| ere more and more times. I approach the
station building from its left wing and quickly check several familiar
caches: in the anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety sewer, in the power lowering booth and in the cabin of the
overturned locomotive that lays across t anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety the tracks. There's nothing in the
sewer, in the booth I find two chargers, and a sandwich wrappe anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ed in
transparent wrapping is in the locomotive. No people or monsters show up yet
and this is odd.
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety I approach one of the building's side I walk on the sand, the hot wind doesn't calm down, it eve anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety en seems that
the grains of sand sting the eyes. This is not the helmet's merit anymore
but my brain f anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety feels what I should have been feeling in the real desert..
The statue steadily comes closer and bec anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety comes more and more real. The
horned head with grinning mug, the hands bulging with stone muscles. Som anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety me
kind of evil genie possibly, I'm too weak in Arabic mythology. The thin
thread is held by the mon anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety nster's left haoad, armed people are hiding behind them, one stands openly in
a casual, self confident pos anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety se. He has rocket launcher in his hands.
Shit. I have heard that there is heavy weaponry in the stati anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ion building
somewhere but never bothered to check.
- What will we do? - asks my prisoner.
One anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety e should be an idiot to try to fight the gang like this alone, it's
easier to submit yourself and sacri anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ifice some of your weapons hoping to be
let go after that.
- Slow down gradually. not
more than anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety the ordinary virtuality inhabitant, even with all your millions
and Octium prototype as a home computer anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety r. The Deep holds you as tightly as
any provincial programmer from Russian remote who saves money fo anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety or months
just to visit Deeptown once.
You're not the diver, Dima, and this is why I'm happier than anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety n you.
... The same room, but there are neon sign flashes and slight noise of
moving cars outside.
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety
- Is everything okay Lenia?
I look around.
ezing, endlessly dying program. I
check so anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ome more caches one by one, finding brass-knuckles which I
immediately put on my left hand, a co anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ouple of hand grenades and finally a two
barrel carbine.
A couple of times I can see the human figu anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ures in the distance but they
don't start the hunt and I leave them alone too: no time for that. I go to anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety o
the exit to the building square. There, on the table with a bloodied female
corpse under it... it alw anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ways lays there... the computer That's it, mysterious anonymous. It's that simple. Not a standard exit anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety t
which is possible to trace but an instantly broken thread.
It's barbaric of course, but absolutel anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ly no data exchange between my
computer and the one where the warehouse is modeled.
- No dialtone anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety e, - says Vika, - Check the wiring.
- Shut down.
- Really?
- Yes.
The blue backgrou anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety und with the white falling figure fills the screen.
- Now it's safe to turn off your computer, - whis anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety sn virtuality.
I take a sip, - I wish I knew where this river was taken from.
- More beautiful anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety place never have I seen in my life... - pronounces the
Werewolf in a strange voice.
Oh right, it's anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety s like this always. Everybody have their own associations
and analogies. Maybe this landscape means some anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ething to Roman. For me it's
not more than just a nice place.
- Have you been here before?
- anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety In some sense.
Interesting.
- What are those birds, Roman?
, coolness of the evening
br anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety reeze and flowers' scent, splashing of the warm waves and prickly sand
under your feet, don't you rea anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ally like it?
- There's a real life for all that.
- But does it coincide in reality often en anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety nough? Here it's enough to
just open the door, - I point at the small door in the corner of the
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety
'Japanese' part of the hall, - and all that will be there. Or, didn't you
ever wish to stand in the f anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety forest clearing in the chilly autumn morning, Well, at least some success was achieved by the merchant anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety after all.
Another humor thirsty one ascends the stage.
- Once, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet... anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety .. {yet another mega popular
anecdote characters, taken NOT from Disney movies though, but from Russia anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety an
animated series produced in70's, FAR cooler one than Disney's IMHO}
I start feeling myself bored anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety to death.
Just why Shtirlitz and Pooh anecdotes are so popular in virtuality?! Is
it some weird kin anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety nd of psychologicll as the
'person number seven': steel colored suit, black shirt, a necktie, high
l anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety leather boots, slim agile body, swarthy narrow face, hair long to the
shoulders, low and powerful v anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety voice.
- Spare channel, person number seven, - confirmed Vika.
The rainbow before my eyes, gree anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety edy flaming of the fiery wave, the deep.
I'm sitting in the tiny room: the bed, the table with the anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety computer on
it, not mine but absolutely abstract one, the door. "Journey Start" Hotel.
Ted!
- I anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety was invited!
- By whom?
I have to stake my all...
- You don't have the right to know thi anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety is name!
- I have the right for everything, - informs the monster.
And the fingers clench.
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety Now the exit into reality is expected, as a result of the 'deadly
impact', otherwise the brains c anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety can imagine the real pain shock, with all its
consequences. Only those suicidal would turn off safety l anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety locks of the deep
program.
Or the diver.
My batteurse it is possible to break and disable the anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety e timer. Or to break it
and add a couple of zeros to the number '48' but such kamikaze are rarely
foun anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety nd and their end is mournful.
Like Unfortunate's.
It's impossible to pass "Labyrinth of Death" anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety " in a single attempt, one
can't just have strength for that. The drowsiness retreats in virtuality but
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety
there are the limits of stamina anyway. That's why players get access to the
game menu at the end of ea anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ach level where there's an opti I get inside and nod:
- To the 'Three Piglets' restaurant.
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety This address is well known to the driver. We move fast, a couple of
turns and we're before the odd anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety d building: partially stone one, partially
wooden, partially built of straw mats.
I enter the too fami anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety iliar restaurant and look around. It is divided into three parts - Eastern
cuisine is served in the 'mat' anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety one, European - in the stone one, and Russian
- in the wooden one obviously.
I'm not really hungry; anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ; vast time here. It seems to me that tower at the
right wing was missing before.
The section car pa anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety asses the frozen train, new and clean one, with people
sitting by its windows. Their bodies are covered by anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety y some grayish film. This
is the refugees' train that the aliens had burned when it attempted to leave
t anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety the Twilight City. I look at the 'refugees' that sit decorously along the
windows. Oh yeah. Lamers you anti- anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety Depresant / Anti-Anxiety u are, dear "Labyrinth"'s creators. You have no
idea what the REAL evacuation suppressed rage
and shoul anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety lders his weapon. The audience goes quiet enjoying the show.
The barrel recoils and the brightly shin anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ning red cross-like object flies
towards the merchant with a shrilling whistle. The Baltic tries to duck anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety but
no use: moderators never miss. The fiery cross or 'plus' as it's usually
called, sticks to the anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety merchant's shirt: three such 'pluses' in total - and
he'll be banned from 'Anecdotes' club forever.
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety The crowd laughs approvingly.
- Hey, may I have to stake my all...
- You don't have the r anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety right to know this name!
- I have the right for everything, - informs the monster.
And the fing anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety gers clench.
Now the exit into reality is expected, as a result of the 'deadly
impact', otherw anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety wise the brains can imagine the real pain shock, with all its
consequences. Only those suicidal would tu anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety urn off safety buspar locks of the deep
program.
Or the diver.
My battered body is scattered on anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety the monster's palme, I visit it once or twice a month
but some people never quit the duels. They say anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety that if one doesn't abuse
magic which unfortunately is not available in reality, it is possible to
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety
learn to fight pretty ashwagandha well. I doubt it though: the hit that one feels with
the help of virtual suit is anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety s one thing but the real steel reinforcement that
you'll be hit with in the street is absolutely different anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety t.
And of course there's 'Doom', that very game getting into which had
ushered the b ones have
anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety
arrived, an American crowd still laughs at their jokes.
I need a walk.
I leave 'Three Piglets' anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ', hesitate for a moment: should I stop the cab?
- then decide to walk. I eventually leave the central anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety streets and approach
Russian blocks. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting places in
virtua anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ality, the place where one can just chat.
About anything at all.
I see long rows of building anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety gs, small squares and parks between them,
either crowded or empll easily leave our
territory, but not anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety before your real address is determined, in order to
guarantee the validity of the promise just given anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety n.
The trellised pavilion's walls darken like being covered by thick
cloth. I make a step - i anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety it's really difficult. Urman starts moving jerkily, celexa
everything flows in my eyes, the apple in the pocke anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety et draws me to the floor
with great force, Windows-Home's voice dims and loses any tones:
- Al...a.. anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ..rm... a...l...rm...
So that legend was born today.
Corpses and ruins were left behind my back anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety k. Only on the 6th level I was
delayed for a while: it's very-very new and unwonted. Then I was stuck o anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety on
the 12th, I've encountered similar levels before but the arena is always the
arena and crushing a anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety hundred plus monsters is not like pushing three
buttons.
Fortunately other players almost neve anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety er interfere anymore. The rumors
are creeping across "Labyrinth" crossing levels with the ease impos anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ssiblSergey Lukjanenko. Labyrinth of reflections
________________________________________
* Yuri anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety i Kalmykov. Translators notes *
About the Author:
Sergey Lukjanenko, 30, is one of the to anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety oday's most popular Russian
Sci-Fi writers. His first works were published in 1988. Currently his anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety s
bibliography includes more than 40 titles of novels and short stories. The
Author defines his genre a anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety as the "hard action science fiction", but all his
works also have a very well defined philosophical aspe anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety ect. The novel offered
to your attention was written in 1997 and became the real 'cult book' of the
Russ anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety sian Internet.
Sergey is married, he lives in Moscow.
THE NOVEL "LABYRINTH OF R anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety REFLECTIONS" IS COPYRIGHTED BY SERGEY
LUKJANENKO, ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR. ANY COMMERCIA anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety AL USE OF THE
NOVEL'S TEXT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Several notes for the reader:
1). My Eng anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety glish sucks. So it was obviously way too presumptuous of me to
try to make a translation like this. It wa anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety as my love to this book only that
made me to venture into this adventure. ;-) I was hoping that this nov anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety vel is
really worth your kind attention (despite my ugly
English?).
2). Some opinions expressed anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety in this book by the main or other
characters, as well as some words/terms used, might be consider anti-Depresant / Anti-Anxiety red offensive
to some Western readers. In fact, one such situation was even showed closer
to the end of the novel itself. The concept of "PC" (aka 'Political
Correctness') does not really exist in Russia which fact IMHO makes the life
much easier and slightly reduces the amount of stupidity that inevitably
presents in this life. Despite that, I definitely had to use the 'softened'
terms in my translation in order not to outrage the people (not too much at
least). But of course, something might have still leaked out. Please
consider yourselves warned.
3). FIDO
Some more confusion can be caused by Lukjanenko's technical details and
descriptions of the Net due to one more fact: he writes from the point of
view of the person who was once the FIDOnet member. Also it seems that
Sergey himself was mostly affiliated with FIDO at the time of this book's
writing. The principles of FIDO's system organization differ from the ones
of the Internet. I never was FIDO member, so I know very little. In general,
it's free, amateurs' network that allows its members to exchange emails and
files. FIDO uses its atarax own proprietary protocol. Special gateways are used to
exchange emails with the Internet. Look at www.fidonet.org for more
details... But be prepared to get back not the homepage, but some HTML code.
{G} The guys have forgot to put the {HTML} tag into the code of their main
page... OOPS.
4). The names.
The same name in Russian usually can have several forms, reflecting the
attitude of the one who pronounces the name to the one named. The number of
these forms is as far as I can judge, much bigger than in English. That's
why in my translation I preferred to retain the original rules of forming
such names and to provide this note. Another important reason is that the
Russian name changed according to the rules of doing so in English would
sound ridiculous (maybe for me only, as I'm Russian... ;-) ), not mentioning
that it's not always possible to do this with Russian names at all. Example:
John - Johnny. Now try to do the same with, say, my name: Yuri. Yup... My
point exactly. Below is the example of how the first name of the main
character can be 'bent'. The same often happens to other names in the book.
For inexperienced reader it might be confusing, so I apologize... Russia
*is* confusing by definition, so bear with it. :-)
Leonid - the complete name.
Lenia (should be read roughly as Lyo-nee-aa; don't pronounce 'double
lettered' sounds as too long ones though) - this is slightly diminutive,
friendly form used by relatives and friends.
Lenechka (Lyo-nee-chka) - a "pet-name" form, sometimes also used with
sarcasm, depending on the context.
Lenchik - "pet-name"/unceremonious address.
Len'ka ( here ' means softening of the previous sound, 'n' in this name
sounds like 'n' in the word 'change') - Unceremonious address, a bit
slighting. Often used by close friends without any offensive context.
... and so on. No more forms are used in the book, so I'd better not
confuse you any more.
Another trick is how the names are formed n general. In particular, the
concept of the middle name in Russia. It is not 'given', but rather is the
father's name. To be used as a middle name, special endings are attached:
-ovich, -evich for man's middle name (yeah, they are gender specific!),
-ovna, evna for female's middle name.
Examples: Petrovich Alekseevich - men's
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