| sed pavilion's walls darken like aldactone being covered by thick
c aldactone cloth. I make a step - it' aldactone 's really difficult. Urman aldactone starts moving jerkily,
e aldactone everything flows in my eye aldactone es, the apple in the pocke aldactone et draws me to the floor
w aldactone with great force, Windows-H aldactone Home's voice dims and loses aldactone s any tones:
- Al...a aldactone a...rm... a...l...rm...
aldactone So that's how it goes. aldactone Billionaires are good pl aldactone layers. Meaning, their
se aldactone ervants - to which number t aldactone they try to add me.
- aldactone - Vika, drop the details! - aldactone - I whisper trying toer mix aldactone xing the drink. Tonic is t aldactone the real Shweppes, Gin is
aldactone
the decent Beefeater. The aldactone liquor companies allow to aldactone o use their trade marks
aldactone
and products' images in v aldactone virtuality for just a symb aldactone bolic charge: it's a good
aldactone
advertisement. Pepsi is f aldactone free at all: it was their aldactone r marketing trick. Coke
aldactone
costs as much as in realit aldactone ty though.
And it has aldactone s good sales.
I take aldactone the glass and sit by the aldactone empty table, watching the aldactone guests: it's
always inter aldactone resting.
The number o aldactone of men and women is approx aldactone xi Romka {Roman}. Have a si aldactone it.
- Who's the girl? aldactone ?
- Nothing interesti aldactone ing.
We divers are al aldactone lways paranoid slightly, it aldactone t can't be helped.
To aldactone oo many people want to know aldactone w our real names.
The aldactone e Werewolf draws in the air aldactone r noisily and frowns:
aldactone - She tried to mark you!
aldactone
- I know. Don't worr aldactone ry, she's just a journalist aldactone t.
Romka sits and no aldactone ods to the bartender who ma aldactone akes terribly ugly face bu aldactone ut
gives him a full big gl aldactone lass of Absolut-Pepper. It aldactone makes me sick to even watc aldactone ch
Romterious anonymous. I aldactone It's that simple. Not a st aldactone tandard exit
which is poss aldactone sible to trace but an insta aldactone antly broken thread.
aldactone It's barbaric of course, aldactone but absolutely no data ex aldactone xchange between my
compu aldactone uter and the one where the aldactone warehouse is modeled.
aldactone - No dialtone, - says Vi aldactone ika, - Check the wiring.
aldactone - Shut down.
- R aldactone Really?
- Yes.
aldactone The blue background with t aldactone the white falling figure fi aldactone ills the screen.
- No aldactone ow it's safe to turn off yo aldactone our computer, - whispers Vi aldactone ika sleepily.
A pause aldactone again. I'm anonymous and aldactone it's risky to let me into aldactone o unpleasant
sides of the aldactone Company's life but Guiller aldactone rmo has a 'good nose' for t aldactone troubles and
methods of ov aldactone vercoming them.
- aldactone You'll sign a single-time aldactone e contract? - his tone bec aldactone comes quick and
business aldactone s-like.
- Yes.
aldactone - Complete nondisclosure o aldactone of the situation, - he aldactone adds, - with all
possi aldactone ible penalties.
- Yes aldactone s...
- Please Gunslin aldactone nger, - he points at his ta aldactone able. I pad closer being s aldactone sure
that it'll beng! The aldactone mixture of younger Arnol aldactone ld Shwarzenegger and
olde aldactone er Clint Eastwood. Very fun aldactone nny. The man notices my aldactone sarcastic look and
walk aldactone ks faster.
I raise m aldactone my hand and the yellow l aldactone limo stops by the sidew aldactone walk in an
instant.
aldactone - Lenia, your complaint wa aldactone as ignored!
- Nevermi aldactone ind...
This can go fo aldactone orever, but I have no time aldactone for games now... I get int aldactone to the
car, the driver, a aldactone a smiling guy with the per aldactone rfect hairdo dressed in sta aldactone arched
shirt, turns to me aldactone e. I prefer this type ofba aldactone ack. In around three hours aldactone s the shotgun
trigger sta aldactone arted to jam, he had to aldactone hit it slowly and carefull aldactone ly, moving the
finger from aldactone m side to side.
By 5 aldactone am he finished the game. aldactone The monsters were cast do aldactone own. The game
menu had aldactone appeared on the stone wall aldactone l before him and he pushed aldactone d the shotgun's
barrel int aldactone to it with a scream.
aldactone The illusion dissipated, aldactone , he was sitting by the aldactone peacefully droning
compu aldactone uter, his eyes watered, th aldactone he keyboard under his stif aldactone ff fingers totally
ruine aldactone ed. Twas standing sadly o aldactone on the balcony. I
unscre aldactone ewed the cap and sniffed i aldactone inside: it smelled of sour aldactone red 'Zhigulevskoe'
{class aldactone sic Russian beer ;-) }. I h aldactone had to wash the canister i aldactone in cold water, then
in hot aldactone t one, then in cold again aldactone n. Then I've put it into t aldactone the bag that stayed
here aldactone from previous apartment aldactone owners (I never have time aldactone e to get rid of
garbag aldactone ge) and walked out.
M aldactone My, how much cleaner and aldactone neater my staircase in v aldactone virtuality is! And
unlike aldactone e here, no eternal smell of aldactone f flooded be I leave the
aldactone
car firstly... Labyrinth" aldactone "'s creators had a good sen aldactone nse of humor and I don't
aldactone
want to watch my insides o aldactone on the car's ceiling at all aldactone l.
The second level e aldactone ends at the suburbs of the aldactone Twilight City. We leave th aldactone he
car together and save aldactone e our result using the com aldactone mputer which is diligentl aldactone ly
working on the ruins of aldactone f a small cottage. Only aft aldactone ter this my fellow travele aldactone er
calms down. I wave my h aldactone hand to him and go towards aldactone s the sever cover hatch. Th aldactone he
most reliable way thr aldactone rough the third l
It' aldactone 's overconfidence that k aldactone kills divers. We don't f aldactone fear the virtual
world's aldactone dangers and this lulls our aldactone r vigilance.
But the aldactone most annoying thing is t aldactone that we are all amateurs aldactone s. For some
reason, no di aldactone ivers shape out of hackers aldactone s - they percept the virtu aldactone ual world as
the real aldactone one. aldactone .
Though it was me, aldactone the so-so computer artist aldactone t from the small computer aldactone r
games company that went aldactone broke three years ago and aldactone who got an old computer as aldactone s
a dismissal pay, who DID aldactone D become a diver. One o tha aldactone at two divers have swindled aldactone d Al-Kabar,
- said Maniac aldactone insinuatingly.
I mad aldactone de the last attempt to devi aldactone iate:
- Why two? One aldactone diver and one.... assistan aldactone nt.
Maniac laughed so aldactone oftly:
- Don't consid aldactone der me a lamer Lenia, other aldactone rwise you'll receive such a aldactone a nice
'hello' in the mail aldactone l that you'll have to rein aldactone nstall whole freakin' HD aldactone from
scratch... Divers n aldactone never pick an ordinary guys aldactone s to assist them.
I k aldactone kept silence looking at Man aldactone niac.
- I see, - he s aldactone said. - Well, for the luck. aldactone . Fony. Of
course, the emp aldactone pty can that I threw out in aldactone nto the street in virtualit aldactone ty, is not
there. Well, le aldactone et's eliminate the differen aldactone nces.
My hair were da aldactone amp with perspiration, I wi aldactone iped them with a shirt that aldactone t was
scattered on the ch aldactone hair, sat by the computer aldactone r, checked the cable of aldactone the
virtual suit that c aldactone connects it with the compu aldactone uter's deep-board. The suit aldactone t was
working, slightly sl aldactone lowing down my movements as aldactone s if I was walking on the s aldactone sand.
The left leg was aldactone slowed down a bit more th aldactone han the rd ash color but aldactone pretty natural
looking aldactone but instead of his face aldactone - a gray haze like conde aldactone ensed fog. Such
tricks ar aldactone re forbidden in the city bu aldactone ut one can do that at home aldactone e, but what for?
If one wa aldactone ants not to be recognizable aldactone e, it's possible to pick th aldactone he standard face
from Wind aldactone dows-Home set: it's the hel aldactone ll of those there, while th aldactone he missing face
with such aldactone h unusual
dress is just s aldactone stupid. But looks impressiv aldactone ve nevertheless.
- Se aldactone emen, leave us, - says Man aldactone Without Face.
The d aldactone driver nods, tmy fellow tr aldactone raveler behind me - Why did aldactone d you need me? You
are the aldactone e coolest one I've ever met aldactone t!
Maybe he expects t aldactone the reply like 'it's easier aldactone r together' or even an offe aldactone er
to go together furthe aldactone er, but I didn't like th aldactone hat he almost crashed int aldactone to
burning cars, so I tell aldactone l the truth:
- I don' aldactone 't know how to drive and it aldactone t's too long to walk on foo aldactone ot.
He just stays aldactone by the computer, bewild aldactone dered and overfilled wi aldactone ith
impressions. And quite aldactone e well equipped for the be aldactone eginning of the third
aldactone - The decision is yours, - aldactone - agrees the wolf.
I aldactone walk on the sand, the hot aldactone wind doesn't calm down, i aldactone it even seems that
the gra aldactone ains of sand sting the ey aldactone yes. This is not the helmet aldactone t's merit anymore
but my aldactone brain feels what I should aldactone have been feeling in the r aldactone real desert..
The sta aldactone atue steadily comes close aldactone er and becomes more and mo aldactone ore real. The
horned head aldactone d with grinning mug, the aldactone hands bulging with stone m aldactone muscles. Some
kind of evil aldactone l genie possibly, I'm to aldactone oo weak in Arabic mytholog aldactone gd virus and packed the bag aldactone gged file (in virtuality it aldactone t'll look like the
ordinar aldactone ry diskette now). The aldactone head stopped aching and aldactone d the sleepiness
disappe aldactone eared completely. No Deepto aldactone own inhabitant sleeps at ni aldactone ight, right?
- Vika, aldactone restart, - I commanded.
aldactone The thoughtful female aldactone face on the screen frowned aldactone d:
- Really?
- aldactone Sure.
The screen di aldactone immed slightly, the image aldactone e blurred. Then the hard aldactone drive
started blinking in aldactone ndicating system restart. M aldactone My machine is just Pentium, aldactone , not
he slim and narrow aldactone w shouldered hacker looked aldactone like a kid
playing war ga aldactone ame.
- Wow, - I just aldactone said.
- Yeah... I wa aldactone as fumbling in one guy's co aldactone omp... hardly managed to ge aldactone et my
ass outta there. - aldactone - Maniac was brief, he loc aldactone cked the door, glanced a aldactone at the
canister and asked aldactone sympathetically, - Dire st aldactone traits again?
- No, n aldactone not really.
- I have aldactone a couple of bottles of 'Ba aldactone altic'...
- I's 'Gu aldactone uinness' here, - I declar aldactone red proudly. Maniac looked aldactone d at the
canister thought aldactone tfully and hun department. aldactone . The programmers are
we aldactone eak there, they will not no aldactone otice this little invasion aldactone for a long time.
- W aldactone Where's the stream? - I ask aldactone k.
- To the Blood Pressure right.
aldactone I bend over running wa aldactone ater and look at my refle aldactone ection, hit it with my
h aldactone hand several times, then st aldactone tart moving my finger ove aldactone er it, erasing. Now the
b aldactone blond stately robust fello aldactone ow looks back at me from t aldactone the troubled mirror. The
f aldactone face is good natured lookin aldactone ng and plain to aversion.
aldactone
- Thanks, - I say to aldactone the program and riout Fac aldactone ce, it seems to me that
th aldactone here's a slight
doubt in aldactone his voice. I throw my revo aldactone olver at him, it comes thro aldactone ough and falls down under t aldactone the
wall.
- Do you w aldactone want me to calm you down?
aldactone
His voice is ice cold aldactone d and doesn't promise anyth aldactone hing good.
I sit down aldactone n on the floor, squeeze my aldactone head with hands and whispe aldactone er:
- Assholes... Fuc aldactone cking assholes..
- We aldactone e don't care about your pra aldactone anks in the Deep, diver. Th aldactone he theft is bad,
but it wa aldactone as high time for Urman to g aldactone get knocked on the nose.
at aldactone t and general
feel-down aldactone are guaranteed tomorrow. N aldactone Nevermind. Good if I manage aldactone e to live until
tomorrow a aldactone at all.
And here are aldactone the welcomers - now in the aldactone e normal human form.
aldactone - You reached us quick, gu aldactone uest, - says the bald one. aldactone . He has a friendly
face aldactone of an Arabic guard from altace th aldactone he production of "Sindbad T aldactone The Sailor" done for
kids. aldactone . The second one looks aldactone grotesquely Arabic too, aldactone but is much more
sinis aldactone ster, he flashes his eyes a aldactone and holds the sword handle aldactone e tightly. Oh great,
the o aldactone only Sergey Lukjanenko. Lab aldactone byrinth of reflections
aldactone
_________________________ aldactone ________________
* Yu aldactone uri Kalmykov. Translators n aldactone notes *
About the Aut aldactone thor:
Sergey Lukja aldactone anenko, 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. avapro
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 atacand
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" 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
P |