Unexpected meeting. Chapter 12

A small ship popped into ordinary space far from the edge of the planetary system. In the center of the system, emitting light of an ocher shade, the red dwarf slowly burned its hydrogen, slowly evolving into its blue fellow. Around the star rotated several planets with orbits with a small eccentricity. Behind the outer, very large planet, a vast, dense and almost continuous asteroid field began.

Zarkon thoughtfully looked at the visualized model of the system, which the ship's AI transmitted to him on the neural network. "If we could learn how to get out of a long jump not in the ecliptic, then we could save a lot of time." - The man interrupted his thoughts. - “Tron, perform system authentication and secure identification call. If successful, start the standard communication procedure using the X-4006A2 protocol, authorization in the system and receiving data for convergence. ” The man got up and left the control room. The ship popped away from the system, which was correct in the presence of such an asteroid field, which is incomprehensible how it was formed here, but now you have to spend a couple of tens of hours to get to the desired planet.





After overcoming the asteroid field, the ship of Zarcon headed for one of the two planets that have the atmosphere. However, on approaching, there was a slight course correction and the ship turned out to be near the larger of its three satellites. Having made two orbits around the satellite, the ship went down into one of the deep rocky crevices, with which the surface was abundantly covered. The stone ridges unexpectedly parted, revealing a rather large, but uneven plateau, over which the ship hovered, as if wondering whether to try landing here or not worth the risk. Suddenly, the ground shivered and split into four parts, which slowly began to disperse in different directions. The ship smoothly descended into the resulting opening. Parts of the huge gateway began to slowly converge. When the site took its unified form, a real one appeared, incomprehensibly as a formed, miniature storm, as a result of which the regolith tightened the already inconspicuous joints of the gateway parts. After the dust slowly subsided, it was impossible to determine that a full-fledged spacecraft had recently landed here.

Zarkonu had to wear a spacesuit to leave his ship - there was no atmosphere in this part of the intermediate base. The man came out of the runway compartment and proceeded to the recessed technical niche in which the wheeled transport platforms were located. Seated on one of the platforms, he connected to it and indicated the destination. The platform turned on and rolled down a wide corridor, slowly picking up speed. As they moved on the walls, the lighting panels lit up, pulling out the dark arches of the tunnel and illuminating the road. Zarkon looked back - the lights went out pretty quickly after he passed the next section of the tunnel. It seemed that a certain amount of light moved in pitch darkness.

After a quarter of an hour, Zarkon jumped off the platform, which proceeded to the parking niche, and went into the compartment in which the spacecraft, which had the construction of a classic glider, was located. Such machines could work not only in the entire range of atmospheric altitudes, but also in near-planet space, making flights to fairly remote orbits. The streamlined fuselage ended with a small tail, below which the dual nozzles of the cruising engine were harmoniously positioned. Thick and wide wings also ended in narrow strips of microduz. The ends of the wings were slightly thickened due to the quad sections of the nozzles of the vertical engines. The man in the suit stood in front of the car until the hatch opened in her side.

Some time later, after the hatch had closed behind the man who had disappeared in the depths of the spacecraft, the car came to life, apparently completing the pre-launch preparation, the flaps on all the nozzles, one after the other, began to open. One of the walls of the landing bay trembled, moving apart in different directions and revealing a small, relatively flat surface area and a view of the planet. The spacecraft shivered, from the ends of its wings struck a bundle of light, directed vertically downwards. The car broke away from the floor of the compartment and micro-unions flared up along the entire length of the wings. As their brightness increased, the ship moved forward faster and faster. When the spacecraft left the compartment, its wings ceased to glow, a few front-wing microtroys flared brightly several times and it almost stopped. After the sash was closed, the front engine doors on the wings crawled lazily into place, restoring the harmonious flow of the wings. The main engine came on, illuminating the stony wall of the airlock. Almost simultaneously with the launch of the engine, pale streams of light appeared from the nose-nozzles and the glow was redistributed under the wings of the spacecraft, which slowly began to lift its nose. Micro-unions on the wings flared brightly trying to disperse the spaceship, and quickly went out. Only now the car has incorporated landing pillars. After a moment, a bright flash burst from the tail of the aircraft, which began to rapidly pick up speed in the direction of the pale blue planet.

***

The spacecraft slowly flew into the airlock opened in the mountain. Microtroops consistently blinked, dropping residual speed. The spacecraft turned 180 degrees and sat down hard enough on the pre-set landing pillars. “Almost at home,” flashed through Zarcon’s head. Outside air slowly began to flow inside the spacecraft with a low hiss. Zarkon waited for the pressure equalization notification and freed himself from the already annoying spacesuit. He descended from the transport and left the landing bay under the characteristic whistle of the blown nozzles and the metal clang of the flaps - the machine worked through the landing protocol, checking the operation and preparing to go into standby mode. The gateway was closed by this time, restoring the rocky picture of the mountain gorge with its appearance of an uneven mountain ledge. In the hangar there were several more exits to similar compartments; in some of them there were similar spaceships, like the one on which Zarkon arrived.

Zarkon rolled out of the hangar on the transport platform. The platform rolled along the same tunnel, the path was also illuminated by the same lighting panels. If it were not for the lack of a spacesuit and perceptible gravity, one would think that the path continues in the depths of the satellite. The straight section ended and the tunnel began to twist in a spiral, going steeply somewhere deep into the mountains. After a couple of dozen turns, the tunnel straightened again. Finally, Zarkon rolled out into a small empty hangar and, after stopping in a parking niche, left the transport platform. Going to the far wall of the hangar, the person performed the preliminary identification procedure, passing the codes of his correspondence, it seemed, into the void. However, after that a neural network connection was established with him and Zarkon performed the authorization procedure. The identification system did not like something and additional identification data was requested from Zarcon. Finally, there was a quiet rumble of the locking mechanisms and part of the wall slowly shifted to the side, opening the passage.

Passing the vestibule behind the wall, Zarkon went out into the corridor, which was very different from the previous monotonous rooms. When a man appeared, the corridor was completely lit, his ceiling and walls were covered with some kind of material that seemed soft, the floor was even and clean. In the middle of the corridor in the walls near the floor one could see the contours of closed rectangular openings, behind which, apparently, the niches of the service robots were hidden.
From the corridor Zarkon got into the big hall. He came out of the door, located not far from the big gate, apparently also going out into the hangar in parallel with the corridor that now passed Zarkon. He left the hall through the leftmost exit.

Having passed several corridors, then going down, then going up along small ramps, Zarkon found himself in front of open doors, behind which was a large room. It was a dining room. A dozen people sat at the tables and ate slowly, talking quietly to each other. When Zarkon appeared, all the people who were in the room looked almost synchronously at the person who entered. No one remained indifferent: who nodded, who smiled, someone waved his hand. “Now - at home,” thought Zarkon. He felt a quiet inner mood elevation, characteristic of a person who had been absent for a long time and finally returned to his home inhabited by close people who are sincerely glad to just see him.

***

A dozen or two people gathered in the spacious room of the hotel. Almost everyone looked young, except for Zarkon and another man sitting in a big chair in one corner of the room. The body of a man betrayed his strong and knit figure, but outwardly he looked somehow tired and therefore seemed elderly. There was a feeling that this was a grandfather among his matured grandchildren. A large, archaically ticking, mechanical clock hanging on the wall echoed the time and the quiet rumble of voices instantly subsided.

- I'm glad everyone gathered here. - Said the man in the chair. - Even not so, I'm damn glad everyone gathered here! Such meetings now rarely occur. Everyone got acquainted with the plan of the official part? Does anyone have any objections or suggestions?

The people in the hall smiled and shook their heads.

- Then I will read the schedule again. Every day, after breakfast, we meet here at exactly ten and hear two speakers. The first speaker speaks no more than an hour, then a discussion. Next - a two-hour break for lunch. After the break, we hear the second speaker and discuss his topics. The evening is free. For ten days we have to cope and we still have five free days. And then, to my regret, I will have to accompany you.

The speaker paused, looking around the audience.

- Good. Then, as always, I suggest that Misa begin.

Misa, a young woman who was sitting in the center of the room, rose and walked to the empty chair at a round table that was in the middle of one of the walls in a practically square room. The seated people were located in a semicircle opposite this wall. She turned to others.

- I am also glad to see everyone, I hope the official part will fly by quickly and we will be left to ourselves almost for a week, - she smiled under the laughter from the audience. - The theme of my speech, as usual, is usual - archives and a description of the general situation at the moment.

Misa had a high voice, tall, short skirt and high heels. The male part followed the speaker with interest, not much going into the meaning of the report, since, on the whole, she was pretty good at representing the situation in the CMS and the Periphery. Speeches and discussions were recorded and remained in the archives, so the report of Misa as an archivist was obligatory - a lively brief description of the current moment. Despite some obvious information, Misa enjoyed listening, as she often gave an interesting historical retrospective of some events and sometimes nontrivially covered some events.

- First, I want to remind you that almost the entire high-level composition of the Order of the Guardians has gathered here. The head of the Order and its first coordinator, Cid Ridoo, is now among us. The second coordinator - Zarkon - is also present. All other guardians present form the first level of the Order, whose composition has not changed for the last two hundred years and it is present in full composition at this meeting. The second level of the Order is formed by the coordinators of the Order’s network segments. The third level consists of employees who fill out the management structure at the discretion of the coordinators of each segment. In addition to this organizational structure of the Order, there is an alternative one, which is represented by single employees who report directly to individuals of the first management level.

Misa looked thoughtfully at the table. A large three-dimensional space map appeared above the table - a misty cube appeared in the air, in the depth of which one could see luminous points.

- Since our last meeting, the borders of the Union of Central Worlds have not changed.

On the hologram, a golden, very uneven sphere marked out the volume of SPM space.

- The Union of Central Worlds is located in a globular cluster of six standard light-years with a radius of very high concentration of stellar systems. As you understand, it is this proximity of stars to each other that contributed to the intensive development of civilization in a given volume of space. The presence in this volume of nearly four dozen exoplanets also played a huge role, which is difficult to overestimate. We can say that we are cosmically lucky to find ourselves in just such a place. Despite possessing the technology of hyper-jump, we still can not jump more than one light year at a time. This jump takes about two and a half days, taking into account the technical operations of acceleration and deceleration of ships, as well as the preparation of equipment for creating a hyperjunction. It is not surprising that the SCS was structurally formed precisely in this cluster and its expansion slowed down considerably in the Periphery, where the star concentration is less by an order of magnitude.

On the map in the center of the table, in the middle between the table and the ceiling, a star flashed brightly and spheres lit in space, clearly showing the space corresponding to one to six light years. Figures appeared near each sphere, indicating the time required to reach the border of each sphere from the star from the center.

- Being a truly cosmic civilization, possessing rather deep knowledge for creating biotechnologies such as neural networks, movement in space and hyperspace, production of relatively intelligent artificial intelligence, we occupy a tiny part of our galaxy and for us the further controlled expansion of humanity presents some difficulty with the same and earlier, the dynamics. About mastering at least one percent of our galaxy in the near future is not even a question. Seeing with your own eyes other galaxies as it was, and remains a lot of fantastic works. - Misa grinned. - Yes, and at least some significant movement on its own, too, only in dreams.

The golden sphere above the table began to diminish, new stars began to light up, which rapidly swept toward the declining sphere. The spectators seemed to fly at tremendous speed away from the SPM. In the end, a spiral galaxy showed up above the table. In one of the sleeves of the galaxy, a golden marker indicated the presence of SPM.

Misa half turned into the hall and smiled. Above the table, the SPCM space map reappeared.

- The Union of Central Worlds includes 94 star systems, of which 34 are worlds containing at least one high-class inhabited planet. For more than one century in this direction, the SPM has been developing extensively and all the worlds somehow pull up to the general level. For a simple man in the street at the moment there is practically no difference in the quality of his life and the possibilities of his development between the center of the SPM and the world bordering the periphery. Only the capital Nomir in the center of the SPM and two or three nearest systems stand out with inaccessibility, primarily for political reasons, but close ties with Nomir are, perhaps, important only for major politicians. Political systems in each world slowly evolved and, in the end, became indistinguishable from each other due to the high penetration of AI technologies into management. It can be said that the entire political system of SCM is currently semi-automatic, at least at a low management level. Economic quotas and obligations in the framework of a single economic system are respected by each world, in addition, each world has its own economic niche. The economic system is automated more strongly than the political one. This is not surprising, considering that the political and economic structure is slowly transforming after the introduction of a coordinating management model - special coordinating centers with AI, effectively “cheating” the development of worlds. Despite the logical rejection of this approach by the old classical management apparatus of each world, the penetration of this method will grow rapidly, as it gives a tangible competitive advantage, and the old elites will gradually find warm places in the new system - people are very adaptable creatures. The CMS follows the long-established policy of resource security and resource development within the CMS is very weak, most of the resources and fuel are imported from the Periphery. Transport infrastructure and navigation has long been debugged. Parameters of hypertransitions inside the SCS are studied in detail and jumps are performed quite accurately, taking into account compliance with the rules of navigation. Between the worlds maintained a constant message in almost automatic mode. The information system continues to be improved. The problems of bandwidth and speed of information exchange are resolved after the transfer of the astranet to the HS4 protocol with simultaneous modernization of all the hub equipment. True, it still happens that significant parts of individual worlds are out of the network, but the network stability is steadily growing and the statistics of failures, albeit slowly, is decreasing. In case of incorrect behavior of the equipment or manifestation of unexpected scientific and technical effects, the opportunity to return to the old protocol is retained. In any case, the worlds will not be left completely without information, since, due to large two-sided delays of information routes, the entire astranet is in essence a redundant array of constantly synchronized local copies of each world’s infonet, that is, each world has a relatively complete copy of the entire astranet.

Zarkon looked thoughtfully at Misa, distantly listening to her. Occasionally he glanced around at the people who had gathered here today. How quickly time passes - he knew all those present in the hall as children.Zarkon remembered well the operation they had with Siid to save the children. According to the official version, a technogenic catastrophe at shipyard 28 on that day led to a non-standard launch of a ship that had not yet been commissioned, which uncontrolledly went into a hyper-jump. Experts immediately dubbed this version of the epic-fiction, since many low-level hardware bans did not allow the modern ship to go into the hyper without direct human participation. However, for the overwhelming majority of people who do not understand anything on this topic, everything sounded quite plausible. Later, when the specialists were given full access to the shipyard to all the materials on the incident, many were forced to admit that there was an absurd confluence of circumstances leading to the catastrophe. However, the real tragedy wasthat the ship departed with three dozens of children with high FIPI, who have been studying at the Academy of the All-Union Football Federation for the Universal program already for a year. In fact, the cause of the disaster was more prosaic and was a mixture of the mistake of the chief designer of the ship, the negligence of the technical staff and the connivance of the shipyard management. The shipyard was one of the three major ones in the SCS, so the case was hushed up with lightning speed, having meticulously falsified all the information about the incident. The loss of thirty potential generalists greatly influenced the Fleet and the reputation of the authorities. High-profile resignations could not be avoided, but for the management of the shipyard this was better than a court with a guaranteed charge. Ship security protocols have been extensively updated. Corrected procedures for the technical preparation of ships. And since then, according to the program "Universal" began to recruit a groupeven consisting of a couple of people of different ages. Nobody even tried to search for the ship, despite the fact that it happened almost in the center of the SPM and he could not jump for more than one light year. No one believed that you could find a single silent ship in such a large amount of space. Siida's plan was simple - to squeeze absolutely all the details of the participants in the tragedy, to simulate the situation, to calculate probabilistic options and look for. They were looking for a ship for a long time. But they found him only by coincidence of random circumstances.Siida's plan was simple - to squeeze absolutely all the details of the participants in the tragedy, to simulate the situation, to calculate probabilistic options and look for. They were looking for a ship for a long time. But they found him only by coincidence of random circumstances.Siida's plan was simple - to squeeze absolutely all the details of the participants in the tragedy, to simulate the situation, to calculate probabilistic options and look for. They were looking for a ship for a long time. But they found him only by coincidence of random circumstances.

Misa made a long pause in her speech, which brought Zarcon back from distant times to the current reality.

- Strictly speaking, nothing has changed at all in the SPM. The political structure that has developed with the close intricacies of checks and balances of the backbone organizations is stable. The influence of the central government is maximal in the center and decreases anisotropically to the borders. However, the fall of his influence is compensated for by the control of these regions by corporations and the Church, between which there is complete mutual understanding. Therefore, we can say that the structure of the SCS is stable and uniform throughout the volume it occupies. More information about the political-economic system will tell us Remus.

Misa half turned and looked at the short man who nodded to her.

- SPM holds the leading positions in key technologies of the existing civilization: neural networks, hypertechnology and artificial intelligence. It is these technologies that ensure the effective existence of a semi-automatic political platform and the financial and banking system, the lower level of which is sufficiently reliable and highly automated. The progressive development of science and technology provide corporations.

- In biotechnology, nothing fundamentally changed - for the last three hundred years, neural networks have been evolving extremely slowly and have an exclusively centralized structure. Obviously affects the achievement of the limit of the capacity of the natural nervous system of man. The classical biochemical path has almost stopped its development for a long time, the technology of high-frequency variable membrane potential has very quickly exhausted itself and in which direction no one has decided to go further. Despite this, the development of a decentralized type of neural networks is under a tacit ban and resources are spent solely to support this trend in order not to lose the acquired knowledge, experience and technology. In addition, the problems of complete replacement of reality remain unresolved.full control and elimination of the time limit for the continuous use of the neural network. A neural network, this biocomputer embedded in a person, does not want to become an organic part of a person. - Misa smiled. “And we all know why.” Irona will tell us more about the current state of affairs in this area.

Zarkon grinned. As a result of insignificant but timely manipulations with seemingly insignificant connections of brain regions, some possibilities for the further development of neural network technologies seemed to be self-locking. This was due to the short-term competitive advantages that many firms gained quickly by introducing the previously advertised functionality resulting from these changes. Initially, there was no close attention to the neurotechnology market, so everything developed without any global plan - the formation of the NBS as a corporation was a very slow and sometimes frankly dirty process. The first versions of neural networks from the NBS have absorbed all the best that was in the field of neurotechnologies that the NBS has been rapidly honing and developing. And as a result, these technologies are so deeply settled that when the authorities realized it,it turned out that it was no longer possible to remove them. People were protected from the substitution of reality - it was possible to create a realistic virtual reality, even tactile sensations, but a permanent red background, caught in peripheral vision, always allowed a person to distinguish between virtuality and reality. In the case of augmented reality, the background changed its color from red to orange. The shutdown of the visual channels had no effect on this, since the effect obviously arose in the human brain itself. In addition, for a long time it was problematic to be in such a reality - a person for obscure reasons got tired and, with an “overdose” of virtual reality, simply fell asleep, automatically falling out of it.Similarly, the neural network responded to uncoordinated commands of direct impact on the human body - it was impossible for an external neural network team to force a person to go forward if he did not want to. They learned to control the unconscious body, but it was such a pitiful sight that the development of this direction was abandoned and the corresponding functionality from the core of the neural network was removed. The neural network seemed to protect its carrier and take care of its clear consciousness and perception. When technology was used up and became widespread, it turned out to be impossible, for example, to simulate a person a virtual reality indistinguishable from the present with the aim of encouraging him to some kind of action. The fraudsters, special services, the military who “missed” a similar perspective were out of business - the NBS actively resisted the introduction of this functionality,perfectly aware of what it will pour out to her. For almost two centuries, the SPM government has funded work to solve these problems, but when information emerged that the NBS was simply spending it on developing a new neural network, funding was stopped as meaningless and unpromising, since it was impossible to develop just a new neural network core — you would have to adapt or develop reinstall all implants and nodes and, for sure, correct the protocols between them, that is, in essence, re-create the entire neural network base.since it is impossible to simply develop a new core of a neural network, we would have to adapt or re-develop all implants and nodes and, for sure, correct the protocols between them, that is, in essence, re-create the entire neural network base.since it is impossible to simply develop a new core of a neural network, we would have to adapt or re-develop all implants and nodes and, for sure, correct the protocols between them, that is, in essence, re-create the entire neural network base.

Syed very carefully prepared his pupil for, now Zarkon understood this well, a further breakthrough in the development of neural network technologies. His very work on neurostop was made possible thanks to the knowledge and experience he gained while working with Ciid. If the core of a neural network can be compared in the first approximation with the computational core of any system, then the neurostop can be represented as a specialized sub-kernel, which is activated by necessity and performs very specific functions. Such sub-cores are used, for example, to control military equipment. Such a rough approximation is only the beginning of work on the neurostop in order to adapt the neural network core to integration with future technology. The most fantastic thing was that getting functional samples, according to Siide, it was just the beginning of the journey,which needs to be overcome for development of full-fledged technology. A material product in the form of some kind of new neural network core is just an intermediate stage that can take hundreds and thousands of years. The main and very distant goal of the project was to push the whole new direction of development - the understanding and development of methods for the use of wave processes in the brain. How and from where did Cied obtain such in-depth knowledge of the primary core of the neural network Zarcon did not represent. As well as how far it is and why he plans this way of development - Siid himself didn’t go into details, and here the theory of the thin field is generally vague, answering: “We need to try.” Zarkona has always admired Siida’s strategic insight in adjusting the development trend of certain technologies. Neural networks evolved precisely in that directionwhich was needed by the Order. And even one of the most powerful and influential corporations of SPM - NBS, which knows about technology neural network intricacies, probably already knows more than the Order itself, could not do anything about it. That's really from whom, but from Siid one could learn endlessly.

- In the theory of hyper, there are no significant changes for at least the last half-millennia. The range of available jumps ranges from seventy-five million to seven and a half trillion kilometers, that is, the maximum we can jump at distances no further than one standard light year. The time spent in the jump varies from four to sixty hours. Each jump requires time to prepare for it, which is usually combined with acceleration and a set of necessary speed to complete the jump. After the jump, it takes time to check, adjust and restart the equipment. As a result, jumps take considerable time, which I would like to reduce. The effects of a thin field appear in a jump so weak that the time inside and outside the jump flows almost equally.We have at least no problems here - otherwise it would have been completely incomprehensible how to build communications with a strong run-up of time. With hyperlinks everything is much better, which proves the overall successful operation of the astranet. However, here I would like to get the coveted "real time", and not a packet data exchange with very considerable time delays. As far as I know, there are not even any substantiated ideas in which direction to develop the theory of the hyperfield, which obviously indicates either a fundamental restriction or that we actually do not know and do not understand how all this works. Portal theory still remains a beautiful mathematical theory, from which even experimental physics shies away. In more detail, this direction will be described to us by Cadus.which proves the overall successful operation of the astranet. However, here I would like to get the coveted "real time", and not a packet data exchange with very considerable time delays. As far as I know, there are not even any substantiated ideas in which direction to develop the theory of the hyperfield, which obviously indicates either a fundamental restriction or that we actually do not know and do not understand how all this works. Portal theory still remains a beautiful mathematical theory, from which even experimental physics shies away. In more detail, this direction will be described to us by Cadus.which proves the overall successful operation of the astranet. However, here I would like to get the coveted "real time", and not a packet data exchange with very considerable time delays. As far as I know, there are not even any substantiated ideas in which direction to develop the theory of the hyperfield, which obviously indicates either a fundamental restriction or that we actually do not know and do not understand how all this works. Portal theory still remains a beautiful mathematical theory, from which even experimental physics shies away. In more detail, this direction will be described to us by Cadus.As far as I know, there are not even any substantiated ideas in which direction to develop the theory of the hyperfield, which obviously indicates either a fundamental restriction or that we actually do not know and do not understand how all this works. Portal theory still remains a beautiful mathematical theory, from which even experimental physics shies away. In more detail, this direction will be described to us by Cadus.As far as I know, there are not even any substantiated ideas in which direction to develop the theory of the hyperfield, which obviously indicates either a fundamental restriction or that we actually do not know and do not understand how all this works. Portal theory still remains a beautiful mathematical theory, from which even experimental physics shies away. In more detail, this direction will be described to us by Cadus.

- AI technologies are developing with a focus on deep automation of technological processes, taking into account the statistical prediction of events, and not in the direction of emulation of intelligence, at least based on the same decentralized neural networks. In this it is worthwhile to thank the long and exhausting war with the AI, which practically united humanity at least in a globular cluster. Despite the fact that the events took place a long time ago, people are still impressed with the results of this war and few people are trying to engage in at least theoretical developments. All this is under tacit prohibition, which even the Periphery follows. The most well developed sphere of AI for large ships. Garni will tell us about the visible and invisible state of affairs in this area.

- I want to note that as a result of the stagnation of the direction of AI, the technologies located at the junction of the three mentioned do not develop either. Humanity does not create and does not seek to create full-fledged androids. Cyborgization of the population is most pronounced only in the peripheral worlds of the middle zone. AI is not allowed with hypertechnology. Against this background, only sluggish cooperation between the NBS and Hypertech corporations has created a related technology that allows the use of hyper equipment only with the direct participation of a person.

- The military superiority and security of SCS is primarily provided by the military space fleet. The CCF of the STSM is structurally divided into eight practically autonomous fleets, each of which is assigned its own section of space in such a way that the STSM is uniformly protected throughout the entire sphere. Each fleet is a completely autonomous structure with its own command, coordination, intelligence and analysis, groups of ships for various purposes, void and planetary forces, a support system, shipyards, and so on. The CCF of the SPC is completely subordinated to the central government and the worlds in which the permanent bases of the fleets are located have practically no influence on them, which increases the controllability of the entire SPM as a whole. The content of such a duplicated and resource-intensive military mechanism seems unnecessarily expensive,but everyone remembers the second and third major wars of the Center and Periphery. The complete surroundings of the CMS with the Periphery sphere spurs the development of military technologies, which often lead to the technological development of the civilian sphere. The internal stability of the CMS is ensured by the security service, which in peacetime is subject to certain intelligence units of each fleet. Darava will tell about the current state of this sphere.

At first, Zarkon believed that Siid regarded the saved as the next resource of infinite value. It was almost a gift to the Order, which gradually made it many times stronger. As far as Zarkon could find out, the Order was always headed by Siid, half a century ago to which Zarkon was forced to join. At that time, all management was closed on Siida, the first level of management in the organization as such was absent, and the second was extremely weak. In essence, Cied on himself dragged the whole organization alone. The gradual introduction of prepared youth into the Order allowed organically to fill the first level of management and the Order began to grow rapidly. The load on Siida and Zarkon has sharply decreased and they were able to engage in narrow tasks, as now there was someone to engage in competent monitoring and medium-level management.

Perhaps at the beginning, Ciid treated children this way, but over time it became obvious that he became very attached to them. Siid replaced them with parents, a teacher and a mentor, gave them goals and meaning in life, made them strong and strong-willed personalities. It is not surprising that a strong parental relationship arose between these blockheads and Siida. Zarkon himself and Siid had a much more complicated and confusing history of dating and relationships. Yes, and brought them to life, when Zarkon had already formed personality. The relationship between the Zarkon and these grown children was also close, but in a slightly different color. Of course, Zarkon, with Siid, was busy with the children, taught and raised them. But unlike Siida, in whose character soft features suddenly appeared in relation to the children, Zarkon behaved usually inexorably harshly until they grew up,while Seed often let them down some minor offenses. Misa was a very calm, quiet and shy child. Zarkon loved to tinker with her - she never delivered absolutely any problems, with a uniform interest absorbing any knowledge unlike other children who had their favorite and unloved destinations. Not surprisingly, it was she who showed interest and began to work on the archives, eventually reorganizing the entire archival system, which no one had ever reached. The system of synchronized giant data banks scattered throughout the SPM and Periphery space became convenient to use and now no one understood how it was possible to work without it at all earlier. In addition, Misa predicted the location of the old database of the ancients.She searched with Siid and they really found him. Despite his complete destruction, he showed that such data banks inside asteroids not only exist, but are also fully capable of functioning and storing information for an extremely long time.

“... and Zarkon will tell us about this,” Zarkon heard his name, immediately woke up from the reflections and automatically nodded - he did not want to show disrespect to the audience.

- Now I want to talk about the general situation on the periphery ...

***

After Misa’s report and the lunch break, the people again gathered in the same room and heard the next speaker’s presentation on the state of affairs in biotechnology. Zarkon was sitting and frankly bored. At the end of the speech to the speaker, several questions arose, the answers to which provoked a whole discussion.

In the end, the day ended and the people dispersed in groups in large adjacent halls. Most of the premises of the underground base were mothballed and rarely used. The host of the base was obviously prepared for this meeting. Type of premises did not create the feeling of abandonment. Seeed, apparently, once again, he re-opened all the service robots and they scared around the halls in moments when they could not interfere with anyone. As always, one of the cleaning robots broke down on his very first workday. The audience surrounded the frozen poor fellow, wondering about the causes of failure and stating the domestic technological backwardness of the base of the first coordinator of the Order of the Guardians. The two men decided to fix the robot and tried to disassemble it with improvised means until Siid appeared in this room and selected the robot with the words that children are children and they always have something broken,and if they take up something to fix, then the probability of qualified repair of this item is reduced by orders of magnitude. The audience at the same time pretty fun.

Zarkon talked to Misa and Irina, answering their questions, after which he paid attention to the dispute between two other women, managing to support both parties. In a large male company, it took another half an hour more fun. Finally, Zarkon proposed to arrange a collective walk on the surface tomorrow evening, and today he referred to fatigue and was favorably released by the female part of society. He went, however, not to himself, but to Siid, who had recently left the party.

Zarkon raised his hand to strike the door, but she fell into surprise into the void with a lightning-fast and noiselessly open door, behind which stood satisfied Cid. Zarkon grinned.

- Ciid, will you ever tell me how old you are? An adult, dear person. The first coordinator of the Order of the Guardians. And you have jokes ... like in kindergarten.

The men laughed. Zarkon went into the living room. Everyone in the complex had their own personal apartments. There were even more of them than people, but some were constantly mothballed. The history of the base was generally covered in mystery and darkness, except for those fantastic tales that Cid created for young children. The children grew up, but the tales remained.

The apartments of Siida were a large, cozy living room and a small semicircular room that followed it, which turned out to be several doors. Siid immediately went into his spacious and long office and Zarkon gladly sat down in an old, worn rocking chair opposite the sealed glass shelves with ordinary paper books that occupied almost the entire wall. The opposite wall was a large monitor, although it looked like a regular wall.

- I wonder how many books do you have?

- You yourself know that there is only a small part.

“Yeah-aah,” Zarkon drawled, “collecting is a diagnosis.” But many in the center have grown up without knowing what a book is. They do not even have such a thing as a “book” or “paper”.

Syed disappeared from the room and after a while appeared with a pair of glasses and a bluish bottle. Zarkon had dragged the chair closer to the table and swayed right next to the table. Seed smiled and poured the bluish contents of the bottle in his glasses. The men settled opposite each other.

- Congratulations on a successful first stage, - Cid raised his glass.

The men took a sip of the drink. Zarkon closed his eyes tightly.

- And why such perfection is not done in SCM?

- You yourself know why. There are no planets like this in the SPCM with its some, so to speak, specific environment in some places. Although ... they invented the NSC? Maybe someday this will come up. Incidentally, I tried to synthesize. Nothing complicated there, and even it turns out quite a suitable drink for those ... who have never tried the original one.

There was a pause that no one wanted to interrupt.

- You know, Zar, I have to be away for a while. You have to get into my skin for a while.

Zarkon was on his guard - this is something new. In the absence of Siide, he had to independently make "large" decisions on his own. But he did not remember that Siid would disappear for a long time, and even warned about this in advance.

“And ... how long?”

- About ten years. If there are problems - thirty. In the worst case, you have to give yourself a full report, I will not return at all.

Zarkon drank his glass in one gulp.

- So, Seed, let's detail. What is this news?

- You know that rejuvenation courses are periodic. The medical technology of the Order is still an order of magnitude better than that of the rest of humanity, and thanks to this we can extend our life much longer. But everything has a limit. The neural network, of course, greatly helps in increasing the resource of the organism, but it does not solve the problem. It is impossible to restore your cells an infinite number of times, because in the process of recovery small but well predictable errors accumulate, so you have to replace them with cloned ones. But each cloning is a guaranteed introduction of random errors, since the cloned cell must take root, and during adaptation, sometimes significant changes occur at the cellular level, and sometimes it also "corrupts" the DNA in its nucleus. Biomarkers in cells allow not to clone already cloned cells,but this is only a temporary solution to the problem - the original cells will end sooner or later anyway. The decision to make a complete cellular map of a person and then in it simply to replace the necessary cells to an acceptable result looks tempting, but for some reason our technologies do not know how to do this and, it seems to me, this is not at all due to the fact that their creators could not do so . If the situation with the body itself does not look somehow critical, then with the brain and those parts of the body where the neural network nodes are located everything looks different. Somewhere the cell structure does not allow to update the neural network and this is postponed to the next stage of rejuvenation, to which the neural network will try to unload this area. Some places after rejuvenation require the calibration of a neural network. My next stage came up. I'm already quite old and went through more than one rejuvenation procedure.This time the equipment gave me a not very comforting forecast on brain rejuvenation. You understand that a person with permissible deviations comes out of a capsule, or it does not come out at all.

Sead took a sip from his glass.

- You are the second coordinator and you know better than others how, where and what is arranged. If necessary, your decisions will generally be more correct. The children of one hundred and fifty years knocked, some have already grown-up children. And we work with you three times longer. Well and, - Seed smiled, - you will get answers to some questions. - In the end, the second coordinator should become the first without any problems, but you will have to choose the right candidate yourself.

The seated people fell silent.

“Somehow ... not very happy,” said Zarkon.

- Oh, come on, Zar. - Seed fun winked at him. - Everything has its time. And if I am destined to leave, then my heart is calm - I leave behind a great legacy. And, you see, everything is not falling on you now - know yourself, sit and lead. In the breaks you can go fishing. Five centuries ago it was yes, somehow sad. And a thousand years ago - so generally scary. On the other hand, the forecast of a capsule is not a sentence. This is the probability. I therefore decided to the rest and not to speak. And then you will be collectively upset here - after you wash the snot off the floor. One robot already, won, dolomili.

Zarkon smiled.

- Okay. Persuaded. Today I will not cry. But about the questions - it's interesting. Right here so any questions? Do you have any idea what list I have accumulated over the years?

The people sitting laughed.

- We will have enough time. Well, sleep a little less this month, but - Siid winked - it will be worth it. You'd better tell me this: "Warranty", as I understand it, is finally completed?

Zarkon affirmatively nodded his head.

- And the prospect?

- According to the latest data, the new project will be provided at least three times better and be based on the theory of the neural network from the Church. He will be headed by the very person who is needed for both professional and human qualities. By the way, I look at him with a view to introducing the Order, but this process, you know, is slow and cannot be rushed. Church scholars did a great job - they worked out the theory for a long time and diligently under ... my watchful attention as the special representative of the Holy Council.

Ciid grunted.

- They are behind you in part of the preparation of aridan?

- Yes.I had to push where necessary and ... where not. But with this theme I am no longer worried. Although I do not think that someone has forgotten something. Fathers now use my services in terms of settling some issues that ... mmm ... need to be carefully parried from a long-term economic and political perspective. It seems that the Cathedral realized that there would be much more benefit from me in this case, so I registered there for a long time. Legal access to technology, free movement, free meetings with various people of any level. It is very convenient for me. Moreover, I always demonstrate internal political neutrality and lack of interest in the Council. It suits almost everyone.

- Look, Zar, it’s very easy to cross the road. If someone doubts your loyalty and convinces others of your threat, then ...

- I know Cid. Everything will be fine, do not worry about this. Everything has long been worked out and I have several ways to disappear from view completely legally so that no one will suspect something superfluous.

- Oh well. And what about the "Trilem"?

Zarkon did not think that he would get away from such questions, although he would prefer the opposite. But the operation was preparing too long, so that Cid did not ask about it.

- Dangles in P8-N4-P1. Inertial flight course on the P9-N4-P2.

- This is the border worlds.

“Far away,” Zarkon agreed, “but surely, no one will interfere reliably.” And the ship itself is not going anywhere. I checked the route - clean. Although ... this is already Peripherals - anything can be in it. Therefore, just in case the sector is patrolled by a combat pair of our ships.

- Hmm ... imagine how much time it took you to one technique for such an operation.

Zarkon smiled.

- Even if you look at reports in the CKTS ship, then no one will find anything. Commands were performed normally, the sky picture is within the limits of the allowable. I have been working on the technical part for years, attracting specialists from shipyards at some stages. The ships and crews thought that they were jumping where necessary, although in fact they were jumping where I needed to. The most difficult thing is to ensure control on points. But this I decided. And after they jumped to where it was necessary all the records were adjusted to the real route of the ship.

- Zar, you are a maniac. I do not believe that you have nothing else to do. Couldn't it have been easier?

The men laughed again, and Seed moved some of the liquid from the bottle to empty glasses.

- Well, what about the main characters? No, no - I read the reports that you submitted with the SC of the SCM and the NBS. These two agents are all dead. What I personally very much doubt. What are your plans for them? By the way, are they even now where?

Zarkon guiltily fiddled in his chair and changed the rhythm of swing.

- With the girl left pad. Lies now in a medical capsule. There has been enough time since the incident on the ship, most likely it has been restored and is now on save. The capsule of the last generation, so it can lie for years without significant negative effects for the body, although then you have to go through a small muscle rehabilitation complex. And the boy is alive, healthy and full of energy. Very angry with me and probably now turns the ship into a big trap, waiting for my return.

Zarkon thought about it and Siid received a request for receiving data. He raised his eyebrows.

- This is a record of what was on the ship. Record is clean, no adjustment. You look at your leisure. I wonder what your opinion about this couple with direct contact.

- Why was to leave the wagon? Could put him in a capsule too.

- I, - Zarkon sighed, - some plans for them. But they are still in development. I need a couple more months to work out and make a decision. I wanted to consult with you when I got everything going, but since you won’t have to discuss it in the near future.

Siid squinted and looked at Zarcon.

- The only reason for this division is subsequent manipulation. I do not approve.

Zarkon grunted.

- Remember when we met. You manipulated me and Darn.

- If you also explain the reasons and results to them in advance, then I have nothing against it. While this impression does not add up.

- Let's talk on this topic not this day, I'm not ready yet. There are some moments that I don’t like, but I haven’t yet figured out how to get around them. I do not want to achieve results in any way and I do not want to destroy the life of the future couple. Themselves they still do not represent how much they fit together.

- That's right, Zach. That is why you rise in the hierarchy of the Order.

The men drank a drink. There was silence and no one wanted to interrupt. Zarkon received a neural network request for receiving a data packet.

- Receive the data. Start creating the Order. Where did we get such technologies and understanding of their work. Why is it so effective for me to manage the development of worlds? And indeed my story. In places you will be ... somewhat surprised. You will find answers to many questions that interested you, but you will have a lot of new ones. Tomorrow evening I will be ready to answer them.

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Unexpected meeting. Chapter 12
Text version: 1.1.1.
Date of the first publication: 08.28.2017.
Last edited Date: 09/14/2018.

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The full table of contents is given in Chapter 1 .

Quick navigation:
Chapter 11 - previous chapter.
Chapter 12 is the current chapter.
Chapter 13 - the next chapter (in development).

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Starting from this chapter, I changed the layout of all the chapters. Why it is for all - I do not know. Probably, to achieve spiritual harmony in life is purely perfectionist desire. It has been taken into account the repeatedly voiced proposal of readers in terms of navigation.
A new design at the beginning of each chapter is “from the author,” the abstract and list of abbreviations. The full and updated table of contents is given in the first chapter. At the end of each chapter there is a link to the first chapter (to go to the table of contents, if necessary), as well as links to the next two chapters — the previous and the next — for the convenience of “quick navigation”.
Since I already have four text locations, the synchronization between them became somewhat difficult, so a version of the text and the date it was last edited are entered. All chapters at the time of publication assigned version 1.0.0. Any editing of already published material will be reflected in the version. Edits, as before, will be mainly spelling / punctuation - the structure or the adjustment of the essence of the already published chapter will not change.

While plans to finish the book version 1.x in the form in which it is planned and somehow moves to the final. I will try to keep the pace of publications in 30-40 days - I’ll be less likely to succeed. After the end, all parts of the text will be put together and the file for readers will be available for download to anyone.

However, this is not the end - the work is planned to continue further. In the comments to the article “Review of fiction on Geektimes” it was rightly observed that a considerable number of publications are in fact draft copies that would need to be finalized. I came to the understanding of the need for deep processing of my text in the region of 7-10 chapters, when the idea of ​​a story was radically revised. It will be necessary to correct the entire text taking into account the experience gained and criticism: the general style, the descriptions of the characters, the dialogues, the plot lines and so on. Yes, yes - everything you nuzzle into comments and dialogs - I write everything down in my notebook) Actually, this is a very large amount of work. And somehow it will have to motivate yourself. Most likely,that after such processing the very structure of the text will change - in many places it should be simplified and made reading easier. Some descriptions may change, and even change their places in the work. It is possible that the storyline and sketches that I did not publish will return to the story - the book can grow into several chapters. This will be version 2.0.0 of the book. It is impossible to say about this version that it will be a fundamentally different book and plot, but perhaps this will be the case when it will be interesting to reread the familiar.It is impossible to say about this version that it will be a fundamentally different book and plot, but perhaps this will be the case when it will be interesting to reread the familiar.It is impossible to say about this version that it will be a fundamentally different book and plot, but perhaps this will be the case when it will be interesting to reread the familiar.

In parallel with the further work on the text there is an idea to try to join crowdfunding. I think it is right when the sponsors of the company have access to the first version of the text to evaluate or not at all to upgrade anonymous author's work. The company can focus on the correction and / or edition. In the case of professional proofreading (and possibly editing, it depends on the funds spent) a book of version 2.1.0 will see the light. It makes sense to publish a paper version only with a series of at least two or three hundred books - then the price per copy will be at least somehow acceptable. My work for the cost of books as in bookstores, I think nafig no one rested, but whether such a number of people wanted or not, even though you still need to spend money on updating / editing is not known, so this issue is not seriously considered yet.

In any case, regardless of the results of crowdfunding, if there is any, the updated text of the book will be posted in the public domain. Version 1.x will be removed from access and replaced with the version of branch 2.x.