A moment before immortality

I make my way along the long corridor in search of the desired compartment. A forest of bare legs looms above. And here is my place. The sheet and duvet cover are neatly folded on the bed.

– Young man, will you have some tea? – asked the conductor droid.

– Yes, black with a spoon of sugar, please.

A couple of minutes – and the steaming drink in the glass stood in front of me. Apparently, this glass holder was made in the mid-twentieth century – a real rarity.

– Are you busy? Apparently this is my place.

The compartment neighbor turned out to be a blond, curly-haired girl. My heart seemed to beat a little faster at the sight of her. Only this familiar look: emptiness and absolute detachment. Elf?

– I’m Ilya.

«And I’m Alena,» she extended her hand, but instead of shaking hands, I involuntarily brought it to my lips. Alena pulled away.

– Let’s have breakfast?

I took a printer out of my bag and set a program for boiled chicken, and Alena printed out cucumbers and boiled jacket potatoes on hers. At first we ate in silence, I glanced at her casually, and she lowered her eyes. Then we started talking.

– I had lung cancer, stage four. The doctors didn’t give me even a year. I didn’t have much choice: either voluntary vaccination or a grave. You can’t imagine these feelings! First, the whole body is shrouded in a veil of indescribable pain. And then relief: there is no endless burning in the chest, even without painkillers. The doctor carried out repeated examinations: there was no trace of the tumor.

«My wife also got an injection. More precisely, the ex-wife was very worried about her appearance. Seeing the first wrinkle, she signed up for vaccination. Since then, she has not left the mirror, admiring her ideal appearance day and night. Tell me, should I have continued to work, equipping her with new doses of cosmetics, and in the evenings watch her profile in the mirror? And every family that took the «dwarven medicine» has its own little tragedies. Therefore, many did not like those who were impressed. Who needs people functions?

– Many of our people have sunk to the level of «former intelligent people.» Although, there were no «ours» – everyone came to the hospital to solve their own problems. To achieve something, you need to work on yourself for years and constantly improve. Studies have shown that it takes six weeks to go down. Forty days – and now you are already accustomed to being at the bottom, from which you can again get out through years of work on yourself, which the impressed are no longer capable of.

Meanwhile, the space elevator had already lifted our car into orbit. Now we will reach the required speed value – and forward to the conquest of Mars: for those who have not yet been to their planet. We were rotating along an axis, so the view outside the window was fabulous: the stars merged into stripes and circles, creating a feeling of wish fulfillment.

– Are you impressed too?

«Yes, unfortunately, I am no exception,» Alena answered me.

– On what? What does it feel like to be impressed?

– I myself didn’t notice the moment of transition. One day I noticed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to remain without Tolik, my husband. We leave for work, and all my thoughts revolve only around him. I tried to hide my endless love for my husband from those around me, but Tolik apparently noticed something. I suggested that he give himself an injection, but he categorically refused.

How I understand you, Tolyan! I remember Karina’s face when she did not leave the mirror for hours on end, forgetting about sleep, and about food, and about me. I also vowed to myself to live an ordinary mortal life.

«That’s how we lived until his old age,» Alena continued. «And then he had a heart attack.» I made a diamond from his ashes, which I still keep close to my heart. You can’t imagine how much effort it takes me not to give up, just to continue living. There’s an eternity ahead, but I don’t know what to do the next morning.

«Or maybe…» I kissed her on the cheek. – Tolik will understand. You don’t lose anything.

During the kiss, her empty eyes looked like the artificial eyes of a robotic toy. I pulled off her clothes, and only the lines and circles of stars in the emptiness of space witnessed what happened next.

– Ilya, I love you!

– And I love you, sun!

– You did not understand! Impressive, you cured him. I don’t love Tolik anymore.

On the third day, we landed on the surface of the red planet, and Alena took me to the nearest medical center.

– Get this vaccination. For me. I don’t want to lose another person close to me.

It smelled of alcohol and carbolic acid. Under the fluorescent light, the nurse droid administered the injection. A burning wave of pain passed through my entire body, and then I felt an irresistible urge to go to the mirror. O Mars, what facial features! Why didn’t I notice in the reflection of the mirror before – how handsome I am! Smoothed an unruly strand of hair. Perfect! I suddenly realized that I was ready to stay here, near the mirror for an hour, for two… for a year? Karina, how I now understand your passion for mirrors.

Alena pulled me by the hand. Now the elf family will have an eternity of love. Alena will love me until the end of time. And I will love myself until the Universe shrinks into a point, and then a new one is born.

Universe without an observer

The clock hands crossed midnight. This was not the first time that two men emptied the contents of vessels resembling a Klein bottle in their favorite bar, «Klein Bottle.» Fortunately, the curfew had been abolished by the beginning of the twenty-second century, so visitors who had stayed for so long were not in danger. The bartender was silently wiping beer glasses behind the bar: there was nothing you could say to regular customers. But the music had already been turned off, so there was almost silence in the usually noisy room, except for two quiet voices. It smelled of beer and fried crackers.

– Listen, Vasya! There is no God on Earth. Maybe it once existed, but it left us long ago. Or it never existed.

– Tolya, where did you get the idea?

– Look around! Hundreds of infomaniacs are snooping here and there. They don’t work anywhere, and spend everything they steal on virtual entertainment. But the most worthy among us get cancer. They go to work. They spend everything they earn only on their family. Yes, maybe the church blog is not visited every Sunday, but is the essence of faith in a couple of likes? And then one day they are diagnosed with an incurable disease. And infomaniacs, just as they lived in a world of illusions, will continue to live without doing anything useful to the world. Either this god is a villain, or he doesn’t care about us, and he has derailed our lives. Or it doesn’t exist.

There is a philosopher dormant in each of us. And he wakes up when our main personality is on the verge of shutting down, for example, after a hefty dose of alcohol.

– You’re wrong. Let’s look at this from a different perspective. What happens to a small particle that no one is watching? It is located in several places at the same time with a certain degree of probability, until an outside observer appears. I would not want to live in a world without God: it would be a probabilistic hell. Objects would exist and not exist at the same time, they would be in different places. Until you deign to look at them. But our Universe is ideal, finely tuned: the atoms are just such a size that the world does not crumble into a handful of scattered ashes of small particles.

***

The midday sun seemed to burn to the bones. Although there were moments when the light suddenly disappeared, and pitch darkness set in, only a scattering of distant stars flickered in the distance. Sometimes the light of the stars obscured the entire sky, and then without glasses it was impossible to open the eyelids. Tamara gazed at the skyscraper, endlessly stretching upward. If it ended somewhere, then the human eye could not see its edges.

– Seryozha, where are you?!

– Tamara, turn around.

She turned around. The man’s hands had already partially turned into fog, but as soon as he looked at him, they immediately took on their normal form. She turned her head back, but the skyscraper was no longer there.

– You’re like a newbie! We agreed: you look at the Directory when I look at you. Then we change. Otherwise, without an observer, the building could end up anywhere on the planet. Just like you and me.

– Sorry. Near the Directory, the probabilistic blur is stronger than usual.

– And no one promised a simple operation. It’s good that the Directory stands out even compared to other skyscrapers in size. Look, she’s there. In the east. Be attentive!

Tamara waved her hand in the air, and a pass to the Directory appeared in it. For a statistician of her rank, creating a hiding place in the depths of probability was not difficult. They went inside.

Endless whiteness and sterility. Thousands of people waited in line at the turnstiles. They stood in even rows. Such an island of absolute order in a world drowning in uncontrollable chaos.

A gray-haired man approached the registration point.

– Mister Chizhikov! – asked the red-haired woman.

– Yes. He is.

– Ilya Petrovich? – the red-haired girl looked at the passport, but at the visitor’s face.

«He’s the one,» the man was noticeably nervous. – Can you do it faster?

– I act in accordance with the instructions. Birth year two thousand one hundred and fifteen.

– Absolutely, right.

– Purpose of the visit?

The man boiled:

– A girl, really! Everything is indicated on my registration card! Read more carefully! It indicates not only the purpose of the visit, but also the time during which I will be in the center building, my academic degree, the university I graduated from, my place of work and everything you need to know!

– Man, don’t be so nervous. I didn’t come up with the registration system!

– But you are doing an excellent job. I think you’ll do even better if you don’t ask tons of questions, the answers to which can be read on the registration card.

The girl, wrinkling a dissatisfied face that grew into a too obviously feigned «polite» smile, handed over the registration sheet:

– Please, Mr. Chizhikov, come in. Welcome to the Directory.

«Thank you, girl,» the man smiled no less «politely,» pulling out a small plastic card from his thin fingers.

– Look, Mr. Chizhikov, don’t stay longer than the allotted time!

– Will try!

– Next! – it’s hard to expect such a loud and powerful voice in a fragile girl.

Two people approached the registration point – a black-haired girl and a fair-haired guy. Both are wearing motorcycle suits.

– One by one! – the redhead screamed.

– We are a married couple. Make an exception for us,» the guy smiled, showing white teeth.

The girl carefully studied the registration cards that the guy handed her through the window.

– So-so. Sergeev Sergey Sergeevich and Ulmanovskaya Tamara Ivanovna. Somehow your last names are different.

– I decided to leave my father’s surname.

– Purpose of the visit?

«Girl, everything is indicated there,» Tamara said calmly. – Scientific research.

– Come on in…

«Thank you, girl,» Sergei smiled.

–…to the metal detector! – The red-haired woman grinned.

Two pumped up guys in uniform approached them and pointed towards the steel arch.

– Please place your bags on the scanning belt.

Tamara was the first to go through the scanner, followed by Sergei.

«It’s clear,» said the guard. – It’s not them.

«Welcome to the Directory,» the red-haired woman smiled, handing passports and registration cards to the owners. – Have a good day!

But they did not rise to the minus thirtieth floor, where advanced scientific developments were carried out, but headed upstairs.

They were already waiting for them behind the elevator doors.

– Eh, I’m thinking that somehow everything is going too smoothly. «We take out weapons,» Tamara said. – You cover me with a shield, and I will attack.

Metal staves appeared in the hands of the conspirators. More precisely, another extra would have seen that the weapon was with them all this time, but hidden in the probabilistic fog.

What is the probability in a normal world that you will put your smartphone on a shelf and turn away and not find it there a couple of minutes later? Sometimes this happens. Those who are especially superstitious at such moments turn the cup over and ask the brownie to return the lost item. Who knows, maybe the brownie also has the statistic gene? One day the world changed, and objects began to disappear more and more often. At first, scientists who decided to raise this issue at serious scientific conferences were ridiculed by their colleagues. But then came the Age of Chaos. A person could go out shopping and, blinking, find himself somewhere at the South Pole, or fall asleep and wake up flying towards the Earth from somewhere on top. Soon the first people with a special talent appeared: they could change the statistical probabilities of various events with the power of thought. They were the ones who were able to stop Chaos for a while. Then humanity launched a system of CCTV cameras that scurried around the planet, and observers on huge monitors tirelessly monitored everything around them. As long as there is an observer, the world could exist only in one form. It seemed that life was beginning to return to normal. But the power of the Directory of Observers increased until one day the head of the corporation declared the worldwide hegemony of the Directory and appointed himself the sole emperor of the planet. A dictatorship of such magnitude has never existed in human history. Total control was opposed by many, and thanks to the control of reality, the Statist Revolution almost succeeded. But still, those in power turned out to be more cunning, and announced that it was the extras who were to blame for the emergence of the Age of Chaos. Total chaos is still worse than dictatorship, the memory of the universe being torn into pieces was still fresh, so people who did not possess the probabilistic gene happily handed over their former comrades in the revolution to the authorities. A scientific witch hunt began: the M gene was detected at the birth of a child, and if the test was positive, then such a child was cremated alive. The fire of the Inquisition burned as hot after a millennium as in the Middle Ages.

Extras invented weapons, the use of which was available only to those with the M-gene. The tip of the metal staff could emit energy in various forms. Moreover, the staff could be in the hand or not with the same probability, and the extras shifted the share of this probability at his own discretion. An extra could safely walk through a metal detector and then make a weapon appear in his hand. The staff was connected to a virtually inexhaustible source of energy through a wire lowered into the depths of the probabilistic fog.

A burst of machine gun fire rang out, but the police stopped without reaching the target, without passing the invisible barrier. Tamara swiped her staff through the air, and the floor beneath her attackers disappeared. And they flew down. The floor then returned to its place and the two rebels were able to move on.

The Emperor sat on a huge gilded throne. The remote control is in one hand. Instead of walls there were huge monitors that displayed thousands of events taking place in different parts of the Earth.

– Take a seat. You have three minutes until security arrives.

– Emperor, we come in peace.

– Wow, the extras came at least somewhere with peace, and not with rebellion. Are you saying your hands are clean?

«Emperor, we come in peace,» Tamara did not look away from the man’s unblinking eyes. – Don’t you notice that the fewer extras there are in the world, the more Chaos takes back for itself? Your cameras can’t do it without the help of extras! Don’t you notice that the Directory building is moving around the city?

– Who said that this wasn’t planned by me?

Tamara only now noticed the staff in the emperor’s hands. Hidden in the fog of probability.

– So you are an extra, not an observer. Sergey! Prepare your weapons.

– I am not just an observer or an extra. I am now the god of this lousy planet. What is the probability that I will die in a couple of centuries? And in a thousand? If I weren’t such a statistic, I would have succumbed to the will of the universe. But I shouted to infinity: the probability of my death is zero. And while there are no other extras on Earth, only I can control Chaos!

It seemed to Sergei that the emperor had melted into thin air, but Tamara was an extra at a higher level, so she saw how the crazy old man created four clones, and the probability of him being in the place of each of the projections was exactly 25%. An army of doubles surrounded the rebels on four sides like a quantum wave. But he can attack using each of his projections. If they were human, they would definitely be doomed.

– Seryozha. Focus on one thought. It exists with a 25% probability in one of four positions. This means that it is not present with a probability of 75% in each of the four projections. Let’s send the emperor into outer space: two observers are always stronger than one.

There was a flash, and the emperor disappeared from the Directory.

«A fairy tale,» one of the readers will say.

«Why shouldn’t there be a fair universe in the flow of multiverses, where good always triumphs over evil?» – the author will answer you.

***

– Yes, our universe is not always fair. But she is stable. The Klein Bottle bar was there yesterday and will be there tomorrow.

– Yes, let’s continue tomorrow. Waiter, check please.

Vasily rummaged in his pockets, but the wallet was not there. Although the man definitely remembered that he put it in his pocket when leaving the house. It couldn’t have happened that you put something in your pocket, and then it suddenly disappeared when you stopped looking at it?

Reality Moderators

this ever happened to you? Put the comb on the table. He turned away – and there was already no trace of her. Did he put it somewhere else, or did the brownie take it?

***

– Seven days! – Septon Iris-1 crossed his upper limbs, indicating that he would not tolerate objections.

– This is madness! No one can do it in such a short time. Initially, we discussed a period of two or three thousand years. Even Pandorra, listed in the Book of Legends, took longer than a millennium to create.

¬– Seven days. And I won’t even give you an extra hour. – The Septon vibrated subtly and changed shape, moving in multidimensional space. This was the only thing that showed his excitement.

– But we won’t make it in time!

– Derek Orson-4! Just try to delay the deadline for even an hour, and you’ll immediately fly out of Eden before you even have time to blink an eye. You will light up the stars or play melodies on super strings!

Derek tried to say something else in his defense, but Septon silenced him with a gesture.

«Derek, I gave my Word, and I intend to keep it. Will I have to make excuses to the customer, answering for your mistakes? You yourself agreed to the position of Supreme Creator. I liked the other candidates better, but your father vouched for you. You received a position through an acquaintance, but the work must be completed on time.

– But…

Septon did not listen to new excuses, he simply disappeared into the abyss of one of the spaces, now try his detectives.

***

– Seven days? Derek, are you out of your mind? Why didn’t you tell that fool Iris what you thought of him?

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 didn’t 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 they’ll kick me out, I’ll 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, let’s create only 3 dimensions. Il, sit down, don’t worry so much.

– Where are you going to put the rest? You’ll 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 wasn’t the idea! It was sarcasm! Do you know what sarcasm is?

– Don’t be so stuffy. Ha-ha, that’s a pun: stuffy spirit! Isn’t it funny?

– Not funny at all! Derek, imagine, I’m 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, don’t 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, I’m 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?

– Don’t 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? – Il’s middle limbs disappeared into one of the higher dimensions.

– Il, don’t be angry! Here, I came up with it! We don’t have to hire demiurges, do we? Let’s 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 won’t have to pay a lot of karma.

– And what can they do? They still don’t 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, it’s always because of you that we end up in a complete black hole!»

– Don’t 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, what’s there to calculate! We are running out of time, it’s 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 don’t know how to stop the expansion!

– So you didn’t read the instructions at all? Separate the light from the darkness immediately!

Derek’s 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.