make sure that the weak interaction does not change its constant, and that the seven dimensions do not unwind and are invisible to the locals.
«Oh, Derek, its always because of you that we end up in a complete black hole!»
Dont swear like that! True, this is the last time!
Where are you going?
Il, you are a true friend! I never doubted you. We will definitely make it through.
Go to the quasar!
***
Il carefully re-read every instruction in the book, and Derek improvised, blowing the bubble of a new universe.
Yes, sir! We need to add light,» Derek said.
Wait a minute! You need to carefully calculate everything.
Il, buddy, whats there to calculate! We are running out of time, its painful to rely on calculations.
The sphere suddenly became too hot, and Derek dropped it from his paws. And then there was a sharp bang, and the sphere began to increase in size many times over.
Derek, the quasar is going into your black hole! What are you doing? Is it possible to supply so much light in three-dimensional space! I hope no one from management heard this explosion. Cool the sphere immediately, otherwise it will expand until it bursts!
Il, but I dont know how to stop the expansion!
So you didnt read the instructions at all? Separate the light from the darkness immediately!
Dereks myriad tentacles scattered each of the photons away from the hot area.
Well, look what you did! Derek, think before you act. Now photons will not be able to move as fast as they please. Now your creations will be connected to their own planet, like dogs on a leash.
Il, excuse me, I didnt do it on purpose!
You have to think! I hope it didnt turn out as bad as Master Lucius Sat-1.
¬ Whats wrong with him? Derek was surprised. He opened his own company, now he is the owner of his own Corporation.
Its not true that in the universe he developed, the temperature is so high that elements heavier than sulfur cannot be synthesized. Nine dimensions of endlessly raging flames and the stench of sulfur dioxide. Many Creators send their guilty people to him for re-education. Okay, quickly separate the water from the land, and well rest. Just this time, do everything according to the instructions!
***
Its true, shes a cutie! Derek admired the created creature.
A neutrino in each limb! Derek, just look at this abomination! What have you done! The instructions clearly say: in your own image and likeness. And you created this creature with four tentacles instead of the required five thousand, and you call it a likeness?
It happened. But they wont know what I look like! Nobody will know!
Il sighed heavily. Its tentacles swayed nervously.
¬ How will your creature bud? How will she create her own kind?
Yes, Il, I didnt think about that. Lets help it bud for the first time, for example, take a rib, and then theyll figure it out on their own?
***
A multidimensional series to the beat of rustling wings. Derek approaches each cherub with a menacing look.
Forget what you were taught at the Academy. This is your first serious work. From now on, you are not students, but real moderators of reality. The demiurge team and I will be developing new additions. Your task is simple: view add-ons and enable them at the right time. Our rivals from the Master Sata corporation may try to introduce a malicious reality. For example, they can incite our creations to quarrel among themselves. Or they may try to introduce monsters that feed on the blood of people, or turn into octopuses during high tide, or you never know what these evil trolls are capable of. You must ensure that the sun rises in the morning and that your right sock is always next to your left. And if the trolls send you some kind of incorrect reality, then throw it away mercilessly!
For example, if the sandwich falls butter side down?
Yes, Stefan, such things will not be needed in our universe.
***
Derek increasingly disappeared into his office, carefully watching how his creations developed. They learned to dig up the ground and make a fire. They caught fish and drove away large animals with burning branches. But most importantly, they loved each other.
And Il became darker every day.
Again you are babysitting your monsters! Let the moderators monitor them. And you and I, lets think about how to unwind 7 unfinished dimensions.
I wonder what its like not to bud, but to give birth to a child to two parents at the same time? They have so few tentacles, but so much desire to hold each other.
They have love, but there is no eternity ahead. Although we are running out of time. If we do not return all dimensions to order on time, then your creations will never be able to move into the seraphim phase, and then you will never give birth to a single demiurge. Maybe its for the better? Imagine a demiurge with four tentacles! Sin, and nothing more! I have to confess something to you. Sorry, Derek, but I told Septon Iris-1 everything. He will now bring you to your senses and will not allow you to ruin the universe we created.
But unraveling reality will destroy my creations!
Lets create new ones, ten-dimensional, healthy, with all the necessary tentacles! Ive already taken care of everything. I picked one of the Fruits of Knowledge and gave it to your man. You know what they do to the lower ones who encroach on the Fruit?
Derek hit Ils cheek with a dozen tentacles.
You have always envied me, Il! Why did you act so meanly? I fell in love with these kids. I have never loved so much before. And youre trying to kill them.
«Youre an upstart, Derek.» Your dad promoted you up the career ladder immediately after his elevation to demiurge. But I achieved everything with my own labor, and now Im forced to work part-time as your assistant, watching you raise monsters!
I will not allow my first universe to be destroyed! I will escape from Eden, and hide my people away from the eyes of any of the titans.
Before Il had time to come to his senses, Derek disappeared into the infinity of space.
Septon Iris-1 appeared in the office.
Septon, if you had appeared a couple of moments ago, you could have captured this upstart! But its not too late to catch up with him!
Let him run away. We wont chase him.
But Master Septon! He stole the universe!
¬ Il Zamar-8. Remember who youre talking to!
Sorry, Master!
Or, demiurges as talented as Derek have not been born in the last few dozen cycles. The last one equal to him in talent was me. When I caused trouble in my own universe, I also expected my pets to be expelled and destroyed. I also had a good friend. He then handed me over to his mentor, and for a century now he has been trying to prove that his inferno universe is better than my creation. Every Creator in history had such a friend.
By the way, your father is also one of my offspring.
It seems to you that Derek made a mistake, did not work according to the instructions, created something wrong. But he created love, and this cannot be a mistake.
***
Eli also escaped from Eden. He continued to do all sorts of intrigues in the world created by Derek. But reality moderators constantly correct his mischief. Immortals have their own quirks, what else can they do out of boredom? And moderators must always be on their guard.
Have you ever had such cases? Put the comb on the table. He turned away and was still not there. Turn the mug over so that the moderators receive a notification about the error and fix it immediately.
Almost grown up, almost perfect
A long corridor that smelled of cutlets. Three large windows, dispelling the twilight even in cloudy winter. Under the poster, on the beige flowered wallpaper, in clumsy block letters it says: «I love Lenka.»
The kids rushed noisily along the corridor, pushing each other. Jumpers, notebooks, and sometimes briefcases were scattered. Vasya finished the bun, and crumbs fell onto the floor. Isolde Viktorovna barely had to appear from the back office before almost deathly silence reigned. The children, not yet hearing what they would be accused of, but already realizing the severity of the guilt, lowered their heads and stood near the windowsills. The history teacher, who was also the deputy director for educational work, was strict, but fair, and always defended the tomboys if conflicts went beyond the boundaries of school. Everyone was afraid of her, but they loved her.
Whats the matter? Isolda Viktorovna asked without raising her voice, but in the silence that reigned she sounded louder than using a megaphone. Should I repeat the question? Have you decided to play the silent game now? Sementsov?
He called me names! You know how unpleasant it is! the boy almost jumped out of his seat, was already preparing his fists, but stopped under the menacing gaze of the teacher.
And he ate my cake! Without permission! Glutton!
So you wouldnt eat anyway! He left it on the table and left the dining room.
I didnt leave, I just carried the plate. Youre the one who always leaves dirty dishes on the table and doesnt clean up after yourself. And my parents taught me culture, unlike some.
Lets go to my office, write explanatory notes!
The guys sighed, but there was nothing to do: they trudged, heads down, towards the «torture room,» as the office at the end of the corridor was jokingly called.
Every fifth grade is a threat to the school. The tomboys escaped from under the warm wing of their cool mother, under whose watchful gaze they made hooks and sticks in one lesson, and in the next lesson they learned to add numbers in a column. Now its every man for himself, no one reminds you about the need to hand in a test book or any other debts. So they rush through the corridors in order to somehow smooth out the dissonance between ending childhood and forced adulthood.
There was an uncertain knock on the method room.
«Come in, Violetta Stepanovna,» said Isolda Viktorovna, pointing the short teacher to a chair. The guilty boys stood with their heads down. The room is cool.
Ill wait. After the antics of the fifth grade, I really didnt want to sit. Do you know what they did? The button was planted. On a chair. To me! Honored Teacher of the Year! And this is for all the work, for the soul that I completely invested in raising and in the end I raised these!
An awkward silence reigned. The boys seemed to lower their heads even lower. A moment, and, like ostriches, they will bury themselves in the sand. By the way, Violetta Stepanovna really has been giving all her best at work for the last twenty-five odd years. Personal life did not work out. She was a good person, her students loved her, but her own children at home did not extend their hands and did not smile joyfully. Its all the more offensive to accept that children are imperfect. These sprouts will bear fruit after many years. And today they can be as bitter as green apricots. Even unripe fruits can make your stomach ache.
What kind of young people went? We spent our childhood on the street and were family friends. And after the invention of this «virtuality» of theirs, they buried themselves in Technopolis; the modulator chip cannot be pulled out of the back of their heads. This is where aggression comes from! When I was in sixth grade, I just thought about taking my mobile phone out of my pocket when I immediately got hit on my fingers with a pointer. And I always remembered that devices have no place in the classroom. And the thought would not arise to cause trouble for teachers.
Kindness is not at all what they need. Sometimes you feel, when entering a classroom, that you are in a cage with tigers who are directing their hungry gaze at you. If you turn away, miss something from your attention, they will immediately bite you, and at the most unexpected moment. But when they feel strong, they can be led on any adventures. Im not sure that they will remember you in a couple of years, but these smiling «robbers» will remain a part of your life forever, and they will often be missed. Probably many of them perceive kindness as a sign of weakness?
Sorry. Violetta Stepanovna! crocodile tears flowed down Vasya Pukhlins cheeks.
«You shouldnt be so categorical,» Isolda Viktorovna looked at her colleague over her glasses. Ordinary youth. No worse and no better than us. They live in a different time, with different technical capabilities, but people are always the same.
Technological progress has touched every corner of the universe. Skyscrapers have mushroomed, even in small cities. But the school, built in the sixties of the last century, remained the same school. Every five years, major renovations are done here. But the light bulbs do not light up everywhere: only where they were purchased by parents or responsible teachers, since the state budget has no time for such small everyday problems, they think globally. During recess, most children are immersed in virtuality, and Technopolis, a network «city» of extended reality, is used in lessons. But if you face the truth, even before the invention of computers, not everyone carried out changes in libraries pranks are always more interesting.