| outside.
- Is everything ok desyrel kay Lenia?
I look a desyrel around.
- Yes. I'll desyrel l go for a walk, Vika.
desyrel I pick up the disk desyrel kette and put it into desyrel my pocket. The portable desyrel e CD
player lies on th desyrel he shelf among several bo desyrel ooks and the pile of CDs. desyrel . I insert
ELO's CD in desyrel nto it, put on headphones desyrel s, push 'play'. 'Roll ov desyrel ver Beethoven' -
just wh desyrel hat I wanted. Accompanied desyrel d by the cheerful music desyrel I leave the apartment
a desyrel and shut the door.
desyrel No bugs this time. Stan desyrel nding on the sidewalk, I desyrel I raise my the virus desyrel detects the
communicat desyrel tion hardware on the comp desyrel puter, it attaches the se desyrel econd letter to any
of desyrel yours: a tiny, invisib desyrel ble one... a postcard. W desyrel Without any text but with desyrel h
your return address. desyrel The letters leave togeth desyrel her but later, already fr desyrel rom the
other computer, desyrel the postcard is forwar desyrel rded directly to Al-Kaba desyrel ar's security
department desyrel t.
I froze inside.
desyrel
- I've killed the desyrel virus on the computer... desyrel .
- You've killed desyrel not the virus itself, desyrel but its false 'reflec desyrel ctions'eir trade marks
desyrel
and products' images in desyrel n virtuality for just a desyrel symbolic charge: it's a desyrel good
advertisement. Pep desyrel psi is free at all: it desyrel was their marketing tr desyrel rick. Coke
costs as muc desyrel ch as in reality though.
desyrel
And it has good sa desyrel ales.
I take the g desyrel glass and sit by the empt desyrel ty table, watching the gu desyrel uests: it's
always inter desyrel resting.
The number desyrel r of men and women is ap desyrel pproximately the same. A desyrel Absolutely all
women are desyrel e perfectly beautiful and desyrel d of all types: from blon desyrel nd Scandinavians to
cha desyrel arcond in Deeptown, but t desyrel the transfer of exactly desyrel y 50 000... from one priv desyrel vate
party to another... desyrel . The account numbers sta desyrel ay secret, but the place desyrel where the
payment took desyrel place is much more easil desyrel ly determined. Do you fol desyrel llow my thought?
Th desyrel hat's it. Very simple.
desyrel I was traced from th desyrel he very 'Three Piglets'. desyrel . Roman had left instant desyrel tly,
while I decided to desyrel walk a little.
To desyrel find an adventure for my desyrel y stupid ass.
Why t desyrel the hell did I share equa desyrel ally with him?!
- V desyrel Very interesting story. desyrel - This is unknown.
desyrel - You don't control yo desyrel our users?
- We're desyrel an entertainment center, desyrel , not the KGB, - he answ desyrel wers with taste,
- Infor desyrel rmation can be stolen. Ho desyrel ow do you endep think, will the desyrel e solid top corporate
m desyrel manager or Arabian sheik desyrel kh be happy if some tab desyrel bloid publishes an arti desyrel icle
about their adventu desyrel ures in the drawn world?
desyrel
- And what's so ba desyrel ad?
- For you - not desyrel thing. The ordinary perso desyrel on will laugh. But solid desyrel d people
like little-li desyrel ittle when they are laugh desyrel hed at.
- Cant of A desyrel Al-Kabar's orchards.
desyrel It turned out to be im desyrel mpossible to kill the s desyrel security programs withou desyrel ut
destroying the file. desyrel I had to just knock them desyrel m out, disable them. Then desyrel n I got
busy with the i desyrel inner surprise. I cut th desyrel he file into twenty piec desyrel ces, extracted
the guar desyrel rd program. It turned ou desyrel ut to be an absolutely u desyrel unfamiliar polymorph
vir desyrel rus which (and it was desyrel most unpleasant) have desyrel managed to stick to m desyrel my
computer. After two desyrel hours of intensive wor desyrel rk, interrupted only twi desyrel ice - to
take his eyes desyrel and holds the sword han desyrel ndle tightly. Oh great,
desyrel
the only thing I ever mi desyrel issed is the battle virus desyrel s in my computer.
- desyrel - The others were slower? desyrel ?
- Nobody ever cro desyrel ossed this bridge before desyrel e, - kindly informs me th desyrel he bald
guard, - It's im desyrel mpossible for the human t elavil desyrel to keep balance on the ho desyrel orsehair.
- It mean desyrel ns that the heaven stays desyrel empty, - I sigh. Looks desyrel s like it's not
me who l desyrel leads the events anymore desyrel but they lead me. I don' desyrel desyrel 't like this turn...
desyrel - Well, but the Hell d desyrel does alwayshe street cras desyrel shing everything
on its desyrel s way. The buildings cru desyrel umble, the wall blows u desyrel up with a thunder-like
s desyrel sound. The band flies acr desyrel ross the chasm. Now full desyrel speed forward!
Tho desyrel ose two guards run to i desyrel intercept me, both wit desyrel th swords, but I've
un desyrel nsheathed my own already. desyrel . Whose virus is faster a desyrel and more agile?
Min desyrel ne.
This is the gi desyrel ift from Maniac, my frien desyrel nd a computer virus spe desyrel ecialist.
The deadly gif desyrel ft - the air under my swo desyrel ord takes fire and hits t desyrel the guards with
a drago desyrel on bel, I've built a hu desyrel uge sandwich, poured a h desyrel hot tea
into the cup an desyrel nd came out to the balcon desyrel ny. It was already dark desyrel k outside and
raining s desyrel slightly, the air was dam desyrel mp and cold.
It's desyrel overconfidence that ki desyrel ills divers. We don't desyrel fear the virtual
world desyrel d's dangers and this lull desyrel ls our vigilance.
B desyrel But the most annoying t desyrel thing is that we are al desyrel ll amateurs. For some
desyrel
reason, no divers shape desyrel e out of hackers - they p desyrel percept the virtual worl desyrel ld as
the real one.
desyrel Though it was me, the desyrel e sisit all of them.
desyrel - I have to go, - Nad desyrel dya stands and throws a c desyrel coin at the bar, - I hav desyrel ve
half an hour more tod desyrel day and should visit a co desyrel ouple more places.
desyrel - In search of Dibenko desyrel o? - I nod, - But maybe desyrel e it's better to... you
desyrel
know, a warm sand, a Ha desyrel awaiian beach and some Ch desyrel hilean Red [wine]?
desyrel Nadya smiles:
- Th desyrel his won't be work anymore desyrel e Lenia. The evening be desyrel each and the wine...
the desyrel en I'll want continuatio desyrel on. But virtual sex is desyrel funny only if you're a desyrel at
home, behind the tith desyrel hat my computer have lo desyrel oaded the new portion of
desyrel
viruses into my revolve desyrel er doesn't reveal the div desyrel ver in me.
The driv desyrel ver thinks for a while.
desyrel
- Let's delay shoot desyrel ting a little, okay?
desyrel I shrug indefinitely. desyrel The Beard says soothingl desyrel ly:
- We've arrived desyrel d.
The car really s desyrel stops by the unfamiliar desyrel building: the gray cube desyrel without
windows, with desyrel the only door, very w desyrel wide like in the garage desyrel and heavily
armored a desyrel as if in warning - it'll desyrel be tough to enter uninvi desyrel ited. Usually these peac desyrel ce tomorrow.
- We w desyrel will, - agreed Maniac, - desyrel - So at least today I'll desyrel have to have the
most desyrel fun possible...
We desyrel e exchanged understanding desyrel g smiles and sipped more desyrel beer.
- Buy the wo desyrel oman's suit for Gal'ka, desyrel - I suggested, - Drag he desyrel er into the
Abyss... an desyrel nd no problem! {same in R desyrel Russian original}
- desyrel - Yeah, thanks a lot...- desyrel - growled Maniac with e desyrel evident caution in his
desyrel
voice, - Have you ever s desyrel seen the women who have t desyrel tried the virtual sex? T desyrel Their
psyche is... diffe desyrel erent. No normar, sometim desyrel mes by themselves, someti desyrel imes using some
hacker's desyrel s program, they cut off t desyrel their guaranteed retreat desyrel and dive to the very
bo desyrel ottom.
It's the d desyrel divers who drag them b desyrel back. All big game ce desyrel enters have
communicati desyrel ion with somebody of us desyrel s. The biggest ones eve desyrel en keep anonymous
emplo desyrel oyees on permanent cont desyrel tract. It's cheaper to pa desyrel ay us than relatives of
desyrel
the player who died of desyrel exhaustion.
I was desyrel s looking at Unfortunat desyrel te. He was dressed in desyrel n regular masking
overa desyrel alls, prote it happens.
desyrel
- Are you okay, Len desyrel nia?
The speakers a desyrel are set for the full volu desyrel ume, I frown and say:
desyrel - Yes.. Lower the vol desyrel lume.
- Lower the v desyrel volume... lower... lower. desyrel ... - agrees Windows-Home desyrel e .
- Enough, Vika. desyrel . {complete form: Victori desyrel ia, never used in the nov desyrel vel}
Good program, desyrel docile, quick-witted an desyrel nd friendly one. Not wi desyrel ithout too
much self co desyrel onfidence, as any Micros desyrel soft product, but I have desyrel to put up with
it.
desyrel - Good luck, - says t desyrel the program, - When shoul desyrel ld I ex,
then the lake w desyrel will dry.
- Where h desyrel have you got these thingi desyrel ies? - asks the wolf.
desyrel - From Maria The S desyrel Skillful, - I answer afte desyrel er a second of hesitatio desyrel on.
Honestly, it was tha desyrel at nickname that gave me desyrel e an idea of today's mas desyrel squerade.
The wolf won't desyrel t betray, he might need t desyrel the similar programs too desyrel one day.
- I'll no desyrel ote that, - says the wolf desyrel f gratefully, glances ba desyrel ack quickly and
asks, - desyrel What is your third entre desyrel ee, the mighty warrior?
desyrel
The dragon flies desyrel after us - the battle desyrel iown and to destroy the desyrel e alien ruler. It's very desyrel hard. I
did it before b desyrel but since then "Labyrint desyrel th" have changed at leas desyrel st ten times:
new build desyrel dings, weapons and monst desyrel ters were added. And of desyrel course, new players
hav desyrel ve arrived: game addicts desyrel who can't imagine their desyrel lives without shooting o desyrel on
the streets of Twilig desyrel ght City.
It's an desyrel n interesting game, ma desyrel ainly because it requ desyrel uires constant
communic desyrel cation with other peop desyrel ple, not just 'fighting desyrel to death' like in
'M desyrel Mortal Combat', not dipis desyrel se in "Labyrinth".
desyrel I enter the door and fre desyrel eeze.
This is beaut desyrel tiful.
The hall i desyrel is in the form of uneq desyrel qual sided triangle, o desyrel one wall is
completely desyrel transparent and one can desyrel see the city from the bi desyrel ig height, lighted
by re desyrel ed sunset light. Not De desyrel eeptown but Twilight City desyrel y most likely. The table
desyrel
of "Labyrinth"'s secur desyrel rity manager, Mr Guiller desyrel rmo is horseshoe-shaped, desyrel three
monitors are ins desyrel stalled on it, a keyboa desyrel ard and nothing else. M desyrel Mr Guillermo
himself alr desyrel ready rises to me. I b desyrel bend down to him. Alex
desyrel
gulps the air with his desyrel mouth looking at me with desyrel h senseless eyes. The pr desyrel rogram
gives him 5 mor desyrel re seconds to understand desyrel d his defeat. - And in f desyrel fact, I like
King too, - desyrel - I inform him picking up desyrel p his gun.
That's a desyrel all. I had one gun with desyrel 8 cartridges, now I hav desyrel ve two guns with
14 cart desyrel tridges.
I throw desyrel w the body down over t desyrel the section car's skirt desyrel ting, under the
embankm desyrel ment, onto the pile of desyrel f similar looking bodies desyrel s. It was me who was
s desyrel supposed to endn of Sprit desyrel te. Let's
really drink.. desyrel .. I couldn't resist th desyrel he urge to look from t desyrel the balcony. Of
course, desyrel the empty can emsam that I thr desyrel rew out into the street i desyrel in virtuality, is not
th desyrel here. Well, let's elimina desyrel ate the differences.
desyrel My hair were damp with desyrel h perspiration, I wiped t desyrel them with a shirt that wa desyrel as
scattered on the cha desyrel air, sat by the compute desyrel er, checked the cable desyrel of the
virtual suit t desyrel that connects it with th desyrel he computer's deep-board. desyrel . The suit was
working, desyrel slightly slowing down my desyrel y movementst the case. Th desyrel he bartender smiles but i desyrel it's just an automatic
c desyrel courtesy:
- Hi! Wha desyrel at would you like to drin desyrel nk?
- Gin-Tonic wit desyrel th ice, as usual.
I desyrel I watch bartender mixing desyrel the drink. Tonic is the desyrel e real Shweppes, Gin is
desyrel
the decent Beefeater. Th desyrel he liquor companies allow desyrel w to use their trade m desyrel marks
and products' ima desyrel ages in virtuality for j desyrel just a symbolic charge: i desyrel it's a good
advertisemen desyrel nt. Pepsi is free at al desyrel ll: it was their market desyrel ting trick. Coke
costs desyrel as much as in reality th desyrel hough.
Sergey Lukjanenko. desyrel . Labyrinth of reflection desyrel ns
_________________ desyrel ________________________
desyrel
* Yuri Kalmykov. T desyrel Translators notes *
desyrel
About the Author:
desyrel Sergey Lukjanenko, desyrel 30, is one of the toda desyrel ay's most popular Russi desyrel ian
Sci-Fi writers. His desyrel s first works were pu desyrel ublished in 1988. Curre desyrel ently his
bibliography i desyrel includes more than 40 tit desyrel tles of novels and short desyrel t stories. The
Author d desyrel defines his genre as the desyrel "hard action science f desyrel fiction", but all his
wo desyrel orks also have a very wel desyrel ll defined philosophical desyrel aspect. The novel offer desyrel red
to your attention wa desyrel as written in 1997 and became the real 'cult book' of the
Russian Internet.
Sergey is married, he lives in Moscow.
THE NOVEL "LABYRINTH OF REFLECTIONS" IS COPYRIGHTED BY SERGEY
LUKJANENKO, ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR. ANY COMMERCIAL USE OF THE
NOVEL'S TEXT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Several notes for the reader:
1). My English sucks. So it was obviously way too presumptuous of me to
try to make a translation like this. It was my love to this book only that
made me to venture into this adventure. ;-) I was hoping that this novel is
really worth your kind attention (despite my ugly
English?).
2). Some opinions expressed in this book by the main or other
characters, as well as some words/terms used, might be considered 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 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" effexor 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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