| o correspond to the declared guggulu d topic. The
quest guggulu tion is though: is m guggulu moderator on duty no guggulu ow or will react lat guggulu ter?
He's here guggulu e.
The booth's guggulu s door opens and th guggulu he sturdy man emerge guggulu es from inside lazi guggulu ily,
holding the guggulu pretty sinister lo guggulu ooking device in his guggulu s hands. The Balti guggulu ic guy
notices him guggulu and starts chatteri guggulu ing
really fast: - guggulu - ... hard drives: ' guggulu 'Quantum Lighting', guggulu 'Western Digital'.. guggulu ..
- Not on t guggulu topic! - the moderat guggulu tor says lazily but guggulu t with suppressed r guggulu rage
and shoulders guggulu his weapon. Theesn' guggulu 't abuse
magic wh guggulu hich unfortunately i guggulu is not available i guggulu in reality, it is p guggulu possible to
learn t guggulu to fight pretty well guggulu l. I doubt it thoug guggulu gh: the hit that on guggulu ne feels with
the h guggulu help of virtual suit guggulu t is one thing but guggulu the real steel rein guggulu nforcement that
you guggulu u'll be hit with in guggulu the street is absol guggulu lutely different.
guggulu And of course guggulu there's 'Doom', th guggulu hat very game getti guggulu ing into which had
guggulu
ushered the beginn guggulu ning of the virtual guggulu guggulu era.
It's mai guggulu in area is called si inderal guggulu imply "Labyrinth of guggulu Death". This reall guggulu ly tor had
any doub guggulu bt about that though guggulu h.
- One prob guggulu blem have arose in " guggulu "Labyrinth"... and t guggulu those two can't man guggulu nage
it... - Man Wi guggulu ithout Face bends ac guggulu cross the table, tak guggulu kes a piece of pape guggulu er and
writes the guggulu short address. He guggulu does right that doe guggulu esn't try to give guggulu me the
business c guggulu card, I'd never take guggulu e a file from him. - guggulu - These are my coo guggulu ordinates.
After yo guggulu ou visit "Labyrinth" guggulu ", offer your servic guggulu ce to the management guggulu t and try to
solve guggulu the problem, contac guggulu ct me. Ask for... Ma guggulu an Without Face.
guggulu He dohoughtfully guggulu y: it's loaded again guggulu n, and the pocket is guggulu s
weighed down by a guggulu a grenade.
- T guggulu The parcel was recei guggulu ived? - asks the dri guggulu iver.
Now it's guggulu s my turn to play th guggulu he game of silence.
guggulu
- I wonder ho guggulu ow?
- You know guggulu w my friend, if I ru guggulu un out of ammo, it's guggulu s the definite orde guggulu er to
refill my su guggulu upplies. - Smugness guggulu of a petty hacke guggulu er is in my voice. guggulu Quite
plausible l guggulu legend: the fact tha guggulu at my computer hav guggulu ve loaded the new po guggulu ortion of
viruses i guggulu into my revolver doe guggulu esn't reveal the div guggulu ver in me.
g the guggulu e divers themselves! guggulu !
- This drea guggulu am is one of the wo guggulu orst and base crime guggulu es... according to o guggulu our
code.
For guggulu r the first time I a guggulu admit that I'm dive guggulu er. Hardly my inter guggulu rlocutor had
any do guggulu oubt about that thou guggulu ugh.
- One pr guggulu roblem have arose in guggulu n "Labyrinth"... and guggulu d those two can't m guggulu manage
it... - Man guggulu Without Face bends guggulu across the table, t guggulu takes a piece of pa guggulu aper and
writes th guggulu he short address. H guggulu He does right that d guggulu doesn't try to giv guggulu ve me the
business guggulu s card, I'd never ta guggulu ake a file from him. guggulu . ts to conquer the guggulu e Earth. This is th guggulu he useful game, now guggulu where
else can one guggulu e steam out his s guggulu sick emotions like guggulu e on the gloomy are guggulu enas of
'Mortal Co guggulu ombat', hitting hi guggulu is enemy with the guggulu heel on his fore guggulu ehead of
thrusting guggulu g magic spells onto guggulu him. Good game, I v guggulu visit it once or twi guggulu ice a month
but so guggulu ome people never qui guggulu it the duels. They guggulu say that if one do guggulu oesn't abuse
magic guggulu c which unfortunate guggulu ely is not availabl guggulu le in reality, it guggulu is possible to
lea guggulu arn to fight pretty guggulu well. I doubt it t guggulu though: ty ends abru guggulu uptly - like the w guggulu wall of palaces and guggulu skyscrapers was
cu guggulu ut off by the huge k guggulu knife. The city loop guggulu p road and the fore guggulu est across it, the
guggulu
thick and wild fore guggulu est... that separate guggulu es from the fuss tho guggulu ose who doesn't want guggulu t
to make a show of guggulu f themselves.
guggulu - Slow down, - I or guggulu rder when we pass th guggulu he mango growth and guggulu approach quite hytrin
a t guggulu type of the mid-Russ guggulu sian thicket, - Stop guggulu p by that next path. guggulu .
- It's still guggulu l a long drive to Al guggulu l-Kabar...
- I guggulu I said - stop!
guggulu The car stops. I guggulu I open the dooever.
guggulu
The crowd lau guggulu ughs approvingly.
guggulu - Hey, maybe it guggulu t was the way the an guggulu necdote was supposed guggulu d to begin, huh? -
guggulu
shouts somebody o guggulu out from the audien guggulu nce. The moderator s guggulu shakes his finger t guggulu to
him with a war guggulu rning, then aims guggulu at the Baltic aga guggulu ain. The guy quits guggulu his
attempts to sc guggulu crape the shiny plu guggulu us off his shirt, j guggulu jumps down from the guggulu stage
and flees.
guggulu
- Wheee, crush guggulu h 'im! - the crowd guggulu d instigates the mod guggulu derator but he's in guggulu n
the kind mood tod guggulu day, he flings the guggulu plus-thrower behind guggulu dfrom
the height guggulu of eleventh floor. guggulu I finish my Sprit guggulu te and throw the ca guggulu an down
returning i guggulu into the room.
guggulu - Not ethical... - guggulu - mutters the comput guggulu ter. Ignoring it I guggulu leave the room,
pu guggulu ut on my shoes and o guggulu open the door. The s guggulu staircase is empty guggulu and brightly lit,
guggulu
very-very clean. Wh guggulu hile I deal with th guggulu he lock, the tiny b guggulu bug tries to fly in guggulu n
through the half guggulu f opened door. Oh w guggulu well, lamers are ha guggulu aving their fun. Wi guggulu ith
irony I watch t guggulu the persistent insec guggulu ct - the steady flow guggulu w of air blows from guggulu m the
But why, why
guggulu
it's so few of us guggulu s, so few that one s guggulu should count not eve guggulu en in percent but b guggulu by
person?
- guggulu Here? - asked the d guggulu driver.
- Yes, guggulu , thanks.
I p guggulu paid him, got out o guggulu of the car and went guggulu t towards my hous guggulu se feeling
inflate guggulu ed like a balloon. guggulu Now I have to eithe guggulu er fall asleep submi guggulu itting myself
to t guggulu the morning hangover guggulu r or to submerge guggulu into the deep: it c guggulu cures hangover
wel guggulu ll.
On the sec guggulu cond floor of the s guggulu staircase where the guggulu light is on always guggulu s for
some reason, guggulu five teens the doo guggulu or
locks. Everythin guggulu ng is sealed comple guggulu etely and I submit m guggulu myself. At any rate, guggulu , no
information is guggulu s unnecessary.
guggulu We move on, and a guggulu again I try to conta guggulu act Vika - without guggulu any success. My
vo guggulu oice communication c guggulu channel is blocked.
guggulu
Abyss-abyss, guggulu I'm not yours...
guggulu The car's inter guggulu rior is on the helme guggulu et's screens. Wow, guggulu drawn great: this
guggulu
is well recognizab guggulu ble sporty 'Lancia'. guggulu .
I laid my h guggulu hands on the keyboa guggulu ard, typed in sever guggulu ral commands, press guggulu sed
Enter.
It guggulu t worked.
deee guggulu e Hardened's face ch guggulu hanges. Now he's
an guggulu n aged man with th guggulu he resolute but ner guggulu rvous face. - But I guggulu I assumed that the
guggulu
diver's word is pio guggulu ously.
- I don guggulu n't deny it. I'll gi guggulu ive you the file, - guggulu with a slight knock guggulu k I send
the disket guggulu tte across the table guggulu e, - But next time guggulu not a single diver guggulu will even
move a f guggulu finger for you. You guggulu violate our ethics, guggulu , Mr Shellerbach. A guggulu Any job must
be pai guggulu id according to it's guggulu s complexity.
guggulu Shellerbach picks guggulu up the diskette an guggulu ns freezes. I drink guggulu k mulled wine
wat guggulu tchingconnect manual guggulu lly.
Um-hm. T guggulu Thanks for the tip guggulu p. It'll be the mo guggulu oment of connection guggulu being
closed when guggulu I'll be traced...
guggulu
- In 24 hours guggulu s, when the safety t guggulu timer snaps into act guggulu tion on my computer, guggulu ,
- I shout, - yo guggulu our perfect idea wi guggulu ill crumble and you guggulu u'll be sorry of yo guggulu our
stupidity! I'm guggulu an honest guy, I pa guggulu ay the taxes! I'll s guggulu stir up all the Deep guggulu ptown
police!
guggulu - Maybe, but unli guggulu ikely, - says Man guggulu Without Face, - W guggulu Well, if we are
co guggulu onvinced that you're guggulu e the honest hacker, guggulu , - the grea
the lat guggulu tter's love to tell guggulu the old {'long bear guggulu rded'} anecdotes...
guggulu
Despite the w guggulu whistles and shouts guggulu the guy finishes t guggulu telling his anecdot guggulu te
and runs from th guggulu he stage looking aro guggulu ound in a primed wa guggulu ay. Lonely applause guggulu can
be heard: gee guggulu ez, who could imagin guggulu ne... I look around guggulu for the bar, it's i guggulu in the
far corner o guggulu of the park. The gir guggulu rl gives me a bottle guggulu e of beer without a guggulu word.
- Than guggulu nks.. - I make a si guggulu ip. The ice cold 'H guggulu Heineken' raises my guggulu spirits
instantly. guggulu .
One more guy guggulu y ascends the sta.. guggulu ..
Roman hesit guggulu tates, but lights th guggulu he cigarette anyway. guggulu .
Shit. Nadya' guggulu 's arguments don't s guggulu seem to me so crazy guggulu anymore.
I dr guggulu rink my mulled wine, guggulu , Roman smokes anash guggulu ha {marijuana}. In a guggulu a couple of
minutes guggulu s he throws unfinish guggulu hed cigarette down w guggulu with a knock and say guggulu ys:
- Kiddies' guggulu ' fun. Lap me some w guggulu wine.
- It's a guggulu a mulled wine.
guggulu - What the hell is guggulu s the difference...
guggulu
Now we both s guggulu sip the hot wine wit guggulu th spices. Roman nod guggulu ds:
- Rulez... guggulu . {Note: the same wo guggulu ord is in Russian or guggulu rigin will he make, guggulu huh?
- Lenia? guggulu ?
I turn aro guggulu ound. My Werewolf guggulu friend stands ne guggulu earby: a white sui guggulu it,
patent-leather guggulu shoes, a bit old fa guggulu ashioned tie, the fa guggulu ace a bit strained.
guggulu
- Hi Romka {R guggulu Roman}. Have a sit.
guggulu
- Who's the g guggulu girl?
- Nothin guggulu ng interesting.
guggulu We divers are alw guggulu ways paranoid slight guggulu tly, it can't be hel guggulu lped.
Too many guggulu y people want to kno guggulu ow our real names.
guggulu
The Werewolf d guggulu draws in the air noi guggulu isily and frowns:
guggulu - She tried to guggulu mark you!
- I guggulu I know. Donever. Goo guggulu od girl, I really h guggulu hope she's
just as guggulu s open and bright in guggulu n reality too.
guggulu I nod, - Good luck guggulu k then.
- Than guggulu nks, oh mysterious A guggulu Anonymous, - Nadya guggulu a bends to me and k guggulu kisses my
cheek.
guggulu - Lenia, marker guggulu r! - whisper the cli guggulu ips on my shoulders. guggulu .
I take an a guggulu antivirus hyzaar handkerchi guggulu ief and wipe the l guggulu lipstick print from guggulu my
cheek, wave a f guggulu finger to Nadya with guggulu h a warning:
- guggulu - Girl, I DO prefer guggulu to stay mysterious. guggulu .
Looks like guggulu she feels confused, guggulu , but has enough ner guggulu rve to shrug and dr guggulu rinks.
- Do yo guggulu ou like pepper vodka guggulu a? - I ask the Werew guggulu wolf incidentally.
guggulu
- Yes.
I guggulu It's said dryly and guggulu without further guggulu comments. I wish I guggulu knew who you
real guggulu lly are, Roman.
guggulu But it's impossib guggulu ble: virtuality is c guggulu cruel to the careles guggulu ss.
We come to guggulu o the river bank: th guggulu he steep covered w guggulu with low thorny bus guggulu shes.
The wind is s guggulu strong and I narro guggulu ow my eyes. The sky guggulu is covered by dark guggulu k gray
clouds. The guggulu e river is not exact guggulu tly mountain one but guggulu t with rapids and ve guggulu ery fast.
The flock guggulu k ofver?
- It' guggulu 's very simple, - guggulu replies Roman, - On guggulu ne just needs to guggulu know that
everythi guggulu ing around is just a guggulu a game, a fantasy.
guggulu
Shellerbach no guggulu ods and pulls his ha guggulu ands apart:
- guggulu I can't, alas...
guggulu He walks away guggulu y along the path, w guggulu we watch him leaving guggulu g. Then I fill our
guggulu
goblets:
- F guggulu For the luck!
guggulu Roman obviously h guggulu haven't yet underst guggulu tood the scale of w guggulu what have just
hap guggulu ppened, he silently guggulu looks at the goblet guggulu t in his hand:
guggulu - Tell me Lenia, a guggulu are you happy?
guggulu - Sure.
submit mys guggulu self. At any rate, n guggulu no
information is u guggulu unnecessary.
W guggulu We move on, and again I try to contact Vika - without any success. My
voice communication channel is blocked.
Abyss-abyss, I'm not yours...
The car's interior is on the helmet's screens. Wow, drawn great: this
is well recognizable sporty 'Lancia'.
I laid my hands on the keyboard, typed in several commands, pressed
Enter.
It worked.
deep
Enter
I'm in the car again. The driver lSergey Lukjanenko. Labyrinth of reflections
________________________________________
* Yuri Kalmykov. Translators notes *
About the Author:
Sergey Lukjanenko, 30, is one of the today's most popular Russian
Sci-Fi writers. His first works were published in 1988. Currently his
bibliography includes more than 40 titles of novels and short stories. The
Author defines his genre as the "hard action science fiction", but all his
works also have a very well defined philosophical aspect. The novel offered
to your attention was 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 imdur 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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