The five roses, heroically obtained in Aunt Nadica's garden - you might say, plucked from the teeth of her Rottweiler - were sad, hung up their leaves and petals. Luca himself resembled a hanging flower.
Even three hours ago he felt like a soldier leaving for the war, and was worried that Jasenka will not wait for him, after all, three months is a long time, and under the terms of his contract, he would not be able to call anyone during that time. He was worried, but he shoved his fear away with the certainty that everything would be all right, he would come back rich, and then her heart would melt.
But forty minutes had passed since the appointed hour, and every moment brought closer the realization that Jasenka was not coming on the date. Not because trouble had happened - the girl had simply decided she didn't want Luca.
But why not just call and say, "I changed my mind, don't wait up for me? He once again dialed Jasenka's number to hear "the subscriber's phone is switched off or out of network coverage," but it rang, there was a click, and some man spoke on the other end of the line:
- Listen, you pauper! Get away from Jasenka. Find yourself a match.
Luke gasped with indignation, but found the strength to pull himself together and ask:
- Who are you?
- Who am I? Simon Novak. Have you heard of him?
Of course I've heard of him. The son of rich parents. Four years older than Luka, twenty-two. He's studying to be a lawyer in Zagreb, drives a brand-new Volkswagen, plays midfielder for Osijek. He was the one whom Luka hated with every fiber of his being - for the fact that the bastard was not only born in a good family, but was naturally gifted. The only thing he had over him was that he was stronger and, if the girls were to be believed, "just handsome. Well, and his unsightly looking "Nagibatel", assembled on the basis of an old Renault-Megana, was faster than Novak's Tuareg. But does that make sense when...
- How did you get her number? - Gasping with rage, he asked.
- Stop following her! The poor girl does not know where to run away from you. She asked me to intercede.
Her eyes grew black with anger. Oh, she doesn't know! And yesterday, kissing as she did for the last time, she did not know! When I was trembling with passion and could hardly find the strength to go home, she did not know either. His patience snapped, Luca spat it all out and asked the guy to give the phone back to Jasenka, so she herself said that she was afraid of him and did not want to go out with him.
His hatred took on a purpose. It wasn't to hate Jasenka, whom he loved! The big man came here and made a fool of the girl's head. Of course, it can't be otherwise!
- You're so tough, aren't you? - Luca said. - Come to my workshop, we'll talk man to man.
- I got nothing better to do than drive all the way out here... You want it, you got it...
- You got a point?! - Luca got mad. What a jerk! - Let's get the three of us together: you, me, her...
There was a chuckle.
- Yeah, I'm running and stumbling. It's like climbing into a corral with a pissed-off bull.
- I'm gonna get you, you bastard! I'll get you...
Luca was so enthusiastic about the manipulations he would do to the coward Simon that he missed the moment when the connection was cut. And when he realized that no one hears him, a couple of times dialed Yasu, realized that the answer will not wait, and with all his might hit the phone on the ground, and then violently stomped on it until he turned into plastic and glass crumbs. When there was nothing left to stomp on, he began to stomp on the bouquet, paying no attention to the staggering passers-by - they were out of his reality now. Luca, as his boxing coach used to say, "the bar went off," and the sight was fixed on Simone as the culprit of all his troubles.
After smearing the bouquet on the asphalt, Luka rushed to the "Nagibator", whom he had assembled to have a car, yes the fastest! But Yasya thought his brainchild was ugly: the body was from an old Renault. Luka thought at the time that she simply knew nothing about technology. In fact, the only thing she needed was money. No money, no love. Was sex love?
Luca slumped on the seat and accelerated and took off like a rocket, nearly hitting the cyclist. He was motivated by one thing: revenge, a blow for blow, to return the pain to those who had caused it.
And everything burns, including the contract! Luke for the sake of Jasenka concluded it, dropped out of school and went to the unknown where to deal with what he knows little - to test a new computer game, where the entrance is carried out through the immersion capsule, and therefore the feeling is as close to reality.
He flew at full speed, cutting off cars that were crawling too slowly and pulling into oncoming traffic. More than anything, he wanted to crash into a pole, but for some reason fate spared him - both now and at the races that were held by the same daredevils and for "dare", and for money.
As a child, Luca dreamed of becoming a great boxer, racer, or war hero. His guardian first prevented him from boxing, and then there was no money to buy even gloves, let alone travel to competitions. Racing was the most expensive sport, and they wouldn't take him in the service because of his eyesight, though an operation would have solved the problem. All his dreams were crushed by poverty. Now, the girl he loved left him because of a rich man.
And all you had to do was buy clothes and pay for competitions - for boxing. Or - to have an operation, then his eyesight would be restored, and Luka could serve. But it was unlikely that he would be admitted to the academy as an officer. He no longer dreamed of racing.
Outrunning a truck. Swiftly overtaking a truck, avoiding a head-on collision. Outrun a car crawling in the left lane. Oh, for crying out loud!
Full throttle into the adjacent one. Slow down and drive into the yard.
My heart was racing. Luke squinted, looking at the old two-story house with a tiled roof, at Yasya's balcony, where two blurry spots were drying - apparently a sweater and jeans. I looked around the yard and noticed a dark green Volkswagen Touareg - shiny, polished, apparently just out of the car wash.
Son of a bitch, he lost his fear! It's all right. Evilly grinning, Luca took the bat out of the trunk. Put it on the front seat of the batter so as not to scare Novak. He pressed the horn and honked until people started piling up on the balconies. The tulle on Jasie's window rustled, a figure in white flashed, and another in green, in the back of the room. Her heart pounded, spewing out a dose of adrenaline.
Her parents were gone, away for another week, so... Luca imagined what Jasja and Simon were doing together, imagined Novak kissing the lips that had responded so passionately to a kiss just yesterday, and the bar didn't just fall off - it fell. Letting go of the klaxon, Luka straightened up and yelled:
- Come out, you cowardly shit! Let's talk man to man!
There was no reaction, but there were more spectators, but Luca did not care - because of his poor eyesight he could not see their faces, they were only colorful silhouettes. Tilting his head, he turned toward Jasenka's balcony:
- Crawl out, rat, or it will be worse!
Without waiting for his opponent, Luka picked up his bat. Demonstratively shifted it from hand to hand. He staggered slowly toward the shiny new Tuareg. He tried on the rear window. Swung and froze, glancing at Yasin's balcony.
What were they doing out there? Surely they're hiding and watching. Thinking Luca wouldn't dare?
- Jasenka! Can't you see how much of a pussy he is? - Luka shouted one last time.
Swing. The glass shattered, sagged under the bat and crumbled into the cabin. That wasn't enough for him, so he smashed the bat against the roof. Again and again. Then he bent the doors and fenders, smashed all the glass, leaving only the rear bumper intact.
At first he felt physical pleasure in destroying something that would never belong to him. It embodied the whole arrogant fed up and contented world. But soon Luca began to calculate the damage he was inflicting with each blow, and an evil excitement gripped him.
Simon Novak never came out. He must have crawled under his friend's bed and trembled. Well, let the corrupt creature look at his hero!
Luke was sobered by the siren's howl. Knocking out the last whole headlight of the Tuareg, he jumped into the seat of his Navigator and rolled out of the yard. Luckily, there were two exits from here, and Luca slipped out before the police arrived.
The rage gradually wore off, and Luca regained his ability to appreciate what he had done. He had practically destroyed a car that was worth more than the guardian's house. It would take him half his life not to pay for it. Turning into an alley, Luca stopped, cursed, and squeezed his temples. Damn lunatic! He hadn't just been seen at the crime scene, he must have been filmed! Now there was no getting away with it! Simon would have to make amends.
Until half an hour ago, Luca, full of bright hopes, imagined that he would return victorious and fall into his arms Yasya. Then, when he realized that she was not going to wait for him, he did not care about the contract, everything lost its meaning. Now for the third time his life was turned upside down, and he realized that this job was the only thing that would save him from prison.
It was unlikely that the police would be looking for him at Quantum's office tomorrow. And then his employer would take Luka to a place that is unlikely to be accessible to outsiders - there is no connection, no Internet, and it's not even certain that it's in Croatia. So Luca would lie low for three months. After that he will get his four thousand euros, will have an eye operation and will apply to the French Legion or a simpler PMC. All the recruiters unanimously agreed that his physical data was good.
He had to stay somewhere until morning. The guardian certainly can not, and nauseated by the mere sight of him. To the workshop, all the more so. That leaves the only person who will not give him away - Erna. Not just a girl a year older - a good old friend, also an orphan.
That's where Luca went. He left his car in a nearby yard. He went up to the second floor of a five-story building, built during the time of Yugoslavia, rang the doorbell.
Erna opened at once. Her asymmetrical braid, which was supposed to cover the left side of her face, disfigured by the scars, was tousled and did not fulfill its function. Silently, she turned to the other side, where a zipper was shaved over her ear, and let Luca into the apartment. The lock clicked behind his back.
The girl asked:
- I'm having tea. Can I pour you one?
She was wearing a loose plaid shirt and jeans, tight around her beautifully shapely long legs. Luke looked at her legs and cursed himself with the last words for Jasenka. What on earth did he see in her? Out of so many women he had chosen the lousiest. Here was Erna, a beautiful girl of his circle, also an orphan, intelligent, not spoiled and generally not interested in glamour. Who could understand him better? Well, yes, it does not stick, but, as they say, you'll get used to it.
- Pour," he whispered, and followed her into the tiny kitchen.
- What's the matter? - she asked, scanning him with her eyes like an X-ray. - Don't lie to me.
- A long one. Over tea.
Sipping her favorite green tea, he talked about the contract, then - about bad Novak and probably cheated Jasenka, about a broken expensive car. Erna listened to him with a stony face, her head propped up, only her nostrils flared. When Luca finished, he prepared himself morally to receive, as she said, a "life-giving star" - Erna did not spare his feelings, but told it like it was.
Perhaps for the first time in her four years of acquaintance, she lost her temper, rolled her head back, and dropped it:
- Yee-dee-dot! You've ruined your life! Because of a whore!
- Do not talk about her like that, - he habitually jumped up, but bit his tongue: Erna looked, as if she poured cold water, and went to scold further:
- So what? Well, what? You still do not admit the obvious? That your whore sold you out. And everybody saw who she was. Since she was fourteen years old, she's been screwing around with cunts. - Erna grinned and mocked Luca: "When I saw her, my hands trembled." Are you sure your hands did?
She gathered air to burst into an angry tirade, but exhaled and stopped, staring into her cup as if she'd deflated. She lit a cigarette. Luke, too, was silent, wondering what had upset her more: the imminent loss of her friend or the fact that he had stood up for Jasenka. The snow queen had liked him, and had liked him from the first day they had met. Luke, even though they were the same age, saw her as an older sister and mother. Sometimes he came to get his head kicked in - Erna was not too shrewd.
But from that first day it was clear that they were too different. For example, Luca dreamed of having a cat, scratching its soft belly, listening to its purring - the guardian forbade having animals for his nine foster children and his two.
Erna, on the other hand, despite being poor in emotion, hated cats to the point of a nervous tic. And when a man showed what she considered inadequate love for an animal, she began to shake with indignation. And all because a cat had caused the death of her family.
When a fire broke out in their apartment, the mother left her children alone in the room and rushed into the kitchen, where the fire was starting, to get the cat out. Of course, she expected to return, but she died. Seven-year-old Erna tried to get her three-year-old sister out of the burning apartment, but the flames were already blazing in the living room, and she had to close the door and jump from the balcony when the flames began to rush out into the street.
Her sister snapped her neck in the fall, and Erna suffered bruises and burns.
- What do you guys think? - She continued at last, breaking the lingering pause. - Urine goes to the head, and like cats in March, you do not see anything! What are you going to do now?
Luca told him. Erna listened and asked:
- What is the name of the office for which you will be testing the game? And why all the secrecy? Why can't the information be divulged before or after? And don't you think it's weird that they're hiring someone who's not into games? You're a caveman, you're just playing Army.
- The employer is some kind of Quantum," Luka answered. - They didn't report to me, because who am I? They only said that the candidates with the right type of er... Well, when the brains work in the right direction. In general, there are few of them, and we need all sorts, even the runaways. The examination took a long time. My eyesight didn't stop them.
Erna squinted.
- What's Quantum? It's the first I've heard of it. Have you searched for information about them?
- They develop some kind of special computers and a toy based on them. You know, like in the movies when you get in the capsule and it's like you're really in the game.
- Have you read about them? - insisted Erna, she was acting like a mother again, worried about her son. Surprisingly, Luca always listened to her, even though she was a head shorter and half her weight.
He shook his head.
- Nope. What's the use? The Internet won't tell you everything anyway.
- Where will you go? - Continued the interrogation Erna. - What city?
- Listen... What are you talking about? Try to work as an investigator, it should work.
Erna silently stared into his eyes, and so that he blinked and realized himself a fool: he bought a good salary, agreed to the unknown and did not even know where and why he would be taken.
- I need a copy of the contract. Somebody's got to cover your ass.
Luca wanted to snap back, to say "what can you do," or "what will become of me," but he kept silent, looking at his hands, not completely washed clean of machine oil, his nails with a mournful fringe. He dug into his backpack, pulled out the business card of Quant, and handed it to Erna.
- That's all I got.
She nodded, grinning crookedly.
- If you stupidly disappear, no one will answer for it. Do you understand? What if they cut you up for organs?
Luca laughed, not sincerely though, and waved his hand:
- It's all bullshit!
- You said yourself they examined you from head to toe, took blood.
- You always see conspiracies. What organs these days! There hasn't been a war for a long time. It was easier to kidnap me than to show my face and make a deal. - He tapped his finger on his temple. - You know what I mean?
She nodded, twiddling Quant's business card with the contacts.
- I'll try to find out something...
- I'm leaving tomorrow morning," Luca said, and then began to justify himself: "I have no other way out now: either prison or...
- Then you are not coming back," dropped Erna.
Knowing that within the next year it is very unlikely, Luke jerked to his feet, almost knocked over his chair, backed into the kitchen cabinet and thought with irritation, how tiny the kitchen is, precisely designed for Lilliputians. Taking half a step toward Erna, he jerked her off the chair and pulled her against him.
- I'll be back. How can I leave you when you are like a sister to me! You're the only one I've got.
- Yeah, since that whore showed up, not once in a month, - she grumbled.
- I'm sorry, I was crazy. I realized everything. So don't make it worse, I'm sick of it.
She pressed her whole body against his collarbone, her cheek pressed against his. Luca was embarrassed and wanted to stroke her back, but he didn't. He just put his hand on her waist and felt numb. The girl pulled away, lit her cigarette again, looking at herself. Luca remained silent, feeling both awkward and guilty at the same time.
- In short, you don't even know where they'll take you," she continued. - Maybe you won't be in Croatia.
- It is better that it is not here. But I'll be back!
- Come on, I'll make you a bed. I have a shift tomorrow, and I have to be at the store by eight.
- And I have to be at the office by ten.
In the large walk-in room, Erna took out the sheets and began shoving a blanket into the duvet cover. Luca stood staring at the old green sofa, where he had often slept during the last year when Erna had come of age and inherited and moved into the apartment, which had been repaired by the government after the fire.
At least she had her own corner, but Luca had a guardian to take care of her, and had to squat in a room with the underdeveloped Bartul. However, Luca slept more and more often in his workshop, where he only went to bathe.
- Well, that's good. I mean bad," said Erna, slowly making the bed.
He wanted to say "wait for me," but he knew it wasn't fair. Luca wasn't her boyfriend, Erna didn't have to wait for him, especially since he wasn't going to be back anytime soon.
- Done. Good night, bro," she smiled, got up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
Now he raked her in an armful and poked her nose on the top of her head and whispered:
- One more request. Can I use your computer to check my e-mail before we leave? I broke my phone.
- Tomorrow?
- Of course you did.
Erna shrugged her shoulders:
- No problem.
It took Luca a long time to fall asleep, his thoughts overpowering, too much had happened in one day. And when he did fall asleep, he dreamed of murderous doctors, a nightmarish laboratory, and disemboweled corpses. All night long he was either freeing the prisoners of that very lab, or clearing the earth of alien monsters, or running away from the police.
At six in the morning he was woken up by Erna. Not a person - a machine, does everything clearly, to the point, does not get nervous over nothing. No matter how insulted she was, there was no way she would wreck her enemy's expensive car and set herself up, because revenge was irrational.
While he took an icy shower, the girl made breakfast. As soon as she stepped out into the smell of coffee, she called out:
- The computer in my bedroom is on, you have fifteen minutes.
The room was already in order: the bed made, things put away. How did she manage? Luca sat down at his laptop, checked his mail, not knowing himself what he expected to see, but no one had written to him.
Just as he turned to the open door and, without closing his mail, was about to ask if he should turn off his laptop, a full screen text appeared: "Take away the medium, it's a matter of life and death. Remember: you are not alone. Before Luke had time to comprehend what had happened, the letters folded into a golden Chinese dragon with a body curved in the shape of the letter S. His eyes went black, he felt nauseous and shook his head to get rid of the illusion.
And what did it mean? Was it addressed to him at all, or to Erna? And why was the message gone?
He immediately called out to the girl and asked about it. Erna began to check the laptop, open-close tabs, found nothing, and summarized:
- Are you sure you do not think so? Your eyes are so red - from lack of sleep, I see.
- So it was not written to you," Luke sighed. - But what am I supposed to take with me?
- Maybe it's a glitch. I should update the antivirus-it's not working. - She closed her laptop. - Let's go to breakfast.
Apparently,
Erna decided to feed Luke to death: his plate was two huge chunks of
sausage, pasta and gravy, tomatoes and peppers. His stomach rumbled,
and Luca greedily ate, while Erna watched him, propping her head up
with her fist and stirring her coffee.
When he mopped his plate
with a scone and thanked him, the girl smiled slightly and said:
- You're welcome, Luca. We have fifteen more minutes.
He took the keys from his pocket and put them on the table.
- You didn't sell your parents' garage, did you? - Erna shook her head. - Will you drive my car in there so the cops don't take it away?
- What will you do with it if you don't come back in, say, three years?
- I will. If not, I'm dead. Sell it for parts. Here's the paperwork, by the way. - Next to the keys there were papers in a file. - You can look at the signature, forge it if you have to.
She sighed and nodded. Luka felt homesick, he felt his precious time running out, but he didn't know what to say to his friend, whom he might be seeing for the last time. Erna, too, was silent, rolling her napkin into a ball, straightening it out, rolling it up again. Her blond hair was flawless, dividing her face into two halves, covering both her scars and her left eye. What bright eyes she had-green, in an orange dot, like the forest in August. And the flock of freckles on her nose, and the piercing in her lower lip-a silver bead-all looked new somehow.
Something was very wrong. The world had changed subtly, but Luca didn't know how.
- It's time," she said at last, slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Luca took the backpack. They silently left the apartment, went downstairs, and then Luca accompanied Erna to the bus stop. And when the minibus pulled up, he hugged the girl and locked the door. The driver was sympathetic, as were the other passengers.
Finally Luca let Erna out and watched for a long time as the bus drove away, taking away his past and all the little things he cared about. He also realized how important it was to have someone waiting. He could promise Erna anything, and her faith would warm him. But that wasn't fair.
When the minibus disappeared around the corner, Luca sighed heavily, and, catching the eager gaze of a passing pretty woman, staggered away. Chances were, his pamphlets hadn't been sent out to the wards yet; if they did, it would be closer to lunchtime. By then he would already be under the wing of the mysterious organization Quant.
The main thing is not to get caught in two hours, while he hangs around the city, killing time. In order to do this, he needs to avoid being caught on camera. So Luca put on a cap and black glasses and began to wander around the courtyards. He sat in the park, jostled at the bus stop. Tensed up when a police car drove by.
It was too bright, too distinct. It was as if the world had become more convex, more colorful.
The office was in an unassuming two-story building standing on one of the streets leading into downtown Osijek. There were stores and a Quant office on the first floor, people lived on the second floor, and laundry was drying on the solid balcony just above the office. My gaze stopped on a white T-shirt with a picture of a fox in a prison jumpsuit and the words "This is a cat`s pajamas" written on it.
The other, smaller one, was full of flowers-purple with bright yellow hearts, some on the balcony, some hanging outside. Countless flowers! Someone loved them very much.
And he loved Osijek, with its low buildings and tiled roofs, and the river and the streets. The blue mountains in the distance, the summer chime of the cicadas.
Before entering his office, Luca turned around and looked around to absorb his native landscape and take it away into the foreign land. It felt like he was never coming back here.
Contrary to expectation, the office was not crowded with visitors; Luca was alone. A skinny girl in a blue blouse and white skirt smiled coquettishly at him, greeted him, and asked him to come in and take a seat. There was a little more warmth in her tone than was proper for the job. Women's attentions were a matter of course for Luca, he used them often, only the relationship didn't work out because he was naked and barefoot, and all the little he earned in the workshop he put into the Batterer.
Luca sat down in a chair. The girl Mila (so it was written on the badge) with disbelief squinted at his skinny backpack, took his passport, somewhere wrote down the data. As soon as she had finished, a stern well-groomed lady of forty came out of the director's office and, without introducing herself, nodded at the exit.
- Luka, did you take everything you need?
- Yes, what you need is with me.
- Let's go.
They walked along the sidewalk to the parking lot against the traffic: the woman on the left, Luca closer to the building and slightly in front. He smelled danger in his gut, backed up sharply, darted toward the woman, and caught a flowerpot that had fallen from its suspension on the balcony right on her head.
All she managed was to crouch down, covering her head with her hands, but Luca showed a fantastic reaction, surprised himself that he could do so. At the same time they looked at the balcony: there stood an old woman, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. She was holding a watering can in her other hand, from where the water flowed onto the balcony, and from there down onto the sidewalk.
- Thank you," the attendant said dryly; she picked herself up instantly, and took the weighty pot of some mossy flower from Luca. - He could have killed me.
-
Forgive me, for God's sake! - The old woman wailed. - I didn't mean
to, I swear it!
I wanted to throw a pot at her, to scold
her, but Luca remained silent. The woman put the flower against the
wall and stopped in front of an inconspicuous gray Fiat Bravo. Luca
thought there were other beta testers waiting in his saloon, but it
was empty. The woman sat in the front, Luca settled in the back. Why
was he alone? Somehow this was starting to smell bad.
- Where are the others? Where are we going? - He asked what he should have known a long time ago.
- The Virgin Islands," the woman answered without turning around.
- Where is that? - He thought mentally through the names of the islands in the Mediterranean Sea, but nothing resembled it. - Greece? Spain? And why are there no other beta-testers?
Her companion thought about it and looked at Luca in the rearview mirror. She had a look as if she was solving a difficult problem in her mind.
- Beta testers come from different ethnic groups," she explained, "and races, they're picked up in their home countries. And the Virgin Islands are a little south of Cuba.
Luca whistled. If he hadn't made a mess of things, he would have asked the car to stop and gotten out. Now, if he backed up, he'd go to jail for sure. There might not be any danger on the island.
- There will be sixty beta-testers, between eighteen and twenty-three years old, and you'll meet them on the spot, with thirty of them on the bench. Their services may not be needed because the number of quantum computers is limited. You're worried for nothing, you're not in any danger. Yes! The bonus will accrue whether you participate or not.
That's too soft. There's got to be a catch. Luca tried to remember the text of the contract. It seems possible, but unlikely, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting during testing. Contraindications: epilepsy, mental disorders. A thought slipped into his mind that he could escape somewhere in the U.S. on a transfer to another plane and begin the exciting and adventurous life of a homeless illegal alien.
However, he was not able to escape. But on the plane flying to the islands, full of cheerful test subjects, Luca felt calmer. It is unlikely that the staff of "Quant" will kill so many people.
But he could not communicate with anyone: the guys really were from different countries, and there were no Croats, Serbs or Macedonians among them, whom Luka would have understood, and he knew English very, very poorly. From what he could see, so could half of the crowd. Those who knew English were seated in groups on the plane. Those who knew less, huddled together, gesticulating vigorously.
And when the plane went down, and the airport lights began to increase in front of our eyes, the bad mood vanished. Luke fell against the porthole and stared into the blackness, unable to believe that he would be taken to a tropical island, lying under a palm tree and eating a banana... at least occasionally.
Passengers poured out of the plane and in a motley crowd followed two swarthy and busty girls holding signs that read "Quantum. The taller one looked at Luka and smiled affably.
It was already autumn in my home town of Osijek: it was summery at lunchtime, but a cold wind was blowing down from the mountains, and by evening I had to put on a windbreaker. Here, however, the air was humid, evenly warm, and even at the airport the smell of the sea was overpowering. In Croatia, though, it was just after dusk at eight o'clock; here it was deep into the night.
Luca overtook the others, smiled with all his thirty-two teeth, and called out to the friendly, dark-haired beauty:
- "Hai, Beauty!
The girl blossomed and twittered, and all she could understand were enthusiastic interjections. She was relieved. If they had been led to slaughter, there would have been no sincerity in her intonation. But even she did not convince Luca that he was finally lucky enough to be in a free resort, where they even pay extra for the rest.
They stopped at a Russian transport helicopter, I think it was a Mi-171, and the arrivals were divided into three groups. Luke flew in the first group - along a large island, over a black ocean with shining houses and the lights of yachts on a sea mirror-like surface, then - over another island, and another.
We landed on the fourth, on one of the three heliports. From above Luca could see an illuminated mansion, surrounded by two-story buildings, also illuminated.
After unloading the passengers, the helicopter flew for the second batch, and the same girl led the arrivals to the mansion along the palm alley. She backed up slightly to walk beside Luca, caught his gaze, and held out her palm:
- Paula.
Luca
shook her hand as she introduced herself, stroked the mound of Venus
with her finger, and it was automatic - the girl trembled. Erna said
that he was born with the knowledge of how to treat women, so they
swarm around. In addition, such a handsome man signs of attention:
green-eyed blond, about two meters tall, shoulders - wo! How can you
resist? Except to lie down. They're all over the place, but they
don't stay long - what can you take from an eighteen-year-old beggar?
Erna was the only one who resisted - she didn't want to ruin a good
friendship with sex.
First they had dinner, which Luca had never
tasted before: all kinds of sea creatures, exotic vegetables, fruit,
and lots of greenery. Then they took the young people to the
auditorium on the second floor, gave them each a headset with an
interpreter and a personal number - Luke got number eight - and
played a movie about quantum computers, so they wouldn't get bored
until the others arrived.
Paula was seated in the third row next to Luca, and if at first he tried to absorb all this nonsense, when she took his hand and their fingers intertwined, he became more interested in whether his hand was enough to wrap around her voluminous breasts.
When everyone was assembled, Paula removed her hand. A gray-haired man in his forties, who reeked of strength, stepped onto the stage. He squared his shoulders and exclaimed in English, and the interpreter reproduced, copying the intonation:
- Hello, happy people! - The audience erupted in applause. - My name is Thomas Nodwin, CEO of the Quantum Project. We have been producing quantum computers for several years now. Who knows how they work? Give yourselves a round of applause! - There was liquid applause, and Thomas wagged his finger: "And you went without knowing anything about it? Ay, ay, ay! What if the insidious machine enslaves you? Whoever thought so, clap. - No one did, Luka thought and thought and clapped loudly.
- What an honest young man! And fearless. So why did you come here?
- I want money," he answered honestly, feeling his heart grow hot and heavy. He inhaled, exhaled, and...instantly calmed down, his heart began to beat normally.
- Bravo! You'll get them, of course. But first I must dispel the fears of both you and those who are not so brave as to admit their fears. So, what is a quantum computer? Generally speaking, quantum mechanics is the laws of nature that work for very small particles. As we were taught in school... Well, many, I hope, were taught in physics. What is an atom? A round thing, and we're made up of such round things. But that's not true, an atom is more like a wave...
It was in high school, but not for those who went to high school, not college, and not for everyone. Thomas went into a long story about bits and qubits, and though he showed him everything on his fingers, Luca quickly lost the thread of reasoning and got bored. Judging by the glazed eyes, most of the people present also could not understand what this mystical quantum entanglement was all about. Thomas grimaced onstage, pushing to impart even a modicum of knowledge - in vain.
Finally he finished with words:
- And this is the basis on which we create a virtual world!
The audience cheered, Thomas was applauded as if they were trying to drive him off the stage, but he did not leave, waited for silence and announced:
- And now we will set the front of work for the day after tomorrow. Settle in today, tomorrow the island is at your disposal, but the day after tomorrow many will begin to test the new reality. You will be briefed on the details just before testing begins. - He read out the numbers of the first group, and Luca heard his own. - Have a good rest, young people! - Thomas raised his hand and headed for the door to applause.
Then everyone was taken to a two-story building behind a high fence, and with two machine gunners at the entrance. Luca noticed the two guard towers around the perimeter and tensed up, Paula pacing nearby caught his tension and explained:
- One quantum computer costs as much as an airplane, so they keep watch. You will be allowed to go out at any time, except working hours. In the courtyard of this building," she nodded back, "there's a cocktail party for you tonight. I'll be waiting.
Communicating with the interpreter was much easier.
They put the beta-testers in rooms of three or four and took up almost the entire second floor, crowding the staff. The rooms were furnished almost like the guardian's: a bed, a pencil case, a desk with a teapot, and a chair. Nothing, a couple of months could be tolerated.
Without getting to know his roommates, Luca rushed to the central mansion, where tables had already been brought out and waiters were setting up plates of fruit and snacks - lobsters, giant shrimp, calamari, cheese of different kinds, rolls.
Paula waved to him, they had a drink each, and then they went to her room, and Luca learned something that had interested him for hours: Paula's breasts didn't fit in his hand. In addition, he was full of energy, and the girl was not so hot, and on the second go-round she began to hint that it would be time to finish.
He
went to his place for the night, and a haze of oblivion enveloped his
face and hers.
The next day was like a vacation in an expensive
hotel, where everything is included: food, drink, swimming in the
lagoon, fenced off from the ocean reef. All the troubles were pushed
to the back burner, the real life was there! Luka felt like he could
handle mountains. He played beach volleyball, he beat them all. He
saw a pumped-up, ebonite-colored African, and offered to wrestle with
his arms. The opponent, who looked like the favorite, didn't last
three seconds, and the girls watching the fight applauded
enthusiastically. The chocolate beauty with the gazelle eyes was so
right on. She was especially interested in the birthmark on Luke's
shoulder, which looked like a bad tattoo of a triceratops' head. She
wanted to run her pearly fingernails over it.
Her energy was surging, and she needed to let it out. Luke wondered if a stimulant had been added to his food, but it couldn't have been just him! To drive out the prowess of young men, he plunged into the water, and cellar, cellar, cellar. He swam and swam and swam, but his strength did not end. He swam to the end of the reef, which encircled the island in a semicircle, looked back and did not see the observers. He dived, came up, buried himself to the shore. When the figures of the observers were clearly marked, he dove in, holding his breath. He could hold his breath for a minute underwater and decided to show it. He lay still on the bottom, gripping a stone, so that he was not pushed upward.
Out of habit he began to count. At the fortieth second he usually began to lack oxygen, the last twenty seconds he endured, then surfaced. Now he counted to fifty, but there was no oxygen starvation. When a minute and a half had passed, he wanted to sleep, his heart began to beat slower, and Luke came up, breathed, waved to the crowd on the shore.
No way! A minute and a half! That was a personal record. That's what the salubrious climate and good food do!
On the shore he did push-ups. One hundred, two hundred... two hundred and fifty - and no fatigue! But he understood that he must compensate for the lack of carbohydrates or else his muscles would start to break down.
A black woman with pearly fingernails and an exquisite figure squatted down beside him, handed him his headphones and an interpreter and spoke:
- How strong you are! My name is Chloe.
Luke had never had a black woman, and here she came, as if to hint that she behaved like the others, which means that nothing extraordinary is to be expected. Soon he received confirmation.
At eleven o'clock the lights went out, and the beta testers dispersed to their rooms; Luca didn't go wandering around either. One neighbor, Alvaro, a Chilean, was in place, an Asian, Luca didn't know his name, hadn't returned yet.
- Are you testing tomorrow? - Alvaro asked from the darkness, creaking the bed in an attempt to get comfortable.
- Yes. - Luca poured himself some water from a glass carafe, drank.
- No luck.
Alvaro spoke Spanish, but the interpreter did a fine job.
- I wouldn't say that," Luca answered, imagined himself behind bars in a Croatian prison, and smiled. - How do you know that?
- Because we have nowhere to go off the island," Alvaro muttered, and the words, spoken in the mechanical voice of an interpreter trying to imitate intonation, sounded ominous. - Couldn't they have done the tests somewhere else? Have you seen the fences around it? The whole island is divided into sections by concrete fences! What about the other buildings? They look like prisons!
- Quantum computer stands as the plane, so they are guarded, - Luca repeated Paula's words, although he felt uncomfortable.
- There are machine guns in the towers everywhere. While you were drinking, I was watching. Well, they have RPGs and night vision equipment. And I do not really believe that they are guarding the computers, rather someone guarding someone. And I also think that tomorrow you will not tell anything - or can not, or ...
- Stop escalating! - Luke shouted, feeling sleepy and scolding himself for wasting the day trying to figure out how hot the dark-skinned girls were. In fact, he was just doing his routine. And he should have explored the territory. I wondered if there was still time.
- Hey, Alvaro, have you done your research? - Luca sat down on the bed. - I didn't get it.
- You wouldn't understand. I told you: it's all fenced in," Alvaro brightened up, his black eyes shining, and the boy pointed to the translator, took off his earphones, and Luca realized: they could be overheard.
His neighbor nodded toward the exit, and Luca followed him. They did not head toward the tables, but along the fence, under cover of the rain forest. They walked for a minute and a half until Alvaro held up his hand and Luca stopped to look at the watchtower. Alvaro pointed toward it, toward the forest, joined his palms, moved them as if a snake was crawling, showing that it was possible to weave through the woods.
There was no way through the thicket at night, but Alvaro gestured for them to see if there was a house or a ruin.
We
went back. They walked from one fence to the other, about five
hundred meters, up to the lagoon. Luca gestured to ask where the
heliport was, and Alvaro understood, nodded at the mansion. Behind
it, then. When he walked from there at night, Luca didn't notice the
fences.
So, on the territory there is the main building, a
two-story barracks type, and a heliport - three platforms, and well
guarded: two checkpoints, in the distance - two watchtowers. Luca
dabbled in the simulator at Erna's house - he learned to control the
helicopter, but he would not risk sitting at the helm.
And what was the point of hijacking a helicopter? They would catch up with him anyway, and quickly. And they wouldn't get away with the boat - they'd catch him. No matter how you look at it, it was a trap. The only hope was that they would not have to flee and all that was happening here was not life-threatening.
They returned not just as buddies, but as comrades in arms, and Alvaro asked:
- Where are you from, Luca? I'm from Chile.
- Wow, I'm from Croatia.
- Is that somewhere in Africa?
So he's not the only one who thinks that if there's an unknown country or island, it's certainly in Africa, which few people are interested in. Luca laughed:
- No, in the center of Europe. What Africa, I'm white. Well, Croatia, Serbia... We had a war, but I was not born yet. From today we have Vida, Modric, Kovacic... Haven`t you heard about anybody?
The Chilean frowned, rubbed his temple, stimulating his brain, and finally uttered:
- Modric - that's Real Madrid.
- Yes, but he's our footballer, by the way, he's also Luka. In 18, they played like animals in Russia.
- Ah, that happened. I was a fan of Uruguay. Modric - yes, he's a force. But still my hero is Cavani.
A dreamy smile froze on his neighbor's face. Luca asked:
- By the way, how did your parents let you go?
- I'm an orphan," Alvaro answered, "my aunt kind of raised me.
I got a little hiccup under my spoon.
- I'm an orphan, too. And him?" Luca nodded at the Asian man's empty bed, already guessing the answer.
Alvaro shrugged.
Isolated island, orphans no one will look for... Damn! It all smells very bad! No matter how or where you run from here, they will catch up with you. From the depths of my memory, the text came back verbatim: "Take the host, it's a matter of life and death. Remember: you are not alone.
Someone is watching him, and knows where he is and what is wrong with him? Luke shook his head. No, this was beginning to sound crazy.
The door creaked and an Asian man came in, Alvaro addressed him at once, and the interpreter reproduced the man's words: Cambodian boy, near Vietnam, his parents were dead.
Was Alvaro right after all? I wanted to try to escape right now, but Luka convinced himself that he had to check the reality of the threat, because at the moment it was nothing more than speculation, a figment of a sick fantasy. It was better to sleep, for it would be better in the morning.
A strange thought came to me: due to an increase in cortisol levels, a good night's sleep would be impossible. And I was asked: can I bring my cortisol levels back to normal?
Of course I would! What kind of question is that to ask myself? And what is cortisol anyway? Only Luka allowed to normalize the hormonal background, anxiety disappeared, it became easy and calm.
He fell asleep thinking that he had finally learned to control himself. And he woke up from a long beep from the speakers. A pleasant female voice announced that it was eight in the morning, and it was time to wake up. After a half-minute pause, the instruction followed:
- Group One, you are to proceed to the canteen, after which a guide will be waiting to escort you to the laboratory.
Luca was reminded of the horrors they had discussed with Alvaro, and his mood worsened. But at least it would finally become clear what kind of test fate had prepared, and whether danger was imminent.
Alvaro yawned, dangled his legs off the bed, and looked at Luca as if he were seeing him off to his last battle.
- Good luck, bro," he said, and the headphones and translator on the headboard reproduced his words in Croatian. - I'll have breakfast later.
The Asian neighbor didn't get up at all, just muttered something in his own language, rolled over to the wall and covered his head with a pillow - a good night for a guy!
On the way to the canteen, Luka wondered what he should do. Unfortunately, there was only one thing to do: go to the lab and see what was there. The thought was replaced by a reflection on last night, when Luka's thought effort lowered his cortisol levels - what if he could do it again, so that he didn't...
The mental answer came instantly: it's done. And again his uneasiness subsided, his heart began to beat steadily. That's great! I remembered the holiday and how Luka was kept under water for a minute and a half. He could do longer, but he did not want to scare the boys. And with Chloe he was indefatigable, and with Paula. Surprised by his abilities, they literally begged for mercy, though he usually did not like his own overzealousness.
And how far he swam, and not tired at all! And all because strange things were happening to his body, which he realized only now. It was as if a powerful stimulant had been added to his food...
And
immediately he received the mental answer that there was no foreign
chemical content in his blood.
The excited Luca wanted to
test the new features, but not out in the open, in the woods, for
example. When he looked around and noticed the wrinkled girls coming
out of the enclosure, he rushed into the jungle, found a clearing
where he would not be seen, sat down, strained, jumped up... About a
meter and a half, that's right! With dexterity of a monkey he climbed
up the shaggy trunk of a palm tree, descended, got on a branchy tree
and began, swaying, tossing himself from branch to branch, imitating
Tarzan.
Holding on with one hand, he effortlessly pulled himself up thirty times!
What is this? Is he turning into Spider-Man, or is this a secret part of the experiment, and the entire first group acquired strange abilities?
And anyway, when did he start changing? Probably after he crashed his rival's Tuareg, or he'd have rolled the car into a pancake in a fit of rage. But had the change really begun on the island? My memory was aided by a caught flowerpot flying at the recruiter's head. No, earlier, in Croatia. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything out of other people's hands then, unless you count Erna, but she was like a sister to him!
He'd better not say anything to anyone, or they'll lock him up in the lab. He came downstairs, straightened his shirt, shook off his jeans, and ran to the mess hall.
After a hearty and varied breakfast, Luca walked outside to the girl who accompanied them with Paula. When twenty people gathered around, she smiled, congratulated them on the start of the day, and promised a journey into an uncharted land of sensations.
We walked around the pad, where there were no helicopters, and headed for the checkpoint, behind which was a blue gate in a three-meter concrete fence with barbed wire, flung on top.
- Why the fence and everything? - Luca asked the girl.
- Our developments are classified, and quantum computers are expensive," she said what he had heard from Paula. - The equipment here is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Naturally, the island area is divided into protected sectors.
Makes sense, there's nothing to be picky about. The escort stepped up to the sensor panel built into the gate, let her iris scan, and the iron door, which seemed primitive, slid open.
Turning to the twenty young men, mostly Europeans, she explained just as friendly:
- After the medical exam, your information will be entered into the database, and you can come to the lab without a chaperone.
- Shit, another checkup," the girl mumbled quietly from behind, but the interpreter caught it and translated.
The chaperone looked at her and smiled:
- Nothing scary or unpleasant: a bioresonance examination, it's quick and painless. They put on a hoop, connect the electrodes, and check if everything is all right. Then they put you in an immersion capsule and... And your journey into a new world begins!
"I hope not to the next world", - thought Luka and first stepped through the gate, passed through the metal detector frame and headed for a two-storey building of barrack type, similar to where they lived, only here the entire first floor was without windows.
As it turned out, inside it resembled a hospital. More precisely, a mental hospital with tightly closed doors. Or a laboratory for human experimentation. Opposite the exit was the diagnostic center, consisting of a waiting room with artificial greenery and brown leather couches, which were immediately occupied by anxious girls. Behind a glass wall there were two armchairs, in front of them sat at computers women in light green medical suits, one fat, with cheeks lying almost on her shoulders, the other skinny and swarthy, her face resembled a baked apple.
- Numbers one and two, please! - The attendant waved her hand, and the glass sashes parted, and a fat, jerky-looking lad and a little redheaded girl moved toward the armchairs, sat down, took off their chains, and the girl her rings and earrings.
The sashes moved together, cutting off the sounds.
Ten minutes later, the third and fourth were invited in, and this couple was asked to wait.
When the fifth and sixth went to be examined, the first four were taken away. "Cut up for organs," Erna's voice sounded almost haunting. Funny, Jasenka hardly came to mind, and neither did any other mistresses, but my friend did.
There was really nothing unpleasant about the examination: the iris was scanned, headphones and bracelets were put on, something beeped. The screen was turned away from Luke, so he couldn't see what was there.
- Wow," the female doctor said, "that's the second time I've seen that: a perfectly healthy young man! No parasitic infestations or even pathogenic protozoa! Julie, look at this miracle!
Finished with her patient, over the full woman doctor leaned a skinny hag, looked at the screen, at Luke, back to the screen.
-
I must have chronic maxillary sinusitis, and I had hepatitis, and
also my eyesight, - said Luke, while the doctors were looking at him,
and bit his tongue, realizing that suddenly his eyesight was all
right: he could see every wrinkle on the skinny doctor's face, every
gray strand.
Only now it dawned on him that his vision had
returned earlier, he just didn't understand why the world had become
so bright and clear. And if the doctors compare the results of the
examination of the first one a week ago and the current one...
No, they wouldn't; they only took blood, tapped him on the knee, measured his blood pressure, and asked him to look at his curls and tell them where the hole was.
- You're perfectly all right," she summed up with a certain amount of envy, and he got nervous that by some miracle their device would reveal the cause of this oddity, and Luca would be exposed and sent to the experiments.
But the anomaly proved inconspicuous, and Luca was released, and as soon as he stepped into the waiting room, Paula's returning partner led the other four to test the game universe.
First, they were shown two-meter-long black boxes that looked like electrical transformers-quantum computers; there were eight of them. Then they were taken to a second room, where there were... coffins. Glass coffins as tall as a man, filled with yellow liquid. Four of the coffins held beta testers with oxygen masks on their faces, and four more capsules had their lids pulled back.
If they had intended to saw them into organs, they would not have made this hoax - too costly. But could we be reassured that everything would be all right?
- Strip down to your underwear, get into the capsules, and then I'll hook you up.
Now was the moment of truth. Luke glanced at the girl in the next capsule: she twitched as if in a dream, nothing terrible happened to her.
Everyone began to undress, and Luca took off his pants, so as not to sound like a coward. He took off his shirt. He climbed into the glass coffin.
A smiling, dark-haired girl came up to him, took his oxygen mask, and showed him she was going to cover his face with it. He closed his eyes, allowing it to do so. His fists clenched, he took his time taking a breath, feeling the capsule fill with fluid completely. Like a dive, he counted, counted down the minute and a half, and forced himself to breathe in. He was dizzy, and two buttons appeared in front of his eyes: a blue "In" and a yellow "Out".
He reached out and touched the blue one. Immediately the door to the unknown opened before him...