Literature - Sergei Lukyanenko. Labyrinth of reflections. Continued, began in PLUTONIUM #10 - #10.5, #13.

    
    
    
    
    
(с) C.Лукьяненко                                                
(r) Александр Смирнов                                           
                                                                
                      ЛАБUPUНT OTPАЖEНUЙ                        
                                                                
       (Продолжение, начало в PLUTONIUM #10 - #10.5, #13)       
                                                                
                               11                               
                                                                
     Когда я очистил компьютер от вируса-открытки и упаковал до-
бытый файл - теперь он будет выглядеть в виртуальности как обыч-
ная дискета - наступила полночь.  Голова больше неsick, sleep
I didn't want absolutely.  Who  from the inhabitants of Deeptown is sleeping
at night?                                                          
  “Vika, reboot,” I commanded.                     
     The thoughtful female face on the screen frowned.             
     - Really?                                                  
     - Of course.                                                 
     The screen dimmed slightly, the image was blurred. Then computer
The computer flashed the hard drive indicator,overbooting. The car is
I'm not serious, "Pentium", but change it to a more advanced one
hands don't go up. An old horse won't ruin the furrow.           
     - Good evening, Lenya, - said Vika. - I'm ready to work. 
  - Thank you. Connect to Deeptown... through a regular channel.  
     The modem clicked, dialing a number. I pulled on my helmet and sat down.        
     - Connection for twenty-eight eight hundred, channel stable
ny, - said Vika.                                            
     - Turn on dip.                                             
     - Done.                                               
    Blue, white flash in the center of the screen, then - different
vetier.                                                          
     How were you able to create a deep program, Dima? With his unhinged
mentality, amateurish knowledge of psychology, the most
mental knowledge in the field of neurophysiology? What helped you?
 Now that you are rich and famous, thatare you trying to do
bark?  Understand your own insight or come up with something else
more amazing? Do you just get wild and smoke weed in
your pleasure? Do you wander the streets all day and night
Deeptown, looking at the work of your own hands?                             
    I would like to know. But - I won’t be in your place. Why are you
just an ordinary inhabitant of virtuality, with all his millions
and a prototype of the G8 as a home computer. Depth
holds you as tenaciously as a provincial programmer from
Russian outback, saving money for months for a visit to Dipta-
un.                                                             
     You are not a diver, Dima. U because I'm happier than you.            
     ...The room is the same, but outside the window there are flashes of advertising and light noise
cars.                                                          
     - Is everything okay, Lenya?  I look around.                                               
     - Yes. I'll go for a walk, Vika.                              
    I take the floppy disk with the extracted file from the table, I hide it in my pocket. On
on the shelf, among a dozen books and a stack of side tables, lies a player. 3a-
I put the ELO disk into it, put on my headphones, and turn it on. "Roll Over"
Beethoven". Which is exactly what I wanted. I leave kbaptu to cheerful music
ry, I lock the door.                                              
     This time there are no bugs. On the sidewalk I raise my hand, brake
I'm waiting for a taxi.  The driver this time is elderly, heavyset, very intelligent.
Ligent man.                                              
     - The Deep-Conductor company is pleased to welcome you, Lenya!  
     I nod and sit down:                                             
     - To the Three Little Pigs restaurant.                             
     The driver nods, he knows this address. Let's go fast, coupleturns - and in front of us is a strange building - partly stone,
partly wooden, partly made of straw mats. I go into
A restaurant I’ve known for a long time, I look around.                       
     The room is divided into three parts - oriental cuisine dishes
they give you in the one built from mats, you can taste the European one
in stone, Russian, naturally, in wood.               
     I don't feel like eating.  Virtual food is subjectively satiating,
and when I am in complete financial stress, I start eating at
"The Three Little Pigs." But now we just have to wait for the accomplice.   
    Go straight to the bar counter, behind which stands a dense young man
a man takes off his headphones as he walks.                             
     - Hello, Andrey. Sometimes the restaurant owner himself serves virtual clients
Comrade However, today this is clearly not the case. The bartender's eyes come alive -
Yes, but this is a purely mechanical courtesy:                       
     - Hello! What will you drink?                             
     - Gin and tonic, with ice, regular.                           
    I watch how the bartender mixes the drink.  Tonic is real
"Schweppes", gin - decent "beefeater".  Companies producing
alcohol, allow you to use images of their pro-
duction for the most nominal fee. Advertising...                 
     "Pepsi-Cola" in general is free - it was their advertising ploy.
3ato "Coca-Cola" costs exactly the same as in reality. They buy it.                                             
     I take a glass and sit down at a free table. I'm watching
visitors. It's always interesting.                             
     There are approximately equal numbers of men and women. Women, everything is as it is
selection, beauties. The most diverse, from Scandinavian blondes
and up to black women with anthracite skin.  Guys, mostly,
freaks. No, on actually it's not. Just my subconscious
notices all the stupidities in the virtual guises of men - and dispro-
a portion of overly muscular figures, and too recognizable physiognomies
Mii kuhoaktepob, stuck on the bodies of bodybuilders.              
     An exception is mercifully made for women. They're all beautiful
.   I take a sip of gin and relax on the counter. Fine
.   Not a single real bar or restaurantcompares with virtual
nom. The food is always delicious here. You don't have to wait here
waiters A horse's dose of alcohol will not cause a hangover.       
     But you can quite get drunk.  After all, experience in this this business
there is... and the subconscious happily dives into the alcoholic dope. Mo-
perhaps at this time the body begins to produce natural
new drugs - endorphins,  I don’t know. In any case, after you
Coming from the depths, intoxication does not go away immediately.                    
                                                                
                     TO BE CONTINUED...