Unexpected meeting. Chapter 15

The spacecraft fell silently out of hyperspace. It would seem to an outside observer that the material body simply appeared in an inconspicuous gamma-ray flash, invisible to the ordinary human eye, against the background of stars scattered through space. Paradoxically, humanity, having discovered and learned how to move in hyperspace, still could not really decide what it is.





In order to develop and understand the theory of hyperspace, humanity had to reach a new technical level of work with gravitational fields. The departure of the ship into hyperspace can be compared with the movement of a material body through a layer of water. A very thin layer of water. So subtle and ephemeral that it is practically invisible and not measurable by any means of measurement available to humanity. If a variable sound pressure is exerted pointwise on a layer of water, then subtle ripples will pass through it. To jump, the ship needs to get exactly in the center of this ripple. After the ship with its large mass penetrates the stretched water barrier, a large wave passes through the water layer, as if freeing itself. From the entrance side, it begins with the formation of a depression, from the exit side, a hill. The gravitational wave arises and passes in space once in the form of a spherical wave and damps very quickly. In the center of the sphere of gravitational perturbation, at the moment of entry into hyperspace, gravity assumes a conditionally positive value, and upon exit, it takes a negative value. Gravitational waves generated by the entrance and exit of hyperspace are the same, but they are always in antiphase at every moment in time and have multidirectional propagation vectors.

The most interesting thing is that at the same speed of the flow of time before and after the transition, the absolute values ​​of the time before and after it can vary significantly. If the ship spent one hour counted in the ship’s hyperspace, then leaving the hyperspace the time counted by the clock in ordinary space can be more than a second or a minute at long jumps or increase by a year or a century at close jumps relative to the time of entry. This is one of the greatest paradoxes of the theory of a hyperfield, or rather a combination of theories: the physical and mathematical apparatus used to describe such phenomena unambiguously declares the momentality of the transfer of a material object. In the universe, something cannot disappear for a while into nowhere, and then appear out of nowhere.

In order to go through hyperspace, you must create a transition point in ordinary space. The transfer of material objects through hyperspace is different from the process of transmitting information. Hyper-communications equipment creates a transition point that quickly closes without external directional energy recharge. To transfer the material body, it is necessary to create such an anomaly that would remain guaranteed stable until the entire ship completes the transition. The size of the anomaly should be larger. The parameters and dynamics of the anomalies are also very different, otherwise the exit point will not open or open at the predicted location, but instead of restoring the structure of matter, an emission of energy equivalent to the absorbed mass will result. Hyperconnection complexes, although complex, are compact enough, which cannot be said of hyperdrives, whose systems are distributed throughout the ship and occupy a good quarter of its volume. Power reactors and converters, plasma generators, concentrators and accelerators, laser guidance and support systems, computer systems for calculating anomaly parameters, predicting its behavior and adjustments, monitoring systems in all kinds of spectral ranges, hyperfield emitters with their complicated subsystems of hyperion pathogens. Strictly speaking, reality joked with the word "hyper drive" just like with the term "neural network" - unlike the ideas in the old science fiction literature, both of them in reality denote a distributed system, rather than a bunch of technologies located in one magic box beyond understanding of the vast majority of people. whose systems are distributed throughout the ship and occupy a good quarter of its volume. Energy reactors and converters, plasma generators, concentrators and accelerators, laser guidance and support systems, computer systems for calculating anomaly parameters, predicting its behavior and adjustments, monitoring systems in all kinds of spectral ranges, hyperfield emitters with their complicated subsystems of hyperion pathogens. Strictly speaking, reality joked with the word "hyper drive" just like with the term "neural network" - unlike the ideas in the old science fiction literature, both of them in reality denote a distributed system, rather than a bunch of technologies located in one magic box beyond understanding of the vast majority of people. whose systems are distributed throughout the ship and occupy a good quarter of its volume. Energy reactors and converters, plasma generators, concentrators and accelerators, laser guidance and support systems, computer systems for calculating anomaly parameters, predicting its behavior and adjustments, monitoring systems in all kinds of spectral ranges, hyperfield emitters with their complicated subsystems of hyperion pathogens. Strictly speaking, reality joked with the word "hyper drive" just like with the term "neural network" - unlike the ideas in the old science fiction literature, both of them in reality denote a distributed system, rather than a bunch of technologies located in one magic box beyond understanding of the vast majority of people.

The mankind has not yet developed a unified and general theory of the description of a hyperfield, although it has long been learned how to confidently move in it. Perhaps it is precisely through theoretical misunderstanding that the maximum range of a jump is limited to only one light year, overcoming of which more than a dozen hours have to be spent, and precisely those transitions are obtained in which the time outside and inside it flows approximately the same.

A theory based on hyperions — virtual particles that are born at the boundary of transition into hyperspace and linking the radiation flux absorbed by the transition point — is more suitable for the theory of hyperlink. But this theory in its modern form is unable to explain all the phenomena that occur when moving material objects. To transfer, you must first also form an anomaly that resembles a miniature black hole, after which the conditions for its growth are created. Upon reaching a certain size and parameters of the anomaly, the ship increases or starts acceleration and, while continuing to pump energy to the transition point on the fly, rushes towards it. After some time, the ship’s equipment for creating a hyper transition is turned off and protective systems are turned on. The ship quickly approaches the transition point with a certain speed, acceleration and motion vector. At the boundary of the transition point, the space-time continuum collapses and the ship dissolves within a few seconds at the transition point, after which it is destroyed. Simultaneously with this process, the ship appears at another point in space. Hyperions tear apart space, instantly turning into radiation. There is a surge in x-ray, gamma, ultraviolet spectra. The developed particle of the ship seems to change color: violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red, and now the luminosity already goes into the infrared range of electromagnetic waves. It is as if one wave passes through the entire electromagnetic spectrum accessible to human understanding, forming a wave packet that instantly degenerates into a particle and, at the same time, with its spectral shift, either by turning into matter it creates a gravitational wave. The theoretical basis for the manifestation of matter describes just such a beautiful process of energy propagation through the spectrum that seems to draw a ship in space, although in reality radiation is detected simultaneously at all frequencies - yes, there are many paradoxes in hyperfield theory and it is not yet clear whether the mathematical description is too idealistic, or technically, people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. The theoretical basis for the manifestation of matter describes just such a beautiful process of energy propagation through the spectrum that seems to draw a ship in space, although in reality radiation is detected simultaneously at all frequencies - yes, there are many paradoxes in hyperfield theory and it is not yet clear whether the mathematical description is too idealistic, or technically, people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. The theoretical basis for the manifestation of matter describes just such a beautiful process of energy propagation through the spectrum that seems to draw a ship in space, although in reality radiation is detected simultaneously at all frequencies - yes, there are many paradoxes in hyperfield theory and it is not yet clear whether the mathematical description is too idealistic, or technically, people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. which seems to draw a ship in space, although in reality radiation is detected simultaneously at all frequencies - yes, there are many paradoxes in hyperfield theory and it is not yet clear whether the mathematical description is too idealistic, or technically people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. which seems to draw a ship in space, although in reality radiation is detected simultaneously at all frequencies - yes, there are many paradoxes in hyperfield theory and it is not yet clear whether the mathematical description is too idealistic, or technically people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. whether technically people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here. whether technically people are not yet ready to penetrate into this area of ​​space physics. It takes only a few seconds from the beginning of the process of leaving hyperspace and the ship appears in ordinary space, leaving behind a very pale flash in the gamma spectrum. A rapidly attenuating spherical gravitational wave propagates in the nearby space. It seems that the ship has always been here.

Some scientists speculate that in fact the ship does not move in the space of one universe, but between a pair of “close” universes, which explains such an inconsistent time difference. The balance of energy and matter within the multiverse remains unchanged, but the ship irrevocably disappears from one universe, and appears in another. There is a hypothesis suggesting that the ship does not move in space, but space transforms outside the ship, "understanding" when it enters hyperspace and "gathering" back when leaving. Despite the fact that transitions in hyperspace have been carried out for quite some time, this area of ​​science is still considered very young and, as is often the case with fundamentally new scientific areas, it develops to a greater extent thanks to practical high-tech technologies. creating empirical rules than academic science. It was the technological achievements of Hypertech Corporation that allowed it to feel on an equal footing with such a powerful corporation as NeuroBioSystems.

***

After exiting the jump, Zarkon fluently checked the telemetry of the condition of the ship. There was no need for this - the ship starts the diagnostics on its own and, in case of problems, it informs its captain. However, in his life Zarkon managed more than one generation of ships and there were those who did not have modern self-diagnosis systems. After several unpleasant incidents that occurred on old ships, Zarkon made it his rule to personally briefly check the telemetry of the ship. Over time, the rule grew into a habit that was strictly followed even where it was absolutely no longer needed.

Separate modules of the ship were modernized according to the technologies of the Order and required a set of statistics on performance. It cannot be said that Zarkon performed the role of a tester, the ship was reliable, but the Order, unlike the SCM combat or commercial fleet, did not have many identical carriers, when it was possible to work out some kind of solution on several identical ships and extend it to the entire series of the same type . Therefore, with modernizations, all telemetry was collected and carefully analyzed by development teams. It was resource-intensive, but turned into wide universality and excellent reliability of the equipment of the Order. Zarcon did not remember a single global glitch in the naval technology of the Order.

Relations with this ship at Zarkon were not simple. It seemed to Zarkon that the ship seemed dissatisfied with the fact that every time he checked his condition after the jump. This was manifested in the fact that telemetry information came with a greater delay, compared with those cases when he did not control the condition of the ship. The ship seemed to reluctantly work out a pre-compiled program after the release. More smoothly, but because of this and more slowly accelerated. The value of the delays floated quite strongly, and Zarkon, accustomed to accuracy and predictability, did not like it. Perhaps this was due only to the fact that in the ship control system, separate telemetry request commands were somehow not handled and this led to some kind of cascading errors, which had to be caught in very low-level protocols for the exchange of ship subsystems. But Zarkon could not understand why she was beginning to slow down the entire ship's CTCS. Even those systems that were automated at the lowest level were slowed down and the whole high-level life of the CTCS should not have influenced them in any way. The ship worked perfectly when Zarkon was interested only in its general condition. Thanks to the new prediction blocks, the ship very efficiently performed work ahead of the curve, more often guessing and faster performing new tasks of Zarcon than the ships that he used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. But Zarkon could not understand why she was beginning to slow down the entire ship's CTCS. Even those systems that were automated at the lowest level were slowed down and the whole high-level life of the CTCS should not have influenced them in any way. The ship worked perfectly when Zarkon was interested only in its general condition. Thanks to the new prediction blocks, the ship very efficiently performed work ahead of the curve, more often guessing and faster performing new tasks of Zarcon than the ships that he used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. But Zarkon could not understand why she was beginning to slow down the entire ship's CTCS. Even those systems that were automated at the lowest level were slowed down and the whole high-level life of the CTCS should not have influenced them in any way. The ship worked perfectly when Zarkon was interested only in its general condition. Thanks to the new prediction blocks, the ship very efficiently performed work ahead of the curve, more often guessing and faster performing new tasks of Zarcon than the ships that he used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. which were automated at the lowest level and the whole high-level life of the CTCS should not have been affected in any way. The ship worked perfectly when Zarkon was interested only in its general condition. Thanks to the new prediction blocks, the ship very efficiently performed work ahead of the curve, more often guessing and faster performing new tasks of Zarcon than the ships that he used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. which were automated at the lowest level and the whole high-level life of the CTCS should not have been affected in any way. The ship worked perfectly when Zarkon was interested only in its general condition. Thanks to the new prediction blocks, the ship very efficiently performed work ahead of the curve, more often guessing and faster performing new tasks of Zarcon than the ships that he used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. guessing and fulfilling Zarcon's new tasks much more often than the ships he had used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively. guessing and fulfilling Zarcon's new tasks much more often than the ships he had used before. But as soon as it started, no, it didn’t interfere, but at least observe the low level of the ship’s work, it became unclear how it could even work so effectively.

- Mito, evaluate our position and start moving along the route. Launch a search program.

The program was compiled in advance and the search goal was a ship with the local number KFN-34-AC57, the call sign "Trilem", and JTT-95-DM01, the call sign "Daon 37". Upon detection of any of the ships, the ship should have reported this to the captain. In the case of the discovery of "Daon 37" was ordered to move immediately to him.

“Accepted, captain.”

Zarcon appreciated the delay in the ship's response and grunted. The knowledge of the navigation chart, the starting point of position, the motion vectors of the ships, and the simple equations of linear motion made it possible to determine the location of the ships very accurately. The way out of a hyper jump could be called relatively accurate by space standards, however, it was clearly not the accuracy for appearing in the immediate vicinity of ships. The man left the wheelhouse - it will take time to detect the ships and the artificial intelligence of the ship will completely cope with this on its own.

***

Getting on board the government courier of the Daona series in outer space was not an easy task. Large ships had transport locks, which were intended for the sending and receiving of small-sized inter-side transport. Moving from one ship to another was very simple: a man got into a transport shuttle on one ship, a shuttle was released through an exit gateway, maneuvered and received through a receiving gateway on another ship. The gateways were usually paired, with separate start and receive tunnels, but a common transport area. After landing, a man left the shuttle and went about his business. If you didn’t have to fasten your seat belt during the flight and there was no sense of weightlessness, then the trip could be compared to traveling on a soft sofa with a comfortable elevator from the top to the bottom floor of a large corporate complex. The movement between the ships was automated and took place completely without human intervention under the supervision of the control systems of both ships, which ensured high reliability. No such locks were provided for at Daon, and there was no place to place them, and it was possible to get on the ship only in the old fashioned way - through access to outer space.

After finding the ship, Zarkon, using a pre-prepared protocol, contacted Daona 37 and unblocked access to the ship. In accordance with the previously established program of the ship’s behavior, he should now expect his arrival on board. The route to the ship was made, it was necessary to fly up to it, gain a foothold and get to the gateway.

“It’s good that the shuttle is universal and designed not only for inter-lock movement,” thought Zarkon, pulling on himself a light jumpsuit for a short stay in space. - Otherwise, I would have to fly on the “chair”. And I used it already and do not remember when. Until I got to this gateway ... And then I sat down, gave a command and see the cartoon. ” The man finished his robes in a flexible jumpsuit, fitted it under his figure and headed for the shuttle waiting for him.

The shuttle was nothing remarkable, ending with small nozzles, a cigar-shaped capsule, standing on a wide monorail. Along the perimeter of the capsule were the nozzles of the shunting engines. No portholes, viewing windows or slots were provided, the shuttle walls had a layered multilevel structure, which, with possible impacts on external obstacles or the sheathing of the ships, should stretch and bend, but not break, protecting the inner capsule, which had its own similar protection circuit, from complete depressurization. Zarcon went inside, settled in an armchair and gave the command to start. The ships agreed in advance on the optimal route and the flight program was already loaded into the shuttle. Zarcon’s neural network displayed a picture of the shuttle, the positions of the ships and the countdown of each stage on the way between them.

The shuttle flinched, rose above the monorail and glided smoothly into the airlock. From above, it grated several times while the upper guides of the shuttle rose on the upper monorail. It shouldn't be like that, Zarcon thought. “It will still be necessary to deal with this childhood illness of the ship - then there is food for the upper rail, or not.” The shuttle moved forward a bit and froze, waiting for the end of the pumping of air from the airlock. Zarkon felt the lightness of the body - the gateway was located outside the area of ​​gravitators and there was practically no artificial gravity here. Finally, the lock was completed, the gateway opened in the hull and a man was pressed into a chair - an electromagnetic release system drove the shuttle down the tunnel and spat it out into space. The guide brackets slowly pulled into the shuttle, hiding behind the shutters that had taken their place. Shunting engines came to life,

Zarkon did not have to wait long and the shuttle approached and twirled a little next to the gateway of the government courier "Daon 37" fixed near it. The man buttoned his helmet, checked the tightness of the suit and gave the command to equalize the pressure. Since there was no atmosphere overboard, the compressors for a long time evenly pumped air out of the housing capsule, a small residue was dumped into space. Zarcon secured the safety cable, unlocked it, and carefully opened the door. Without making sudden movements, he sailed out of the shuttle and, pushing himself a little away from him, gently sank down onto the ship's hull. Shoes immediately stuck to the casing, preventing their carrier from flying into space. Zarkon took a few steps and, making sure the safety of movement, unhooked the safety cable, which hastened to crawl back into the shuttle.

***

Laera was instinctively reluctant to wake up. It was easy and convenient for her. I did not want to make any unnecessary and absolutely unnecessary movements. She seemed to soar in an endless flight and the process of endless soaring, which desperately did not want to interrupt, brought pleasure. Her brain did not produce any meaningful effort - he definitely liked the current state of serenity. The situation was like a lingering dream of an adult - the more he sleeps, the less he wants to wake up, especially in a situation where there is no urgent need for this and nothing will happen if he takes a nap yet, say, for one minute.

A similar effect is exerted by the medical capsule in recovery mode, controlling the metabolism and chemistry of a person, as well as his neural network. The medical capsule does not allow his patient to lead at least some kind of active life, but, at the same time, does not allow his consciousness to fade completely, stimulating and holding him on a thin line of the sensation of reality. The medical complex through neural network access occasionally excites the nervous system, causing convulsive tremors to run through the body, which stimulates the work of muscles and internal organs. In this state, a person may even have pleasant dreams, but it is unlikely that he will be able to realize their imagination in this medical captivity.

Laer has been lying in one of such miracles of technology for quite some time, completely unaware of this fact. The medical complex helped restore the body of Laera, the recovery cycle has already ended and now he kept his patient in preservation. In accordance with the previously established program, the complex was obliged to wake the patient, but immediately after going into space, the artificial intelligence of the ship intervened, which extended the shelf life to the maximum possible. The medical complex is not required to directly obey the artificial intelligence of the ship, but this was not the case - it was provided with the appropriate service code, which has the same priority as captain access. Laera could lie in the capsule for more than one year, but today the capsule received an external command to extract the patient. The team was also accompanied by the correct service code and the medical complex without hesitation began to develop a complex and very branchy algorithm for awakening a person. The last aggressively stimulating intervention in the human nervous system has taken place. The chemical composition of the biological fluid began to change slowly. Human neural networks have been given the latest instructions. Colonies of nanorobots began the outcome from the surface and from inside the human body. The matte capsule lid became transparent and divided into two parts, which slowly crawled into the floor along the sides of the capsule. The room plunged into darkness was illuminated by a soft yellowish light pouring from the entire surface of the ceiling. The chemical composition of the biological fluid began to change slowly. Human neural networks have been given the latest instructions. Colonies of nanorobots began the outcome from the surface and from inside the human body. The matte capsule lid became transparent and divided into two parts, which slowly crawled into the floor along the sides of the capsule. The room plunged into darkness was illuminated by a soft yellowish light pouring from the entire surface of the ceiling. The chemical composition of the biological fluid began to change slowly. Human neural networks have been given the latest instructions. Colonies of nanorobots began the outcome from the surface and from inside the human body. The matte capsule lid became transparent and divided into two parts, which slowly crawled into the floor along the sides of the capsule. The room plunged into darkness was illuminated by a soft yellowish light pouring from the entire surface of the ceiling.

Laer’s serene state, with no beginning or end, suddenly broke. Her memory suddenly and abruptly returned. She remembered. As I heard the sounds of battle in the hangar. How quickly she returned for the previously seen kinetic rotary induction gun. How she dragged this heavy weapon to the upper levels and opened fire on a man trying to kill Lex. How she had to go down several levels. How she drove this man to the bulkhead. As he abruptly rolled out into the open space and shot somewhere above her. Laera thought he was mistaken, missed, and decided that now he certainly had no chance against her KIRPA, when suddenly everything around her swam and suddenly collapsed. Laera remembered how she flew down, the loud noise of collapsed metal structures, the thud of a fall. Finally she remembered the pain which the neural network could not extinguish, the pain that caused her to open her eyes sharply and jerk convulsively. The drain holes immediately opened in the capsule and the liquid level, richly saturated with oxygen, quickly fell, exposing the patient's body. Laera twitched once more, realized herself, and, involuntarily trying to cry out, drowned in the fluid inside herself. The gag reflex worked, causing her to roll over and kneel, spitting liquid along the way. The fluid was viscous and its layers seemed to cling to each other, again and again causing vomiting spasms that help cleanse the lungs of the fluid. Finally, she sat up, her knees curled and her head boldly raised. A couple of minutes ago in a capsule under a layer of clear liquid lay an admirable slender woman, a goddess with a golden-marbled body color, graceful body lines and delicate beautiful features. Now she was a shrunken lumpy and pitiful frightened man with clumpy hair, a gel over his body that was smeared and began to turn green in the open air. Directly in front of a startled woman, a display panel came out from the wall of the medical unit on which, perhaps, the most important words for her at that moment were highlighted: "YOU ARE SAFETY ON THE SHIP OF DAOON 37". In sync with the text, the proposal was voiced in a soft male voice. From the point of view of the medical complex, the process of awakening the patient went exactly according to the optimal algorithm that was required. The human response was in line with the expected one, the main parameters were in acceptable ranges and there was no need for forced euthanasia of the patient. On the wrists of Laer’s hands and feet, bracelets snapped and thin, but rough to the touch, threads began to slowly pull them on the side walls of the capsule. Laera frantically threw them off herself. Clicked from above, the woman raised her head and instinctively crossed her arms above her head, protecting her from something falling from above, which turned out to be a stream of water. Warm water with elastic jets cleansed the human body and capsule of a gel that is instantly soluble in water. After a stream of water, a warm wind blew from the bottom of the capsule, drying out the human body and the bottom of the capsule. The medical complex, announced the completion of its neural network program for its patient, which until that time was forbidden to interfere with his vital activity. Bordering on magic, the process of human rebirth has ended. Laera frantically threw them off herself. Clicked from above, the woman raised her head and instinctively crossed her arms above her head, protecting her from something falling from above, which turned out to be a stream of water. Warm water with elastic jets cleansed the human body and capsule of a gel that is instantly soluble in water. After a stream of water, a warm wind blew from the bottom of the capsule, drying out the human body and the bottom of the capsule. The medical complex, announced the completion of its neural network program for its patient, which until that time was forbidden to interfere with his vital activity. Bordering on magic, the process of human rebirth has ended. Laera frantically threw them off herself. Clicked from above, the woman raised her head and instinctively crossed her arms above her head, protecting her from something falling from above, which turned out to be a stream of water. Warm water with elastic jets cleansed the human body and capsule of a gel that is instantly soluble in water. After a stream of water, a warm wind blew from the bottom of the capsule, drying out the human body and the bottom of the capsule. The medical complex, announced the completion of its neural network program for its patient, which until that time was forbidden to interfere with his vital activity. Bordering on magic, the process of human rebirth has ended. Warm water with elastic jets cleansed the human body and capsule of a gel that is instantly soluble in water. After a stream of water, a warm wind blew from the bottom of the capsule, drying out the human body and the bottom of the capsule. The medical complex, announced the completion of its neural network program for its patient, which until that time was forbidden to interfere with his vital activity. Bordering on magic, the process of human rebirth has ended. Warm water with elastic jets cleansed the human body and capsule of a gel that is instantly soluble in water. After a stream of water, a warm wind blew from the bottom of the capsule, drying out the human body and the bottom of the capsule. The medical complex, announced the completion of its neural network program for its patient, which until that time was forbidden to interfere with his vital activity. Bordering on magic, the process of human rebirth has ended.

Full recovery is most effective only if the patient has a neural network with accumulated statistics of the body for at least a year. An ordinary person after the revival procedure takes a day to fully realize reality. During the first hours after recovery, you feel extraordinary lightness and flexibility of the body, you don’t feel like walking - you want to run, jump and be interested in everything that meets on the way. Like a child who knows the world, a person receives a lot of emotional impressions, from which his psyche quickly gets tired and requires sleep. A neural network that is practically inactive in the process of this cognition is activated during sleep, fully testing itself and re-calibrating under the body of its carrier. After a long sleep, a person wakes up with a sensation already known to him, It’s as if a familiar and unsurprising reality came tomorrow after the events that brought him to the medical capsule. Laera had a completely non-standard neural network and a subconsciously trained psychological recovery program in such situations, so the whole process took her no more than half an hour, which she spent motionless sitting at the bottom of the medical capsule.

Finally, the woman straightened up and stepped confidently beyond the boundaries of the medical capsule. The medical unit was a small room, so she immediately noticed a bag of clothes. Having unpacked it, she with astonishment pulled out a long black dress, more appropriate on some social event or entertainment liner than on board a government courier. An even greater impression on her was made by unremarkable soft slippers that did not fit the luxurious dress. “At least for the color of the dress,” the woman automatically said to herself. Laer did not know anything about how she ended up here and how much time had passed, although, judging by her awakening, she guessed that there was clearly a lot. She checked the neural network connection with the ship and decided to clarify the current situation.

“Daona 37, what is my status aboard the ship?”

- Your guest status. Proceed to the shower room, after which your expect in the wardroom.

“How's that?” Laera looked at the clothes she was holding. The dress was with a non-standard automatic fit, obviously of high quality and not cheap. “Before putting it on, it’s worth putting yourself in order.” The woman went to the door of the medical unit, which immediately opened. In the corridor, all the doors were closed except for the shower room. The program of her actions was planned and in this situation there was no sense in not fulfilling it.

***

The door to the wardroom opened and a woman entered, dressed in an elegant evening black dress. The lack of jewelry and other secular paraphernalia only emphasized the harmony of the shape of its owner. The man sitting on the couch apparently worked with a neural network, so he a little belatedly rose to meet the visitor. Laera recognized him as a stranger, whom, it seemed yesterday, was trying to shoot in a hangar. The stranger bowed slightly.

“Laer Syria, I ask you,” the man made an inviting gesture on the opposite sofa. “Only a little over one hour has passed since waking up.” I'm impressed.

Laera hesitated, staring at the man. She perfectly understood what she would see in the wardroom or Lex, or this man. There could be other options, but in understanding the current situation of Laer, they were much less likely. Judging by the events of this hour, this stranger was most likely. The absence of Lex, the woman was disappointed and at the same time alarmed.

“Lex is fine,” the stranger seemed to have guessed Laer’s train of thought. - Actually, the discussion of how it is now safe to meet with him and how to continue to live together is one of the main topics of our current meeting.

Laera walked slowly along and sat down in her place. The stranger sat opposite her, rubbed his palms, smiled, and after a few seconds began a conversation.

- My name is Zarcon. First of all, I would like to apologize for the events on the ship. Initially, I did not want the situation to develop in this way, but ... sometimes events do not work out exactly as you originally planned. As I understand it, a similar situation arose because of an absurd accident that was simply impossible to foresee. I had no purpose in killing you, not only that - I needed both alive. That shot was only supposed to fill up the upper levels. I assumed that you would simply go back in time to find the danger, but you ... - the man shrugged, - probably just got carried away by the fight, especially in the open space I imagined a rather convenient target. You made a mistake that is unforgivable to a person with a training similar to yours.

The man carefully looked at the woman, got up and went to a small table, near one of the walls of the wardroom. Laera drew attention to a suspiciously familiar package and several boxes. The stranger took one of the boxes and took out the needle bar from it. Igolnik Birkona, the thirty-seventh series, which was staffed only by special units of the SCM security service and a few special agents of corporations. Exactly the same that Laera used. Zarcon slowly approached Laer and held out his weapon in his open palm. Laera, after a moment, took the needle. Zarcon turned away and headed back to his sofa, and for the few steps that he managed to take, Laer managed to connect to the weapon, to understand that no one had owned it yet and to carry out identification and binding. The ammunition was full, the weapon was ready to go.

- As you probably already know, weapons are combat-ready. The security system in the wardroom is disabled. And I have no armored skaf. I know this is not easy, but for a start I would like to restore confidence. Or at least its visibility.

Laera, who was listening carefully to the man, got up, went to the table and laid a needle bar on him. Her gaze lingered on the packet.

- Standard universal officer overalls. Although, to be honest, the dress from Ridnu Work makes you irresistible. Which is not surprising, since this model was created, you can say, for you.

The man’s gaze slid over the woman’s figure and settled on awkward slippers. Zarkon once again with effort suppressed the urge to laugh and at the same time cursing himself for such an oversight - ordering an expensive dress and making a fatal mistake with shoes. The store apparently took the initiative, choosing slippers to match the color of the dress. And if the color was different? And most importantly - everything is packaged in a standard bulk package, that is, you can only find out about an error when it is too late.

Laer, without saying a word, came back. There was a pause. Finally she decided to break her.

“And what do you want from me?”

Zarkon sighed and briefly talked about past events, starting with his meeting with Lex in the hangar. The woman listened carefully, in no way expressing her attitude to the narrated events.

“So now we have you on the government courier and Lex on the Trilem.” Lex thought he was saving you by sending by courier. The program laid down by him instructed to determine the exact position and move towards the nearest world of the JTC, avoiding any contacts, except in cases of threat of destruction or hopelessly emergency situations. The program is florid and quite beautiful, compiled taking into account the testimony of the medical complex. The medical complex was also instructed to wake you up after the recovery procedure. However, after the start, my low-level bookmarks in the system worked, so the courier simply follows a parallel course with the "Trilem", and I woke you when I appeared on the courier.

“And now, using me, you want to get in touch with Lex again.” Why should I help you?

Zarcon sighed.

“In a way, to save the world,” the man looked at the woman’s questioning expression and smiled. “That ... can't be quickly conveyed.”

Zarcon went to the table, opened the box and laid out on the table two cubes of data banks.

“They are both encrypted, but one of them is clearly meant for you.” The second - probably for VKF. The codes are powerful, the days here are clearly not enough to decrypt them, so you can be sure that I do not know what's inside. I guess you know the code. Of course, I understand that you are an agent of the NBS, but not much more than three hours have passed after your awakening and I suggest that you rest. Ideally, just sleep. Your, though specific, but neural network needs recalibration.

“I feel quite well, I don’t think it’s worth it ...” Laera began, but stopped short when she saw the man raise his two hands up.

Zarcon went up to the woman and sat next to her on the sofa.

“Listen, Laera,” the woman noted with surprise the softness in his voice, “I understand your impatience, but it's a little more complicated than it might seem at first glance.” Most likely, we will have to have more than one conversation before you make an informed decision. You lay in the capsule for a very long time. Lex, he will not go anywhere if we linger here for another couple of days. There he is, ”the man waved his hand toward the wall,“ is flying nearby, alive and well.

The man was silent. Suddenly, a neural network request came to Laer.

- Laera S, Daona 37 welcomes you. You have a captain level of access to the ship. Waiting for confirmation of identification.

Laera almost automatically confirmed her identity.

“Captain, identity verified.”

The woman looked in surprise at Zarkon.

- That's right. Lex has upgraded your level of access before submitting. I’m just returning it to you. Three simultaneously acting captains for one ship is too much, so while you are resting I would like to remove all my interferences in the ship's system and their traces and lower my access level. Although I will use service codes, it may take up to a day for this work - the local Daona is atypically smart for her series.

Laer at the level of some sensations suddenly liked this man. There was something in him so aristocratic and convincing that it allowed the balance of relations to swing a little from the state of equilibrium of uncertainty towards sympathy. It was somewhat stupid, short-sighted, frankly naive to believe that you just want to see in a particular person and that is fraught with great emotional disappointment if this drop of your trust does not materialize. Perhaps he was right in that she really needed a little rest?

- Laera Sibiria, acting agent of the NeuroBioSystem Corporation. An agent who personally enjoys the personal trust of the heads of departments of the corporation, up to the Itvor Dyad.

Laer has already ceased to wonder at this man’s awareness, it seems that he knew everything about her.

- In view of my serious intentions, I think that I should also introduce myself completely: Zarkon, head of the Order of the Guardians.

The man got up and offered, involuntarily staring at him with his wide open eyes, shocked woman to lead her into the cabin. Laera automatically extended her hand and they left the wardroom. After Laera found herself in the captain’s cabin, Zarkon handed over to her inexplicably how the package with the contents of the table from the wardroom was in his hands and wished him a good rest. Emotional overload added the last drop of fatigue to Laera’s recently awakened body, she pulled off her only dress, climbed into bed and fell asleep almost instantly imperceptibly against the background of randomly swirling thoughts.

Zarcon proceeded to the wheelhouse and fell apart in one of the chairs. “It seems to have worked out,” the man thought fairly. “Soon the project of this useless implementation of the neurostop will be completed, and the Order, in view of the chic completion of the project“ Unexpected meeting, ”will have a good bonus for such a dozen years.”

The man remembered slippers and already openly laughed out loud. He connected to his databank, requested and filtered out financial transactions, and studied the result for some time. “Well, it is,” he said towards the virtual terminals of the ship. “An error in the order. I was generally lucky that there was a point "in the color of clothes." Imagine the reaction of the people completing the order. Probably thought it was one of the sophisticated secular taunts. " Zarkon again plunged into the study of data, ““ They did not even write off money for them! ”, Laughing, the head of the Order of the Guardians, connected to the ship and went deeper into the technical routine of programs, settings and protocols.

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Unexpected meeting. Chapter 15.
Text version: 1.0.4.
Date of first publication: 05.25.2018.
Last edited: 07/29/2018.

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A full table of contents is given in Chapter 1 .

Quick Navigation:
Chapter 14 - Previous Chapter.
Chapter 15 is the current chapter.
Chapter 16 is the next chapter.

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I apologize for such a long delay after the publication of the previous chapter, but, unfortunately, I can not guarantee an increase in the speed of work. Those who occasionally kicked me these six months through PM, social networks or even directly through the blog, I can assure you that the book is not abandoned and will be completed in the foreseeable future. I think that I was able to do a good job of elaborating on the details of this chapter (I would like to return to it so many times), I hope this somehow compensates for the length of her waiting.

I want to share some small news. Now you don’t need to collect all the chapters into a single book or read only through the website / blog / social networks - at the long-standing request of the workers, I decided to learn how to make general assemblies myself and upload them to my blog. A new horizontal menu item with the name “Library” has appeared on the blog, where you can download the book in fb2 format. Since chapters will be added and sometimes even edited, the fb2 build will also be updated.
To simplify orientation, the assembly, as well as individual chapters, will have a version, and at the end of the text provides information on the included versions of the chapters. Version 0.1.0 corresponds to the assembly of the first 14 chapters. The major digit takes the value 0 until the book is completed, after which it changes to 1 and this will not be an assembly of chapters, but some kind of, but a complete and finished work. You can read about version 2 in the afterword to chapter 12 , although the farther than something I myself become doubtful that I will go there myself, and if I do, I will do something. The second digit will increase once with the addition of each new chapter. The minor figure will change when updating the text of the chapters - in the vast majority they are insignificant and do not require re-reading of the chapters.