Something emerged from the blackness of the camera blind zone. A huge black monster, three times the height of a man, from which drops of ink dripped onto the floor. The creature was holding the barrel of a pistol in its hands.
Run! said Dima. A shot rang out. My friend fell to the floor. But it did not dissolve as one would expect.
«This cant be!» a thought flew through my head. «Weapons of the third generation»
There have been rumors about this for a long time. Once upon a time, at the dawn of augmented reality, there were first-generation weapons. You shoot from it at a target, tying it to a certain place. But trade unions of information workers considered this inhumane. Then came the second generation of weapons that cops carry. A shot and the target ends up at home, where he forgot his body, passing into the Internet astral. There have long been rumors about weapons that completely erase personality. Does the Government really have something like this?
This is not the time for philosophy, however! He ran, but ran into a steel wall. You cannot get through such information security as easily as through the reinforced concrete wall of the House.
You cant run away from me! the monster laughed from behind.
Shot; the bullet whistled near his ear. I felt for the viper button. Of course, they can find me using the wipe track. But those who dont take risks dont drink champagne! If they catch him, they will definitely find him. Or they will shoot from this strange fluff. Pressed the button.
«Are you sure you want to move to the anchor point?»
You ask again! Move! Otherwise there will be nothing to return!
Darkness. And a moment later the original white walls in the room are two by two meters.
«Hello, Ilya,» the familiar voice of a smart home. Svetka. Im so glad to hear from you! I wonder how Dimon is doing? What will you have for dinner?
Nutrient mixture number seventeen.
You have a new letter.
Was it really found that quickly? Eh, why did I agree to this? Dimon, Dimon, you always involve me in all sorts of adventures! Im still young. I want to live!
Opened the message.
«New MMORPG game «Battle for Freedom!»
Well, you were scared. To spam.
He fell down to take a nap. And the rest is tomorrow. We still need to figure everything out.
***
Deja vu, or is life in the modern world so predictable? The bed disappearing under the sleepy young body. The smell of sterilizers. The walls of the room are two by two meters painted with white paint. Svetkins voice:
Ilya, its time to get up.
Let me lie down, you heartless machine!
Ilya, get up! my robot secretary is not far behind. What kind of people are women? I go to her with all my heart, and she said: «Get up, get up!»
I lazily got out of bed, and the bed immediately began to fold neatly into the wall.
Lets take a shower. And prepare nutritional formula number six.
Nutrient mixture number six only on weekends and holidays. And today is Thursday.
Ive already overcome it! The housekeeper was found.
I have a holiday. I was born again yesterday, one might say. Prepare, I tell you.
OK. But before breakfast and shower push-ups.
I wanted to curse, but my eyes dropped to the folds on my stomach. In augmented reality, you can complete your abs, but here there are only classes, only hardcore! He bent his arms a couple of times and asked the secretary:
Light, how is my turn to start a family? Progressing? Otherwise, Ill soon look like Rambo, because I play sports every day, but I still dont have a bride.
Your turn seventy-five thousand three hundred twenty-seven.
Are they specially adding numbers there so that the young, growing organism will finally go crazy?
Do push-ups, then youll talk.
Shower. Breakfast.
Turn on your mail! I said.
The wall was transformed, turning into a huge monitor.
«You earn pennies, but I became an online millionaire while on maternity leave! Its simple! Transfer thirty dollars to my account, and Ill share a secret with you.»
Into the furnace. She will teach me how to make money.
«AWG has announced the release of a new multiplayer online game «Battle for Freedom»
This is already more interesting. Ive already heard the name of this company somewhere. Exactly! Yesterday! That guy at Centrum!
«Which side are you on: the slave traders or the defenders of freedom? Discover the magical world of Seisil. Go through a path full of adventures and fight the King-beyond-the-Mountain, or even Antimonikos himself.»
«An anonymous user offers you a video call»
Anonymizer! I heard about this. It seems that only members of the Government can afford this. Have you already found it? Goosebumps ran through my body. Im not at home! I left!
Ilya, connecting! said Sveta. I remember how I adjusted my voice to make it more pleasant to wake up. After all, for most of us, communication ends with conversations with smart homes. And now I was ready to take a hammer and smash the speaker from which she spoke.
Light, no, please! Dont turn on the connection!
Sorry, Ilya, I must obey.
A phantom of a man in a jacket appeared in front of me. His face was hidden by the ripples. In extended reality, you can choose any appearance, but this uninvited guest decided to specifically show that he wanted to remain incognito.
I assume, Ilya?
Yeah!
I prefer not to take off my masks. Dmitry talked a lot about you. I made the last few orders.
I shook the phantoms hand.
Tea?
«Thank you,» the guest replied. A channel protected by an anonymizer is an expensive pleasure, even for me. So lets get straight to the point. What did you hear yesterday at Centrum?
I glanced at the guest incredulously. He passed his hand through the air, and there appeared a sum blazing with flame. Five hundred thousand.
One of the members of the Government agreed to conclude a contract with the AWG company, which produces games. We didnt hear much; we were spotted. And then Dimon was shot, and
AWG! This is what I never expected! the guest exclaimed.
Do you want to play the game too?
Augmented reality is for the poor. Do you know how she appeared? I shook my head. I witnessed the construction of the Houses. One day people woke up and realized that there were too many of them. If uncontrolled reproduction continued, there would be enough food for at most twenty years. A new World War could not be avoided. Then the radicals proposed to destroy some of the people. By lot. If you pulled out a short match, you were «lucky.» One prick, as if bitten by a mosquito, and then eternal sleep. I pulled out a long match live until the next draw.
I was among the liberals. Our party proposed to settle the poorest sections of the population in Houses to make room for the worthy. And to avoid any dissatisfaction, they gave you modulator chips. Augmented reality did the rest. It swallowed up the poor. You are entangled in it like a fly in a spiders web.
More worthy? I almost hit the guest in the jaw for such words. Do they, in the Government, consider themselves the navel of the universe?
Many people in Centrum think so. But not me. As I see, its not you either. I think well see you again. If you want to join the resistance, you are welcome. By the way, Dmitry appears to be dead. I advise you to use the money that will come to your account in the near future wisely. Take care of yourself. Goodbye.
The guests phantom disappeared. But the sediment remained in my soul. That is, someone can walk safely down the street, but someone is locked from birth in a tin can of Houses, the only way out of which is a chip modulator?
An image appeared before my eyes: «You have a new message from the user Davydjons»
Dimon! Cant be! I thought I wouldnt see you again!
«Hello, Ilya! If youre reading this message, it means Im in trouble. You know where to find me»
The modulator is for the poor. But do I have a way out? Maybe my friend is being killed there. I wont sit with my hands folded, will I?
He inserted a chip the size of the phalanx of his little finger into the implant at the back of his head. I didnt bother with special effects. No portals. He simply walked through the walls until he found himself in the apartment in which he once lived. My whole family watched a film projected onto the wall. How I miss them! Only for the family that existed before Lyubkas birth. And to Uncle Igor. When father was alive.
Jumped out the window. We urgently need to be near the House where Dima lives. But you shouldnt attract attention to yourself. For that black creature that shot Dimon, I am one tooth apart. He waved his hand. Some taxi drivers wear modulators. One of these lowered a gravity car in front of me, descending from the fifth or fourth layer of multi-level air transport traffic.
To House 23.
In the virtual world, the taxi driver looked like a rock star from the century before last. Combed bangs, leather jacket, lots of chains. It smelled like beer. Rock music was playing throughout.
Yo-ho-ho! We are not afraid of the dead
We love mermaids, we are bottomlessly drunk.
We will be hanged we will be finished!
But while we are alive, you are doomed!
He looked closely at the guy. Probably one of ours. Although, who doesnt know this song?
I dont know about piracy, but he did an excellent job with a gravity car. The machine could be built into any empty space. Sometimes he flew up to the very clouds, and there were times when he almost crashed into the ground. To be honest, I almost pissed my pants with nutritional mixture number six when he lowered me to the ground after a steep dive.
Arrived! Do you need to wait?
No, thank you! Im back with my legs!
Okay, as you know!
What a man! Taxi driver from God. He took me faster than I flew yesterday on the wings of a Valkyrie.
I felt for the viper button. It might come in handy today. He looked around the huge House. A monster created by man from concrete and iron. Look left, right, up. Not a hint of the horizon, just windows and windows. Those who get corner apartments are lucky. And the majority live in the interior. I see sunlight only when I emerge as a phantom from the apartment. Who can figure it out: does the drawn luminary look like the one above the clouds of smog? But a fluorescent lamp is completely different.
Two men in uniform led Dimon out of the opened door. I saw my friend for the first time, but immediately realized that it was him. A fat guy like me. No sign of the pile of muscles.
But there is not a shadow of emotion in the eyes of his comrade. He muttered something incoherently. He screamed, breaking free from the tenacious clutches of the policemen. It looks like its a third generation weapon after all. Or he himself has gone crazy over the past 24 hours.
Hello Young man! exclaimed a short-haired man of about forty. And Im still waiting for you to appear. Special Agent Arteev. Information Security Service.
I started to run, but an electric discharge pierced my body. I was paralyzed. The agent clutched a pistol in his hand.
Are you going far?
I pressed the red viper button and found myself in my home room. Maybe its for the best to live in the House? Its safe here.
Ilya, hello! Svetka, how glad I am to see you!
It became dark for a moment, and then I found myself in a room with white walls. A cop was standing nearby. Arteev, it seems? I reached for the viper. The agent shook his head.
Its not worth it. You, boy, are tied to this room. Whether you run away or not, this thing,» he showed me a small remote control, «will bring you back here.» Give me the viper. You dont need him.
He swiped his hand, and the red round viper button disappeared from my interface.
Ilya Petrovich Sorokin, right?
Yes.
Fifteen years.
Im seventeen!
Cant he tell a fifteen-year-old boy from a seventeen-year-old man?!
Oh, sorry, the database hasnt been updated. Now I see it. You look young! You live in House number two. And our police office is located in the neighboring House. But you probably wont be returning home anytime soon.
You used first-generation weapons against me! It was banned by trade unions of information workers five years ago.
As I see, you know the laws well? the cop laughed. -Are you a member of the trade union of information workers? I think if you only worked legally, you wouldnt be standing here. And so
He sang without hitting the notes:
Dont hide your fins from me,
We are pirates, we are good people,
I am not a coward, not a villain, not an executioner.
There are no women so a mermaid will do!
How do you know this song?
Many of the Information Security Service have a dark past. But I gave up all these things a long time ago. Im now on the other side of the barricades, so to speak. But you, boy, have serious problems. Yesterday you decided to steal information from very serious people. So serious that now you cant hide. Wherever you decide to hide, they will come out of the ground!
The cop waved his hand through the air, and a metal rod appeared in front of me. Then another one. And so on until I found myself locked behind bars.
So serious that they can afford to use third-generation weapons? I asked.
«Thats all fairy tales,» said the agent. Development of such weapons is underway. But hes not there yet. If it appeared, I would be the first to know. I have first level access.
They shot Dimon yesterday!
Oh, this guy whos gone crazy. He was unlucky, what can you do?
He swiped his hand, and almost all of my inventory disappeared from my interface. Even Valkyrie wings! I spent three nights coding to buy these. Bastard!
«You wont need this for the next forty years,» Agent Arteev smiled. Although, I have one offer for you. I dont think you can refuse. Work for the Government a little and Ill put in a good word for you. Why are you looking at me like that? I, too, was once into piracy. Its time to grow up! So, the crux of the matter is this. A black spot appeared in Technopolis. In the real world, an ordinary block. And in virtuality there is a black cloud, as if someone had cut out a piece. Im offering you a deal. You love to spy. Go inside the mysterious anomalous zone. Find out what and how. Or youll go to jail for the rest of your days. Choose for yourself.
***
A perfectly smooth edge of a huge black cube. Its as if someone decided to cut out a piece of extended reality. This is how they cut a cake in old films about that time, which grandfather Sanya told me about. I touched this substance with my hand. Nasty slime ran down my hand, as if someone had spilled ink. And then something grabbed me with a rough black hand and pulled me inside the cube.
And then darkness.
Level 1. Meet Seisil
First there is darkness. Then a platform woven from light appeared. I could barely fit on the «island» that floated in the darkness. After a few seconds, it turned into a piece of land covered with green grass. The light hit my face, and I could not discern what was happening behind the island. A pleasant female voice rang out. She is twenty years old, no older.
Who are you, traveler?
A note appeared before my eyes: «Choose a race»
Stop! Am I back to online gaming again?! He swore that no more. The games suck you in so much that you dont notice how eight or ten hours have flown by. Especially since smells and tastes appeared in the virtual world. Many are stuck in game content. In the real world they have become vegetables, they are fed from tubes. Where is the exit button? An abbreviation appeared before my eyes. AWG. Oh yes! Im here on the instructions of agent Arteev! And also for Dimons sake. The image of my only friend with empty, crazy eyes appeared before my eyes. You know, on social networks I have more than a thousand people added to my list of best friends. But of those to whom I could trust my life, there was no one except Dimka. This is what it is the empty world of illusions of the virtual world!