A moment before immortality

– Il, excuse me, I didn’t do it on purpose!

– You have to think! I hope it didn’t turn out as bad as Master Lucius Sat-1.

¬– What’s wrong with him? – Derek was surprised. – He opened his own company, now he is the owner of his own Corporation.

– It’s not true that in the universe he developed, the temperature is so high that elements heavier than sulfur cannot be synthesized. Nine dimensions of endlessly raging flames and the stench of sulfur dioxide. Many Creators send their guilty people to him for re-education. Okay, quickly separate the water from the land, and we’ll rest. Just this time, do everything according to the instructions!

***

– It’s true, she’s a cutie! – Derek admired the created creature.

– A neutrino in each limb! Derek, just look at this abomination! What have you done! The instructions clearly say: in your own image and likeness. And you created this creature with four tentacles instead of the required five thousand, and you call it a likeness?

– It happened. But they won’t know what I look like! Nobody will know!

Il sighed heavily. Its tentacles swayed nervously.

¬– How will your creature bud? How will she create her own kind?

– Yes, Il, I didn’t think about that. Let’s help it bud for the first time, for example, take a rib, and then they’ll figure it out on their own?

***

A multidimensional series to the beat of rustling wings. Derek approaches each cherub with a menacing look.

– Forget what you were taught at the Academy. This is your first serious work. From now on, you are not students, but real moderators of reality. The demiurge team and I will be developing new additions. Your task is simple: view add-ons and enable them at the right time. Our rivals from the Master Sata corporation may try to introduce a malicious reality. For example, they can incite our creations to quarrel among themselves. Or they may try to introduce monsters that feed on the blood of people, or turn into octopuses during high tide, or you never know what these evil trolls are capable of. You must ensure that the sun rises in the morning and that your right sock is always next to your left. And if the trolls send you some kind of incorrect reality, then throw it away mercilessly!

– For example, if the sandwich falls butter side down?

– Yes, Stefan, such things will not be needed in our universe.

***

Derek increasingly disappeared into his office, carefully watching how his creations developed. They learned to dig up the ground and make a fire. They caught fish and drove away large animals with burning branches. But most importantly, they loved each other.

And Il became darker every day.

– Again you are babysitting your monsters! Let the moderators monitor them. And you and I, let’s think about how to unwind 7 unfinished dimensions.

– I wonder what it’s like not to bud, but to give birth to a child to two parents at the same time? They have so few tentacles, but so much desire to hold each other.

– They have love, but there is no eternity ahead. Although we are running out of time. If we do not return all dimensions to order on time, then your creations will never be able to move into the seraphim phase, and then you will never give birth to a single demiurge. Maybe it’s for the better? Imagine a demiurge with four tentacles! Sin, and nothing more! I have to confess something to you. Sorry, Derek, but I told Septon Iris-1 everything. He will now bring you to your senses and will not allow you to ruin the universe we created.

– But unraveling reality will destroy my creations!

– Let’s create new ones, ten-dimensional, healthy, with all the necessary tentacles! I’ve already taken care of everything. I picked one of the Fruits of Knowledge and gave it to your man. You know what they do to the lower ones who encroach on the Fruit?

Derek hit Il’s cheek with a dozen tentacles.

– You have always envied me, Il! Why did you act so meanly? I fell in love with these kids. I have never loved so much before. And you’re trying to kill them.

«You’re an upstart, Derek.» Your dad promoted you up the career ladder immediately after his elevation to demiurge. But I achieved everything with my own labor, and now I’m forced to work part-time as your assistant, watching you raise monsters!

– I will not allow my first universe to be destroyed! I will escape from Eden, and hide my people away from the eyes of any of the titans.

Before Il had time to come to his senses, Derek disappeared into the infinity of space.

Septon Iris-1 appeared in the office.

– Septon, if you had appeared a couple of moments ago, you could have captured this upstart! But it’s not too late to catch up with him!

– Let him run away. We won’t chase him.

– But Master Septon! He stole the universe!

¬– Il Zamar-8. Remember who you’re talking to!

– Sorry, Master!

– Or, demiurges as talented as Derek have not been born in the last few dozen cycles. The last one equal to him in talent was me. When I caused trouble in my own universe, I also expected my pets to be expelled and destroyed. I also had a good friend. He then handed me over to his mentor, and for a century now he has been trying to prove that his inferno universe is better than my creation. Every Creator in history had such a friend.

By the way, your father is also one of my offspring.

It seems to you that Derek made a mistake, did not work according to the instructions, created something wrong. But he created love, and this cannot be a mistake.

***

Eli also escaped from Eden. He continued to do all sorts of intrigues in the world created by Derek. But reality moderators constantly correct his mischief. Immortals have their own quirks, what else can they do out of boredom? And moderators must always be on their guard.

Have you ever had such cases? Put the comb on the table. He turned away and was still not there. Turn the mug over so that the moderators receive a notification about the error and fix it immediately.

Almost grown up, almost perfect

A long corridor that smelled of cutlets. Three large windows, dispelling the twilight even in cloudy winter. Under the poster, on the beige flowered wallpaper, in clumsy block letters it says: «I love Lenka.»

The kids rushed noisily along the corridor, pushing each other. Jumpers, notebooks, and sometimes briefcases were scattered. Vasya finished the bun, and crumbs fell onto the floor. Isolde Viktorovna barely had to appear from the back office before almost deathly silence reigned. The children, not yet hearing what they would be accused of, but already realizing the severity of the guilt, lowered their heads and stood near the windowsills. The history teacher, who was also the deputy director for educational work, was strict, but fair, and always defended the tomboys if conflicts went beyond the boundaries of school. Everyone was afraid of her, but they loved her.

– What’s the matter? – Isolda Viktorovna asked without raising her voice, but in the silence that reigned she sounded louder than using a megaphone. – Should I repeat the question? Have you decided to play the silent game now? Sementsov?

– He called me names! You know how unpleasant it is! – the boy almost jumped out of his seat, was already preparing his fists, but stopped under the menacing gaze of the teacher.

– And he ate my cake! Without permission! Glutton!

– So you wouldn’t eat anyway! He left it on the table and left the dining room.

– I didn’t leave, I just carried the plate. You’re the one who always leaves dirty dishes on the table and doesn’t clean up after yourself. And my parents taught me culture, unlike some.

– Let’s go to my office, write explanatory notes!

The guys sighed, but there was nothing to do: they trudged, heads down, towards the «torture room,» as the office at the end of the corridor was jokingly called.

Every fifth grade is a threat to the school. The tomboys escaped from under the warm wing of their cool mother, under whose watchful gaze they made hooks and sticks in one lesson, and in the next lesson they learned to add numbers in a column. Now it’s every man for himself, no one reminds you about the need to hand in a test book or any other debts. So they rush through the corridors in order to somehow smooth out the dissonance between ending childhood and forced adulthood.

There was an uncertain knock on the method room.

«Come in, Violetta Stepanovna,» said Isolda Viktorovna, pointing the short teacher to a chair. The guilty boys stood with their heads down. The room is cool.

– I’ll wait. After the antics of the fifth grade, I really didn’t want to sit. Do you know what they did? The button was planted. On a chair. To me! Honored Teacher of the Year! And this is for all the work, for the soul that I completely invested in raising… and in the end I raised these!

An awkward silence reigned. The boys seemed to lower their heads even lower. A moment, and, like ostriches, they will bury themselves in the sand. By the way, Violetta Stepanovna really has been giving all her best at work for the last twenty-five odd years. Personal life did not work out. She was a good person, her students loved her, but her own children at home did not extend their hands and did not smile joyfully. It’s all the more offensive to accept that children are imperfect. These sprouts will bear fruit after many years. And today they can be as bitter as green apricots. Even unripe fruits can make your stomach ache.

– What kind of young people went? We spent our childhood on the street and were family friends. And after the invention of this «virtuality» of theirs, they buried themselves in Technopolis; the modulator chip cannot be pulled out of the back of their heads. This is where aggression comes from! When I was in sixth grade, I just thought about taking my mobile phone out of my pocket when I immediately got hit on my fingers with a pointer. And I always remembered that devices have no place in the classroom. And the thought would not arise to cause trouble for teachers.

Kindness is not at all what they need. Sometimes you feel, when entering a classroom, that you are in a cage with tigers who are directing their hungry gaze at you. If you turn away, miss something from your attention, they will immediately bite you, and at the most unexpected moment. But when they feel strong, they can be led on any adventures. I’m not sure that they will remember you in a couple of years, but these smiling «robbers» will remain a part of your life forever, and they will often be missed. Probably many of them perceive kindness as a sign of weakness?

– Sorry. Violetta Stepanovna! – crocodile tears flowed down Vasya Pukhlin’s cheeks.

«You shouldn’t be so categorical,» Isolda Viktorovna looked at her colleague over her glasses. – Ordinary youth. No worse and no better than us. They live in a different time, with different technical capabilities, but people are always the same.

Technological progress has touched every corner of the universe. Skyscrapers have mushroomed, even in small cities. But the school, built in the sixties of the last century, remained the same school. Every five years, major renovations are done here. But the light bulbs do not light up everywhere: only where they were purchased by parents or responsible teachers, since the state budget has no time for such small everyday problems, they think globally. During recess, most children are immersed in virtuality, and Technopolis, a network «city» of extended reality, is used in lessons. But if you face the truth, even before the invention of computers, not everyone carried out changes in libraries – pranks are always more interesting.

Many schools are the same, with minor differences. A light rain was falling. The wind pierced to the bones, but in March the hope for quick warmth and greenery did not fade. Eternal summer is not bad at all. But remember the sunny countries of Africa – would you like to live like this – in endless stuffiness, where there is no escape from mosquitoes and numerous diseases? Spring is twice beautiful after prolonged frosts and snows. And the light rain, even though it contained snow that melted before reaching the asphalt, did not spoil the mood. Spring! Her scent is in every first blade of grass, it is dispersed in the air. The children are smiling and waving their briefcases. Remembering the tests, they begin to frown. But then they agree on an evening walk, and the sadness disappears!

The school yard has been swept. Hardworking janitor bees have no time for sleep early in the morning: they are preparing for the arrival of the younger generation. The cleaning robots didn’t get into the Temple of Science: let them clean the corridors of the Centrum. Children need to be led by example, and isn’t a clean schoolyard worth a thousand words about cleaning and cleanliness? A flag flutters above the entrance, and next to it is an electronic board with the name of the school. Around the corner, high school students are eating the first forbidden fruits of the gray serpent. Some time ago, young people dabbled with electronic devices, but doctors proved that vaping is more dangerous than a regular cigarette. Although, what should we tell them about the danger: who among us did not break the rules during our school years? But this is the main right of youth – to make mistakes for which you are not ashamed later.

The cloakroom attendant smiles welcomingly. The high school students on duty have been on their feet since early morning. They meticulously check everyone’s shoes and demand that they put their jackets in the cloakroom. Children are running along the corridors, laughing. A couple of boys are playing table tennis. The dining room smells like cutlets. It’s morning, but there’s already a line at the window for rolls and pizza. Teenagers are constantly hungry. They grow and change beyond recognition every month. These very similar schools have completely different students. Each of them is a whole world, a universe, with its own experiences and problems. Hobbies. This short, smiling guy has been going to judo for seven years and earns medals. And this one seems to be a future cybersportsman. Here is a flock of guys huddled at the windowsill. Under the proud gaze of the excellent student, they copy something from her notebook.

«I’m thinking about leaving,» said Violetta Stepanovna. – I was offered a place at the Ideal school, and every day I want to agree to go there more and more.

Vasya and Seryozha looked at each other. There were various rumors about these very Ideal Ones. They said that the Government, through cloning, bred people who never got sick and could work at least twice as hard as any mortal. But the main thing: they were not bound by bonds of emotions. Even children are always cultured and courteous, and have never committed any offenses. The ideal couple now studied at this school. Too sweet, according to their classmates, but most of the teachers’ attention belonged to them. Their peers hated them.

– Please don’t leave! – Vaska burst into tears more than ever. – We won’t do this again. True true! It was the last time. Don’t change us or them!

But this story is not about ideal people. Of course, we all strive for the ideal, but a monotonous life is gray and boring. Violetta Stepanovna will work at the Ideal School for some time, but then return to the regular school: once you set foot on its threshold, it is difficult to imagine yourself in another field. Fifth-graders who are taking their first steps into adulthood will also remain without our attention for now. But these two guys, who already look like adults, are head and shoulders above the teachers, or even more. But they are adults only in appearance, but at heart they are still the same tomboys. The games just got more serious, older

Dimka squinted one eye so that the cigarette smoke would not corrode the mucous membrane of the eye. Ask any smoker why he started smoking, and he is unlikely to tell the truth: «I just wanted to be like everyone else, I don’t have my own opinion.» A white cap hid a chip reader on the back of his head. Behind his back is a bottomless briefcase with many «treasures»: screwdrivers, knives, wires. Mitya is two heads taller than Dima.

– What did she tell you? – asked Mitya, a boy with a piercing in his left ear and a tattoo of a skeleton on his right hand.

– Yes, that’s what she said. Like, let’s just be friends. Is this why I carried her briefcase five years ago? And wrote essays on Shakespeare to stay in the «friend zone»? I drew flowers for March 8th. My mother is raising me alone: where can I get money for real flowers? Nowadays, plants are rare, almost a curiosity. They are worth a lot of money! Vasilko, he gets money from his father, he is a Guardian. Do I have to spend a thousand years looking for a girl? Or neither eat nor drink – save up for a flower?

A bone-chilling wind was blowing. The sun was hidden behind fluffy gray clouds. A fine nasty rain fell. But spring is even in the smells. And there was no question of hiding from nature under an umbrella: it was about to get warm. It’s anticipation in every second. There are no trees in megacities for a long time, but the first birds, obeying age-old reflexes, have already begun to return home to the roofs of skyscrapers.

– Let’s beat up Vaska? – Mitka suggested. – I will skin anyone for my brother!

– Thank you brother. I didn’t have a good relationship with my siblings, although I found a kindred spirit in you. But I tried yesterday. Do you see the bruise on his face? – Dimka turned around. There was a black bruise all over my cheek.

– Yeah!

– Same thing. He rarely walks alone, hanging out with his buddies. I told him: «Come on one on one, be a man!», and he set a mob on me. In the evening, my mother also told me that I wanted to fight. World is not fair!

– So let’s call our friends. I have many good friends. They won’t refuse me.

– And you, Mitka, are my only friend. I guess I’ve known you for ten years. We even went to the same kindergarten. You can’t have many friends: one, maximum two, and only if you’re lucky. The rest are like acquaintances, fellow travelers in the gravity car of life. Like a sieve, she will weed them out, leaving the most devoted ones. I don’t want to make such «temporary friends»

– So who are we going to call?

«No need,» Dima said confidently. – I’ll figure it out myself.

– Exactly?

– Yeah!

– You speak up if anything happens! – Mitka winked conspiratorially, and Dimka, sad until that moment, smiled for the first time during the break.

The bell rang. The children gravitated to the old school – the only stain of the past, pre-skyscraper era.

– Let’s go to? – Mitya stood up and hung his backpack over his shoulders. Backpacks have not gone out of fashion – every young man has one on his back. And what is convenient and practical. – There’s no need to be late. Otherwise Violetta Stepanovna will swear again.

«I won’t go to mathematics,» said Dima. – Why did she give in to me?

– But the test. And exams are just around the corner.

– Don’t care about exams! Why do I need a diploma? Should I get in line for mating? Not with anyone. Marinka made it clear that she would not be with me. I’d rather go to the Guardians.

The time for open relationships is long gone. The state took control of family planning. And now, in order to have a child, you need to stand in line for mating. After all, even the construction of skyscrapers did not solve the problem of overpopulation. But not everyone got this right: only the smartest, or the strongest, or in other ways superior to other people. An ordinary «C» student does not need to prolong the family line, according to the state.

– Mitya, you go to mathematics yourself.

– And you?

– And I’m going to rob Centrum Bank! Look, I can get Marinka this way too! – Dimka laughed hysterically. But Mitya knew his best friend too well: he rarely joked. And in general he had no sense of humor.

«I’ll go with you,» said the boy with a piercing in his ear, lowering his backpack onto the asphalt.

– But I was joking!

– I know your jokes.

– Don’t be stupid, Mitya. Okay, I’m going: I have nothing to lose. And why do you need it?

– Why should I catch on the «tower» without you? It’s just boring, numbers, and that’s all!

The reasons for teenagers’ actions are to oppose themselves to the whole world, to show their uniqueness and difference. And for some, on the contrary, for company. For the sake of a friend, through fire and water. Mitya often followed Dimka’s lead and others. He made the piercing like the lead singer of the Rocker Stars. The tattoo is very similar to the symbolism of the Blackened group. And Mitka, of course, contracted the teenage addiction to nicotine from Dimka.

– Listen, Dim. Why are you friends with me?

– You’re cool, funny. But not only that. How do you like Kolka, new guy?

– Which one is Ideal? – asked Mitya.

– Yeah, he’s the one.

– Boring, like all clones.

«That’s the same,» said Dima. – They look alike. And you are wrong. You often infuriate me with your jokes and antics. Sometimes when you blurt out something, I want to kill you. But as soon as we part for an hour or two, it immediately becomes empty. If you were Ideal, I wouldn’t be friends with you. Okay, enough talk. Insert the chip into the back of your head and let’s go!

An electric discharge passed through the body. The world was filled with new colors and changed. It became lighter. Before your eyes is a navigation panel. Dima increased the subjective temperature and removed the wind.

– And I recommend it to you – otherwise you’ll be chilled to the bones!

Mitya smiled and repeated the procedure. The boys looked at the lifeless bodies of their avatars, who were sitting on the asphalt.

– I hope that while we are in the virtual world, no one will find us in real life? – asked Mitya.

«We won’t stay long,» Dima answered. – Taking out the «Gargoyle Wings» will not open a teleport to the Bank.

Behind the backs of the teenagers there are wings that look like bats. By the way, the appearance of the guys has changed considerably: both are muscular, tall, and 10 years older. Augmented reality made it possible to change the appearance to taste. They soared up and flew over the tops of skyscrapers, and sometimes flying through steel walls. And in every room there is a fragment of someone’s secret life. But the new era cannot keep secrets. Only the richest can afford to buy virtuality broadcast suppressors. Well, it’s the same in government facilities. And so, go into any apartment in virtual form and look into someone else’s, once private, life. A world without borders, a world without castles.

– Do you know where to fly? – asked Mitya.

– Let’s go down to this roof. The security system here is weaker.

– Listen, what if we get caught?

– Don’t whine like a woman! – Dimka grinned somehow ominously. – I suggested to you right away: go to mathematics. He himself wanted to go with me.

– I’m a boy, I’m not a woman!

– Don’t drift! You haven’t forgotten who you’re dealing with, have you? I took second place at the Young Programmer Olympiad

As soon as he landed on the roof, two huge stone troll statues came to life.

– This is what I understand – a security system! Nobody promised that it would be easy!

The troll hit the roof, sending a shock wave in all directions.

– Mitya, don’t step on these blue symbols. These are beacons: you can’t wash them off. And then the Guardians will quickly figure you out.

Dima issued some combination of commands, and a scarlet whip shone in his hand, sparkling with energy. The blow – and the troll shattered into fragments, turning into a pile of stones.

– Will you teach me to do this too? – Delight was visible in Mitka’s eyes.

– No need to skip computer science lessons, that’s the whole secret!

Dima entered another combination of commands, and a gap appeared in the wall (of course, only in virtuality, but this was enough to get inside)

Along the walls there were shelves with various information. But the most interesting thing is in the center of the hall, which ended the long corridor. A sphere glowing in various shades of blue, flowing with energy.

– What is this? – Mitka whispered spellbound.

– Looks like this is the Server Key! Mit, we are rich! Now, to get any information we are interested in, we don’t even need to wander around Technopolis! You need to grab it and make legs!