THE OUTLAND

6

The department woke up, came to life - people, normal people, not maniacs like me, sitting at a toy until dawn, slowly took their places. They are not my colleagues, they do not like adrenaline, the race from danger or for the victim, they are shy of emotions and therefore they never start games with a romantic line. No one has ever seen them cry heartily or laugh out loud. Homo robotics. 

And why did they survive in the Last War, and not personalities like noisy Edik? Silly providence.

No, of course, I did not have the abilities of Rob from "Search", I never shone with intuition, but a month of work in the department taught me to turn off my head while working on reports. And thoughts inevitably start in an empty head. Including those for which the state security may well attract for treason. It’s good, after all, that the space of thoughts has been equated with private life!

The adjacent tables were already empty by the time I finished my report. Four hundred test questions, more like psychological testing, or revealing the sincerity of the filler. I filled in something similar, settling here too, swore that never, never again in my life!

Stupid, stupid Rob. 

— Report generated and sent. The monitor beeped. 

- Thanks. I stretched and groaned. His back was completely numb from immobility, despite the ergonomic chair.

I hope Edik will not deceive and will not forget about his promise. There must be something bright in this whole situation?

Light unfiltered.

The poster overhead with overflow changed - now from there the twin brother of the previous fighter poked a finger at me with the requirement: "Follow the food!"

One thing was good - these clowns did not try to get into my pants and regulate trips to the toilet and the frequency of sexual intercourse. They tried, yes. But the activists raised such a high that the bill was curtailed without even bringing it to consideration. Everyone has become smart, they follow the news, they show their position - I can imagine how those in power are muttering, turning off the next idiotic amendments to the laws. And what to do.

Twenty-five years ago the Last War happened. A war in which there were no winners or losers, where only rubber bullets were fired - and yet, having woken up, counting the losses, the authorities of all countries were horrified: the population of the Earth was reduced by two-thirds. Mother Russia was not bypassed either, out of a hundred and forty million of the population, we suddenly became a little less than fifty million - less than under the tsar and, especially, general secretaries! And it all started with...

Search engine, causes of the Last War. The story that is now being taught in schools, so that future generations would be discouraged. Causes, consequences, conclusions - and frightening forecasts of analysts. After all, if you believe their words, we survived only the first wave of extinction, and there will be at least three of them. How many of us will remain in the end, only the devil knows, but it is obvious that it is much less than now.

Going deeper and deeper through the links, at some point I ended up on a page where I did not expect to get to. There was not a word about the war, not a word about overcrowded cemeteries and frozen housing stock. The short list of obscure sociological terms ended with two words known to every modern Russian.

Loneliness epidemic.

— Hey, Rob, don't sleep, you'll freeze! “They patted me on the back again. It seems that the authorities were in good spirits, did a great job and did not forget about their promises. - What are you reading? O.

He darkened. He clenched his teeth so that the jaws stood out.

“We shouldn’t know, we shouldn’t. Paid too high a price.

— Have you been there?

- I was there, you can say, even fought a little. Edik admitted reluctantly. - And you ... How old are you?

- Twenty four.

- Wow. New wave baby. I'll tell you what, Rob, we're all scared and shaking right now. So start all over again, there will be no new victims. The government will lay down with bones, but will prevent the threat.

“Unless he cares.

Edik coughed loudly, noted something on his watch, and, leaning towards me, whispered furiously:

“Idiot, if you let that happen again, we’ll both be out of here, got it?” I will delete this moment from the record, I noted the time, but don’t set me up like that again!

And, straightening up, he laughed:

You're evil, Rob! Come on, haven't you eaten anything today? Come on, let's get you something delicious!

Looking longingly at the still unclaimed modem, I got up, put on my jacket and left the office after the boss. The reconnaissance corps will have to wait until I sober up.

Light and unfiltered. The tiny eatery "Evil Creator" specialized more in various perversions like nano-kitchen and fitness cocktails, but, probably, due to the owner's old love for foam, they also poured it into beautiful, pot-bellied glasses. I looked around the semi-dark room overlooking the roadway, which had not seen traffic jams for a quarter of a century, a half-empty hall with people timidly clinging to each other. An illustration of restlessness and uselessness.

Something covered me. I don’t know what is the reason for this - either the dark green color of the walls, or the numerous black and white photographs in white plastic frames on the walls.

— Garzon, menu. And while we're picking, bring us a pair of blond ones. Edik winked at me and snapped his fingers.

“Now,” the waiter vanished.

- Haven't been here before.

- Few were. People have become lazy, they prefer home delivery of everything, including highs and interlocutors. And we - so, in the old fashioned way. I can get a little nerdy when drunk, forgive the old man, but your toy woke up something in my memory.

— A toy?.. Ah, "Long Search"?

Edik nodded and took a sip from the glass, which materialized in front of him as if by magic.

- Nectar of the gods! Are you aware that the third episode of "The Search" was originally only in English, only for Western audiences? Like, the Russian market is too small, the cost of localization will not beat off.

— But I played in Russian!

- It's true. The studio listened to the petition of Russian-speaking fans, made a public translation, in the editing of which everyone could take part, and there the text is such that just hold on. He winked. “And guess who was in charge of the process.

- Yah.

— Eduardo Em, at your service. Edik bowed jokingly. - You can look in the credits, my name is there.

- Well well. — I have not found anything smarter than to shut your mouth with a glass. It's always so strange when you disappear into someone's fictional universe, live someone's life - and then suddenly it turns out that your interlocutor had a hand in it.

- I was noted in a lot of toys in my time. But as far as I know, you were also taken to the department for a reason.

- Not easy…

Well, if you don't want to, don't say. I'm sure that, unlike the morons in the general office, you are something. - Edik sipped his beer again and suddenly switched to the old topic - and Poisk has a tragic fate. It became the studio's swan song, although it was supposed to be its salvation from bankruptcy. You see how everything is through the ass? A cult project, but the studio is dead - too long, expensive and confused. The non-linearity alone is worth something.

What about the fourth episode?

Edik grew gloomy, fell silent, looking out the window, as if this topic was wildly unpleasant to him. And I, with some kind of sick curiosity, studied the hitherto unknown side of my noisy, always cheerful boss - twenty years difference, if not more, but still in a sweater and strictly on "you". I have never met such Edik before.

“Sorry if I said something wrong. I choked out as the silence dragged on.

- Yes, everything is fine. It’s just that a lot of time has passed during the translation of the third episode, I got attached to the project with my soul, I became related. He slammed his fist on the table. And those creatures! Those publishers!

- What they?

- When the number of downloads in the store exceeded ten million, they decided to earn some more money. And released the final episode. A fucking nightmare, judging by the wretchedness of the language and the disgusting presentation, it was written almost by the publisher himself. This episode is still in English.

What about the original developers?

- Went to an independent studio, but could no longer repeat their success. And then there was a war, during which their screenwriter died.

- That is, everything? History breaks off? I couldn't hide my disappointment. “But there’s Hyde…”

— Yes, in the most interesting place, on the threshold of answers. The rest was taken over by Aidab, whose product you will have to get acquainted with tomorrow.

But it's like an online game, isn't it? They never have a normal story.

- I dont know. I was advised not to touch this game with a long stick - something related to integration, I have nothing to catch there without an implant.

“But can you go in for an operation?”

— On operation under whose knife? A modern surgeon with an acute addiction to a mobile device? Or, even worse, for auto-implantation? What if something is different from the average human? No, I didn’t swim in the virtual, I don’t care to start.

The menu was never brought to us, instead, they continued to replace the empty glasses. Fortunately, the beer was quite tasty, I was not in a complaint, even though my head was already noisy. Yes, and Edik, judging by the brilliant eyes, was pretty much already under the fly.