The colony. Chapter 14: Unexpected Guests

A survey of the residential building adjacent to the command post did not yield any results, of course, if the finding of many comfortable sleeping places and it is not clear why the desired punishment cell cannot be considered the result. The colonists stood in the passage opposite the hangar door, which was exactly the same as the command post door - with the exception of only glass inserts, which were not.

Each showed his own gestures, meaning: “I am in deep thought. Or at least I pretend. ” Gordon and Barney ran their fingers through their beards and thoughtfully scratched what was hidden behind the dense vegetation. Most likely, they had chins there, although in Barney’s case it was impossible to say for sure - there could have been another fist. Unlike the lamp with gin, scratching the chins has not yet fulfilled a single desire and has not generated a single thought. Raytnov, in spite of the fact that he also had a beard, preferred to put his hands on his sides, and Angus crossed them on his chest - the postures were already more passive, as they did not suggest any scratching. Emilia also crossed her arms over her chest, but also crossed her legs, transferring weight to one of them, and Isaac stood exactly like a tin soldier with perfect posture, and one of his hands was in his pocket, and the other was on a pistol holster on his belt.

They all looked at the small display on the wall just to the right of the door. Under the display was a digital block with physical buttons - probably, the preference for such buttons over the touch ones was given because of their simple design and reliability. Moreover, the buttons were so large that they seemed to be made for giants. Emilia was absolutely sure that she would be able to click on the “top five” with her compact female fist, without hitting even the numbers surrounding her.

The inscription on the display read: “Invalid code. Attempts left: 4 ". One attempt was spent by Raytnov when he entered a completely random four-digit code from somewhere from the ceiling. It was necessary to know this code to get into the hangar.

“It seems to me,” said Gordon thoughtfully, “that trying to guess the code is no longer worth it.”

There was nothing terrible about losing one attempt, however, Raytnov agreed. They were probably lucky to find one or even several potentially suitable codes at Barney's workstation, so there was no point in wasting any remaining attempts.

- And what will happen if we make a mistake five times in a row? - asked Barney a reasonable question and answered: - the lock will simply be locked, and you can certainly unlock it and reset the code at the command post. By the way, you can try to do it right now.

“But it’s hardly so simple,” said Gordon, “these codes will not be written on stickers attached to the monitor, and access to this lock is certainly given after a dozen identifications and authorizations. You may not have sufficient rights to perform certain actions, and if they prove to be - again, we may be faced with the need to enter another one, another code. In general, it is rubbish.

“The case has become rubbish from the day we got here,” Barney said, turning around, “and about the code, there is only one way to find out.” Let's go and search in the database.

As Gordon had assumed, neither the code nor the access to the lock could be obtained. However, Barney stubbornly stood his ground and claimed that "you will see, in this section, everything will be exactly", and so many sections in a row. Usually people who are dependent on the media and social networks do this - their brain is more than confident that the next click will finally bring them satisfaction and finally give what they are looking for. But, despite the extremely low probability of finding the necessary information at a given moment, there was little point in discouraging Barney from this undertaking, since he could find something else.

In order not to waste time, Raytnov decided to split up - Barney and Angus remain at the command post and collect as much information as possible, while the others go outside and conduct an inspection of the rover. Passing by the hologram, Raytnov looked again at the bluish dome, which was still in place, then plunged his hand into it, clenched his fist and sharply spun the base model around its axis, as if it were a merry children's carousel. True, despite all the applied force, the speed of rotation of the "carousel" was rather low, and soon it came to nothing at all, and Raytnov thought that this was not so much fun.

“Hey, Gordon,” Barney finally pulled away from his station, “be careful there.” I will observe the hologram and will contact you if something is displayed under the dome. There must be an automatic notification system, you just need to figure it out ...

Curious about his own thoughts, he turned to the display and continued his search. The rest took the weapon, left the command post and headed for the transition to the medical center - to the place where Barney was still barely alive. Which, probably, already forgot about that episode and quietly studied the former workstation.

The first thing that appeared to Raytnova from a small but slowly growing gap between sliding doors is an inverted and crumpled rover. Somewhere on the armor were deep dents, and in other places it was completely pierced through. In general, the rover was now more like an open tin can - which is not surprising, because the armor on it was of the easiest class, and the rover itself was intended only for moving between bases and protecting maximum against wolves.

The doors opened, and the guys went outside. Emilia looked at with amazed large eyes what had recently been able to move quite successfully, and now this pile of metal was real estate. It will be a miracle if Gordon can fix it, although Emilia did not believe in this development. Out of her thoughts, the sound of spinning gears brought her out - she turned around and saw Rytnov's fist, reluctantly dismounting from the door closing button.

- What for? - She was surprised, - here it can be unsafe.

“We're under the protection of the dome,” said Raytnov. “Don't worry.

“But what if not?” Then we may have problems.

Gordon put his hand on the machine gun hanging on his shoulder and looked off into the distance.

“He is right, Emilia,” his voice was calm, “if the dome doesn't work and the doors are open, then everyone will have problems.” We have already neglected safety techniques once.

Something inside Emilia understood that this was correct, but another part of her still wanted to bring the dispute to a logical conclusion, namely, to its victory and the unconditional surrender of the opponents. She looked questioningly at Isaac, glancing him to take her side, but he too was a supporter of safety. At this point, her arguments were exhausted, and she herself had to, although reluctantly, but recognize the correctness of her opponents.

Gordon walked around the rover, giving him a quick glance. The only place that externally did not differ from its original state was the cockpit, since it was sheathed with armor a higher class. The skin in all other places suffered much more, but somewhere in the depths of his soul Gordon wanted to believe that this rover had not yet rolled his own. In the end, armor can be partially restored, and in the hangar there are some tools for this. Of course, the restored armor, unlike the accrete bone, does not become stronger, but does it really affect something if they are not lucky enough to meet the titan on the road?

Raytnov tried to open a shredded door to get to the ammunition, but it tightly jammed. According to his calculations, in this rover two machine guns and three pistols are locked — apparently, you will have to cut the door to reach them.

- What do you think, how bad is everything? - Emily asked Isaac softly.

“I think that this piece of metal will hardly be able to drive again,” he answered.

Gordon stopped at the back of the rover, removed the machine gun from his shoulder and threw a reflex glance at the fuse. After making sure that the trigger was blocked, he gave Raytnov’s weapon, and he hooked onto the rail and climbed up. Raytnov, whose one machine gun was already hanging on his shoulder, hung the second machine gun on the other shoulder and now looked like Rambo.

- Well, what is it? - impatiently asked Emilia.

Gordon did not answer and continued to look at something carefully at the back of the undercarriage rover. Then he moved to the nose and, after a short pause, answered:

- With the chassis is all slightly worse than with the trim. I’m not sure if we can restore it - we need to see what is in the hangar.

He straightened, looked his comrades from top to bottom, and then squatted down and deftly jumped onto the sand. In his opinion, one could guess that the phrase "somewhat worse than with the skin" actually meant "we will never fix it."

This development was expected, but not very pleased. Raytnov looked at Gordon and, without asking any questions, handed him a machine gun. He took it in his hands, again glanced at the fuse and was about to drop his weapon on his shoulder when he turned his attention to Rytnov. He looked at Gordon, but somehow strange, as if looking inside him. Or rather, to something behind him.

Gordon turned and saw a dust pillar, gradually approaching from the fork in the road between the military base and Alpha. And the next moment, startled by an unexpected vibration in his pocket - his tablet took the call from Barney. Gordon wanted to give the rest a command to take up positions, but he suddenly found out that everyone was already hiding behind the rover and holding a weapon at the ready.

- Yes, Barney, what happened? - he answered the bell, - what does this approach to us?

“You wouldn't believe it, Gordon, but this is ... a rover,” Barney was absolutely serious.

- Rover?

Were there any other survivors? It was hard to believe. And what if they are not colonists at all, but something worse? For example, someone from the leaders of the experiment, who, like Santa Claus, rushing to them and carries a bag of new problems? However, Gordon immediately discarded this idea due to the absence of at least some logic, and Barney’s words only confirmed:

- The model is exactly the same, which now lies before you. This is a rover with alpha.

- From Alpha? - asked Raytnov, who heard the conversation. He frowned and a deep vertical wrinkle formed between them. He had one acquaintance with Alpha, with whom it would be nice to explain a couple of moments, preferably in the form of a strong male conversation.

The approaching rover began to slow down several tens of meters before them and soon stopped opposite. Gordon and Raytnov kept sights of machine guns on the door, but for obvious reasons she was in no hurry to open up. Few people have an inexplicable and overwhelming desire to open an armored - albeit the easiest class, but still armored - a door, go under the sights and look with one eye at the barrel of one machine gun, and with the other - at the barrel of another. People who arrived on this rover, most likely did not expect to see other survivors here, especially armed ones, and must have been actively discussing something.

Emilia glanced over to Isaac, and then, unexpectedly for him, she came out of hiding and headed for the rover. She stood a few meters opposite the door, showing her openness to dialogue. Isaac, who had not managed to stop her, mentally cursed, but he also got up and followed her, holding the gun in his hand. He did not like this idea, since it was completely incomprehensible who these people were and what they needed. Now you could not trust anyone except your guys ... and Angus.

However, the door opened and a face began to emerge from the darkness, and as it emerged, it became more distinct and frightened. At the sight of armed people, his face hesitated and wanted to dive back into the darkness, but something prevented him. Sighing, it took an uncertain step forward, dropping one foot onto the step. Raytnov recognized this face - it belonged to Liliput, the bosom friend, or, to be more precise, the bosom six Joe.

Liliput slowly put his second foot on the step, but stumbled and fell with his loud and high cry into the sand. In fact, it was noticeable that someone helped him stumble, pushing hard in the back. Liliput rose, rubbed his eyes, spat out sand from his mouth, and then raised his hands up and quickly muttered, stuttering badly:

- We are not-not-in-arms. M-we are also colonists, in-in-survivors.

He kept his eyes on the pistol that Isaac held in his right hand, despite the fact that the barrel was lowered down. A soft female voice brought him out of his stupor.

- Do not be afraid of us, we are also colonists. What is your base?

Liliput, a little bolder, finally tore his eyes away from the pistol and looked up to see the face of its owner. Isaac’s face expressed absolutely nothing, but Liliput, just in case, regarded it as “it makes no difference to me who you are and where you are from, but if you’re in trouble, you’ll regret it.”

- What's your name? - again sounded a female voice.

Liliput turned his head toward Emilia, but his eyes still remained on Isaac's face, and only after a couple of seconds he finally looked at her. Seeing a beautiful black-haired girl in front of him, he broke into a smile, was slightly embarrassed and replied:

“Lil ... my name is Scott, but friends have always called me Liliput because of their low stature.”

He even stopped stuttering. Finally emboldened, he turned his head once more to see the others, and even the machine gun in Gordon’s hands and his impressive beard did not make Liliputa worry so much - only the smile became a little more restrained. Raytnov was the last to whom he glanced, but not the least in importance, because suddenly a smile disappeared from Liliputa’s lips in an instant, and his face assumed an unhealthy white hue.

“Ah ... Ah Alex?” - stutter is back again.

Suddenly, he fell again, because another person came out of the rover, once again pushing him in the back so as not to interfere in the aisle. This man imposingly spread his broad shoulders, crunched his neck and looked somewhere beyond the horizon.

“Finally, the fresh air,” he croaked, “hesitated to shake in that damned vehicle.

In his right hand, he was holding a machine gun - a standard machine gun with which each rover was completed. In the hands of Raytnov and Gordon were the same. With his left hand, he grabbed Liliputa by the collar and easily raised him to his feet. The sleeves were rolled up and hairy arms were exposed, and the face was a little more than a monkey. Raytnov recognized this man. It was a mechanic named Joe from Alpha. The same Joe, who threw problems in his time and framed him with a rover.

“Stay where you are, Alex,” Joe snapped, when Raytnov jerked off, “I'm glad to see you too.”

He held the machine gun in one hand, like the hero of the good old action movie from the end of the last century, and sent the barrel to Rytnov. With his left hand, he pushed Liliputa towards him and clasped his neck with a massive forearm. This performance seemed ridiculous to Gordon, especially after his experienced eye caught the fact that the machine was on safety.

“I see you survived too, so I think all the questions between us were resolved automatically,” Joe sneered at his own joke, and then noticed the approaching Gordon. - Do you need special explanations, bearded? Stand on…

He did not have time to agree. The last thing he saw was an automaton torn from his hand and the fist of Gordon approaching his face with the second cosmic velocity. Joe flew back into the cockpit of the "damned carriage," and only the boots remained in the open air. Despite the fact that his opponent was bigger, Gordon had much better preparation and was not shy about demonstrating his military fist of fury. He turned to Raytnov and shrugged, as if apologizing for the fact that he himself had realized his long-time desire.

Liliput pressed his back to the rover and raised his hands, demonstrating his peaceful intentions. His eyes were wide open and watched Gordon's fist, as if appreciating the distance to him, but not a trace was left of the smile. He looked rather pathetic - it was clear that during his stay here he had already suffered various ridicule and slap in the face from Joe. And now he has the opportunity to destroy this "friendly" relationship - with the help of Gordon and the company.

“Relax,” Gordon said, rubbing his fist, “if you don’t plan to act like he does, you have nothing to fear.”

Liliput swallowed and nodded quickly, assuring his good behavior.

- Scott? - called him Emilia.

He turned, saw a soft smile on her face, took a deep breath several times, and this helped him to calm down. He smiled a little back, a little embarrassed, and then his gaze slid at Rytnov standing next to him. Liliput expected to see the hatred in his eyes, but noted with surprise for himself that he sees sympathy and empathy.

“Alex, forgive me,” his voice broke, but he managed to cope with himself, “I know, ugly left.” I wanted to stay and p-help you, because it was you who saved and helped us get to the bunker, but J-Jo just shoved me into the rover, and we left. You should know how I got this g-go-ass.

“I understand,” Raytnov nodded.

Even on Alpha, he noticed a strange format of friendship between Joe and Liliputa, and several times tried to stand up for the latter. But then Liliput with all his views made it clear that he did not need protection, and that he was absolutely satisfied with everything. Although sometimes it seemed to Alex as if Scott was convincing himself that everything was fine, and some of his members desperately resisted. In general, he was a glorious fellow, but he was influenced not by a good person.

Raytnov turned around at the noise behind - the door to the medical building began to open. First, Barney's curious head poked into a small crack, and when the doors opened wider, he went outside, pressed the close button and immediately saw the heels sticking out of the open door of the rover that had just arrived.

“As usual, all the fun is without me,” he said, and looked reproachfully at Gordon. - What happened here?

His gaze met Liliputa’s, and the latter was again speechless. If Gordon had just knocked Joe off with one strong blow, then what can we expect from this second soldier, who was much bigger? And, most importantly, his fists were also bigger. Scott looked at Barney, who was twice as tall and twice as wide as himself, and did not dare move. He looked like a hobbit, looking down at a knight.

- Who it? Barney asked sternly, deliberately, not looking away.

In one instant, Liliput came to his senses and realized what to do. He straightened up, picked up the full lungs of air, put his hands at the seams and lifted his chin high to see Barney's eyes.

“Scott Little, Alpha Base, sir!” You can simply Liliput. And the legs belong to a jerk named Joe!

From the outside it looked funny, and Gordon barely restrained himself so as not to burst out laughing out loud. Even Emilia, who was the most sympathetic to Liliput, could not hold back a smile and turned away, meeting her eyes with Isaac, who was also smiling. Barney himself did not expect such a response, and did not come up with anything more appropriate than to say: “At ease!”

Liliput finally allowed himself to exhale and continued to breathe normally. Barney looked back at the legs sticking out of the rover, and Scott, following his direction, responded to the lead:

- We came together. At first there were five of us, but only we survived. This is all and-and-because of him.

He lowered his head and whimpered slightly. The others looked at each other, and no one wanted to smile anymore.

“Guys,” Liliput raised his head, “do you have something to eat?” Over the past two days I have not devoured a single crumb.

“Of course,” Emilia replied, and then looked inquiringly at her comrades. Of course, there is nothing illegal in feeding an unexpected and incomprehensible guest from where, even though his friend is a complete idiot.

Gordon met Barney’s gaze, and the latter immediately understood his thought and voiced it:

“Gordon and I will drive the rover into the hangar and then bring this comrade,” he pointed to Joe’s feet, “we will meet in the dining room.”

“Let's go,” Emilia nodded to Liliputu and pointed to the door of the medical building.

Liliput, not long in coming, walked quickly in the indicated direction. Despite the fact that his legs were shorter than the legs of Emilia, she still had to hurry - apparently, he did not lie about the fact that he did not mind eating. Despite the fact that Scott seemed a glorious fellow, it was not worth leaving him alone with Emilia, so Raytnov and Isaac went with her. When the hull door closed behind them, Barney asked:

“Is that the same Joe who took the rover from Alex?”

- Yeah. And this is the same rover.

Barney looked thoughtfully at Joe's boots.

- Here's a shit.

- Liliput also believes that this word is best suited.

They met their gazes and finally laughed out loud, recalling the recent report of Liliput, practically according to the rules. Barney turned around and glanced at the other rover, the one that had been slightly turned upside down by the titan.

- What are we going to do with it? I saw on the projection that you already examined it. Is it really bad?

- And you climb and see for yourself.

Barney shrugged, walked to the back of the rover and climbed up with the handrail. Quickly walked through the bottom and tears back.

- The case is really bad. Forget about this pile of scrap metal.

- Exactly. Unable to protect these rovers from titanium.

- Well, what did you expect? They are purely for movement around the base. Light armor and all that.

But the inspection of the second rover gave results. Firstly, it was full of ammunition, that is, four machine guns and four pistols, and now there was enough weapons for everyone. Secondly, now they have exactly eight full-fledged seats.

Barney lifted Joe's unconscious body and put it on one of the beds of the rover, and then sat down next to Gordon in the place of the co-pilot. The model of the rover was the same as the model of the inverted one, but in the cockpit it was somehow ... cozier. Despite the fact that Joe was a rare idiot, it is necessary to recognize that he was a mechanic and was in good condition over the technical condition and appearance of the vehicles.

Soon the rover was already standing in the hangar and made a company to the second rover, who with joy immediately stopped being lonely. In any case, Gordon suggested that, if he were a rover, he would be glad that a second room moved into his room. He smiled at this crazy thought.

“You put it tightly,” said Barney, pulling Joe’s carcass off and throwing it around his shoulders.

“The strength of the blow is directly proportional to how hard the person has got you,” Gordon said thoughtfully, “and there is also such a quantity as the“ getting speed ”.

- That is, if we take the force of reaching for F1, the speed of reaching for V1, and the force of impact for F2, then we get that F2 is equal to F1 multiplied by V1?

- Yes. F2 = F1 * V1. And since the right side of the equation had maximum coefficients, the impact force was quite high.

“Gordon's first law,” Barney grinned, and headed for the passage to the dining room.

Liliput was sitting at the dinner table and desperately demanded a supplement, since he didn’t eat a modest portion of salad. Emilia, in turn, urged him that after two days of fasting, it was impossible to just fill her stomach to the eyeball, otherwise it would only be worse. In response, Liliput assured that he was eating something else “under his own responsibility” - in general, the scene looked like a child’s gathering for school, and Raytnov and Isaac watched with further interest the further development of events. Even Angus, who had come up a few minutes earlier, found it funny and smiled.

However, when the door opened, and Barney entered the dining room with Joe on his shoulders, the desire to argue further in Lilliput disappeared. He did not want to be dragged on his shoulders in the same way - he wanted to walk on his own. Barney sat his body on a chair and with one hand held it over his shoulder, and Raytnov went for a glass of cold water that Joe soon found on his face, accompanied by ringing slaps.

“Wake up, sissy,” Barney encouraged him as he continued to clap his cheeks.

Joe made an easy moan, grimaced the suffering on his face and turned away reflexively to avoid new slaps. When he finally opened his eyes and began to look around, his eyes expressed only two thoughts: “who are you” and “I hate you all”. However, this is a normal reaction for a person who has just been taken out of his unconscious state by the method of cold water and voiced slaps.

His gaze met Scott's. The memories returned, and the grimace of suffering on her face gave way to a grimace of anger.

- Well, you freak, Liliput. Who defended your ass all this time? BUT? And who are you now? Better not get in my way anymore, jerk.

- No, Joe. Freak is you. And you only defended your ass, but mine was only covered. And I am no longer Liliput, I understand you, a bag of shit?

His voice was calm, and he never faltered, causing everyone around him surprise and even admiration. Including Joe. Liliput no longer wanted to be Liliput, six Joe. He felt supported and became Scott Little, a humble mechanic and a glorious fellow.

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I will be glad to see everyone in VK group :)